Adventures in Alveyland

This is my Aha moment - Revised

2010-05-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Ken Isaak

2010-04-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Today Fresno Pacific started grieving the loss of a good friend, Ken Isaak. Ken has worked at FPU in many capacities for over 20 years. I didn't know Ken well, but since I work in the University Communication's office, I have the great pleasure of working with many great people across the campus.

In 2008 our department came up with a funky idea to use sock puppets to explain difficult concepts at the University. One of my favorites starred none other than Ken Isaak. It was his video debut. He played himself (FPU's financial aid director) discussing financial aid with a sock. He was fantastic to work with! He listened to our suggestions, and laughed a lot. I've embedded the video below, enjoy!

The Sockingtons - The Deadline from Fresno Pacific University on Vimeo.

On the personal side of Ken's death. This is the fifth death to touch my family in 10 weeks. My kids have seen my grieve a lot this year. They've had lots of questions. I've done my best to explain. I've turned to friends for support and help. My friend Tracy wrote a really good post that explained talking to her boys about the subject. I'm going to use some of her words of wisdom too. Thanks Tracy.

Goodbye Ken.

Kristina's Going to Italy

2010-04-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

My niece Kristina is going to Italy. Can you help send here there?

Try to watch this video without a tissue...

There more information here on her Facebook group page. Thanks for your help!

Softball Season

2010-03-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

I LOVE softball/baseball season! This year only one of our kids is playing softball. Our little Tori is playing with a bunch of her buddies on a team and she is having a blast! She willing plays whatever position coach puts her in and loves to swing her pink bat!

For opening ceremonies the team dressed up as princesses!

How cute are they???

The coach on the left is none other than daddy! Tori loves spending extra time w/her dad.

Tori and her buddy Macae.

Birthdays, spelling bees, gotcha days and memorials

2010-02-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I won't pretend that I haven't been a horrible blogger. So let's just get to the recap, shall we?

Birthdays:
Kev celebrated his birthday on Monday of this week. We had family stuff going on that day, so hopefully we can celebrate soon. Below is a tribute to Kevin written by one of his little sisters, Joyce. It's pretty funny. (I'm seeing some foretelling for Joshua I think!) I love you Kevin. It has been amazing to be your wife and partner for over 20 years.

Gotcha Day:
We celebrated Tori's Gotcha Day in January. Hard to believe we celebrated the fourth anniversary of her adoption! Wow, time flies. She is growing to be a funny, sweet and loving little girl. Her favs these days include school, soccer, princesses and our dog Lola.

Spelling Bee:
Yesterday Lizzie won the fourth grade spelling bee. Yay! I felt so bad that I haven't had the chance to work with her on her words the past couple of weeks, but evidently, she didn't need it. She rocked it yesterday! On to the county bee.

Memorials:
This one is harder to write. It is still so surreal. On Saturday, February 6th, my brother-in-law Paul (my sis Lori's husband) had a massive heart attack and died. He had been battling high blood pressure for about a year, but this was totally unexpected.

The last two weeks have been a blur. His memorial was a week ago today. Paul has been a part of our family for over 27 years. He was an incredible husband, daddy and uncle. From the moment my kids were born (or brought home) he started chanting "Uncle Paul, Uncle Paul" in an early effort to get them to say his name. His methods were very successful!

Paul, we miss you more than I can describe.

Joyce's tribute to Kev:
Kris and I call him our "little big brother" because we have another brother (Brad) who is the biggest of our big brothers. Anyway, Kevin is two years older than me and was a constant play-mate for me while we were growing up. Sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes not so good. :)

Kevin was and still is a character. Anything and everything turned into a fun time if he was around. The problem was, you just NEVER knew how things would turn out...sometimes good and sometimes not so good.

Like, climbing a tree might turn into him falling out from the very top or it might just end up with a tree full of kids and nobody gets hurt. A baseball game might turn into a broken nose (usually for him), or it might just turn out to be a fun way to pass the time.

An innocent game of "darts" might turn into a dart in Kris' arm, or it might just be another dart game on a hot afternoon in the Phillippines. Or, Mom cutting out a pattern to sew might turn into being stabbed in the arm with the scissors (Kevin again), or it might just turn out to be the beginning of a new dress. (Not for Kevin.)

Then there were the neighborhood water fights when all the parents were at work. They started out simply enough...one bucket of water at a time tossed across the street at each other, but soon enough, they'd turn into an all-out, three-lawn-hoses-hooked-together shooting match that sometimes ended up INSIDE the house!!!! See what I mean?????

I'm not necessarily saying he was accident prone, but if there was trouble to be had, you can bet he was in the middle of it! SO MUCH FUN! (lol).

In school, Kevin was a rock star. Every girl I ever knew would tell me how good-looking my brother was. Then there was the occasional teacher that would say to me, "oh...you're Kevin's sister." (What was THAT all about??) ;-) His nickname for me has always been "Poy" (I think that's the name of a tropical fruit...rather appropriate, don't you think?) :)

Now days, Kevin is the best husband (to Lisa) and father (to Lizzy, Tori, and Josh) that you could imagine. I'm sure my Mom and Dad are just WAITING for the day that "you just wait, young man...someday you're going to have kids JUST LIKE YOU!" actually starts to pay off.

If you ask me....that wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Practical Ways to Help Haiti

2010-01-13T11:18:00.001-08:00

1) Text "HAITI" to "90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross -- Our friends at the US State Department, including Katie Stanton (@kateatstate), very quickly put together this number to channel relief contributions directly to first responders who will be on the ground there. I love that our government does things like this. This only works in the US.

2) Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti -- Wyclef Jean (@wyclef) created this foundation to permanently improve the lives of the most impoverished in his home country of Haiti. Wyclef has an amazing commitment to the region and the impact Yele Haiti has there every day. Check out more on Yele Haiti.

3) Donate to Partners in Health (click here) -- PIH (@pih_org) is already on the ground in Haiti and mobilizing their relief efforts. If you have heard of Paul Farmer, this is the organization he co-founded. Working to provide health care and education to the poorest of Haiti, PIH is the real deal.

4) Donate to Architecture for Humanity (click here) -- Cameron Sinclair (@casinclair) and his non-profit Architecture for Humanity (@archforhumanity) can be found at virtually every developing world disaster site on the planet. These guys are a collection of design and housing geniuses who work tirelessly to provide shelter for the most deserving.

5) Donate to charity:water (click here) -- charity:water (@charitywater) works to bring clean water to the 1 billion people on the planet who don't have it. Recently, the organization's founder, Scott Harrison (@scottharrison), traveled to Haiti to commence operations in that country and already thousands of Haitians have clean water to drink. As if the situation wasn't already bad enough, the need for clean water only intensifies in the aftermath of earthquakes. Every dollar of your support to these guys goes fully and immediately to work in the field. Charity:water wrote a post encouraging you to also help their partners in Haiti.

6) Donate to Oxfam (more here) -- Oxfam has long experience in Haiti, and we're rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed. Our response will include providing clean water, shelter, sanitation and helping people recover – your donation will go immediately to the most critical needs in Haiti, and we will ensure that every penny is used wisely.

7)Donate to Hands and Feet (more here) -- Hands and Feet Project , a 501c3 non-profit organization, is a children's village in Jacmel, Haiti that was started by the band Audio Adrenaline in 2004. The first little girl arrived in the spring of 2005, and they now care for 40 children ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years old.

8) Support World Vision (more here) -- A gift to World Vision (@WorldVisionUSA) now will help distribute life-saving relief supplies – including food, clean water, blankets, and tents — to children and families devastated by the earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti.

9) Provide essential items through Samaritan's Purse (more here) -- Samaritan's Purse (@SamaritansPurse) is responding to the earthquake that devastated Haiti by providing critically needed assistance, including water, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, medical aid, and other essentials. (Emergency Relief 13942)

10) Pray. Pray for all involved. Pray for the Haitian people, the relief workers, the governments involved.

*Some items listed borrowed from Chris Sacca's blog post.

Joshua's Gotcha Day

2009-12-18T12:03:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we celebrated Joshua's Gotcha Day. What's that you ask? Well, it's the anniversary of our finalizing his adoption. He was almost a year old when we finalized...he turns three next Tuesday!

