Hit the ground running....

Well, we made it back from Italy. We got back and immediately started running again. Kaylee, our 5 year old niece, is staying with us this week. Needless to say, I have had no time to post. So, to catch up on what all has been going on....Going to Italy was an awesome experience and I cannot be more thankful for Karen, my sister-in-law, who so graciously offered us this opportunity. It is truly a remarkable and magical place. For those of you who are curious of the itinerary, here is a run down from day to day. I am starting with Rome, this will have to be a three part post. I will start with Rome, then introduce Florence and Sienna. Lastly, day trips in Tuscany. SO, here is a run down of Rome.
Tuesday 6/10/08 12:20 pm (Houston flight to Atlanta that was to then connect to Rome at 3:45) ( we missed that flight thanks to the lovely weather in Houston that day)
Tuesday night 8pm made the next flight, not as many passengers, got the middle three seats all to ourselves...SCORE. Still slept terrible. 11 hours... man, it was rough. And those of you mission people who have been on like 20 hour flights, give me a break, this was my first international flight.
Wednesday oneish- we arrive in Rome. Get to the hotel. Meet some nice people from San Fransisco on the shuttle (rip off)...not the people, the shuttle.
Wednesday 5 pm -first walking tour of Rome with an Aussi named Jo from Angel Tours Rome. Good tour, lots of info, visited the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Campo di Fiori and Piazza Navona to name a few. Back to the hotel after an interesting study of Rome metro system and city buses, got some cash and went back out to get some dinner. Went close to the hotel to a little trattoria ( small restaurant that serves home cooked meals, often the establishment is in the back of the owners home ). It was really good, the waiter spilled my drink on me and he looked terribly embarrassed. We were so tired and once we were well fed, we headed back for a much needed nights rest. Pantheon Trevi Fountain
Thursday 9 am -after our AMAZING continental breakfast ( with the best coffee I have ever had, yummy pastries, eggs and interestingly enough, Agar agar, an Asian seaweed dish) we
headed to the Colosseum, got hooked up with another tour company and signed up. Side note: As we signed up, we were told we would get a free picture with a guy in Roman Soldier get up. Stephen took my picture first, my glasses fell off and the soldier grabbed them, while apologizing to Stephen, saying he was only helping. When Stephen walked over to take his picture, the guy said, as he moved his sword in, (imagine an Italian accent with this), "do you know? Lorana Bobit?" I shot the picture, it was too hysterical to pass up. This tour was WELL worth the time and money. An unbelievable (probably one of my most memorable) moments, walking out from the metro, turning to the left and seeing something that massive, that was completed in 80 AD right in front of me in the year 2008. Crazy moment. We then had a short break after the tour of the Colosseum to get some water before the Roman Forum tour. AWESOME. Our guide was a local ( as was the Colosseum guide ) but he had a true love of history. He made the tour really great. Later that day, we walked across the city, and had lunch, saw President Bush's motorcade drive by (for the first time) then ended up going to a performance of the Georgetown prep schools choir at one of the churches. It was a nice concert. We then went to dinner and headed back to the hotel. Exterior shot of the Colosseum just outside the metro exit.
Jody's "Roman Soldier" pic
Stephen's "Roman Soldier" pic
Interior of the Colosseum. This is a picture of the underground working halls the gladiators and animals would emerge from using dumb waiter type systems. The Romans were geniuses. The Roman Forum. The guy in the straw hat was our guide, Eugenio.
Stephen and I in the Roman Forum, picture courtesy of a nice older couple from England.

Friday 9 am - Grabbed the metro headed for Vatican City. We enjoyed our Roman Forum tour guide so much, that when he began advertising for the tour of Vatican City the next morning, we said we were in. Found out once we arrived, we would have another guide, who was not so great, but we were OK with it. He was late. So apparently if you are late in Rome, you have to buy people drinks. So the guide company walked us down to a breakfast shop and we all got a free drink. It was nice. Afterwards we got to see St. Peters. CRAZY awesome church. Amazingly huge and makes you feel very small and unattractive...in comparison to its massive beauty. The pictures do NOT do it justice. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta. After that, we had a short break for lunch. We sat with a couple from Melbourne Australia that were really nice people. It was a nice lunch. We then went through the Vatican Museum, which according to our guide, if you spent 60 seconds on each artifact or piece of art in the collection, it would take seven years to see it all. NUTS! After all that we went through all the hallways to see the Sistine Chapel. I was sad to see it in such conditions, but understood the reasons. There were guards, shushing you constantly, because it is a holy place that requires reverence. There was very little light and the windows were not allowed to hold the daylight they could ( they were shrouded on the exterior of the building, so you could see the stained glass, but not its brilliance) This was all of course to protect the images from any damage or fading. There were hundreds of people in this little chapel with no furniture, only one row of seats along the walls. It just seemed to suck away the majesty of this amazing work of art for me. Anyway, enough of that. I got to go upstairs and see the paintings by Raphael, that I REALLY wanted to see. My favorite of all time, "The Freeing of St. Peter" and also the well known "School of Athens". Headed back to our hotel, changed and then went back over to take night pictures at the Colosseum. Had dinner, the best I had so far, Stephen and I shared a salad and four cheese pizza. Then went back to the hotel to pack.
St. Peter's Bascillica.
"The Freeing of St. Peter" by Raphael.
The interior of St. Peter's. The sun was coming through the upper windows and it was so angelic and holy. It really set a feel of reverence and beauty. I was so happy that the sunrays were captured on film.Last night in Rome in front of the Colosseum at night.
Stephen's awesome pic of the Colosseum at night.

