a few photos from Maine

Jafred wading in the *cold* Atlantic waters near Kennebunkport. It was a peaceful, sunny day.


In the background is the Bush family's Maine compound. With Ed, Christina's father, in the marshland during low tide.
A beautiful sailboat going by...

We'll add more from Maine later...

Weekend in Vermont with friends

We recently had an awesome weekend in Vermont with our friends Shane and Perrin and their daughter Mia, as well as some of their relatives. We can't thank you guys enough for inviting us up!! Here are some shots: eating lunch by the lake...

Mia the charmer being held my mom (above) and Jafred (below)...

Floating in the lake with this pregnant belly felt great!

LEX America "reunion"

The beautiful Tachikawa family and my wonderful former colleague Elizabeth came for a brief visit recently. Christina had not seen them in 6 years - since she left LEX in the Boston area for service at the Bahai World Centre in Israel and the Tachikawas moved to Southern California. They were back on the East Coast for a short visit and came out to Wilbraham for a visit. It was fantastic to see them all, and it felt like no time had passed at all. The only major difference was that their children were almost unrecognizable being 6 years older, but were just as sweet. I miss you all!!! Keep in touch!!

August

Here it is, August 12th. In our part of the world, summer has reached its peak, lakes are warm enough to swim in, and gardens are producing veggies. Our garden got started a bit late this year since Jafred was in Kenya during normal planting season, and Christina found it a bit harder to bend over to do much planting, watering, weeding and so forth. So we only expect the most hardy of our seeds to come to fruition. Speaking of "fruits" we want to extend our warm congratulations and welcome to all the new babies being born into the world! Big hugs to Nafis and Shirin, David and Giani, Farzana and Neil, Arnold and Canan and a few others who are due any day now, or in several months (you know who you are....!!) We pray that this next generation of servants to the wellbeing of mankind grows strong, healthy and spiritual as day follows day.

Speaking of the next generation, a 10-year old friend taught us recently how to set the automatic timer on our digital camera...heehee....so here's a photo...