We are so blessed that God chose our family for this amazing, exuberant beautiful baby boy!

2009-10 (Oct) (111 photos), by Kevin Alvey

2009-11-03T21:36:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I was messing around in Snapfish tonight and found the share button. Since I've been such a bad blogger, here's our month of October in pictures. Includes crazy hair day at school, Tori's first field trip, some cheer pix, and Halloween. :-) Miss you all...
Click here to view photos

Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary

2009-07-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

On June 20st we hosted mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary at our house. We had about 116 people over for a fabulous dinner, dancing and fun.

The slide show really says it all, photographers for the evening were Paul Regier and Tracy Williams...thanks guys.

There is one photo of mom singing Mr. Wonderful (a song sung originally by Peggy Lee) to dad. She first sang that to him when she was 16 and he was being installed as the president of something or another. Sixteen, can you believe it? And she sang it to him again, more than 50 years later!

It was truly an amazing night. Thanks mom and dad for being such an inspiration to us. We love you!

Okay this is a delayed post, but we've been crazy busy!

We are the world

2009-06-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about his choices later in life, his impact in the music world is phenomenal.

Happy Father's Day Kevin

2009-06-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Protective Reading Gear

2009-06-03T08:39:00.001-07:00

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime!

2009-06-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend end we kicked off the summer pool party fun with the Roths and Sassanos. Great fun, food and flips!

I think that summertime is a gift from God, allowing us much needed time to reconnect as a family and with friends. So often we kicked completed swamped during the school year that we put off staying connected with others.

This summer we are making a concerted effort to connect with YOU!

Party at the Alveys...(or maybe just with!) be there!

(photos by Karl Roth)

We lost Joshua

2009-05-18T15:22:00.001-07:00

Last week I was getting ready for work, in fact, my car was already running, when Kevin informed me that he couldn't find Joshua.

"What?" I said. "What do you mean?"

"I can't find him," he said.

So the four of us (we enlisted Lizzie and Tori to help) started searching the house. All of the doors leading outside were locked and he can't unlock those yet. So we knew he had to be in the house. We searched cupboards, drawers, the pantry, the laundry room, bathrooms, and closets to no avail. We could not find him.

Finally, after about 5 frantic minutes of searching, Kevin found him. The back of our bedroom we have two closets, one for Kev and one for myself. Kevin's closet door has a lock on it. Yes, you guessed it. He locked himself in Kevin's closet. It took some persuading, but we managed to talk him into unlocking the door. Yes, the doorknob has now been fixed so he can no longer do that.

The next night, Kev was at school late and I had to pick the kids up from babysitters, get them home, get Tori into her uniform and to her game within about 15 minutes. Time was tight and I wasn't messing around. As I was bent down tying Tori's cleats I felt Josh messing around behind me. He was chatting away and grabbing at the top of my waistband of my pants (in back). I just ignored him and continued to focus on Tori. When I finished with her, I went to quickly change myself. As I pulled off my pants I found what Josh was chatting about. He had put a live stink bug (good 'ol country living) down my pants. Yup, true story.

Moral of the story…Josh will not be ignored!

Tea Party, Parade and more!

2009-05-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a whirlwind! We kicked it off Friday night with a Giant's win over the Dodgers (always a great way to start the weekend!). Saturday found us walking in the Flatlander's Parade in the Ranchos. We were invited to be part of four floats, (part of being involved in a small community!) but only managed to squeeze in two.

We celebrated Mother's Day a little early. On Saturday, we attended a mother-daughter tea hosted by my mom's church. It was held outside and it was gorgeous. Two of my nieces, Kristina and Alyssa were able to join us. Leslie and her family drove up on Friday night, so she was able to attend as well. My other sis, Lori was unable to attend as she and her hubby, Paul were in Vegas celebrating their 25th anniversary!

Sunday we had a fantastic BBQ/champagne brunch in which the men of the family planned, cooked and cleaned. It was a very relaxing day! Thanks guys!

Happy birthday baby girl!

2009-04-28T10:03:00.001-07:00

Today my sweet little girl turns five! So hard to believe...feels like we just brought that little bundle of joy home!

Tori continues to be a source of constant joy for our family. She loves to laugh and have fun. Some of her favorite things to do are: playing mommy, playing with Barbies, swinging on the bars, playing outside, and eating chocolate (she gets this from auntie Joyce I think!).

She is looking forward to attending big-girl school this fall, she can't wait to go to school with Lizzie.

Thank you Jesus for such a sweet, sweet addition to our family!

Tori was pretty excited about her Barbie cake mommy made for her...can you tell?

Partying with cousin Kaylee.

Blown' out the candles.

Hooray for me!

Herreeesss Barbie! My mom and Tori share a birthday, so they get to share cake and parties too. Happy birthday mom!

Easter

2009-04-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Easter was a bit different for us this year. Instead of hosting 30 - 40 people at our house, we ran away!

My sister Leslie invited us to join her family down south in San Juan Capistrano for the weekend. It was delightful! My parents were in New York with my bro, Lane, so we thought, "why not?" and hit the road. My other sister, Lori and her husband, Paul also cruised down south.

We left Thursday prior to Easter and returned on Monday. What a great weekend! Great Good Friday service, good company and fabulous food.

Thanks sis, for a fantastic weekend!

Forgot to show the cake!

2009-04-08T11:09:00.001-07:00

Argh! I forgot to show Lizzie's very cool birthday cake, made by my friend Kim.

Birthday Girl

2009-04-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

A little delayed, (kinda like her birth, 23 hours of labor!), but Lizzie turned 9 on Saturday! Hard to believe that my oldest is in her last year of single-digit birthdays!

We had quite the birthday weekend...slumber party Friday night, softball game Saturday morning, spent the afternoon at the MCC sale, capped off with a pasta feed family party Saturday night. All in all, a great birthday!

Elizabeth Grace Alvey was born, Tuesday, April 4, 2000 at 11:43 p.m. After nine long years of infertility, God blessed us with an incredible gift. Thank you Jesus for the amazing little girl that she is growing up to be!

Love you Lizzie La-La.

My favorite time of year...

2009-03-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

has begun! It's softball season and spring training for baseball. (Giants kick off the season April 5th!) The Alveys love this time of year. Kevin's team kicked off the season last night with a win (19-12), Lizzie's team is in full swing (she won MVP award this week!) Tori's T-ball team is great fun, and Joshua continues to work on hitting those fastballs. (Thanks for the pitching last night Julie!)

Tori is on the far left. This is her all girl T-ball team, the Angels. Too cute!

Lizzie lookn' fierce! (Sorry it's not a great photo, taken with my phone)

Early Easter Party

2009-03-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Can you see any of the 'hidden' eggs?

Our Neighborhood Fusion Group at church celebrated an early Easter this year. This is the second year in a row that we've had an Easter party at the Avakian's, so I think we've established a tradition!

We 'hid' (I use that word in jest, as you can see from the photos) approximately 400 egg for about 15 kids...ages 2 (Josh) to early teens. It was great fun! The kids loved it.

We then continued our celebration with our usual feast of too much food. On the menu: a pasta bar! Yum!

Thanks Avakians for another fabulous party!

Uncle Ernie trying to hold them back.
Michael shows off the new 'do'.

Tori and Lizzie w/their eggs.

Big Joshua and Little Joshua.

Brandon and his haul.

Lizzie 'hunting'.

Josh checking out his baseball egg.

Our Snow Trip

2009-03-20T07:52:00.001-07:00

Last month we took the kids up to play in the snow. We had so much fun! We bundled them up and let 'em go. It was so pretty, it snowed the entire time we were out. We made a snow man, went sledding and made snow angels.

Playing in the snow really made Lizzie think of (and miss) Utah, her grandpa and grandma and all her cousins. She thinks that she'd like to live somewhere where it snows. I tell her that she's a California girl and that after shoveling the driveway she'd think again about living with snow, but she disagreed with me! :-)

Our little snow angel.

Kinda wimpy, I know, but the kids were still proud!

Josh loved the snow and enjoyed trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Lizzie and Tori about to head down the hill on the sled.

It was so beautiful. This is in Yosemite.

