Some women in our church threw a wonderful Baby Shower for Beth a few weeks ago. I don’t have too much to say about it (since I wasn’t there), but I know that Beth really enjoyed it. Thanks to all of you who were involved in the planning and execution of this celebration. Beth felt very loved. Click here to see all the pictures over on our Photos page. Thanks to Heather over at Small Beginnings for the great photos!
So Matt and Dana arrived back in Tucson for good this past weekend. They just overshot the countdown timer I had set up when they left, but I guess we’ll let it slide. They had a get together tonight for Matt’s birthday and we had a great time sharing wine and cigars. The men’s conversation bridged a wide variety of economic and theological topics. It was a great night and one of the latest Beth and I have had in a while. It’s great to have our good friends back!
So a lot has been happening in the Rottman household over the last few months. In no way do I use this as an excuse for my blogging delinquency, however, I’ll do my best to catch you up…
Mississippi Christmas
We’re Expecting!!!
We announced to our families by giving our Moms custom-made bibs. It was a great time (both times)!!
Winter San Carlos Trip
MLS in Tucson
Announcement Party: It’s a Girl!!!!!
We had a great announcement party with friends and family. We filled the cupcakes with pink icing and had the big reveal right after this picture. (Ryan didn’t want to wait)
The Maranto’s Visit
The destruction of my fingers
I dropped a railroad tie on my right hand and almost severed the tips of my index and middle fingers. I required a fair amount of stitches, but they seem to be healing nicely. Maybe I’ll put up some more pictures soon for those with strong stomachs.
Our Barcelona and Lisbon Trip
Krystal and Jesus had their 2nd
Say hello to little Isaac! Hard to believe that we’ll be there soon…
I’m really going to try to get back in the habit of blogging. We have plenty happening right now, so there should be a lot to share!
We finally got invited by the Jankowskis to see their new house (that I had a hand in designing). It looks awesome! We also got to try out a new game called Probe. I suck at word games, but this one was fun. Kind of like hangman on steroids.
The group was much better today, as we were completely ready to go when John arrived to pick us up. We even didn’t have to rush Ross during his devotional that he graciously prepared for each day. Again we split up between sites, but this time we also sent some ladies over to Shannon’s house to sort some donated infant supplies and Joseph and Miguel went to the Clow’s to work on Shannon’s car which she flooded during a recent downpour. I know they were very happy that Joseph was so willing and able to help with this annoying issue.
The House team laid more block and raised the house a few more rows. I’ll have a picture tomorrow so you can all see the progress. The other team moved large boulders into place around a drainage ditch and then continued to pour the columns for the fence.
The ladies all left the worksites early in order to go to Teresa’s house to aid in the preparation of tortillas for our authentic Honduran baleada lunch. These baleadas were amazing, much better than the restaurant last night. I guess the open fire really does help with the flavor. They graciously provided baleadas for everyone as well as a dessert bread. The guys then mostly rested as the women went back to the community center to get changed for the river.
This was also right across the street from the house we all worked on 2 years ago. It was amazing to see it, so nicely painted and roof completed.
We then packed up about 20-25 kids and adults into the back of each truck and headed off to the river. It was even colder this time around. It was difficult to get in at first, but once you did, it was amazingly refreshing. We all took turns climbing up the largest rock and jumping off. A few of us had some difficulty, especially as the side of the rock got a little wet. See if you can spot me in the picture below (you can click on it to enlarge).
After a fun trip up the rapids, we all tried to coast our way down, but due to the river being so shallow it was quite painful. Also, it had started raining. This scared most of the kids as rain on the mountains can cause a flash flood on the river. Due to this we headed out a little early and back to the Clow’s for another amazing dinner.
Thank you all for all your prayer, it is evident as the team’s spirits are much higher now. Please continue as we have one more day of construction. It’s our last chance to get to work for these people and also to hang out and spread God’s love to the children of the community. They desperately need it. Pray for health and safety tomorrow and praise the Lord that it began raining, cooling the night off considerably.
Today was another traveling day with the morning starting with a trip over to Muir Woods after watching an exciting finish to the US women’s Wold Cup game against Brazil (one of the best soccer games I’ve ever watched). After Muir Woods we made a quick stop by Sonoma for a short wine tasting before heading over to Napa.
Strangely enough, Liam and Natalie, two of our great friends from Tucson, happened to be coming through San Francisco from Lake Tahoe so they met us in Napa. We ate a quick lunch at a barbeque place. I’m always a little wary of barbeque outside of the south, but this place was impressive.
We started out wine tastings at a vineyard called Frog’s Leap, a suggestion from Ben Hoffman. It was exactly what we were expecting in a beautiful Napa Valley Winery. An amazing house with a wrap-around back porch where we sat and enjoyed some wine. It was a perfect temperature, mid-70s with a slight breeze.
