kari & emily

This is Kari.

I first meet Kari in Thailand. We roomed together and on our first night we stayed up talking until two in the morning. Kari has two adopted boys. We had a lot to talk about.

Kari said some things to me while we were in Thailand that I will never forget. On a balmy, tropical night in Asia, we were up late, again, talking. I was lamenting my barren womb. She said, "If you don't feel that you are getting any answers to prayers, it may mean that God is saying 'just sit still, I have plans'." I figure Kari uttered those words to me just days after Amelie was conceived.

Kari is in Carlsbad for a few days on vacation with her family. We got together yesterday and played at the pool. In the Evening, Emily Falconbridge and her family meet us at the beach. I love these two women for the role they played in Amelie's birth and also for the friendship they give me.

Kari's a great photographer in her own right. Baby Ian has been photographed more than the late great Michael Jackson.

We had fattening Mexican food on the beach. Heaven.

Yindi is the cutest little mother around. She was covered in sand but she cried until we let her hold Amelie, in her lap, on her terms.

This here is mischief personified. Notice how the boys were too busy to give me a smile, but Elegant Ivy was much obliged to flash her pearly whites even in her skivvies.

Kari is also a quilt maker. She made Amelie this amazing blanket. I tell ya, there really isn't anything like a homemade gift. Especially a quilt. When I think of all the hours Kari spent on this I want to cry.

I so wish that Kari lived closer. She's a keeper.

Emily and her husband Mic are headed back to Australia in just a few weeks. Emily wants to have her baby there and be close to her family. We are all hoping and praying that they come back soon. Southern California just won't be the same without the Falconbrige family.