Adams Family Adventure

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Ola!

We are still loving it here. Kevin is swamped with mid-term work, paper, and exams and I am still "moving" in. I actually organize things, and then re-organize things in attempts to find the must "functional" way possible to manage the house as we are iin 800 sq. ft with four kids. If I ever finish (my sights are set on the beginning of the New Year) then I will post some pictures. Today the boys went to the Palo Alto Kids Zoo & Jr. Museum and topped it up with soup and breadsticks at the Olive Garden with their friend (babysitter!) Rebecca. I wish I could have gone but alas, I was home..organizing!!!...and got some good quality time in with the babes when they woke up. Kevin is still studying, and I am catching up on life, which is what I usually do after the dumplings are in bed. Buenos Noches!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Life here...

I shouldn't be posting this late but I just wanted to say that life here is really, really, really great. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it is to be here and how many amazing opportunites are a doorstep away. I wish I could write a nice long post but I need to go to bed! Good Night! PS - Sorry that the photos on my last post arn't showing up....hmmmmmm....

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The Journey



Well, this Saturday, June 2nd we plan to head across country in a rented RV (sleeps 7) with a U-Haul trailer behind it pulling our belongings. We'll begin in Albany, NY, head down to visit friends in both Connecticut and Washington DC, then drive down to South Carolina to visit Kevin's Uncle Tom & Aunt Melinda on Calawassie Island as well as his former GE co-worker Stephanie. We'll proceed from there to visit Pastor Timmy Straight in Lousiana and follow that up with going through Houston, TX to visit my cousin Melanie and her family and maybe a visit to NASA where she overees space shuttle launches. Then begins our long hot drive through Texas until we reach southern California where we plan to get a CityPass and go to San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Universal Studios, California Adventure and....DISNEYLAND (Chandler can't wait for Disneyland)! After that we will drive up to San Francisco and then to Palo Alto where we will put our stuff from the U-Haul in Storage, look around the school, drop off the rv, rent a van and head up to Washington. Halfway through that last leg of the trip we hope to visit our friend Sabrina and her family in Oregon. So that is the adventure we have planned...we'll just see if it all works out "just so". Hmm...I am actually avoiding watching the movie "RV" with Robin Williams because I think I might change my mind about our plans if I do so!!! If you think about it, say a prayer for us! I think we'll need it with the four kids, Kevin's mom and Kevin & I! Having two babies in an RV...challenging...but not as challanging as in a van! At least there can be feedings, changings, and naps without having to stop every single time!

A Budding Photographer




Chandler has turned into a camera junkie! Any time he has a chance, he grabs our digital or regular camera and takes a few shots. Here are a few of his recent beauties! Do you like our family TV selections?!!! I think I may either get him a kiddie camera, or donate our other cameras to him as they are getting old (6 yrs) and both seem to be loosing their edge (getting blurry, etc.) We may have to use them for the rest of the summer, we'll see...with our cross-country move beginning this weekend...it's a little hard to find the time for camera shopping!

PS - Do you like the TV? It is Kevin's parents...and for some reason it has more sentimental value to me than to him! I am not much of a sentimental person, in fact in our move, I am not keeping much stuff...the most sentimental things to me are pictures/albums, Kevin's courtship letters & gifts/cards, Christmas tree ornaments...and...a few of my kids things..OH..and need I forget (!)..the bathing suit that I fit into on my honeymoon!

Three Brothers


The three boys after the older two used all their fisher price animal to create a zoo. They have been inspired by their multiple visits to the Bronx Zoo in NYC. Their last visit was in April and they are beginning to know the place like the back of their hand. They look at their maps almost every day (we have about 20 of them which have been taped up about a zillion times becaue of the usage on them)! We are looking forward to broadening their repetoire of zoo experiences with our upcoming planned visits to both the San Diego Zoo and Sea World!

Chasers!

Sweet Caroline


She just keeps getting prettier and prettier!

Monday, April 16, 2007

I've been accepted at the Stanford Graduate School of Business!!!


Well... I hardly know where to start!

I guess (if you don't mind) I'll back up a bit and start at the beginning...

Ten years ago I was an undergraduate student at Rensselaer (in upstate New York) studying Civil Engineering and working at GE Energy designing power plant foundations. Over the year-and-a-half that I interned at GE I discovered that I have a much greater passion for business than for engineering. Because of this interest, I managed to shift my internship from engineering into the mergers and acquisitions group of GE and absolutely loved every minute of it.

