Sam can swim! (sort of)

Yes, we know that it looks like he is drowning...but he is acutally propelling himself forward by kicking and using his arms without touching the bottom. He throws a toy onto the bottom of the pool and then swims and gets it up. We are duly impressed with our son who keeps surprising us with his wonderful self.


Another picture of the first ever Nepali, American, Swedish olympic swimmer to be.

Pappa and Samuel smiling for mommy, having a great time in the pool.




Back in the house it is full speed ahead to the train table for the R&R. RailRoad that is.

Baking and stuff

This is the first time Sam has helped baking cookies. He loves to help whenever he can, and though we usually discourage him playing with powertools we thought this would be ok. Just hope the oatmeal/raisin cookies are ok too.



















I just included this picture because I loved the faces. Sam really misses his mom now that she is working so hard to finish up well before we leave. It is official! We are leaving Mississippi (for good) on September 14th. We are actually really glad to leave, though Laurie's job has been great for her.

Finally, Sam's favorite thing to do at the playground, besides acting like he is a tiger and chasing other kids, is to swing. He likes to go really high and to lean back as far as possible. We have a picture of him that looks like the Headless Horseman...but we chose not to post it here. There might be small children watching...

When we picked him up

This is our video of when we went to bring Sam home. Sorry for the poor quality at times. If you would like some pictures emailed or posted, let us know. Enjoy!

Meridian of Mississippi - 07

This is our hotel. Sam enjoyed the pool tremendously. He threw himself into the water, with or without a lifejacket. He goes underwater and doesn't want me to hold him up, though of course I have to do that anyway. A good lesson in not-always-getting-what-we want...

Here Sam is watching the trains that went through the city. He loves trains and tries to tell them where to go. They don't always listen that well...

This picture seems to me to catch Meridian well. A used up and thrown away cart over by some dumped railroad ties, in the middle of forgotten tracks hidden in the gravel and a sad, red, trains slowly moving by. Needless to say, I didn't like it much.

On the road...

We are currently in Meridian, Mississippi, where Laurie has a conference. Sam and I are hanging at the Hilton and enjoying the pool. I hope we can get some pictures from that because Sam is amazing in the pool. He LOVES the water. With his little blue and yellow lifevest on he just throws himself into the pool, goes underwater, and does a bunch of stuff. It's really cool to see. Anyway, we're off to dinner. If you want to read a really funny blog from our friend in Nepal, click on the link to the right (and down) that reads: Kim Silas' blog

Off to Applebee's
Andreas

Falax...or phalax?

We don't know how it is spelled, but Samuel has come up with a new term that we simply can't get out of our heads: Falax. It is what he calls the word "relax". Here is a picture that speaks for itself.

Sam's top five

That's right, folks. This is the first installment of a new thing here on the blog called Sam's Top Five. It is just a recurring list of what Sam likes and does during his days here in Mississippi. Today's list is...Sam's Top Five Toys:

#1 - the Rocking Horse. A classic that never gets old. He might be singing "Circle up" by Chris Rice here. Who knows? (Thank you Nonna for the horse)

#2 Thomas the Tank engine - of course, this is a favorite as well. Thomas, or Chu-chu as he is known as, is always fun to play with...or kiss.

#3 the Dump Truck - This one is another classic. This one represents all the trucks and cars that Sam loves to play with...or ride. He also loves planes, but we couldn't find any for a picture. Shocker!

#4 the Chair - Sam's uncle Enzo bought him this chair and it has seen much use. It is pretty comfortable as a pillow too, though I wouldn't know.

#5 Puzzles! - Sam is a whiz at puzzles. This one is a special talent. If you hold up the letter he can tell you where to put it. That's right, he knows his alphabet already, if only by shape! Not bad!

Some trivia..

Hello everybody,

It is great to see that people all over the world visit this blog. We are blessed to have friends and family all over. We are still hoping to see our friends from Japan, Paraguay, Uganda, and Nepal visit us. This is the problem of our age...it is so easy to communicate that we can't forget how much better it is to meet in person. Our memories are constantly renewed. But blogs and emails are still very neat.

Today the new 7 wonders of the world very selected. Some I thought would make it, like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, didn't make the cut/vote. Click this link to see what wonders did make it: http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,2010,00.html.

More pictures and Sam's Top Five list are coming soon.

Under His mercy
Andreas

Sam cooling off in the pool

Some cool fireworks pictures

4th of July in Mississippi. The pictures were taken freehand, so they are not perfect. But they are pretty neat. Enjoy!

A little update...

Hello everybody,

Just to let some new visitors know what we are up to. We are currently preparing to move to Sweden in the fall. Andreas will pastor a small Methodist church there. He graduated from seminary in May.
Laurie is working as the International Program Director for an adoption agency here in Mississippi. She went to Nepal this spring and set up an adoption program for anybody interested in adopting from there. She will continue this as well as enjoying being a full-time mom when we move to Sweden.
Samuel is growing up well. He was adopted from Nepal when he was 16 months old, and now he is turning 3 in September (the 10th). We love being parents and he is a very bright and funloving child.
We are working towards adopting a little girl from Nepal, though it is taking a while. In other news, there is not a whole lot to report. We are just excited to find ourselves in this adventure called life, following Jesus the best we know.

Love to all,
the Kjernalds

Sam is the dancer!

Sam at the park

Recent slideshow of Sam at the local park...having lots of fun!