A good friend of Jack’s asked him to be in a jump-style video. They did some fancy footwork at several different locations around Malaga. Take a look at our dancing 4th grader!

Lucy has happy in pre-school, but a couple of times she didn’t want her mom to leave, but then things were OK. Yesterday she reported that a boy had pooped on the floor in the classroom, and another one had thrown up. I hope she keeps coming home with lots of entertaining stories.

Our trip back to Spain went amazingly well. Thanks for praying. The girls travelled really well. But after we arrived it was another story. Jet lag hit us hard. Several nights no one slept until 3 or 4 a.m. But by the time we left for our Avant conference in Switzerland we were back to normal.

Jerry and Lee Mellinger from our home church in Newton, KS travelled with us to Málaga, helped out with the children’s program at our conference, and will be working here at the Malaga Media Center for a month. We are really grateful for their help.

I don’t know how it is in your family, but this is what seems to work for us. Robyn knows what the kids are going to wear for the next three years, it seems. I’m sure I could figure it out, but I’d have to start from scratch, whereas she’s had this in mind all along.

Robyn plans what stays and what goes. When its time to close the suitcases, duffel bags etc. I’ll do the finishing. Jam it all in and hope the zippers hold. The new 50 pound limit will be a lot easier on our bags.

A couple of weeks ago both Lucy and Annie came down with a bug. It started with Annie, who was also teething and reacting to a vaccination. I think they planned it, because early in the week they lost their supper at exactly the same time - about 1 a.m. That night we changed sheets about 4 times. Robyn had the washing machine going constantly. Poor girls. Poor parents. It lasted all week long.

The worst came on Friday night when Lucy got really dehydrated. She couldn’t keep any liquids in so we took her to the emergency and she ended up staying til Sunday afternoon.

They’re all better now, and we hope this never happens again. One at a time, if at all, please.

We just got word this morning that Lucy is registered and ready to go for school this September. The school now has optional uniforms, which could make the mornings a lot easier. Now if we can only get Jack transferred to this school. We are grateful that Spain has good schools.

Our big news today is that Lucy was accepted at Los Olivos, a school about two blocks from our home in Malaga. This is a big deal. People resort to trickery to get their kids in (we didn't). A colleague from the Malaga Media Center handled all the paper work. This is a big deal for us, because this determines which parents we will be seeing at birthday parties and waiting to pick up kids from school for many years to come.

Other family news: Annie has started to walk. Not much, but those few steps count. Jack did exceptionally well on state assessment tests, and is really looking forward to getting back to Malaga.By the way, we have tickets to fly back August 5

Annie is crawling all over the place, Lucy is talking a lot more, and Jack is conquering 3rd grade. Check out some new photos of Lucy's birthday, Christmas, playing in the snow and more.

The sad truth is that the visitors to this website are most interested in seeing pictures of our kids. Give the people what they want, someone once said, so here you go, Mom.

We're trying to figure out how things work with 3 kids. On Wednesday we all went grocery shopping over the noon hour - it actually worked out quite well. Jack loves his sisters, Rolly loves his kids, and Robyn would love to get more sleep.

Robyn's mom left on Tuesday after 6 weeks of watching Lucy, playing cards with Jack, holding Annie, making meals, washing dishes, and doing projects Robyn wanted done before we leave for the States later this summer. You know we miss her!

More photos: Slideshow for friends (30 photos)
Photos only close relatives can endure (97 photos) or click on photo at right.

10:00 p.m. Sunday night April 29 - a hard game of Rat-a-tat-cat. It was close, and suddenly they hit: CONTRACTIONS.
10:40 - Robyn finally decided this was the real thing. She got ready. We called a cab.
11:15 - No taxi. None available, they said. Rolly stresses, Robyn's mom times contractions - 2 and 3 minutes apart.
11: 40- Taxi finally arrives. He takes it easy on the speed bumps and curves, but once we hit the straight parts, he goes crazy. Runs red lights. Flashes his high beams, honks for cars to move aside.
11:43 - We ask him to slow down a bit so we can get there alive. He deftly maneuvers one-way streets near the downtown hospital. Honks at a police car to let him pass. Goes the wrong way on a one-way street.
11:50 - Arrive at the hospital emergency room.
From here on its a bit of a blur (It all is so the times may not be totally accurate. Robyn's mom is sure we were still waiting for a taxi at 11:45)
12:30 a.m. April 30 Anne Renae Walter makes her entry (or exit). She looks really purple. White stuff all over her. Cries. They take her away. Bring her back to show us. Everything OK. Take her away again.
1:30 - Robyn is taken to her room. Rolly starts calling family to tell the news.
2:30 - Bring Anne to room.

