Bangs...

I can't believe it, but I actually trimmed bangs on my six month old! They were constantly getting in her eyes as she rolled about. So, here's her new big girl look.

photos Gallore

I hate to do this, but because of how many photos I have, and how late it is, I'm going to just have to do a photo dump. As you can see, the last two and a half weeks have been busy! Nathan's in Nicaragua now, so maybe I'll have some of his pictures to post next week.

Travel

We are on a whirlwind tour of the midwest/south right now hoping to raise support for Tenerife and to visit with Nathan's family. It's been a treat being altogether, and the 1000 miles in the van have just flown by (slight hint of sarcasm).

We had a great week in Chicago doing our last training with TEAM before we head to the mission field. We were blessed beyond measure making some great friends. The two other couples who were in our class are both parents of young children, and are both going to Europe. I hope we can stay in touch overseas.

I haven't had a chance to download any pictures from my camera yet, but here are some pictures of the kids from the last week or two... many are from a fun get together we had with some friends on the 4th of July.

Fun with Photoshop

Ok, so I think I'm starting to learn enough just to be dangerous with photoshop. How can you ever know if a photo is real any more these day? It's kind of scary!

Anyway, I took an individual picture of each of my kids and put it on a fourth picture from out in our yard and combined them. It may still look a little fake though...

Fishing...

On Father's Day, we took the kids fishing at the local park. The fish love hot dogs as bait, and we were able to catch some "whoppers!" It was such a refreshing and fun weekend having daddy home and getting to enjoy the arrival of summer (finally!)

Elijah

My little man is growing up too fast. It's been astounding watching him learn to talk, reason, and even have an attitude! It's such a privilege being his mother, and yet the responsibility is so great. I beg God's wisdom and grace to mother him well.

He's officially outgrown naps (when will I ever outgrow them?!) So I try to think of fun things for him to do while his brother and sister sleep. Today he learned the joy of the hose...

Milestones...

So much has happened in the last month! On May 3rd, Nathan faced his ordination counsel consisting of Todd Dykstra, Bob DeLateur, Andy Thiry, Fred Williams, and Mike Swinger. He did amazingly well, and by God's grace, is now "ordained" as a pastor. I am so proud of him, and so thankful for how God has given him so much knowledge and wisdom from the Word. We left the next morning for a 4 day training for missionaries to discuss education options for children over seas. That was very informative and thought provoking. Then, on the 8th, Nathan walked accross the stage of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary to receive his Masters of Divinity degree. Amidst all of that, we had lots of family here to visit. So, it's been a full month, and it's not over yet :-)

Here are some pictures of the highlights...