We then headed to another winery, not nearly as grand as Frog’s Leap, but it had a lighter, little more commercial feel. Most of the wine I wasn’t that impressed with, except for the 12-year Port that we finished with. It was exquisite: a much smoother feel than the aroma suggested, with a sweet and crisp finish. The lady helping us suggested that it would only get better with age and that the biggest change would happen between 10 and 20 years. Liam and Natalie got a bottle and hopefully we can get back together in 2020 and crack it open. Imagine how different our lives will be by then.
We finished with a trip to a small, up-and-coming winery called Tember Bey. We had a complementary tasting which was nice, but the owner was pouring and we were the only one’s in there so we just hung out and discussed how he got into the business. He then broke out the 2009 lines which they haven’t released yet (he had opened them to test how the wine was developing) and gave us a taste of the newest vintage of the wines we had already tasted. We ended up buying a bottle of his Cabernet Sauvignon and can’t wait to have a good occasion to break it open. It was the perfect end to a fun and relaxing day in Napa. We drove back to San Francisco and had a great (again, late) Thai dinner near AT&T Park.
The exodus has begun…
Friday was the Richards’ last night with us in Tucson. Karissa was very gracious to host everyone over to say goodbye. It’s sad that they moving on but I know it’s a good move for them. Ben has been someone I’ve really looked up to here in Tucson. I have learned a great deal from him both theologically and as a great example of Christian living. He (along with the rest of the book group) have been very patient with me as a new Christian when I arrived here in Tucson, allowing me to join them and learn a great deal. The Richards will be sorely missed by so many of us here in Tucson.
I think watching Ben finish up his degree and get a job out of Tucson made the eventuality of our leaving Tucson start to sink in more. It’s always seemed so far in the future, but I guess it’s closer than I think.
Oh, did I mention Beau and Mary are back in town? More on that later…
Beth and I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Erie, PA this past weekend to celebrate Liam and Natalie’s wedding. It was a lot of fun to get to meet some of Natalie and Liam’s good friends as well as their families.
It was a beautiful wedding at an old theater in downtown Erie (Natalie’s hometown). It was definitely a unique setting, but it came together amazingly and it turned out to be a great setting that really added to the ambiance of the night.
After the wedding, Beth and I decided to make a trip to nearby Niagara Falls. The falls were crazy. I have seen a lot of pictures over my life but they just don’t do it justice. We tried to take some pictures but due to the cold and mist (which was messing with the autofocus on our camera) we didn’t hang around long.
We then continued on to Toronto for the evening. We got there fairly quickly and had most of the afternoon to look around Toronto a bit. We were able to see the CN Tower, which at one point was the largest tower in the world, and Steamwhistle Brewery, where we tasted their famous pilsner.
We then traveled over to what was called the Distillery District which is a quaint area with brick streets and brick buildings and a few little shops and restaurants. We went in order to find a place called Soma. It is a chocolate maker which is one of the only places in North America where they import raw cacao beans and make their own chocolate from scratch. Beth and I got two little truffles (mine was filled with caramel and topped with sea salt, all from Madagascar and Beth’s was dark chocolate with Venezuelan oranges) and a cup of their famous hot chocolate. It was just amazing. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it.
We later went over to Greek town for a gyro dinner before heading back all the way to Pittsburgh the next morning for our flight out. Overall it was a fun trip and a really nice vacation for Beth and me. We got back just in time to finish compiling donations for the upcoming rummage sale for our Honduras trip (with the piles of stuff in our house to prove it).
We decided that we needed to throw a Bachelor Party/Bar Stocking party for Liam before his wedding in a few weeks. A bunch of the guys came over and we all brought Liam a new bottle of liquor to stock his bar. He got quite a bounty: gin, rum, scotch, Amaretto, tequila, among others. We had a good night of poker (even though I only came in 3rd) and Ryan, Liam and I got to hang out for a while afterward. It really was a great time and Beth and I are really looking forward to Liam and Natalie’s wedding. Just a conference presentation for me and final comprehensive exams for Beth to go before the trip!
Today I played photographer for two sets of friends. First, Luke and Marianne asked me to take some pictures of their daughter Ainsley’s baptism. It was a good opportunity to use my new telephoto lens and to develop my photography skills a bit. It was very different taking photos of an event as it occurs as opposed to set pictures, etc. It was interesting trying to time photos and anticipate what was going to happen to get good pictures. It was a little difficult to deal with the lack of lighting and taking pictures from a distance without the picture blurring a bit. Some of the pictures we a little blurry, but I got some good ones as well. Here are just a few:
Then after the service I went to visit Krystal, Jesus, and their new son Jacob Andrew. He was born last night around 11:30 at 7 pounds 14 ounces. He’s a really cute baby and Krystal and Jesus are both doing well (albeit, tired). Beth and I are really happy for the Gonzalez’s and are really excited to get to know Jacob. Here are a few pictures snapped at the hospital today:
