Faith Journey to Vietnam

Christmas Letter 2011 (1 of 7 Posts)

2011-12-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends & Family,

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope you had a wondrous year. Ours flew by trying to keep up with the 3 munchkins, Mike’s work schedule, and all of our church activities.

Many of our activities are the same as last year. Some of the new things for us are that we started our own garden using the square foot method which Mike built our beds/boxes, the boys tested and received their yellow belts in Judo/Mixed Martial Arts as did Mike, and we have a new puppy--Trixie. Well when we wrote last year’s letter we’d thought it would be a few years before adding another family member (puppy). However, we managed to last about a year.

Shae is taking a sabbatical from choir due to general over busyness and is no longer a table leader for MOPS. So you’d think she’d have so much more time. However, she stepped up to the leadership team of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers-anyone under school age) as the Finance Coordinator for her group at our church. The Steering Team (leadership team official name) ladies sure work hard. Shae’s glad to have one of the easiest jobs and is thankful for those that don’t. We both still lead our small group which is still not small at all.

Mike still enjoys hunting turkey and deer and is still a Manager of Systems Administration (computers) at CSG. His team of employees doubled this year and he continued to travel to Denver. One of the trips was during Spring Break so the rest of the family went with for the week. In one day driving from Alamosa to Denver we got to see and drive through a sand storm, sunshine, and a blizzard. The big focus of this year’s trip was a day long train trip in Southern Colorado on the Rio Grande Railway from Alamosa to LaVeta. We’d been planning this outing for years to coordinate with the “best” age of our kids when Haven would be big enough to handle it and before the boys would outgrow the specialness of it. It was great fun. We splurged and had dome car seats with a huge banana shaped booth that seated all 6 of us. We also visited Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park for the day but found that there is a LOT of SNOW in April which made hiking pretty much out of the question. Shae’s niece, Kim, accompanied us again which was a great help. The week in Denver while Mike worked would have been much harder without her. We literally saw him for 5 minutes total 3 days in a row while he worked some issues for the company. There's a series of pictures of this trip way down the blog. If you go to the side menu, it's in the July section.

Haven is 3 and talks even more now than last year if that’s possible. She goes to preschool 2 days a week and just loves it. It makes her feel big since both of the boys go to school. Haven officially started dance class which wasn’t a huge stretch since she dances and floats around the house in a tutu all the time anyway. I’m sure she felt that it was about time we were seeing to her formal instruction. She also goes with Mommy to the gym and to MOPS. Shae always jokes that she’s officially a Stay at Home Mom, but is never really home running to everything between the church and school stuff. Haven still loves anything Disney princess, cooking in her kitchen, and playing dress-up. No news to report in ending the reign of the Queen of sass and bossiness yet either. We’ve won a few battles, but she’s definitely still winning that war.

Eric is 6, started Kindergarten this year, and is missing his two front teeth (which makes for a great lisp). Eric is just an all around easy going kid. We hear that he is happy with whatever they are doing at the moment at school. He gets great marks for being a good friend, being kind, and following directions. Can’t beat that. His giggle echoes through the house and makes everyone smile which is great since he giggles when he’s having fun, nervous, or even mildly getting hurt (like when the puppy is playing with her TEETH). He’s still our rough and tumble kid. Thankfully there haven’t been any new trips to the ER this year with him, although we’re pretty sure one of his “lost” teeth this year came out prematurely during some wrestling with his brother.

Ethan is 8, in the 2nd grade, and has expanded his football focus beyond just the NE Cornhuskers to pretty much anything football. His library books are even just about football. He’s a walking encyclopedia of football facts. He can tell you when the NFL was founded and which teams were already in existence. He is still one smart cookie and manages to amaze his teachers and parents alike. Lately he’s been thinking of being a Rocket Scientist and working for NASA when he grows up. No really, don’t laugh. He means it. Of course he would say Astrophysicist or is it Aerospace Engineer.

The boys (and Mike) continued with judo/mixed martial arts and all managed to test and earn their yellow belts. They have a lot of fun fishing together, backpacking together, and doing other manly things like wrestling and shoveling snow together. The boys played soccer again this year with Mike as Eric’s coach. They continued with swimming lessons and made their Mom hold her breath while they jumped off the high dive repeatedly including Eric at age 5.

We thought this was going to be a year without as many big trips but instead turned out to be the year of many weddings including big trips. A longtime family friend was married on Haven’s birthday in the Minneapolis area so we had a few days of fun up there with a trip to Valley Fair Amusement Park and of course Mall of America with the Lego store and Rainforest Café. We also went exploring to find the area’s waterfall. Who knew? Minneapolis has the beautiful Minnehaha Falls which we visited in the rain and enjoyed some great puddle stomping. Shae’s family was also in attendance for the wedding so lots of fun and 3 birthdays to celebrate.

