Thursday, October 22, 2009

Goodbye, Red Sled!

In March, we said goodbye to one of the most generous gifts we’ve ever been given…our big Red Van (a.k.a. the Red Sled). Some very dear friends and families that Jon served as a youth pastor refurbished and gifted this vehicle to us. What a blessing! When the air conditioner completely went out last summer, though, we knew it was only a matter of time…No air plus a toddler (plus a few other problems) means time for a ‘new’ vehicle. We were sad to see it go, and we hope that the lady who bought it from us will enjoy it as much as we did! To those of you who helped give us this gift…we can never thank you enough!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Disney World with Grandma and Grandpa! (2/2)

Here's the second part of the post on our January Disneyworld Trip...

Caroline really loved watching the Playhouse Disney show.





Here we caught Mickey's Share a Dream Come True Parade in the Magic Kingdom.



Ready for Epcot!



Now that’s just cute.



Goofy turned out to be a favorite on this trip! Maybe it’s the resemblance to Daddy...:)



No, this is not in the wrong blog entry. This angry bird, who we nicknamed Willis, tried to steal Jonathan’s beloved Fish and Chips. He gets them in Great Britain every time we are in Epcot. Jon, I mean...not the bird.



What a lovely surprise! We happened upon Belle strolling through a garden in her home country of France. Bonjour, Belle!



We capped off the week with a character dinner at Chef Mickey’s. What a treat it turned out to be! The one on one with the characters was fun, and the food was delicious! We’re talking full out gourmet All-American...but done buffet style. And of course all the yummy Disney dessert you could want.









A little shopping after dinner :)



After a long, fun week, Caroline and Grandpa finally crash out in the lobby of the Contemporary...while we take in the Magic Kingdom fireworks through the huge glass window. What a great trip!



-Beth

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Disney World with Grandma and Grandpa! (1/2)

In January, we headed for Orlando! We thought we would escape the bitter TN winter, and some days we did, but we were hit with temps in the 40’s on a couple of days. Oh well, we still had a blast laughing and avoiding the unexpected crowds together!

We stayed off of Disney property for the first time in about 20 years. Although we missed some of the 'magic', it turned out to be a great experience! We had plenty of room to spread out, etc. And the place had a great Disney theme for Caroline!



Caroline listened to every word Princess Aurora had to say!







Of course, she smiled for Belle...her favorite princess at the time!



Caroline’s one request was to ride the ‘pirate ride’. We really have no idea why or how she got this in her head. It was a tad scary, but she made it through! She would sing “Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate like-a me!” (the words are ‘a pirate’s life for me’).



Riding the teacups is totally great!



She completely crashed during the fireworks :)



What toddler doesn’t love meeting Pooh and friends??!! Caroline was so excited she ran to each to give them a hug. Here is a picture mid-jump...showing Tigger she can bounce like him.



Caroline spots her favorite mouse in Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade!




check out the rest at the next post...

-Beth

Monday, October 19, 2009

Dyeing Eggs

Caroline’s first experience with dyeing Easter eggs was at her class in Lenoir City. Here she is concentrating very hard on her color choices. Special thank you’s go out to Miss Sharon and Miss Maricel for their incredible patience!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Beth’s First Haiti Trip

Ok, people, so I did it! I took the plunge and went to Haiti with Jon in March. This was kind of big for me for a couple of reasons – not the smallest of which was leaving Caroline for several nights for the first time, plus a substantial fear of flying that has developed since I had Caroline. Thank you to all of you who had been praying for us…we had a really great trip…I definitely enjoyed seeing firsthand the people that Jonathan is working to help every day.
We met with so many ministries, I am left wanting to describe them all to you. Instead I will just sum up my overall impression of the country and the people we met there. There are a lot of problems facing Haiti. And I mean, a lot. The issues the country faces are deep rooted in a socio-political climate that does not have an easy fix. BUT…there are people that hold out hope for the future of Haiti. These people are affecting change within their own country. They are working to restore lives and build for tomorrow!!! We are so fortunate to get to spend time with these ‘movers and shakers’. Here are a few highlights…
We were able to have dinner with some staff from Compassion, along with three young adults who have come through the child sponsorship program. One young man who grew up in one of Port au Prince’s most dangerous slums is now studying business at a local university. The young lady in the group is almost done with her schooling to become a nurse. The last young man is an OBGyn in his residency year – these doctors are so in need that this young man already has experience performing twelve to fourteen c-sections a night! They were such a testament to the work of this organization. Here we are with this amazing group of young people.



