9.



This day in History: April 14, 1865. The day that John Wilkes Booth entered Ford's Theater and shot President Abraham Lincoln. Little known fact--and one that I am NOT proud of: my great-grandma, 'Gammy' told us that Kelly ok we are related to the aforementioned Booth. Supposedly (none of us have extensive family records), Booth was her fifth cousin or something like that. She also said that sometime, way back when, someone in her family had a picture of Booth in bed as an old man, shortly before he died. For those who may not know it, there are several theories/legends about how Booth really died. Add this one to the list-- but don't hold it against me. I'm against slavery and racism too.

This past weekend was a fun and productive one, not to mention exhausting. People asking you again and again what stuff costs is especially tiring; but as one of my neighbors pointed out: we are total yard sale amateurs. Apparently, we were doing everything all wrong and way underpricing our stuff. Mike believes that nothing at a yard sale should cost over a nickel, and I tend to sell everything-from appliances, to suits, for a dollar. Unless it's a knick-knack, in which case, I will pay you a dime for every item that you take off our hands. What can I say? Dusting my mom's tchotke's all those years has scarred me. Hopefully, I'll bet better by the time Audrey starts making arts and crafts that she wants us to display. Speaking of Audrey--she was with Grandma and Grandpa for Saturday and part of Sunday (loving every minute of it, of course)--but lucky for us she didn't see us giving away 200 of the 500 stuffed animals that she owned (past tense.)

Adding to the fun was visits from the neighbors who we have come to care deeply for--Pearl and Harry Baxter (who've become like parents and friends...constantly taking care of and looking out for us....Melinda O., Fabi, Mike and Natá (who will be renting our house!), Dee, Pia and Co., ....despite our excitement to be moving to Portland, we have felt extremely blessed to become a part of our neighborhood and to share these past couple of years together.

Our faithful, faithful friends, the Oduros brought lunch up on Sunday, as well as a care-package of practical items for the road trip north.


Here's a picture of Erika and Kern at the rehearsal dinner before our wedding. Unfortunately, I had to use this picture because--even though she is drop-dead gorgeous, Mrs. Oduro almost never lets you take her picture.

Erika is truly one of the most thoughtful people I know. I will never, ever forget how she drove over 2 hours in Los Angeles traffic with her 3 starving kids, to bring us a meal and fill our refrigerator with helpful meals, after Audrey was born. KSJ, Alexia and Elly are so good with Audrey and she adores them.

We interrupt this broadcast for a brief advertisement:
*AEI (Access to Empowerment International) is a non-profit the Oduro's started in 2001 to empower children and their communities through education. M is on their board and they are one of the reasons God took us to Africa in November. Check out their web site and consider whether you might want to partner with them as well: accesstoempowerment.org )

And of course, there is my loving sister, Kelly. Who came up with her smiling face, breakfast, and some sore feet from wearing some really great looking shoes to a wedding the night before! Kelly is a dear part of our family and we will miss seeing her more often. But in truth, we're just ditching her before she ditches us for Chicago in August.

As of today, there are 9 days left before moving day. Holy smokes.

A few pics of post-yard-sale hygge.








We will also miss our backyard, which we've worked quite hard to transform from a field of dirt...especially the beautiful river rock wall that M and his dad built...and our poppy's are finally blooming...but we also look forward to building memories at the cozy yard we will be enjoying in Portland.