Then Mike’s cousin was married in Fargo, ND on Ethan’s birthday so we had a great time hanging out with the Dalke clan for a couple of days and a whole bunch of Dalke grandkids' birthdays to celebrate.

The biggest wedding of the year for us was local even though Shae tried to talk them into a destination wedding. Hey! We haven’t seen Hawaii yet. Shae’s sister and only sibling was married mid July. The wedding party was made up of family which was fun. Shae was the Matron (sounds old) of Honor, Mike was a Bridesman (don’t laugh). The rest of the bridesmaids, groomsman, and groomswomen were Scott’s siblings or Shannon’s kiddos. Mike also assisted Dad in giving Shannon away since we’ve been heavily involved in their lives for the last few years. Scott didn’t know what he was getting into when he married into this family, but we’re so glad he did.

Well, this is the long promised Christmas letter. If I managed to get the blog updated a bit more often maybe this would have a little less info (and take less time to do). There are 7 total posts with lots of pictures which you can click on to see larger. You may need to click on “Older Posts” at the bottom of each page to see all the posts. Most of the other posts are pictures. The last official Christmas letter post is the one that's all Trixie our puppy. However, the posts about the train trip and Colorado are found in the July 2011 section of the blog so you may want to keep going after that. We hope you enjoy catching up on life with us!

Have a Blessed Christmas,

The Dalkes

Dress-Up Days

2011-12-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

The band. 7-25-2011

The kids ready for a safari adventure. 8-8-2011

Haven loves her dress-up bin. 8-20-2011

My 3 kiddos came upstairs in pirate garb with the oldest Ethan claiming the moniker "Captain Black Eye" complete with a white paper "eye patch", the 2nd, Eric, was "Mr. Missing Hand Crackle". We're pretty sure the first part is like a Captain Hook, and we think he might be trying to incorporate the word Kraken as something causing fear, but we're not really sure. The youngest, Haven, was Miss Holly complete with pink tutu,a pirate pistol and a purple crocheted blankie dragging behind. There was actually 5 different rounds of dress-up personas and scenarios to go with them. Some time I'll create a separate post for that. 8-23-2011

Trick or Treating at Dad's office. Ethan was Obi Wan Kenobi, Eric a Cowboy, and Haven was Pocahontas, and no we did not intentionally go for "Cowboys and Indians". 10-28-2011

What! We can't let the kids have all the fun. 2 cousins were turning 40 so here's our 80s garb for the party. Yes, Mike is rocking pinch rolled jeans and a mullet which everyone had to try on including my Grandpa. 12-4-2011

Here he is. I knew the Landis clan would appreciate seeing this. "Grandpa, I think you need a haircut."

New Garden & Out and About Around Town

2011-12-23T14:40:00.001-08:00

End of the season harvest from our gardens--a new project this year.
10-16-2011

at the Children's Museum with part of the robotic Dinosaur exhibit.
7-28-2011

Member's Day at the Zoo. 8-3-2011

Eric's favorite thing to do is to feed the budgies (parakeets).
8-3-2011

Ethan would not make a good scarecrow. 9-24-2011

Even the big cockatiel wanted in on the action.

Didn't the sign say, Feed the Birds?

Everyone loves the petting zoo.

and the Carousel.

Kids Sports & Such

2011-12-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Boys' last soccer game of the season. Mike was Eric's coach this year.
6-4-2011

Ethan Going off the Highdive. 7-30-2011

Eric Going off the High Dive at Age 5. 7-30-2011

Boys being awarded their yellow belts in Judo/Mixed Martial Arts.
9-6-2011
Haven's 1st Day of Dance. 9-12-2011

9-12-2011

Yes, she can do the splits. We always hear "look at me" and see this or if she's elevated like between the couch and recliner she can even invert (go beyond 180 degrees). Good grief...flexible child. 12-30-2011

Shannon & Scott's Wedding

2011-12-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

July 16, 2011

We were married in the same church--just 12 years, 6 months, and 1 week earlier.

The Crew

Mike dancing with Haven during Steven Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella" song.
Kind of a tradition for us.

The happy couple.
Did we mention that Scott has a great sense of humor?

Minneapolis Trip in June

2011-12-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

We went up a few days early for the wedding to have some fun in the Twin Cities. We started with Valley Fair Amusement Park. 6-9-2011

The kiddos tried on some non la (conical hats) in one of the stores.
This is also the traditional hat in Vietnam.

The Planet Snoopy area was tons of fun.

