New Tae Pictures!!

Okay okay okay, I have them. I just got my new camera and have taken a few pictures of the little guy. Not so little actually, he is now crawling. He is still a little unstable, but he gets where he needs to go. Now Lavar and I really have to pay attention! We were at a friends house last night and he found the cords to the computer. Really gotta watch him now! But he is a very good boy. He knows the word "no" and generally listens when I say it. He doesn't listen when whatever he wants to grab is way to interesting. I guess that is understandable for a little curious boy! He loves to climb now too. I guess he will be like his Uncle Johnny. Every morning when I go to get him he is standing in his crib. I thought he was using the bumper to climb up so I took that off, nope. Still found a way. He is just a strong little guy! Here are some pictures of him standing in his crib.

Here is a video of him standing up. I didn't get him standing all the way up because I thought it would take too long, but he stood up right after I turned the camera off. Of course!

Now that I figured out how to add video, I will definitely be putting a video of him crawling on here. I hope that it works!


It was cute and funny at first. Until 4:00am came and he woke up and stood up and then cried because he couldn't get back down. Then it wasn't so cute anymore. Yesterday I put him down for a nap and I heard him talking and everything. So I decided to peek in. He had stood up and was facing the back wall banging on it, having a good ole time! So the naps times are getting a little more difficult too. But overall he is still so cute!
Lavar and I downloaded a baby Einstein video on Lavar's computer and Tae loves to watch it. We just hold him and he watches it. It is the one in a bunch of different languages, so neither of us know what it is saying, but he likes it and that works for us! Here is a picture of him watching it.

He is so used to being held all the time, whenever he is sat on the ground, he doesn't like it. I am trying to clean or do the dishes or something and he is following me around and grabbing onto my leg! But we are slowing trying to let him know that he can't be held all the time. Always open to suggestions!!
Here are the rest of the pictures.

Tae and our friend Jinessa. One of Lavar's teammates' girlfriend.

Just chillin'

Taking a break from Einstein.

Playing with daddy

so cute!
That is about it for now. But now that I have a camera, I will be posting a lot more. I love the comments, thanks to everyone for the prayers and support and we love hearing from you!

Go Brest!!

I don't want to get excited prematurely, but Lavar's team, l'etenard, Brest, has been playing very well!! Brest is tied for first place in the league with two other teams!! This is exciting because they have been playing well, and Lavar hasn't even been playing. His replacement is HUGE! He is a monster, they actually call him predator. haha Tae cried when he said hi to him! Anyway, he isn't as good as Lavar. He is a big body out there but not that skilled or as quick as Lavar. He played football in college, so he is used to hitting people. Really nice guy though. He looks like Anthony Basaba if any of you knew him. So it is good news, the guys are doing good.
Lavar's knee is doing better. He is still in training and rehab. He can start shooting in a week so we will be in the gym a lot. Him shooting, me rebounding, and Tae being a good little boy playing on the sidelines! Just a little update. If you want to follow the games or Lavar when he starts playing which is the first week in November, you can check out http://www.lnb.fr/. It is in French, but you can probably figure it out. Click on Calendrier/Resultats for his games and the results and classement for what place they are in and joueurs for the players. You can look up Lavar and a little profile too. But, once again, it is all in French!
Thanks for the prayers and e-mails! We really appreciate it! Don't worry the camera is coming soon. God Bless!

Prayer Requests

Hello everyone!
I don't have any pictures this time because I don't have a cord to connect my camera to the computer. But I am working on it! So we will have those pics of Tae and everything up so. I want to put a few videos up soon too. I have one of Tae starting to crawl. Yes, crawl, he does the army crawl when he really wants to. Like when a bottle is in front of him or a cookie or me actually! I also have one of him sitting in front of the washing machine. It keeps him busy because it is a front one and he likes to watch the clothes go around. It is so funny!
I guess I am writing this blog mainly for prayer requests. I have a few, and I don't know how many people read this, but it would be nice to have people praying for us. Well I will start with Lavar. He is not going to be playing for about 45 days. He knee is hurting him really bad and he keeps getting it checked and they don't know what is wrong. They don't think he needs surgery, but he needs to rest it. He will be doing therapy and doctors appointments etc. but God is more powerful than all those things!! He is in control, but just pray that it heals completely and that Lavar can go back to playing.
My prayer request is for adjusting. It is so hard for me. Praise the Lord I have one friend! It is just hard because I have Tae all day and when I go out to the store or the park, I can't communicate with anyone. I don't speak French and I cannot understand it! I am supposed to get a tudor to help me out a little, but until then it is very hard for me. When I go to the store and they are asking me a question and I can't understand. It gets frustrating.
The last prayer request is for Lavar and I as a family and a couple. All of our friends and his teammates are not believers. Lavar and I just want to be an example of Christ to them. They already know that we are different by our language. I was listening to gospel music in the car and my one friend asked me about it so I was able to share that I was a Christian. She said that she hated church because it is so boring and you have to act like someone died when you are there. I told her how much I love my church and how everyone is so nice and loving. So at least that is a good start. Just that we will be strong and show the love of Christ to eachother and to them.
Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. I would love to hear from anyone! It is always nice! Hopefully there will be some pictures coming soon!
Lavar, Natalia, and Tae