Farm Boy

2009-03-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

Women’s Retreat in Cambria

2009-03-03T16:21:00.001-08:00

Well, this past weekend was a first for me. I spoke at Flipside's women's retreat in Cambria. We had over 60 women in attendance and it was amazing! Wow!

The theme that God laid on my heart back in October was Celebrating Every Day. I thought, "Cool, that will be easy to talk about." As I dug into the topic, God revealed some pretty heavy stuff. I broke it into three sessions with a little devotional on Sunday. We covered Why God Wants Us to Celebrate, What Keeps Us from Celebrating, and How to Celebrate Every Day. The devotional I talked about on Sunday was based on 1 Corinthians 12 talking about different parts of the body. It tied in pretty nicely.

I had such an amazing time talking to these women. Not once was I nervous! I know that there was a band of prayer warriors protecting us through the entire weekend. I had so much fun!

We stayed at a campground in Cambria, it was so beautiful. We watched deer, seals and whales from the deck of the lodge, very cool!

God really gets all the credit for an amazing weekend. Thanks to Michelle Sassano for taking care of all the details! You rock!

Catch up

2009-02-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

My apologies for being a bad blogger, I have no excuses. My job requires me to be online ALL day, so when I get home the last thing I want to do is log onto a computer. So, I thought maybe I can post during my lunch. We'll see how I do.

Okay, this past month, we've celebrated Kevin's birthday by getting away for the weekend. (first time since May of '06!) Thanks to everyone for the great cards! We celebrated the Oscars. (not big fans of the Oscars, in fact we think award shows are stupid, but any excuse to dress-up!) We will definitely be hosting this party again next year. (even my parents joined in dressing up!) See pics below for the red carpet walk.

We registered Lizzie for softball and Tori for T-ball (she's playing in a co-ed league, with an all girl team (?) and they are the Angels...how cute is that???)

Joshua is continuing to amaze us with his climbing abilities, let's see recently it was climbing to the top of our wrought iron entertainment center. He is quite a monkey.

I'll try to be better at keeping up with posts.

Larry and Linda ham it up for the red carpet!

Two of the starlets

Joshua 'the agent'

Gotcha Tori!

2009-01-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today is Tori's Gotcha Day! Three years ago today we finalized her adoption.

Victoria Melody Joy is a smart, funny, beautiful little girl. She is very excited to start kindergarten. We are thrilled that God brought us Tori, she is truly a blessing.

This was my baby girl two years ago, holding her new baby brother.
This is my baby girl today!

Girl Scout Cookies!

2009-01-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

Lizzie is a proud, new Girl Scout. She is delighted to be involved and is extremely excited about selling GS cookies. If you haven't received a call from her yet, be forewarned...her enthusiasm is contagious!

Today she can officially begin accepting orders. If you are interested in placing an order, let me know. Available items are: caramel delites, peanut butter patties, shortbread, thin mints, peanut butter sandwich, thanks-a-lot (shortbread w/chocolate) lemonades and a new cookie, daisy go rounds (a cinnamon cookie).

Thanks for your support!

Joshie's first haircut

2009-01-12T11:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Joshie had his first haircut. I've been able to put it off because his hair is so curly, it's hard to tell how long it is. When he woke up from his nap the other day with a combed out 'fro, I decided it was time. So, I called my buddy Jen and she actually met us at her shop on her day off. (Thanks again Jen!)

He wasn't thrilled with the idea, thus Kev sat behind him and held him in place, while Jen worked fast and furious. She was amazing and got the haircut done in less than 10 minutes.

Take a look at my handsome boy! He looks so much older now.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

2009-01-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

EM:HE is in town! A family in Fresno has been chosen as a recipient of a new home, courtesy of De Young Properties and ABC. I'll be following the action from one of the Fresno Bee Blogs.

Brandon De Young, vice-president of operations for De Young will be blogging on a regular basis keeping us up to date with the build. Check out the link under my friends and family list on the right hand side of the page!

Coverage of the event, including stories, photos and video, will be archived at fresnobee.com/makeover.

Happy birthday...to me!

2009-01-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday we celebrated my birthday down south. Now, for us California girls, down south means the general LA, San Diego area. My sister Leslie lives in San Juan Capistrano. We are blessed to be able to spend extended time with them every year at New Year's. (I think we just rang in the New Year together for the fifth year in a row! Is that right sis? Wow!)

Anyhow, since my birthday is right behind New Year's, we are normally down south for the celebration.

This year, we started the day by having breakfast at the Original Pancake House. I ordered Danish Crepes, very similar to our German flintzen. Delish! (basically a crepe with a sour-packed cherry mousse topping) From there, we headed to a park in Dana Point to let the kids run around (see pic of Tori and Lizzie). The Dana Point Harbor is directly behind them.

We rounded out the afternoon with a trip to Jump 'N Jammin. Think Pump It Up, but with more climbing and mazes. Very fun!

We ended the day with excellent Mexican food and a birthday margarita. A fabulous day!

Tori and cousin Nicky pretending to be fallen Star Troopers
waiting for Captain Marc to rescue them.

Lizzie and Tori enjoying the flowers.

Dana Point Harbor

Captain Joshua manning the ship.

Mommy and Josh having fun at Jump 'N Jammin

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T23:28:00.000-08:00

We're in San Juan Capistrano, counting down till New Year's. The younger kids, (Nicky, Tori and Joshie) are in bed. Lizzie hanging out with the adults, trying to keep her eyes open!

What a great year 2008 was! We were truly blessed. We've become more settled in the Ranchos, (we're making fantastic friends out here!) we're trying to keep our sanity raising three very busy kids, (how do people handle more? although my mom tells me that after three, it's no big deal!) and are totally looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2009. Can it get any better? God has been so good to us in 2008!

Anyway, here's to a fabulous 2009, Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We love you all!

A True Christmas Miracle

2008-12-29T14:45:00.000-08:00

We had the usual Christmas chaos this year. Lots of parties, family and friends visiting. Everything we enjoy about Christmas.

Every year we have a Christmas brunch, usually very small, our family my mom and dad and the Sciocchettis, (this year the Regiers were able to join us) followed by a much larger and louder Christmas (late) lunch. (apx 30ish peeps)

This year we celebrated the end of my mom's Hep-C treatment at our brunch. (She received her last shot this week.) We are all thrilled to be done with this treatment. It has been an extremely difficult year for my mom. The treatment completely wipes her out. She's lost weight, hair, and lots of sleep.

But we celebrate that fact that so far, the treatment seems to be working. The virus count has been knocked down to 'undetectable'. She will have a liver biopsy in six months to determine if further treatment is necessary. Of course, we're praying that it won't be!

What a great way to celebrate Christmas! Here's to a GREAT New Year!

Happy Birthday Joshie!

2008-12-24T16:31:00.001-08:00

On Monday Joshua Tucker turned 2! This year has flown by.

Joshua is ALLL boy. Some of his favorite things are climbing (anything, anywhere, any time), he particularly likes climbing up dressers and cabinets. He loves balls and cars of all shapes and sizes, Christmas lights, milk and meat. He's not much of a carbs or veggie eater...bring on the meat and he's a happy camper!

His athletic skills continue to amaze us! Catching balls, throwing (full speed), hitting and kicking balls, he is incredible.

He's still not talking much, but his therapist isn't too concerned. His favorite words are: lights, ball, car, airplane, lala (for lizzie) and toto (tori). He is also learning to make different noises, he is hilarious!

We are so blessed by him.

We love you Joshua Tucker!

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht

2008-12-18T09:18:00.001-08:00

Growing up in my small Mennonite Brethren church we had a tradition that all of the children looked forward to every year. After the Children's Christmas Program, all of the kids would receive 'Toot' bags. These Toot bags were small brown bags filled with an orange, nuts, a candy cane and a small assortment of candy.

Another tradition the same night was singing Silent Night in German. When I was a kid, our church was probably at least 80% German with many of the grandparents still speaking Low German – mine included! This is a very fond memory of mine, the entire congregation singing in German, a capella. Beautiful!

Here's a little history on Silent Night. The world's most popular Christmas carol was first sung in Austria on Christmas Eve 1818. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863). The words came from the pen of pastor Joseph Franz Mohr (1792-1848). The song was almost lost forever after its first performance in a church in Oberndorf (near Salzburg) to Gruber's guitar accompaniment.