Of course who can go to the Twin Cities and not go to Mall of America. We visited the Lego store twice, the American Girl store, ate at Rainforest Cafe, and had Gelato for dessert. Yum! 6-10-2011

at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. 6-10-2011

at the wedding. Our niece and nephew are in the middle of our kiddos.
These 5 look like trouble, don't they? They all had a great time cutting a rug at the dance. 6-11-2011

My kiddos are hilarious when dancing. Ethan is either dipping or swinging Haven around. He does both. Or on second look, I think he's throwing her between his legs. Eric's got some smooth moves going too. I'll confess that I like Dancing with the Stars. My kids may have seen it a few times as well. It brings back my Swing Choir days. Ha!

Mike's already shed his suit coat and we haven't even left the hotel.

Trixie the New Baby of the Family (Post 7 of 7)

2011-12-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Just a forewarning here of what’s to come in this segment. Dog lovers will understand; the rest of you may want to skip to the end of this section. We managed to hold out for almost a whole year without a puppy (instead of the 3-4 we’d been planning on). That’s a whole story unto itself. Mike wanted to pick this one, and it had to be a hunting dog—almost definitely a pointer variety. However, everything he suggested was either huge or was known to be one of the most energetic breeds on the planet or both which doesn’t mix as an indoor family pet (first job). So after starting research into breeds we found the “perfect” one that does upland game, retrieves water fowl, is the smallest of the pointing breeds, and is known for being crazy in the field and calm in the home. Um…sold! However, I now know that calm hunting dog does not even come close to equaling really calm dog (any other non working breed). Ha! The joke is still on me I guess. I’d figured I married a hunter who is soundly indoctrinating our offspring in the hunting ways so I figured if you can’t beat them, join them. No! I’m not taking up hunting anytime soon, but I figured I better be an active part of this dog’s selection and training since I get to spend the most time with her of anyone. So unfortunately during our research we also found the perfect storm of generations of field champion doggy genes in one litter—which leads us to the fact that we have added a new four legged friend to the family. This project actually took a good chunk of time this year as we were visiting the breeder a lot to look at prior litters and then visiting Trixie a ton until she got to come home, plus you add the puppy/hunting training and voila=huge time commitment. Glad to say that Mike’s instincts were good when he picked her, and she’s shaping up to be a great dog. It’s just fun to watch her in the field. Officially she’s Glimpses of Trixie which was supposed to be Glimpses of Trixie Dust. The kennel’s name took up too many spaces—not bitter a bit. LOL! Drum roll please…she’s a Small Munsterlander. I know, you’ve never heard of it. Just go Google it. There’s actually a good group of very dedicated breeders/trainers/national field trial judges in our area which made the breed even more appealing. It’s a breed that’s only been bred for field work, never show, or just “pet” class so the natural instincts are insane. Yep, you know it. She’s pretty much taken over the house.

Trixie went sledding with us a week ago at 6 months old.

Trixie at 1 month old

Trixie at 2 months old. All tuckered out.

When we first brought her home, she could curl up on her squirrel squeaker mat. Not so much anymore.

2 months old. Playing in the yard.

4 months old. Playing with the leaves.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch #1

2011-10-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Last night was AWANA night at Vala's Pumpkin Patch so all the kiddos got in for free. We hadn't been since Ethan was really little. Lots had changed and many things were added.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch #2

2011-10-14T14:02:00.001-07:00

at Vala's Pumpkin Patch #3

2011-10-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

at Martin's Hillside Orchard #2

2011-10-14T13:34:00.001-07:00

at Martin's Hillside Orchard outside Ceresco #1

2011-10-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well, we've definitely had a busy Fall with orchards and Pumpkin patches. We started over at Ditmar's Orchard in September for the Hotair Balloon festival and apple picking. Then we went to Martin's Hillside Orchard the 1st of October for apple picking, pumpkin patch, and raspberry picking. Last night we were at Vala's since the kids were all free for AWANA night.

These pics are from Martin's Hillside Orchard.

May Pics #2

2011-08-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

5-8-2011
Mike's getting the boys hooked on a classic Sunday tradition.
Reading the Sunday comics.

5-8-2011
Eric as Optimus Prime

5-8-2011
Of course, what self respecting firstborn could let his little
brother get attention without trying to match or best him.
So here's...Ethan.

5-8-2011
Mother's Day 2011
I'm really blessed to be the Mom of these 3.

5-8-2011
Boys stacked on the backyard swing.

There's a couple of new posts so make sure you see the other one as well.

May Pics #1

2011-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

5-7-2011
The boys' first soccer game from 2011. Mike coached Eric's team which was a lot of fun.

5-7-2011 Helping Mom make brownies.
Yes, we cheated and used a box. They still taste awesome.

5-7-2011
She loves shoes, tutus, and dress-up in general.

5-6-2011
She is so proud of all her art projects.
This is a puppet she made at MOPPETS at church.

