Just some recent happenin's

 

We went to the Sandy River for our friend Peter's 30th Birthday Party and Jonah went swimming in his clothes (I forgot to bring the swim stuff). With the combination of wet clothes, glacial river (well, maybe not glacial), and no dry clothes or towel he was cold and had his friend Naomi bury him in the sand to get warm. He had so much sand in his ears, his hair, everywhere! The bathtub that night was like a little beach. And I just stumbled upon his shoes today on the porch...I could have planted some flowers in them!

 

Check out the resemblance of Jonah and Brynne's smiles in these two pics!!!

 

I was able to go to our church women's retreat a week or so ago (about 9 of my friends hanging out in a house at the Oregon Coast for three days). The pic above is my friend Emilie's baby Clarabelle (Claire, 3 months) and Brynne decked out in their matching jammies...and the picture below is just a random shot of some women slaving away to make some breakfast while on vacation (Tonya, Becky, Megan, and Rachael). I was sleeping in! heehee

 

SUU-per-Boo!!

Berry Picking @ Nana and Poppops

Click on the caption icon (the talking bubble) on the bottom of the little screen to see our captions...
(Photos by Poppop)

Just some pics...

Baby Brynne Talk

Okay, so it actually took me two days to figure out how to put this on my blog! Haha--I guess I'm not as computer savvy as I previously thought...

Fun Times

Brynne bonding with Poppop


Sitting in the exersaucer for the first time

Yum, that's Good!

I gave Brynne rice cereal for the first time today--BTW she's 5 months old, 13lbs 12oz. Isn't she cute?!?!
She would watch us, spellbound, as we would eat these past few weeks; taking it all in, I guess.
The little Grubber ate it all and hopefully this will nip those 4:30 am wake-ups in the bud!

Karaoke

Jon and Brynne singing a little ditty...

The Black Trampoline

Jon got this trampoline for free off Craigslist. It was sitting in a field with blackberry vines growing through the edges...

We took it home, washed it off, set it up...

Let the kids jump on it for a long time while Daddy and Brynne watched...

But by the end of it all they were black from head to toe, went right in the tub (where I had to scrub them with a loofah to get all the black off), and the trampoline went in the trash. So much for free trampolines.

Currently Reading...

My sister April lent me (elisabeth) "The New Friars", by Scott A. Bessenecker. It has been remarkable and is challenging the way I think about poor people. The sub-title is "The Emerging Movement Serving the World's Poor." Read an excerpt here, or a book review by a much better writer than myself here. I think it's really interesting that we in America are so interested in serving ourselves (me included!) that we often forget that Jesus said when we serve the least of these, we serve Him.
"'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.'" Matthew 25:35-36
The people highlighted in this book go to the poorest of the poor in order to serve them and to share the love of the Father. My oldest sister did this when she lived in India for four months and she is currently planning to move to Romania early next year in order to continue in the same spirit of service. Her friend Heather whom she met in Seattle many years ago is one of the missionaries highlighted in the book and serves prostitutes in the slums of El Alto in Bolivia. These "New Friars" amaze and challenge me to greater holiness in my own life and to figure out practical ways that I can serve or change even here in Southeast Portland.

Fish Hatchery

The kids and I went out to Cascade Locks a few weeks ago to visit the Columbia River Gorge Fish Hatchery (i think that's what it's called...). We had a picnic and looked at all the fish--it was a blast. We went with Nana and Auntie Nancy (Poppop's sister). The picture above looks like a shark, but it's really just a creepy looking sturgeon...I think I'd want to be in the water with him about as much as with a shark.

Auntie Nancy, Jonah, Ava, and Nana

Checking out the humongous sturgeon.

Taking a break and feeding the trout. Joe and Ava threw all their food in at once. Now we know what a feeding frenzy looks like! It was crazy how fast all the trout swam over and fought for a little pellet of food that I am sure they get quite a bit of everyday...

We are so excited about this...

More Camping Pictures

My friend Shannon emailed me these pics yesterday. Ava got to drive this amazing boat and was sooooo excited!

Around the campfire with some pals...L-R: Hali, Jon, Elisabeth, Rachael, Tonya

The Kid Crew from the weekend: Jonah, Naomi (Ava calls her Miomi), Ava, Ellie, and Jolie