Check out the slideshow.

We don't have any new photos, but since you made the effort to check out this page, I don't want to disappoint you. These are all from my parent's visit in January.

Don't you hate it when people pass around photos from an ultrasound? You can barely make out the shape of a leg or a face, and yet you feel obliged to comment on how cute it looks. Well, why are you looking here? Leave now while you still can!

Actually, we were surprised at the clarity of these scans. The 3D ones are amazing. You are not under any obligation, however, to comment on the cuteness, or which parent you think the baby resembles.

Due date is May 20.

We just said goodby to Rolly's parents, Joe and Jan Walter. Dad celebrated his 80th birthday here. Together we enjoyed visiting the city of Ronda with it's bullring and gorge, walking in the mountains and on the beach, and just being together. See more pictures here.

Also, there are new pictures on Jack and Lucy's pages.

Roland and Ruth Miller, Robyn's parents, came to spend a couple of weeks with their grandchildren. They generously allowed Robyn and me to spend time with them as well.
They played Monopoly with Jack, and Lucy charmed them with her smile. We did some sight seeing, put in a fireplace insert, and just had a great time.

I know you are just dying to see more pictures

Jack started 2nd grade at a Spanish school a couple of weeks ago. There are only 5 kids in his class. The name of his school is C.E.I.P Pintor Felix Revello de Toro after awell-known local artist. Everyone calls it Teatinos, the part of the city where it is located.

We're back! We all enjoyed a break from the long summer in Malaga - 5 days in Beatenburg, Switzerland. Jack had vacation Bible school, Rolly and Robyn sat through meetings, and Lucy was in the nursery. Or course, we did get out enjoy the wonderful scenery. A nice thing about a conference in Switzerland is that if the meetings get boring, the view out the window never does.

There must be a Walter family living in Beatenberg because we found a parking place reserved for them.

We took a family picture out under the trees yesterday. It was almost 100 degrees, but we look rather fresh and pleasant, don't you think?

Jack just lost two front teeth. The tooth fairy came all the way from the U.S, but gave euros and not dollars. Here it's Ratoncito Perez (Perez the mouse) who exchanges teeth for money at night, but we still fall under tooth fairy jurisdiction.

Lucy really wants to crawl, but hasn't quite figured it out yet.

We think Lucy is old enough to start helping out around the house.




Claire Jost and Brian Bollinger are part of a missions team that were at the Media Center for a couple of days. Both are from our home church. Claire spent the afternoon helping Jack with school and holding Lucy.

This Friday is the beginning of the World Cup. My favorite teams are Spain, USA and Brazil. Only one of them has much chance of winning it all.

Fortunately Robyn and Jack like soccer. Lucy hasn't shown an interest yet, but she does like sitting on laps.

Last Wednesday we said goodbye to Robyn's parents. Read More...

Today is the big day. Number 46. I told Robyn that my ideal birthday would be to go out to eat, maybe at a beach restaurant, and lounge around at a hotel by a pool. Read More...

We get a dryer- after 4 years of hanging clothes all over the house on rainy days. Read More...

This morning we applied for Lucy's U.S. birth certificate, social security number and passport - all in one shot. We had to get her picture taken first, and since it was in the morning she was fairly cooperative. Then we went to the U.S. consulate, where we filled out forms and paid and raised our right hands and swore we were Lucy's parents and were telling the truth.

Between pediatricians, vaccinations at the public health center, and several trips getting the right documents for Lucy, we've been doing a lot of running around for this girl. Now we have a break - until the next vaccinations are due.

The vaccinations went well. Lucy didn't cry too much, and didn't feel too sick, though she did throw up the pain medicine we tried to give her.

Check out the new photos of Jack and Lucy on their photo pages, or just click on their names. Jack had a creative writing assingment which I put on his page as well.

We are finally getting Lucy her two-month vaccinations. The pharmacies couldn't get the ones the pediatrician wanted, and they were really expensive as well. Rocio, our neighbor, went with me to the public health center to register Lucy. Since we don't pay into the public health program here she can't get the full benefits of being born in Spain, but at least she is registered for the child vaccinations. Her appointment is for tomorrow afternoon. I forgot that Robyn has piano lessons all afternoon, so I will be taking her. I will also be taking some pain medicine. Poor girl.