What's new?

Greetings!  Long time no write!  Wow, you have a kiddo, and life just seems to get busier!  Priorities definitely change, as I have not posted since April!  Anyways, life is good.  At this point in our lives, Matt is in Africa, Charity is on the hunt for a new adventure in nursing, and Gavin is about to turn 2!  What a crazy, fun, and emotional time!  Though at times we become weary of the day to day responsibilities, we find great joy in small things like going for bikerides, looking for creatures, feeding birds, reading books before bedtime, and sitting on the porch at dusk eating ice cream as the loudness of the day begins to quiet down.  Though it seems to become more and more difficult to make time for those moments amongst all the "things to do," we're trying!!!  Hope you're finding some time to make sweet memories in the chaotic days of your life as well!  We love you all!  Enjoy the pics! 

Happy Spring!

Happy New Year!

Our crazy life...

Well, a lot has happened since our last blog post! In short, our family went to Louisville, KY, Calhoun, TN, and San Francisco, CA, and Matt has gone to Amman, Jordan, Singapore, Indonesia, and is now somewhere called Baubau. I still need to look that place up! I can't speak for Matt's trips, as he is still gone at the moment, but I will say that our family trips were wonderful! What a blessing for the three of us to go visit people from our recent past and go to a Missions conference with people who have a heart for Somali people living in the horn of Africa. After that conference, all I can say is that there is a great need beyond the borders of North America and that it would do each of us good to experience it for ourselves to realize how unimportant our "stressors" are day to day. In short, I will say that I gained a major perspective change! If you want to know more, please ask! I'd love to share what the Lord taught me that week! Enjoy the pics!

Happy September!

Hey everyone! Was your summer all that you hoped it would be? It always seems to go faster than you want it to, doesn't it?! Has all of the busyness of the season started? It just seems like we find ourselves too busy all the time. I'm learning that, at some point, we need to say no to some things for our own well-being and that of our family's! Although working at it, we still feel so tired and overcommitted, but are striving toward simplifying!

Well, our sweet baby boy turned one! We can't believe it's been a year since he came into this world! What a wonderful year it's been! One of my best years, for sure! These days, Gavin is crawling all over the place and getting into all kinds of things. One day, he actually crawled into a cabinet and just sat in there and played. I cracked up when I found him, just as happy as he could be! He's not quite to the point of walking, but if you'll just give him a little support, he's able to walk pretty well and has a huge grin on his face! He talks quite a bit. We love to hear his sweet voice! The only words we know that he's saying for sure are mama or dad. Other times, it sure sounds like he says words, like "cheese, all done, etc..." Not positive, though. He's eating many more finger foods. We've pretty much stopped pureeing his foods. There's not a lot of food he doesn't like. I think avocados are the only thing he can't get down! If we put food on a spoon, he can put it in his mouth. He's not consistently sleeping through the night, but is more than ever, which Matt and I appreciate! It's so fun to watch him grow! Well, that's it for now.

Love you all!

Enjoy the pics! They're mostly of Gavin playing around the house, a family photo shoot we had done recently and his birthday!