On the road again...

Pic. of Abbey and Josh traveling west to WA state.

Well...starting on the road. Last week-end Josh and Abbey went to a Father - Daughter weekend conference in GA, where Josh worked the audio/recording/etc. at the conference. (hopefully I'm describing that somewhat correctly.) From there, they drove straight back to IL/WI and hopped in the Erber Family van and have headed to the Seattle WA area. This time they are with a homeschool conference where Josh and others will do a reenactment of the meeting leading up to and including Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. He is portraying Patrick Henry in the picture below. Plus Abbey and Josh will be part of a Courtship panel which will be one of the sessions at the conference. Several other members of Josh's family are speaking at different sessions for the conference. Once Josh and Abbey return back to the IL/WI area they will travel about twice a month to various conferences across the country. Thus begins their traveling season.




Even though they are just starting the traveling season, seems they have been very busy and we don't get to see them too often, but last week Abbey came and spent the afternoon cooking and even gardening at our house.
(Please don't worry, we have been eating since she moved out, though Wendy or I can not recreate lemon bars for anything.)
We do miss some of her special treats:
Like the pecan sandies below.



Or the home made pasta and Italian dishes, like Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, she also made a vodka sauce and pasta dish, lots of yummy items. From our non-Italian daughter to her non-Italian family, we think it's pretty scrumptious. To her Italian husband, I think he thought it pretty tasty also. She does a wonderful job of things and we sure do miss her.

Happy birthday to very special friends...

Anna, a very special girl's birthday today.

And Barb.

We miss Barb so much. Today is her birthday and I wanted to say hi and wish her well. This is a picture from the wedding, some great neighbors and wonderful friends that we miss terribly.

New Bike

Justin and his new bike.

It is hard to imagine, but Abbey was riding a two wheeler since she was 3 1/2 years old. In this picture the bike is the same size bike Justin has, but she was a lot taller than he is, because i can see where the seat is. She woke up from her nap and said, "I think I'll learn to ride my bike", and that is exactly what she did. (She was already very close.) It was a very warm February day and we lived on a big hill, so we had to go down to some flat area.

Olivia update....

We're still waiting and waiting and getting quite frustrated by the wait. Referrals just went out, so it is good to see that things do keep moving. The date we're waiting for is 2-6-2006. China just gave out referrals for LID up to and including 1-9-2006. So it doesn't look too long, but in reality it is. Our agency is saying that China referrals are running about 23 to 27 months from LID date. So for us that would be January, 2008 (which is already past) till about May, 2008. We are not holding our breath on May, because each month things continue to slow down. If you look at the way things have been going, China moves about 5-7 days with the LID dates every 30 calendar days or so. Which would take us to referral in July and travel, just about Olympic time. Considering the Olympics are in Beijing, I don't think travel would happen at that time. So that would put us in the fall. We've made guesses prior to this and have been terribly incorrect. We just hope we do not need to spend another Thanksgiving or Christmas without her, but you never know. Considering we thought it would take about a year when we started (started 9/05)and now we're looking at abound 3 years, it is quite discouraging. There are no official charts or dates or info. A few things have changed, but I don't think they affect us. Also, all the different fees are increasing while we wait, but again there isn't anything we can do. Our case worker is coming next week to update some files, etc. So that's the update, hopefully it makes some sense.

Messing around with the camera

Justin helping his dad work.

You know it's influeneza when....

• High fever: yes, all five of us at the same time 102 - 103+. It was kind of a weird bonding time, without Abbey, for the five of us at home.
• Headache: yes
• Muscle aches: yes plenty, picture 5 people groaning, walking around as zombies.
• Tiredness and weakness: Daniel ask if perhaps Abbey could come over to open the pop-tab-lid for a can a peaches, since he was struggling to get one opened.
• Exhaustion: yes, extreme. No pictures, you'll have to go elsewhere for those.
• Cough: yes again. The kids think Dee sounds like the squeaker-less penguin from Toy Story.
• And you know it's the flu when Justin looks at his bed and says, "I don't want any cars in my bed". I'm not sure he has ever slept w/o cars for the last 2+ years.

I think we're beginning to mend. Daniel returned to work; hopefully he is not infecting all the customers or any Baumgarten's. (Sherah's wedding is this Saturday.) Wendy actually put on sweat pants today, vs. jammy pants, which has been the standard uniform for the past week. Bob has been working today at home; he was holding his head while looking over plans. This way he can cough the entire time someone is talking to him on the Nextel, recover abit and then give an answer. He does have one minor problem with work at home, Justin wants to run his cars over the streets that are part of the blueprints.

Abbey comes to visit!

Abbey came to visit yesterday, all day!! Josh came by after working down by Wrigley Field and Daniel even made it home early, which was good.

We made carmel corn together, which actually took all three of us working. The carmel corn turned out pretty good, though I think Galena's is still better. Abbey wrestled and played cars with Justin. It was a good visit.

Where could he have learned this??

Justin actually mentioned a couple people as he was taking a swig; Wendy didn't want me to mention any names, but I'm sure someone is responsible...LOL.
Actually I thought it was really funny;
since he can't really lift a full jug to his mouth I think we're safe for awhile.

She did it!

New IL driver.

Grandpa Jack has his 20th birthday!

Grandpa Jack celebrating his "20 @ 80" birthday with friends and family.
The evening was spent enjoying each other's company, eating great Italian food, telling stories, laughing, etc. Mark Andrew put together a DVD of pictures, which made us laugh and cry. Bob and Kurt read letters from old friends, who were sharing remembered escapades about Jack. Though we could tell "Jack" stories for days, with lots of fun and laughter, the most outstanding quality of Jack is his legacy of family. The Hill's are a very close family that love to be together, to laugh, to talk etc. It is a family quality that not everyone possesses these days. I am very thankful that we are part of that Legacy. Happy Birthday Grandpa, we love you.

Comparing bellies...Holly's is a girl, perhaps Uncle Mike's is a Miller Light.

Justin and Andrew

Justin and Grandpa blowing out the candles.

Kurt with his boys.
Kyle, Kurt, Jordan
bottom: Andrew and Collin


Bob and his cousin Cheryl

Some of the boy cousins

Grandpa Jack's birthday

Andrew and Collin

Lynn and Deanna W.

Jordan and Leah checking out the great food.

Back of Aunt Dedee and Betty Kay P.

Katy Lynn and Gerry P.

Daniel and Holly

Wendy and Kyle

Mark Andrew and Holly

Aunt Dedee and Kyle

Birthday week.

Justin playing cars at Grandpa's party.

More pictures from Grandpa's party.

Pictures from Justin and Wendy's birthday's.

Another picture

Thank you Rob for sending the picture of Abbey and Josh, it is lovely.
Also, I'm looking for pictures shot from the right side of the church, anyone want to share yours with us?