She's HEEERRREEE!!!!

The last several weeks have been a roller coaster in the child-care department. This momma was STRESSED about the upcoming year....life as a single mom of 2 toddlers, working some seriously crazy hours an OB/GYN...is there anyone out there who could keep up with this crazy household???
We started looking for an Au Pair...I was excited about having an international nanny. I though it would be a great experience for all of us....1 small problem, however. Au Pair's are technically required to only work 45 hrs/week, and while i may be able to bend the rules for my "typical week" of 50-ish hrs, i certainly couldn't bend them enough to cover my 85+ hr weeks. Plus, it takes a very special person to keep up with my crazy 3 year olds, and i was just nervous. We had a couple of very promising and exciting prospects, that ultimately fell through, and i was basically totally freaking out.
Until......Laura!!! My frantic prayers were unexpectedly answered when i reconnected through some round-about channels to a childhood family friend. Laura was living in Ohio, and had heard about our situation, and was willing to try life in the wild, wild west with the wild, wild stickley crew.
I'm not sure she knew what she was in for, but she certainly seems up to the challenge! the girls adored her from the second she walked through the door (after a 20+hr drive across the US!), and we are all super excited for what the year holds for us, in spite of our crazy circumstances.

Rapids!!

posted by: emilie
It has been an action packed weekend! We are still a bit in the organizing/unpacking phase, so things are still a bit crazy around the house. Adding to the chaos has been a bit of a crazy (and fun!) weekend....with more still to come!
This weekend several of my friends from deployment (the Dentist, the PA, the Physical Therpist, and another OB/GYN) were able to arrange to all meet up this weekend in Colorado Springs! We decided it would be totally awesome to go on a big white water rafting trip...and it turned out to be amazing!
Cris, the girls and I had been to the Royal Gorge on a couple of occasions, and we always see rafters on the river. I always thought it would be super fun (cris had actually been rafting on that trip many years ago). So it was really cool when it all worked out to go with my friends from deployment.
We have been slacking a bit on taking pics of the girls the last couple of weeks, so our faithful readers will have to settle for some white water rafting pictures :)

The gang getting started on the rapids...

Having tons of fun!
the water was COOOLLLLDD (in the low 50's), so we geard up in wet suits and jackets to stay "warm"
Physical Therapist, OB/GYN, and Denist - reunited! (only in a much more enjoyable location!)
Most of the gang
The WHOLE gang!
Tomorrow the fun continues, as we head up to Denver to hang out with Dee, Justin, and Baby Luca. Nova is already excited to keep practicing her "mommy" skills with Luca :) Then we try to whip the house into shape for the arrival of our new nanny on Wednesday!!!

Bug Day!!

Posted by: Cris

Even though we celebrated it back in May so that we could share the experience with the whole family, I couldn't let today go by without recognizing this officially as our "Bug Day".
July 14, 2008 - Our Giving & Receiving Ceremony: The original Bug Day


One of my favorite pictures from our first couple days in Hanoi:

Our June-Bug 3 Years Later:

Is there anyone as lucky as Emilie and I that this amazing little girl found us from all the way across the world?

I love you Juneau!!

2 Weeks to Remember...

Posted by: Cris

It's hard to believe it was 3 years ago today: July 11, 2008 - Ready to leave Honolulu for Vietnam. The start of 2 weeks that changed our lives.

How much our girls have grown in the last 3 years. It has been so amazing and such a blessing to see them grow into sweet and cute little girls...

Pictures that have needed to be posted for quite some time:

Nova's obsession with babies continues to grow:

This is NOT naptime...Nova was playing with her babies and suddenely disappeared. I found her up in her bed "putting her babies down for nap."

Tonight at the mall play area, Nova took an actual little baby by the hand to help her through the crowd of kids then proudly ran over to tell us "Mommy, I was helping that baby learn how to walk." She ran off then quickly ran back and exclaimed "I'm getting really good at taking care of babies."

Best buddies, settled in to watch The Little Mermaid:

Library time last week involved a bug show. Juneau and Nova were both so proud of themselves for touching this tarantula:

Juneau screwed up her courage and went back the second time and actually let it crawl up her arm:

Juneau has discovered her love for Pho recently:

The hazards of sharing a bed with your sister:

Inseparable sisters:

That Just Happened!

I got out of church just in time to hear that the U.S. was getting screwed over by a clueless ref in the World Cup quarterfinals. But, thanks to that clueless ref, the stage was set for possibly the most dramatic soccer match I've ever seen and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to watch the rest of the game on my phone while sitting beside Juneau who was enjoying a GIGANTIC bowl of Pho for lunch.

For those who didn't see it...first, find out when ESPN Classic is replaying the game this week and set your DVR. In the meantime, my summary:

With the U.S. up 1-0, the dirtiest and most obnoxious women's soccer player in the world, Marta from Brazil took an absolute DIVE in the penalty box and a gullible ref threw up a red card and gave Brazil a penalty kick. Proving that the call was garbage, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo made an awesome save to preserve the lead...but this ref really likes Marta apparently so she called back the attempt saying a U.S. player encroached on the penalty box prior to the kick. Now, I've been playing soccer since I was in 1st grade and the last time I saw this call made was probably...2nd grade maybe?

