As promised

Here are the pictures I promised. The first two are Jonathan and Avery from earlier this week. Avery is growing like crazy! We went to the doctor last Monday and at 10 weeks she was weighing in at 12 lbs 3 oz, 85th percentile! She is smiling a lot and making tons of adorable baby noises. Jonathan still loves her like crazy and wants to kiss her, hold her, and be around her all the time.



These last 3 pictures are from camp a few weeks ago. We went to Showshoe in West Virginia. It was amazing! The last picture is the view from the balcony in our condo. We literally watched the sun go down behind the mountains in a matter of minutes. We were so thankful that my sister Amy was able to come with us. There were so many things for Jonathan to do. The waterslide in the pictures went into a pool that was a foot and a half deep. Perfect! There was also a big sandbox with lots of toys right outside the Starbucks. So Amy and I were able to sit and drink coffee while Jonathan played. Perfect again. Other things he did were jump in a bounce house, play on playgrounds by the lake, and ride paddleboats. It was hard to be really involved with the camp activities because of nap schedules and all that, but we were able to go to worship one night. Jonathan loved the music and clapped his little hands the whole time. His arms would get tired and he would rest his elbows on his knees, still clapping. It was a very special time for me to be in there with my family and our student ministry worshipping the Lord who has entrusted it all to us for this time. I sang "I surrender all" with trembling hands because I feel like I have been so blessed and have a lot to surrender. For several years now the Lord has convicted me about holding my blessings with an open hand. Everything in me wants to close the fists of my heart around the blessings He has given me and claim them for myself. But they really are all for Him, and I must remember that at all times. He has total rights to them, and I really have none. He gives, and He takes away, and I will bless Him either way. I hope this makes sense, it's a bit of what I've been thinking about a lot lately.
On a lighter note, the next night when we attempted to go to worship Jonathan kept saying "ready to go now" and "wake up now" to the people around us who were worshipping with their eyes closed. So much for Jonathan in the worship service.