Sophie and Caroline

These videos are not that exciting. I'm really just posting them for the sake of the grandparents.

Sophie and Caroline are learning to play together!

I just like her sweet smiles in this one and I like to think that at the end she shows how she is learning to "kiss." I think that's in my dreams though. :-)

Sadness...

Sometimes I can hardly believe how much sadness and hurt there is in the world. Recently, it seems there is always something. I turn on the news or talk to a friend or family member. Someone has died or is sick, there's depression and financial problems, divorces and jealousy. My life is so good. I find it hard to complain (although I do sometimes) about what's going on in my life. Since I feel good it's easy to put blinders on and not fully take in the hurt that others are feeling. Lately though I've just been in awe of the problems that my friends, family, others in my community face. I can't imagine how I would handle some of those same situations. I might just want to crawl into a hole and stay there awhile. I was sharing with Mark the other night how aware I was of the sadness in the world and he immediately did the guy thing and tried to fix me. I'm not depressed myself, I'm just more aware of the hurt. I have so much time to do good, to be an encourager. I've been really seeking out ways to do that on a consistent basis. I can't change the world or do everything but I would like to find some way that I can love and care for others. I hope that I will continue to be challenged in this way and that I will find ways to honor God and others with my time.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Caroline finally decided it was time to roll over. I was beginning to think she might just walk before rolling over but she finally did it. :-) Monday night Mark and I were both sitting on the floor with her and she decided to roll over. She did it 3 more times that night and had done it a couple of times since. One more thing crossed off the list. I'm thankful that we were both home and got to see her do it.

DNOW 3 Part 2

...almost finished and we're tired. We've had a great weekend! Mark and I both love being around kids and it's always a joy to serve kids together. God definitely has put a burden on my heart(and Mark's too) for all kids, but specifically middle and high school kids. It seems rare to find a youth that has any sort of meaningful relationship with an adult. I think those relationships are invaluable.


One of our college leaders this weekend, Drew, has been a youth intern at the church for the past two summers so several of the kids already knew him. Friday night we had smores and Drew had a marshmallow in one hand and a piece of chocolate in the other. One of the boys just walked up and took the marshmallow and ate and then took the chocolate and ate it too! I realize most people would think that is rude! However, Mark and I were talking later about what a sweet moment that was to watch. This young boy felt comfortable with his college leader. He felt like he could be himself. He realized his leader would laugh and smile and love him, even if he stole his chocolate. I know it sounds silly but I want that little piece of a relationship for all kids. They all need an older adult from whom they can steal chocolate, laugh with, learn from, talk to and listen to. It's a true joy to get to host the kids and allow them to develop relationships with godly leaders so that one day they themselves may be those godly leaders.


The boys have been so sweet and respectful. The biggest difference between the guys and girls is that the boys are just a little more rambunctious when they have free time. We had just a few wrestling matches, which I have been assured are normal for boys. :-) They were very sweet though. One of our neighbors is having a rough time so we bought her some flowers and the boys were great enough to deliver the flowers. Each of them also hugged her!

Not only were they nice to our neighbor but middle school boys love them some babies!!! Here are a few of the boys playing with Kelsey. Don't you love her visor?




Here is Kyle just carting Caroline around! In his wife beater, of course.

They were also sweet and helped Eli break the pinata!

The mad dash for the candy.

Mark and I are so grateful for the folks in our Sunday School class that helped us out throughout the weekend. Nick, Brad and Jarrett all did some driving, while Lindsay, Katie and Lauren helped with our Mexican themed dinner! It's always more fun to do it as a group. I'm glad that they all helped out! :-) I love the picture below! Everyone's got a smile on and it just makes my heart jump with joy at our sweet friends!

I also love that Caroline and Kelsey seem to be having their own little conversation going on!

DNOW

We are very excited to be hosting DNOW at our home this weekend. We have 9 8th grade boys and 2 college leaders staying with us! I was a little anxious about having boys but so far (we've only had them for an hour) it's been great. They are pretty entertaining but I will say it's just a little different than having girls!

I decided that Caroline needed a little shirt to welcome the boys.





The boys all loved the shirt and said they wanted one like that too. I'm not quite sure what to think about that!



Here is a picture of our rambunctious crowd.

They wanted to do the "Lion King" hold with her. :-)

Oh yeah

If my flight goes tonight, I'll be enjoying my new Elite status on my way home from NYC. It's snowing here and the tiny terminal is packed like sardines. I hope that when I sit down in my comfortable leather seat, I'll be able to stretch out. ;)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sew Fun, Snow Fun

Mom has been in town this week staying with Lindsay since Brad has been out of town for work. I'm thankful that Lindsay shared Madre with me for a couple of days and we were able to do some sewing together!

Caroline helped pick the fabric.

And the finished product that she will wear this summer!

Unfortunately we won't be eating ice cream any time soon. It's too cold. We have some heavy, wet snow coming down.

Ready, set....

touch it!

Lots of love!

Lesson Learned

This morning Caroline woke at 6:30. That means she slept 10 hours - woohoo! When she woke, I went to change her diaper and I didn't have any cloth ones clean. I also had just used my last disposable. Since I was still sleepy and too lazy to go downstairs to get another cloth diaper or disposable, I found the next best thing - a swim diaper that was hidden in the closet. I thought it would work just fine. I fed Caroline and then put her back to bed for a bit. We both got up at 8:30. I took her downstairs and while I was fixing my breakfast I put her in the jumpy. Everything was great until I went to get her out (you know what's coming). She was soaked!! I'm not talking a little wet, I mean almost dripping wet! Her entire sleeper, the jumpy seat, everything. Swimming diapers apparently don't hold what a normal diapers hold! I'm now washing diapers and transfering some more disposables upstairs for emergencies!

Peek a boo Part 2

We have been playing peek-a-boo with Caroline frequently as evidenced by the pictures a few posts down. For some reason it just never occurred to me that she would play and do the hiding herself at some point. This morning when Mom and I went to get her up for her nap she pulled her "lovie" up over her face and then removed it. Of course we said "boo!" and which made her do it several more times. I thought it was the cutest thing I had ever seen but I also kind of thought it was a fluke. This afternoon Mark came bouncing down the stairs after getting Caroline up from her afternoon nap and said, "Caroline did something she has never done before - she played peek a boo with me." We decided it was for real and then spent the next 30 minutes playing with her on the floor getting her to do it over and over! I didn't think I could ever experience so much joy watching her do something so silly over and over! I think it's fair to say that we are in love with her silliness! As you can see in the video, besides peek a boo she has learned to clap and hasn't stopped since she learned.