Yes, He's Growing

Corban is now 6 months old ... can you believe it?! I know many of you have not seen pictures of him recently (sorry blogger friends) so I'm posting his 4, 5, and 6 month pictures with Mattie, the bear. 4 months

5 months

6 months

If you can believe it, Corban is more smiley than Caden was at this age. One of our friends says when Corban smiles his face says, "I just can't make my face smile any bigger...I promise I would if I could!" Love it!

BROTHERS!

5 months & 2 years, 6 months
Caden LOVES Corban and loves to do things with him. The day we took Corban's 5 month pics, Caden jumped right up on the bed and started posing on his own. I won't be posting his pictures for obvious reasons, but this one of the two of them was too cute (not to mention well positioned) not to post.

Furlough Series #2

April's brother Allen and his wife Sarah live in southern California. Allen works for Pepperdine in the Advancement office, and Sarah works for one of the big insurance companies. This year the end of our furlough coincided with the annual Pepperdine Lectures, so we took that excuse to go and spend some time with Allen and Sarah :)Corban had never met his aunt and uncle, so this was a special time for him! He got lots of special treatment since we left his big brother back in Nashville with Brett's parents. We definitely enjoyed the week long break from having a 2 year old and enjoyed the relaxation that is so easy to find in Malibu. Taking Corban was a given because he is still nursing and is such an easy baby, but we had the added motivation or trying to get Allen and Sarah to catch the baby bug :)Allen and Sarah are loving, tons of fun, committed, hard-working, Kingdom-minded and highly respected by everyone who knows them. We are honored to have you guys as family AND friends!

All Is Quiet

All is quiet...and momma is playing on the computer (notice the new header). Thanks Aunt Betsy for the beautiful pics of the boys!

Toddler Moments

Last night Caden threw up red kool-aid on our carpet. Today he colored with a black Sharpie marker on our title floor. He also had Play-doh for a snack. Oh to be a toddler.

Furlough Series, Post #1

Furlough ended about 2 weeks ago, and here we are back in Togo. After returning from the States and heading back to our other home across the lake, we are acutely aware of how insane our lives are. Please take the word "insane" in the best possible context :) We are loving being home, missing our family and friends, excited for the next several months, and sad that we can't relive the last two. Such is the emotional toll of life as a missionary!The first people to receive furlough love on our blog are none other than Marcus & Jessicca Moore. M & J have been huge in our lives for about 8 years now, and we were honored that they took the long drive down from NorCal to meet us in Malibu. We have truly never encountered more loving, caring, fun, upright and just generally outstanding people in our lives. M & J are going to be parents in about 7 months or so, and their kid will surely be one of our favorites as well!Don't worry if your name is not M or J Moore; we plan to post pics from our entire furlough and the people we love that we were blessed to spend time with :)

How We Roll

Traveling internationally with two little tykes is something that you never really look forward to. Our strategy has been to realize up front that it's going to be crazy and just roll with it. It saves alot of stress, headaches, arguments, spankings and statements of disbelief about what someone just did or what just happened. You know how it's impossible to explain to young married people without kids what it's like to have kids? Well, in the same way, it's also impossible to explain to others what it's like to criss-cross continents, time zones, climates and cultures with a 2 and a half year old and a 5 month old in tow.


That being said, we have two boys who are GREAT travelers! Caden and Corban both just go with the flow and don't cause a ruckus. Corban is at an especially great age for traveling; as long as he's sleeping, breastfeeding or flirting with filght attendants, he's happy. Caden can be a little more testy at times, but hey, he's two years old and we put him through alot :)

So without further ado, here is a photo safari of our lives while traveling through airports, airplanes, tarmacs, customs, transfer buses, trams, and the madness that inevitably ensues :)
We have this cool thing that straps a car seat to a carry on suitcase for easy transport through airport terminals. Caden just rolls through airports people-watching and enjoying the ride. I usually frown on people who put leashes on their children in airports and other public settings, but is this really that different??? Hmmmm...At least we don't have to wonder where Caden is all the time, and he seems to like it just fine. This gadget is appropriately named the "Tote-a-Tot".
Where would we be without our Bjorn?!?!? The Baby Bjorn is a Swedish-made contraption that makes hauling a baby through the airport much easier than it should be. Corban loves the view and we love the easiness of it. His times in the Bjorn are some of Corban's biggest opportunities to flirt with anyone and everyone he meets!
Waiting. Sitting. Reading. Snacking. Being flexible. We do alot of all of these things while hopping ponds between our two homes. Caden needs lots of distractions at his age, and thankfully airports are full of them! We don't have a picture of it, but you know those things that are like flat escalators that easily gain hurried travelers a good 7 seconds between gates while heading to gate 197? Yeah, Caden loves those. He and Brett have probably walked on those things enough to be the equivalent of walking from Detroit to Nashville a few dozen times, but hey, whatever works :)
This is always nice: a sleeping baby means a few minutes rest for either mommy or daddy while waiting for the next flight. Why EITHER mommy or daddy, and not both? Five letters: C-A-D-E-N!!!
You now how you board a plane, see some little kids, and pray that you're not near them? Normally this is justified, because small children are at the very bottom of the pantheon of good travelers. Not so with our two sweet boys; without fail, on every flight we take, somebody comments on our boys and how good they were on the long flight or how sweet they were to flash their handsome grins their way...

Maybe it's genetics. Maybe it's our stellar parenting. Maybe it's that God knew we couldn't handle unruly kids! Whatever the reason, He chooses to bless our comings and goings. We thank Him for the opportunity to travel and see the world, and to share it with our two little boys, who will hopefully read this one day and now that they are blessed...

Two Things:

1) We're home in Kara! (and no, the pic below was not taken in Kara...don't we wish...)

2) We're aware that we haven't blogged in awhile, but we're not going to do the whole blog post where we apologize for being out of touch for such a long time and then promise to get better only to fail to post again for weeks on end. That's just not our style. If you read this blog, then you know that we are some of the most regular bloggers around, and now that we're back in Togo, being regular is very important :)The cool thing about us not blogging for awhile is the reason: we were actually sharing our lives everyday in meaningful ways with the ones we love! Instead of just posting pictures and reading the comments, we were able to see so many of our friends and family in the flesh, hug them, laugh with them, watch ours boys enjoy them, and relish in the blessing of quality time that God gave us.

So now, we exhale. It's good to be home, of course, but we miss everyone already! We are, however, glad to be getting back into routines and a slower pace of life. That America place is CRAZY!