Papa's 80th Birthday

I am slowly getting caught up on summer events, but one that can't go without mentioning is Papa's 80th birthday party. The party was on July 12th at a treasure of a restaurant called The Carriage House in Houston. They had great barbecue and neat antiques throughout the restaurant.

It was a surprise party, and he was definitely surprised when he saw that we had driven in from Dallas, and many of his longtime friends were also there. Papa has played in bands for a long time, and several of his band friends came to wish him a happy birthday. They were all so sweet, and I had a flash-forward moment of what it may be like when I am 80 years old and have lived a lot of life with my good friends.

There were a few tense moments at the party, which ended up giving us a good laugh. As you see in the picture below, Papa was blowing out his candles when the present behind the cake fell over on top of the candles. The tissue paper caught on fire and Papa threw the paper off the cake. He continued working on blowing out the candles, mind you. The paper fell behind the table by the paper tablecloth and wood wall. Luckily, Peter's mom ran over to the paper and started stepping on it. This was all caught on video and I wish I had it to post on the blog because it was very funny!

Gabe and Papa posing for a pic...

A pic of most of the family that was at the party...

Conversation with Joshua

Having a conversation with Joshua is a new thing for us, and I love that he can verbally tell me what is going on in his head...for the most part! This morning on our way to church, we took a minute to pray. After we said "Amen" this was the conversation...

J: I show God my raisins.
M: Did you know that God can already see your raisins? He sees everything.
J: I show God my water.

Minutes later...
J: I done pooping. I show God my poo poo.

A short conversation, but it had me laughing so hard! I'm sure it won't be the last time that the topic of conversation turns to poop!

Mission Houston

Following our move in June, we headed to Houston for our middle- and high school mission trip. It was so great to be back in our "stomping ground" to serve. The students were great and worked very hard that week. They ran a VBS for a brand new Spanish-speaking church, sorted clothes for a clothes closet, served snow cones at an apartment complex, and passed flyers out in a neighborhood to promote the church. I am really proud of each one of them for being obedient to the Lord's call to go!

Here are a few of the sweet kids that we met in Houston...

While in Houston, the boys and I split our time with our families and the mission group. Each morning I went to help with the VBS and the boys spent time with grandparents. Josh & Gabe had such a fun time visiting the Houston Zoo and a children's museum. I also had the blessing to meet up with many of my Houston friends for a playdate. It is rare that I get to visit with friends on our short trips to Houston, so this was really great!

After their visit to the zoo, the boys posed in their Houston Zoo shirts...

We also had a birthday party our first night in town for Phillip and Elizabeth (who share the same birthday - June 8)...

The boys got to spend time with their great-grandpa (Papa)...

Josh and Gabe love swimming, so it was very fun to get to swim at Grandpa & Grandma's house...

Here are a few pics of our playdate at Memorial City Mall. Let me just say, that mall has the best play area. The only drawback, is that every other mother in Houston also thought it was a good day to go to the mall, so there were lots of kids there. It was so fun to connect with some of my wonderful Houston friends, but we need to do it again in a less hectic environment so we can visit more. I really wanted a picture of all the moms and kids, but it was an impossible feat.

Here is my mom with Gabe and Michelle with Jack...the boys are good friends already and holding hands...

This was the closest we got to a group picture...Kay & Jayk, Becky & Luke, Lauren & Ava, me & Gabe. Missing from this picture are Michelle & her boys, Amanda & Jackson, Becky's son Will, and Joshua.

Kay & Jayk having a good time...Jayk and Jackson hanging out together.

On Thursday of that week, the entire mission group went to Galveston for a fun afternoon at the beach. The students deserved a break because they worked so hard at each task they were given throughout the week! Our families went along, and it was fun to be all together at the beach. This was Joshua and Gabe's first time at a beach. As Lauren said, their beach experiences will only go up from there (meaning Galveston is not the prettiest beach) :)

Joshua's first feel of the warm Galveston water...

...and Gabe's first dip in the water

Grandma and Gabe lounging on the beach...

Oksana and Joshua looking for shells on the beach...

Grannie and Josh playing with boats in the shallow water...

Peter, Joshua, Tyler, and Ava posing for a pic...

Joshua was not very enthused about having to pack up and leave the beach...

We headed to the Kemah Boardwalk when we left Galveston. We all enjoyed the atmosphere of the boardwalk, even though it was sprinkling, and the great food at Joe's Crab Shack!

It was such a great week...fun with our students and families...wonderful opportunities for ministry and some very real, cool stories of how God moved in unexpected ways!

Our New Home

When we moved into our apartment community to serve as a CARES Team, we decided to live in the smallest two bedroom offered to save money. It was perfect for us because it was just us and Joshua. However, when we found out that another baby was on the way, my thoughts immediately went to the need for another room. Did I mention our apartment was on the 3rd floor. It was already a challenge to drag Joshua up the stairs along with whatever belongings we had on that particular trip (diaper bag, purse, groceries, lunch kit, etc.). I decided that we needed to move around October or November of last year, which put me in the last trimester of being pregnant with Gabe. When the time came, we just didn't feel a peace about moving, so we kept putting it off. Once I realized I could make my big pregnant self go up those stairs, it wasn't as big of a deal. I was a little nervous though about taking two babies up the stairs once Gabe came. Somehow God gave me super powers because we we made it for 4.5 months...me, Gabe, Josh and all our gear.

I don't know why I am giving so many details except to say that it was a HUGE blessing when Peter told me on my birthday in April that his present to me would be a move into a 3 bedroom apartment as soon as one was available. We were able to move into a 3 bedroom in June and it is on the 1st floor! It has literally changed my life to be on the 1st floor, not in an eternal sense (except I don't curse on the way up the stairs), but in a convenience sense! Not only did my husband give me this great gift, he also packed our apartment while I was on vacation in California with the boys AND moved us while I was at work the day after we got back from CA. He worked so hard to give us this gift, and we are enjoying so much having more space, and not having Gabe live in our room anymore! Thank you, Peter...you never cease to amaze me with the sacrifices you are willing to make for our family.