Well, I’m a bit sorry that neither of these entries will stand on its own. I simply haven’t had enough time to get all the photos sorted and up before now, so now I’ve got to do them together.

First up, I went to America for two weeks to meet my new nephew Liam and let me tell you: he’s perfect! He’s got a lot of blond hair and a Reese Witherspoon jawline (although as far as we know, we’re not related to her, so not sure where that came from) and sleepy blue eyes and he burps like a grown-up. Yes, yes, you can tell I’m very proud. He also already makes Daddy’s uh-oh-face, Mommy’s kissy-face and Aunt Kristy’s don’t-even-think-about-waking-me-up-yet-face. He’s very friendly, as in, doesn’t mind when other people hold him and he’s very warm, as all babies are. This is good when you’re a typically cold person, like me. Also, he hardly pukes, so you don’t really have to worry about mussing your clothes up and he farts a lot, so if you happen to fart, you can easily blame it on him. Not that I would ever do that… My favorite thing that he does is this: He likes to sleep the best curled up, face nuzzled in your shoulder while you hold him -- doesn’t matter if you happen to be laying down, sitting, standing, walking -- the main thing is face to face and snuggly. Well, every now and then he wakes up, does a gigantic yawn, arches his back and just lets himself fall backwards. I mean, that takes trust to just assume that someone will catch you when you fall backwards! I love it! That’s my favorite thing he does so far. And, I want to proudly proclaim, I have now changed my first diaper ever. Yes, I know, y’all didn’t think I had it in me, but evidently I do.

Here’s a little video I made the first time I actually saw Liam.

Other than be fascinated by Liam, while I was in America I also helped Jer and Bonnie get the little guy’s room painted and cleaned up so his furniture, toys, clothes, etc can go in there. I also found time to go to a dance class, shop a bit, preach three times in my parents’ church, go to a picnic, have breakfast with my uncle, visit with my dad and grandparents, translate some stuff for a project back home and talk to my lonely husband every day on the phone. It was pretty much jam packed, so on top of jet lag, I’ve been spending this week just catching up on missed sleep from the two weeks I was gone. Today was the first day I got up before 11AM, even though I didn’t have to. So it was exhausting, but I would do it all over again anyway. And the room looks great. It’s orange and safari themed. Cool, eh? If you click on this picture of my handsome nephew, it will take you to a whole bundle of photos I took while I was there, and they’ve got captions on them to explain what they are.

And secondly (and at least AS important), my brother-in-law and his wife finally had their church wedding last weekend! Benni and Annka got married legally in June, but postponed their church wedding until September, due to the death of her grandmother. Finally we got to celebrate in style. The wedding was a lot of fun and I guess pictures really do it more justice than words, plus, just like with the Liam photos, I’ve put explanations on the pictures that need explanations, so I would suggest just looking through those and you can see what a great time we had.

Other than that, we fly on Saturday to Brazil for three weeks, so there is likely to be absolutely NO blogging going on during that time. I’ll make sure we get lots of pics and details for the blog entry when I am back, though, don’t worry!