Saturday 10 am - headed over to the train station ( not a far walk from our hotel ) to catch the train to Florence. We sat with a very nice couple from Pennsylvania. Stephen slept as I furiously looked through books to figure out what I wanted to see in Florence. I would love to go back to Rome later in life. Rome, for me, really was extremely magical. I kept visualizing how it all must have looked when Paul was there and how things have changed....and how things haven't. It is strange to be in a place that has history that can be taken back to those who lived in biblical times. I guess living in such a young country, I have nothing in which to compare. I truly enjoyed it and if you are one who loves history and wouldn't mind seeing some of it come to life for you, seriously, go to Rome. It was an awesome experience for us. See pics, and please forgive the long post, I just don't know how to condense such a great experience.

Play Dough and Printing...

Things have been a little hectic in our household the last few weeks. School was coming to a close, Anna was home with Dad during the day and home with me at night, we have been getting prepared for our Italy trip along with preparing to leave Anna for 10 days straight. It takes a lot of preparation to send your kid to two different locations with all the necessary things for day to day living. Thanks to Granny, Grandpa, T-ma and J-paw for agreeing to keep Anna! Along with all the business in my family, my good friend Libby had her third child, Jack, who was a little early and has been in the NICU for about a week, so we have been preparing meals and visiting her in the hospital. All in all, we have been a little busy, with very little time to post...so those of you who have been waiting...if there are any of you who have, ( I hate to be presumptuous)...my apologies.

The last few days have slowed down a little, and I have been trying to get a concept of having a two ( almost ) year old at home for the summer. Needless to say, I have decided we need some things to do. : ) A few days ago, I found some print pads that I bought when she was a baby to makes prints of her hands and feet. I was very excited and thought...craft time! She had a great time, but this was a bad idea. This ink is not the kind that washes off. After scrubbing relentlessly in the bathtub, she still had pink hands. See pictures for proof.
I needed some other things that were not quite so messy or permanent. So yesterday, I mentioned play dough to Anna, and she freaked out. She was super excited! Apparently they play with play dough at school. SO, I was going to go buy it, and thought, NO, I am going to try something new and make it. We looked online and got a recipe and ran to the grocery store to get some cream of tarter and finger paint ( that is for another project and post ) and came home to tackle making play dough. So, I guess because my experience with home made play dough is the stuff you get at VBS that is not the cooked kind ( probably because hot stoves and Pre-K don't mix ). You know, the grainy and dried and cracked kind. So, when I followed this SUPER easy recipe where you cook it on the stove and it smelled, looked and felt exactly like the kind you buy, I WAS ECSTATIC! I felt like super mom. It was a nice moment. : ) Anyway, here is a video of Anna playing with the play dough. It is a little long, but there are moments you must notice. One: the new phrase, All Gone...which sounds like dalldonn. LOVE IT! Second, resiting the colors. Her little voice is too cute. Third, watching her actually create something. There is a small moment towards the middle of the video that she takes two pieces of red play dough and puts them on top of another piece of larger red play dough and it looks like some kind of animal. She then makes it hop across the table. I loved getting her imagination on film. My apologies for the dark look of it all...it didn't look that dark when we were filming it.

We will be walking the streets of Rome one week from now. We will definitely share stories and pics when we return. Have a great week!

