Fall in lurv...

...with this sweet boy. How could you not? Ah the Wee one. How he has changed! He crawls anywhere, gets into anything, puts all things, pleasant or not, into his mouth, and delights our hearts. The last few days have been challenging though. It seems our fidgety bundle of joy is teething again (he has four teeth now, three of which have come in just this month, poor little tyke) and he has not been his easygoing self of late. In fact, he has been very clingy, fussy, undecided as to what he really wants (read: up, down, thirsty, not, wants this, maybe later, points to that, never mind) and to keep this post honest, I'm a bit worn out. Imagine this: the cutest little thing ever tugging, scratching, yanking, poking, head butting, pulling, pushing and generally clinging to you all day long. Pretty maddening, let me write you. But we are hanging in there, because we have to and because we love to. = ) I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow just in case it might be something other than teething. I'll keep you posted!

Splash splash

What?

I smilingly swear to be cute forever and for all times.

bpbpbpbpbpbp!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIO MARK!!! WE LOVE YOU AND LOVED TALKING TO YOU TODAY!

...after

Wow. I have kept you in suspense these last three days haven't I? Life has been busy lately as we are preparing for yet another busy year, but I'll explain more about that in a little bit. Here is Luka's "after" look. We faux hawk it sometimes just for fun, but not all of the time. Jason is happy. I think his original desire to have a son was based on wanting to one day faux hawk his baby's hair. Now that we are parents, he has different inspirations to be a papa, but he is enjoying carrying out his first plan, much to the chagrin of his dad, Mr. Randall.


Why we are busy: On Thursday, two girls are coming to carry out an internship for several months and we are setting up an apartment for them to stay in. Many of you know, maybe some of you do not, that we are opening (soon!) an internet cafe in our little community. We don't have the necessary funds yet to go all out on all of the services we would like to offer, so for now, to make ends meet, we will be renting the upper floor of the cafe to the interns. The space was not nearly finished, construction wise, and Jason has been doing an amazing job at spiffing it up. I have been taking before and after pictures of that as well and will be posting them when it's finished. We are excited as the place is turning out very nice. Woopyyy!

And I , within a very short amount of time have to put together an incredible kitchen staff for the rest of the year. Nyang, nyang (biting nails). Pray for me.

My little coconut head

Before...

Luka had another first this week: His first hair cut! Jason wasn't able to be there as planned, so I had to hold his squirmy self down myself and we both ended up sweaty, exhausted and covered with blond baby soft peach fuzz. It wasn't so much that he didn't want his hair to be messed with, it's that he became obsessed with watching the beautician's face and every time she moved behind him to start snipping or buzzing, he would crane his neck around trying to get a glimpse of her. It was quite the fiasco but somehow we got through it and now he is a shiny new boy. He doesn't look so much like a Wee One any more and although I think he looks so handsome, it breaks a little crack in my heart to see him growing up so fast. Booo.
All I have for you today is the before, as I have not had a chance to snap a good after shot...and Luka is napping right now and I would rather buzz my own hair off than wake him up. So you'll have to come back tomorrow to see his handsome new look.
We both love how he looks now, but Jason had the audacity to say that he liked Luka's hair better this way now because he thought his old baby soft curls looked girly. And that offends me. >: ]

side shot

From behind

See his new teeth?

Marisela is his beautician

Hey lady, whatcha gonna do to me?

Hi momma.

Wild Thang

As I was accommodating the Wee One's shiny new toys in his room, due to lack of space I decided some things just had to go. Such as his bouncy seat. He's too old to want to sit in it and stare at me from afar while I wash dishes, make his/our meals, wash laundry, you know. Wifely things. So I set it aside in the hall with the intention of getting my Honey to Do the breaking down of the thing. Apparently Luka is not ready to give his bouncy seat up because I happened upon the following scene and watched, with wariness, how it unfolded.







I bet if I strapped him in he wouldn't want it any more. = )

The freedom of the toes

Out of boots and into flip flops and my toes are wiggling their thank yous...until they get smeared and gritty with the dirt that jumps on them around these parts. They may be free but they are none the cleaner for it. Luka seems to be liking free toes as well. Jason has been excluded from this picture because he refuses to wear sandals and opts for socks and closed shoes (how he does it in this heat I do. Not. Know.) or Crocs.

If you ever wondered what the TSA workers that you don't see at airports do with their time I have a partial answer for you. Once upon a time (last year) when we traveled home from the States United, due to being showered with gifts for the Wee One we brought his goodies down in large plastic bins. These bins we wrapped over and over with duct tape to ensure the safety of the items inside. Our dear TSA workers decided they would take a peek to make sure we weren't smuggling contraband and taped our boxes back up with weak, puny TSA tape. Hence the fact that many of our personal unreplacable items fell out which were not put back into our bins. So. In view of the fact that the Wee One has been showered with even more gifts and that our suitcase fell apart, we packed in large plastic bins again. Only this time we got crafty. Drilled holes through the sides of the lids and slipped zip ties through them. Nice and tight. Only, what if TSA decides to take a peek again? SO then we got even craftier and I made the following sign that I slipped in on top of all of our items on the bins:


When we got home, we opened our beloved bins to find the following:


So. Now you know what TSA does with part of their time. They write their beloved passengers notes.

Upcoming

I will post tomorrow (Sunday). I need to sleep! This time I choose sleep. Sorry. ; )

I'll be back soon....I promise!

let it snow

It's been a nice run, my friends and family and now it is time for us to go home. Sniff, sniff. Weep a little. More little sniffs. Two months may seem like a really long time to be away from home but this time, at this point in our lives, it was much needed and we are very grateful to have had this opportunity to come love and be loved on. I know I've said this before and I will say it now and probably continue to feel it later: The hardest part for me about being a missionary in a foreign country is being so far away from family. The heat, the bugs, the rainmuddustcreaturesnastiness I can take with a chin up and even a laugh. But being away from family. Oo. Not my favorite part. I love you guys. And I miss you. And I wish we could make memories together every day and share life together at all times. But since that is not what we have been called to, we can go on receiving the grace God offers us when we miss each other so that we may fulfill His purpose as he desires. And, and, and...well, you know. E-mail, and facebook, and calls and BLOGS! We can use those too.
Speaking of...I haven't heard ANY responses from all you dear readers of what beauty big or small you find around you right now. Speak up now. I am waiting. = )

How we got untangled from that I do not know.

What we call O.L.M....Old Man Legs. Ha ha!

Our code...erm...sign? for spotting each other on the slopes.
As if my gorgeous gray puffy hat wasn't enough.

Aww. Tuckered out.

Darling Anna Kate

The cousins!

He told me he wants to be the gate tunnel driver when he grows up.

Ski Trip

Yet again God has blessed us beyond our deserving. This past week we have been enjoying a white capped world along with the Smith family in Park City, Utah. It has been so much fun and somehow we all skied ourselves through the week without any injuries. Well, except for the big bruise rearing its ugly head on my left thigh. Oo-ouch! No worries though. I picked myself right up and kept swishing away. That's the sound I've grown fond of this week...the soft swish, swish, swish of the skis on the soft powdery snow and the white stillness of everything around me. Oh and how about when I looked up and soaked in the vast sight of snow topped mountains as far as the eye could see? It must be so awesome to be God and to be able to be everywhere and see everything. I am willing to say that if we look around more often we would be delighted to find God's created beauty. It doesn't have to be vast magnificent views. It could be as simple as a potted flower or the colorful flecks in a loved one's eyes. Take a look around and tell me what you see. After all, is that not what the comment box is for?