Ieva's friends

Much like us, Ieva now has friends here in Lithuania as well as back in the States. Because of our busy schedules, she doesn't get much "kid" time, but when she does, her closest friends here are Devin, Kylie & Maja Hoelterhoff. In this photo, she was playing with Kylie & baby Maja at her birthday party.

Another good friendship was developed this July with Emma St. Peters. Emma & her parents live in Indiana, but have come to Lithuania each summer to work at LCC and we have become good friends over the years. We look forward to getting the girls together again at Christmas!

This summer Ieva met some friends her age back in the States, one of which is Ava Beasley, the
daughter of our good friends Eric & Kareena who live in Newberg, Oregon. The Beasley's home has become our Newberg home when we're back to visit and since the girls are only 2 weeks apart, we look forward to them growing closer as we we go back for visits.

And if we can count family members in the friend category, Ieva's cousin Elijah is at the top of the list. Ieva & Eli have spent time together in January 2006 when Ieva was 4 months old & again in May when she was 8 months & Elijah was 5 (pictured here).

Ieva is also a big fan of her nearly-15-year old Aunt Ingrid & her 25-year old Aunt Hannah. Ingrid & Ieva got to spend lots of time together this past spring when she lived in Klaipeda for 2 months when Tom & Vicki were volunteering at LCC. Hannah spent as much time as she could with Ieva this summer when we were back in Oregon. Ieva can't wait to see both her Aunts again this December when she gets to see them at Aunt Hannah's graduation from the University of Hawaii.

Speaking of family, the only immediate family member Ieva hasn't met yet is her Uncle Matt who has been teaching English in Korea for the past year. Matt & his friend Sage have recently finished their teaching commitments and are currently in the process of taking the scenic route from Korea to Lithuania (via Japan, China, Mongolia, Russia & Latvia). They'll arrive here in a couple weeks & we can't wait to see them!