Wow! Michael Jackson died?!!

I was shocked to hear of the news that Michael Jackson died today! David was asked to go out on this tour a couple of months ago to his UK dates, but Michael's management team decided to use locals rather than professionals. So David would have been in the UK at the moment. Glad he is home though.

Very sad and shocking news. Also Farrah Fawcett lost hr battle with cancer this morning. I had followed her courageous story for months with her incredible documentary and journey.

Each day is so precious ...

Veggie Garden ... So Far, So Good!

I wrote an article for an internet based Vegetable Planting Guide. It was nice to see it posted this weekend.


You can always view a picture in full by clicking on it.

Does anyone else out there have or has ever planted a vegetable garden? I'd love to hear about it.

You can't leave them alone for a second!

I was on the phone with Shelly ...


and Tigist discovered that you can "paint" with oatmeal. Shelly told me to take a picture, so I did! It's not really that bad, but it only took a second.

Denver's Hidden Gems ... Abe's Cafe

This is a great little cafe that has some seating out in front with umbrellas. The food was good, but my favorite part was the owners friendliness. Franco came out several times to make sure customer's food was good and they had everything they needed.



After speaking with him, he said they'd been here for 10 years and loves the location. He was just so genuinely friendly and said when I come back, he'll remember my name. Many people don't, so I won't be offended. He had me try his baklava dessert that his Mother made in the kitchen there, I did and it was in fact very delicious.

I would definitely go back many times just because of his friendliness. It is also in an area of town that is old and lovely. It reminded me a bit of Montrose back near where I use to live by La Canada., CA. I love this part of town.

2479 W Main St
Littleton, CO 80120
(303) 798-7444

Brandon's End Of Year Party!

Brandon has one more week of school, but today was a fun day for him to meet up with some of his E-School classmates. It was at Shea Stadium here in Highlands Ranch.


Tigist ran around and made new friends with almost everybody. She grabbed bunches of water filled balloons and kept throwing them ... cracking up when the water would come out. Her first time seeing something like this. She is just so happy outside. Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially and she is able to express herself way more these days.

It was good to see Brandon run around and have such a good time. His E-School teachers were there and they are all so nice. He'll be starting traditional high school though in the fall and I think he'll do really well all around.

Evan LooooOOOOves Porsches!

On our way home from searching hi and lo for hair product for Tigist (not a lot of black people in Highlands Ranch) Evan eye-balled this Porsche dealership and practically pleaded with me to stop in ... so we did.


This one's a kit-car (83,000), but if it were not, it'd be a million$$$$

Evan and Jazz Band

Evan has been very musical this year...

Jazz Band
Advanced Band
Talent Show
Tutored by a couple of mentors
Greeley Jazz Festival ....



Here he is with his solo last week. He plays drums too. Really well I might add.

Two More Babies Coming From Tigist's Orphanage!

This weekend I held a baby shower for our friends Brandi and Travis Akins. They'll be picking up their 2 babies (twin boy and girl about 18 mo. old) and they are, how cool is this, coming from Tigist's orphanage. This is a dynamic couple, whose love for children and adoption are so beautiful, it is inspiring. They have 4 children now and just passed court on Friday. So these 2 precious twins are now part of this family and I cannot wait to meet them in about 5 to 6 weeks!


Their shower cake. Do you know how hard it is to find black baby figures to put on a cake? Hard!




Some of their family and friends.



Aren't they adorable! And the kids too!

I Can See My Garden Growing!

I am so excited ... this morning I peeked outside my office window and saw little green leafy things coming up out of the soil.


It was my lettuce and spinach popping out.



I felt like a little kid! So I ran out to see what else was there and I saw a tomato.



and a bell pepper ... they were so cute!



This is one of my 4 types of basil ... Boxwood Basil. It smells heavenly.



The strawberries are filling out, but I still see no berries since the birds have eaten the 2 that we had. I don't know what to do about those birds!

We love visitors ..."A Few Reeves!"

Well, back in California, we were surely blessed to have become a part of Faith Community Church in West Covina. A year or so before we moved away, Ps. Jim's brother Ps. Bob started a church in Brea called The Cause (spoiled I must say by the worship services and their quality as well as the sermons being absolutely awesome).

Ps. Bob's son (Josh) and his wife and baby, (Elizabeth and Ashur) came to Highlands Ranch in the past few days to just get away from their usual stomping grounds. So they visited Rhaeda and Jesse (another Faith Community transplant) and us as well. It meant a lot to us that they came to visit us ... we felt as if their folks were here too. We absolutely adore Josh's parents, Ps. Bob and Sherry.



