the brothers of lounge

We had a busy and relaxing weekend. These two shots represent the latter of the paradox.

have a happy weekend

It's Friday!...so why is my heart breaking?

Because Ten Shekel Shirt just helped connect my heart across an ocean and through hate to these precious faces...



...and embodies Hope presented by Love 146...



The up side is that what took me 10 minutes over a lunch break to watch I can spend the rest of my life trying to help heal.

"I have been blessed. Now I want to be a blessing. I have been loved. Now I want to bring love. I have been changed to bring change to bring change." - Aaron Niequist

a day with cousin Raymond

Last week Crystal nabbed our nephew (her brother's son) for the day to give he and his wife some alone time with our new little niece.



Landon showed his little cous his piano playing / dancing skills.



...and gave him some hugs. Raymond pretty much can't stand this and pushed Landon away. It's cute in that grumpy sort of way.



Then, we gotta clean 'em up! Landon's first bath as a duo. He did well. Good prep for when Noah enters the bathtime equation in a few months.

Your Wedding Magazine

A friend of ours, Jeff Duncan, recently started D&G Publishing with his business partner, Ramon Garcia. Their primary project as a publisher is a new up-scale wedding guide called Your Wedding Magazine. It's free to readers and will be available through several retail locations and churches in the greater Indianapolis area.

The pub will focus not just on the wedding event itself, but on deeper subject matter like family planning, insurance, first home buying, communication, investing, retirement, children's college funds and more topics that go into building a successful marriage. There are a couple sample articles at yourweddingindiana.com already.

If you work for or operate a business (event planner, home builder, baker, photographer, jeweler, travel guide, venue rental, musician, etc) trying to reach this demo, we strongly suggest you have a look at a print and/or online ad buy with Your Wedding. There stands to be great value and exposure in this venture. In fact, Beauty by Crystal will have an ad in the first issue and will have a banner ad on the website within weeks.

Additionally, the magazine will also be printed in Indy so all the dollars involved in this business stay local.

If you're interested in advertising, send a note to Jeff's wife, Jennifer. Her contact info is on the Contact Us page of the Your Wedding Magazine website.

a night with Eddie

(photo by: someone other than us but available online)

Delivering on Amos 30th Bday gift, his buddy Ty (handsome devil on the right below), took him to see Eddie Vedder at downtown Chicago's Auditorium Theatre on Friday night. It was Eddie's ninth and last stop on a very short tour. Which just so happened to be in his home town...and in the venue where he saw his first ever concert himself (Springsteen, '74). Needless to say, he was all sorts of jacked up and ready to rock.



A combined 60 years of rock fanaticism ready to get at it.



Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios had been carrying around the Stanley Cup this week to large events in Chicago. Right before the show started, a large rucuss began in the mezzanine directly to the right of our seats. Then, Chelios pops out over the ledge shaking the Stanley. The crowd went crazy!



...strumming acoustic awesomeness



...mandolin or ukulele here.



...giving thanks to the fans while exiting after full set



For those that are familiar with Vedder, you know he isn't shy about sharing his opinions on anything. Especially on politics and activism. While we don't agree about half of the time with his opinion, you have to respect anyone who doesn't just sit back apathetically while life passes them by. Eddie started talking about how he wasn't going to talk politics. While he's rambling on about how he's specifically not going to publically endorse a candidate for November's election, two stage hands slowly walked a very large Obama banner stage right to left.

The photo is very dark, but Amos enhanced the image so you can discern the banner.



...back for encore with opening act (Liam Finn) and man we don't know (yet) singing backup vocals



...the crowd loves it!



...Hard Sun from "Into the Wild"



...the entire crew for a bow after 2+ hours of a very unique splendid show. Also...turns out the guy singing backup vocals (and holding Eddie up as he jumps in the air here) is none other than Mr Sean Penn.

freshman follies

Since LA graduated to his "big boy bed," things have been pretty smoothe. Every third day or so we have some new sillyness occuring at night. These items have been...

* Finding him sleeping on top of his sea turtle which he decided to put on the bed and then lay on top of to fall asleep. It's bigger than half the size of his bed!

* Hearing him up playing piano about two hours after he originally fell asleep. Musical prodigy?

* And, as seen below, finding him sleeping on the floor. Which for some reason is as heart-breaking as it is cute.



Additionally, last night, he was wimpering around 1am. Amos went in to check on him and just when Amos opened the door, LA exclaims "I found it!" in a very loud excited voice. He was referencing his "paci." No less than 1.5 seconds later, the little man was back in bed and sound asleep. Crazyness.

We'll see what tonight brings.

Ticklin' the ivories

Fair & Good

Papa, Nana and The Haffner Home headed down to the Indiana State Fair on a beautiful August evening yesterday. Not having been to the fair as parents before we were blown away at how much there is to do for relatively little expense. And, we probably only covered 25% of the grounds. And, the food...yeah, you have the expected stuff - fried everything with fried toppings to boot...but, there are so many more options than when we were kids. Amos even enjoyed catfish nuggets. Dee-lish.



How cute are they!? (real Momma, real big brother LA, not a real cow)





While we don't have a good photo of LA feeding the animals, he loved doing it. Laughed when they licked his fingers, did his "excited" arm movement and squealed quite a bit. Very funny.



When we got over by the goats and cows, he clasped his hands and decided to pray for them. Not kidding.



