Sidewalk Prophets Concert

On Sunday evening we went to the Sidewalk Prophets concert in Denver to represent Anderson University at their booth.

Sidewalk Prophets is a Christian band that started at Anderson University back in 2004.  It was fun chatting with the lead singer, Dave Frey about that.  He has fond memories of Ivanhoes ice cream, as we do!

Jim and I met at Anderson College (now University) in 1984,  and Brittany and Brad met there in 2008!  (Jim's dad and cousin, as well as my sister, are also alums, and my niece is a sophomore there now.)  It was fun to talk to potential students and their parents, and had a great time meeting the band.  Samuel had fun at his first-ever concert!  We got home late that night, but it was an awesome time.  Thanks to our friend Scott for inviting us to do it!

The four AU alums and cutie pie Tessa. 

 (Sam's taking the picture.)

A couple of shots from the concert.  

Samuel with the band's photo background. 

 He helped the road manager set it up.

Jim, Samuel, and me with Sidewalk Prophets.  

A fun night!

Keelan's Birthday

I don't know how it happened, but Keelan is about to graduate from high school and just turned 18!  He is still working at Dairy Queen, taking automotive mechanics classes at tech school, playing guitar with the church worship band, and this spring is also playing baseball!  Some days I don't see him at all.  He is a busy little bee.

As I mentioned in the previous post, he got his letter jacket for his birthday.

His birthday dinner was at HuHot Mongolian Grill, a yummy place that we discovered last year.

Taylor, Destiny, Keelan, Justin.

Me and my Tessa.  

(She's looking for her daddy to come back to the table!)

Caylie, Samuel, Jim, Brad, Brittany

Keelan chose Kansas Dirt Cake, which Jim made for him.

It's getting hard to blow out a-l-l those candles!

And here's an extra, just 'cause I love it. 

This is baby Keelan at his first birthday party, crying because he was overwhelmed by all the people.  Or because he was afraid of the candles.  Or because he didn't like that kind of cake.  Who knows.  But he's being comforted by our friend Jeff, who has been Keelan's teacher, friend, and worship leader over the years.

And here they are now, playing their guitars on the church stage.  I love that they've had this long relationship.

Happy Birthday, Keelan Josiah!

February Stuff

Keelan got an academic letter.  He had already earned a letter in band last year.

Bad pictures, taken far away with my phone camera.

  But they'll have to do.

And he got his letter jacket.  (An early birthday present!)

We celebrated Chinese New Year at our adoption agency's annual party.  Of course there was face painting.  (I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Sam's finished product!)  There were red envelopes with gold coins, which I neglected to get photos of, as well.  But we had fun and ate lots of yummy food.

Tessa's first face painting.  She loves "Mee Mouse"!

Jim and Keelan changing spark plugs, with a little help from Samuel.

Caylie worked hard on her Valentines from school.

Samuel and Caylie went to a Valentine's party at church.  Lots of fun!

Keelan and me.  :)

 Caylie is learning to help in the kitchen.  

(Tiny girl has to stand on a stool, of course!)

Sam looks pretty good in my glasses, dontcha think?

Caylie's Birthday

Caylie is 8!  She is doing so well.  She's been with us for 3 1/2 years now, is in first grade, has lots of friends, and is learning to read both English and Chinese.

Her birthday is on Valentine's Day, so there is always an extra celebration!

Early present from big sister Brittany.

Birthday morning!

Hello Kitty ice cream cake.  Caylie has loved Hello Kitty since the day she arrived in the U.S. and Brittany gave her her first Kitty.  She still sleeps with that Kitty every night.

Beautiful birthday girl!

Cutie pies!

Happy Birthday, Caylie!!

Taylor's Birthday

On February 3, we celebrated Taylor's 24th birthday.  He is doing well these days.  Still living in the little apartment near our old house, taking the bus to work at Goodwill, where he's had a job for 2 1/2 years.  We are proud of him!

And yes, one of his presents was a big container of cat litter, ha!

Taylor chose to eat dinner at a Japanese Hibachi grill.  We've gone there the past couple of years for his birthday.  We didn't know those other people around our table.  I'm sure we kept them quite amused.

Jim, Samuel, Keelan, and Taylor

Caylie

Justin and me.

Brad and Tessa came over for birthday cake.  Poor Brittany still wasn't feeling well.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!