The first known performance of "Stille Nacht" in the United States took place near New York City's Trinity Church. In 1839 the Rainer family singers of Austria included the German version of "Stille Nacht" in their repertoire during an appearance at the Alexander Hamilton Monument near the church, some 24 years before an English version of the carol would be published.

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Halleluja,
Tönt es laut von fern und nah:
Christ, der Retter ist da!
Christ, der Retter ist da!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.
Christ, in deiner Geburt!
Christ, in deiner Geburt!

Happy Gotcha Day!

2008-12-17T11:08:00.001-08:00

A year ago today we celebrated Joshua's official adoption. Wow, how time flies.

Joshua has changed so much this past year! He continues to delight and amaze us.

We are so blessed that God chose us to raise this little boy. We can't imagine life without him.

Thank you Lord, for the gift that is Joshua Tucker!

Another day in the office

2008-12-05T11:27:00.001-08:00

Today we enjoyed the annual Carol Sing at FPU. Incredible! Handbells, brass, Crosswind, little children singing "Feliz Navidad". It was excellent!

Pfferneuse Night!

2008-12-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

Every year, my dad's extended family gets together between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make pfferneuse (also known as peppernuts). This tradition is probably close to 50 years old now.

We usually have approximately 30 people show up (aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, dog, etc.) and everyone lends a hand. It starts with my uncle Bill and his son Greg making the dough. From there it gets passed to the rolling people, to the cutting teams, to the stacking people, to the oven. Wow, it's quite a process! We have a couple of different recipes (peanut butter! yum!) we use.

We always miss the family members that can't make it, but it is a great family tradition.

I have some photos...a little blurry. They were taken from my phone.

Joshua and Uncle Kerry hard at work rolling.

Family working together.

Tori and Nana cutting the dough.

Lizzie and mommy taking a break!

Lizzie stacking...or sneaking a peppernut?

Tori on the way home...wiped out!

Exhausted babies!

Gratefulness

2008-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

It's a little late, but we have much to be thankful for in Alveyland.

1. We serve a merciful, forgiving Savior
2. We are all healthy
3. Three incredibly smart and cute children
4. We have fabulous extended families
5. Tons of friends
6. Very supportive church family
7. Good jobs
8. Low gas prices!
9. Two new friends this year - Micah and Macey
10. Kev's ability to go to school
11. My mom's fight against Hep-C

There is lots more, but that's a quick wrap-up. We are grateful for YOU!

Another first!

2008-11-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

Joshua continues to amaze us. Last night for dinner I cut up some ham pieces for him. While I was working with the girls, he started sneezing. I turned to check on him, and on the next sneeze a piece of ham came flying out of his nose! Unbelievable! I checked to make sure there was nothing else up there (that I could see) and continued with the girls' dinners. For dessert, we enjoyed frozen blueberries. Again, guess what got shoved up his nose? This time, he couldn't sneeze it out so mommy had to retrieve it with tweezers. Fun times.

The girls have never done anything like this. Boys really are different, huh?

Merry (Early) Christmas

2008-11-18T12:39:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008-11-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

This Halloween kept us very busy, 2 church harvest parties, 1 costume party, a parade and a classroom party. Yup, we got a lot of use out of this year's costumes!

Clark Kent and Spiderman and their cheesey smiles
Having fun at the Harvest Party

Spidey needs a break!

Our very own Go-Go Girl!

A close-up of Bat Girl

The Super Family

Go-Go Girl, Super Girl, Bat Girl, Clark Kent and Spider Man

The Super kids at a pumpkin patch

Cruella Devil, Super Girl and Pinky from Grease

meet up at a costume party.

Bat Girl showing off some muscles.

Is it over yet?

2008-10-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

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Soccer Sisters

2008-10-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Simple definition of Prop 8

2008-10-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

You Have Our Attention, Lord

2008-10-15T07:45:00.001-07:00

A prayer by Max Lucado - October 2008

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing

This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous -
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!” “What's Next?”

What is next?

We’re listening. And we’re admitting: You were right.

You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, You warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.

You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.

We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have.
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor.
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn’t. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are You taking it?

We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?

Of course You can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.
This disorder awaits your order. So do we.

Through Christ,
Amen

God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them. (Luke 18:7 NCV)

A Day in the Life of Joshua

2008-10-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

My sister Lori is studying for her early childhood credential. For one of her classes, she needed to observe a child in Joshua's age range. So, here is her observation.

My husband has volunteered to supervise the kids so I can strictly observe, so I find my seat in the background and let the show begin.

We have a flower border with little rocks in it, which always attract Josh first thing. He begins throwing them all over until Uncle Paul places a bucket within range so the rocks won’t land in the grass. With his little sandals on, Josh carefully walks onto the rocks and picks up more so he can throw them. He suddenly spots his sisters kicking a soccer ball, so he quickly runs up to the ball and kicks it, which makes them yell “Joshie!” So he takes off to the big gas barbecue grill and plays with the knobs. Somehow he gets a knob off and tosses it down as soon as Uncle Paul says “Joshua!” Seeing a basketball on the sidewalk, he points to it and says “ba.” He grabs the ball with both hands and attempts to dribble with it, or at least he throws it down, it bounces up, he slaps it with his hands, the ball bounces down then up, and he repeats. Suddenly he spies his reflection in the sliding glass door and starts to laugh. He grabs the ball again, throws it up, it lands on his head, and he laughs again.

The ball rolls to the flower garden, where he chases it only to find marigolds as tall as he is. He manages to pluck a flower, then throws it, then laughs. He runs to get the ball again, sees my daughter Kristina standing inside the sliding door and offers the ball to her. She shakes her head no, so he drops the ball where he stands.

Joshua soon sees Uncle Paul picking weeds along the border, so he joins in, bending down, trying to pull the grass out and throw into the bucket he had previously. This lasts for a few times, and moves on to the nearby tomato plants. He finds a green tomato, picks it off and bites into it. He actually breaks the skin, but immediately spits it out. Yet he continues to hold onto the green tomato and goes back to pulling weeds with Uncle Paul again. Then he decides to throw the tomato near the basketball, which does not land very near. So he goes to the basketball and throws that near the tomato, but the basketball just rolls on past.

Uncle Paul turns on the water so the kids can cool off. This instantly attracts Josh’s attention, so he grabs the end of the hose, takes a drink and attempts to water the flowers and grass. Then he sticks his finger in the hose, and discovers that water will squirt all over him, to which he cracks himself up and giggles with deep belly laughs. This goes on for about a minute and gets completely drenched. His sister, Tori, takes the hose and squirts him, which elicits more belly laughs. Joshua wants the hose back now, all the while waving his hands and making squealing noises at Tori. She gives it back to him, but then decides that since she is older and bigger, she should have the hose anyway, which makes Josh furious, and screams louder and holds tighter. Finally Uncle Paul steps in and says “no!” The hose is then thrown down so that the water end is hidden in the grass. This makes Josh extremely curious because he sees the hose, but where’s the water? He points to the hose end, grunts and looks to each face present while trying to make someone understand that there is no water coming out. For clarification purposes, the hose is spiral and therefore landed in such a way that the water end was perpendicular to the ground, and as a result looked as if no water were coming out. Josh would not stop until someone showed him the water end, although it surprised me that he didn’t pick it up himself.

After a while, Josh’s clothes are off and Uncle Paul sits him in a chair to dry him off with a towel. This lasts for about ten seconds, until Josh spies Kristina’s Jamba Juice cup. Shrieking, pointing, grunting and voraciously hand-signing “please” and “more,” he climbs down and proceeds to sip through the straw about 5 or 6 times. Out of the blue, he realizes the noisy wind chimes that have been blowing all afternoon. He points and squeals, then sees a broom, which he runs to, picks up, and begins to sweep the air.

Josh spots more rocks in the border, picks up a handful and throws it. Then he finds those that landed on the sidewalk and kicks them back into the border. Now he bends over, picks up another handful, only this time he places them onto the sidewalk instead of throwing them so he can kick them again into the rock border.

