lil' bro in WA

This is my brother and his cute wife. I would call him cute too, but I was recently reminded that men don't prefer the term "cute." Plus, he is very furry, as you can see. Their hats match. Darling :)

Back in the 'hood

We are back in our house and it feels good to be home! The place is much more sparce than ever before, i.e. nothing on the walls, but we're down with the minimalistic look.

cute baby, moving annoucement, and Senegal update

This is kind of a long blog, so if you don't read the whole thing, here's my major announcement: we're moving on Saturday and could use some help :) Give us a call if you want to move some boxes from St. Paul to Mpls on Sat. afternoon!!

I realized I never posted any photos of the new addition to our home, baby Corban Paton Carlson. This is him! Wrapped in the sweet blanket I made for him. What a cutie.I know you can't really see him, so if you want a closer look check out the Carlson's blog at www.philthecarl.blogspot.com for many more shots of this little McCutie.

We have loved living with these good friends, what a blessing they have been to us. Living in community has it's moments, but it is a very worthy investment. We feel privileged to have been here to see Corban's arrival up close and personal. And it was a good reality check on having kids for me, he is SO cute, but SO much work. A great blessing for Tim and I has been the opportunity to pray with our roomies, share trials, triumphs, burdens, and blessings.

We are moving back into our house, though. The one we own. The missionaries who were staying there have moved on and we figured we might as well move back in if we're paying the mortgage and all. So this Saturday if you're sitting around thinking, what can I do today? We'll be moving, so come on over! (It's supposed to warm up as well.) We have a couple people to help, 2 small but mighty ladies, so if you're around, give us a call if you can help. It won't take too long, we don't have much stuff at the Carlson's. We have one truck, but could always use another. Thanks, friends!

It is actually a little bitter sweet moving back into the house. We were planning on being headed to Senegal at this point, arriving there in February. Our teammates, Joe and Cara, arrived in Dakar last weekend. The Lord has different plans and different timing for us though, as we wait for our home to sell. There are moments of deep pain and we feel the loss of not being with our team and feeling like we are just waiting...waiting...waiting for movement. There are also moments of assurance, when we know we are in the right place, waiting for God's timing in His perfect will. And He has provided strength as we wait upon Him. Our plans may not have happened, but that's the great thing about our plans versus His plans, He holds time is his hands and overrides our plans when need be! So we are persevering and searching to find His intimate direction at this point in the journey. We trust Him with all that we are and we know we will get to Africa when the timing is right!

girl finds sweet clothes in Mom's basement

I haven't posted in a while, but this one is worth waiting for. Over the holiday, I was looking through some stuff in my parents basement and discovered that Mom had kept a bunch of our baby clothes. Lots of them were made by my grandma and Mom. And they are sweet! It's like little vintage baby clothes!! I snatched 'em up before my little bro could claim them.Check out the overalls and tiny little swimsuit, I wore that!

Grandma maid the kitty pantsuit. My personal fave of this group is the blue halter dress.

I saved the best for last. Check this blue polyester baby housecoat!!! I love it, I wish I could wear it right now. My baby is going to be styling. In case anyone is wondering after this post, no, we are not pregnant. Just excited about baby clothes....I may even take these to Africa....

Tim talks to a cat

This morning when I finished my run, I walked the last quarter of a block to our place. There was a cat standing on the sidewalk unafraid of me as I walked up. I patted him/her (I did not check for gender) on the head and said hello and kept walking. When I was taking out my key to go inside, I realized that my new friend had followed me home and walked up to the door to go inside. After petting him/her a little, I had to explain to kitty that his/her fur made Heidi sick and that he/she could not come in. At that point, I realized that I was talking to a cat, so I went inside.

Like last weekend, Heidi and I have a couple birthday celebrations to attend this weekend. Happy birthday Patrick and Danita! (Happy Late Birthday to Eric and Grant.) We are looking forward to seeing some friends. Since Patrick’s party has a 1980s theme, I am planning to tight roll my pants and wear my Denver Broncos half shirt. I am hoping nobody has a camera.

Tim’s picks for this weekend’s NFL playoff games:
Packers beat Seahawks
Patriots pound Jaguars
Colts mercilessly pummel Chargers
Giants squeak past Cowboys

Tim loves Heidi more than football.

The Holiday season was great.

The Holiday season is over. It was great. I (Tim) love Christmas in a cold weather climate. The snow looks so pretty after it first falls and sitting and staring at the Christmas tree with hot coffee and my hot wife is awesome. Having five days off in an eight day span is also great. However, now it is over. There is only one more Holiday until summer and the long Minnesota winter looms in front of us. The snow that is so pretty and fun in December becomes rock hard and brownish by the end of February. I guess that is what I get for living in Minnesota. At least there are winter sports. Take that all you people who live in warm places! I will enjoy it while I can since we will not see snow in Africa.

Another bummer of January is that for the second year in a row, there is no playoff game for my Denver Broncos. Scoring a victory in the final game was great, but I was a little sad that it had to come at the expense of the Minnesota Vikings. A Vikings playoff game would have been fun, but I guess this was not my year for football. I had a great time with everyone who came to Heidi’s parent’s house for the game. Thanks for the party, Don and Lyn!

There is no movement on our house. It does not want to be sold, evidently. We are still steadfast in our trust in God to sell our house. Thanks to those who have been praying. It will happen. We are certain of that.