Let the Oregon vacation begin!!!

A trip to Oregon almost always includes time at The Thomas Residence.  I sleep in the guest room right next to Dylan's room.  Oh how I love waking up to a squeaky three year old voice shouting, BULINDA???  BULINDA??? I'm ready to get up now!!!

We had some bonding in our jammies and watching Thomas The Train.



We eventually ate breakfast, got dressed and headed to downtown Portland.  Lindsey had an appointment.  So I took Dylan on a little shopping spree.  

This boy never stops talking.  And I LOVE his antics!!!  All through Nordstrom Rack he was shouting commentary.  Uh Buhlinda, that's a pretty shirt.... I like those shoes... I have to go potty... 

We ate a yummy lunch at Chipotle.  (With our shades on).  And then Lindsey drove me to Dana's house.  Dylan put on his sad face and said, I don't want Buhlinda to leave our house.  Love that boy!

Linds and I.  My beautiful friend!

Memphis James ~ Part Two

After sleeping in (three boys who sleep in? My kind of kids!) we went to a field trip to The Waffle House ~ my request!

Waffles with chocolate chips, please!

Travis' mom, Ms. Marie, made me this beautiful cake. A white cake with white frosting. MY FAVORITE!!!!

Memphis thought the cake was ALL for him! I shared.

Yummy!

ALL DONE!

Shelby James ~ Part One

And Shelby James makes the family compete! His name is inspired by Shelby County, Tennessee (which Memphis / St. Jude is located). Shelby is four weeks old and precious!

He still has many of the baby wrinkles that disappear too soon, has the newborn cry (although not often) and is a humongous cuddle bug!

I think that Shelby is a blend of his big sister and brothers.

Momo Monkey and Shelby's parents had to fight me for Mr. Shelby. It's easy to be super helpful and willing to do baby duty when it's only very short-term! I forgot just how little newborns are. It's crazy to think that my baby sister has Baby Elle growing in her tummy!

I'm frustrated that I can't get my photos to look like The Pioneer Woman's. (Or my other friends who are professionals! ) But, I'm trying. I need to learn to how to use Photoshop and keep practicing, practicing, practicing. I hear that Lighting is very important as is the shooting mode. Let me know if you are a willing volunteer!

Brotherly love

Sweet baby boy!

Everett (aka Bob the Builder...)

Everett Michael is my oldest childhood friend Tina's energizer bunny toddler. He's two, a new big brother, obsessed with tools and doing whatever his dad does. While visiting the Central Coast I spent a night at Everett's house.

I took the cutest photos of him Friday afternoon. Adorable. And... my camera was on the "demo mode" and missing the memory card. So... sigh... the precious moments I thought on film are gone. And can't be retrieved. Lesson learned! Thankfully I caught some cute shots while Everett and his dad worked on the planters in the front yard.

Ev's all ready to get down to business. He's got his work boots on and just returned from getting the necessary soil for the planters.



First, he stomps on the D.G. (which I learned stands for decomposed granite) for the walkway.

And he's off... with his shovel in tow!

He's ready for dad to show him how to hammer in the stakes.

Careful observation

And now some mallet action!

And now we're ready for the soil...

Lastly, add water (On "Evie pressure") Now the planters are all ready for passion fruit. (Everett's request.)

Taking a re hydration break...

...and ready to get back to work!

My RWANDA Montage

FINALLY!

Here is my Rwanda montage. The photos are set to songs sung my Rwandan kids! ENJOY!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day #9 ~ Byumba ~ Kids

A very full and fun day today! Tonight I was in the van by myself. It was cold and I was enjoying a little bit of quiet. Pastor Sam opened the door and said, "Mayleenduh... are you in here alone." I replied, "Yes." He said, "Wrong answer, Mayleenduh. You are never alone. God is with you!" I laughed and laughed. The man has a point!

This is my favorite picture of the trip... a sea of happy Rwandan kids!

Today we spent the day with over 350 children (many orphans) from Byumba. Kristen and I led songs, made beaded necklaces, colored and played outside. The kids sang and danced, red poetry (in English), played soccer and ran us all ragged!

These children are sponsored by Compassion International. They receive school uniforms and many school fees are also paid for.

Singing...

They colored pictures. We weren't prepared for the masses! We passed out 1 crayon to each child... and it wasn't long before they were all swapping with one another. No whining, no complaining... just sharing and enjoying a simple activity. The simplest of things bring such joy!

Some of the youngest...

We were very blessed to have the sun shine when we needed it... and the rain when we were (mostly) inside...

We passed out stickers and assumed they would know to put them on their sweaters or papers... and laughed out loud when they all sported them on their foreheads!

I love this shot... he's "snapping," my picture too!

We ate lunch at a church members house. She has twin sons (in the center) who dream of coming to America!

We passed out packages of biscuits and "bombo" (candy) to all of the kids. They lined up from youngest to oldest, all said thank you and then sat back down and waited until every last child received their treat. Such manners! I absolutely love that it is Rwandan culture that when food is made available, the youngest always eats first. This is so that the youngest have the best chance to grow.

At night we showed, The Jesus Film outside. The film is the most viewed Evangelistic movie in history and is distributed through Campus Crusade for Christ. It took a lot of patience and creative technical suaveness to get the film to run... with the help of a generator (which blew several times...) and the kids showed up in droves to watch it. It was nearly 10:00 at night when the film ended. The kids walked home in pairs... some over 2 hours... to go home for the night. They will return in the morning.

We all had to laugh... the kids ran around chanting, "Kris-teen-uh, Just-een-y- May-leen-duh!" and following us everywhere. At one point our driver / bodyguard / translator grabbed a stick and literally shoed them away! I had kids on my back, on both legs, holding both hands... saying, "May-leen-duh.... May-leen-duh..." CLASSIC!