Planting flowers with Mommy....

..... and getting oh so very dirty.

Fall

We had the opportunity to visit true "fall" this past week in Greenlake, Wisconsin. Lee and I left our little boy behind with Grandma and Papa Bob to attend a Church Planters Assessment that was being held there.

Of course, it was very cold (to us!) but a very beautiful place. And not to make it TOO poetic, but seeing all the "change" taking place in creation around us seemed to symbolize the change we are embarking on in our own lives and ministry....

As far as our trip this past week goes: It was an awesome, insightful, inspiring, intense, encouraging, new-friend-making time in which a few dozen assessors and counselors observed and analyzed us. Hovering around us with clipboards and after many questions, laughs, and tears over the days together, these wise men and women spoke into our lives. They lovingly shared what they see as our gifts, strengths, and weaknesses and confirmed the calling we feel God has placed in our hearts. It is hard to sum it all up in a few paragraphs, but it was an awesome time. Thanks for all of your prayers for us!

And Aaron did great with Grandma and Papa Bob =) I came home last night and Lee comes home tomorrow, so it will be good to be back together as a family again.

Birthday lunch

My mom took me and my "female family" out to lunch today to celebrate my 30th birthday at Crackers. It was so yummy and a lot of fun to be with them to celebrate - I am so blessed to have such strong relationships/friendships with my cousins, aunt, and sister-in-law.

Hmmm.  I'm eating chocolate cake in yet another photo....  =)

Thanks for all the fun today and for blessing me - Love you guys!

Playmates

Cousin Brynn got to come over for a few hours tonight and we had a lot of fun! For some reason, Aaron was especially happy about her presence at our house and kept following her around hugging her and grabbing her shoulders....
He even had to honk her nose (he loves to do this to all people so be careful if you are ever in arm's reach of him) Incidentally, he learned this skill from Auntie Tanya anyway. Brynn tolerated his affections very well =) They are going to be good cousins together!

Florida

We spent the past 10 days visiting Lee's parents and sister and husband in Fort Myers, Florida. We had a great time visiting them and did a lot of fun stuff throughout our visit. (I wasn't super happy with my quality or quantity of my pictures, but I'll put up what I have that is decent =) )

We of course, went to the beach....

Went to a water-ski show....
Went to Naples Zoo....
While at the zoo, we went to a live alligator feeding - so cool!

We also got to celebrate my 30th birthday (AHHH!) while there. Lee and I got a date night that evening and went to an awesome local Thai restaurant.

Check out the amazing way they cut the carrot (at the top of my plate) and made it look like a rose with my Teriyaki chicken entree!
Lee got his sushi fix - I tried some things, but I am not very brave even though I love seafood.

Lee's mom, Glenda, bought the most amazing chocolate cake I've ever seen and tasted.

MMMMMMMMM. I cannot express how good it was.

We did a lot of laughing, eating, and shopping. Aaron enjoyed getting to know his Gi-Gi (for Grandma Glenda), Grandpa Tim, Aunt Heidi, and Uncle Spencer.