3 months, wow!

There are no words to describe how quickly Judah is growing up. 3 months old - I don't even know what to say. He is smiling, cooing, laughing, rolled over a couple of times and loves to play! And Elijah is a wonderful big brother - he is a great helper and just wants to hug, kiss and hold him all the time! Here is the 3-month sock monkey picture compared with the newborn one.

And just some more recent pictures of the boys

I got a better video of Judah talking than the last one...it's just the sweetest baby talk in the whole world...Please excuse MY baby talk, though! :-)

A Good Reminder

Death is all around us right now. In the past week, we have had four deaths hit close to our little family.

Today we buried my "aunt" Judy at age 66, my mom's only cousin that I grew up 3 doors down from. Her name was Judy Jane, and when I took Judah James to go see her last week before she died, she was convinced we had named him after her and told me that she would look down on him from heaven all of his life! Even though I didn't realize her middle name was Jane until a few weeks ago, I am glad that we could pay tribute to her through him and that it made her proud in her final days.

On Friday, Eric Clark will be buried at age 22. His life was way too short. What do you even say to this family whose lives have been consumed with drugs, gangs and violence. They never in a million years thought his life would be taken at the hands of his 15 year old brother.

Yesterday I learned of my dad's cousin in Tennessee who died of cancer and was only in his early 50's. I spent several weeks in Tennessee every summer when I was growing up and loved living life on the farm and playing with my many cousins there. He was the only Newman cousin that had boys, and so his two boys are the only ones to carry on my maiden name.

Today Jason learned that a very close friend of his family's was found dead in his bedroom this morning and he was only in his early 50's as well. The cause is not yet known, but this family has already had a tragic year...the death of an infant grandson, infidelity. He was the song leader at his parents' small church where Jason preaches once a month...needless to say, it is a tragedy.

I am trying not to let all of this get me down. If nothing else, it is a good reminder of how fragile life really is. None of us knows when our final day will be, so until then I think I'll spend more time in prayer, love my husband more and give my children even more hugs & kisses! That's what life is really all about anyways.

Goin' to the chapel...in a year or so!

YAY!!! My sweet sister-in-law Lauren got engaged to her wonderful boyfriend Matt this week. Lauren is just like my little sister so needless to say I was so excited for her! I think Jason was in shock that his little sister is engaged...and it's still sinking in for him. Check out Lauren's blog on my list to get a very detailed description of the night and more pictures.

Lauren, we love you and are so very happy for you! You couldn't find a better match for you than Matt...you both find pleasure in the small, goofy things throughout the day, and that is rare! :-) Matt, welcome to the family! You better treat her right or, well, Jason and I will take you out! :-)

Just for fun

Here is what Jason got me for my birthday - the RCA Small Wonder, and it IS a wonder! I love this thing - it fits right in your hand, records quality videos that you can upload directly to your computer and he found it on ebay brand new for $50! I highly recommend it! Below is a video of Judah - I was trying to get him to talk but for some reason when I pull out a camera or video recorder, he thinks it's really cool looking and wants to stare at it. It cracks me up but is a little frustrating.

Please pray...

for the Clark family from Fortress church, where we were involved with inner-city ministry for years. Their 15-year old son shot and killed their 22 year old son during an argument. It is such a tragedy and these kids have been coming to Fortress since they were very young. The story is on these news websites: here and here.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Our 4th of July

Here is where we spent our 4th of July weekend - at Camp of the Hills in Marble Falls, TX. One of my very favorite places on this earth, and one of the most beautiful! My mom and my sister's family plus Jason's parents, brother & wife all spent the weekend together. We had a lot of fun!

The boys on Judah's first July 4th, in their flag shirts

Going out in the boat on Lake Travis

Tuck the Turtle - we found him at the dining hall and Elijah named him Tuck

The wonderful front porch rocking chairs at camp

Swimming in the lake

Looking for rocks

We did a lot of lounging around like this last weekend

My little Jude-bug

My nephew, Kristopher

Jason, trying not to fall off

My niece Katherine, the model :-)

Me and my nephew, Jonathan - Elijah decided he wasn't ready to try this yet

My mom and I on the back deck on the 4th

I got my new video camcorder and will try to get a video on soon that has sound!

Swimming Success

Elijah with his friend Todd & his teacher, Ms. Courtney - she was GREAT with him!

We have had big success with Elijah in swimming lessons! It's like something finally clicked and he decided he really could swim on his own. We had him in a 2-week every day class Level 1 and he was scared of even trying anything on his own almost the whole time. Then at the end he started doing better so we decided to do some semi-private lessons with his friend Todd from his class. He had 4 lessons and is completely swimming on his own all the way across the width of the pool! I am so impressed with this place...and he's even almost to Level 3 - all he needs to do is get his breathing down good and he can move up. We may do a few more just to help him get that down, since breathing is pretty important. :-) She has to tap his chest to remind him to bring his head up and take a breath, but other than that, he's got it down! There are a few videos from today at the bottom of him jumping in then swimming, just swimming, floating on his back and diving down about 4 1/2 feet to get a ring with Todd. Don't know what order they're in or why they're at the bottom, and there's no sound, but you'll get the point. :-) One of them starts out sideways and then turns before he dives down to get the ring - again, don't know why. This is my first time to put videos on my blog, and I'm waiting for this little camcorder to arrive in the mail that Jason got on ebay for my birthday - it will allow me to put videos with sound on my blog, YAY!

And as always, here are some random pictures from my camera that are cute. These are for you Mom and for you Aunt Laur-Laur! I know yall miss these guys while you're away for the summer.

Looking up at me from his snuggli

The 2-month sock monkey picture

STRRREEEETCH!!

The double chin we're working on :-)

Elijah said he wanted to be a farmer this day

Aggie baby

Finally...a pretty good smile captured on camera

Judah's first time in the swing

He loved it...put him right to sleep

First time in Bible class at Nana & Grangoat's church

Have a Happy 4th of July! We are going to Camp of the Hills for the weekend, where my mom is spending the summer working with inner-city kids. My sister's family and Jason's family are meeting us there for fireworks, fishing, swimming & boating - should be lots of fun!