The Many Faces of Anna Blair Summers

First off, how great is this picture of Anna and Stephen?!
So on Mother's Day we went and had lunch with my parents at their house. Dad grilled steaks and Stephen made the sides. We had a nice time but later in the afternoon Stephen had to go to work and Anna and I stayed behind to hang out with my mom and dad for a little longer. While we were there Anna was wanting something or other, can't remember what, and she was making her normal, "I want this but can't get to it" frustrated face. Mom said, " Anna, you are going to give yourself wrinkles." Then said to me, "she makes the funniest expressions." This got me thinking and I started to look back at the photos we have of some of these expressions. So I present, the various expressions of Miss Anna Blair. Get ready, some are pretty hysterical.I love my daddy.

This is the face she makes when we pray. She doesn't like closing her eyes. So she kind of squints them. She also uses this when we ask to look at her eyes or clean her eyes.
Very happy to get something she wants.

She does this shifty thing with her eyes when she is doing something she isn't supposed to, like putting 8 orange slices in her mouth at once.

A very a dramatic bye bye.

I have NO clue. But it sure looks funny.

This is her normal face when she isn't happy or sad, just hanging out. Such a sweet girl.

How's that for expressive? That is what happens when we don't get what we want.

Sweet smile you get when playing games like hide and seek.

Forced smile. She almost grits her teeth she bites down so hard. Cheese ball.

So this is the scary Anna smile. I almost hear a maniacal laugh .

Oohh! Excitement and shock. This is one of my favorites.

This is the frustrated look I was talking about earlier that is going to give her wrinkles. : )

By far my favorite expressive pic to date. She doesn't even look like the same kid. Her teeth CRACK me up in this pic. She, Dave Letterman and Madonna have the same look going. She does NOT like to have her picture taken sometimes. She puts her hand up and says no and makes this face.
Well, I hope all is well with yours and that you have a great weekend!

A powerful experience...

Today Stephen had to work a double, and his mother was very generous and came to watch Anna so that my mom and I could go out to eat and catch a traveling exhibition that is currently in town. She saw an article or advertisement in the paper about the show, and asked if I would want to go. I was all for it. We went to eat at Hester's, a little sandwich shop on the backside of a cute antique shop near six points. It was nice, I got a southwestern Cesar salad, that was YUMDIDY with guacamole and sun-dried tomatoes. I ran into an old friend, Jill Baugher, and her mother, out for a daughters and mothers family day filled with good food, pedicures and manicures. We had a very nice lunch, and just enjoyed the time for a while.

Then we went to the photo gallery on People's street to see the exhibition. It is a smaller gallery, but very nice. The show they are currently hosting for the next two months is called "Eyes from the Ashes" a collection of photographs from Ann Weiss. Ann Weiss is not the photographer of the collection, however, the author of a book in which she shares these photographs that she mistakenly found while taking a tour at the Auschwitz-Birkeneau concentration camps in 1986. The photographs were not supposed to be seen. These 2400 photos were images brought to the camps by the prisoners in hopes of holding onto an image of a loved one or a time when things were better. Personal items such as photographs were confiscated by the Nazi soldiers at every camp and shipped to a crematorium at another location to be destroyed. Apparently it was important to Hitler to not only destroy the people themselves, but their spirit and memories along with every bit of evidence that claimed they ever existed. Somehow, the photos confiscated at Auschwitz-Birkeneau were saved and lie in a room for 40 years until Ann Weiss found them with the help of a museum worker and his golden key.
My mother and I had the pleasure of speaking with Ann Weiss this afternoon and heard stories that would bring tears to your eyes. At one point, I did get emotional. Her sacrifice to travel and share these photographs, 2400 that remain out of millions that once existed, to cities across the US, Europe and even to Israel has healed many wounds, and had many people reunited with pictures of loved ones that they thought they would never see again. It truly is an amazing and powerful experience. She has a website and I encourage you to check it out. She also has a book that has most of the images in it with stories of these people and who they were before the evil that came and took it all away. I sat and read about it this evening and am all the more moved.

Ann is a wonderful lady with a huge heart for her people. We ended up spending a good two hours with her and I truly enjoyed every minute of it. It is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. The show was completely free to the public and she is supported solely by donations. If you are in the place to donate, I feel compelled to ask you to think about doing just that. It is history. I read today at the show that Hitler knew that to destroy a people group it was important to take out two groups first, the old and the young. The old to kill the wisdom, the past. The young to destroy any hope of a future. In reading that I wanted desperately to help this woman give the joy of memories to anyone who was still living. To help one person see a loved one that they thought would only be seen in their dreams. One man wrote after finding a photo of his first wife and child who had perished at Auschwitz, " I could show my family, THAT is who I was, THAT is where I came from! It was my revenge on Hitler!" I hope you all have a wonderful week and hope you find time to visit this website and see the beautiful pictures of a beautiful people who were snuffed out by such a terrible force.