Elizabeth, Josh in background and Ashur having blanket time on the floor. What a lovely couple this is. We can't wait to have them back.

Denver's Hidden Gems ... "The Soiled Dove"

This is an underground jazz club where there really is not a bad seat in the house. On a personal note, it is almost vital that I have the best seat in the house. That is just how I like it and I do my best to make that happen. David found us exactly that for this date night and I was so pleased.

I would have to say that this venue might be my favorite in all of Denver's city (but yet to explore the others at length too).



We went Saturday night after having dinner at the Bombay Clay Oven in Cherry Creek North. Our seats were absolutely perfect (there are probably 6 best seats in the whole place and we had 2 of them ... go David!) I was full from dinner and sooooooOO sleeeeepy, so I ordered coffee. David had tea. It always cracks me up how I imagine having a nice glass of wine, but end up realizing how tired it'll make me so I rarely have a glass of wine out and about. I have to have my diet coke in the restaurants instead of wine. They have this little button light that when you need something, you flick on the light and the waitress comes over. How genius is that? Every table everywhere should have something like that.



A picture from the inside stage right.



Candy Dulfer ... click on the picture cause (girls only) you have to see how adorable her shoes were. She is just so cute and so talented.



The place was packed once the show started.



The rest of her band was really fantastic too.



Her shoes ... from the side. Still cute and she can STILL play better than Kenny G!!!! Imagine (sort of) Prince on Sax, if he were a girl and IF he was that gorgeous. Candy is 40 years old, but looks 28, I swear. She was very entertaining without being very "full of herself" like some artists.



She signed CD's afterwords until late. She just must have wanted to go home so bad after the show, but I think it's really nice when they do this. She's been playing sax since she was 6, so clearly this is a passion for her and it shows.

Denver's Hidden Gems ... "Bombay Clay Oven"

Bombay Clay Oven ... Indian Cuisine in Cherry Creek North. Denver, Co

I look forward to dining al fresco in the Summer time too.



The service was good, but it is hard to live up to most of the American service expectancies (can I use that word there???). I think you would all agree that service from different cultures are usually different and less catering to the customer. We sat in the corner booth, which was so very cozy with our shoes off.




The cozy booths where you have to cross your legs to sit down or spread them out along the seated pillows. It was fun to sit in a booth where your shoes had to come off and you sat around about a dozen pillows. I'm glad I just had my toes and fee attended too. And my husband's socks did NOT have holes...good for us!



My handsome husband ...



me ....

I forgot to take a picture of our food ... (bad blogger), but I was so full and satisfied I did not want to go out afterwards, which is what we did. We ordered Chicken Tikka Masala with Veg Samosa, onion baji and Naan...they offer different levels of spiciness (mild, med, hot). We ordered the naan in a basket variety and it was a lot actually. I still have leftovers in the fridge, but I would only order the basket if we were with 2 other couples. It's interesting how when we decided to go out, and you were to ask me if I would rather stay home or go out, I would choose to stay home where it is warm and cozy and my comfy clothes are a closet away. But always, I'm so happy to be there when I'm THERE! Downtown Denver and the Cherry Creek area have so many hidden gems.

And what I love about my new Denver city, is that we went at peak time on a Sat. night on the main freeway ... absolutely NO traffic. We arrived in 15 minutes and parked 4 cars down in front. This is not what I'm use to coming from the Los Angles area. David and I had a really great night out while our teens put Tigist to bed and the house was not on fire when we arrived home. Thank God!

Afterwards, we went to see an amazing female saxophonist Candy Dulfer. I'll write more later under another Denver Gem post.

If you live in Denver I would encourage you to check out not only this Indian restaurant, but many of the hidden gems that you drive by or see on line.

Big Shoes to Fill

So playful ...


Tigist seems to really like trying my shoes on. She is doing very well. Our friend Brandi Akins (here is her blog ... she's adopting twin boy and girl and picking them up in just a few weeks) does preschool out of her home. So we put Tigist in 2 times a week and she loves it. They do craft time, play outside, lunch, they learn shapes and numbers and colors ... she absolutely loves it and it is so good for her to go outside of the 4 of us now and expand her territory!

Her 3rd birthday is August 9th, which you all know is the day we met her in Addis Ababa. I cannot wait to prepare her birthday party ... her first!