“Joshua, do you want to eat?” Kristina asks. He shakes his head no and grunts. He is busy watching Uncle Paul on the ladder, no doubt figuring out how he can get up there, too.
Once inside the house for dinner, he climbs onto his booster seat. He is given a babyish spoon and tries to feed himself beefy mac and applesauce, which he is pretty good at, despite the small spoon he was given. Josh drinks milk boisterously from his sippy cup. He takes a few more bites, then tries to get down. Kristina puts the spoon back into his hand, and he goes after more. Soon he tires of the baby spoon and reverts to his other hand to pick up more pieces, while still holding the spoon in the other. He goes back and forth between spoon and hand until Uncle Paul ends up helping him finish his meal. After a few more messy minutes, he refuses more bites and utilizes his “all done” hand sign, and makes noises until Uncle Paul helps him down.

It's Soccer Season!

2008-10-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Life is a little nuttier at the Alvey household (is that possible?). Soccer practice four nights a week and two - three games on Saturdays.

The girls are having a great time, though and learning lots and lots!

That's Tori's team above...she's number 5!

More photos to come.

I'll post a schedule soon for aunties and uncles to check out. The games are great fun to watch.

Sacramento in pictures

2008-09-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday of last week, we had a break in the afternoon while the assessment staff evaluated our profiles. We took advantage of the time and took the kids to Old Town Sacramento. We visited Candy Heaven, a costume shop, rode a water taxi, and ended the evening at Joe's Crab Shack, which is right on the water. The kids and Sarah (our nanny!) had a great time. It was the first time that Lizzie and Sarah cracked their own crabs. Joe's is a very fun place where the waiters take time out to dance together for a little entertainment (something akin to doing the Hustle).

It was a fabulous, relaxing time during a very exhausting week. Thank you Karl for helping to make it happen!

Bonus picture, Josh just found these boots in the closet and thought they were perfect for a little baseball practice. By the way, this little stinker can hit a pitch thrown to him...amazing!

Church Planter's Assessment Center

2008-09-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I just got back from a four day church planter's assessment center. It is hosted by the Growing Healthy Churches Network which seeks to support church planters and leaders for the work God has for them (Acts 13:1-2). One of their key support strategies is the assessing system. They strive to help leaders discover if the lead position in a church plant is a good fit for their next step of ministry.

Wow! What a process! Prior to leaving we took two personality profiles, and the StrengthFinders assessment.

We joined with seven other couples from around the nation to walk through intensive evaluation. Kev had to give a 10 minute sermon for our launch Sunday, 10 minutes on our vision and values, after which he and I were questioned by GHC staffers.

Another project consisted of joining with the other couples to create and pitch to potential investors the concept of a 'mock' launch in West Phoenix. We had to research demography, staffing needs, create vision and values, then present to the investors everything we'd learned and created in 15 minutes. Here's the catch all 14 of us had to have a speaking part...you do the math!

There are three potential outcomes of the assessment, 1. recommended, 2. conditional recommend and 3. not recommended. Kevin and I were being assessed as campus pastors, and were affirmed and recommend to move full-steam ahead!

It was a very exciting, and exhausting experience. But we truly loved every minute of it and are very grateful for the experience. I believe this assessment is a tremendous tool.

Click on the title of this post, or contact me directly if you'd like more info.

Baptism revisted...

2008-09-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

As promised...

Church in a bar?

2008-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, our church (Flipside) started three new venues. We have two 'regular' services at Liberty H.S. (9:30 and 11 a.m.). We launched a softer venue (10 a.m.) at our activity center (Kev is the campus pastor there,) a service at the Lucky 13 bar (noon) at Ashlan and 99 in Fresno and another service on Sunday evenings at 5 p.m. (again at our activity center. )

The goal is to make the Ranchos a difficult place to get to hell 'from'.

Here is a link from a news piece that ran last night about our church in a bar.

I guess the idea of a church in a bar is radical for some. We figure that these are the places where Jesus would be. So, we want to be there to.

They believed and were baptized

2008-09-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a day! For about a year now, Lizzie has been asking to be baptized. We wanted to wait for a couple of reasons.

We wanted to make sure that she fully understood what baptism is (a symbol) and what baptism isn't (does not guarantee salvation).
We wanted her to be of an age that she will remember this day.
We wanted her decision to be based on her desire, not because a friend was doing it

Well, yesterday was that day. She can fully explain the meaning of baptism, just ask her. In our church, we don't do baptism classes. Our pastor sits down with those that want to be baptized (just prior to going into the pool) to talk with them and ask them if they've accepted Jesus as their Savior. In the Bible, over and over in the New Testament when it talks about baptism it says, 'they believed and were baptized.' Not, they believed, took classes, they were a certain age and the pastor said it was okay to be baptized. Nope, that's not it at all. Sometimes, in this day and age, I think we make a big deal out of stuff that really should be simple. They believed and were baptized. (pretty sure there is a sermon in there...) A beautiful picture.

Also, at our church, not only are we able to be in the water with her, but WE baptized her. It was a very sweet and special time. Again, no where in the Bible does it say that you have to be baptized by your pastor. Karl was with us, because we asked him to be.

It was an awesome day. Lizzie was delighted, thrilled, ecstatic, elated...well, you get the picture. We are blessed with a mature, sweet, incredible daughter. Thank you Jesus!

"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth."

III Peter 1:4

I'll post pictures and video soon!

Mud Monkey

2008-08-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

My girls never did anything like this...truly boys are different than girls!

A new chapter

2008-08-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

We found out Wednesday night that Kevin has been accepted as a student at the MB Biblical Seminary to begin his master's program in marriage and family therapy! Wow, very cool. They let very few 'non-degreed' students in, particularly in this program.

This really ramps up his studies. Classes will be much more intense with schedules very sporadic (lots of weekend and evening classes). It will take a lot of communication between us to keep things running smoothly.

Classes start Monday, which brings me to a new prayer request; financial aid. Seminary is much more expensive than community college. Please pray that scholarships and grants will come through, we are really trying to avoid loans.

Congratulations Kevin!

Happy Anniversary...to us!

2008-08-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today Kevin and I celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Wow, what a ride! God has been good and has blessed us and kept us even through our blindness.

Kevin and I met in September of 1987 and have been together ever since. We are grateful for each other, our children and a God that lavishes and teaches forgiveness. We look forward to a lifetime of learning more about each other and what God will teach us through our marriage.

A Day at Bass Lake

2008-08-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest concerns moving to the Ranchos was knowing that we wouldn't be seeing some friends nearly as often as when we lived 'in town'. Well, God has taken that concern and has blessed us with new friends.

We spent last Saturday at Bass Lake with some of these new friends. Michelle and Daryn Sassano and their boys, Michael and Brandon, Karl and Shellie Roth and their boys, Kaleb and Wyatt and John and Michele Stephens and their boys, Trevor, Logan and Carson. See a trend her with the boys? Yup, my girls were the only girl (kids) there. We had 10 kids (under the age of 11) and 8 adults on one boat.

We had an amazing day! Karl and Shellie own a large (obviously) boat in which we cruised the lake and pulled the kids around on an inflatable raft. It was fun, relaxing and a great day. Thanks guys!

The tube crew...

Lizzie and Carson
Tori and Miss Shellie

Lizzie, Carson and Brandon

Sand Monkey

Mommie, Tori and Lizzie

Captain Karl and his co-captain

Cheers to the Olympics

2008-08-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Kev and I both have always thought we could be olympians...

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First Day of School

2008-08-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today Lizzie started the third grade! Yup, summer is over in the Ranchos...the new academic year has begun.

Lizzie was very excited to start school and was thrilled to find that she has just the teacher she was hoping for... Mrs. Hernandez! Her best friend Destyne is in her class also.

Tori and Josh signed up today for preschool and will be starting next week when Kevin starts school.

Lizzie and Mrs Hernandez

Already to go!

San Juan Capistrano

2008-08-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

We recently visited my sister Leslie and her family (Uncle Marc and Nicky) at their home in San Juan Capistrano. We had so much fun!

On Friday, we went to Laguna Nigel and spent the day on the beach. The kids had a great time! It was Joshua's first trip to the ocean and he wasn't intimated one bit! He loved playing in the waves, but his favorite thing to do was eating sand. (yes, he pooped a sand castle the next day!)