5-6-2011
Haven Looking Cute after MOPS

Cute & Crazy Kids

2011-07-27T14:22:00.001-07:00

We took some pictures of Flat Benny for our nephew, Ben's, school project. Here Ethan and Benny are going turkey hunting with Mike. 4-17-2011

They look like angels, don't they?
4-17-2011

It doesn't get more dangerous than this. 4-17-2011.

at Fort Cody in North Platte

2011-07-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

Ethan as a cowboy. 4-10-2011

Haven as the Indian (err...I mean Native American)

Everyone needs a giant Indian statue in their backyard. Right?

Eric as a Cowboy. He loves this since he's Mama's Little Cowboy.

Well that looks about right. I'd say they probably deserved it after having spent lots of hours in the car with them on this trip. Hee, hee!
4-10-2011

2011-07-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

4-9-2011 at Rocky Mtn National Park

at Rocky Mountain National Park. Lots of snow still around. Not much hiking could be done.

4-5-2011 at Park near Hotel

The park near our hotel has this awesome slide built into the hill and a great unique climbing wall (tree) area. 4-5-2011

"Chloe" as Snow White

2011-07-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

4-11-2011
This is Haven's American Girl Bitty Twin Doll "Chloe". Couldn't resist since she was dressed as Snow White. Wrong, I know.

CO Trip at Park Meadows Mall

2011-07-27T13:38:00.001-07:00

Climbing at Park Meadows Mall 4-5-11

"Think we can reach all those coins?"

4-5-11

Eric struggles with keeping his eyes open for pics even if it's cloudy--so all things considered he did pretty well. 4-5-11

Still going through old pictures. Probably going to be awhile before I'm caught up. We usually end up here at the Park Meadows Mall at some point during our trip with Mike to Denver. It has an American Girl store which Haven is just getting into with her Bitty Twin Chloe. Speaking of Chloe, there's a picture of her to come.

Train Trip in April

2011-07-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Of course, I always forget these are going to be backwards. Oh well. There was a guy coming through serenading everyone. He stopped and sang, "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys for us."

Kim and Haven trying to get out of the wind on the open air car.

Of the kids, only Eric loved the wind and noise of the open air platform. Surprise, surprise.

The boys showing us the open air platform right behind the engine.

Here's the dome car we rode in. We're stopped at LaVeta for about an hour. We got ice cream at the old fashioned soda fountain at Charlie's.

Everyone looking out. Love this.

Here we are.

4-2-2011 About to board the train.

Hi all,

Still trying to make my way through pictures. Mike has to go to Denver in August this year so we couldn't go in June like we were planning. So we went with him over Spring Break instead the 1st week of April. We headed out on a Thursday night right after school and stayed in N. Platte. Then we drove to Alamosa, CO on Friday with a detour at Focus on the Family's Whit's End in CO Springs. Love that place! Spent Friday and Saturday night in Alamosa with an awesome all day train trip to LaVeta via the LaVeta pass on Saturday. We'd been planning this for years and were waiting for a good age for everyone since it is definitely not inexpensive. It was great! The boys loved it. We reserved seats in the dome car which had an awesome, awesome view. Plus we'd reserved this huge booth the train crew called the banana seat. It seated all 6 of us plus 2 tables. The kids could kneel and look out as much as they wanted. Awesome time! It was a doubledecker car with the seats above and a dining car with a really nice bathroom (for a train) below.

My Niece, Kim, was along again this year to help nanny since Mike works so much during the week. We wouldn't have made it this time without her. We saw Mike for about 5 minutes Monday, Tuesday, and didn't see him for much more on Wednesday. Plus we had to stay out of our 2 bedroom suite in the evenings for noise control so he could work. Kim was a lifesaver. Love her.

Shae

A few Pictures from March

2011-07-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Mike & the Kids 3-26-11

Haven "Shoveling" the Backyard 3-25-11

Eric at his day job. Errr...well just impersonating Daddy. Really!
3-25-11

Hi all,

I'm so, so, far behind on even just organizing pictures let alone anything else related to that cause. I'm currently labeling pics from March. Here's a couple of cute ones.

2011-06-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I know it's been like a year since we posted last. I'm also about 7 months behind in just going through pictures if that clues you in. While I was doing said action, I found this picture and couldn't resist. It's too good not to share. This was back in December, but too cute! Haven loves dress-up, but this day she combined many elements of many costumes. She thought she was bootiful...which she is.

Shae

Christmas Letter 1 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends & Family,

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope you had a wondrous year. Ours flew by trying to keep up with the 3 munchkins, Mike’s work schedule, and all of our church activities. Also we said goodbye to our faithful friend, Dasha (our dog) in September. She was 11 years old. The kids took it pretty hard, but are looking forward to when Mom and Dad allow another puppy in the house (probably a few years away at this point).

