Hiking Devil's Bridge

My mom was visiting us this weekend and we took a day trip up to Sedona for a hike. We took the baby backpack, fully expecting to carry Benjamin most of the way. Benjamin, however, with firm exclaimations of "I do-ed it!" and "Dona mountains", hiked the entire 1.8 mile trail, carrying his own water and with only brief stops. We did put him in the carrier to pose with Josh in front of a mountain vista because we feared he might hike head-long over the edge, but otherwise he was by his own power for the whole trip.
Josh and Benjamin beneath the arch.

Hiking full-tilt. Picking out the smoothest path around the rocks. Pointing out a hand-hold to our potential rock climber. Benjamin's one brief rest in the baby backpack.

We leave tomorrow!

At this point in a long packing day I'm so tired that I can hardly think of anything to say about the Johnsons - Adam, Katrina, Reuben & Nathan. But they're great folks too and we will miss them! :) Adam & Matthew were in the same program at Biola, and then we were in the same childbirth class there (Katrina and I originally had the same due date with Reuben & Jackson), but we got to know them much better out here as we were just across the playground from eachother. Tonight they graciously fed us weary packers, so I made sure to get a photo on the way out. Adam just graduated from PTS and is headed to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for a PhD.
Now I'm signing off and packing the computer! Adios!

Little friends to miss

I don't want to forget the faces of our playgroup of Wednesday mornings this year. This morning there were only a few of us.

Katrina and Alisa -
Michelle -

Jackson, who spent the whole time mowing the lawn this morning-
Reuben, who, when asked if I could take his picture, sat down and got in this pose -
And little Harry, who has mastered sitting up! -
Hey, hey!, the gang's all here; Hannah, Reuben, Hans, and Jackson -

And more friends to miss!

Well, we only thought we were at the end of goodbye dinners with friends, but the gift goes on - so we are getting pictures this go-round!
The wonderful friends you see here at the Michelsons - Dave, Bethany, Simeon, Joel & Anna. They are our "yankee friends" - hence the picture under the sign.

When I was looking into housing for this year, I emailed our church office to find out if they had a bulletin board or something I could utilize (we decided to attend Westerley Road Church since Jeff & Erica were already there), and we ended up on the prayer chain. Bethany got the prayer chain email and wrote me asking what she could do to help. The rest of the summer we emailed back and forth, so by the time I arrived here I already felt close to her. We have so much in common; it's been such a comfortable, enjoyable friendship. I'm hoping by some miracle that Dave and Matthew will end up teaching at the same school (Dave is almost done w/his dissertation here in church history, so he'll apply for jobs next academic year).

When I think of Dave & Bethany, I think commitment. They have decided to commit themselves to family and to do it well, and their lives reflect that. They are committed to their local body of believers and serve them in the day in and day out. I feel honored to have learned from them this year, and I just plain enjoyed them. We will miss them!

More friends to miss

We've been doing a series of goodbye dinners with friends up here, and of course our last dinner is the only picture we've taken (thanks to Sarah being here). I've begun seeing this blog more and more as an archiving spot, to be able to look back and see that time of our lives, an evolving photo album.

This is Jeff & Erica, Owen & Emily Johnson. Jeff and I went to Baylor together; we met the first week there and remained friends throughout the four years. When Matthew and I were dating, he stayed with Jeff when in Waco (many, many weekends!). Jeff played the cello in our wedding and I served as a bridesmaid for Erica as Jeff's friend. So it was great fun to be near them this year. They are the kind of people you just like, easy to be with, honest, forthright, real. Jeff has always been a great storyteller (he's turned some of our childhood & college stories into just that - stories, ones that we didn't appreciate until he retold them), so his gregariousness makes dinner conversations fun. They would be in our ideal town - the place where everyone we likes live. It's probably a good thing we don't always get to choose who we live near; talk about a narcissistic thought - everyone in our town's link being us! I suppose the reuniting of friends is one of the hopes of heaven.

the office

5/17/07 A couple came in last week, both have some degree of dementia. The wife is in a wheelchair and Stephanie took her right back to the room with the husband following. As she was taking the wife's BP she told the husband to "go weigh". Apparently the husband heard "go away" and was walking out of the office when we realized what had happened and stopped him.

Firsts

Harry's first two teeth broke through this week (on the bottom)!

And now he chooses his own sleep position - his stomach. Okay, well, he rolls himself over and gets stuck, but for some reason this is a big deal to us - it makes him seem so much older.

He's also sitting up well, a few minutes at a time before he'll topple over.

And on this video, Harry's first time on the playground swing. . .