I decided that I wanted to obtain an MBA (Master's of Business Administration) in my future and planned my career accordingly. Over the next five years I continued to focus on my professional development, relocating from Albany to Atlanta to Albany to Los Angeles to Boston and back to Albany. I managed to close more than $750 million in contracts over this period and was blessed with rapid promotions and job advancement.

At this point I had begun to prepare for my MBA when the Lord spoke to me (five-and-a-half years ago) through prayer to focus on leading the youth ministry at my church, causing me to shelve my dream for graduate school. Over the next two years Anne and I invested heavily in our church as volunteers while I continued to work at GE. Three-and-a-half years ago I resigned from GE and went to work at Cornerstone full-time in obedience to what I believed the Lord had spoke to me.

Two-and-a-half years ago I began to think about school once again. In fact, I couldn't take my mind off of it. I prayed about school. I dreamed about school. I day-dreamed about school. And all the while I felt guilty for my obsession, wondering why I was focused on school instead of the ministry that the Lord had called me to. Finally, after a long season of prayer and waiting, God spoke to me and confirmed my desire to go to school. I felt very clearly that God told me that I would go to school and that I would move forward into my progressive dream of investing my career into the field of economic development (working to increase the standard-of-living of people living in poverty throughout the world).

However, over this same period of time, my church went through a season of crisis resulting in the eventual resignation of our senior pastor (a year ago). Because of the church's needs I again shelved my desire for school and gave 100% of my time and energy to supporting the church. Following the resignation of the senior pastor I stepped in to fill the gap and led the church for several months until Pastor Mike Servello, a very experienced and capable senior pastor, agreed to act as Cornerstone's senior pastor and I, subsequently, acted under him as the lead pastor on a local level (Pastor Mike is based out of nearby Utica - about 90 miles away).

Anne and I entered a time of serious prayer - seeking God for direction and guidance. After about four months of prayer I came to a definite conclusion that I am not called to be Cornerstone's senior pastor and shared my heart with Pastor Mike. He encouraged me to apply to school and so I began working until 2am virtually every night of the week studying, writing, and working on school applications.

On a related note, the field of economic development is very difficult to get into, requiring a top-shelf academic pedigree. Because of this I decided only to apply to top schools (which scared me because these school are VERY hard to get into). The number one school I wanted to attend was Stanford University.

In the business world Harvard and Stanford are the top two schools. There is a world of opportunity available to graduates from these schools. Graduates are guaranteed amazing job opportunities, incredible starting salaries and signing bonuses, and are members of an elite alumni base for years to come. However, Harvard and Stanford are incredibly difficult to get into. Stanford, in fact, is the most selective business school in the entire world (about twice as hard to get into as Harvard). This year Stanford received in the ballpark of 6,500 application and only 370 or less are accepted. This means that about 6,100 applicants are turned down! The acceptance rate is about 5% - an incredible hurdle to say the least. I didn't think my chances were that great (I'm a pastor for goodness sake!)

Anyway, to wrap up this longwinded story, I was accepted at Yale, Dartmouth, and Stanford and am planning to matriculate at the Stanford Graduate School of Business this fall!!! Anne and I are absolutely excited - Stanford is a dream come true. We are guaranteed on-campus housing - meaning that our family will all be together while I am in school. Additionally, I have been accepted to Stanford's public policy program and will be getting a master's degree in both business (MBA) and public policy (MPP). I am also considering studying at Harvard for the public policy - although I won't know for sure for another year or so. We are so excited to move forward into another season of our lives and so grateful that Cornerstone is healthy and has great leadership to carry it forward in the years to come.

Lastly, Anne and I are planning to move back to Seattle over the summer for a much-needed rest and for some much-desired time with friends and family. We will probably be arriving in Seattle around the middle of June and staying until the end of August.

Anne and I are SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! God has done a miracle for us! Also, another cool thing: I was invited to interview with Stanford (only about 25% of applicants are even invited to interview) on the same day that Caroline was born - confirming that God was bringing both of my dreams (having a little girl and going to school) to life on the same day. I still can't believe it. The Dean of Admissions at Stanford even hand wrote me a note, saying "Your faith will enrich the Stanford community, we are so excited that you and Anne will be joining us." It is a real dream-come-true and a miracle that I've been accepted at the most elite business school in the world.