The next day we spent swimming at Leslie and Marc's club. My nephew Matthew and his girlfriend Rachel joined us for awhile as they were 'in the area' also. The kids had a great time playing with 'big' cousin Mattie and Rachel. Tori really took off in the pool. She ditched her swimmie (floatie) suit and became a fish. It was cool to watch her.

We've really enjoyed my summer three-day weekends. We've tried to fit a lot into a short amount of time.

Unfortunately, all the pix I have are from the beach, oh well!

Lizzie, Tori and cousin Nicky.

Kid Pics

2008-08-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

On Kevin's side of the family we have a split in the ages of our nieces and nephews. There is a group of older cousins and a group of younger cousins. Of course, my kids fall inthe 'younger cousin' category of which there are six.

Kevin's mom had a great idea while we were there to get all the younger cousins together for a studio shot. Here are the results. So cute! (ages 1 year to 10 years old)

More on Zion

2008-08-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, on our second day of vacation, we were in Zion National Park. It is sooo beautiful. So very different than California's landscape. Red dirt, cliffs, canyons, and mountains that look like checkerboards. In my opinion, some of God's best work.

Here's a few more photos from Zion.

A view from a window cutout in the Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel. Construction of the 1.1 mile tunnel began in the late 1920's and was completed in 1930. At the time that the tunnel was dedicated, on July 4, 1930, it was the longest tunnel in the United States. The purpose of the Zion Tunnel (and the east entrance road) was to create direct access to Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon from Zion National Park. Large vehicles like the motorhome we were driving have to pay and extra $15 as an 'escort' fee. The ranger stop oncoming traffic until the large vehicle is through.

One of the many arches.

Our home away from home.

Incredible scenery!

UTAH!

2008-08-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

On the evening of Wednesday, July 16th we started our vacation. We rented a motorhome from a friend and took off for southern Utah. It was awesome! (no potty breaks necessary!)

The first night we drove to Barstow and spent the night at Shady Lane RV park. An interesting place, but nothing to see in Barstow. We packed up early the next morning and continued our journey.

We hit Vegas by lunchtime and took a break to let the kids run around. (HOT!) We packed up again with southern Utah as our evening goal. We made it to Zion National Park by about 5ish. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is! Southern Utah is one of mine and Kevin's favorite U.S. sites to visit. There are numerous national parks and beautiful sites within a day's drive (Zion, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon, Moab, Bryce, Escalante, Canyonlands, Arches .... and the list goes on!). We never have enough time when we're there!

After a little time in Zion, we set our eyes on making it to Boulder, Utah! Kevin's grandma has a ranch in Boulder, and Boulder was hosting a big family reunion for Kevin's side of the family on July 19th.

We had a great time in Boulder, hiking, swiming in Calf Creek, playing with cousins and catching-up with Kev's family. All of his siblings made it to Boulder for the reunion - even his bro and wife (Brad and Susan from Arkansas!). It was a wonderful weekend.

On Sunday afternoon we packed up again for the drive up to Layton, Utah to Kev's parent's house. It was about a six hour drive. We spent the remaining week in Layton playing with cousins, swimming and exploring Salt Lake more. The kids had a great time playing in the Olympic Memorial Square that hosts in incredible water feature. We saw this when we were in Utah for the 2002 Olympics.

Haircut (revisted)

2008-08-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

I forgot that I took these photos with my phone right after the haircuts!

New haircuts

2008-07-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

While in Utah the girls decided they wanted to get their hair cut. Aunt Susan took some before and after shots of Lizzie. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of Tori, but I'll see if I have some general shots from vacation.

Lizzie got hers cut to her chin and stacked in back, so cute! Tori now has bangs and a slight layer in back that really makes her curls bounce!

Lizzie before.

Lizzie after.

The Shack

2008-07-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Rarely do I come across a book that I urgently want to share with family and friends. This past week on vacation I read three books. (yes, a VERY long drive!) The last book I read was The Shack, by William P. Young.

It is a fiction book that is written by a passionate theologian. Think you know your God? Think again. Think you know Jesus? Think again.

Religion, spirituality, responsibility, forgiveness, relationships? Think again.

Truly this book is a must read. This link will take you to parts of the book you can read online (forward, comments and the first chapter). The title bar of this post will take you to the web site.

I will be purchasing more copies of this book to give to others. I challenge you to do the same.

Swim Lessons

2008-07-24T13:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, I'm little behind in my posting...but that's the story of my life.

The girls started swim lessons at Swim America (Break the Barriers pool) at the beginning of July. Tori was hesitant to put her face in the water, but by the end of the two weeks she was a pro!

Lizzie continues to work on her stroke each year and is doing great. This year they really focused on her back stroke.

At the end of the lessons we celebrated with a swim party! Fun, fun.

Lizzie's Lessons

Tori's Lessons

Pool Party Fun!

Lizzie's buddy Colby.
Kaleb and Derek on the slide.

Hangn' out and havn' fun!

Our new friend

2008-06-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

The first ten years of our marriage Kevin and I had two cats and two dogs. I love cats. I grew up with them on our farm, I used to dress up the kittens in baby-doll clothes, in fact at one point we had about 14 on the farm. These were all outdoor cats. They were allowed in the house only for visits.

Before Kevin and I got married my friends Jeff and Tina gave me an adorable fuzzy orange kitty. I named him Boris. Boris was with us for over 10 years. But alas, Kevin is allergic to cats. So as our cats moved on to kitty heaven, we didn't get more.

About a month a go a black cat showed up at our house. We started talking to it and of course the kids named it. "Mickey" is a very sweet cat. He loves the kids and is an excellent hunter. So far, we've received gifts of multiple mice, a squirrel, a bluejay, and various others that we haven't been able to identify. So yes, Mickey is a keeper! Excellent for country living.

Surprisingly, Mickey doesn't mind Joshua's misguided attempts at petting him. Josh has picked him up, sat on him and pulled his tale, all without a scratch or meow. He just waits until Josh is done or until Kev or I can rescue him.

All three kids love him. Here's our new little friend with Tori.

Jerusalem Marketplace

2008-06-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

This year for VBS our church did something a little different. Children were 'transported' back to Bible times and walked where Jesus walked. They made bread, weaved baskets, formed pottery and experienced the artisanship on the streets of Jerusalem’s Market place, all while being garbed in the clothing of the times. It was incredible!

On the last night, the rabbi that negotiated with Judas to turn Jesus over to the Romans met Jesus face-to-face. Check out their conversation here.

VBS is very labor intensive (we had over 100 volunteers!), but it is so worth it! Watching the children interact with Jesus and get excited about an offering (girls won, second year in a row!) is amazing. We plan on doing the Jerusalem series every three years. It was an amazing experience for the children and the volunteers!

The rabbi experiences forgiveness.

Loving Jesus

Listening to Jesus

Face-to-face

The skit in the marketplace

Several days we had a 'blind' man in the marketplace.
Once the kids learned of his plight, they started 'caring' for him. They brought him food and water. And were amazed on the day he was miraculously healed.

The basket weaver.My Tori on the left.Lizzie and her buddy Jackie.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

What a day we had yesterday! Our church schedule was a little different. Instead of normal service times, we had a picnic/car/motorcycle show. The picnic started later than usual, so we were able to take Kev out to breakfast prior to. He spent a little time in the morning getting his bike ready for the show, so it looked great!

Kev is such a phenomenal dad! His role as a daddy is a much different than most of our friends...he is the main caregiver for the kids. So he makes breakfast, gets kids ready for naps, makes lunch, plays, more nap time, takes kids to appointments and plans dinner. All the while keeping up with homework and working on our remodel. (sound familiar my mommy friends?)

He finished his first seminary class for MFT (marriage and family therapist) master's program last weekend. The instructor was very impressed with his grasp of the material and told Kev that "you (Kev) get it." Considering the class was for second year students in the program, we were very excited. (He received 95% in the class.)

We love you Kevin!

Last Day of School

2008-06-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was Lizzie's last day of school. Yay! She had a great year this year. Her class visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Discovery Center, Hilmar Cheese Factory, went roller skating, participated in the open house with a rendition from High School Musical, endured their first year of state testing, and experienced a long-term sub when their teacher went out on maternity leave. It was a fun, very active year!

We looking forward to a great summer, with lots of activities planned. This picture is from the end-of-the-year awards ceremony.

