Photos: House, November 15 and November 17, 2009

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Family picture

Note: The framing of the first floor was completed this week.

November 15, 2009

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Intersection of steel and wood where the nook meets the powder room

November 17, 2009

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Joe Bergevin, our builder, is making a call to a subcontractor while checking some photos of our home with his Canon ultracompact digital point and shoot camera.

November 17, 2009

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The crew of BCB begin another day of framing work.

Note: Bren Mcaferty's company, BCB, has six employees, who include Bren, John, Roman, Manuel, Gustavo, and Omar.

November 17, 2009

Note: All of these pictures were taken at the site of our future home.

Photos: Lydia and the Cochrans

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Lydia, Brenden Cochran, and Chelsya Cochran

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Lydia and Chelsya

Note: At 34 and 1/2 pounds and 38 and 1/2 inches in height, Chelsya is a little bigger and taller than Lydia.

Photo note: Some photo props are inexpensive, such as these $ 3 drum chairs made of plastic that we bought from Ranch 99 last year.

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When Lydia began untying and tying her shoes, Chelsya followed suit.

Note: During the last two years, Lydia's hair has darkened more than Chelsya's hair.

Photo note: Sometimes some of the most interesting pictures are the ones that record the spontaneous interaction between people.

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"Buddies"

Note: According to Nella, Chelsya's mother, Chelsya has been asking a question akin to "When can I play with Lydia again?" Tonight was one such opportunity, and after hearing Chelsya's request, we are planning another time to get together in January 2010.

Note: All of these photos were taken on November 15, 2009 in the upper landing area of our home.

Photos: Group 7 Gathering

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Lydia and the Rothaus children

Taylor is playing with the red exercise ball; Colton is sitting on the sofa; and Mina is looking at the bookshelf.

Library and laundry area

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Lydia is getting ready to pass the exercise ball to Taylor Rothaus while Colton Rothaus (who is sitting on the sofa) and Brenden Cochran (who is sitting on the carpet) watches the action

Note: Children have such imagination that most adults have lost. Later, instead of pushing the ball with the hands, these children later pushed the ball with their heads.

Lower landing area

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Mina Rothaus, Taylor Rothaus, and Lydia

Note: Although all of the Rothaus' children are older than Lydia, they are extremely well-mannered and gentle, and they treat Lydia as if she were one of their siblings, especially Taylor.
Library and laundry area

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"Chilling (an idiom for relaxing)" might be a good name for this test photo for the annual group picture.

Living room

Note: Whenever the families of our adoption group gather, it always turns out to be a fun time. Earlier this year, the Rothuas family hosted the gathering at their home, and tonight was our opportunity to do the same thing. Because of how busy December is for everyone, we agreed on a November date.

Photo note: Before taking the picture, we moved the coffee table and the toy baskets underneath it to the upper landing area, and we placed Lydia's toys to the periphery of the living room to eliminate potential clutter in this picture. In addition, SiowFong lowered the shades behind the sofa; otherwise, the glass would reflect glare from the flashes.

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The Rothaus, Chin, and Cochran families

(first row [left to right]: Colton Rothaus, Taylor Rothaus, Lydia (with Tiger), mom, Brenden Cochran, Chelsea Cochran

(second row [left to right]: Mina Rothaus, Doug Rothaus, Brenda Rothaus, dad, Nella Cochran, and Jerry Cochran)

Living room

Note: Missing from this photo is the Bhagwandin family, the fourth family in New Hope Group 7-05 to China as Bryon, Sarah, Sam, and Leila moved to Austen, Texas late last summer.

Photo note: Lighting for this group photo was provided by two Nikon SB-800 flashes (neither of which is shown in the picture) that were tilted at the ceiling to provide light that was bounced off the ceiling. One flash sat on the buffet table (on the right side of the photo), and the other sat on the half wall (on the left to the photo) to provide a cross lighting pattern from the sides, which balanced the amount of light throughout the image. The Nikon SU-800 commander unit atop the camera's hot shoe triggered the flashes simultaneously.

