More birthdays!

In continuing with the birthday fun, Gib's dad's birthday was just four days following his own birthday! We are thrilled that Gib's parents are within a day's drive from us, and we got to visit Noel right around his birthday. New house, new city (well, a new return to that city!), and a new job - it's been quite an exciting year for my father-in-law!

This beautiful lady turned another year wiser at the beginning of this month.

I could go on and on and on and on about my mom, but suffice it to say that Gib and I have tried to brainstorm ways to nominate her for official sainthood status.

We had an unofficial celebration in Dallas earlier this month, during our Girl Getaway, but I'm about to make her the cake (or pie - your choice, mom!) of her dreams later this month, in FLORIDA!

Gib and I frequently talk about the fact that we have incredible parents. We love you all!

A summer in pictures so far

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, so here are some of my favorite shots of the summer so far…

Birthday boy

Summertime is birthday season in our family, and we've celebrated some of my favorite people in the last month!

First up was this guy.

My hottie, an amazing husband with more patience than I'll ever have, the kindest heart, the funniest sense of humor and the best laugh on earth. This photo was taken on his actual birthday at a volunteer fair, where he took on the bull!

We celebrated that weekend with an early morning playdate with some of our favorite people. I love that as parents, no one was particularly shocked to get an invitation for an 8:30 a.m. gathering! We ate bagels and let the kiddos run around as we celebrated Gib.

Even the newborns were in on the celebration!

Some of the dads had as much fun playing on the playground as their kids, I think!

This picture makes me laugh, and I hope she doesn't mind me posting it. It started nearing naptime for all of the kiddos toward the end!

Singing happy birthday!

I'm so thankful for every year I get with this man, and am looking forward to the adventure of his 31st year!

The northern frontier

A few weeks ago, we headed north for a quick trip to Kansas to see Gib's parents. His cousin graduated from high school that weekend, so we got to see quite a bit of family while there!

Our little explorer had a lot of fun running around their house, and he had reading time with Grandma and milk time with Grandpa.

We had an unfortunate mishap on the way home, where this little guy hit his head on a cabinet at a rest stop. It started as this:

And turned into this!

He was a trooper, and after a trip to the doctor the next day, we were assured he was fine. Just a big bump!

To Thailand!

Many of you may already know this by now, but we are SO excited to be going back to northern Thailand this summer!

When we left the country last July, Gib and I both felt that we would someday return… we just didn't realize it would be a year later! This August, we are taking a team of young adults from our church to connect with several of the people we worked with in Thailand last year, as well as form some new relationships.

In a word, our team is Amazing, with a capital A. Most of them didn't know each other well prior to our first team meeting, but they have clicked with a supernatural connection and love for each other, and we know that this adventure together will be one incredible experience.

While we will be traveling the northern part of the country to work with some refugee orphan populations, we will base out of Chiang Mai to love on the poor, homeless and crippled, as well as work with women in the Red Light area of the city. We will be working alongside a group of Thai believers, as well as a long-term team from the States who has been in Thailand for several years.

It's a beautiful city, with beautiful people, but there is a heavy spiritual oppression there, in addition to physical poverty and exploitation of women and children that can be visibly seen.

We would appreciate your prayer support for our team, as we prepare to go, as we travel, and as we spend time in northern Thailand. We are excited and expectant to see what God has in store, knowing that He always has a plan and that it's always good.

Good morning

My Little Munch,
This morning you woke up unusually early, presumably because you couldn't find your pacifier to return to sleep. Sometimes, paci has a way of hiding between the mattress and crib rails, that I even I have trouble finding it.

I made you a bottle, in the hope that you might go back to sleep for another hour, and changed you into a new sleeper, since the one you were in was a little damp. Unfortunately, the only one clean was a size too small, and it clung to you like second-skin. You didn't seem to mind, and it was pretty cute to see you stretch those long legs to the point I thought the sleeper might rip apart.

After you finished your bottle, you pointed to the chair, indicating you'd like to rock. Then, you pointed to the blanket on the ottoman, which is your way of saying you'd like me to pull it over us. That's your thing these days, pointing to things. We sat down, but before I had rocked you even five seconds, you were sitting up, starting one of your favorite routines: Name that Thing. We made the rounds, you pointing and me saying the name of the air vent, the kite, the chair, your bed. You tend to have a particular order that you go in, and although I can tell that you have the names of these things memorized, you still like to hear them. I love it.

I realized that this rocking wasn't actually going to put you to sleep, as it rarely does these days, so I made a move to get up, to put you back into your crib. You, being the smart little cookie that you are, have figured out that if you turn around and put your head on my shoulder, I'll rock you a little longer. And you are absolutely right. Your mama cannot resist sitting there in the quiet, rocking her little boy who is sweetly resting his head on her chest.

We rocked in the silence, me thinking about this blissful moment, feeling the tickle of your eyelashes giving my neck butterfly kisses as you slowly nod off. We rock and rock, and after you've been quiet for several minutes, I smile that you are asleep.

And then, I hear a giggle, and those bright blue eyes look up at me as you grin.

And that, my Levi Blaze, is how you roll. Clever, smart, energetic, sweet and determined, all rolled into one adorable little package. I love every ounce of it.

Mother/daughter getaway

This weekend, my mom and I had the opportunity to do something we haven't done in a long time - celebrate a girls' weekend!

What prompted this trip was the fact that my youngest cousin was graduating from high school this weekend (congratulations, Isaac!). So, we decided to drive down to Dallas, enjoy a little IKEA shopping, stay the night… and celebrate time together in addition to the graduation. 

Although it was a fast trip, we had so much fun! After browsing IKEA and making a few purchases, we headed to our hotel. Less than a minute after putting our bags down in the room, we heard a knock at the door:

What a fun surprise! The hotel sent up strawberries and champagne, along with a nice letter, to wish us both a happy birthday, as we will both be celebrating birthdays in the next two weeks. This never happens to us! So, we fully enjoyed a little pampering.

We loved getting to spend time with my aunt and cousins, and neither my mom nor I could believe the size of my cousin's high school class. It was huge!

Thank you, Gib and Grandy, for letting us take off on a mother/daughter weekend adventure while you held down the forts!