Fun with Micah

2008-06-03T16:45:00.001-07:00

We had the privilege of taking dinner to some friends last week, who had recently had a baby. Jill (the new mommy) was Lizzie's kindergarten teacher, and has been a good friend for a long time. The girls each had a good time holding Micah. Josh, on the other hand didn't even notice him until I sat next to Adam, while Adam was holding Micah. At that point Josh want to 'bang' on Micah like a drum. Thankfully, I thought Josh might think of doing that and was prepared to catch the little arms flying through the air.

Welcome Micah Gavin, we are thrilled to have a new playmate!

The Toddler's Creed (our life right now )

2008-05-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

If it is on, I must turn it off.
If it is off, I must turn it on.
If it is folded, I must unfold it.
If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.
If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.
If it has leaves, they must be picked.
If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and
Thrown on the floor.
If it is closed, it must be opened.
If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator,
Monitor, or table.
If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.
If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be
Ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.
If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
If it is paper, it must be torn.
If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
If the volume is low, it must go high.
If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.
If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.
If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.
If it is a phone, I must talk to it.
If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.
If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
If it is not food, it must be tasted.
If it IS food, it must not be tasted.
If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.
If it is a carseat, it must be protested with arched back.
If it is Mommy, it must be hugged.
I am toddler!

We love you Joshua Tucker!

Fieldtrip Fun

2008-05-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

I went with Lizzie's class on a fieldtrip to the Hillmar Cheese Factory. It was pretty cool. The kids were able to make their own ice cream and sample Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese. They had a nice outdoor picnic area with a waterfall where we enjoyed our sack lunches. We even were able to purchase squeaky cheese. Yum!

Enjoying the ice cream they made.
Wyatt, Lizzie and Brandon
Checking out the waterfall.
All off the canisters were on an scale, so Lizzie is pushing on them to make the scale move.
Dressing up as a worker.

Mother's Day

2008-05-20T20:34:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day was a nice relaxing day. Kevin made a fabulous breakfast, we enjoyed a great church service and then came home to relax with my parents and the Regier family. Unfortunately, in the afternoon Tori's temperature shot up to 103.8 which immediately alarmed us because of her seizure history. Thankfully, we were able to get it back down, but it began a week of fevers and sore throats for all three kids. All-in-all, it was a great day.

I feel truly blessed to have not one, not two, but three children call me mama.

Birthday Parties

2008-05-17T14:11:00.001-07:00

We celebrated both girls' birthdays in April. Lizzie turned 8 and Tori turned 4. Since, I'm a little behind in posting, so I'll let the pics do the talking...

I'm FOUR!

Tori thought her new jammies from grandma and her new swimsuit made a dynamite outfit!

Our new sun hat.
Love my Tina.
mmmmm, fresh strawberry shortcake!
Here's another birthday girl
Wyatt at Lizzie's party...a little muddy.
Colby shows off his muscles.
The victorious birthday girl.
Michael's summer physique.
Josh and cousin Alyssa check out the slip'n'slide at Lizzie's party.
Thrilled parents watching at Lizzie's party
Brandon's extraordinary exit off the waterslide.
Nothing says birthday party like John's Incredible Pizza!
Lizzie's best buddy, Destyni and Joshie

Now?

2008-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, Tori, now. When Tori woke up this morning I grabbed her, and held her tight and told her "Happy birthday, Tori!" She looked and me and said, "Now?" "Yes, honey now." "Now I'm four?" Yes, honey, now, you're four."

Happy birthday Victoria Melody Joy. We love you and enjoy every day with you. You bring so much joy and laughter into our lives. We can't imagine what our family would be like without you.This photo was our first introduction to Tori. Tori is apx 6 months old here. We brought her home when she was 8.5 months old.

This is our beautiful girl now...4 years old! What a blessing she is!
Here are some fun pictures of Tori from this last year. She was a very busy three-year-old!

Phase 3

2008-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Kevin has the kitchen in pretty good shape. Cabinets are in, the countertop is poured, appliances and the sink are in. He has done a beautiful job, it looks great!

My way cool farmer's sink

Love this faucet!

The island

Sink side

The cooktop

Close-up of the countertop

We still have to complete the floors, paint and do some finish work, but, all in all, we're very pleased.

In Between Phases

2008-04-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

During the chaos of the kitchen remodel, the kids particularly enjoyed the chaos. All three kids would play hide-n-seek in the cabinets, or peek a boo with a towel and a stack of laminate flooring. They were pretty creative!

Kitchen Remodel - Phase 2

2008-04-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

Phase 2 of our kitchen (phase 1 was demolition and placing the big beam!) had Kevin tearing out the remaining cabinets and building walls. Part of the process also included enclosing part of the garage to be an 'addition' to the kitchen for a laundry room. (one of my favorite parts!) So far, he's taken out a false ceiling, and two walls...built three walls and rebuilt a half-wall. He's rewired the kitchen, built a dormer (with soon to be skylight) and installed cabinets and appliances. I picked out a few photos to show progress. The last photo shows my least favorite part of the remodel, washing dishes in the bathtub...good times!

Kev started demolition on Jan 3 and installed the last appliance, on March 31. I say three months is an excellent pace for doing most of the work by yourself!

On to phase three!

Eighth Anniversary of a Miracle

2008-04-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that eight years ago today I gave birth to our oldest daughter, Elizabeth Grace. She has grown into an amazing young lady. She loves to laugh, play with her sister and brother, READ, play softball (a new venture for her!), play with cousins, play with mom and dad, watch TV with Nana (she likes Rachel Ray), make new friends and she loves school.

We feel so blessed that God choose us to be the parents of Lizzie. Nine years ago I was drowning in infertility woes and depression. Now, I find it hard to believe that I'm a mother of three amazing children.

Happy Birthday Lizzie! We love you!

Tori checking out Lizzie's new (groovey) mitt.

Side note from today: Joshua enjoying his first zweibach!

(translation = double bun)

Dedication

2008-04-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we dedicated Joshua at Flipside. For those of you unfamiliar with child dedications, we stood before our congregation and promised to raise Joshie in a way pleasing to the Lord. The congregation also agrees to support us in this effort. We waited until we finalized Josh's adoption. It was a very sweet moment. We were surrounded not only by our church family, but we had friends and family join us for the day. Thank you to everyone who was able to help us celebrate this awesome day.

The photo isn't great, but it'll have to do!

Easter!

2008-03-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Easter was a little different for us this year. My niece Kristina was baptized so we visited our former church instead of celebrating with our home church, Flipside. It was nice to see old friends, but we did miss our home!

After church we hosted about 35 people at our house for dinner. Keep in mind that my kitchen is not complete yet...I had a temporary sink, my dishwasher and the cook top in. (no oven!) Thankfully, everyone always pitches in and brings something for the meal! My cabinets are in and the counter tops should be complete today. (I'll try to put updated photos of the progression later this week.)

Anyhooo, after lunch we hid apx 100 real eggs and 40ish plastic eggs for all of the little cousins. They had a great time. What a wonderful day to celebrate...He is risen...He is risen indeed!

Superheroes!

2008-03-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Lizzie, Tori and cousin Nicky think they're pretty tough stuff!

So Proud!

2008-03-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

(Kristina is on the far right.)

Our niece Kristina Regier is participating in a bike ride this week with her youth group. They're riding from Santa Cruz to Morro Bay, a total of 170 miles in six days! We are so proud of her!

Kristina is a leader in her youth group, plays several sports at Edison High, she's involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is known on her campus as a Christian (do you know how rare that is?) She is not afraid to speak up about her faith. She is also a fabulous babysitter. One of our kids' favorites.

We love her dearly and always miss her if we don't see her frequently.

To keep up with her trip check out the bike trip blog. Love you Tina!

Lights Out

2008-03-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

More than 107,000 individuals and over 6,700 businesses have taken this pledge ---
Please consider signing it --- turning your lights off for one hour -- from 8- 9 PM (local time)
on March 29th -- to show that we support legislation to stop global warming NOW--
http://www.earthhour.org/

Facebook, I believe I am addicted!