"Direct flash almost never works -- it often fights the sense of intimacy, warmth, and naturalness that characterize the best family portraits. 'I avoid direct flash like the plague,' says Sue Barr. 'It will flatten an image and drain it of all spontaneity.'" (Peter Kolonia. Family Ties: Bring Your Loved Ones Together in Pictures," Popular Photography. December 2009. page 130.

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Big Kids' Table

(left to right, clockwise): Brenden, Colton, Taylor, Lydia, and Brenda

Note: Because of the number of guests tonight for dinner, the four oldest children (Colton, Taylor, Brenda, and Mina) sat at this table in our kitchen since we did not have adequate room at the dining room table in the nook to accommodate everybody.

Kitchen

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Dessert time

Note: Nella brought the desserts, including a very delicious pumpkin cake and brownies. Brenda and Doug provided salad, and we prepared the rest of the meal, which included ham, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and green bean casserole.

Dining room (nook)

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 15, 2009 in our home during our second New Hope Group 7-05 gathering of the year.

Photos: House, November 14, 2009

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View of the home, the lumber for the framing of the second floor, and our minivan

Photo notes: Setting up the tripod on top of the cab of the large excavator resulted in the high vantage point from which this photo was taken. For many of the new house pictures, I use a tripod and a level on the camera's hotshoe because these accessories help me to level the camera before the shot; in addition, the tripod keeps the camera still for long exposures so that I can set the lens to its smaller apertures (e.g. f/11, f/16, f/22) to obtain pictures that are sharp from foreground to background.

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The excavator also provided good view of the street and the homes of our neighbors who live across the street.

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This is the pile of lumber for the studs.

Note: All of these pictures were taken in the late afternoon on November 14, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: Reese Deshaw's Birthday Party 2

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Waiting for the birthday cupcakes, the children are sitting at the birthday table.

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Lydia slid down this high inflatable slide that was about two stories tall.

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Lydia is walking up the soft stairs of this long slide, one of her favorite inflatables this afternoon.

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Lydia and three of her friends continue to ascend the steps of the slide.

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Lydia has reached the summit of this inflatable.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 14, 2009 at Pump It Up in Kirkland, Washington in celebration of Reese Deshaw's fourth birthday party.

Photos: Reese Deshaw's Birthday Party 1

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Lydia and Rowan, her former schoolmate at the day care who entered kindergarten this fall, are playing on one of the inflatables.

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Lucas has scaled the hill, and Lydia is trying to follow him. Reese Deshaw, whose fourth birthday everyone was celebrating, is playing with a ball.

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Group picture of the participants

Photo note: While SiowFong took a series of group pictures, I held up a Nikon SB-800 flash unit to the left of the camera to act as a human lightstand for these images.

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Lydia, Reese, and Michael

Note: Reese and Michael, like Lucas (in a previous picture), are in Lydia's preschool class.

Note: After the children had put on their shoes in preparation to walk to another room where the birthday cake would be served, SiowFong took a few pictures of them.

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Reese's birthday cake

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 14, 2009 at Pump It Up, a place with a number of inflatables that is located in Kirkland, Washington.

Photos: With Daniela Tejada

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Lydia is playing with one of Daniela Tejada's toys while Daniela observes Lydia.

Note: Lydia was extremely interested in playing with all the toys at Daniela's home.

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Lydia and Daniela are focusing their attention on this cube of shapes.

Note: Daniela, who is two years and four months of age, speaks a lot, primarily in Spanish (her primary language) but also in English (her secondary language). She just began day care three weeks ago at a Montessori school, and before she started attending that school, she did not know any English since Spanish is exclusively spoken at her home.

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Chinese princess and Peruvian-Venezuelan princess

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Daniela is observing Lydia as Erika, Daniela's mom, shows Lydia how to play with these dolls, onto which Lydia could place various outfits.