Oh yes, our daughter is a genius, or an artist, or ....is having visions

Don't get all bent out of shape with the visions thing, it was a joke. Once you see the picture Anna drew lately you will see my point. She drew this at school and with no help mind you. What do you see? I know...I know, it is all just a bunch of lines here and there. But if you look for content, you will see the right side of her brain must have been working over time. We saw an angel wearing a scarf serving up some sort of dish that is flying off the plate. Or it could be a release of a dove with a halo or something...the jury is still out. Either way, we thought it was cool. At least I did...my kid is going to grow up to draw pretty pictures. : ) Or maybe she won't....and that is ok with me. I periodically see those parents on "The Soup" where they show clips from Show Biz Moms and Dads..and it puts me in check...those people are NUTS! : )

Anyway, so we went down to my parents house for Parker's birthday. Parker is my brother Jered's son. He is SO precious and hysterically opposite of Anna in every way. I absolutely love it. He weighs about 5 pounds but he is all boy, super into trucks and wheels, very independent and itty bitty in the cutest way. He hates to be away from mom, but the minute you catch his attention with something, he is all yours...which makes it all the sweeter. I like to win over attention sometimes, the challenge is nice. I think that is why I like cats. Anyway, we really enjoyed getting to see him and be there to experience his first birthday. He wanted very little to do with the cake, other than to destroy it...like I said, ALL boy. Here are some pics from the weekend.Sweet little hand full of destruction.
I love this face...he is so happy to get cleaned up...Anna would be screaming right now. Such a sweet happy boy.Can't you just hear it in the background....Bond, James Bond. Look at his eyebrow and little puckered lips...HYSTERICAL!

Anna having a good time racing down the hill courtesy of T-Ma.Uncle Judd raced her down the hill next and I just love this pic. She could model wagons. Uncle Jered is teaching her some tips on batting. This was Parker's birthday present, she couldn't wait to get her hands on it! : )


OK, these next few pictures make me happy that cameras exist. Mom and Anna on Friday evening, after playing hard outside and Anna and Dad the following day, feeding the koi fish of a neighbor down the street. They make me want to cry, because I know she will cherish these photos for the rest of her life. I know I will.
And last but not least, Anna's cheesy school pictures. She is barely smiling and isn't giving off that cute girl feel we know she is capable of. So, Stacy, this is what I was expecting, your boys pics from school are WAY cuter. I blame the photographer...not my sweet girl. Have a great week! : )

“Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner.”

Quote by Linda Montgomery...awesome.

So Stephen has been working really hard on his Salon for school. Salon is not something that involves hair. Salon is the yearly food competition where students create the most interesting and complex recipes and painstakingly work to have a killer presentation. Taste is not a factor...which I think is stupid. But what do I know. Because their menu is decided by their current "salon" class, Stephen, who is presently in Garde Manger, ( see previous post with pics of food for definitions) had to choose between cold or hot appetizers. He decided he wanted to go with hot appetizers and decided to work with shrimp. For real though...this is a serious competition. There are all sorts of rules about things looking "beautiful and attractive to eat". So the solution, (whoever came up with this really needs to rethink it in my humblest opinion) is to cover anything moist ( i.e. liquid, veggies, fruit, meat...ect.) in a gelatin film called aspic to "preserve" it's scrumptious aesthetic quality. YUK...that's all I have to say about that.

There are medals given to the highest scores and Stephen was hopeful. Unfortunately hope was not enough, although he did receive a very high score and was within 1 and half points of getting a medal. All the medals went to the desserts. The upswing was that Stephen's food became local celebrity later that evening with a newscast about the competition. Stephen's food is ALL OVER IT and I was very proud. See pics below of Stephen's food all plated up. Shrimp Nori Strudel Rolls

Shrimp Toast with Jicama Slaw

Grilled Shrimp Cocktail with Romesco Sauce

and our favorite.....Chipotle Shrimp Tostada Stacks ( doesn't that pic look like something out of Bon Appetite?!!)

Here is the video we are so proud of. : )

And just a little slide in...here are some pics from Anna recently swinging in her swing that her J-Paw made her. She loves her swing and her Daddy.There is that cheeseball grin again! Have a great week!

Memoir

At the request of my sister-in-law Holly, here is my six word memoir.

Jesus, Stephen, Anna, all I needed.


The rules: Write your own six word memoir, and post it on your blog. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post, if possible, so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I tag...

Jessy, Jeremy ( cause I know you will rock this ), Kristi, Corrie L, and Candi.