Thanks for reading all of this (assuming you made it this far!) - we love you guys!

-Kevin

Monday, April 09, 2007

Forthcoming suprise...

Hey everyone - Kevin here!

I just had to post a quick note that I am sooo excited about something, but, unfortunately, I have to keep it a secret until next week!

Anyway, I have secretely been working on something for the past year and I can finally tell everyone on Sunday (and I've been dying to tell)!

Anyway, stay tuned, and I'll fill you all in soon!

Kevin

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Good News!


Kevin and I are so excited...we haven't been back to Seattle with our family for years so we are very excited to be taking a trip back "home" for the summer...we are going to travel down the East Coast, visit Seseme Street, DC, Kevin's friend as well as his Uncle Tom in South Carolina, head over and see our friend Pastor Timmy Straight out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, possibly visit a cousin of mine in Houston, head over to San Diego to visit the Zoo and Sea World and up to LA to visit Disneyland, head up the coast to SeaSide, Oregon and then to Seattle! Isn't that cool? We hope it all works out (we are planning to take an RV so we can drive without having to stop for bottles, diaper changes, walks, food, etc). Chandler is VERY excited about our "house on wheels" and going to Disneyland! I am excited just to see my kids blessed!

The Older Brothers




Chandler and Chase are such good boys...Kevin and I just look at each other sometimes and say "we LOVE our family". Its a good thing, don't you think? There are those moments however...where we just wish we could fast forward into sanity, when they are all asking, in one form or another, for assistance from us!

Our Cole-bug




We love Cole! Our little 'Bug" as we call him...somehow we started calling him that and it just stuck! He is our happy-go-lucky in the middle and we love him! He is a great balance to his little sis' Caroline who packs a sweet little punch (much like I expected due to the nature of my pregnancy with her). He is currently teething again, and will be adding two more teeth to his current set of four...the better to eat more broccoli with!

Caroline - A Beauty Evolution



Here is Caroline at one week and Caroline at two months! When Caroline was born she was the quietest baby...I kept on thinking...is she okay??? Seriously, she didn't even cry at birth...while the ladies baby next door was screaming for dear life after it came out. I kept on expecting her breathing to be abnormal (she was born 3 weeks early by a scheduled induction) because Cole was born just a half a week earlier than her and had to be in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) for 2 and 1/2 weeks. I was sure that she wouldn't even be coming home with us (I didn't even bring a infant car seat with us to the hospital) and really wrestled between delivering her early and waiting it out...but since we had lost our baby girl before at 37 weeks, we just couldn't stand the thought of losing another girl, although the probabilty was in favor of not having a repeat incident of what we experienced before in losing our baby. I didn't want to give birth to a baby who would have to have a machine pumping air into its lungs so they wouldn't collapse like we experienced with Cole, who bless his heart, fought for his dear life. I was naive to the effects that a premature birth could have on a baby, maybe my doctors just didn't want to freak me out, but this time they told me, and I felt paranoid and paralyzed in the decision making process of what to do with Caroline's birth. Kevin felt firm on delivering early and almost every pregnant woman in their last month wants the baby out and wants it out...NOW! At least that is the feeling. Fortunately for us Caroline was born absolutely perfect and healthy at over 7 pounds which makes me thinks my dates were off because of how much she weighed at 37 weeks. Thats all on that!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sorry, No Pictures

Well, I don't have any pictures to post because I can't seem to place the cord to our digital camera...it's around here somewhere though! I know it is much more fun to read a blog when there are pictures along with it! I am finally getting the hang of having four kids and beginning to figure out the best schedule for all of us...Caroline slept 6 hours last night which is great for her, Cole is just a joy ALL the time, and I am employing Chandler and Chase as little helpers...bringing a baby a dropped bottle, replacing a binky, playing with a younger sibling to keep them occupied, etc. Kevin, after watching all four kids for the day while I was at a women's conference, remarked that running a home, and doing a good job at it, is like being a general manager at a company...so true. Just want to say, I am so thankful for my two new little baby toys...a baby bjorn carrier and a peg perego double stroller so I can take a walk with my three younger ones while Chandler is in school and after it warms up (we just got 2 feet of snow yesterday!)