Backyard Campout

A few weekends ago we held our annual backyard campout and had a blast with the boys. It was extra special that Molly and Ari got to join us for part of it as well!













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A basketball team it is...

Just realized I never officially reported on here that we found out in August that we are having another boy! We are thrilled that God is choosing to use us to raise up so many men for His kingdom, and are all the more convinced he wants us to adopt someday as well! :)

Thanks God.

Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

Regular Prayer Journal Prompt: Lord, I pray that Caleb will worship and bow down before You. May he love and fear You, honoring You as the King of his life. May he acknowledge you as his Maker and recognize that Your love will never fail.

Recent conversation:
Caleb: Mommy, what is your favorite thing to do?
Mommy: I dunno, probably spend time with you and our family. Read, shop... Why Caleb, what's your favorite thing to do?
Caleb: Worship God.

Caleb's First Soccer Game

At the beginning of last summer, we sat Caleb down and let him choose one sport to be involved in (in addition to tee-ball). He chose basketball, and was looking forward to it all summer. It was scheduled for mid-August, but a few days before the 'camp' started, we got a call saying that they had to cancel it because not enough kids signed up. He was very disappointed, but we got him enrolled in a 6 game soccer league through the YMCA to make up for it.

They've had a few practices, and then their first game was this morning. He is one of the youngest on the team of Kinder and First Graders, but is doing a little better than we'd expected. He had no sense of the game going into it, and it's amazing how well some of those little kids do already! He just kind of chases the pack, and zones out here and there, but is keeping a good attitude and learning. Today he chose to ineffectively slide tackle every chance he got, but at least he was being a little assertive.







Sweet Kellan

Budding Artist

Neither his Daddy nor I can draw. Definitely inherited this from Grandma Joy. :)

Aidan's First Day of Preschool

Went off without a hitch. This little guy was READY for preschool. Has been begging to go since the day he turned 3. I wasn't even very anxious or emotional. Why? Because it's Aidan. Even his teacher commented after knowing him a few minutes at "Meet and Greet Night", "Wow, you won't have any trouble with that one, will you?".

Caleb's Big Heart

This happened over the summer, but I never actually wrote it down. Wanted to remember this cute little incident.

We were at a H.S. cookout, and there were a few water balloons for the little kids to play with. Caleb got one, and was SO excited. He brought it to me and asked if I wanted to play catch. So of course I said sure, and he threw it to me, and I caught it. But of course when I threw it back to him, he missed it. And it did what water balloon do, hit the ground and splattered. He proceeded to cry big crocodile tears and melt down that his only balloon was gone. He was sure there were no more left and he was going to be water balloon deficient for life. But, lucky for him, there were more, and he soon got another which he proceeded to guard like a treasure. No throwing that baby...

I later agreed he could bring it home in the van, but not in the house. (don't know why I even made that concession, must've been the earlier crocodile tears incident).

As we are walking to the van, we stumbled upon a little girl sobbing her eyes out. We walked over to ask what's wrong, and she said that somebody else took a water balloon from her. Without even skipping a beat, Caleb said, "here, you can have mine" and hands his precious treasure over.

I was so pleasantly surprised at his quick, unselfish, act of compassion and generosity. Probably praised him too much for it, but it was sure a sweet moment to observe.

Last Hurrah

The week prior to school starting, we took a mini-vacation to Chicago. We enjoyed ourselves and our family time immensely. We stayed at a hotel with an indoor water park, and I had been delaying posting while waiting to get our underwater camera pictures developed. We took some really cute ones! (They had so much fun and loved the water!) But alas, they did not turn out! At all, just dark blank frames on the negatives. Of course it was disheartening, but at least we have memories in our minds, right? Here are just a few pictures from the night in the hotel, and the Shedd Aquarium the next day. (which was very cool, but really, had nothing on LA area attractions..., we've grown up so spoiled!)