post

Grandma Nora’s B’day

today we celebrated Grandma Nora’s b’day (this is erin’s mom’s mom) otherwise know as “Gran-ga-ma” (might not be spelled that way, but its pronounced that way). it was a fun time with family and seeing grandma have a grand ole time with many of her closest & oldest friends.

you can check out this slideshow of pics from the event as well as some the older photos we had for a rolling slideshow during the party.

post

Happy Thanksgiving!

richardson's thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! we had a grand time at the Foster household with almost 20 people celebrating with us. We had quite the spread. Our contribution was an Apple Baked Acorn Squash, with some throw in of fruit salad, and macaroni salad (store bought, and was really just for me). You can check out some of Thanksgiving weekend festivities by visiting our November photo set.

post

Help Gavin help Hopeful Children & Parents find a Home



one thing i have not shared openly about in all my ramblings here, there & elseware, is my care i have for children & youth within the foster & adoption process. as a child, looong ago in my birmingham years (those i call my impressionable south years), our family was a foster family. we hosted many kids of various ages that were needing a new home. some were abused children, some were given up for adoption for whatever reason and young and older ages. the older kids would generally stay in the same room as my brother & i (sporting some massive double bunk beds). the younger ones would stay closer by to my parents.

i vaguely remember names and as the years have gone by the faces get blurry, but the impression of having so many kids coming through our home hopeful for a permanent home placed in me a heart for them. tho, at the time, admittedly i wasn’t always the nicest of boys to them.

fast forward some 20 plus years i have adopted Miriam’s Promise as one of my causes that i champion. they are a methodist affiliated program (which means they get support from our church in name and personal devotion alone, they are not funded by the umc) and that partnership has allowed me to get to know them very well. they have a wonderful staff and board of directors made up of people i respect tremendously. i have a number a few youth from our youth community who have been adopted through Miriam’s Promise which is neat to connect with. and who knows, even though we have Brooks now, erin & i have talked a number of times of adopting into our family because we know the need is out there.

they are having their annual golf tournament fundraiser on October 12th and i am trying to raise $4,000 dollars for our teams totals.

as i see some numbers, if everyone in my readership of blogs, twitter, facebook, and newsletters “chipped in” $10 then we could easily achieve this goal. $10 dollars is not ordering 1.5 starbucks drinks, 1/2 of a meal on the town (for one person). that isn’t much. if you can give $20 or more, that’d be amazing too. you can set your giving, but please give. just use the “ChipIn” little meter above, it is secure, i’ve used it many times in giving to other causes.

help me help children find a new home, give to Miriam’s Promise

shalom, -gav

post

Bye Bye Martins!!

Nikki & Mya This weekend we said a ‘bye bye’ to Nikki, Mya, and Lori (Erin’s Aunt & Cousins). They are moving back to Arizona after a 2 year stay in Nashville. We will see them again, just not as much. Cya Ladies!