Well, this is the long promised update to the blog in the form of our Christmas letter. There are 6 total posts with lots of pictures which you can click on to see larger. You may need to click on “Older Posts” at the bottom of each page to see all the posts. The last thing you should see is the boys in their judo gi’s. We hope you enjoy catching up on life with us!

Have a Blessed Christmas,

The Dalkes

Christmas Letter 2 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Shae is still uber involved with the kids’ different schools and at church with choir, MOPS table leader, co-leader of our young families Sunday school class, and co-leader of our small group (which isn’t so small anymore at 38—16 adults & 22 little kids).

Shae & Haven

Mike & The Boys with Our Snowman Family

Eric the Knight, Ethan the King, and Haven the Princess (Belle) in the Kingdom of Basementdom. Funny thing is this represents each of our kids' personalities pretty well.

The Boys in their "Robot" costumes they made from boxes.

The Kids at Ethan's School Ball

Christmas Letter 3 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

Mike still enjoys hunting turkey and deer and is still a Manager of Systems Administration (computers) at CSG. He traveled to Denver more this year. One of the trips was during Spring Break so the rest of the family went to Branson with Shae’s family for the week.

at the park in Branson

at the Grand Village in Branson

the Kids on the 4th of July

Christmas Letter 4 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

During another of Mike's work trips, we all went with him including Shae’s niece, Kim—so it was 6 people to Colorado for 16 days. Whew, that was a lot of packing, but we had a nice time. Mike worked the first week, and then we were able to go on to Silverthorne which included Breckenridge founder’s days. The kids got to pan for gold, ride a donkey, practice their roping skills, and pet a wolf (well ½ wolf anyway). We also went to Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park and CO Springs where we took the Cog Railway up Pike’s Peak, played at Whit’s End at Focus on the Family, hiked at the Garden of the Gods, visited Glen Eyrie Castle, and ate at Solo’s Restaurant--known as the Airplane restaurant to the kids since you can eat inside a real airplane.

At Estes Park

Riding the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak

Hiking at the Garden of the Gods

Part of the Airplane Inside the Restaurant at Solo's. We ate in a booth inside the airplane. Fun for the kids.

Christmas Letter 5 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Haven at 2 can talk your socks off and she’ll gladly repeat everything you say many, many, times. She started toddler time one day a week at Eric’s preschool, and is into anything girly—especially Belle the Disney princess, Dora, and playing dress-up. She can sass and boss about anyone’s pants off too. We’re working on that last part.

Eric is 5, is in his last year of preschool, and thinks he’s a cowboy (and a pretty darn cute one at that). He was even able to wear a pair of cowboy boots for Halloween that Mike had as a kid. Eric is still our rough and tumble kid that can usually be found leaping off of some surface with a perfect landing (well most of the time).

Ethan is 7, in the 1^st grade, and really, really, into the Nebraska Cornhusker Football team. He thought it was pretty special the day Roy Helu Jr., Nebraska's top running back came to our church to speak, but he thought it was totally awesome when he got his picture taken with him. We hear Helu's name cheered a lot during the games.

Christmas Letter 6 of 6 Posts

2010-12-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

The boys (and Mike) continued with judo/mixed martial arts and have a lot of fun fishing together, backpacking together, and doing other manly things like wrestling and putting up Christmas lights together. The boys also started soccer this year and continued with swimming lessons. We all enjoy going to things like the zoo, SAC Air museum, Durham the train museum, and the Children’s Museum.

Ready for Soccer

Backpacking

Boys in Their Judo Gi's

A New Post Finally

2010-04-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

These pics show my kiddos all in character. Ethan being creative, building something out of Legos. 3-27-10

Eric goofing around doing something physical--in this case 2 things he loves--balls and boxes. 3-27-10

Haven posing for a pic. She can "cheese" with the best of them. As soon as she sees the camera, she assumes the position--and heads straight for in front of the fireplace and pastes on a smile.

3-28-10

Hi all,

I know it's been months since I posted last. I've heard about it from many of you as well. You never know how many people read this thing until you miss your monthly update. LOL!

Well here's a few pics since I just downloaded the camera and have been going through them. I don't know if I'll ever go back and catch you up on the months missed, but here's a few at least. Hopefully I'll add more over the coming days.

Haven is now 22 months. She runs everywhere, talks a ton, and is really getting into dollies, especially the ones with long hair that can be combed. She loves to push them around in her doll stroller. She plays in her play kitchen a lot as well cooking us up surprises or pouring us tea. She thinks Dora is pretty cool and can pretty much name all the major Disney princesses although I don't think she's even seen any of the movies yet, including Cinderella. She's kind of at the mercy of her brothers' choices for TV/movie viewing at this point. Plus they have most of their TV time during her nap to keep things reasonably quiet for her. She's really into slides, but thinks that swings are scary all of a sudden this Spring. Huh? Just a phase I'm sure.