2008-02-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Being the new web content editor for Fresno Pacific University comes with some interesting challenges. One of my colleagues suggested I create a Facebook and Myspace profile. I must admit it has been quite fun. It is a great way for me to see how youths are communicating, and to see new and upcoming ideas on the web. I, myself, prefer Facebook. I am able to stream my blog directly into Facebook. Way cool! It is tons of fun. If you are a friend of the Alvey blog and have a Facebook account, let me know...we'll be come 'friends.' Have fun surfing!

Pasghetti, Birthday Cake and Pixie Dust

2008-02-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Lizzie pulled out her other top front tooth in the school library. The whole class was excited! So the tooth fairy once again decorated Lizzie's pillow with pixie dust.

Yesterday was also Kevin's birthday. We had made plans for Lori and Paul to watch the kids while we went out to dinner. So Uncle Paul took advantage of the time to prepare his famous "suck-the-pasghetti-through-the-hole-in-your-teeth" dinner for Lizzie. See photos and video. All of the sauce landed on her chin, so as to look like a goatee. Yum!

Lori and the girls made Kevin a birthday cake while we were out. Tori decorated it with the candles. It was beautiful!

Happy birthday Kevin. You are a wonderful husband and father. We love you!

Lizzie and the Spelling Bee

2008-02-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the big spelling bee at Lizzie's school, Sierra View. There were 10 finalists (out of about 60) for the second grade and Lizzie was one of them. In fact, she made it all the way to second place! She and a friend, Wyatt battled it out - they had to use third grades words for them to spell. It was so amazing to see these second graders spelling so well! Lizzie was very disappointed that she didn't win, she vows to be more prepared next year! We are so proud of her!

(She got tripped up on the word listening...Lizzie's version: lisenting)

One of her words...feathers.

U23D

2008-02-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I had a chance to go to our first U2 concert...in 3D! In a word it was, well, one word does not suffice. Dave Klesch highly recommended the movie, and I had read some reviews that rated the 3D techie stuff as top notch. They weren't kidding...we felt that we were at the concert. It was amazing! Don't miss the opportunity to go. (Click on the title bar to see a trailer.)

Pixie Dust and the Tooth Fairy

2008-02-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

We had another visit from the Tooth Fairy last night...Lizzie lost her third tooth! It's one of the big top teeth so she is very excited. The Tooth Fairy left Lizzie a little cash, another letter and pixie dust sprinkled all ove her pillow and check (I think she gave her a little kiss!) It was all very exciting to find this morning!

(p.s. I've accepted a position with Fresno Pacific University, I'll be the new Web Content Editor - also Josh now has six teeth!)

Beam Me Up!

2008-01-29T13:26:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday Kevin, Dave Kleschold and Joel Bawcum installed a 500 pound, 24 foot-long beam in our kitchen. This monstrosity was installed in place of a load-bearing wall we took out to enlarge the kitchen.

The first step to getting the beam in the house was to load it onto two wagons, one on each end.

Dave shows off the length of the beam...

Wheeling it in...

They then wheeled it through the temporary wall obstacle course.

The obstacle course...

From there, they lifted it onto two six foot ladders. By slowing adding 2X4s on top of the ladder they raised the beam, where it currently rests on two 4X6 beams.

4X6 beam

It was an amazing accomplishment! Well done boys!

A Little Rainy Weather Fun

2008-01-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

A picture says a thousand words...

Ready?

Jump!

One more time...

Jump (again!)

That was cool dad!

Official One Year Photos

2008-01-21T10:40:00.001-08:00

Joshie took all of these beautiful photos with a double-ear infection. (His second in two weeks!) He is an amazing little boy!

Remodeling pictures

2008-01-17T14:08:00.000-08:00

We are still working on remodeling the house. Currently, I don't have a kitchen. I have a microwave, sink and dishwasher. Kevin is working hard to get it complete. We hope to have it done next month.

Here are some pix of many phases of our remodeling...

I'm One!

2008-01-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

On December 22, Joshua Tucker turned one! We had a great day, our entire family was together (even Uncle Laner from New York!). Josh has 4 teeth and knows two signs (more and all done). He weighs in at about 22 pounds (he's quickly catching up to Tori!) He is walking like he never knew how to crawl!
Here are some pictures from the day.

Joshie's adoption party

2008-01-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

I have lots of pictures to share and not much time...so here come several slide shows...

So much to say...so little time!

2008-01-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, since the last post, we've celebrated Joshie's first birthday, and adoption; Lizzie has performed in two Christmas programs (one as the 'head' angel - Gabriela perhaps?) Josh has gained another tooth (3 total now!) and has developed some mad walking skills...Tori continues to delight in many things and make us laugh on a daily basis. (She also has perfected the use of the word 'no' - not so fun.)

We celebrated New Year's in San Juan Capistrano with my sister's family. (Tori has developed quite a crush on her Uncle Marc.) The kids and I have stayed on in San Juan while Kevin returned home yesterday to begin renovations on our kitchen.

I am continuing to look for work as I was laid off back in November. (Kev's new semester begins next week.)

Sorry for the delayed post.

Welcome Home Son, Welcome Home

2007-12-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the best day of our year. We received an early Christmas present; our son was officially recognized as an Alvey. Commissioner Schwartzbart signed a court order stating that Joshua Tucker Alvey is entitled to all of the rights and inheritance of our family. Amazing! We've waited for this day all year long.

After the hearing was over, I was reminded of what it means for God to adopt us. We too are entitled to all of the rights and inheritance as God's children. (a much better inheritance than we will leave our children!) With all of our faults, continual mistakes and crap that we drag into our lives, God does not disown us. What a miracle! I often have students ask me why we don't see miracles any more...for me, God's daily forgiveness of my selfish ways is a miracle.

But, back to the hearing...Kevin's mom, Dorothy Alvey and my parents, Larry and Linda Jantzen were able to join us. Kev's mom flew in from Utah just for the occasion. We also had a very special guest. Abbey Cazares, Tori's social worker, dropped by for the hearing. We believe that God used Abbey to introduce us to Tori, and such also brought Joshua into our lives. We are forever thankful for Abbey's diligence with Tori's case. Thank you Abbey!

Everybody keeps asking us if we are 'done' now. We were very happy with two little girls...we are thrilled to have a son. We are not looking to add to our brood, but would never turn away a little one that God brings to our door. (see James 1:27)

Here are a few pictures from the day...

In our court day finery
Waiting with Grandma Alvey
With Papa and Nana (Josh is showing off his funny face)
The whole family
Gotcha brother!
Taking our oath
It's done...celebrate! Oops, we lost Joshie's head!

We Have A Court Date!

2007-12-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

Finally, after almost a year of waiting, we have an adoption hearing set for Monday, December 17! We are thrilled. We can't wait to 'finalize.' Grandma Alvey is even coming out for the big event.

What an incredible Christmas gift. It also happens to fall 5 days before Joshie's birthday.

Little Two Teeth took three steps today! He may be walking to his own adoption hearing...pretty cool.

Attitude of Gratitude!

2007-11-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

We had a great time on Thanksgiving on Thursday. I think we had the smallest celebration ever, only 14 of us! But it was cozy and intimate...and relaxing! My nephew Jeremy made his first pie, Dutch Apple...delicious! Great job Jeremy. In the pictures of the table you can see people lighting candles...as each family member said something they were thankful for and then lit their candle. Our favorite was Tori saying she was thankful for "my wamiwy", or my family for those not familiar with Tori Talk.

Today is move day...we are moving into my parent's former home. This is a move we've been planning for over three years, and the whole reason we moved out to the ranchos. In the past week, we moved my parents into their new house (on the front of the property), stripped wallpaper in the old house, scrapped the acoustic ceiling, sanded doors and the ginormous pantry, pulled up carpet, retextured the ceiling and walls, painted the entire house and put new flooring in the bedrooms. We also packed up the house we are living in. Kevin has been working from about 7 a.m. to midnight every night. Extreme Makeover Home Edition has nothing on us! We had a lot of help from friends, special thanks to Jay and Mikendra McCoy! We packed up my kitchen on Tuesday, so Mikendra called church friends to schedule meals for the rest of the week. We are so grateful to be part of such a supportive church family at Flipside!

I'll have some before and after pictures to post soon. In the meantime, here are just a few from Thanksgiving. We are truly thankful and grateful for a God who carries us through difficult times.