Saturday, August 18, 2007

Romania Trip Update

Thanks to all of you who supported us on our mission trip to Romania in July! It was an amazing trip, and I could not have chosen a better team to do this trip with. This group really came together and remained flexible despite all the ups and downs of international travel.

For those of you not familiar with our trips to Romania ... our church has partnered with a Christian school in Iasi (pronounced Yosh), Romania. Every other year, we take a team of Americans over there and treat their 9th and 10th graders to a summer sports & Bible camp in the beautiful mountains of northern Romania. Though most of these students speak excellent English, it is often the first time they have left their hometown of Iasi. This year, we had about 80 people total at camp. See pictures below ... more coming soon.

Side note: Emily was not able to go on the trip at the last minute -- doctor's orders. And another friend of ours, Kim, had to bail out of the trip because she was pregnant, too. And, it turns out, that our good friends Katie & Lee, who DID go on the trip, were ALSO pregnant. They just didn't tell anyone. They are due the same month as us!


Team Blue at Camp.


Leanne, Heather, Holly, Katie, Margaret, Cindy & Lauren


Rowboat excursion -- Danny, Katie & Lee

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Our Wonderful News!

We are so excited to announce the wonderful news that we are expecting! AND we're expecting two babies! No, not twins, we are pregnant and we're adopting. Our first child is due around February 8, 2008. And our second child will be an adopted baby girl from China. Because the adoption process is so long, she will most likely be born in 2009 and will arrive in our family in 2010. We couldn't be more thrilled over how God has blessed us with these two precious gifts!

We have decided to start this blog to detail our adventures into parenthood, and to keep all of our far away friends & family in the loop. Enjoy the ultrasound pictures & video of the little one below!

Baby Giffen Has Moves!

This is a video taken from our 10 week ultrasound. Danny was out of town, so I wanted to share it with him. The nurse graciously let me "record" the screen. Most of what you see in this video is the baby's head, upper body and right hand. Give it a minute and he or she will start moving around. If you look closely you can make out eyes, nose and a mouth that opens and closes. My sister went with me ... please ignore the goofy commentary!!

7 Week Ultrasound

8 Week Ultrasound

9 Week Ultrasound

10 Week Ultrasound

Full picture of baby


Picture of baby's head and upper body.

You have to look pretty closely to see this one, but it is a picture of the baby's right hand (next to face). You can see four perfect little fingers!

11 Week Ultrasound


If you look sideways, you can make out the baby's face, mainly the eyes.