Here we are with the wonderful staff and community advisors for the WorldVision Acodet project. This group serves hundreds of children in a rural area. They happily showed us some of the amazing things that are happening at their project…such as the integration of a few computers for the children, and a self-sustaining farm that is run by community members who also benefit from the crops and livestock being cultivated there.



By far the coolest thing that we got to do on this trip was visit the child that we sponsor at the Acodet project. Estevenson is the coolest kid! He is fourteen, and a little shy. We got to talk for about thirty minutes. He wanted to know a lot about us…we kept asking him about his interests, etc., but he would turn it around on us and ask us to describe ourselves! He wants to be an engineer when he grows up, and travel all around the world. All in all, it was a moving experience to be welcomed by Estevenson’s family and community. They even chopped down two fresh coconuts for us to drink from. His mother told me, “I pray for you every day.” How humbling is that?

Jonathan and Estevenson…now good friends!



Jon showed Estevenson pictures of Caroline on his iphone.



Drinking the coconut juice with our translator, Paul (who was awesome btw)



We also visited the Belloc community where our friend is trying to get a school and feeding program started. I wanted to be sure and include this photo of us with some of the children at Belloc, since some of you will be helping fund this project soon. These kids are precious! If you are interested in getting them in school and we haven’t talked to you about it yet…let us know by all means! We will hook you up…



As is customary in Haiti : ) , we did get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Between Jonathan and our fantastic driver, we were back on the road before dusk!



And last, and definitely least, is me preparing for what I deemed, ‘the flight of doom’. Our pilot was fantastic and joked with me the whole way; plus I had a wonderful Haitian lady riding beside me (a World Vision disaster relief coordinator)….she talked me through the whole thing.…but I was sooooo happy to get my feet back on the ground! An even crazier thought is that Jonathan flew the plane for about 10 minutes! The World Vision folks kindly kept that information from me until we were landed : )



Well, with all the excitement of the trip, we were exhausted and certainly glad to get home to Caroline, but we wouldn’t trade the experience…it was definitely eye-opening. Of course Jon had seen Haiti many times before, but to see it together…and to meet Estevenson…those are two blessings we never dreamed would happen so soon!


-Beth

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Beach with Friends

In March, we were blessed to take an impromptu trip with the Robinson and Floyd families to Watercolor, FL. The trip could not have been more fun! The weather was perfect, and although the water was freezing (seriously, like, think creek in the Smokies cold), it was so amazingly clear…we just couldn’t resist jumping right in! Caroline had a blast playing with her friends Brianna, Alexandra, Kate, and Anna. She loved building sandcastles and jumping in the waves. It was a blast!
Alexandra shows Caroline how to make a drip castle (with a little help from Daddy and Mr. ‘Yance’)



“B-nana, Axexonda, will you take me to da oshen?”



That water was sooo cold!!



I mean, seriously, look at that crystal clear water!



Thank you so much Robinson family, for inviting us! It was a fantastic trip!

-Beth

Friday, October 16, 2009

Playdate with Maelyn

One of Caroline’s favorite friends spent the day with us at MiMi and Papoo’s house (yes, Caroline has changed Pappaw to Papoo…we still use the two interchangeably). The girls had fun getting ‘polish’ on their nails and playing in the fireplace… J

Painting WiWi’s nails



Maelyn and her Mommy…so sweet!



