Skyping with Jen and Rob

Oh, technology. Is there anything you can't do? No, there is not. Technology can do anything, except maybe teleportation. But really, if you're sitting around and withholding thanks and praise from technology because it has not bestowed teleportation upon you yet, then you must realign your priorities, friend.

Anyways, we have been meaning to Skype with Jen and Rob for a long time. (Skype, if you don't know, is a free service that allows you to make free phone or video calls to anyone else, as long as you both have a microphone and/or web cam.) It was fun to feel like we were actually talking to them in person.


We got to catch up, and they even walked their laptop around their house to get a quick glimpse of their baby boy Aiden, whom we love just as much as them.

It also allowed Rhianwen and I to practice extremely rudimentary puppetry skills, as we involved tiny animal friends in the conversation.


In my hand, you'll notice, is a Care Bear riding a tiny elephant. That elephant is now serving a very vital purpose on my desk:


He holds my wedding ring.

But back to the topic at hand, we love and miss Jen and Rob the end.

PS Everyone should click here to go download Skype, and then we can all talk! Yay!

The Weidners in LA!

Some of the most beloved people in our lives are Jen and Rob. Jen and Rhi were college roommates, and Jen's parents Ruth and Rich became like a second set of parents to Rhianwen. So when we found out they were coming to Pasadena (to visit Ruth's brother), we were super excited.

Gosh, what great people.

Here we are with Jen's cousins, who live in Pasadena (Mama Ruth and Papa Rich were visiting them, too). They live at a Christian community for blind and deaf/blind people, where their parents serve as missionaries. We were there for a church service that morning, and it was cool seeing everything being translated into sign language.

Here is a a copy of the Bible, written in Braille. Yes, that is one copy. It takes up an entire book shelf. I'd be willing to bet a copy of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary in Braille would take up an entire room.

And this is a nice little flower that seems to be everywhere in Southern California. We never seemed to notice it before, until Mama Ruth pointed it out to us. Then again, it is like her to remind us to stop and smell the flowers.

Unfortunately, the visit was short and we miss them already. Now all they have to do is convince Jen and Rob to fly out here, then we'll be happy.