camp and my birthday

We had such a great week out at Camp of the Hills last week! They have a brand-new dining hall and office building since the horrible fire destroyed their main building last March, and we really enjoyed using them! It seems VERY different from the building that has been out there since I was a counselor, but they are so nice and I can't believe how quickly they got them up! So, here are the pictures and I will explain as we go, and they are all out of order.

Banquet night on Friday. Elijah being escorted in by 2 counselors.
He is IN LOVE with Frankie! :-)

Elijah with his counselors & cabin.

Going through the hug line to get his awards.

With Frankie again.

Elijah playing basketball during special interest classes.

Elijah with his cabin-mates and counselors.

They have a Western theme for banquet night this year on Friday night. There is an awards ceremony afterwards. Elijah got the "Kind Heart" award and the "Stay at Home" award since he slept in my mom's cabin at night. :-)

Here is Judah riding on a tractor with his best buddy for the week, Josh. Josh is a camp assistant and will be a senior this year - my mom is in charge of the camp assistants (CA's) for the summer.

Our mode of transportation around camp - my mom's new 4 wheeler.

Judah with the executive director's dog, Brandy (aka the camp dog). He loved her!

Watching the campers play color tag!

All of the campers and counselors for the week in a huddle!

Once again, Judah with his bff Josh - you will see lots of him in here. He was so sweet with Judah!

The outside of the new dining hall - I failed to get inside pictures.

Swim time!! The CA's took charge of Judah every swim time.

Judah with Sable and Caroline.

Judah's favorite was the "spray park". :-)

Again with Brandy. You won't see too many of Elijah - he was a camper all week and got embarrassed when I would take pictures around his friends and counselors.

On my birthday (Tuesday), my mom took me out to eat at an Italian restaurant in downtown Marble Falls with some other friends from camp. Lacey and I share the same birthday!

I made some new friends last week and was so blessed that my good friend Melissa was out there all last week too!

And then we went to eat frozen yogurt afterwards!

Josh on the floor coloring with Judah.

Elijah: mad at me for taking a picture and for making him wear a life jacket when he passed the swim test. I'm sorry but murky water scares me!

Judah LOVED fishing!!!

And of course loved swimming with Josh!

He also thought canoeing was very cool!

My car's a/c stopped working the day we were headed back, so we had to take it into town to get it fixed. While there, Judah found a truck that looked like Mater!

And that's our week in pictures out at camp! We'll go back again the first week in August. When we got back, my mom babysat while Jason took me out to a movie for my birthday. I made her take a picture of us because I never take pictures of just us!

12, 1, 365

BIG, BIG SIGH....today marks 12 months / 1 year / 365 days since we went on the wait list for our baby girl. I NEVER in a million years would have thought I'd be writing this post, BUT that just goes to show you how all-knowing and in control that I am! :-) This past year has been a journey and isn't that what life is all about, the journey and not the destination? I am trying to focus on the journey and what God wants me to learn and do and how I am to grow to become more of the person that He wants me to be. I can honestly say that I am closer to Him today than I was one year ago, so I would call this past year a SUCCESS! I pray that He is accomplishing His purposes in me through this adoption process. AND, we are 1 year CLOSER to bringing our baby girl home! We are praying for big news SOON! Thanks again for your prayers and support!

"Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides You,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him."
Isaiah 64:4

our day to day

So, I lied. I have one more post to do before we go out of town. I love reading other people's blogs to get ideas on what they do with their kids at home, like with chores, spiritual training, etc. So for what it's worth, here is what we came up with for this summer. If it gives you an idea or encourages you in some way, then it was worth posting.

I wanted a chore chart that was reusable. One that you don't have to print every week or that is no good after you've filled it with stickers. So this is what I came up with. Small pockets stuck with magnets to my refrigerator. One holds all of the chore sticks for each child and you move them over to the other when they are finished. I like it and that way the boys can see what they haven't done for the day. I have been amazed at how well Judah dusts and how good Elijah is at folding laundry. I really thought I would have to go back and re-do a lot of their chores, but NO, they've pleasantly surprised me! They get a small allowance at the end of each week.

Jason and I also picked one memory verse per week this summer for the weeks that we're not out of town. On the first day, we talk about what the verse means and why it's important to us today. We practice it each day during our Bible time at lunch and if they can say it to me on their own each Friday, they put a sticker on their chart. If the chart is full at the end of the summer, they will get a special prize (we are still deciding on that :-).

We are doing one devotional a day during lunchtime before working on our memory verse, and we are using this book. I couldn't get the picture to turn, sorry. They are very simple and short and then we talk about what that devotional means for us today.

I also had this BRILLIANT idea that I have not followed through with yet. I thought one day a week this summer, we could think of something to do FOR someone else or TO HELP someone else. So far, this has NOT panned out because of unexpected events and lack of planning on my part. I am determined to pick this up in July. Ultimately I know that we are just planting the seed in their hearts and that GOD is the one who will water it and make it GROW!

For your viewing pleasure, here is Judah saying one of his Bible verses. Elijah is a little more camera-shy, but maybe I can get him saying one later this summer. Excuse my LOUD baby voice...I guess I still talk to him this way...lol. :-)

finally made it to a game

I can't believe it's this late in the season before we've made it to a Ranger's game yet! We usually go at least once in April or May, but on June 20th we went with our great friends, the Shaw's, to our first game of the season. We had a blast! I realized it was Judah's first game since he was an infant and he LOVED it! He did great through the whole game and was very mesmerized by everything he saw, ESPECIALLY the cotton candy! :-)







It may be a little while before I post again. Next week the boys and I will be at camp all week, my birthday is on Tuesday and we'll hit 1 year on the wait list on July 1st. So I'll have LOTS to post about when I get back!

happy father's day

WE

LOVE

YOU

DADDY!

summer spectacular & haircuts

So our church's annual Summer Spectacular (aka: a VERY hyped up VBS) was this week. This year was about Noah: God Keeps His Promises. The boys had fun and we enjoyed the 3-night broadway style musical. I am always amazed at the time and effort that goes into this week! Here are a few pictures:

My husband is a dork. :-)

This ark was built around the sign-in table at the front doors: amazing!

Oh, you noticed their hair is shorter! That's something we did this past weekend. And Jason and I did it ourselves to save some money. I decided if I butchered Judah's hair then we would just buzz it all off like Elijah's, but it turned out pretty good I think.

My 7 and 3 year old cuties!

Elijah is now at Camp of the Hills with my mom for his first of 3 trips there this summer. This equals HEAVEN to him! :-)

My heart is very heavy this week. One of my dearest friend's dad passed away very unexpectedly on Monday morning. It has been a week of a lot of heartache, grief and tough decisions for her. Please pray for Lori and her family, especially tonight and tomorrow during the visitation/funeral and in the days/weeks/months ahead.