Anma & Ampa, Suzanne’s Parents

Last July, Suzanne’s parents visited from Australia; while they were here we went on an RV trip driving some 2,400 miles through 10 states in a 40 foot RV. Our son treated the RV like a giant cubby house, and awoke each morning to share a new adventure with Mom, Dad and especially his Grandparents (Anma and Anpa). It brought out the child in all of us.

When friends and family are visiting everybody seems to end up on the floor playing with our son or coerced into making a cubby house from a blanket and cushions (which is our son's favorite past time.)

Lance’s sister, Lynnelle lives in Oregon and visits for special holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our extended family lives in Australia, but we frequently fly back home for visits and we also fly our families to the U.S. a couple of times per year for a visit. We speak with extended family three to four times per week and also participate in web cam visits regularly. Our son Christian has a wonderful relationship with his extended family and we endeavor to keep up the contact and visits even though we live thousands of miles away. We feel that this is important for Christian.

Uncle Martin, Grandpa Phil, Aunty Lynnelle, Lance, Grandma Lucy, Karyn & Christopher

Both our families are steeped in tradition. Birthdays, Christmas, and Easter especially are dear to their heart, but since living in the United States, we have begun new traditions, which we love, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. We go to great lengths to decorate our house on these holidays. At Halloween we have pumpkins, monsters (friendly ones of course) gremlins and candy, and love to go trick or treating as a family. Thanksgiving is also a very special time for us, we love to gather family and friends together, and Suzanne plays "Betty Crocker" and cooks up a storm. Suzanne has become very good at cooking beautiful turkey dinners and apple pies, which is quite an accomplishment for an Australian, as turkey and apple pie is not cooked very often at home (in Australia). At Christmas we have two large Christmas trees, one in the front entry, surrounded by Santa's train and one in the family room for Santa to leave the gifts under. We decorate our house with hundreds of fairy lights, and most especially leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and a bowl of water for the reindeer. We love to drive around the neighborhood and see all the decorated houses. Our gated community that we live in transforms into a wonderland of fairy lights and garden displays, it truly is a sight to behold. Our new traditions, we will certainly take home to Australia with us as we love them so much.

Our family is unique because we are a multi-cultural family, who never close our minds to possibilities. We love to travel the world as a family and have already lived in both Australia and the United States. We lovingly call our son a Filipino/Aussie/American and would lovingly call your child our American/Aussie.

Our Home

We have a large modern, two story home filled with lots of natural light. The house is secure as it is located in a gated community and is very safe and child friendly. Our house is surrounded by lush green gardens and overlooks two large ponds which are inhabited by many ducks. The house has four large bedrooms, playroom, media room, study, 2 dining rooms, a lounge room and family room and seven bathrooms. Although we have many rooms, your child will share our son's room in the first instance to provide a sense of security and closeness. When she is older, settled and more independent she will then have her own room. The room your child will share with our son has hand painted murals from our favorite children's storybooks. We have integrated characters from the books along with cuddly forest creatures and even a picture of our oldest family dog playing with the animals. The ceiling is painted with fluffy clouds and a smiling moon and dancing stars wearing sleeping caps. The kitchen overlooks the family room and swimming pool, so that there is continuous family interaction. The house is centrally heated and air conditioned, so that it is always comfortable. The house is also filled with the pitter patter of furry paws from our two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, "Sophie" and "Missie" (Miss America).

Children’s Room

Our home is five minutes from the Private Montessori School Christian attends and the school we would have your child attend. We are close to shops, cinemas, malls and ten minutes from one of Dallas' premier Children's Hospitals and Medical Centers, where we have access to pediatricians, pediatric dentists and specialists. Our home is also located five minutes from the world renowned Cooper Clinic and Athletic Club where they regularly hold children's events, fairs, camps and Easter egg hunts.