So, Brazil converts on the rekick of the PK and now the game is tied with the U.S. down a player for the rest of regulation. When Marta scored 2 minutes into extra time and the U.S. down a player, it looked like the U.S. hopes for this World Cup were over (Note: even the go-ahead goal was scored on a questionable non-call of offsides).

Time continued to tick away past the 120 minute mark and 2 minutes of added time continued.

About a year ago, I made a post about the greatest goal in U.S. World Cup history by Landon Donovan:Landon Donovan Goal

That dramatic goal no longer holds the title thanks to this (I suggest "view full screen" and turning the volume clear up for the full effect):


As amazing as Abby Wambach's finish was, I played that left wing position that Megan Rapinoe was playing and that cross from Rapinoe absolutely made my jaw drop...EPIC!

The latest goal ever scored in World Cup history (basically 30 seconds left in extra time + added time) tied the game and sent it to PK's. Hope Solo made another incredible save on Brazil's 3rd kick, the U.S. converted all 5 and the win was secured 5-3 in penalty kicks.

Most amazing soccer match I've ever seen!

The American Trinity

Posted by: Cris

Happy Birthday to the land that I love!

I spent almost literally the whole day working out in the garage trying to make organization out of the moving mess which resulted in 2 good outcomes: One was getting the garage organization almost completely done so that now my van is inside and safe from the next hail storm which Colorado will invariably produce.

But more importantly, I got to listen to about 5 hours of very compelling radio about the history and meaning of July 4th from 2 of my favorite radio hosts.

While I was COMPLETELY enthralled by the 3 hour step by step documentary based on historical writings of the American revolution (I'm thinking of ordering the CD set so Emilie can listen to it), it was the philosophical discussion of American exceptionalism by Dennis Prager that compelled me to write this blog.

The United States was indeed a grand experiment at the time of its founding. As much as we take it for granted, the concept that government's power derives from those who are governed was a completely abnormal concept throughout human culture up to that time. But this group of men embarked on this grand experiment based on 3 pillars that Mr. Prager has come to describe as "The American Trinity."




Today, as I listened to this great discussion of this great land where I am blessed to live, I thought back to the time I spent in Vietnam 3 years ago this coming week. As we drove through the countryside on the way to and from the orphanage where I found my precious little girl and saw the limits on the liberty and pursuit of happiness for so many, I realized that there was nothing different between me and any of these people other than the luck bestowed by the grace of God that I was born in the United States...and for that, I am exceedingly thankful.


"God Bless America...Land That I Love...Stand Beside Her...And Guide Her...Through the Night With a Light From Above"

4th of July (almost)

The girls didn't nap today. They did, however, lay in their beds and talk, giggle, and play for TWO hours!!!! It was hard to fuss at them about the nap (or lack thereof), because they were being sooooo cute and sisterly. So, being the outstanding parents that we are, we let them come out of their rooms, and subsequently rewarded them for not taking a nap by promptly taking them to the 4th of July celebration at Ft. Carson. :) Truthfully, I didn't really care that we were rewarding their lack of nap, because i had one thing on my mind....a giant turkey leg and shoestring frenchfries (ok, i guess that's kinda 2 things....). I pretended like i was taking them for the bouncehouses, but really i just wanted those shoestring fries.
Don't they look sooooo cute in their red/white/blue?

This pose is soooo Juneau's new(ish) thing. I didn't just accidentally capture the photo when she was in a weird position. She was actually holding that position for the purpose of the photo. weird-o!!!! The girls are getting BIG. Well, at least Juneau is. Nova is still pretty much a shrimp. But holding both of them is DEFINATELY no longer easy!! haha!

The following sequence of pictures shows typical Nova "Daddy's Girl" Stickley...

For a few weeks, she was referring to Daddy as her "old prince", but Daddy has recently been promoted back to the role of primary Prince. In fact, today at the play-place, we overheard her talking to her new little 3 year old friend "I have to go back and talk to my Prince for a minute, because he is taking me to the ball later"...

Daddy gets sweet kisses like this about 100 times a day :)

see what i mean????? it's kinda ridiculous!!!

While I was taking pictures, Nova said she wanted to try to take a picture. This is the photo she captured of June-bug...kinda cute!

And of course J wanted to take a picture of nova!

We had some beautiful sunshine for about 1.5 hours....

Then the rain, thunder, and lightening started....and it was SERIOUSly coming down!! So he hightailed it for the van (which was unfortunately really, really not close!) Sooooo, the girls got to jump in the bounceyhouses, but the mama didn't get a turkey leg or shoestring fries!!! maybe next year!

ahhhh....Colorado....85 degrees and sunny....but don't blink! It will start raining (or possibly hailing like yesterday) in the blink of an eye.

Looking to the East.....

and then....looking to the West (only one second later)....

Looking down...

and then, looking into the backseat :) One tired little sweet girl. This family LOVES a 4 day weekend (who doesn't?), and we are looking forward to one more day without work. Unfortunately, we still have a garage full of boxes to unpack!! So we will be spending lots of time around the house tomorrow trying to make some headway on clearing out the garage!