Smiling Faces, Funny Faces and a Broken Camera

The summer is flying by and tomorrow, Libby and I are flying to Charleston, SC to see my family. I haven't been in Charleston since Thanksgiving so this is a much needed trip to love on family. Billy has already left for the San Juan where he is "ministering" to the rainbow trout. HA!

Libby has enjoyed the camera this summer. She likes taking turns making funny faces and sharing the camera. One evening, after a long day of traveling, we were sitting in the airport desperate to find something for Libby to do. CAMERA TIME! I began taking pictures of her making funny faces and then she wanted me to make funny faces while she took the pictures. She started mimicking my funny faces and before we knew it, everyone sitting around us was in laughter watching this cute 2 year old make silly faces and then take a really nice Canon camera in hand to take pictures of mommy's funny face. It was fun... here's the proof:


funny face #1

funny face #2


now, it's mommy's turn


Libby mimics mommy's fake smile.


Mommy makes the most famous and most uncreative funny face - stick out the tongue!


Libby tries the same... only her tongue sticking out is much cuter.


oh, hold on! Mom's getting really creative now.


Libby, confused by the amazing creativity previously executed, forgets to use her hands in the photo and simply opens wide.


Hopelessly unable to think on the spot... mom tries the hand thing again... only weirder...

Libby is now brainwashed and completely crazy just like her mom.

Suddenly realizing the eyes darting our way, we decide to embrace normalcy and smile for daddy to take a pic.

This summer we had a few special people on the road with our band. First, let me introduce Kennedy. Her daddy is our drummer and she joined us on our 2nd. week of camp. Libby was, of course, elated to have a friend for the journey.


Second, let me introduce MarySommer. She is our electric player's new wife and she was our nanny during camps. Libby ADORES her! And so do we. She was an AWESOME help! She played with Libby all day every day. Thank you MarySommer!






Libby took this picture of MarySommer and I. It was the last picture of the summer because Libby then proceeded to drop the camera on it's lens and now it's broken...sigh. Billy's comment to me when I tried to explain how Libby broke the camera was, "well, technically, YOU broke the camera because you let a toddler hold it." Okay, I'll take that.

Here's couple of other cute photos taken before the camera mishap... enjoy!

Daddy and Libby on the morning of the 4th of July!


Dakota, Maliah and Libby (on July 4th) came out of Mrs. Gill's bedroom wearing all of her slippers and flip flops. So cute!


One afternoon, in our new home, I realized Libby was awfully quiet. I searched the house and this is how I found her - on the potty, "reading" a book - "just like daddy" she said. HAHA!


Me and my girl!


Lastly, I recently received an email including the following information about Xuwen - the town in China that Libby is from. I found the information comforting in some way. It is just good to know what her biological parents might be doing and what surrounds them.

"He said it is a seaport with alot of fish & plant farms. If they aren't
fisherman they are farmers. The main fruits are Watermellon, pineapple
and Banannas. The only problem with Banannas it is the same season as
Typhoon season. If they are hit with a typhoon then it ruins their
bananna crops. They also have a big leechee farm and they also grow
sugar cane. They grow all kinds of vegtables and garlic. There is
alot of water buffalo that roams around and when the kids come home
from school they help take care of the livestock (waterbuffalo,
chickens, ducks, etc.). It is a pretty poor area, no industry."

The "Dora" Influence

Libby recently said a couple of things that were so cute and entirely influenced by "Dora the Explorer" that I had to post about them so as not to forget how funny she can be.

On "Dora the Explorer" there is a character named Swiper who tries to swipe things from Dora. On the way to visit with one of Libby's sweet friends (who sometimes teases Libby by touching me and saying "my momma") Libby looked a little sad sitting in her car seat. I said, "Libby, are you okay?" And Libby said, "Mia's gonna swipe my mommy." I reassured her that it wasn't possible for her friend to swipe me away from her, but she still didn't seem so sure.

Swiper also has a phrase he says often to Dora and it's "now you'll never find it!" On the way home from ClubRising last night I caught Libby picking her nose. I said, "Libby stop picking your nose." She promptly put her "find" in her mouth and said, "Now you'll never find my boogers."
I shouldn't have laughed out loud bc now she'll think it's cute to do such a horrible, disgusting thing... but I just couldn't hold back the laughter on that one.

