Bonana!

Dear friends and family,
We would like to take this minute to wish you all the very best in the new year. Looking back, we can see the many ways in which God has been with us and blessed us throughout the year 2007. It has been a busy year, traveling across the world and back. In March Flory finished his graduate degree in law in Congo. In April we were married. In May Sarah graduated from the seminary and in June we both moved to Congo for the summer where we worked with Agro Action Allemande. In September and October we moved back to America and began the prepartions for the arrival of our son in the new year. We are so grateful to God for being with us every step of the way and for the many friends who have encouraged and supported us through it all. We pray that 2008 will be a year full of love, joy and the presence of God in your lives as he was in ours during 2007.
Chers amis et connaissances,
Au debut de chaque nouvelle annee, je me pose toujurs la question de savoir, quels sont les missions du Dieu tout puissant que je dois accomplir? Quelles sont les surprises que l'annee suivante me reserve? Quelle est le plan?
Mais, je suis conscient que chaque seconde de ma vie qui passe, ne revient pas en arriere, et donc, je cherche toujours a mettre chaque seconde de ma vie en profit car je sais qu'elle ne reviendra plus jamais.
Voici une nouvelle annee 2008, quels sont les projets? Bien sur, c'est une annee qui m'appelera a plus des responsabilites qu'en 2007. C'est une annee, j'ai confiance, qui me fera grandir, qui fera grandir ma famille et qui emportera quelqu'un de plus important dans ma famille, mon premier fils.
Ma priere a Dieu serait que cette annee soit non seulement pour ma famille mais aussi pour vous tous, une annee de paix, de prosperite et de longevite.
Que le Dieu Tout Puissant vous garde et vous benisse.
Le votre

La famille Buki

Look who's moving now!

Here is the belly. 32 weeks. The button has popped. Almost done cooking!
Liam is still moving a lot, but not just Liam. Flory got his driving license this week! He is a good driver, but now he is a legal driver. Now we only need a car. :)

Christmas Blessings

We had a really busy yet wonderful first Christmas together here in America. It went by so quickly and sadly Flory had to work on both Christmas eve and Christmas day, so we were not able to have too much time together, but we did make the most of the time we did have. We felt like we were blessed in so many ways. A friend lent us his car for a week, so we were able to drive up to Elgin on Christmas Eve and attend the candle light service at Country Covenant. We were happy to see all our friends again who were in town for the holidays. Christmas day we were back home. We ate a lot of turkey and received many gifts that will come in handy once Liam joins us. Grandma gave us some blankets to keep Liam warm.

Heather was busy handing out gifts and video recording at the same time.

Flory can't wait for Liam to get bigger so they can play basketball together. :)

Dad enjoyed having us over, and we enjoyed getting to spend more time with Daniel and his fiancee Kim.

Mom was very excited about the 'gift that keeps on giving'... This is the third Christmas in a row that we have seen these candles..Move over donkey... Terry is Shrek's best friend.

Matthew was like a three year old again as he got the game he wanted.

And the winner is...

Thank you to all who participated in our poll. A total of 40 votes were cast to determine who baby Liam's favorite character should be. The winner in was Curious George with 47% of the votes. Congratulations Curious George! May you inspire and Liam for years to come.

Busy Bees

The past week has really been busy for us and so many changes are begining to happen. The big news is that after almost 2 months of learning to be patient, Flory received his social security number in the mail. He can now legally work! And within a week of receiving his ssn, he already found a job as a security job for a warehouse. So Flory won't be sleeping in anymore! He has entered the working world! Dosen't he look nice in his uniform? :) Sarah has also been busy helping baby Liam grow. We only have about 9 weeks left until Liam comes and we couldnt be more excited. Liam has been doing a lot of kicking lately and we think he is excited to come out and see the world as well.

Santa Lucia

Heather had a birthday this weekend and we celebrated with a pineapple upside down cake. yum!

Today we went to the Santa Lucia breakfast hosted by Southwest Covenant Church. We had a great time learning a little bit about Swedish culture and watching all the festivities. Lucia was actually from Sicily and was marytered after refusing to marry a noble man. It was fun to watch the kids dress up and celebrate this traditional Swedish holiday.

First Accumulated Snow of the Season

Art work in the snow. C'était un moment de joie de voir la neige encore une fois. Au mois de mars 2007, elle n'était pas aussi intense. Vous pouvez pas vous immaginé comment elle est meiveilleuse. Je pouvais ecrire mon nom ainsi que celle de mon épouse sur la jeep.

It's getting cold out here! Tout commence à être tres froid ici. La temperature est de - 0 degré celcius. En tout cas elle ne depense pas 1 degré ces deux derniers jours, nous survivons toujours et c'est l'habitude maintenant.

White fun and first snowballs. Je faire une balle de neige, c'est magnifique. Everyone likes snow.

Hanging up Christmas lights.

Birthday Fun!

Today is Flory's Birthday. We have had a wonderful time celebrating it together. Flory really likes ice cream sandwiches so we made him an ice cream sandwich cake. He also got a couple of really great presents. He is showing off his new sweater in one of these pictures. And his other big gift was that we had another doctor's appointment for an ultrasound this morning. Baby Liam is doing well they say at 27 weeks along. He already weighs 2lbs 14oz. And they gave us this most beautiful photo of our little boy. He looks just like his daddy!

Let the festivities begin...

What a busy week it has been! Yet so much fun as well. Early in the week Daniel announced his engagement to Kim. We will have a new sister in our family! Welcome Kim to the craziness!!!

At the end of the week we helped Mom with her Christmas decorating. Her favorites have always been the bubble lights, and she tells us this every single year!

Thankful for Turkey!

Well, it looks like Sarah has eatin the turkey and not saved anything for anyone else.... (26 weeks)
Flory and Sarah celebrating our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple.

Our little cousin Lexi loved hanging out with Flory.

Goodbye Summer days...

We can't believe how quickly the months are going by and how much we miss the long warm summer days. But it is always fun to remenise. (did i spell that right?) Here are a few pictures and words to show what we did during our summer months in the Democratic Republic of Congo.



In June we had a wedding party with all of Flory's family and friends in Bunia. Arn't our flower girls cute!!!









I helped the girls (Charlene and Safi) with dish washing for all our family.


We both helped out at a German relief organisation. They are in food security, which means providing seeds and tools to the poor as well as other food supplies. They also work to rebuild roads so that villages will have better access to markets and supplies from other areas.
We both really loved the work and being able to help so many who were really in need. We also got to see some of the most beautiful countryside in Eastern Congo. The only downside was not realizing how exhausting this work would be when someone is pregnant. We both found out though when Sarah fainted in the middle of nowhere. But it all ended well. A good old fashion bottle of orange fanta got her energy level back up.

Growin

The baby is busy kicking me right now, but I don't mind. You can see from the picture that he is really growing fast. :) Here we are last week at 24 weeks...





This is what we looked like before (we were actually at 7 weeks here)... you can really see how is growing...

Back in America

Now that we have left the warm climate of Congo and moved back to the cold here in america where it is easier to find power and an internet connection, I suppose it is time that we began a family blog. Check back soon for more updates. :)