boys

I grew up with two brothers, so you would think that I would have been prepared/informed about little boys. Sometimes I just have to stop and stare at Henry in amazement as I realize just how differently we were created. I saw a link on facebook that said this



and thought "what a true statement!" Henry is definitely a dirt loving, noise making, active machine! I took a few pictures yesterday of some of Henry's favorite things to do inside (of course this doesn't even touch on the stick eating, playing in the dirt, etc. that are outside)!







I have however, decided that I want to encourage his loud, adventurous spirit and truly give him the freedom to be a boy. Hank and I have been reading Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys and I would HIGHLY recommend it. Anyone else have a good "boy" book?!



I'm so thankful for this little boy and look forward to experiencing his physical, emotional, and spiritual grow!

friends

Some of our best friends, Kim and Nathan came to see us this weekend. It is such an encouragement when we have visitors! Because we now live so far away from most of our friends, it is especially refreshing to see familiar faces. They were such adventurous guests, and packed in way more than most people would in the (less than) 48 hours that they were here. We discovered a really neat apple/peach orchard on Saturday, and it was awesome! Food, wine tasting, and picking your own apples are a few things that Carter Mountain Orchard provides! Henry LOVED it, so we will definitely be frequent visitors;)






Watching the Auburn game on the computer

back home-finally!

This past week, we've been here



and now we are finally back home! Three months, nine cities, and 6000 miles later, we arrived in Charlottesville today. We're so thankful to be back. It's been an incredible summer, but we're ready for school to start and for life to get back to "normal!"

4 years

Hank and I celebrate our fourth anniversary this week! I still catch myself thinking about how thankful I am that the Lord allowed me to get married, and then what a perfect match he gave me. We are so different, but I have really come to see God's wisdom in putting us together. Though not always easy, marriage has/will be one of the biggest blessings of my life. By of His grace, I pray that we celebrate many more. Oh how I long to glorify Him in it, and for Henry to see his parents love and serve each other well.

wilmington

Henry is in heaven! We are visiting our friends (who have two boys and a dog) in Wilmington, NC. It's constant chaos, and Henry is loving it! We're here until Saturday and then off to the beach with Hank's family. We'll finally be home (after three months) on August 13th. Whew, we're getting tired of packing and repacking! Hank starts planning for the school year two days later. Where did the summer go?

the first of many to come?

Its begun. Henry chipped his tooth last night, and I can only imagine that this little "injury" is the first of many. We were thankful to get into a dentist this afternoon where we found out that the nerve was not damaged (whew). However, we are going to need to take him to a pediatric dentist to see if he can do anything about the sharp edges now on the tooth. Tonight Henry fell again and hurt his lip with that tooth (which is what we were afraid of happening), so we're thinking we need to go on and try to get it taken care of! So thankful that this isn't a big deal, but wondering how or if they can get him to sit still long enough to fix it:)

Stress reliever

Last weekend, some of the staff women went to a local shop and painted pottery. I had no idea how fun it was going to be and was surprised that it was actually really relaxing and easy! How awesome to just sit there (child free), paint, and talk to friends! Hmmm, need to do it more often. I decided to go with something simple for lack of creativity:)