meet RuthAnn.

i'm off to portland for the week, & will be leaving these two dolls (+ Tink the cat) behind. missed they will be, but i'm looking forward to this fun-packed week with two of my favorite people on this planet. Teenie & Mai, here I come!

voting disclaimer (scroll down for photos to help you vote)

drew has begged. pleaded, really. that i change the spelling to the right from"Ruth Ann" to the traditional "Rooth Anne", as well as explain its significance (i think he's trying to bias your votes):
1) yesterday was the birthday Straits' beloved black lab, Anne.
2) Anne happened to be named for Drew's grandmother, Anna, whose date of death was the same as Anne the dog's bday.
3) Priest Lake is one of the most significant places for Drew. at Priest Lake is a mountain, "Mt. Roothan", that holds particular meaning for him and his family. additionally, Priest Lake played a significant role in our relationship--serving as the site for our first kiss, engagement proposal and wedding itself!

i think you can tell who's rooting for that name...

the fluffiest straitlet

meet the newest member of our family! & help us name her via the poll on the right: we need your help!!

Pizza Party with the Felikis

Last Wednesday Drew coordinated a pizza party at our place with the entire Feliki clan (=7 kids, 2 adults), the Botts (=Nick & Jenna) & Jessica, who's been helping to tutor Zena & Sikola. If you don't know who the Felikis are, they are a refugee family from Burundi. As Hutus, the parents fled Burundi in 1978--part of the first exodus fleeing the genocide. You can read more about this history on Wikipedia (what doesn't wikipedia know?!). They spent the rest of their lives in refugee camps in Tanzania. Their entire families minus a sibling or two were killed in the massacre, so it was important for Kabura & Janeatti (Janet) to have a large family themselves, wanting their children to have what violence stole from them. Kabura, the Feliki father, was at work this night (he just got a job! yay!) but Janet brought a family friend, Japhet, to accompany her instead.

Here's the group, minus Drew (Mr. Photographer):


Eating PIZZA!!!!!!!!!! They only liked the orange soda, so we were stuck with 2 liters of coke & 7-up... I also made fried yucca, a tradiational Dominican recipe, in hopes that the yucca would serve as a "taste of home" (they eat it in Burundi):


Japhet, Janet & kiddos enjoying "Spiderman" on the couch:


The kids LOVE Tink--every time we see them, they say "we need to go to your house to see Tink!" Even Wilfred got some cuddle action:


What a blessing this family is to us! Thank you, Felikis, for allowing us into your family.

Happy Birthday to Alex Meets St. Paddy's Day

Saturday night we celebrated Alex's (insert number here)th birthday. We visited a local Vegetarian Cafe (Alice's, in North Chicagoland), giggled at all the "un-meat" alternatives (the un-duck proved quite tasty) and returned to the Strait pad for plenty of green beer. Let me just tell you, no one got pinched. Drew's green bow-tie lit up, Dana & Nick had nice shiny hats & Alex.. well, she was the bday girl, after all. The photo says it all. We have a history with Nick & Alex of celebrating St. Paddy's Day & Alex's bday concurrently, & this year proved no exception. Thanks, you two!

a history of modern war, from WWI to the present

brilliant. absolutely brilliant. the biggest **must see** of the season.

dancing for Barack Hussein Obama

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — "An Iowa Republican congressman said Friday that terrorists would be 'dancing in the streets' if Democratic candidate Barack Obama were to win the presidency."

think they'd mind if I joined in? I'd generously supply the confetti. and the streamers.

outside by choice

Do we all
Consider ourselves the outsider
Compelled by faith
to believe
Coming here again will forge
the connection
Bread and wine
the fire
within us, reminding us
He was outside by choice
We are inside Him
And we are together.

thou shalt love thine enemies... right?

"He's not gonna change when it comes to taking on the enemy," Bush said of the senator from Arizona [John McCain]. "He's gonna be a president who will bring determination to defeat an enemy," Bush said. Bush said McCain would be steadfast to one of his [own] administration's policies.

Great. Just what we need. Someone else who can be "just like Bush." We should all be careful with the conceptual framework that we inherit along with our word choices. Enemy is a big word. Not to sound cliche, but we all share the same planet here. How about making our choices accordingly? Defense does not necessitate an "us" & "them" mentality.

On another note, exactly how old (or young, I should say) is McCain's wife? & what number is she--5? Right. I really want someone in the White House who can't keep a marriage healthy. Now that signals great leadership skills.


Please. Obama. Clinton. Whoever.