Sunday, October 09, 2011

An Overdue Update!

Well, hello, blog world!  It has been a long, long time since I have seen you!  I officially started my part time job as youth leader at our church at the beginning of September (although I actually started before that) and life has just been a little crazy.


We flew back to the Midwest for a family reunion over Labor Day weekend and were there for a week total!  It was a great time to relax and connect with friends and family.  I surprised Jesh with a quick birthday party at Ritter's Frozen Custard place! 


 Here's a pic from the reunion of all the little girl cousins!

Abby, Shayla, Aubrey, Cambria, Sophie & Ellie
Here's the crew from the birthday surprise!
























































































 When we got back from the Midwest, the youth group had a big Back-to-School Bash which was quite a success!  For my first three Sunday nights we talked about Integrity using the life of Daniel as an example!  We're using the LIVE Curriculum and are really enjoying it!

Jesh's parents came up for a long weekend to visit Abby....and us!  ; )  We visited Mt St Helens, we girls went to IKEA with a church friend, we all went to the Compline service at St. Marks and generally hung out together!

Then our church decided to send us to the National Youth Workers Convention in San Diego!  It was wonderful!  We heard great speakers and bands, went to seminars, gained new ideas and fresh excitement and spirit, talked to a revered professor of mine and a church/college friend, went to the zoo, and discovered Pink Berry Frozen Yogurt!

Now for Abby updates!  She is almost 11 months old now!  She is working on tooth number 8 and trying to walk.  My favorite game with her is a form of hide-and-seek in which I crawl in circles around the chair in our living room and she chases after me or stops, turns and chases me!  : )  Abby has been babbling with "mama" and "dada" for some time now and occasionally uses those syllables to identify us as well.  She regularly waves at the 8x10 picture we have of my family!  Saturday she pointed and waved and said "Da da!"

My favorite moment from the weekend:  This morning, she had been babbling "da da da" and then looked at Jesh who was getting ready for the day and pointed at him and earnestly said "DA!"  This got his attention, of course, but apparently not the completely desired reaction.  She crawled over to him and reached for him.  He held her for a moment and then, finally having gotten his complete attention and a hug, she happily went back to Mama.

Jesh is back in school and the church music season is back in full swing now!  He has some type of choir retreat every weekend from this one through the beginning of November!

That pretty much sums up our crazy lives for the moment!  God is faithful no matter how crazy and busy it gets!


Let me close with 2 pics I took today!  Grandma Cindy Zook and Aunt Katie gave Abby this dress last Christmas thinking it would be this year's Christmas dress but she is getting too tall for it to fit in December!  So she wore it today!