She thinks she looks "pretty" anytime her hair is in pigtails or has any embellishments, if she's wearing a play necklace, or wearing any kind of dress-up clothes, or dresses. She's definitely girly, but still likes to run with the boys.

See ya for now!

Merry Christmas 2009 (Christmas Letter)

2009-12-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

There is no snow on the ground but the fantastic neighborhood lights are all pointing to the holiday season. Additionally right now Shae is practicing some beautiful choir music for this year’s Christ Community Church musical. We always enjoy the type of music which fosters sentiments of gratefulness for the true meaning of Christmas.

Shae still works as a CHO (Chief Home Officer). However, her company Ethan and Eric Industries, LLC, merged about a year ago with another company to form EEH International, Inc. The primary shareholders are talking about going public as I write. Though she is an executive, Shae’s job looks amazingly, like an admin assistant to three other up and coming executives. All three primary shareholders of EEH International, Inc. have different schools or schedules and they bring home a mountain of paperwork (crafts and handouts) daily. Add to that meeting cancelations for sick days and doctor visits, the only thing she is missing is booking international air travel. No wait, she’s done that too. She also is busy as a MOPS table leader, choir, bible studies, and co-leading our Small Group and young families Sunday school at church.

The 2009 spring was a blast. The boys reached a new level of fishing competency. Eric learned if he left his lure in the water, he would catch as many fish as his brother. We enjoyed a couple days at the trout pond and also discovered the lake ½ mile from our house is loaded with pan-fish and small channel catfish (they fight like sharks ). Shae’s nieces and nephew even made it out a couple of times to catch some of their first fish. It was not uncommon to have 3 fish on 3 different poles at once with daddy/uncle Mike running amongst them with pliers and new bait. Mike was also blessed with a respectable Spring turkey and 2 Fall deer.

Over the summer we played in the backyard family pool and city pools a much as we could. Early June seemed to be monopolized by our baby girl’s 1st birthday party. You’ve never seen so much pink in one place. As you can imagine Haven is a growing little lady. She started walking the day before turning 14 months and was running within a month. She is saying many words. However, she responds with “NO!” to most all inquires regardless of the context.

As the summer continued, Ethan turned 6 in July. He loves Kindergarten, is reading very well, and is a whiz at math. Ethan has also set himself apart at Awana’s Sparks as a high achieving memory verse memorizer. He found out you could memorize future weeks’ verses and earn vest awards (jewels) ahead of schedule; and the rest was history. Mike has also worked with the boys during their bible story time (morning) and daily devotions (evening) time, and now they can go on for about 10 minutes quoting memorized verses.

For once there was a cousin’s wedding within a day’s driving distance that Shae wasn’t in late pregnancy for, so we made it to her cousin’s Chicago wedding over the 4th of July. The two towheads made a great impression on the reception dance floor. Both boys have unique styles of dancing. Ethan was a natural at Mr. Robot. Eric reminded us of Animal from the Muppets who could break-dance. Following the wedding 4 cousin’s families (7 adults, 12 kids) joined forces to brave the Chicago trains and went downtown to see the Chicago Field Museum and some authentic pirate treasure from the famed Whydah shipwreck. We also continued to the Wisconsin Dells and enjoyed more swimming, some Paul Bunion flapjacks, the deer park, and riding the Duck boats.

As fall kicked off we beat the streets in search of candy. Our motley crew showed no mercy. It is amazing when you bring a Power Ranger (Ethan), Pirate (Eric), and Kitty (Haven), even bold and daring home owners cower in fear and give large offerings of candy. The natives practiced their pillaging at Mike’s company holding each manager for ransom, as long as the manager had a cute orange paper pumpkin thumb-tacked outside their office door.

Eric is in Awana Cubbies at and earning lots of patches. Eric attends Sonshine Christian Preschool 2 days a week where he’s doing great. Eric turned 4 in November. As some of you might recall we returned from Vietnam just prior to Eric’s birthday last year. As a result we celebrated our 1st “Family Day” Anniversary in October since Haven joined our family a year ago.

In typical fashion the boys find great enjoyment beating on each other, their friends, and their dad if his back is turned. Though there were wrestling “time and place” rules in existence, they were very difficult to enforce. Amongst the prior mentioned statement and other reasons, they boys are taking martial arts lessons. Their cousin CJ is also a regular attender. The boys have also really enjoyed the 14’ trampoline Shae found (really cheap) at a moving sale.

Dasha (our dog) continues to slow down. Other than being sway-back it is very difficult to judge age with the Samoyed breed. She looks great, but has the motivation of a 10 year old (70’s).

