Fun with cousins!

The fun continues...
O & L have been very involved in Priya's mealtimes. They are both very eager to help by holding her food and taking turns feeding her. They also sing to her to help her take her bites of food more willingly. It works like a charm! Thanks O & L!
Yesterday evening, Jenetta's mom, Joy, and her husband CJ stopped by for a visit. Joy works with preschoolers and is amazing with the girls! She helped them set up some fun games with rice and "goop" on the back patio and all three girls had a blast playing together.

I had a hard time getting videos of the girls without showing their faces. So these are brief, but it's a start at least! :)

Some funny tidbits from our time with O & L:

1. O is very fond of her dog Miranda. She cutely calls her "O'Wanda" or "Wanda".
2. Last night when Jenetta's mom and step-dad were getting ready to go, the girls were talking about their 2 sets of grandma's who were there: "Old Grandma" (Joy) and "New Grandma" (my mom, Sue). They were thankful she didn't refer to them as Old Grandma and Young Grandma!

Meeting O & L!

We have had a rather unexpected turn of events and Priya and I have found ourselves down in Escondido, CA visiting Jon & Jenetta and meeting O & L for the first time!! My parents had a trip planned to drive down here and it originally conflicted with our schedules, but once their dates were finalized we realized that it would be possible for at least Priya and I to join them. Unfortunately Ashish still has school and is madly studying for his finals, so he wasnn't able to join us. :(

We arrived yesterday around 4pm and were very warmly greeted by O & L who ran up to us and blessed us with big hugs. They took to Priya immediately and she returned the love, so the three of them had a wonderful time causing a tornado throughout the house (sorry J&J!). The girls are absolutely adorable and we loved them from the moment we me them! It's going to be quite the circus when the whole family gets together this summer and our niece Ella joins the group!

We are currently into day two and wrestling through the challenges of getting 3 over-stimulated girls to take proper naps, but from the sound of it now, all are sleeping peacefully.

Priya and I are staying at the home of my Aunt Barb & Uncle Harold (thank you for your incredible hospitality!) and are spending the days with J&J, O&L, and Grammy & Grandpa.

The photo above is of O & L helping feed Priya her breakfast this morning. I wish we could post better pics, but the other ones that were taken all show the girls' faces and until the adoption is final we can't post them.

Stay tuned for more fun to come!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the Christian family!

We had a special day here in Redding. We attended Neighborhood Church's Easter service at the Redding Convention Center and then spent the afternoon celebrating with our Redding relatives at my parents' home.

Below Priya and Grandpa make their way into the Redding Convention Center.
Priya enjoyed some quality time with her Great Aunt Janis and her Great Uncle Ted during the service when she got too squirrely to sit in the service. Thanks for your help Janis & Ted! :)
Outside of the Convention Center are several fountains. We took photos there last year so we thought we'd try it out again this year. Priya was FAR more interested in jumping in and taking a "bath" as she excitedly exclaimed again and again.


Her 2nd cousin Noah had a little fun with our little monkey.
And then Noah has a little fun with his own little man - Tate.
Tate has grown so much since we last saw him at Christmas time! He is such a great baby! He smiled all the way through out time together! What a cutie!
After the aunts, uncles & cousins made their way back home, we ventured outside for a little fun in the sun. Priya enjoyed some quality time with Grammy and went to town pulling leaves off the bushes, throwing pieces of bark, and picking up rocks and throwing them all over the driveway. Oh what fun! :)

Easter Egg Drop at Simpson!

This morning Ashish took Priya to a special Easter Egg Drop here on Simpson's campus. A local church sponsored the event and brought in a helicopter to drop off 15,000 candy filled, plastic Easter eggs!

A glimpse of my life as an RD

The 08-09 school year is about to come to a close. It's always amazing to me to see how quickly the year flies by! This year is no exception! I am on the verge of completing my 9th year as a Resident Director! It's hard to believe that I've been here that long! Our plan is to stay as long as the Lord keeps us here, taking it one year at a time. We will be here for at least one more year and will continue to seek God's direction for the future.

Next year at Simpson will look a bit different, holding a whole new host of challenges and opportunities. We are shifting our program and changing it to meet the needs of only having 3 professional staff running the program in Residence Life. I will be taking on a new title (Residence Life Coordinator) and assuming new duties (primarily heading up the daunting area of discipline - among other things). We will also have Student RD's next year (changing their titles from Lead RA's)! It's definitely going to look a little different around here.

I have mixed feelings about the changes, but am trying to make the best of what I anticipate will be a challenging year. I'm sure that I will learn a great deal and will gain additional skills that will be helpful down the road. I like the idea of a new challenge and I'm hoping and praying for the best.

Below is a photo of this year's RA and Lead RA team. This year we more than doubled the number of students that we hire for these roles. We had 5 Lead RA's (an entirely new position this year) and 6 RA's per dorm (we previously had only 3). So we jumped from having 15 -18 RA's to having 35 students impacting our campus and influencing their floors. It was a learning curve, but in the end was a great success, in my opinion. :) It's going to be hard to say goodbye to this group!We have hired our team for next year and have concluded the spring training these student leaders. Below we are gathered at our President's home (Dr. McKinney) for a New RA Reception. We anticipate great things from this group of students and are exited to work with them next year.

