Ridge Haven and more....

We just returned a few days ago from Living in Grace - at Ridge Haven, after an incredible week of learning, resting, and enjoying the most beautifully created North Carolina mountains. We made many new friends who will soon be serving all over the world, and we were blessed by reuniting with some JMU friends, Dave and Beth Bryan, who are on their way to Madrid. Most of all, we were reminded, in so many ways, of the incredible grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What love and kindness must He have, that He who is so great would suffer and die for us who are so not. And how would that change our lives if we really understood and remembered that throughout the day! But I am weak, and I forget. Yet grace abounds all the more and he picks us up and gives us eyes to see His love anew.

Noah enjoyed a beautiful hike - his first - to a waterfall on the Ridge Haven property

We were very thankful to have Baba and Pawpaw (Mom and Dad Erickson) there to babysit Noah and share in some great family time.
Here's the whole family together at "Inspiration Point"

On the way back, we stayed at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Marion, VA. Highly recommended! The views out the back porch onto the mountains were worth every penny. www.windsweptbnb.com

Noah even got to meet his first horses on the field next to the B&B.

And then there were 3 Ryans! Gray was born on September 3rd - 2 weeks old in this picture. Congratulations, Mike and Lisa!!!

Then in C-Ville, we got to meet Noah's newest playmate, Gray Frederick Ryan!!! As you can see, Noah is anxious for Gray to be old enough to sit in the big leather chair, so they can both watch football. (c:

8 Months!

Noah is 8 months old today! Right now we are in Brevard, North Carolina for "Living in Grace" training with MTW. My parents are here with us to babysit. Before arriving here we visited Matt, Kristen, and Owen Purdy in Charlotte. It was so much fun to see them and let the boys play together.

Noah is turning into quite a little man by now - steadily gaining his own personality. He received his first tooth last weekend which he likes to show off with a gummy smile or by mashing his mouth together. He continues to be fond of eating different foods. Most recently he's enjoyed celery, ham, and chunks of fruit in one of those mesh teething things.

He's also close to crawling! He sort of climbs or slithers on the floor right now. This skill makes it much trickier to change his diaper!

We are living with Michael's parents right now as we raise support and are truly enjoying their company. Of course they're not complaining about always having Noah around. (c: His favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house are rolling around the music room floor while Grandma or Daddy plays the piano, catching handfuls of fur from their dog, Jaz, and jumping in the "Jumpster" in the kitchen doorway. Last weekend at the wedding, Noah got excited about swimming in the pool! He's tried it several time through the summer, but he loves it now! We thought he wouldn't like splashing himself in the face, but that is clearly not the case. He loves sitting in his little yellow raft, kicking and splashing as much as he can! He came swimming with me after water aerobics on Friday and just couldn't get enough of the water. Of course, he fell asleep on the way home.

It is a joy to be his parents! We know we have a lot to learn and by God's grace he will direct us in how to best raise Noah. He belongs to the Lord and we have the gift of demonstrating the Lord's love to him, even though God loves him more than we ever could! "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Brett & Krista Miller!

Mr. and Mrs. Brett Miller!

The Rock House Guys and Krista

This past weekend, we had the joy of celebrating with many college friends over Brett and Krista Miller's wedding in Allentown, PA. We were there from Friday through Monday, so we had lots of time to reunite with friends, especially those from the Rock House! There was much laughing, wrestling, and catching-up to be had. The wedding was a refreshing reminder to us of God's enduring, selfless, and abundant love for us, his church.

"How beautiful, the radiant bride,
who waits for her groom with his light in her eyes;
How beautiful, when humble hearts give
the fruit of pure life, so that others may live." - Twila Paris
(This song was sung for the unity candle)

We are so excited for these two, as they begin the exciting adventure of marriage! They are raising support right now to return to Maricaibo, Venezuela with Campus Crusade for Christ. We look forward to meeting up with them somehow when we soon join them in South America! Anybody up for a reunion down there? (c:

A first try at rice cereal (7/12/06)

