Coffee For Li Li and Bainbridge Island Coffee Roasters

Our good friend, Hugh Robertson and former boss (where Troy and I met and fell for each other) came to town to host our very first coffee tasting. We have a history of good times, and having him here really made me nostalgic for the days when I was his assistant and he was telling Troy not to boss me around. :) Hugh has transitioned from the music biz to roasting high quality coffee, and since it is by far my favorite beverage and morning meal, I love that he is allowing us the opportunity to enjoy great, fantabulous coffee and raise funds to bring our daughter home at the same time. We had a coffee tasting on Friday, February 23rd. Did I mention that? I have some great photos from the soiree, and I was thrilled to have the event at our house so that I would finally make time to feng shui and bake. Not only was our time with friends a blast, we were so coffeed up, that we stayed up until Midnight and I heard some of the rest of our guests did too. I won't mention your name, Shell. :) There's much more to tell about how fab this coffee is, but first enjoy the pictures.

Coffee Tasting for Li Li

I was thrilled to have sister come a little before everyone else so we could talk and prepare. We all munched on Chic-Fil-A and talked about our week. She's my bud and I don't see her enough. Plus, she and I (and Tanner below) moved here together when he was 8 months old. We've both stayed and he's now a tween. I'm getting to be the age where I can't remember exactly how old I am, what year I was born or what day our anniversary is on. Don't tell Troy. No, tell him it is May 30th AND May 31st. That way he can take me to a B&B before Li Li comes.

One of the other things that brought joy to my heart Friday was that my nephew Tanner wanted to come with Page (his mom, my sis). He doesn't even drink coffee, but wants to help bring Li Li home, and that means the world to me. He has a tender heart towards God and others. He is going to be a great husband and father someday - it was evident the way he loved on Ayana.

Coffee Tasting Pictures

These two girls holding bebe Ward are Ikuho and Liho - our beloved neighbors from Japan. We are praying God will keep them in America longer than expected. Pray with us for that! :) Masako is my good good friend and I just realized that when I pronounce her name, I put the wrong emphASIS on the wrong syllABLE. Ayana Ward is with her mama, Sonya and she, Bryan and Jarett have recently adopted her from Ethiopia. One of the coffees that we tasted was an Ethiopian bean and it was Troy's favorite... I'm sure it would be Ayana's too, if she were allowed to imbibe.

Kindergarten Days

This photo is already outdated. Dodger's hair is twice as long now as it was then. And we've cut it, twice. We took this picture just before we boarded Minnie Driver, our van for Lipscomb Elementary School sometime at the end of August. It's all a blur because I cried the first week - no, the first month. But Dodger is in good hands, the best in fact. Mrs G. (Laurie Gross) told Dodger on the first day that she loved him and I knew it was a relationship meant to last. She is everything and more than I could ever dream of in a teacher. We are on the same page about loving and teaching and nurturing children and she does a great job at bringing the best out of these kiddos. But the parties, man. They are over the top. I'm not one to complain but come Dodger's birthday, he's gathering some pretty lofty expectations for what parites are. Maybe if it doesn't rain we'll do the deal here. I'll make the cake. And we have a pinata that we bought a year ago and forgot to use around Easter. The kids will never know... shhh. It needs work, but here's what I wrote one day after dropping Dodger off at class.

THE RED BALLOON

(my emotional letting go of Dodger into Kindergarten)

Red

Not the square, flat color of a brick

Not the shell of a ladybug, that is more orange than red anyway

A bright, round candy-apple red

The kind of red that makes your eyes smile when you see it

The red that looks so good you want to eat it

Balloon

Not the kind you blow up yourself, wearing out your cheeks and your

Lungs

Not one from the grocery store that looses all its air and pops on the

Way home

A carefree, weightless balloon floating in the sunny breezy weather

The only way to keep it with you is to hold on tight

Red

How I'm feeling

Gravel dusting my shoes, everything grey at the carnival, except...

The reddest shiniest candied apple

The kind you don't care to spend two dollars for

Hardly waiting to take the first bite

Getting sticky on my face

Sticky on my fingers

But I'm no way ready to clean up

(Unless licking counts)

Balloon

Cheery cherry balloons lined up near the stone steps

Attached to poles, these weightless fliers

All those balloons who can't stand still

They're blowing back and forth, back and forth in the breeze

I wanted to tell them they didn't need the poles

They could fly around the whole world if they wanted to

But would they come back to me?

A Red Balloon

It caught my eye - It made me think

I stopped my step - I couldn't blink

Even though I always walk down the stone steps

I closed my eyes and imagined that red feeling

The crisp autumn air

A candy apple in one hand and a red balloon in the other

I took a step

I headed away from the school and toward the car

I placed both hands on the apple

Something slipped through my hand

I took a bite with sticky on my fingers

Just then, the red balloon floated

Happy and carefree

I held on to my apple and I set the balloon free

Picking It All Up

I can't begin to recap the last year. But I can hilight. I've been picking up all sorts of things. Not just me, we've all be picking up stuff around the Vest casa. We recently picked up our living room and turned it upside down. I thought about picking up the Christmas tree box and putting it in the garage, but it's too heavy. The last time I posted it was last Christmas. But rest assured, the tree has been put up twice since then. Since last Christmas my dear, beautiful, role-model grandma-lee-the-Busby went to be with Jesus. My heart needed to blog about it but it was too difficult. So instead, I have a computer "account" of events that I wrote it into. But since then, you could say I've been pretty un-motivated and out of time for blogging. I needed to pick up some extra minutes before I could pick this back up again. And by turning this house upside down last week in preparation for a coffee party, I have those minutes back. The house was so cluttered it was a chore to maintain. But now, well, we threw it all out (including the tree) so I have time to write. I'd tell you about the summer, but I don't even remember it. Oh- here it is: Tennis shoe obsession where I went on a 2 month quest to find the right shoe. Didn't work. Robin and Steve came to visit with their bunch and Troy told me he's officially taken over the friendship with Steve. Every day the thought of kindergarten approaching was looming and I was trying to make the most of my time with Dodger. By the time he started, he told people he didn't want to be in school for 7 hours a day. I wonder where he heard that? It has been such a wonderful and exciting first year of school. I know there will be none other like it. I bet Laurie won't even read this (if you do, send me a note!) But she is amazingly gifted as a teacher and a God-send for our family. It's been the best year for the three of us and has made the dark night of waiting for Li Li not so bleak. In fact, the waiting is fun now as we get closer and closer to her arrival. I need to start on the arm weights again. I've been a little lazy, but soon I'm going to be picking her up and I don't want to put her back down on account of my arms. Well... I'm already behind on this posting stuff. I'm going to pick up where I leave this post...