Happy Birthday Papa!!

We thought it would be fun to pay a little tribute to papa by posting pictures taken of him with the boys these last three years. I won't get too mushy, but he truly is the best papa to our boys and the greatest dad and dad-in-law to Keith and I. He has a couple of quirky hobbies that every papa should pick-up: such as collecting McDonald's Happy Meal toys, finding really good diaper prices and then always arriving with a couple of packages in hand, collecting baseball cards and maybe the best hobby is figuring out how to get the most out of the uPromise college accounts for the boys (which includes gift certificates to the boys' favorite place: McDonald's). Plus, he is always ready to read to Kade, Kamden and Kale or throw a ball around. Sometimes he tries to fool us by acting as if he doesn't know what to do with them: like when Kale had a penny in his mouth and he asked what he should do. But I just think he's really smart and knows how to keep from ever having to watch them by himself.
For Keith and I, he's a great source of wisdom when it comes to life, especially in the area of finances. And he's a great role model for Keith when it comes to loving his wife and family. Not having had an engaged father growing up, I appreciate that my husband did have an engaged dad who taught him faithfulness, integrity and also inspired him to be the best he could be.
Now I'll stop and just leave you with some fun papa pics (in no particular order).





























We love you Papa!!

Fourth of July and The Great Adventure

We began the month of July by celebrating our independence with mama E. and papa. We managed to get to see the Round Rock city parade before the skies opened up and blessed us with yet another thunderstorm. Here are a couple of fun pics from the parade.




Then we grilled out a wonderful dinner and took the boys swimming in the evening. We are definitely getting our use out of the neighborhood pool this summer.

The next week consisted of swimming lessons and the most fun thing our church does every summer, The Great Adventure. We hosted a Backyard Bible Club at our home every morning of the 9th - 12th. A group of teenagers led it and did an awesome job. Each one had a chance to share the gospel throughout the week to our neighbors. We had a lot of fun and had opportunities to connect more with some of our neighbors.


This is Kade with Henry, his best friend.

This was hilarious. All the other kids were just dumping their cups of water over the 2 liter, but not Kade. He was very precise, even cupping his hand on the side so that water wouldn't be wasted and spill out. He so gets that from his daddy :) And I love that about both of them.
We ended the week with SummerPfest, a big carnival at the church. I think they had somewhere between 1500 and 2000 people. Here are a couple of pics of all of us on this big inflatable slide. I was amazed that Kade and Kamden went down it by themselves without getting scared at all. I also love that quality in both of them. The coolest thing about the whole week was that it did not rain at all for any of the Great Adventure activities. It started lightening as SummerPfest was coming to an end. Wow! And then it poured Saturday morning afterwards. Thank you Lord for the wonderful weather!



Hopefully, I'll have a chance to post more pics from July tomorrow maybe. Or it might take me another two weeks to post again. I'm just thankful when I do get an opportunity to post. Goodnight.

Invitation

I have no idea who all actually reads this, but if you do, it's probably because you have been a special part of our lives at some point and I just want to throw out that we would so love to have you come to either the charter service or the first (or second, or whenever you can come :) service. We all get so busy with the moment that we're living now, Keith and I are the best (or the worst) at that, but we cherish the relationships God has blessed us with thru our lives and love any opportunity to reconnect with old friends. Let us know if there is a chance you might be able to come so that we'll be looking for you.
Brent McKinney, I know you read this - and you know you have played a very special role in our lives. I'm just thinking it would be really neat to have the former youth pastor, who is talked about every time Keith or I share our personal testimony, at one of the services mentioned above for sure. No pressure or anything :) Don't you think that Tracy and Kelsy and Shelby would enjoy a road trip to the Austin area? And in response to your last comment, many times a day I stop just to thank the Lord for the incredible amount of blessings He has showered me with - it is a charmed life indeed :) Though if I am to be honest, this morning at the checkout register at Target, with all three boys screaming and demanding something while I am at the same time trying to be faithful to the cash envelope system that Keith and I use - even though my purchases didn't fall neatly into just one category, I was not at all counting my blessings. But now here I am, sitting at the computer, all three boys asleep, silence all around, and I am once again overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness to me.

Playing in the Rain and Flying Kites

It rained most of last week, so by Thursday we were dying to get out of the house. The boys put on their rain jackets and splashed around in the puddles in our backyard. What fun!!


Yesterday evening, we met a couple of other families at Old Settler's Park for a little kite flying and picnic. Gerard and Tabitha, a couple we have really enjoyed getting to know brought kites for the kids. Kade and Kamden were both really good at keeping the kites up in the air. Gerard is the one carrying Kamden.
Here is a cute pic of Keith and the boys working together to keep the kite up in the air.
This was a wonderful moment to witness when Kade was helping Kamden fly his kite. He said, "Come on Kamden, I'll run and you follow me with the kite." Now that's being a good big brother!
Here is Kale and Leif watching their siblings as they fly kites. I pray that these two will be really good friends and spur each other on towards loving God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.
This was taken at the same park - on a walkinng path. The scenery is gorgeous - and the boy is pretty handsome too :)
I think we might have some musical talent on our hands...
Kale is fast approaching 11 months old and is beginning to really enjoy being helped around the room as he tries to figure this whole walking thing out. That's his granny helping him.
We are getting so excited that the Hill Country Bible Church - Round Rock North is so close to its' launch service. We have the charter service and commissioning service on the weekend of August 18th - 19th and then our kick-off service is September 9th with a couple of practice swings in between. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has opened doors and brought faithful servants from both the Pflugerville HCBC and the HCBC - NW together to be apart of what He's doing in this area. I am so blessed by seeing my husband so excited and passionate and sure of his calling. God has put some awesome, godly men around Keith to encourage him and provide wisdom. I remember Keith saying when we first moved to Round Rock, less than 9 months ago, that he just wished God would put some men around him who were just as passionate about reaching the people in the Round Rock area with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ. Well, God has gone far and above answering that prayer - to which I am so thankful.