Moo



This shot was taken over by the rides. LA didn't want to ride any of them (as predicted), but he loved watching them go "round and round and round." The ride in the background here was playing some hardcore hip hop so Dadda and LA were dancing (note his arms up)...with the froggy Pappa had just won for him, of course. We can only hope the big brother in the family grows into his Momma's dancing skills as opposed to his father's.



We checked out all the tractors first. It took some convincing to get him to think there was actually more to see. He could have stayed there for hours.



Got to "climb up in school bus."

Posing with Papa and Nana after doing some fishing in a little pond.

While Noah didn't get the feed the animals, he had fun all snuggled up to his Momma most of the night with Landon's hat.

Check out the cheeks. Little man is getting big so fast. Not much of an infant look these days.

Ups and Downs and All Arounds

In 9 days time, we've learned of one friend's troubled pregnancy, learned of two other's miscarriages, had our next door neighbor's house broken into, LA bailed out of his crib - hit his head - HARD - and wasn't severely injured, gotten to help a friend move apartments, celebrated LA's second birthday...


(many more pics to come later this week from the party)

...got a chance to help said neighbor install a new front door, officially have two sick sons (we've never had more than one at a time before) watched LA graduate to a toddler bed...



...and welcomed a healthy little niece to the family. Happy zero'st birthday Katelyn!



Phew! We're tired over here. Tired and living with a heightened awareness that Life is so much bigger than any of our plans. And, through the doubt and tearful news, we're more blessed than ever and ready to keep giving ourselves away.

a little less volume

Chloe before



"Um. I can't see. Help me."



Chloe after



prim and proper

Knox & Viv pullin' G's

I guess if you're going to sell People your baby photos for $14 MILLION DOLLARS the profits should go to the Jolie/Pitt Foundation. Esablished in September 2006 the organization is said to be "...committed to using their resources to help the world’s most vulnerable people. These two organizations are focusing on crises that receive far too little attention and Angelina and Brad are happy to do their part to help..." according to a spokesperson for the couple.

Have a ...

colorful weekend!



Stay cool!

Garage sale buddy.....

Landon loves "sea turtles" from a Baby Einstein video he has, so he went crazy when he saw a real (real as in plush) sea turtle at a garage sale this morning. His eyes have been glued to our new $1 friend (which will be heading to Papa and Nana's). We got home this morning and I had to Lysol it like crazy and then let it dry outside. LA checked on it every 5 minutes it seemed...so, now that it is in the home he won't let go of his new friend.

Is it lunchtime yet?

LA chomping on a classic Arby's "sandbich." (a special treat as we don't often dish up the fast foods) And, they even have fresh cucumbers to add over here.

Giving away.........

CONTEST IS CLOSED!!!!I WILL PICK A WINNER LATER TODAY.

A fire RED cosmetic bag with yummy Verbena & Lemon lotion, body splash and lip balm from Bath and Body Works!




I am always winning great prizes, so I thought I would give a little something away! If you haven't ever been to Bloggy Giveaways.....you need to go there!! Lots of great stuff...I think there are 500 giveaways right now!!!

To be entered......leave me a comment and tell me the person in your life that most deserves to be pampered and why. I will pick a winner this FRIDAY, August 1st!! Thanks for stopping by and entering my giveaway!

"Ballard Office Rapes Wives, Kills Children"

You don't have to read any further to know that headline isn't true of our local government. But, what if it was? What if our political environment was so perverse that we couldn't even get food or water without fearing the worst for our loved ones? In Zimbabwe, it's real. Very real.

One of The Well's global partners Horizon International (headquartered in Anderson, IN) is on the front lines of the violence and horror Zimbabwe is currently experiencing. Take a few minutes to check out the below email (click on the image to read it full size) from Bob Pearson. Consider the abundance you have been given and how you might give. Don't have coin to spare? -- Advocate. Narrate. Use your voice. It's a story not being told in our headlines too often.

Amos's brother Adam ("Uncle O") and wife Elisha ("Aunt Eesha") are currently on a trip to Africa to partner with Horizon in their Loving efforts. Our cousin, Cecil, took a similar trip a few months ago.

Horizon International is a non-profit relief and development organization dedicated to creating a world of hope for orphans affected by HIV/AIDS. We serve these orphans and their communities regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender, enabling them to break the cycle of poverty and live free the bonds of poverty and disease.



(click once on the above image to view at 100%)

The Earth Expedition

Here is an outstanding story unfolding (153 days into it as of right now) we just came across. Normal guy from Ohio grows up in his local church, loving the outdoors, pursuing a Purpose for his life, etc. Heads out into the world to build relationships and spread a message of Hope. Not just for the sake of adventure though -- Daren is speaking out for one of our favorite social justice orgs, Blood:Water Mission. Check out theearthexpedition.com. You can track him via GPS and sign up for his newsletter too. Just don't live too vicariously and forget to get out there yourselves.

Smile. It's Friday!

NOTE: Rapid hairloss in Haffner newborns is once again at work. You can fully expect it to disappear almost entirely and grow back whiteish blonde. This ain't our first rodeo with a fairskinned blue-eyed.

Special moments with Dadda!!

I love watching LA interact with Amos. He comes alive in this incredible way when his Dadda is around! I love it! It is a true blessing to watch my husband be a Dad to our 2 sons!!