September 30, 2010

15 Weeks. 
Sorry I’m a few days behind on this. Tuesday is usually our Baby Bump Blog day, but we spent the day showing off Agra to Ams’ Sister and Bro-in-law. We’ve had a great time parading them around South Asia. More than anything, it’s been such a blessing for Ams to have her Sis here to gab and giggle with about baby stuff.




September 21, 2010

Fourteen weeks today and she’s gaining weight beautifully. Actually, she’s not gaining weight at all, but she’s still beautiful if you ask me.

September 14, 2010

When we found out that we were expecting, we signed up for nearly every email pregnancy update known to woman.  I just thought our inbox was bulging. Everyday it’s something ‘new’, something on ‘sale’, or some tidbit of information. Who knew there was so much going on inside a woman’s belly while they’re... incubating? 
I have been amazed [and mostly humbled] to learn about the week to week growth of our lil’ tike. Just so you know, s/he already has a unique fingerprint on each of his/her no-longer-webbed fingers. And we’ve just begun the 13th week! Now what’s that argument about fetal indivuality/identity? 
*Spoiler Alert: Our God is big. Real BIG.
I’m not going to give you a weekly nugget of gestational trivia, but I would like give you a glimpse of what the process looks like - on the exterior anyway. 
Just to catch you up, I’ve posted weeks 10 through 13 below. Check-in every Tuesday to see how we grow a baby.




September 6, 2010

I finally got some time over the weekend to put together a stop-motion video I had been thinking about making. In all, I had fun and enjoyed the process. Hope you enjoy.


Family Theme from joe futterer on Vimeo.


Oh, and there’s more to come...

September 1, 2010


A few years ago, a couple of friends of mine and I had the opportunity to take a trip Cairo, Egypt. We knew a few guys there, had a few weeks left in our summer, and couldn’t think of a good reason not to go. 

One of the obvious perks of going to Cairo are the Pyramids of Giza, or so I thought. I know I might be stepping on someone’s toes here, but I wasn’t impressed. Sure they are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And they blow the minds of Architects. And the site is loaded with history. But they were filthy and under construction [what?!] and hyper commercialized. Not to mention a lot smaller than I thought, partially surrounded by the city and 50 meters from a Pizza Hut.

I have to admit that my expectations were a tad too high. But who could blame me?! Have you ever seen those things in the movies? They are isolate, gigantic, and usually have some transforming space robot lying dormant inside!

Needless to say, when our travels in South Asia began I was determined not to get so worked up about the Taj. After seeing the pyramids, I had sort of lost hope in the value of the Seven Wonders - and definitely didn’t want to be let down again.
After four trips to the Taj Mahal, I am still mesmerized by the marble masterpiece and I will go back. Sure it has it’s hiccups - like tons of people and elaborate scams - but hey, a country and it's people have to earn a living, right?  Either way, I could spend hours looking at it and photographing it and studying it - and I don’t know that it would ever lose it’s wonder for me.
Below are a few photos of my last few visits to the Taj...