Note: Today is a busy day for Lydia. By the time we arrived at Erika's and Daniela's home, Lydia had been to the Tiny Tots concert in Seattle and had also traveled to the Lifeway Christian bookstore in Tukwila where we had dropped off the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

Note: All of these pictures were taken at the home of Daniel Gonzalez, Erika Tejada, and Daniela Tejada on November 14, 2009.

Photos: Tiny Tots, November 2009

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The stage was filled with Spanish and Mexican musical instruments since today's Tiny Tots concert with Lisa and Linda focused on music from Spain and Mexico.

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SiowFong, Lydia, and Tiger are waiting for the concert to begin.

Note: This is Lydia's third year of attending the Tiny Tots concerts.

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Lydia and her dad

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 14, 2009 at the Tiny Tots concert held at Benaroyl Hall in Seattle, Washington.

Photos: Samaritan's Purse, Team Work

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Mom, Lydia, dad, and Grandpa Al Crane

Note: After the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes were done, we set up the shoe boxes for a group portrait with the ladies behind the shoe boxes for the girls and with the men behind the shoe boxes for the boys.

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SiowFong took this picture as Grandpa Al, dad, and Lydia were straightening up the contents of the shoe boxes and placing rubber bands on them to secure them.

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Another view of Grandpa Al, Lydia, and dad

Note: "Kathy Perry, of Houston, who has packed shoe box gifts with her six kids for more than a decade: 'I want hurting kids to know that someone really does care about them-that someone wants them to smile, have fun and be loved. We like to shop together for our shoe box gifts. Usually the boys will shop together for the boy boxes, and the girls for the girl boxes.'"

(Source: http://www.demossnewspond.com/occ/news/us_families_act_now_to_help_hurting_kids_overseas/)

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Lydia and Grandpa Al

Note: "Reggie Peterson, 84 years old and packing 1,000 shoe box gifts this year:
'But you don't have to pack a thousand shoe box gifts to make a difference. Even one of these simple gifts can bring such hope and joy to a child in need. I was in Germany during World War II and saw a lot of kids with nothing. It really had an impact on me and made me want to do things to help them.'" (Source: http://www.demossnewspond.com/occ/news/us_families_act_now_to_help_hurting_kids_overseas/)

Photo note: This was a test shot in preparation for the full group photo. Sometimes informal test photos turn out even better than the final group photo because the people are more relaxed.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 13, 2009 in the upper landing and living room areas of our home.

Photos: Samaritan's Purse, Lydia

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Lydia is carrying two boxes of crayons to place in the shoe boxes.

Note: "In a lot of other countries the kids have almost nothing of their own. So even simple things like stickers or colored pens or a ball are really special. They will remember that shoe box gift forever. I know I'll never forget mine," said Huda El-betjali, who received an Operation Christmas Child shoe box gift as a 9-year-old living in Jordan. Now a student at Cal State San Bernardino, Huda has begun packing shoe box gifts for other kids in need." (Source: http://www.demossnewspond.com/occ/news/us_families_act_now_to_help_hurting_kids_overseas/)

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Lydia is getting ready to place some hair bands into two of the shoe boxes that are designated for girls who are between 5 years old to 9 years old.

Note: Lydia began contributing to this cause in 2007, so this is her third year of involvement. One notable change that her parents observed this year was just how much faster and efficient Lydia was in distributing the gift items into the shoe boxes.

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Lydia is placing a Mount Baker postcard into a shoe box.

Photo note: The Nikon Creative Lighting System (which is found in the Nikon SB-600, 800, and 900 flashes and the vital SU-800 commander unit with a 30 foot range that triggers the flashes remotely via an infrared signal) is a very advanced, but easy to use system, and for photos that require even lighting of multiple rooms (e.g. the living room and upper landing area in this image), it is essential.

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Lydia is gathering combs.

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Lydia is placing a comb in a shoe box.

