Brain

Hendrick was walking around the house the other day singing,

"Your brain is enough.
Your brain is enough.
Your brain is enough, for me."

Can you guess which worship song he heard Daddy singing?

The Babes

The one on the right just broke through on two teeth!

Camp YoungLives - week 1

We have had a ball during our first week of Camp YoungLives! Hendrick has been so excited (we have transformed our sun room with vines, animals, a tent, sleeping bag, and camp chairs): "I LOVE Camp YoungLives!".
The first few days our lessons have focused on CREATION (God saw what He had made and it was very good) and the FALL (Through one man sin entered the world). We have had fun with animals and those darn sneaky snakes! Each day we have had a lesson, fun crafts, simple games. camp songs, and yummy snacks.
We have also had fun wearing our camp t-shirts - the kids are so proud of them!
*Camp YoungLives will be hitting the road for a field trip this weekend!

Splish Splash!

Hendrick is taking swim lessons as our local YMCA. He LOVES the water and is doing great in his class. We are so proud of our big boy!

July Media Recommendations

Mike

MLS Soccer Thursdays on ESPN2HD: In the absence of Europe's top club teams, the USA's Major League Soccer plays in the perfect season. We all cheer on David Beckham and hope his success and popularity stateside can lure over other top stars like Thierry Henry, Ronaldhino, or Christiano Ronaldo.

Amy
The Twilight series: a series of vampire-based fantasy/romance/horror novels by Stephenie Meyer. The first three books - Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse are fantastic, can't put them down, page-turners (Amy finished all three in a weekend). The books are so much fun and very addictive - the author is Morman and so the books are free of foul-language, drugs, and sensuality...plus the vampires are "good" vampires. The fourth, much anticipated novel, is scheduled to be released August 2, 2008 (we have already pre-ordered it).

The Kids
Where the Sidewalk Ends is wonderful book of clever poems by Shel Silverstein. Hendrick received this book as a "ring bearer" gift from Aunt Julie and Uncle Dann. We have read from it almost everyday since the wedding! The boys all love the funny poems and we love reading them (they bring back memories from when we were kids!).

First Glance

One year ago, today...we got our first glance at our son, Burke - we had been praying for God to reveal our son to us...and He did. We are in awe of this amazing little boy God has placed in our family, and feel incredibly blessed to be his parents. Burke, we love you with all of our hearts.
*Burke has been home for 7-1/2 months and is now 18-months-old!

Our son July 2007 (14-1/4 lbs, 25 in)...Our son July 2008 (22 -1/2 lbs, 31 in)

6 Months

Maegli, our beauty, is 6 months old - crazy how time flies! She is an incredibly happy baby and makes our job easy! Maegli is very talkative, loves rolling, giggles, has brown hair coming in, is a perfect bundle at 15 pounds, enjoys chewing on toys and drools a lot (look out teeth!). We love you baby girl!

Camp YoungLives

let brotherly love continue
hebrews 13:1
Our family is preparing for our very first camp. We are having a "camp at home": Camp Younglives. We hope our camp will promote unity in our family and give us an opportunity to have crazy fun at home for two weeks each summer.
We have had fun choosing curriculum and planning activities, crafts and field trips. We are using the Answers In Genesis "Amazon Expedition" VBS curriculum as our inspiration - taking the kids through the 7 C's of history (creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consummation) Our focus this year is from
John 17:17: Your word is truth.
Camp starts next week...so we are busy with the prep work: decorations and t-shirts (every camp needs t-shirts!).

Pool Fun

We enjoyed swimming with friends this weekend. Davis and Burke loved the "boat", Hendrick was so proud of being able to touch the bottom while his friends did flips, and Maegli was all smiles for her first pool experience.

Be our Guest

We were thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa (Amy's parents) with us this week. We had a wonderful time and a very special week: Diamond Jaxx baseball game, trip to the Pink Palace and Abyssinia Ethiopian restaurant in Memphis, swim lessons, bike shopping, fun new books, great food, and lots of playing - I think we wore Grandpa out! Thanks for a great week!!!
*And thanks for the date night!

New Wheels

Hendrick has a new big boy bike! We are so excited for him to learn to ride...but peddling isn't easy and takes a lot of practice to master. So, to help encourage Hendrick, he is working toward a super reward: a chocolate milkshake when he can ride his bike unassisted. He is very motivated - how sweet it is!

Second Trip

We are on a roll...but not in a good way. We had our second trip (in 10 days) to Urgent Care! Our 18-month-old, Burke, got his hand stuck on a moving treadmill - ouch! Our strong boy is just fine with no serious injury, but now sports a bandaged hand (which amazingly doesn't seem to bother him and definitely doesn't slow him down!).

*Burke is now a master walker - you go boy!

4th of July

Happy Independence Day!

We celebrated July 4th with a BANG! Hendrick and Davis had fun with "pop-pops" and caps while Mike shot bottle rockets towards the lake. All the kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows over the fire pit.

Haircut Night

I am so blessed to have a wife that can cut hair! I keep telling her that she saves us $100 every time she cuts 4 heads (I wouldn't let her take a picture of me!).