Parties & Picnics!

Our cell group is amazing. Last Friday they threw a party for Joe's birthday, and then on Sunday they threw a surprise baby shower for me!! I'll post pics of the shower soon, but here are some of our great friends at Joey's party. We love you guys!!

haha, soon we have to start to teach our son good manners...so mama & the aunties will get it out of our systems now while we can. ;)

On Saturday, Joe & RJ had to work all day, so Janelle & I made a Thai dinner for them when they came home. Yuuuum!!!! :D

The past 2 weeks have been soooooo beautiful, we have been able to get out quite a few times to enjoy the warm breezes, the blossoms, and start to celebrate spring! I think it's finally here!!

I'm so excited to turn this calendar page...I can now see my due date!! Welcome, April, welcome spring, and a soon-to-be-welcome to our little boy (who is currently squirming all around and keeping me up at night and seems as excited as we are at his coming into our world!!)

Can't wait to take photos of him instead of my belly!! :P

Happy Spring!! :D

Celebrating my husband!!

I just want to do a special shout-out in honor of my amazing husband.

The past two weeks for me have been very busy with my work, and I have been so tired, which I have no problems blaming on the rapid growth of our soon-to-be-born son! Between my work responsibilities, Joey has been making sure that I have time to rest, which translates into him helping in sooo many ways: picking up dinner when I didn't have the time or energy to make it, washing the floor when my spot-washes no longer looked effective and bending over is getting more uncomfortable, doing grocery runs, plus balancing quality time with me and his own many work-responsibilities.


How he does it, I don't know! I only can say THANK YOU to him, and be so grateful for the privilege of getting to be in his life every day. To have a husband who literally cares more for his wife than he does himself is a very humbling feeling, making me want to serve him and care for him even more! I am truly blessed!

I had to snap a few shots of him in the kitchen...we had friends over for brunch and Joey made his should-be-famous smoothies. Just as good as Dairy Queen...he gets them so thick that a single drop doesn't fall out of the blender when it's upside down! He's got a gift. :)

I am so happy to be able to celebrate another year of Joey! Monday was his birthday!! Big 32!! But as I reassure him, still very much in the prime of life. :)

I wanted to create a special evening for him that included all of his favorite things, as well as a few things that he has wanted to do for awhile!

First, he loves quiet evenings at home, so I had Shania Twain's "Party for Two" playing when he got home from work to set the mood. :D hehe

The twinkle lights all over the house set to flash was supposed to set a "strobe" feel (didn't work exactly right, but was still fun) --he's so fun to party with!! :D






The second portion of our evening included dancing and laughing hysterically to our "karaoke" attempts. He's wanted me to do this since my first visit to Asia, but KTV is something I have so far successfully avoided. haha So, this was dedicated to him. Didn't realize I had married such a crooner / beach boy combo!! :D So fun




After singing ourselves hoarse and depleting the beachboy/beatles/crazy 80's selection, out came a nice, rich chocolaty dessert and a gift basked filled with his favorite things.





He then picked a movie to watch...such a guy movie, too...the kind that he could only get away with on his birthday: The Pacific. A mini-series set in WWII. nuff said. :) ...and I humored him by reading him his birthday card--in Chinese. :P

I'm just so happy to be live with my best friend, someone I can trust so completely and truly love spending time with. Babe, here's to many more birthdays with you!! Next year we'll get a sitter!! :D



we love you!!

your wife & son. <3

Prenatal Class, baptism in our cell group, and Dior lipstick!

This was a full, but exciting weekend for us! We went to our first prenatal class entitled "Pain Relief Techniques" through which Joe was a great sport (and support!) as we tried to focus on "breathing properly" without catching each other's eyes and bursting out laughing. :D
This room was filled with couples who are in the same situation as we are, so it was fun to meet others, swap stories, and laugh nervously together as we tried to focus on preparation for something so serious by doing something that just seems so funny.

Here is Nica standing perplexed in the prenatal "classroom" not sure what to expect before the other couples arrived. :D We are now on our way to knowing how to deal with the adventure to come! :)


My amazingly supportive husband who is usually behind the camera, so there are sadly never enough pictures of him! (sigh) I love this man.


Mom said I don't have photos of me in my maternity outfits, so here's one for you, mom! ;) ;)

Sunday evening (tonight!) we had the privilege of attending the baptism of our dear friend Celine who has been such an encouragement and inspiration to our cell group during her months here in Shanghai! Throughout her time here she both met the Lord and has had her life transformed by him!! Her company (Dior --yeah, cool, I know) is now moving her back to France (just outside of Paris!) and she wanted to be baptised with her Shanghai family here before her departure later on this week.

We love you, Celine!!! We had an amazing time of singing, blessing, prayer, and pizza!

We all gathered around to bless her. (notice the farewell sign in the doorway...as members of our cell group leave, we add their name to the list to remember them to pray for them and keep them as a part of our group. We were sad to add Celine's name to the list... :(

...Celine in the tub with Pastor Dale preparing for her baptism!

Carol, Celine, Nica, & Cynthia saying our sad farewells to Celine...

Celine surprised us by giving us a BAG FULL of Dior lipstick for us girls to choose from! I think we all are now the proud owners of about 7-15 new tubes of Dior lipstick each!! haha Wow, thanks, Celine! :D

She also gave me a travel kit of Dior makeup. One of the bonuses of working for the company--or having a friend who works for the company! ;)

I have wanted to go to Paris since I was a little girl, I'm excited to now have such a special friend to go there to visit! We are excited with the work that the Lord has done in her life and know it will continue in France. Planning the trip already...

--Nica