Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s so exciting that we are in the United States and we can go and pick out our own Christmas tree! This has been my dream! In Manila, we would have to order a fresh tree in August and hope by the time it arrived in late November that it would survive to Christmas. TheContinue reading “Virginia is for Christmas Trees”

A month after we moved to Virginia Adam turned 7! I was worried we wouldn’t know anyone to come to Adam’s birthday, but we already had so many friends to invite! And Grandma Gertch and Uncle Ari came for the party too! But first Adam’s actual birthday. After years in Manila with no helium IContinue reading “Helium and Rock Climbing”

This Thanksgiving i had a lot to be thankful for! I am thankful to have my cousin twin Lauren who really gets me. And I am very thankful that we are so close this year. I am thankful Aunt Das has room on her lap for three babies. I am thankful for my two bigContinue reading “Thankful – By Miral”

Just a week after we arrived in the U.S. we were lucky enough to have this guy visit us.  I love many things about Randy but one thing I really love is how he pushes me to do more than I ever think I can do and oh how he loves a packed day.  It’sContinue reading “Limits”

This Halloween was the first one ever for the kids in the U.S. It was pretty exciting. Instead of just one little weird building party, there were parties at school, real life trick or treating outside on a real block and celebrating in the U.S. The boys picked their costumes and Malcolm chose to beContinue reading “A Gekko, a cobra and an owl”

Oh boy am I behind…but I’m currently on furlough- not working during the shutdown and have time to try to catch up on life. So here we are. Way back to when we arrived in October it was a crazy time. We were all excited to be in the U.S. but with me in fullContinue reading “US of A”

While most people in the Foreign Service have some time to move, sometimes you don’t know when you’re moving. I knew I may be called to join the foreign service but when I got the email in September, earlier than I expected, especially with the recent hiring freezes, I was shocked. BUT this was threeContinue reading “Moving on”

Two weeks after I got the call that I was invited to join the next foreign service class of officers we had a planned trip to Oman. The plan was for me to put the kids on a plane, fly them to Oman and meet Randy there. We were going to stay with our goodContinue reading “Middle East Reunion”

I’m months behind on my life…but leaving Manila, starting a new career in the foreign service and still having a husband in Pakistan will do that….so lets go back to August.  During Randy’s last trip to Manila we were able to squeeze in a quick trip to Taiwan with the kids. It’s always been oneContinue reading “Taipei 101”

For Miral’s first birthday we had a tea party. Did you expect anything different 🙂 It was a lot of fun to plan and because there were a lot of older siblings coming we had slime, basketball, and arts and crafts too. I loved celebrating a year of my Miral. Randy was here for theContinue reading “Tea Party”