Seattle's Best

It is apparently NOT always raining in Seattle. When Andrew, Jackson and I visited in November for Thanksgiving, I think it only rained two times! We were there for a week visiting Andrew's brother and his wife and kids who just moved up there. Andrew's other brother and her fiance, as well as his parents, were also there! It was a Haverly Thanksgiving with yummy food and good times with family.




My friend Jen also lives in Seattle, so we got to catch up with her as well. Jen and I lived together in college (Go Frogs) and I don't get to see her much anymore, but she showed us around her fabulous city, shared local coffee secrets, and flirted with Jackson. Sorry, Micah.



Neither of us had ever been up there, and hadn't really thought much of the city other than it rains, and there's a Space Needle, so we couldn't stop commenting on how beautiful and fun it was up there. Not to mention the ever-abundant teryaki and assorted Asian foods... That's always a good thing.



We spent some time at the Space Needle, the Music Museum (I don't remember what it's called, but we stayed in the free part), Pike Place, Snoquamie Pass (complete with snow and skiing - though we didn't ski), the Seattle Aquarium (where we had LOTS of fun with J and took so many awesome pictures), and of course KARAOKE at the house - Haverly style. We had to bundle Jackson up well because it was COLD some of the days, but for the most part the weather was beautiful! Cold, but clear skies, and for the most part no rain! Andrew and I would go back if given the chance...and Jackson can come along too. He looks super cute in his hat with the ear flaps. That may have been my favorite part of the trip! Ha!



PLEASE check out the photo album with tons of great pictures (mostly of Jackson...) by clicking HERE and then for more (because they wouldn't all fit in one album...) click HERE TOO.

My view this morning

Ethiopian Jackson!

We went over to Ethiopia (Me, Andrew, Jackson and my mom) to meet with the people we'll be working with when we move, and to check out housing, etc. It was a great trip! We got to meet with all the people we needed to, saw what we needed to see, and did it all in the perfect amount of time. God does a pretty good job of setting appointments!

Some of the folks we'll be working with gave us really good moving advice, including what to bring, what to buy there, what to ship, etc. We'll basically be taking our kitchen appliances, electronics, clothes, and some of Jackson's stuff, and we'll be selling (LIQUIDATING) the rest! Stay tuned for said liquidation sale... We have lots of great furniture to get rid of, a car to sell, and a house to rent out!

Back to the trip re-cap:

We stayed in a fabulous (and cheap) guest house (like a hostel) and Jackson LOVED playing on his mattress, pulling up on the bed next to him, pulling up

and looking out the window, squealing at things... He had a great time! It was really only the l

ast 2 days we were there that he figured out how to climb down off of the mattress and make his way around the not-so-baby-proof room. Praise God he didn't discover that earlier! Ha! He also figured out how to climb up onto my bed at the end of the trip. Smartest baby ever.

All the Ethiopians loved Jackson. I mean LOVED him! And he felt the same way about them since they all payed lots of attention and held him and loved on him. Social butterfly.

Jackson had an amazing time being passed around from one person to another - they LOVE babies! That's a pretty great cultural trait... very helpful :)

The plane ride was loooong, to say the least, but Jackson did pretty great both ways. He's just awesome :).

It's very exciting for us to know more about what the next year holds for our family, and now we are facing a huge list of things to do before March, including some training, selling everything, packing up, getting lots of paperwork in to our company, and saying our goodbyes! It's overwhelming to say the least, and it's easy to get bogged down just thinking about our list, but it's also an incredible adventure that God has before us, so we are eagerly anticipating what He has in store for our family!

We've got LOTS more pictures from the trip, so check them out by clicking HERE!

Jackson's favorite meal: Table.

Jackson in Seattle!

Feliz Navidad

We have had a great Christmas Break!  We went to Puerto Vallarta, MX with my (Sarah's) family, and had a blast (pictures to come...).  We went Para-sailing, zip-lining through the rainforest canopy, and rappelling down waterfalls!  Enjoyable.  I had the fanciest food of my life in Mexico...go figure...and it was delicious!  

We came back to San Antonio on Christmas Eve, and went over to Andrew's house for some Karaoke with the Haverlys.  Again, that was enjoyable... Christmas morning we woke up early and went to my uncle's house to open presents, followed by a few games of badminton in the front yard and around-the-world on the b-ball court in the back.  My grandma won (although she stayed a bit closer to the net...), but I beat the whole family!!!  Seriously, I won the game.  I'm so athletic.

It will be good to get back home to Fort Worth, and to get back to work!  Don't get me wrong - I love taking a break, but I don't love knowing that its all piling up and I'll drown when I get home!

We love you all!  Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a fabuloso new year!

I'm a Diet Man

So...lately I've been looking into the mirror and I've notived there is taking more time to look at myself. No...i'm not staring at myself longer because I'm so good looking...It simply takes me longer to look at myself because there's more of me. In simple terms...I'm fat! Or at least getting there.

So what can I do? Lot's of options...I could run more (ok...that was a lie...i've only ran once in the past couple weeks...so i should say...I can start running again. I could eat less....and man...do i love food....but the thing I don't get is that most of the food I eat makes me feel like crap. So pretty much I am just eating crap. (Kind of like my bunny....but he literally eats his crap...they are called secatropes...and yes he eats those brown looking coacoa puffs straight out of the shoot. It seems he enjoys it though. I wonder if I have something to learn from him...hmmm...no), I could get my stomach tied (or whatever the heck you call that)...but that costs money and I sure have spent a lot of money recently getting my car fixed. So that's out of the question. I could drink more water and fool myself into thinking that I'm full when in fact its just water....but i already have to pee almost every hour...so this would make me go almost every 30 minutes. Over a period of a day...that would mean I would go about 48 times....and if it takes about 2 minutes for me too pee...that ends up being about 2 hours! No way...I ain't spending more than two hours in the bathroom...and that doesn't even include time for that other thing people do in the bathroom. OH...and like I said earlier...it already is taking me a long time to look at the "fullness" of my body.

So...i think i figured out a solution. I'm going start drinking diet sodas. Now you may be thinking...andrew that is redonkulous. Well let me tell you something...your are redonkulous for calling me redonkulous. Yep...i said it. OK back to diet sodas. I just drank a diet dr. pepper and it sure was delicious (or maybe I am just telling myself that so I can continue this wonderful diet...pun intended...or some may call it a double entandra (sp?...should i be using a word if I don't even know how to spell it....if that is true most people should stop saying they're or or their or there) Anyways..back to the diet. Jon tells me that Diet Cokes are the wave of the future...not really...but he sure loves them and says he can never go back to regular coke. Those are the only things I know are diet. But i'll drink those instead. So...if you ever see a regular coke in my hand...come up to me and say, "What you doin boi!" Then slap that drink right out of my hands (unless we are inside...because we don't want to get any on the carpet...especially if its in a fancy house...like where we are going to have AED this coming wednesday)....rather you may want to politely say, "Andrew, It would be much apppreciated for me to see diet _________ in your hands rather than a regular _________. Thank you very much sir." In response I will probably say, "That sounds swell."

You know...now that I really think of it....I really don't like diet cokes....maybe I should just drink water? Or Crystal Lite? Gosh...its really all just psychological. Do i really even need a drink? I don't know...I'm a Diet Man...that just sounds cool. I want to feel like a diet man...i want to fit into those 34 waist pants again....Am i sounding like a chick?

Uh...I love football! (little do ya'll suckers know...that by football I mean soccer...haha!) Did i just write my thought?