Birthday treasures

Street art by Artillery: 'A'

First skateboard: (view here)

Personal Birthday Party with Symphony and Grace at American Girl Place, not to mention first Doll - "Mollie"

Horton Hears a Who with Carrie

"Ashlie" : a Littlest Pet Shop Pet with a virtual life on the computer.

Slumber Party: inlcudes... Dibs (strawberry & chocolate), Hannah Montana, you get the idea.

Ava's Birthday Feast

My newest proud moment: Strawberry Chocolate chip sugary cinnamon pancakes (don't forget : topped with strawberries, bananas, whipped cream and syrup!)

Every time I try and create a yummy breakfast at home, it hits the "great try, but wished I went out" bar on the scale of good breakfasts. But in honor of Ava's sixth birthday, I pulled it off - I have to say this batch rivaled any pancakes I've ordered at any breakfast place. Yay me!

Happy Birthday Peapod. Love You so much.

Rachel's return to the stage

GLORIA!
West Suburban Symphony, February 17. 4pm.
LaGrange, IL. Click HERE for more details.


This will be my first "classical" performance since my graduate recital in Nov 2005 - over 2 years ago! It's fitting that's it's Poulenc - coming on the heels of our return from France - he's also my very favorite composer. This gig came out of the blue - a friendly correspondence with a conductor friend who I've know since our first years here in Chicago. It's a beautiful work, and I'm excited to sing it. Here's a video I found online from a performance in Spain - the soprano has a gorgeous voice...

Rejoice :: Solo Show

Anthony has been getting ready for his show in a couple weeks. His new pieces are awesome, and he's found some great ways to frame the stuff on paper. It would be great if everything sold!!

Building Community

In the small hilltop village of Grane (pronounced Grahn)- in the Drome region, a family has begun to rebuild a centuries old house that was a pile of rubble. Bruno, Regine and their boys will live in the house and use it as the church's meeting space. The Peninsula Vineyard took a team of 10 men to help build last April. Another trip is planned for this upcoming spring. The boys in these pictures absolutely stole my heart. It's through these boys that I found out that in this region they greet and say goodbye with 3 kisses on the cheek (not 2 like in the northern part of the country). When we said goodbye to them, I pulled away after 2, but I was informed by Johann that it was three and he gave me another.

Snipets of France

Although we are back, there is much to process for both Anthony and me. The places, people, kisses, sounds, stories, will soon be told - but until then, I wanted to share with you my favorite things captured on camera...

Julie (very helpful in correcting my French) She gave the sweetest little kisses!


Les Enfants


Church in Alsace where Rachel helped sing worship in French (such an awesome experience!)


Petit Dejuner (breakfast) at Phillipe & Martine's home in Alsace. We worshiped and prayed over their 4 children.


Small village in the Drome region - place of one of the church plants.

Tour de France - Kraftwerk