We went to the Northeast in June. We spent our first evening in Philadelphia.  We explored downtown and ate at a sidewalk jazz cafe' under the stars-- such a fun city!

Then we headed to Princeton University to see our friend, Blake, who works there.

The Princeton campus is just glorious.

Aunt Cathy showed us around the town of Princeton; she's a great hostess!

We met up with the rest of our family at the beautiful Chauncey Inn Retreat Center.

We awarded Uncle Dick the prize for the best hot pink pants EVAR!

We had a lovely dinner and made a family toast to Grammy Ruth. 

We'll miss you, Grammy Ruth!

JD has some great-looking cousins with some great-thinking minds!

And they are some great singers, too: "I can only imagine. .  . yeah. . . yeah."

When I watched The Love Boat as a child, I dreamed about going on a cruise. . . I wanted my name to be Diane, and I wanted to be thirteen years old, and I wanted my hair to feather like Julie (the Activities Director), and I really wanted to be an entertainer on the ship, like a magician or dancer. . . But celebrating my birthday with the most handsome, witty, funny, intelligent, Christ-like man I know was much better than my original dream!

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'” -Robert Browning

The water in Cozumel was the bluest I've seen. . .

We didn't really play the slot machines on the cruise ship, but they make excellent photo props! Our ship was 15 stories high and the length of 3 football fields. It was like a floating Hilton-- or a small city.

We took pics in the stage area one night so I could be the star of the show (below, left). The cuisine offered during the formal, black-tie dinners on the ship was magnifiscent-- lobster, escargot, crab, filet mignon, roasted duck, delicious! We also enjoyed the exquisite delicacies served at afternoon tea during our days at sea.  A four-piece orchestra played Beethoven & other favorites in the background while JD & I spoke in British accents; I felt like I was in a Jane Austen novel with my dear Mr. Knightley.

My husband has Caribbean Sea-Blue Eyes.

We went four-wheeling in the jungles of Jamaica. . .

We went swimming with the stingrays in the Grand Cayman Islands.

And we were almost taken hostage by pirates!

Coming Soon From the People at JohnandAmber.com

"Jonah and the Pirates of the Caribbean"

Fall 2007

I am blessed with the most wonderful friends and family! For my birthday, John threw me a fun party.  Here we are, playing Taboo-- reds against blues.

John made me a cake that resembled the Caribbean, and we made sushi. Eric is very proud of his!

JD and Eric mentor the sushi disciples at the "sushi bar."

Casey and Mark (who was, incidentally, named "Corky" before his name change about 6 mos. ago) discuss relational anthropology and its place in forgiveness and confession, citing Miroslav Volf. But this is only after they mused about abstraction and incarnation in Dostoevsky's polyphonic narrative-- a response to Nietzsche's polemic. . .  Just when JD and I thought that no one was reading our stuff! 

Rachie, Alex, and Karen are smiling big. . . And Mircea delights in JD's cake!

We also painted. . . Look at Katie's masterpiece! She's a budding Picasso, I tell you.

Sweet Vanessica and Amber-- such fun!  Thank you to everyone who made my day so special!