Lake Junaluska

Last weekend we headed out to Lake Junaluska for the Care Group Leader's Retreat. This is mainly a time to bless and refresh the Care Group Leaders at Crossway, who work so very hard during the year. I will say, it was a little different this year with Kathryn in tow....I learned that she does well on her routine. She got overtired from missing naps and staying up late, so she cried a lot more than usual when I would put her down to sleep. But all in all, we had a great time.

We took this picture with Joe and Jeanie and Alathea last year, while I was 3 months pregnant....


One year later...Same spot, same people, same pose, same shirt on Nick, different baby. :) And this year Jeanie is the one who is 3 months pregnant.




Jeanie, Kristin, and me


Hanging out in the town with friends.


Jeanie, Lizzy Honea, Emily Campbell, and me. Emily, why exactly is your hand on Lizzy's leg?

6 Months!

I could hardly get kathryn to stay still long enough to take these pictures...As you can see in the second one, she was much more interested in eating the "6 Months" sign than posing with it! At 6 months old, kathryn is a joy. She's sitting up, eating baby food, takes 3 naps a day (usually). She seems to love showing off her two little teeth...Nick and I have noticed that she seems to be even more smiley now than ever. How are we so blessed to have such a sweet little girl?







She never did get the hang of the pacifier...now it's one of her toys. :)

Playing

I have loved having 3 sets of neighbors who are friends from church. Lora Abernathy came over the other day--kathryn and Olivia seemed pretty happy together. It's fun thinking about who Kathryn will be friends with as she grows up.


We are so blessed with Kathryn's joyful countenance. She is really a happy baby...if you look closely, you can see her two little teeth that are coming in on the bottom(!)


She must be a publisher's granddaughter! She really does like looking at books and flipping the pages. It's so cute.


Hard at play

Phone Troubles

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to give you the heads up that our land line is not working at the moment...so we're not receiving any incoming calls. I think maybe our phone line got crossed with someone else's. Hopefully it will be cleared up by Tuesday. (although really hopefully before then!!) So email is the best way to get ahold of me for now. I may have Nick's cell phone tomorrow. Sorry I'm kind of out of contact for the moment.

Rebecca

Kathryn's Room

Well, I now understand why people would want to decorate a nursery before having the baby. Kathryn's room is now just now about decorated, although I still have some work on the curtains (right now they're hanging in place with pins.) It has been a very fun project, albeit done in spurts. The toile fabric is the same as is in my old bedroom at home. So hopefully SOME money was saved by making everything, although I'm not sure how much, in reality. But I had so much fun learning some new things on the sewing machine....still very much a novice, which means slow projects. :)

Prayer for Today

I've recently been reading from "Valley of Vision" again in the mornings, taking one prayer each day. This morning's prayer particularly struck me, so I thought I would share some of it here: From "Christlikeness":

"May my words and works allure others to he highest walks of faith and love!
May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example.
...Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace,
to show others the joy of thyself.
...Let me always esteem others better than myself,
and find in true humility an heirdom to two worlds."

Am I a mirror of God's grace to others? Do I provoke others to grow in diligence, faith, and love? Do I regularly reflect the joy of Christ that others can clearly see? And do I esteem others as better than myself? Sadly, I find myself lacking in these assessments. So this prayer is mine today. I'm so thankful that there is grace to grow!

Outer Banks 2007

We enjoyed a wonderful week at the Outer Banks (Southern Shores) with my family last week. This year was a little different than last year with the addition of 3 babies! Jeremy and Nancy came with their 4 kids (baby Bradford only 10 days old!!), Kristen and Shepard came with their 2 month old son, Hayden, and we had Kathryn. My sister Margaret and her husband Josh, my brother Stephen and his friend Emily, my parents, and Gram (my mom's mom) added to the crew and we were 19 in all! Amazing. We stayed in a huge house that was pretty awesome, including a private pool and home movie theater (several hours of Lord of the Rings were enjoyed by various family members....(Nick). Here are some pictures.





We enjoyed some time on the beach as well as the pool. Kathryn loved being outside, loved the pool, did not love the ocean (well, the water WAS 50 degrees!) But she did manage at least one nap on the beach.


Tummy time with the three amigos. Kathryn made her little cousins seem quite small! :)


Baby Bradford had his first swim at 2 weeks old! (first day his umbilical thing fell off). I don't think he was a huge fan.


I think Hayden looks a little concerned in this picture....


"It's okay, Hayden, don't be scared of me. Good boy."


We went mini golfing one night, and Meredith (age 3) was so much fun to watch. This was her typical pose. And then she would run up, put the ball half an inch from the hole and hit it in. I think she was quite pleased with herself!


Hayden, 2 months; Kathryn, 5 months; Bradford, 2 weeks.


Attempt #1 at a cousins shot....as you can see, not so successfully. let's try that again....


Well, we sort of got it. Meredith (3), Kathryn, Alison (5 1/2), Bradford, Bethany (7), Hayden.

5 Months...Already?!?

Wow...where has this last month gone? These weeks are flying by, and all the while Kathryn is growing and changing so much! I guess that's what happens in the first year of life. I really think each age has gotten more and more fun. Kathryn is such a sweetie pie and such a happy baby! While we certainly don't expect all of our kids will necessarily be this good-natured, we are surely enjoying it. What a blessing she is to us.




This is what happens when I blink...suddenly she's turned over!