Family Happiness!

Hello family and friends! I have some exciting news to share concerning my brother, Kelly Graham, and his wife, Carissa! They are pregnant!! I received a phone call a few weeks ago and wanted to share with everyone then, but had to wait until now. Yesterday I received the formal email announcement from Carissa and it said,

"I am pregnant!!!! I had my first Dr.'s appt. today. I am almost 9 weeks and our due date is February 19, 2009. The baby looks very healthy and its little heart was beating at 168 bpm. We even go to see it wiggle! We will find out if its a boy or a girl in mid-October. You can follow my pregnancy journey on my blog at: www.carissagraham.wordpress.com. I haven't posted anything in regards to the baby yet but I will soon! We are so excited and in awe of this beautiful gift God has given us!


Carissa included a few sonogram pictures of baby Graham. I can't wait to know if it's a boy or a girl!! I am so excited for them! Maybe the baby will be born a bit early and arrive on my birthday - Feb. 5!

Tears welled up in my eyes when I saw the sonogram because, though I don't know how old Aria is or if she is even conceived yet, I imagine that the two babies will not be far apart in age. I pictured that "cute little bean" being Aria and wondered - wondered at the magnificent power of God to create in such an amazing way - and wondered, how old is Aria? Is she a little bean right now too? And wondered - about Aria's birthmother and if she knows what is going on in her body right now.

I've asked Carissa to continue to send the sonogram pictures as she receives them so I can keep imaging the development of Aria along with "baby Graham" and pray for them both.

Congrats Kelly and Carissa! I can't believe my little brother is about to be a dad! I know they will both be incredible parents. It is a journey of such beauty, joy and exhaustion and more joy that it makes you feel like your heart is going to burst sometimes. And in addition, parenting reveals so much to us about God's love for us and how He desires for us to live and respond to His love. You can't really know that kind of love until you are in the midst of it. It changes you forever - in the best of ways!

Stayed tuned for more on the adventure...

About a Friend with Cancer and How You Can Help!

A few days ago, I received the following email from our dear friends Brad and Tami Williams. We met Brad and Tami in Evergreen, CO when we were on staff at a church there. They were on our praise team and, truly, they breathed life and humor into our lives during a vulnerable, difficult time in our lives. Here's what Tami wrote. The bold print is added by me for those of you who are scanning this post. Don't want anyone to miss this just in case you are the one person who can make a difference in this situation:

"Need your prayers again. Brad's cancer is back with a vengance. He was totally clear just in Mid-May, but had a lymph node on his cheek pop out about 4 weeks ago. He was having a tooth issue on that side so all drs. said it probably was just trying to help the infection and it should go away. Last week when it hadn't gone away a week and a half after dental work was done, he was checked and the cancer is back. At this time we will be talking to MDAnderson about a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. Our prayer request is to find a donor match. His two sisters are the best shots at 25%, then Katie and his dad would be a longer shot but possible. Then if none of those match it is a 1 in 10,000 chance to find a match. We have pretty good insurance for this but the out of pocket we KNOW about right now is about $30,000 That doesn't cover all since Brad will be out of work for 6 to 7 months and I will have to be gone for about 2 months to be caregiver again. We are hoping to wait until closer to next summer but we have to get the cancer back into remission and we have decided that if they call with a donor then we have to act. Sorta like you guys do when they call and say you have a baby waiting. You just go! We have set up a tax deductible dontation site but it isn't fully running until Monday. Check his blog for details.. www.bvwilliams.com Just wanted you guys to know,pray, spread the word...maybe just someone you know will be a match or have extra $$ just sitting around to donate!!! Love you guys, would love to see you too......tami

Please visit Brad's site and at the very least - PRAY!!!!! If you can help financially, please do! This family is so dear. They have had the most godly response to this cancer. They have handled it with dignity and humility and they have given God glory through it all. I pray somehow this post will reach just the right people who can breath hope and life back into this family.

Blessings,
Cindy Foote