And for real if you don't want to do this, I ain't mad at ya...your choice. If you are curious where this came from, check out this link....it's a book...pretty cool. Some of the memoirs are pretty sad but on the same token quite hysterical.

Beauty for ashes...

So I watched the Diane Sawyer special on the gentleman who has terminal cancer and is known world wide for his You Tube video titled "The Last Lecture." This man is an amazing professor, a phenom of a father and husband from the way they portrayed it, an all around awesome human being and he is going to die in give or take two months. I sat watching this program wanting to know why on earth the good Lord would allow this man to be taken from us, knowing all the good he could do, while the drug dealer on the corner would probably live to be 100. I know that sounds cynical, but it is hard not to be when you see a story like this one. The end of the program brought some clarity for me. There were about 2 dozen people who gave interviews or wrote letters talking about how this video had completely changed their lives. (The video was actually only recorded because there were some family members who were not able to attend the lecture). The video has had over 15 million hits. One woman wrote that she had thought of taking her own life 10 days ago and since seeing his lecture, is thankful for every breath she is given. That 2 dozen was just the tip of the iceberg in the masses he has reached with this lecture. The scripture came to me, and I was very much happy with God's answer to my question. Romans 8:28...and we know in all things God works for the good....
As I am watching this, Stephen is in the other room talking to his sister. This is how the story goes.
Karen ( Stephen's sister ) has a friend named Marcus. Marcus' brother Nick was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November of 05. He was 29 years old with a sweet young family. He had surgery and things looked good. The next October, it had returned and things did not look so good. He passed away two months later in December. His family, obviously devastated, decided they wanted to raise money to fund a research grant in Nick's name. Apparently this tumor is the most common brain tumor that afflicts young people, including children. Nick, prior to his death, had traveled to Italy with his wife and some friends and they had a wonderful time. A friend (I believe...it may have been a family member) purchased a trip to Italy to honor Nick and raffle off to raise money in order to fund this research grant. Karen (my sister-in-law) purchased some of these tickets. And oh yeah, you know what I am going to say, she won it. She, being the AWESOME person she is, has traveled quite a bit, and has lots of frequent flyer miles. So, she would not have to buy a ticket to Italy....and the trip is payed for two....and the stay is in a villa with two rooms....SO WE ARE GETTING TO GO TO ITALY! WOO HOO! All we will have to pay is sight seeing and food. AMAZING! I am SO pumped I cannot even explain. I have wanted to travel to Italy since I fell in love with Renaissance art in my art history classes freshman year of college. Karen is an amazing person for giving this gift to us. We would not be able to afford this in a million years...or at least till we were retired. Of course Stephen is so excited about the culinary opportunity in traveling to that part of the world...the food is crazy amazing. Needless to say we are overwhelmed and SO excited. Have a great week!

This picture was taken on my way to work...even though the quality isn't that great ( camera phone ), you can see how amazing that sunrise was. God was definitly shining that morning.

Examples and responsibility.....

Anna has been pretty sick again lately. She got another ear infection Easter weekend and we have been trying to re coop. In the midst of that, she got a virus, probably from the stupid playground...oh well. Anyway, she has been home mostly this week and today I was taking her with me to Rockport so my mother-in-law could watch her at the vacation house. As we were driving, I was putting on my makeup, yeah yeah I know...but I was running late, so back off. Anyway, as I was putting on my makeup I saw her in the rear view mirror mimicking me. She was rubbing her face like I was...she was doing what I was doing. It hit me like a ton O bricks that she is emulating me, that everything I do, she will want to do it too. SCARY. I mean she has copied me before, but I guess it took her doing a female thing for me to realize that I have a different role than Stephen. She is going to look to me for knowledge on how to be a woman. That is an EXTREMELY overwhelming feeling just in case you were wondering.

So, I stopped putting on my makeup and prayed for some strength and guidance. I want to do the best job by letting Jesus be her example and letting Him make me the best woman I can be and by proxy teaching Anna to be the best woman she can be. It is a huge responsibility and I don't want to look back years from now and see the sins I have passed down to her, but the blessings God has bestowed upon her because of my obedience to Him. Anyway, thought I would share that....it was a pretty heavy 40 minutes to work this morning, but WAY worth the lesson He shared with me.

SO, on another note that is kind of in line with this post, talking about responsibility and all... Not to get too political, but I saw this today and was a little frightened. I am not sure about the connection with Obama, but the stuff that comes straight from the horses mouth is pretty scary. My mom sent this to me in an email titled, "what do YOU think?"

And I am asking the same question, out of curiosity....so if you feel like it, let me know...
http://heartofflesh.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/the-church-of-oprah-exposed/

Have a great week!