Introducing Laura Claire!!

We found out on Tuesday that we are the proud new parents of a baby girl!! She was born May 25, 2008 in Colombia and weighs about 11 pounds. We have named her Laura (the name she was born with) Claire and we can't wait to get to Colombia to meet her!! We are a bit overwhelmed, as we thought we had another year to prepare for a baby in our house...but we are managing. Our friends and family have been a huge help and our plans are to be on our way out of the country in the next 3 weeks or so. More information will be coming so check back soon!!

A Beautiful Wedding Weekend

We had the honor to attend the wedding of one of my best friends (and also my college roommate) this weekend. Cindy and I met our first day of college (we had been put together as suite-mates and hit it off right away). We got along so well, in fact, that we became roommates the next year and lived together until we graduated. We have so many great memories of our times at SBU and also in the years following graduation. We don't see each other too often, but when we do, it is like we haven't spent any time apart! Cindy was one of the bridesmaids at our wedding and I was thrilled to return the favor. All of us girls in the wedding attended college together, so it was a great time of catching up on the latest news, helping get things ready for Cindy's big day, and generally acting like goofy girls! Josh (Cindy's new husband) also went to college with us, but none of us knew him too well at the time. Fortunately, they met up again about 2 years ago and really hit it off. They make a great couple. Shawn and I had a chance to spend some time with them last Thanksgiving and I am so excited that they are together! I wish them a long life full of happiness. Unfortunately, Shawn didn't really know anyone at the wedding except those of us in the bridal party. He spent a lot of time hanging out in the hotel while I was helping with things...but I think he enjoyed the time to watch football, FoxNews, and run whenever he felt like it. We drove home on Sunday and spent a lot of time in the tailwinds of Hurricane Ike. It was pretty exhausting fighting the rain and the wind and we were relieved to arrive home safely. Hopefully Cindy and Josh's honeymoon will be hurricane free!

NightLights, Football, and Hanna

Shawn and I had a busy weekend planned with many outdoor activities that were all threatened by Tropical Storm Hanna coming on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, Hanna didn't pack much of a punch and we were able to enjoy our weekend. Friday night we went downtown to see InLight Richmond. This was an event centered around art and light. The galleries were all open to the public and the street was full of illuminated arts...including wearable art, shadow dancing, and strobe light dancing. The most entertaining was the "wearable art"...people dressed up in crazy dresses with light incorporated in them. The most original was a girl in a solid black turtleneck dress with a small tree-like thing on her head with lanterns hanging off the branches! It was really hard to get good pictures with the rain and no flash, but this is the best we could manage of our night downtown. Saturday we went with some friends to see the University of Virginia Cavaliers play the University of Richmond Spiders. We were ready to sit in the rain all day (Richmond got almost 7 inches on Saturday morning), but right before kick-off the sun came out and we didn't feel a raindrop the rest of the day. The game was really boring and full of sloppy play, but it was great to spend the day with our friends. Sunday was spent with several more friends watching the kickoff weekend of the NFL. Now that football season has started...it was time to put out our sign explaining the fall mantra for our family!!

Summer's Last Hurrah

Well, summer is unofficially over. We just spent our last weekend at the lake until next Memorial Day. We had a wonderful time relaxing at the house, sunning ourselves on the boat and water, and talking a lot of politics! Fortunately for us, we are all pretty much on the same side of the issues!! Now we are settling in for a long fall full of football (our favorite) and elections/politics (a close second). We are looking forward to a UVA football game on Saturday and are hoping we aren't rained out from Hurricane Hannah. Here's hoping the rest of the year goes as fast as it has so far and our adoption waiting just flies by!