Monday, June 30, 2008

Camp Agape






Camp Agape is a week-long day camp for grades 1-6 hosted by Brentwood Oaks, the church we attend. It has been going on at Brentwood for many years and is a favorite camp among not only the members of Brentwood, but many friends and children from the neighborhood as well. Throughout the week, approximately 150 campers participate in Bible, sports, crafts, swimming, and many other theme-related activities. For the past 4 years, Nathan and I have co-directed this camp with another friend from church. While it has turned out to be a little bigger job then we originally realized, it has been an amazing and rewarding experience for us to watch each year as our ideas take shape and come to life and the stories from God's word are planted in the lives of these children. This year's theme was I AM. The setting was Egypt and the campers were given the chance to experience what it was like for the Israelite people as God delivered them from slavery. During the week the campers made bricks, built a pyramid, learned about life in Egypt for Christians today, and many other activities. The first few pictures are of our stage set and the pyramid the kids built (they put on the bricks they had made). Even thought there is a preschool and nursery for volunteers children, Griffin did not participate that much since my mom was in town that week. He did, however. come to some of the opening assemblies where he loved to dance and learned all the songs. He also played on the slip-n-slides one day as well. The last few pictures are of Griffin, of course.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Griffin Dancing



Sorry the video is sideways- couldn't get it to work when we put it in our video editing program and turned it around. This is at my friend Katie's wedding. They had a circle and people were going in the middle and dancing. Griffin kept running across to give Katie five and then run back- he was so proud of himself. He also "danced", but we didn't get a good shot of it on video- he doesn't stand still for long. We thought he was funny and he was definitely the life of the party.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Trip to St. Louis



This past May we took a week-long trip to St. Louis to go to my friend Katie's wedding. I ran cross country in high school with Katie and we have kept in touch ever since. Nathan's grandparents and several aunt's, uncle's, and cousin's live there as well-many had never met Griffin. It was a great vacation for us. We left on a Friday and drove to Fayetteville, AR, to see Nathan's brother Justin and his wife Julie. While there, we went on a float down the river. It was a lot of fun, though tiring for me- imagine what Julie felt like- she was 9 months pregnant! We left there on Sunday and went on to St. Louis. During the week we went to the zoo, the transportation museum, Grant's Farm, and had many other fun activities. We also got to visit with a lot of family and we had a great trip. At the end of the weekend, we went to the wedding. It was very nice and great to see Katie again. Griffin had a blast dancing at the reception- we have a little on video that we will post later. To top it all off, we got the call from Justin that Julie was having her baby that Sat. night. We made a slight detour on our way home and were able to arrive at the hospital only a few minutes after Shelby June was born. It was so special to see them and welcome our new niece into the world. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Baby Talk

It is so fun to learn how an almost-two-year old thinks. Griffin is so funny when talking about the baby. He calls it "baby sister" (even though we do not know what we are having yet. He loves to get next to me, pull my shirt up off of my belly, and "kiss baby sister". HE also says, "Listen" and puts his ear on my stomach- I can't wait until he can really hear and feel him or her. Griffin also sings to the baby and tells him/her "I love you baby sister". He is still confused about who has a baby in there tummy- he now knows he DOES NOT. The other day, he picked up his shirt and said, "Giffin has a pocket in his belly" and pointed to his belly button. Wonder what he tries to keep in there?!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Family Retreat





These are pictures from our family retreat back in April (yes, I am that far behind). We had a great time- especially Griffin. As you can see from the first picture, you have to drive through the river to get to the retreat. Griffin had fun "driving" the car and playing in the water. We also went on a canoe ride, but forgot the camera :(.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Our Big News




Okay, so most of you probably already know this by now, but I am pregnant! I am due December 20th, so it looks like we will be in Austin for Christmas this year. Griffin is starting to understand that mommy has a baby in her tummy...however, he also thinks that Nathan has a baby in his tummy too.

I am so far behind on our blogging and I have been waiting for Nathan's help to put this picture online before I put anything else on. Now that Camp Agape is over and I actually have some free time, I will hopefully be able to catch up on my blogging.