Noah sees Times Square on July 4th

Green Lake, Wisconsin - Salvatierra Family Reunion

Corrie and Samuel

"Josher" and Tyler loved playing with Noah

Noah and (Great) Aunt Cristina

A lesson in making paella

About a week ago, we returned from Green Lake,Wisconsin. Why Green Lake? Michael's Aunt Cristina and Uncle Bill live in the Chicago area and had heard great things about the Wisconsin lakes and wanted to give it a try. So we rented a big house on the campus of a Baptist conference center. It was such a treat to be there with so much family! Cristina, Bill and their kids Gabriela and Danny, Aunt Elena, Mom and Dad, Matthew, and Kerry were all able to come. We actually flew into Chicago a couple days early and got to hang out with my cousins, Dan & Corrie and their 3 boys, Tyler, Joshua, and the newest addition, Samuel. We saw my Aunt Barbara, Uncle Ken, and cousin Amy and her husband Mike too! Then we drove up to the lake with Cristina and Bill.
The house we stayed in there, as you can see from the pictures, was really neat! http://www.sunrisepm.com/rentalAHC_23/rental23.html It was built in the 1930's and modeled after Anne Hathaway's cottage in England. Inside and out it was designed in period style without compromising the modern amenities of electricity and hot running water. It was right on the lake with it's own dock, which afforded lots of water fun - a little fishing, swimming (though it was, um...refreshing!), nighttime star-gazing and renting motor boats to take out.
It was great to be on the conference center grounds and be allowed to use all their services; the tennis courts, laundry (c:, bike/boat rentals, golf course, craft houses, and have the freedom to traverse the large property to explore the numerous prayer towers and wooded nooks.
Most of all, we enjoyed the peacefulness and ease with which you could just relax in any number of areas with great conversation or a good book. We just had a fabulous time making more memories with our family! The last night there, we turned off all the lights in the big old house and played "Sardines." We were all paired up in teams and each given a flashlight - it was a blast. Maybe next time, Noah can play too! He enjoyed being passed around to everyone.

A Family Trip to the Outer Banks

A first dip in the Atlantic!

Today we returned from a lovely vacation in Avon, NC with both sets of parents, Laura's sister, Cindy, her daughters, Marlea and Harmony, and Laura's best friend, Annmarie. We had so much fun making memories and relaxing. Noah had his pick of eager babysitters between 2 grandmas, 2 grandpas, and 2 aunts. (c: He enjoyed his first try at playing in the ocean surf and sand. To our surprise, he was rather indifferent to his first taste of sand, sucking on his sandy hand and letting some sandy mud run out the side of his mouth - I think my face (Laura) was more obviously disgusted than his was. But really, what's a little sand going to hurt.
Our house was beautiful! Named "Sunset Watch," we were able to see the sun setting over the sound each evening. It was pretty new and had plenty of space for all of us. Thank you to our parents for chipping in so generously to allow us to stay in such a place! It even had a pool and hot tub which were frequented often through the week. One night we enjoyed a clear evening on the beach, complete with nearly full moon, a bonfire, and a nearby fireworks display - a big highlight of the week, especially for Marlea and Harmony who had never had s'mores before.
Both of us and our Dads took out Dad Erickson's Sailfish on the sound one day. He built it when he was 14 and has had many happy memories with it - it's always fun to hear a new story about it when we go out. It can only take 2 adults at a time, so we took turns. You'll have to ask Dad S what happened when he took it out solo the first time. (c:
After the beach, we followed Mom and Dad back to their farm in Stokes, NC and stayed with them a couple days. We got to visit their church yesterday, worshiped with them and had a chance to meet with their missions committee. What an encouragement that was!
Overall, we had just a delightful time, bonding with family, laughing, and making many happy memories. We are home in Arlington just 2 short nights before heading out to Chicago and Wisconsin for more visiting with family - what a joy this is.
We'll be sure to post some more pictures from this trip once we get them compiled. Cindy, the professional among us, did a fabulous job of documenting it.

Grandma and her little angel

Our First Posting!

So, we're finally joining the blogging world. It's about time! Noah is almost 7 months old and changing before our eyes. He's quite a mobile roller and daily gets closer to crawling. Right now, he scoots...backwards. He's also widening his palate - he's ventured into the world of real food and has so far enjoyed all of his rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peaches, and pears. Just today he had a doctor's appointment and he weighs all of 15 lbs 4 oz, a little guy if you're going by the charts. He's got a lot of character, though. Recently, he likes to reach out and grab things, like our faces, hair, favorite toys, the spoons he eats from, and as of yesterday, the dog - Jaz. Today, Grandpa (Dad) gave Noah a piece of bread from the table to give Jaz. Once Noah felt it and decided not to put it in his own mouth, he held it out and Jaz very gently took it. We all laughed and clapped for Noah who looked around seeming to not have a clue of what had just happened. Noah is also sticking out his tongue more, often when he smiles. It's so cute to see a new expression added to the hundreds. We found a new way to make him giggle today too, playing chase! Michael chases us and then we make a Noah sandwich when he catches us. How we love to hear those giggles!

Michael's parents are graciously letting us live with them since returning from NYC. We were living for a month in Manhatten for cross-cultural training with Mission to the World(MTW). We're gearing up for our next big adventure, moving to Lima, Peru as missionaries. This past month we joined about 25 other missionaries-in-training and learned all we could about language acquisition and linguistics, team building, church planting, and cross-cultural adaption. We had the joy of working with a Spanish-speaking church in Woodside, Queens. We helped out with several of their ministries, but they helped us more by showing us their way of worship, letting us get to know them, their cultures and music, and letting us practice Spanish.

Wow, there's so much we could write about... Thanks for your interest!