We just celebrated 3 years in our new house, two years in Mike’s latest position with his company as a Manager of Systems Admin., and will celebrate 11 years of marriage in January. We’re also grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus and pray that we, our children, and our friends and family will grow in our relationship with Him.

Merry Christmas,
Mike, Shae, Ethan, Eric, and Haven

Haven at 17 Months, Halloween, Eric's Birthday

2009-11-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Whew! It's been a busy month since we posted last. We began to laugh about phone calls on Wednesdays. Those calls brought us guests for the weekend immediately following for 4 weeks in a row. It was fun to see friends and family and less travel for us...just lots of cleaning--which if we don't have an incentive doesn't happen, so it's all good! LOL!

Well we celebrated Halloween over a 2 weekend period starting with Ethan's school party (which I helped at) and Trick or Treating at Mike's office. Then the next weekend we hosted Shae's clan to celebrate Halloween and Eric's birthday. He's always asking when his party is, so we had to oblige. I actually do feel a bit bad for him. There's so many Summer birthdays amongst the cousins on both sides (and 2 of his siblings & Daddy) that there is many times one big party or several smaller parties. The Fall birthdays do seem to get left out. He always looks so forlorn that I think I try extra hard when it's his birthday.

It was quite the houseful for Halloween night as well. Shae's sister is early on in studying to be a nurse and was taking her CNA certification over 5 weekends including Halloween. So we had 7 kids and one college kid (Shae's cousin who is in college here in town) in costume going door to door. Haven had figured this out pretty well starting with Mike's office Trick or Treating on the 23rd. She was quite upset when the time came to an end that day. She did better Halloween night.

Then on Eric's actual birthday we just had a nice night at home with our family. The following week (it was our first night free after his birthday) we went to Pizza Machine which has become a birthday tradition for the kids. It's pretty expensive so we try and reserve it for the birthdays (and save up our coupons).

This week Wednesday we went to Coco Keys, an indoor waterpark the likes of a Great Wolf Lodge just on a smaller scale. They'd been offering free admission (which saved us between $60-$100 hence why we hadn't gone yet) if you arrived between 3-5pm Monday thru Thursday for about a month and this was the last week. You could then stay to close at 9pm. The catch is that they reach capacity about 15 minutes after the doors open, and I knew this was not something I was going to try without Mike. Ethan gets out early on Wednesdays so we zoomed right after that and met Mike at the water park. It was kind of crazy with all those people and catering to our different ages--the boys like the water slides and Haven likes the lazy river and maybe the Zero Entry pool. We did have fun, but arrived home exhausted after 8pm. Hey got to get your money worth. Um right, since it was free. Oh well!

Haven's jabbering up a storm with new words like bubble, neigh, book, thank you, ball, and lots of others sprinkled in amongst the jibber jabber. Some of "her" words are also changing like ba to ba'l which is now 2 syllables instead of one (just missing the 't' sound) for bottle. She also calls her sippy of water, 'bo_ _le (ba'l). She calls her blankie may (or nay--I'm not quite sure but she'll respond to may), and she's very attached to it as well to a little black plush dog (Abby). She carries around her babies some and gives lots of air kisses to her animals, babies, and family members with the appropiate "mwaa" sound. She also likes to play with whatever the boys are playing with that she can't have. Hmmmm... She can climb up on the couch by herself, but still can't remember to get down backwards which we are trying to work on. She loves running to the door when Mike gets home with a big "Daddeee," which I know melts his heart. She talks on her phone and likes to carry around a "purse" or bag. She LOVES to take off her shoes and socks, especially in the car, much to Mom's delight especially on errand days where we make up to 5-6 stops. That's my tropical girl. She's still a good eater and loves the kid junk foods like mac & cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets. Good thing she doesn't get to eat them very often. She still loves books and will bring them to you to read frequently.

Well, Thanksgiving is next week and I think we're in 3 cities in 3 days with 3 kids. Ha! Wish us luck!

Enjoy the pics below. Just click on one to see it larger.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Shae

Halloween Pics

2009-11-20T13:43:00.001-08:00

10/23/09. Trick or Treat at Mike's work. Taken in his office.

10/23/09. Haven looking happier now that she could play with her candy.

10/23/09. Cheesy grin.

Happy Birthday Eric!

2009-11-20T13:36:00.001-08:00

10/30/09. Mike reading to the kiddos.

11/3/09. Eric's 4th Birthday!

11/3/09. Mike & Haven chillin'.

11/3/09. Eric opening his presents.

Pizza Machine

2009-11-20T13:28:00.001-08:00

11/5/09. Mike & Shae went to White Christmas the musical at the Orpheum. Their 1st musical since before the kids.

11/11/09. at Pizza Machine. Look at the screen of the Mariokart video game. Eric's trying to get his face lined up.

11/11/09. Haven having fun on the carousel at Pizza Machine.