Stirring Mom's Group - Easter Egg Hunt

This morning the Stirring Mom's Group visited a beautiful park that I didn't even know existed - Rivercrest Park. We had a great time watching the kids enjoy themselves as they ran around and played and got to do some catching up with the other moms in the group. We also had an Easter Egg Hunt which was a blast for the kids! Priya seemed to get the hang of it pretty well and walked away proudly with 4 eggs. Way to go Priya! :) Thanks Stirring Mom's for a wonderful morning out!

It sure is nice to have our camera back!

Simpson's Annual Shopping Cart Race event took place last Thursday. We always have a great time watching the students put their creativity into action and then witnessing a little friendly competition. Below Priya enjoys some quality time with the Peterson girls (Anna, Rachel & Beth).
Becky and the Slavens family (Broni, Bella & Lucy) try to stay warm as they enjoy the action.
The Cooper-Heath girls doing a drive by. Pretty creative, eh? They never cease to amaze me!
Priya tries to take it all in while enjoying a snuggle with her new monkey friend (a very handy harness that kept her from running out into shopping cart traffic throughout the event - and something I was quite thankful for).
Below are a couple of clips taken yesterday and today where Priya displays, once again, her love of reading her Baby Beluga book - and how incredibly talkative she is. And after that is a small glimpse of Priya's counting skills & how energetic and full of life she is. She is climbing on EVERYTHING these days. But she knows that she's not allowed to climb all the way on top of the couch. Notice how she hovers there just waiting to see what we'll do. I was proud Momma when she decided to step down. Good girl! :)

A few more fun videos

Thought I'd share a few more videos of our little Priya for your viewing entertainment. 1) Priya's 1st recorded dance recital. 2) Priya making a run for it! Giving a glimpse of how fast she is these days. 3) Priya investigating her daddy's scruffy face.

Want to see something cute?

Priya is enamored with the book BABY BELUGA and the song that it is based on. She wants us to read/sing it to her multiple times every day and is now a regular part of her bedtime routine. She has also decided that she enjoys reading and singing to herself. She'll pick up a book and page through it using the various words that she knows - whether or not they are related to the book. It is adorable!

Below is a clip of her reading and singing the BABY BELUGA book before bed. Could she be any cuter?


Priya is also developing quite a love of dancing. She makes us laugh and provides so much entertainment these days! In this video she is also sporting her very first single pony tail! I can't believe how fast her hair is growing!

My First Glimpse...

I got to talk with Jon for a longer period of time today and it was wonderful to hear about their new lives and how they and the girls are adjusting to each other.  It's such a huge answer to prayer that things are going SO well!  Jon had to go into work for a few hours today so we got to catch up on his commute home.

Later this evening Jon set up his laptop so that we could Skype for about 10 minutes.  What an awesome surprise!  He set it up so that they didn't see or hear me but I was able to watch and listen while the four of them played together.  It was so touching to hear O & L calling them Mommy and Daddy and to see how well they are all bonding already!  The girls were putting make-up on Jenetta and were dressed up in ballerina costumes.  They were absolutely adorable!

Thanks for that special glimpse into your new lives Jon and Jenetta!  I am so proud of you both and am continuing to pray for all of you!

Getting the creative juices flowing again...

I love to make things with my hands. It's fun to create and to see something new emerge before your eyes. I used to make jewelry, but since Priya came along it has been placed on the back burner. Recently my sister-in-law, Emily, inspired me to try something new. She made a bow holder to hang in Ella's room that neatly organized her bows (see Emily's handiwork below).

I've kept Priya's bows in zip lock bags and stored in a basket in her room, but I wanted a way to store them that made it easier to find what I wanted. I wandered over to Walmart one evening and came back with supplies that ended up costing me only $5 - fabric, ribbon, and some 50 cent jungle animals that matched the theme in Priya's room. Coupled with some cardboard, batting, staples and glue a new creation soon emerged. I had to get creative with the limited wall space in Priya's room (hence the ever-so-fashionable thermostat in the pic). But in the end I was happy with the result.

Thanks for the inspiration Emily! It was fun to try something new! :)

J&J Update!

Jon and Jenetta have a new post with a couple of photos! They are exhausted after their first day with the girls but things seem to be going well. We are so excited for you J&J and are looking forward to the day when we'll be able to meet O&L in person! We love you!

Today Is THE Day!

Today is the day that my brother and sister-in-law will meet O & L for the first time. In approximately one hour from now Jon and Jenetta will meet these sweet little girls at the airport in San Diego. We are bursting with excitement and are eager to hear how the first meeting goes.

They have been working hard to get their home ready and were blessed with a shower on Saturday. Check out Jon and Jenetta 's blog to see some of the fruits of their labor. :)

We are praying for you J&J and O & L!!!

Another Day of Fun

Ashish went back to work today, but I get to continue with the Spring Break fun until Monday. So this morning Priya and I hit Jump River Park and let the fun continue. She spent some time on the swing and going down the slide, but seemed to primarily enjoy practicing going up and down the stairs today. She is quite good at going up the stairs and is getting close to mastering going back down too. The kid-sized railing definitely helped in the process.

She is wearing a beautiful Indian top that was given to her when she was born by her Uncle Arpit and Aunt Binal in India. It's fun to be able to be able to expose her to various aspects of her Indian heritage along the way.


When Ashish got off work we headed back outside again and had a blast walking around the campus...

And then headed over to the McConnell Foundation for a nice walk.


It's been so nice to have this extra time with Ashish these past few days and to see him bonding with our little girl.