Growing baby!

I can't believe how quickly this summer has gone by. It seems crazy that it is the middle of August already. Brian is back home for good and things are slowly turning into normal, but what is normal anyway? I have started back to work; photographed a wedding last weekend, a bachelorettte party to photograph coming up, putting together albums and doing some freelance photo editing. In the meantime, our little girl is getting bigger, laughing and developing quite a personality. Just when we think we are getting into a routine or schedule somehow everything seems to change. Whoever said it first was absolutely correct, "babies change everything!"















































Abby's favorite toy.

Joey expresses his thoughts...

So, the other night I came home to this...



















Yep, those are dirty diapers. Ugh, it was so gross to clean up the first time, let alone twice and all chewed up. I couldn't even be mad. I just had to stop and take a picture.



















The culprit. Like he's thinking, "Huh, what'd I do?" Guess I would rather him take out his anxiety on the dirty diapers rather than anything else.

Brian left for Germany yesterday on another mission trip with the youth. Crazy summer!

Highlights from our trip

We made it back home and survived our first road trip with a two month old. We had a great time seeing family and friends. Here are some fun pics.




















Brian's siblings, Kevin and Katie finally meet Abby.

















Our friends, Shelley and JJ, had their baby, Sadie, 12 days before Abby. It was fun to hang out and take pictures of the girls.











































Our friends, Terry and Sarah, were married on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for them.

Mexico

Now that I'm away on vacation (and praise God we are!), I finally find some time to reflect back on my Mexico trip with the youth group at our new church. We went down on July 1st for a week and we stayed in La Feria, Texas and traveled back and forth to Rio Bravo, Mexico each day.

Our group was able to build two houses (here in America we would probably call them sheds) for two families in Rio Bravo. In addition to giving these families a new home, we all chipped in and bought them a few additional gifts like a family Bible, pillows and some clothes. We also helped run a VBS for the kids in the village. I think we had around 100 kids attend that. During one of the days at the VBS, some of our girls had to opportunity to help with a foot washing ceremony for some of the women (mainly the mothers of the children at the VBS) on Wednesday that week. In addition to washing their feet, the girls painted the women's toe nails since these women never really pamper themselves normally. The girls work had a great impact on the women there. Four of the women (including the bus driver for the organization we worked with) came to know the Lord through their efforts.

In addition to the impact on the community in Mexico, God did some great things in the lives of our youth. The kids really opened up with each other and the adult leaders to share some struggles they are currently having in their lives as well as some changes they want to make now that they are back home. It never ceases to amaze me how God can orchestrate situations to benefit everyone involved in them. What a wonderful Lord we serve!

All in all, it was a great week. Here's a couple of pictures from the week...















Here's my half of our group and the house we built and the family we built it for.

















Here's our family receiving their gifts from us at the house dedication ceremony.

















The other family our group built for standing in front of their new house.

















Some of the children that hung out at our work site and played with us.

















A cool shot of our team leaving the beach at South Padre Island in Texas.

We are in North Carolina!

After a long drive through the night, we made it to the Outer Banks in NC. We are spending the week with Brian's side of the family, visiting friends, and going to a wedding. Looking forward to relaxing on the beach.

GG is in town!

Great Grandma Mary has been with us for the last two and a half weeks, visiting from California. We have had a blast with her and she loves her first great grandchild.



















Brian has been in Mexico on a mission trip with the youth the past week. I definitely appreciate him all the more now that I've experienced being a single mom. I have been counting down the days till his return. It's amazing how each week Abby seems to grow physically and mentally. I'm amazed how she looks around and will talk to her mobile above her bed for a good twenty minutes. Part of me wishes she would stay a baby forever, but it is exciting to watch her develop. My love for her grows everyday in way I can't describe. Now that I have a child I appreciate what God has done for me in a new way. I can see more of what a great sacrifice it was for him to give up his Son on the cross for such undeserving people such as myself.














Ladies day out! 4 generations :)














Aunt Jessica feeding Abby. If only every meal was in a beautiful garden! Hey Uncle Tim, Abby needs a cousin ;) hint hint.




















Joey has been great with Abby even though he seems to realize he isn't the baby anymore.

Pictures speak louder than words...