Hi love,
Everything went well yesterday at Epic. Scott did a great job!
Once we were done with our responsibilities at the middle school (and got packed up), we drove to Erin's.
We got here at about 9:30 last night. Molly didn't go to sleep until 1 am and she's already up today (it's 7am here.) I'm tired!
I will get to go to the hospital a little later today.
Little Onne is doing really well. He's off all IVs and eating on his own. He just needs to grow now. Caliana on the other hand is having some trouble and may have to have surgery this week for patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Basically, its a congenital heart disease where a valve between the heart and lungs (necessary for an embryo's lung function as they don't take in oxygen) fails to close after birth, making it difficult for the baby to get the oxygen it needs. The Drs. are going to give her little body until Thursday to start doing what its supposed to do on its own. But because her duct is zigzagged instead of straight, the Drs. anticipate surgery.

The boys are excited to be here, (they have that whole water park instead of just a pool) and Stephanie's coming over to play.
Merritt read every sign on the way here and is begging to go to a Dodgers game AND an Angels game. He's even tried to talk me into the Padres.
"Mom, Legoland isn't that far from Aunt Erin's house and that is where the Padres play."
As far as he's concerned every day we're here should have a game scheduled and we should have tickets.

Speaking of baseball, Merritt's team played a really exciting game in the tournament on Saturday. The game was almost 3 hours long and they WON! I think the final score was 28-27.
It was over 100 degrees, but those boys were troopers.

We are praying for you.
I love you and look forward to the day you get home.

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Bruce - I miss you!

Hi love,
Today has been a roller coaster ride.
You have a new niece and nephew.
I haven't seen pictures yet, but I'm sure they're beautiful.
They had some scary moments, but everyone is doing well.
Both of the babies are in ICU, but are progressing nicely.

Merritt's team didn't do so well tonight, but Merritt had a couple of GREAT hits.
I took Mason to the Dr. and he's on antibiotics now too.

I wish you were here today more than any other day that you've been gone.
I'd hoped that I wouldn't need you so much in your absence, but when I've had a day like I had today, I realize that that is impossible.
I always need you.
I love you and I look forward to the next time I get to talk to you.

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June 24 update for Bruce...

Hi love,

I ended up having a really nice birthday today.

Even though it looked as if it would be full of
kids not feeling well
laundry
friends who are too busy to actually call
laundry
dishes
HEAT
did I say laundry? (you know how motivated I am there. And didn't we just finish the laundry?)

It turned out to also have
strawberry shortcake with a candle
birthday singing
yummy paninis for lunch
meeting new friends
and these...

All thanks to a very nice surprise from Annie.

The kids are doing ok.
They miss you.
Mason woke up this morning saying, "when I see a shooting star, I'm wishing that daddy NEVER goes away again."
Molly seems to be back to her healthy self, but Mason has a fever now.
He slept a lot today.

At bedtime tonight, Molly was calling for you.
And when you didn't answer asked me, "where's my daddy?"

Merritt had a great baseball game tonight.
They didn't win, but they only lost by 2 and the whole game was close like that, with each team swapping the lead regularly.
Your dad came out to watch, which made Merritt's day.

We prayed for you tonight.
Can't wait to hear more updates.
We LOVE and miss you!!!!

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They’re On Their Way

Yesterday, the team going to Uganda met at my house at noon. We had some lunch, made sure all the donations found a spot in someone’s luggage, gathered out front to pray, then loaded up 2 vehicles and headed to the San Francisco International Airport.

We made it by 5pm so they could get checked in for their 7pm departure, unloaded passengers and luggage, gave hugs and kisses and said goodbye for 2 1/2 weeks.

Right now as I am typing this, the team should be in the air on their way from London to Nairobi where they have a 2 hour layover before heading to their final destination of Entebbe. They will arrive in Entebbe at 9:45 am tomorrow (which is 11:45 pm tonight our time).

Please pray for them over the next couple of weeks – they’re going to need all the prayer they can get.

Bruce, our day today has run pretty smoothly. The boys went to VBS this morning. I had to pick Mason up early though because he was crying. He said he just wanted to be with me (too many kids he didn’t know and not enough that he did know to feel ok for him.) After VBS Cara picked both boys up to go swim at their house. Molly had a nap at 1 and went to swim at grandma’s. I’m getting ready to pick the boys up and take Merritt to baseball practice. We love you and are already counting the minutes until you get home. (Mason thinks it would be cool if it were only 2 seconds. – Me too!) We look forward to hearing from you once you get settled in there.

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Princess

Apparently our little fairy is actually a princess.
We already knew that, but we now know she does too.
And she's only 2!

Tonight we celebrated my birthday as a family.
It's early, I know.
But Bruce is going to be in Africa on the actual day, and we don't have any other free time between now and when he leaves.
We had dinner, ran a couple of errands then stopped at Starbucks for a treat
and for me to open my presents before we came home.

Molly was so excited.
She didn't care what was in the boxes, she just wanted them opened.
(She gets what presents are all about since her birthday!)

While we were sitting there enjoying each others company
she got the ribbon (from my package) tied on her head.

(Sorry about the picture quality, but it was from my phone.
And I don't have an iphone.)

"Mommy, I princess." (as she strokes her hair.)
"I Cinderella"

That's right baby.
And don't you ever let anyone convince you that you're not a princess.
Our princess.

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Bruce's blog...

Sorry I've been scarce around here this past week.
Summer is in full swing and we've been busy with swimming, baseball, playing with friends - you know, summer stuff.
And when I've had time at the computer I've been working on Bruce's blog redesign.
Check it out.
Blogger has lots of limitations and Bruce wanted a multi-page design.
There's a page for blogging His spiritual journey, insight, etc. A page for photography. And a page for his passions - family, cooking (already there's a yummy cupcake recipe), gardening, and whatever else he comes up with.
So multi-page design it is, but if you follow him through an RSS feed reader, it has 3 different feeds (because I couldn't figure out how to get them all into one feed.)
Bruce designed the new header and I put it all together for him.
And when you go there to check it out, leave him some love in the comments!

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