Chart geeks beware

If you are a data and charting geek like I am, this will be very interesting to you. If not, just move on to the next post :-)

If you didn't know yet, Google has come up with a really slick API that allows you to pass a bunch of data into an extremely complicated URL and get back an image that is a graphical representation of your data (i.e. a chart). You can do pie charts, bar charts, line charts, etc. The options seem to be limitless. Here is their basic example:



Well, while working on a chart for work, I started to play with some data I had on my desk -- namely the results from my children's swim meets this year. You can see the charts below.

As I mentioned, the options for customizing this go on and on. I could spend several hours tweaking the charts, but I just wanted to share. Also, look at how well Marissa is doing this year. This is her first year to swim Butterfly, so that shows the most improvement, but all her strokes are significantly improved from the time trials (Green & White).

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Click on the image if you want to see the URL that generates this

Benaiah's Photo Book

I spent my day at the sewing machine making a fabric photo book to introduce Benaiah to our family. It will be traveling to Ethiopia with the Raymers who are leaving next week to bring home their two adorable little boys!!







The photos were printed from our computer on to photo transfer paper. Each of us chose our own fabric for our page. Mine is from my favorite skirt that I wear a lot. William's is the same fabric as the sling known as the "Unfair Advantage" in which he put Jeremy to sleep!

On the photos that had enough light areas, I was able to write the person's name in English and their family designation in Amharic. (It probably looks like a preschooler wrote the Amharic since I had to do my best to copy the letters out of my phrase book!)

Unfortunately, I can't show the front and back pages that have our little guy's photos. He is the cutest!!!!

2008 Cary City Meet

Today was the big city-wide swim meet. William and I got really hot and sweaty, but Jeremy and Marissa got to swim 5 events. They had lots of fun.

Marissa tests the water.













Marissa's backstroke has improved a lot!












Jeremy likes to swim butterfly these days.














The coaches cheer on the boys as Jeremy prepares to swim his leg of the freestyle relay.

Update from Ethiopia

Every other Friday or so, we are to get an update and photos of our son from the director of the transition home!

Our first update arrived on William's birthday and said this:

6.13.2008 Update

M***** is such a good and happy baby. Is he often smiling and laughing, even if it is just to himself! He has been very healthy since arriving at the TH. The nannies say that his eating, sleeping, and bowel movements are all normal. He is very strong…he lies on his back and use his legs to push himself up so that his back is arched. I have never seen a baby do something quite like that! He also loves to lay on his stomach and push himself up with his arms. Today M***** weighed 12 pounds.

Our second update was today, and we received 2 new photos. He is being held by the transition home director's husband, Barrett, who we are eagerly looking forward to meeting. It looks like our little guy has had a cold because he has a "glazed donut nose." Poor guy. He has the hugest brown eyes like GIANT pools of dark chocolate!

We have received no word about court. Please, keep praying!

News from the pool...

Annika decided that she can swim and likes it! Today, she began to use her arms to get going in a direction. She would stop and tread water to get a breath and get going again! Many people are excited about this break-through especially her parents, of course, and Coach Lauren and Coach Rory who have been working so hard with her. Let's hope she keeps it up!

What Next?

PRAY!

Our next step is for our agency representative to appear in court on our behalf to adopt Benaiah. The Ethiopian court will not be hearing cases from early August through early October. This means that if we are to bring Benaiah home this summer, our case needs to be heard in court before the first of August.

We are thankful to hear that some of the families with our agency received court dates for July 15! If all goes well, they should be going to get their children in early August. (Yes, this is when we thought we would be going.)

This wonderful news for them makes our situation look bleak... Their referrals were as long ago as the end of April.

If we do not pass court before it closes, we will be looking at bringing our Benaiah home in October or November. As you can imagine, to even think about this real possibility breaks our hearts. We never imagined that we would be put in this situation.

We know that he is fed and loved in our agency's transition home, but we hate to think that by the time we get him, he will have spent 5 or more months there instead of with his family here.

But we do have HOPE! Please, pray that the court will show favor to our agency and that ours and our dear friends' cases will pass court before it closes.

Happy Birthday to ME!

It has been a very busy week at our house. Yesterday was my birthday and I couldn't have wished for a better day. Susan made my favorite breakfast: Eggs in a basket, grits, bacon, and sparkling blueberry juice (served in wine goblets). Then we all headed out to swim practice and to lunch at Bojangles* after a stop at the not-such-a-bargain do-it-yourself car wash. (Well, the car needed it badly and it was still fun.)

We took it easy for the afternoon and opened some presents. The children were very excited to give me my very own 'lil kinz polar bear that they picked out and payed for and which I named "Owen."**

Next, we headed back out for the first swim meet of the season. Sadly the Imps were not able to pull out a win, but we all had a great time and the weather was cooperative. Jeremy had to swim in three heats against a boy that broke the pool record all three times. Marissa is just happy to be in the water, and if she didn't come in last, that is even more cause for celebration! I requested a turkey sandwich ring and Moon Pies for dinner and Susan and the kids sang Happy Birthday over the Moon Pies.

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes, cards, presents, emails, phone calls, etc...

* I'm so sorry for those of you that do not live near to this tasty cajun fried chicken treat and syrupy sweet sweet tea. I can't get enough. As a friend said yesterday -- "It may be *too good*".

** I graduated from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Oh and the mascot is the polar bear -- Get it? OK, one more hint, his last name is "bear", and his middle initial is U. Still don't get it? Owen U. Bear (ONU Bear).

Atlanta Weekend -Part 3

SUNDAY: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Steve & Amy served barbecue pork with corn pancakes. It was really good. I can't say that we've had anything like it for breakfast before, but William now has the recipe, so I imagine that we will have it again.

William opened his Father's Day gifts.


















Then, William was surprised by a GIANT birthday cookie and presents from Steve & Amy!












Our family has a Father's Day tradition that we were happy to share with first-time father, Steve. We have a water bomb/squirt gun battle! I spent the morning filling 100 camouflage water bombs, and we had purchased a small Super Soaker for Steve for Father's Day. After he opened his gift, the battle was on! Two daddies versus 3 kids. The water bombs were NOT for the daddies to use, but they could return fire of one that didn't pop on them. Amy, Jason, and I enjoyed the entertainment!














Thank-you, Steve, Amy, & Jason!!!



Then, we drove home, and Annika got a fever of course!