That’s right, they are in the (never been used) fireplace…



-Beth

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Caroline’s Granddaughter

No, that’s not a misprint. Earlier this year, Caroline decided to call Mommy’s old Kirsten doll her granddaughter. She takes her granddaughter on outings and makes sure she has plenty of food and rest. She is so funny!!
Showing her granddaughter how to ride the horsie



Now Granddaughter is taking a rest



-Beth

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Life is "Butter" Dream!

We* are catching up on some blogging. This one comes from late February of this year.

Caroline singing one of her favs.



*by we I mean that I, Jonathan, am way behind. Beth had chosen many of this upcoming pics and movies and even written the post, but was waiting on me to post them. Let me now take the time to publicly say to my wonderful wife and to all of you readers out there--I am sorry!!!

-jonathan

Another Daddy Date

In February, Caroline and Jonathan had a great time together checking out the new putt-putt place at East Towne mall. The best part for Caroline – everything was glow in the dark, and she got to wear a ‘globe necklace’!



They then ventured into other parts of the mall where she found Belle’s gown! She just had to be photographed beside it!



-Beth

Saturday, June 27, 2009

"Snow on dat car!!!"

Back in February, Knoxville saw about four inches of snow (at our house at least)…that’s the best snow we’ve had in years! So here is some footage from Caroline’s first real snow experience. Enjoy!





Our family, in snow

Friday, June 26, 2009

Genealogy…

In the past, my mom has done a lot of research into the Higgins family geneology (mom’s maiden name). We are fortunate to have other relatives who have done a great deal of research as well, and that side of the family can now be traced for fourteen generations, including a couple of links to famous Americans, such as John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, who came over on the Mayflower, and were likely the 3rd couple to be married in Plymouth colony!
Recently, Catherine had a school project on family history, and that gave us all the opportunity to look into some of these stories once again. A more recent family story is that of my great Uncle Clarence, who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was on deck aboard the U.S.S. St. Louis (later known as ‘Lucky Lu’ – very interesting story about this ship…you history buffs might want to google it or check out this article) when the attack began – he rushed to alert the officer on deck, and was instructed by that officer to wake the ship’s captain. After accomplishing this task, he ran to the ship’s ammunition boxes and started breaking locks with an ax. He later received a commendation for these acts! Wow, how cool is that?!





There are many, many more stories of bravery from relatives who have served bravely in our Armed Forces. In fact, my mom has several cousins who serve in high ranking military positions. We would like to say thank you to each of you for serving our country!!

-Beth

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fun at Nana’s

This picture if from a fun night at Nana and Bob-Bob’s house back in January. Nice accessories ladies!! Thank you, Aunt Brigette, for the new ponies!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Haiti in January

Sometime in the future, I hope to explain a little further about my work and my involvement in Haiti. But for now here are pics and a video showing how beautiful this country is...


I wasn't able to upload the full version because of size, but this is a good picture of Port au Prince. Double-click on it to see it a little larger.




This cute little girl had on a beautiful princess dress that I was sure Caroline would like to see.


These are some of the kids at Belloc. I hope to post more about my hopes and dreams for Belloc in the future. But for now here are some adorable children that live in this community.


Here is a small glimpse inside the church at Belloc.


He looks a lot cooler than I do in my sunglasses...


Here is Caroline's snowman that she wanted me to take to Haiti.




-jonathan

Monday, March 9, 2009

Fun with Daddy!

Caroline sure does love her Daddy! In the mornings, she always calls for me and the first thing she asks when I walk in her room is, "Where's Daddy?" I always respond, "He's at work today. But he'll be right back!" Then we have a morning hug and go on with our day! I think that's so funny! Anyway, so this is a post about some recent adventures with Caroline and her Daddy.

First, a Daddy date to Sprout Studio...


Making a cake with Daddy at home...


Daddy and Caroline's 'dates' often end up at Walmart to get a few things we need around the house! Here Caroline works on her strength training...


Also, Daddy dates sometimes include special treats that Mommy wouldn't always approve of! :) Here Caroline samples some Cinnabon at the mall.