New Baby Fun

Two things

Two unrelated things:

1.) Nauvoo! Some of you have talked about applying for cast or
volunteer staff positions for the 2010 Nauvoo Pageant and we couldn't
be more excited! Applications are happening now; you can apply at: http://www.nauvoopageant.org/

In the past we have had family stay at our condo, and having received
special permission to do so. But with Ray now serving as the director
we don't feel comfortable asking special privileges that others are
not allowed. The good news is we now have a motor home we would love
to share with any of our beloved family members. Please let us know
if you are interested in using this option and when, so we can
accommodate as many as possible. We love our family and love Nauvoo,
and love when the they all come together!

2.) A new arrival! I don't know how many of you know about this, but
Kevin and Emily have been trying to adopt a baby for over a year now.
A couple weeks ago they were blessed with a newborn baby boy through
LDS Family Services. He was born a healthy little 7 lb. 4 oz. baby;
his birth mother was Polish and his father African American. He is a
handsome, and already well-loved little boy. We are thrilled their
family has been blessed in this way, grateful for the mother's choice
to give life and a chance at a happy home, and impressed with the way
the Wilsons have consecrated their hearts and home throughout the
adoption process. We pray the adoption process will continue to go
smoothly (a six-month-long process, at best). Thought you might want
to know, so you can share in their joy....

For Angela . . .

Kate's range of facials just kills me. More of that another time.




Someone needs to show Angela when she's near a computer k? This is the outfit Angela gave Kate for her 1st b-day.

More Memory Lane

Another excerpt from a letter to Nathan:

How is your mission going? The scribbles are from Charity. I'll translate: "Bash in a bap konk." That's what she said it said.

What?!! Ha ha!

Post-Conference Glow

This last month we had the unusual opportunity of being visited by our two grandpas. After Dad drove from Preston to Salt Lake, flew on an airplane for four hours, and drove from Detroit to our house another hour, we all loaded up in the motor home and kept driving--poor guy! But we wanted to drive our dads around our beautiful state, since this visit was in the fall rather than the colds of January. We camped overnight at Traverse City and visited Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan the next day. But the real purpose for the visit was, of course, to ordain Ray as a high priest. The ordination gave me cause to ponder the significance of the Priesthood many of you carry, and the grand charge you have been given to act in the name of God. I am so grateful for the way Ray honors his priesthood. He reflects Christlike love and devotion to God and his family in all he does, esp in the little things, like saying good-bye to each of us individually as he leaves each day or finding opportunity to lead the family in meaningful discussions around the dinner table. It is his worthiness and goodness that will bless the lives of our ward members as he serves in this new calling.

Like you, we so enjoyed General Conference this last weekend. Ray ended up at the church on Saturday, but Sunday was a party with Emily, Gabe, Cora, and Esther joining us for a feast--both spiritual and edible! The First Presidency's focus on love as the center of all we do couldn't be more important or timely. And Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon--wow! It's such a miracle that we can get the reception we do, hearing the Word right in our home during the conference and immediately thereafter! It's amazing to see how it's developed just in the short time we've lived out here in Michigan. It becomes more and more accessible. Awesome.

The kids have had many joys lately--Raymond's bday celebration on the road, wearing cowboy boots 24/7 since, and some new (to us) bunk beds from our old bishop. We have been trying to enjoy the warm weather, for we know it won't last forever....

We love you all and hope you have had a great week!
Love, The Robinsons

More Birthday

Here are the rest. The first ones are of breakfast and my date. These are of the surprise lunch.

16th Birthday

Finally found these. What a fun birthday I had!

Homecoming Pictures

I thought I'd post pictures of my first formal date experience. I will probably mess up and post a bunch of times or not post at all, so sorry about that. Anyhow...hope you enjoy!

Memory Lane

I've been typing up letters that I wrote to my many siblings who served missions (in lieu of a personal history as a couple of my journals had to be chucked). Thank you for saving all those letters by the way and giving them back to me. But I came across some funny stuff that I wanted to share with you all. I may share more but for now I'll just share a postscript that I wrote to Nathan . . .

This is what Charity wants to tell you.
Me: "Do you think the baby's cute?"
Her: "Yep. He's cute."
Me: " Do you love the baby?"
Her: "Umhuh" (uh huh)
Me: "What does the baby eat?"
Her: "Milk" (pronounced as "malk") . "Just a sec. Just a sec okay?"
Me: "Okay"
Her: "I'm going to see what's wrong with that baby." (Andrew had been crying)

It made me chuckle. For those of us that knew Charity when she was little - can you not hear her saying all of this? She was just the cutest talker! Ha - "I'm going to see what's wrong with that baby"! It's kills me! lol *sigh*

Colors

I am very perplexed right now. Just wondering why the first girl in this family wasn't assigned pink and the second girl purple. This is the natural order of things! After five girls purple was never assigned until the eighth child who is not even a girl! Does anyone have an explanation for this. Come on, I need answers! And Mom don't call me with the answer, I never get to the phone on time and when I call right back the phone rings ten times and then I get the answering machine. What do you do, Drop the phone and run away the second after you call?

FYI

There are some features of this blog that you may not be aware of. Raymond, Nathamy, Aprichael, and Ravid all have blogs; you'll find that you can click on their family pics on the side here to get there! And, the pic at the very bottom of the blog (with those still living at home) has a link to myfamily.com for the E Stokes family website. Cool, eh? So, click on the pics and go!
And, I've added everyone for whom I have email addresses to a list of people to be notified when new posts are made on this blog. Let me know if you don't want to be notified.

I have a new blog

Hi--I'm starting a blog as I try to keep making sense out of my dissertation research.  It's pretty interesting, so this is my first attempt to make some of it available.  My goal is to post something 5 times per week (if I make a posting, that means I've also done some work on my dissertation--this is largely a practical consideration).

Please visit it--I've included an option to follow the blog, and with your comments and suggestions, I hope it grows into something that will be useful to you and many others.  Click on the title of this post, or click here.

Thanks, Raymond

For Nathan and Amy

At this point it's gotta be hard to remember what gifts you gave, but I remember (one of the few things that I keep in my brain)! This dress was from Nathan and Amy - thanks! Doesn't she look adorable? Love you all! Hey, at least Amy and the kids will probably get to see her in this dress before she grows out of it!

Who checks this?

I've just been wondering how often anyone looks at this blog. Rachael is doing a great job of keeping the background updated. I really like this one. And we just updated our own, but I have trouble wanting to post again on here. Especially since I don't think very many of you look. Julie mentioned in an email that Tia posted a story on the Wilson family blog and I wondered why we didn't get to read it! There are pictures of our house on our blog if anyone would like to see.

Particularly for Julie . . .

Thanks Julie! I so love this towel.

Isn't she sweet? Someday I'll post a pic of Dietrich in his towel. Love you!

Bahahaha!

"Wow. Shouldn't that read, 'Road Closed'?"

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of hearing material from the hilarious Brian Regan, this won't be that funny; for those of you that have - can you believe there really is a construction sign that says this? Here in Billings! I took the pic myself with Dave's cell phone. hahaha