I've Moved!

I've moved my blog over to a new site: bryanjries.wordpress.com
Check it out!

Donkey in the Front Yard

We held Owen's birthday party this morning, complete with ballons, streamers, presents, cake and - yes - a donkey!

Since Owen has been on a horse kick lately (that's what he wanted for his birthday), we decided to make horses the theme of the party. Owen wore his cowboy gear and Tracey made a great horse-shaped cake for dessert. We really wanted to have horse rides for the kids, but horses aren't very common over here so we got a donkey instead.

Like Owen, all of the kids got sit on the donkey and pose for a picture. However, that was only after Bryan tamed the wild beast!

In reality though, all he was interested in was eating our grass. We had hoped to give rides around the yard, but the donkey - true to character - was stubborn and wouldn't budge and inch.

In the end, it was a win-win situation. Everyone had fun at Owen's 'horse' birthday party and the donkey got a tasty snack!

Guess Who Turns 3 Today

Hint: He's the 'baby' but don't call him that!.

Happy Birthday Owen! You are growing into a 'big boy'.

May this year be full of love, fun, growing and learning for you. (No serious injuries resulting from the way you run, jump, tumble, roll, slide and fall your way through life would be nice too!)

We love you and are so proud of you.

Love, Dad

Climbing Day

Yesterday, Isaac, Graham and I took a hike in the Kabiye mountains. They boys had been excited about going since we had decided make the outing a few days ago. We didn't hike to far, nor climb too high, but we did have a lot of fun together. Here are a few pictures...

This is the rock formation we climbed on and around. Isaac kept wanting to go higher and higher, but a wiser head prevaiedl and he had to settle for middle ground. Graham is peeking out from the opening just below Isaac.

At first, Graham wasn't too sure about how the day was going go. He had all kinds of concerns. But, to his credit, he soldiered on and it wasn't too long before he found his courage and climbing legs. I am very proud of him!

I had forgotten how fearless of a climber Isaac can be (a trait I'd like to encourage, and curb all at the same time). He was eager to explore and found many new paths, nooks and crannies. He found this opening in the rock and climbed right in. What cool kid!

More Light(s)

Last year I put up a post complaining about the lack of lighting on our Christmas tree. Well, thanks to overwhelming response to that post, we went from having 1 string of lights to 7! Here’s hoping the light production in my life is keeping pace!

Thought I’d share a pic of me and boys (ahem!) putting together our tree (it always hurts to say that!) I was happy for the help.

Goodbye Hawkeye

Sometime early this morning, our dog Hawkeye passed away. He was only 30 months old and was just becoming full-grown adult.

At least we knew Hawkeye was sick. Last week we took him to the vet to find out what was wrong. Apparently, he had some genetic disease which prevented his organs from absorbing water and nutrients properly. The vet gave him little chance living – so we were a prepared a little bit for Hawk’s departure.

Hawkeye was our first family dog. One of the main reasons we got him 2 years ago was to help the boys (and Tracey) overcome their fear of dogs. Hawkeye turned out to be a great therapist! He was always full of energy and loved to play fetch. We usually tired out before he did.

Since most people here in Togo are afraid of big dogs, Hawkeye was the perfect guard-dog. Who knows how many people he scared away with his loud bark. In a strange way, I’ll miss being waked occasionally at 2 am by his barking. I doubt we’ll feel as safe without him around.

We miss you already Hawkeye. Rest in peace.

Disappearing Act

These pictures were taken from our front porch last week (Nov. 13^th & 17^th respecitively). I’m not a great photographer, but you should at least be able to tell that something is missing in the second picture…

I wish I could say it was my faith that moved the mountains. What really made them disappear is dust, which was blown in from the Sahara by the Harmattan winds.

Our teammates, the Millers and Emersons, get to enjoy Thanksgiving surrounded by the snow-covered mountains of Colorado and France, respectively. We just get dust-covered mountains.

At least we actually have mountains…on ‘clear’ days that is!

New Creation

There’s a new, beautiful lady on the Blogger block… my wife Tracey! She’s set up camp over here . Go check it out.

Aside from being the most gorgeous woman in the world, Tracey is very fun and insightful. Her blog is a great place to visit. (Plus, I have to confess, I like her page design better than mine. What’s more, she’s got the new Blogger Beta version and I’m still stuck with old one!)

Here’s hoping I can win just enough of our arm wrestling contest over posting rights to pictures of the boys to keep this blog interesting….