Fiona's First Hair Cut

Don't worry we didn't chop off her curls, her bangs just needed a trim. As you can see she looked like a shaggy dog... And since she inevitably pulls out her clips a hair cut was the only solution. Here she is before.

And after! Tristan held her still while I cut some side bangs. They turned out pretty well and even when she shakes them out of place they're still out of her eyes. I'd say it was a success! She's making a funny face in this photo but it's difficult to capture her looking straight at the camera so this was the best take.

And finally, just a quick picture of her lounging on our bed enjoying a good book. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

A Visit From an Old Friend

This past weekend a friend of mine from Germany came to town to visit. She was an exchange student at my high school during my junior year. We became great friends that year and have stayed in touch ever since. She had a conference to attend for her job here in Orlando so she came a few days early to be with us! We hadn't seen each other since 2003! It was really fun having her. We reminisced about high school and just enjoyed being together again.

Here we are in high school being silly teenagers. Wow we look young!

Fiona absolutely loved her! Anna was amazing with Fiona.

And on an unrelated note, here's Fiona helping me load the dishwasher. Apparently, she felt that her shapes and book needed a good clean. She's been imitating everything lately which is really fun and gives us lots of entertainment.

And finally, I just had to share my first attempt at a lemon meringue pie. Thanks to my mother's careful instructions it was a success!

All things Fiona

So today I thought I'd dedicate a post to some cute and funny Fiona pictures. Above is Fiona playing my friends keyboard and singing. She b-lined straight to the keyboard when we arrived at their house. As soon as my friend turned it on Fiona was in heaven and quickly learned how to change the settings. Soon after she figured how to play and change the settings she began to sing along. I don't usually gush over her but this was too cute! I guess she's caught the worship bug.

Here she is in her styling jeggings and boots. We sold some of her old clothes to a consignment shop and got these beauties for free with some credit remaining! Woohoo! (On a side note, Fiona is nearly 18 months old and we have yet to spend a single dime on clothes! God is good!) You can't see it in this picture but her bangs were french braided to the side like a big girl.

I'd say she's a little too big to take baths in the sink. It's weird though, she loves to sit in the sink while I'm getting ready. Silly girl.

You can't see her toenails very well but she got her first paint job a couple of weeks ago. She actually did quite well but she got a little tired sitting still to let them dry. Needless to say they ended up getting a little scuffed but they still looked cute.

And finally, here's a picture of Fiona's first attempt to whistle. She actually was able to make a very faint inhale whistle sound. Now every time the tea kettle whistles she imitates it. This face makes me laugh every time!


Well those are some highlights for now. If any of you didn't receive our February missions update newsletter and would like to read it let me know and I'm email it to you. :)

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Some of our friends were hosting a Valentine's Day worship and prayer night so I helped by decorating the cupcakes. These are some different designs I came up with.

That's all I have for today but I'll be back tomorrow with a montage of Fiona pictures! See you tomorrow!

Valentine's Day at the Sugar Mill

I heard about this place from a co-worker, and it sounded pretty amazing, so for Valentine's Day, I found a sitter, packed up my beautiful lady, and we drove north to the beautiful town of DeLeon Springs. The state park here was full of old history, including a water skiing elephant and the unprovable discovery of the fountain of youth by Ponce DeLeon.

The springs were clear and beautiful, and there's an old sugar mill right on it that has been converted to a...you guessed it, an all-you-can-eat pancake restaurant!

Here we are post-breakfast. The place is actually pretty cool. As you can see, every table gets their own griddle set into the wood. They bring you out a pitcher of wheat and white batter, and you basically make your own pancakes until you can eat no more.

You can just barely see the old paddle wheel outside behind me.

We may have ordered a side of blueberries and natural peanut butter to try with some of our cakes, and there were bottles of syrup, honey, and molasses, so the possibilities were somewhat endless.

Once we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves (Jackie with a mere 4 and I with 8 pancakes), we set out to hike the trails of DeLeon Springs. Apparently, Floridians are not accustomed to hiking as we from the Pacific NW, so there were many signs to warn us of the dangers of going on this 4.2 mile hike, including rough terrain, swampy bogs, mosquitoes, ticks, chiggars, and sundown. We were supposed to check in with the ranger station before we started as well, but that kind of didn't happen. You all will be happy to know that we made it out alive and unscathed, though I did find one tick (before he had the chance to attach). There was no swampy terrain, the ground was fairly flat, and we accomplished the hike in half the time they allotted for it (self-congratulatory pat on right shoulder). I guess this picture is of me crossing one of the dangerously swampy and particularly treacherous stretches of the path.

And here's Jackie, running across one of the terribly dangerous creatures that we found on our hike. It was a fairly large leaf bug. Anyway, it was a great day. We had a great brunch, went on a beautiful hike, and got to spend the day with our valentines.

Birthday Trip

So, here it is, the much awaited and somewhat publicized birthday beach trip. Jackie and I headed down to St. Pete Beach right after work on Saturday to celebrate my birthday. She showed up all dressed up and looking beautiful with a cute little package of delicious cookies for me. I devoured most of these on the trip home just to stay awake, as I was beyond exhausted for some reason. I made it home, but just barely, and Jackie even had to drive part of the way. How embarrassing!

We got to the beach just before dusk, magic hour for any of you hunting dragons, and had a very pleasant stroll in the surf. It was peaceful and very pretty. The clouds hid most of the sunset, but it was still a beautiful skyline.

Here we are on the boardwalk heading down to the beach.

Check out my beauty!

There's a not-so-revealing shot of the sun going down. It was much prettier than this. After our walk on the beach, we drove down to a fancy little street corner with a bunch of restaurants and had a delicious meal out on the covered porch. All in all, a great evening, and a wonderful 29th.

More About Spain!

On Wednesday night we had our first team meeting! It was really just to tell us a little more about what we'll be doing while there and to see who may be interested in the trip. Over 30 young adults have expressed interest! Overwhelmingly more than expected! On a side note, it's pretty cool to see a group of (stereotypically selfish) young adults set aside everything to dream of affecting strangers with the love of Christ. There's nothing that is more unifying than that love!

So here are some details. As I mentioned before we'll be going to Madrid which is in the very center of Spain. We'll be teeming up with missionaries David and Dana Santiago and their family to do some street evangelism and share the love of Christ. They have been missionaries to Spain for 25 years! They started a Masters Commission program in Madrid several years ago which aims to train Spaniards to minister in their own country. Who can relate better to a Spaniard's way of thinking than one of their own? And recently, David has taken on the position of Senior Pastor at the International Church of Madrid. His church is considered a mega-church and it has only 80 members!


Needless to say, this trip is going to be very different than any of the mission trips I've ever been on. These people are not aware of their spiritual poverty as it is covered by affluence and busyness (much like the US). This makes them less open to the gospel. But God is bigger! They also have centuries of history that have given their nation a bad taste for "religion" and the god of political oppression in the past. We definitely have our work set out for us but as I have been praying for Spain I am confident that God is going to show up in a mighty way and that the people of Spain will begin to see Him for who He is. We may not see the full fruition of this on our first trip but we are so excited to invest in this country and people long-term! We greatly appreciate your prayers!

Some prayer requests that you can add to the growing list are:
-That God would begin to soften the hearts of those we'll come into contact with
-That Tristan and I will have the diligence and discipline necessary to review our Spanish and that we'd be well equipped to share the gospel and our testimonies in the Spaniards' "heart language"
- That the team would be formed perfectly according to God's plan with perfect unity between members and that nothing could prevent any one team member from going where God is leading.
- And of course, that God would bring in all the funding.

Again, we greatly appreciate your prayers and support!