Chloe - Spring 2009 Ballet

Chloe also did a fabulous job dancing tonight. She took center stage tonight and was quite the little leader. She's a hard worker and got bumped up to beginning classical ballet. Way to go, Chloe!

Elise - Our Very Own Prima Ballerina

Elise & Chloe had a big night tonight - their Spring 2009 ballet performance. Both have worked very hard over the past 4 months and did a FANTASTIC job dancing tonight. Elise always seems to have an incredible presence on a stage and is amazingly graceful. She's a delight to watch! She graduated to the next level in her classical ballet class.

A Sound Mind in Tough Times

Let me take a brief pause from photo updates on the family to share with you a very worthwhile resource. As a fairly recent college-graduate-turned-young-professional back in the late 1980's who finally had a little money to manage(!), I began to read newsletters and books, attend seminars, and meet with financial folks to begin learning how to be a good steward of what God was entrusting to me. After lots of bumps & bruises and a mix of success & failure, I encountered the one publication that I think I'll be a life-long subscriber to. Sound Mind Investing is a monthly newsletter for those seeking godly, competent counsel and insight on investment and other financial matters. Austin Pryor, the founder of SMI, had been running a very successful private investment firm for several years before he felt led to start the newsletter. How successful was he? Well, he was consistently rated among the top 5% of investment advisors nationwide. And he was advocating an investment model built primarily around no-load mutual funds, which all of my other reading seemed to indicate was the best all-around approach to investing. In addition to providing a very clear model with specific mutual fund recommendations, the newsletter provides great articles to help you better understand economic principles, practical help in getting out of debt, and a whole lot more. And if you subscribe to the online version, you also get access to the editor's blog with daily insights and news, as well as reader forums and the full archive of SMI newsletters. Whether you are a recent graduate or seeking to manage your retirement well, I cannot give SMI a high-enough recommendation. SMI offers a free 30-day trial so you've got nothing to lose from checking it out (they also have feeds on Twitter & Facebook).

Let me be up front and share that I do get a free month of SMI for each person who becomes a paid subscriber through the above links. However, I am sharing this because I think everyone will find this an incredible resource. Check it out. I don't think you'll be disappointed. SMI offers the kind of wise counsel that most people crave now more than ever.

The Blessing of Water

It's true everywhere, but we notice it more here in the desert: water is life. I think the population of Phoenix would be about 208 were it not for the technology that provided us desert dwellers with misters, water parks, urban fishing lakes, irrigation canals, and countless other ways to enjoy water. With spring just barely underway, we're already tipping 90 some days, so we are incredibly grateful to whoever at the Ph0enix Zoo who was inspired to devote precious real estate to a kids' splash park! Chloe is helping to ensure that we put our zoo recent membership to good use!

"I triple-dog dare ya!"

How great it is to be a kid! Fun and excitement can be find just about anywhere, including around the plethora of cacti in our area - cholla, prickly pear, pipe organ, saguaro, and more. Elise & Chloe love to test their bravery by daring each other to touch the needles. What could be more fun on a spring day than that?!

Desert Blooms

Before we get too far off the topic of gardening, I ought to highlight the true Gardener. Not only does He do an amazing job carefully pruning, watering, and otherwise caring for His people, He does quite a job in the rest of creation, too! Not so unlike us, who tend to get a bit prickly at times, cacti likewise have real beauty imbued by their Creator. As spring dawns here in the desert, it is fun to see the less prickly side of these amazing plants.

It's not very green, but...

I have a confession to make. My thumb is extraordinarily un-green. Yes, I've come a long way since my first "real" job selling seeds door-to-door as a 7-year-old. I'm not sure I was every much of a salesman, as I recall having a lot of leftover flower seeds, which I dumped in an uncultivated garden area in my backyard. To my surprise & delight, a month or so later we had an explosion of color as flowers of numerous varieties sprouted in spite of my gardening "skills". Perhaps if I'd learned the language better while I was living in Uzbekistan I'd be able to recreate that 35-years-old success story. In any event, inspired by my time in Uzbekistan and my successful gardner extraordinaire friend, E.B., and fueled by a desire to save a little change on groceries, my garden is now planted. I opted to bypass seeds and jump straight to seedlings to give the plants a chance at survival under my not-so-green thumb. Two weeks into this venture, I've managed to kill off only a few plants. Check back in a few weeks to see how the rest of the corn, squash, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, and assortment of flowers are faring...