11/11/09. Eric & Mike on the Go-Karts at Pizza Machine.

Haven's Homecoming Anniversary

2009-11-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

11/02/09. Riding home from the airport. Haven's 1st time in a carseat.

Some of Haven's welcoming committee at the airport! Plus another crowd arrived a minute later.
Haven finally met her two brothers.
Family of 5.

Hi all,

Today, we're celebrating the 1 Year Anniversary of Haven's homecoming. Mike, Shae, and Haven landed back in Omaha on November 2 just in time for Eric's 3rd birthday on November 3rd (a huge answer to prayer). It was the day our family of 5 was finally all together in one place.

Blessings,
Shae

Happy Family Day Haven!

2009-10-21T14:27:00.001-07:00

10/4/09. Haven now...and then.

8/8/08. Haven's Referral Picture at almost 2 Months Old.

10/19/08. Haven at 4 months and 1 week old when we first saw her.

Hi all,

Haven is 16 months. Last year at this time, Mike and I were in Vietnam, and the boys were in SD with Dave & Sherry (Mike's brothers family). I know I'm a bit late posting. However, I wanted to wait so I could post about her Family Day Anniversary as well.

Mike and I left Omaha on Thursday the 16th of October. We'd driven the boys to SD on Tuesday and had gone back to Omaha on Wednesday. We landed in Vinh, Vietnam in the middle of a monsoon (literally--I've never ever seen rain like that before) on Sunday, October 19th with our first tarmac (not gateway) plane exit. We drove to the orphanage up in the mountains and by that evening we were driving away with our baby girl in our arms. The next day it was official. We landed back in Omaha on Sunday, November 2nd to a big welcoming party just in time for Eric's 3rd birthday on the 3rd. It's sometimes hard to remember that she came home differently than the boys. We're very busy running after 3 little ones, but our hearts are very full. What a blessing! It also makes us think of Haven's birthmom and all she had to give up for our family to be what it is. We're thankful for her loving choices and to our Heavenly Father for Preserving Haven in a Safe Place. Little Hanh Phuc sure lived up to her name meanings (Haven's Vietnamese name for those that need a reminder) of Happiness and Blessed from Above. She is quite the happy little girl.

Well, on to what Haven is up to. She's running all over the place getting into lots of fun stuff and keeping Mommy really busy. She loves to help which like most toddlers is super sweet but not exactly helpful. She's also getting a bit sassy which is probably good considering the rest of us. She says lots of words, but not always together, and doesn't always repeat the same ones. She knows lots of animal sounds as well. She loves to read books. We hear this from the church nursery as well. We also hear from any nursery worker that is with Haven for the morning how much of a joy it is to be with her. She really is such a sweet little girl (and we're not the only ones who think so--LOL!) She loves to sing, dance, and play our piano on tiptoe unless Mommy holds her. She seems to still be slimming down so for those that like to know her sizes (Grandmas) she's wearing 24 month one-piece outfits and 18 month separates although many of her shirts would be 24 months. She's really long.

Our Family Day celebration was kind of spread out over a few days. Mike is on-call all week Monday to Monday so we went out to a local Vietnamese restaurant on Sunday for lunch after early church. Then we spent the evening out at one of the State Parks enjoying probably the last nice day of the year. Monday night (her actual Gotcha Day) we had a little cake and each kiddo got a couple of small presents. Haven's will be things from Vietnam and related to Vietnam each year.

There's lots of pictures so enjoy. You can click on an image to see it larger. It's fun to see how much she's changed in a year from the above pics to the ones below.

Blessings,
Shae

Carnival Games, Orchard & Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

9/11/09. Eric found this game at a garage sale. The boys played it for weeks. It's one of those claw carnival games that never gives you a toy. This one actually does.

9/26/09. At Ditmar's Orchard and Pumpkin Patch.

9/26/09. Haven posing with the pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch and Hungry Hippos

2009-10-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

9/26/09. All 3 kiddos with their pumpkins.

9/26/09. My tough guys having fun climbing on the playground tractor tires at the Orchard.

9/27/09. Haven thought she should get to play Hungry, Hungry, Hippos. It's so funny watching her try and see over the edge of the table, and then she started to beg. Which if you haven't heard it, her begging is something like a cross between a siren and a whooping gibbon. (monkey at our Children's Zoo--she really does sound like that and it's that loud!)

9/27/09. She was right. She was big enough to play. She did great!

Ethan's Teeth and Baby in Red

2009-10-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

9/28/09. Ethan's missing front teeth. He's missing even more now. He has to lose at least 3 baby teeth to make room for 2 big teeth.

10/2/09. Just posing.

10/4/09. I can't help it. How can you not photograph this baby in a red dress.

10/4/09. Haven being silly after Mom ended the red background photo shoot.