Andy and Laura

Family photo shoot...

2009-05-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Graduations and our little man!

2009-05-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Mike graduates from Notre Dame! We are so proud of him! Axel slept through it all but I am sure if he could talk he would say.... GOOD JOB UNCLE MIKE!! Oh and did I mention Mike Graduated from Bethel two weeks before. So that meant 2 trips down to South Bend 7 hours round trip in a car in one day is a lot! But we would not have missed it for anything!

Apparently Engineer graduates get this pinky ring...some sort of tradition...kinda wild

As soon as Nana saw Axel he was in her arms....no surprise :-) She just loves him so much! And of course she did what she does best...but him to sleep!

Two of our best friends kid Avery and Ezra meeting Axel for the first time...there was a big discussion over who would get to hold him first! Can't wait until he is old enough to run around with them!

Look at all that hair!!

Snuggling with Mommy is something Axel loves! Do you blame him?!

Here is a fun wrap that my friend Anne gave me! He loves it! I would recommend it to anyone!

His first bath didn't go so well...he seems to like them more now...

As you can see from the pictures we have been LOVING having Axel in our lives! We can't believe we thought life was so great before him... we didn't know what great was!He is truely such a blessing! We also feel so blessed by all the people that have so much love for him already! He has had so many visitors, we will try and post pictures soon of all the people who have gotten over to see him!

Prego Pictures

2009-05-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little late but... here are some pregnancy pictures taken by my good friend Bre Hinkley, she is quite talented as you can tell by her pictures! i think I am almost 35 weeks along here....

.

Baby family pictures to come... Bre came over Monday and took some I will post them as soon as i get them

2009-05-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Axel Andrew

It has been a while since posting on here but lots has happened....we have a new addition to our family...

He was born on April 21st at 1:20AM Weighing 9lbs 7 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long! We are loving him like crazy and can't remember what life was like without him! Here are some of our favorite pictures!

It is about time......

2008-06-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

Climbing at 10,000 Rock Botanical Garden....we stopped counting at 3,329WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!! FINIALLY!

Van Ride

That is dried squid on the side walk

Getting tea at a tea shop. When you go to buy tea it is a two hour process...trying all the tea...

Part of the island Guylanu

Part of Bill's Factory. He runs it in a poor area to help those in need. He also employs several disabled individuals would otherwise have to beg for an income

More of the factory

One day andy and I took a walk along the beach for about half the day...it was so hot, but beautiful

They have these exercise things all over....

A mini meat market

Last Couple of Days..

2008-05-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

I believe I haven't really posted much since Sunday. On Sunday we went to a church that is only allowed to be attended by foreigners. It is a way to let foreigners worship without being confined to normal Chinese laws concerning church. It was a great time of worship and afterwards we went out to lunch, and went and got massages, which I mentioned in an earlier post :-)
The last couple of days have been filled with shopping, and lots of walking. On Monday I got a little sick.

Lots of walking + LOTS of heat + little water = not feeling so good for about 24 hours.

On Monday we had been shopping all day and walking around the island Gulanyu. We were having such a good time I guess I didn't remember to drink much water. Needless to say I was out of commission for a good little while, sleeping and drinking lots! So yesterday (Tuesday) We were going to go to 10,000 rock botanical gardens, but decided to stay in for half the day and go in the afternoon. Last night for dinner Andy and I had another first.....we had SNAIL!!! It wasn't that bad either. Also Andy got his first pair of Air Force One's only costing him 80 Yuan, (If you do the math that works out to be about $11) and we even over paid, we should have gotten him to go lower....next time : -) Today we are going out to the Gardens, which is filled with lots of trails, caves, rocks, and other beautiful things! We will write more later.

Our first full day...

2008-05-25T01:27:00.001-07:00

Today is Sunday, and it is very rainy outside....so we are thinking we are going to go get 2 hour massages for only about $12. Yesterday we went for a long walk on the boardwalk right on the beach. It was beautiful but very hot! We had to stop every once in a while and take a break to cool off. Later in the afternoon we took an adventure to a shopping area. A friend that is staying with Bill took us on the bus to a shopping area and it was our responsibility to get back. So after a couple of hours of shopping we attempted our return. We were headed on the right track when we got a little misguided by someone who misunderstood where we were headed. Never the less we made it back to our finial destination after a little bit of a detour. Good thing the bus is only about .15 And we could have taken a taxi but we were up for an adventure. Later that night we went to a little BBQ I guess you would call it on the beach. Except it was much better we had tofu, beans, rice and some kind of meat all on sticks. It was smoked and covered with a delicious sauce.

2008-05-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, and it is very rainy outside....so we are thinking we are going to go get 2 hour massages for only about $12.

Pictures...finally

2008-05-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Eating some food a super market, after a 13 hour plane ride and being awake for almost 20 hours...we look amazing... Next are some bikes in Japan, those of you that know Andy know his love for bikin

I had to photo this toilet, there is a soft cover on the seat. They thought it was fancy...but can you say gross!

Here is a temple in Narita, Japan. This is my brother Mike just being Mike ;-)

My Cousin Kevin, is what you call TALL so we took pictures of doorways he couldn't fit through...this one comes up to his shoulders.

This man is cutting up eel (like what I had on the plane). Doesn't it look great!

A narrow street in Japan

More of the temple

It is 530am in the moring and I have been up since 4 and jetlag is in full force. I couldn't sleep so I thought might as well see if I can upload some pictures...and what do you know it worked! It only takes like 5min per picture but who can complain ;-) We arrived in Xiamen, China yesterday in the afternoon. We were picked up from the airport by my dad and Bill . We were able to visit his factory and see the beautiful stain glass work that they do. Then we came and got our first REAL Chinese meal. They took us to a restaurant where you pick out your food you are going to eat.....you pick it out alive. It is laying either on beds of ice, still flapping away or in tanks. It was a pretty cool experience. Some of the only few dead things to choose from were stomach and tongue. After a full meal, and some really good Chinese beer, we headed to bed.

We will write more later about what we did on Saturday...but I am starting to get tired again so I better take advantage of this.....We love you guys!

Japan

2008-05-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Our journey has begun!! It all started on Tuesday after work we drove down to Chicago and spent the night with some of our best friends Kellie and Darrel. We ordered Chicago Pizza and just had a good time. In the morning Darrel dropped us off at the train station and we went to the airport. A 13 hour plan ride later we were in Japan! Here are some pictures.....

This is the picture of the food on the plane and for some reason the only picture that will upload at the moment. We will try more later. (I had eel on the plane...it was great)

5 days left

2008-05-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

We leave for China in 5 days! Time has flown since we got the tickets! These next couple of days are going to go by really fast. We have small group tonight and then family is coming over tomorrow night for dinner...family from TENNESSE!!! YA!! And Lydia is pregnant so we get to congradulate her face to face! We will write more later!

Blessings.

Life is Fast

2008-05-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life gets too crazy around here and we don't get to see everyone we want to see. So hopefully this way family on the other side of the state and out of state can catch up on what we have been up to!
A couple of really exciting things are going on in our life right now first is that we are going to China in May!! We cannot wait for this 9 day trip out there! We are going to Xiamen China with my brother Mike, cousin Kevin and my dad. We fly out May 21 and get back June 3rd. Mike is going to be doing an intership with a family friend so we are going to not only see what he is going to be doing, but get to check out the amazing work Bill is doing over there! Next on the list is that at the end of June the church will vote to see if Andy will be full time or not! So be praying that they say YES! Other that those two things life has been full of youth group, softball, bible studies, work, school, watching Roland and Noah play sports (not as much as we would like though), and hanging out with friends. We will post more later