Note: "In 1993, Samaritan's Purse kicked-off Operation Christmas Child in the United States with just 28,000 shoe box gifts. Since then, the project has collected more than 69 million shoe box gifts and hand-delivered them to needy children in more than 130 countries.
Operation Christmas Child is underway RIGHT NOW, and volunteers hope to collect 8 million shoe box gifts for children suffering from poverty, war, disease, famine and natural disaster."

(Source: http://www.demossnewspond.com/occ/news/us_families_act_now_to_help_hurting_kids_overseas/)

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 13, 2009 in the living room and upper landing areas of our home during our Operation Christmas Child shoe box preparations and packing.

Photos: Samaritan's Purse, With Daddy

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Lydia and her dad are ready for Operation Christmas Child tonight.

Note: According to Samaritan's Purse, the sponsoring organization for Operation Christmas Child include these suggested items:

"TOYS: small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, small Etch A Sketch®, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), Slinky®, etc.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books, etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS: toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap (in a plastic bag), comb, washcloth

OTHER: Hard candy and lollipops (please double bag all candy), mints, gum, T-shirts, socks, ball caps; sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches, flashlights (with extra batteries)

A PERSONAL NOTE: In a separate envelope, you may enclose a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family. (If you include your name and address, the child may write back.)"

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During a break in the action, Lydia asked her dad to give her a "horsey ride".

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While Lydia's dad is gathering the pencils, Lydia has collected some toothbrushes to deposit in the shoeboxes.

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Lydia is riding on her daddy's neck in this picture.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 13, 2009 in the living room of our home.

First Virtues for Toddlers

November 13, 2009

First Virtues for Toddlers

Authored by Dr. Mary Manz Simon and published by Standard Publishing is a book entitled First Virtues for Toddlers that we highly recommend for Christian parents. This book was one of Lydia’s favorites last year, and she occasionally asks us to read it to her this year.

The twelve, short chapters filled with simple rhymes focus on development of attributes with titles such as Kitty Shows Kindness, Piglet Tells the Truth, Tiger Forgives, and Panda is Polite.

Besides Tiger Forgives, another one of Lydia’s favorite stories is Kitty Shows Kindness, the first chapter of the book:

“Kitty, Kitty
Share today,
What the Bible
Has to say…

Kindness means
I am aware
When someone needs
Help and care.

If I see
someone in need,
that’s when I do
a kind deed.

When the sun
Is burning hot,
I show friends
A shady spot.

When someone
Is scared at night,
I purr,
‘Everything’s all right.’

If I’m tempted
To be cruel,
I recall
The Golden Rule.

People may be
Kind to you,
If you’re kind
And loving, too.

God is very
Kind to me.
He cares for me
Tenderly.

God shows me
What I should do.
Do you show
Such kindness, too?

‘Be kind to everyone.’
2 Timothy 2:24”

Photos: Samaritan's Purse, With Mommie

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Lydia, Tiger, and Mommie are standing behind twelve of the twenty four Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes that were finished tonight.

Note: "Some 8 million suffering children in more than 100 countries on six continents will receive personal, gift-filled shoe boxes through this kids-helping-kids project. For many of these children, the shoe box gift will be the first gift they have ever received. " (Source: http://www.demossnewspond.com/occ/press_kit/operation_christmas_child_fact_sheet)

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While SiowFong is preparing to cut the price tag off a stuffed animal, Lydia looks at the mounds of gift items for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

Note: "Kids, families, churches, scout troops, schools, civic clubs and businesses are filling their shoe boxes now. This fall, shoe box gifts can be dropped off at one of more than 2,400 collection sites located in all 50 states. National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23. To find the nearest location, call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. (After Nov. 23, shoe box gifts can be mailed to Samaritan's Purse: 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, N.C. 28607.)" (source: Ibid.)

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Lydia observes as her mom opens the package containing four pencil sharpeners.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on November 13, 2009 in the upper landing area of our home for Operation Christmas Child night.