Getting setteled in our new home

Hello everyone!
I thought I would create this blog so that I can post pictures as I write and everyone can have a good idea of how my life is over here. So I will start with the plane ride here. Boy was it long. My mom and I were so tired! Tae was a good boy, but it is so tiring! Here is a picture of me getting everything situated before we leave. And here is the last picture of Tae and Papi before we left. Tae misses Papi. While we were over here, it is so funny, we have a web cam and my dad was on the screen. Tae just stared at him. It was like he knew who that was! So cute.
So we finally got here and were so tired, but after we saw the new apartment we were so excited to get started. Lavar was at a basketball game so it was the perfect opportunity! We looked at what we had to work with: not a lot of funiture, big white walls, and an orangish-red couch. At first I was not excited about the couch. But it has grown on me and now gives the room a little flavor. Here is a picture: Then in the bedroom there is only a bed. No dressers or anything else. Here is a picture of our room:
Those sheets are from Rachelle and I love them and am so glad that I have them with me. Next step is to get the duvet cover over here for Christmas. I want to work on putting more in the rooms, but for right now I will be working on what everyone else sees. It is hard to imagine if anyone will visit us, since they have to walk up 4 flights of stairs!! At first I wasn't excited about the stairs, but then I realized, that is what they do in France. No buildings, unless they are big, have elevators. So I will just be in good shape. And as my mom keeps saying, to balance out all the pasteries that we are eating!! They are so good and we go on walks and they are everywhere! We try to order in French and sometimes we get what we ordered and sometimes we don't. It is always an adventure! Today my mom ordered two baguettes instead of one. But that is okay, because they are so good. The other day I ordered a pastery and was so proud of myself! (Because I did it in French) But then we got what we ordered, and I was a little discouraged!! But that is okay, at least I am trying. Here is a cute little flower shop that we pass on our walks. I bought flowers there today to plant in my window box. I did that in French too, my mom always helps, she is great. We also passed this big church. We saw people there during the week but today when we passed it I saw no one. I am not sure if it was because church was out or if it was because no one goes to church. Could have been either. This is Tae getting ready for his walk. He loves it! When I put him in the stroller today he got so excited and started banging on the stroller. It is so cute. He learns so much! One of the many times we went into a pastery store and ordered a baguette because that is what French do, (it turns out they are pretty good!) Tae wanted to help hold the bread. Here are two pictures of him, so cute!!

Since my apartment is up so high, we have pretty decent views. Here are a few:

Those are from my living room window.
Those are pictures from my kitchen window. And yes, that is the ocean!! It is so pretty and close. People actually go in the water. When you ask someone here if it is cold, they so no, not at all. But let me tell you, it is cold. Lavar had to go in for basketball and he said it is like an ice bath. Of course he is from the Bahamas, so that might be a bad comparison. Now what everyone is probably waiting for. Pictures of Tae. He is the cutest baby in the world and has adjusted pretty well. The first three nights he was up wanting to play, but is now sleep through the night again. Thank goodness!!! Here is him waiting to go on his walk: This is how tired he was: This is Tae with his daddy: My mom thinks she should win an award for this one: This is us playing on the couch. Before we went shopping he had like two toys. Poor kid!
I almost forgot. I have a few of my kitchen. Here they are and I am cooking our first dinner here, I think.


Well that is all I have for now. If this blog thing works out I think I will do it more. I can now tell a story with pictures! I hope that everyone enjoys them and please feel free to write me back or an e-mail. I love getting mail. Oh and my French address is really easy. It is
16 Villaret Joyeuse
Brest, France 29200
Talk to everyone soon!!!!
Natalia

Tae is here!

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to post it anyway. My son Tae David Simmons has arrived! On March 23, 2007 Tae was born weighing 8lbs 10 ozs and was 21 inches long. He had a full head of black hair. He wouldn't cry right when he was born so he had to be in the nursery for a little while, but Lavar was able to go stay with him. I went to the hospital that morning at 5:00am and was induced into labor. He was born that evening at 6:19pm. I had to push for an hour and a half, but it was all worth it. The greatest part is that Lavar was able to make it. We had a lot of people praying for him to be able to come, but we just weren't sure. Well, you couldn't have planned it better! The Lord knew what a help he would be and how much I needed him there. I was convinced that I would have been fine with out him, but after having him there I am so thankful that he was able to come. On Monday, March 19 I had a doctor's appointment. That is when Doctor Koh let me know that he thought I should be induced on Friday. So I called Lavar and told him and we were thinking about changing the ticket because his team wasn't happy that he was going to miss a game. So we then thought, why not try to come before hand? So he checked with his team and was able to change his ticket to come Thursday night to be there for the birth. The Lord is awesome and it was an amazing answer to prayer. We now have our beautiful son, and Lavar was able to be a part of his birth. Here are some pictures...

Our beautiful baby boy


Lavar holding his son

Our beautiful bundle of joy

Tummy time! Wide awake