Size does matter

Ever wonder what a 'Bias-sized flowchart looks like? (There are so many reasons I don't make a living as a business analyst. The fact that this flowchart is still rolled up on one end is only of them!!!)

Cupcakes and Cousins

This weekend we went to Boston to celebrate Win, Wes, and Charlie's 1st birthday. We had a great weekend with all the cousins in one place. The triplets got their 1st personal cupcakes to celebrate the day! Ann and Abby were glad they shared.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSTON BUNN BOYS!!!
(and congrats Rob and Ginger on surviving the 1st year . . .and seeming to enjoy it)

Winston loves kisses from his daddy!!

Mission Work in the 21st Century

Raymond is working again with Virginia Baptists in Congo. He is working on a well project and providing pulpit supply at the International Baptist Church in Kinshasa.

On his last trip he did not have a laptop of his own. This time he does and we made sure he was equipped with Skype before he left. Today was had a 'Sunday call' with Raymond in the Congo . . . complete with video. Of course, 'Bias had a brainstorm at lunch today and figured out that he could run the camera, laptop and sound via the receiver and TV so we could all talk and be seen at one time. Below is a picture of the family 'chatting' with Raymond today.

How times have changed! What if Lottie Moon had had this?!

Christmas Cove

We had a great weekend in Christmas Cove with the Boston Bunns. This is our favorite spot in the US and had a great time being there!!

Boats at the Coveside

Lala - running interference with the nephmanies

Like father, like son. Charlie goes for the Van Winkle bourbon

Gathering water for the lobsters

The guys and the lobsters

Dinner!!!

Perfect fit

I was looking for an infant size jersey for the German National Soccer team the other day but was not able to find one. Instead, I bumped into these online. Some things are too perfect!!

Meet Liam Christof

Today was the much anticipated 20 week ultrasound. This is an important one because it's the first one where the baby is more proportionate and it's possible to find out the sex. We were relieved to hear that all of the measurements are in the normal range.

Darlene, our very good friend and nurse/midwife said this was a boy from our visit at 7 weeks. She said that when there is no morning sickness it is statistically more likely to be a boy than a girl and the heart rate has typically been in the boy range. Today confirmed her suspicions and we have a little boy!

Meet Liam Christof! The white matter is the brain. If you look at the head and imagine the face of a clock, look at 5:00 to see the profile of his face. We think it may be the beginning of a Bunn chin.

He is already saying, 'Come on Mom and Dad! No more pictures. I'm hiding my face!'

Really crude editing job
(one day I will get real tools and not just use a touch pad)
Here's the little guy end to end

We said we were not going to share the name, but we both agreed that when we saw the images today this felt like our baby for the first time and we wanted to share the name.

We have chosen the name for a few reasons. The simplified answer is because we like it. But if you want more details, we wanted names that both native English speakers and native German speakers could pronounce. We also wanted to pick names that were significant to our family and faith.

'Liam' is an Irish name of Gaelic descent which comes from old German. It is short form of 'Uilliam' in Gaelic and 'William' from the German 'Wilhelm'. Wilhelm was Opa Janke's name and we wanted to remember him. The name means 'will, desire, helmet or protector' from the Gaelic and in Hebrew means 'my people' or 'I have a nation'.

'Christof' is To's brother's name and we wanted to name him after his Onkel Christof. In German 'Christof' means 'the Christ-bearer' or 'Christ-carrier'. Since these names are significant to our family and faith, we decided to name him Liam Christof.

We didn't expect to get 3D images today but we both agreed this really let us 'see' Liam for the first time.

We are grateful that everything appears to be normal and healthy. 20 weeks (ish) to go!

Tradition, Addition and Dead Grass

Wilhelm Janke 19 June 1911 - 19 May 2008

Last week we went to Germany for Opa's funeral. As the formal death announcement said, "After a long and fulfilling life, our beloved father, grandfather, brother-in-law, and uncle has passed away. We will never forget him." It is always sad to lose someone who is dearly loved, but we are thankful that he did not have to suffer long. It was a very busy week and we are very thankful that we were able to be there and go through everything as a family.

Work continues on the addition, although at this point we are nearly done. Tobias was painting windows in the addition today when some solicitors came to the door. He realized that he never heard the door bell or a knock on the door when he was in that room. He has know decided that room might be a good sound-proof oasis for sleep in the near future.

As many of you will know, our house had needed major landscaping work since we bought it. Since we had so much work to do inside the house, the outdoor work became second priority. We decided to take the plunge and pay a professional lawn care company to service the yard to see if we could improve the grass. Much to our surprise, the entire front yard was dead within weeks of our first treatment. Tobias called the company to follow up and figure out what was going on. The instructions he gave them were to 'kill the weeds so our summer grass would grow'. The work order was then written to say 'kill the weeds to include unwanted summer grasses'. Tobias is now negotiating how this will be fixed.