First Sleepover!

Daniel experienced his first sleepover recently with our Brazilian friends, Larissa and Daniel and their sons Alex (7) and Dylan (3). The boys were SO excited and fell asleep at about 11 pm and woke up at 5 am to play!!! Us adults played buraco (Brazilian card game) until 2 am. On the next day, we got home before lunch and slept all afternoon! It was so much fun and we can't wait to ave the next sleepover in August.

Larissa is such a sweet friend. Since my birthday was coming up, she made a cake and the family sang Happy Birthday to me! Daniel's birthday (the father) is a few days after mine so we also celebrated him!

Amigos, estamos todos com saudades de voces, volta logo!

Pocomoke!

A month ago, we spent a wonderful 24 hours with our friends Jessi and Paul (I have known Jessi since I was 11, when I lived in Sri-Lanka!), their two sons Dylan (6) and Lucas (2), and Paul's parents Rose and Paul in their home in Pocomoke. Jessi and Paul were visiting from Hawaii and we stayed with them at Paul's parents' home, which is right on the river -- so beautiful! We spent a lot of time on boats; either cruising down the river (night and day), fishing, speed boating, and water skiing! It was a very fun and full 24 hours together!

Night view from the boat!

Yummy breakfast prepared by Rose -- what a wonderful host!

First time fishing for Daniel!

Jessi water-skiing -- she's a pro!

My turn water-skiing -- it had been about 19 years since the last time in Singapore!

Jonny water-skiing for the first time ever!

Yummy asparagus!

Thank you Jessi and Paul for all these wonderful memories!

Yay, look who is here!

Celebrating 4th of July together!

MB: It's pajama day at karate school today!

MB: Daniel's Self Portrait

We are impressed by this, especially since he's been reluctant to draw, color or write for a while. It's a breakthrough indeed. Congratulations Daniel!

Recent Times to Remember...

We have been busy visiting friends and doing other fun things at the weekends. Recently, we went to visit our friends/neighbours in Laurel again -- we miss them so much but have kept in touch. It was wonderful to see the Sliwinskis and then the Zaveris (who cooked us a wonderful dinner). Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the Zaveris but managed to take some photos of baby Lena (6 months old; she looks just like Enya looked as a baby!) and Enya (age 4).

We had a fun time playing with water colors the other day. It was Daniel's idea and it we all enjoyed it. I'm not naturally a "crafty" mother but I do always like it when we do something creative together. And Jonny really gets into it too!

We also had a lovely time visiting the Purcells recently; we hadn't seen them in a while and it was so nice to get together again - we love them so much! Here are some fun photos of Daniel showing them his karate moves!

I Love You Daddy!

My dad sent me some photos from our time in Brasilia this past January and my favorite one is this one:




I didn't expect it to be so cold in the evenings there so I had to borrow his pajama! I love you Daddy! And I'm missing you very much...

This is Daniel Today at Karate School...

 

Daniel was SO excited to have his first "fight" during class and wear a head guard. He said he was a Star Wars trooper and that they were fighting with lightsabers! It's so much fun having a little boy!

Memorial Day 2012

It was Memorial Day here recently and as we do every year, we visited Jonathan David's grave, cleaned it and put new flowers. This year Daniel understood why we were there and asked many details about his brother, death and Heaven.

It was very special and it's amazing how we've been having such deep conversations with Daniel about this at only age 4. And what has been so touching is that he truly loves his brother and misses him so much, even though he never met him. We cried together recently, missing Jonathan David, and it was healing for both of us.

Daniel wanted to put the flowers himself and didn't want to leave the Memorial Park. He wanted to walk around, ask questions and just be... we stayed there for more than an hour.

Going to the Memorial Park every year is always a good reminder of how fragile and temporary life is. It helps us remember that there is so much more to life than all the things we are preoccupied with. It helps us focus on what really matters, our relationship with God and being ready to go to Heaven when it is our time.