Our Busy July

We anticipated that July was going to be a busy month for our family and it certainly exceded our expectations! Nathan serves as the Director of the Summer Institute Program at Master's College and all the students in that program are on campus for the 4 weeks of July. After spending 6 months interacting with nearly 150 students via phone and email, it was a joy for him to finally meet all the students and get to know them a little. But it also kept his schedule very full so he wasn't home too much. The kids and I went over the college a lot to see him though. In doing so, we also got to meet many of the students and make lots of new friends. Above is a picture of some of the students, faculty and staff who were here this summer.

I was blessed to participate in the program two ways this year. First, as a professor (wow! that sounds very official!!) And I feel very unqualified for such a title. But it was a huge blessing! I spent a week with 4 women in a discipleship-type class. And although I was the instructor, I learned so much through the experience. Second, I took my LAST class in the MABC program!!! Yeah!! And I was so fortunate to have Dr. Stuart Scott as my professor. He is a great teacher and I learned so much from him in the course of just one week.

While I was at school, Micah and Ashlyn had fun with Dianna (or Dinanna as Micah affectionately calls her). Thank you so much for caring for our little ones during this hectic time Dianna. It was such a blessing!

In spite of all our busyness though, we still managed to have some fun. So, here are some pictures from our fun times during our busy July. Enjoy...

We ate dinner in the cafeteria at Master's quite a bit this month. I loved it because I didn't have to cook. Micah loved it because he always got a special slushy drink and Miss Alma was constantly giving him yummy desserts. Add that to the soft-serve ice cream machine and you can bet that this kid was overloaded with sugar!

Nathan and Uncle Micah took a night off to take these two cute boys to a Dodger game. They had a blast, although I don't think they really knew there was a game going on. Micah andJosiah just had fun playing around together. But Micah now says he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up and he wants to play for the Dodgers (much to Daddy's chagrin - he's a Giants fan). As we were laughing about that thought, someone made the comment that if he ever did sign a big league contract with the Dodgers, Daddy would quickly become a Dodger fan!!


The Schlegel family (from Israel) was on campus for a few days so they had an IBEX reunion at the pool. Bill shared with us all about some of the things that have been going on with IBEX and also shared a devotional with us from Romans.


It was fun to see Stephanie again. I haven't seen her since we left Israel... 6 years ago.


Rod, Micah and Martin ~ Gooday Mate!

There were several students from Austrailia this summer and Micah had so much fun with them. A few of them came over one night to play games and teach Micah how to speak like an Aussie. They kept encouraging us to come visit Down Under and Micah is all ready to go. Now all we have to do is find the money to pay for the plane ticket! Yikes!

Ashlyn, Micah and Mama at the Hollywood Bowl

Micah's favorite movie is Mary Poppins. So when I found out that Julie Andrews would be at the Hollywood Bowl this month I knew he would love going. Most kids might not recognize Julie Andrews today as being the woman who played Mary Poppins, since it has been over 40 years since that movie was made. But on the 40th anniversary DVD there's a special bonus feature with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke reminiscing about making the movie - and Micah loves that just as much as the movie itself. Although they didn't play any music from Mary Poppins, there were several songs from the Sound of Music, another favorite of his.

Josiah and Micah at the Hollywood Bowl to see Julie Andrews

As we sat in the stands waiting for the performance to begin, Micah was so excited he was shaking. When the orchestra began with the Sound of Music, pictures from the movie appeared on the big screen, and Julie Andrews came on stage, he could hardly contain himself. It was fun to see him so excited! It was a great evening with wonderful music (including Jubilant Sykes as one of the guest vocalists). Micah gave us a good laugh at the end of the evening when he asked if we could go see Julie Andrews. He didn't understand that she doesn't know us since we know her so well. Doesn't she see us when we see her on the TV?

Lovin' on his sister...

We had fun cooling off at the Aquatic Center one day...

In addition to all that was going on at work, preparation for the Men's Conference also consumed a considerable amount of Nathan's time. There were nearly 400 men at the conference this year. Praise the Lord! It is exciting to see so many men eager to learn so they may effect change in the lives of others. If you weren't able to make it to the conference, DVD's from the 4 main sessions and MP3's of the breakout sessions will be made available through the website at www.masters.edu/mdm

Micah and Bonnie led the worship for the conference

Besides coordinating and "MC"ing the conference, this year Nathan got to join a great lineup of speakers in teaching one of the breakout sessions. It was a privilege for him to do that, but it also made for an incredibly full day. He was so thankful for the many volunteers who helped make the conference successful, especially Summer Martin and Dave Hulet - you guys were lifesavers!! Thanks so much!!

You can see more pictures from the conference at http://ckvphotography.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/324/

While Nathan was busy with the Men's Conference, I was busy with two little boys - Josiah spent the day at our house while Micah and Bonnie were at the conference. While I didn't find time to snap any pictures of Micah and Josiah, I did get one of Ashlyn and Joshua together at the end of the day. Joshua is growing fast and starting to catch up with Ashlyn.

It was a joy to have Karen Avinelis over for dinner one night. She is our friend who invited us to pick blueberries at the beginning of June. Micah enjoyed a partner in building a train track and reading Bible stories.

Ashlyn finished up the month with something new... grabbing her feet! It's so cute!

A Little Movin' and Shakin'

Welcome to Southern California living! Micah experienced his first earthquake on Tuesday morning. I'm sure we have had others in the last 4 years since he was born, but this one was big enough to actually feel - a magnitude 5.4. What surprised me was the sound. I was so focused on trying to figure out what the noise was that it was almost over by the time I realized the whole house was shaking. That was fortunate though because it was all over by the time panic struck. Needless to say, Micah received his first lesson in what to do next time he feels the earth shaking ~ run for the nearest table, get underneath it and stay there until an adult tells you to come out. This picture is his reenactment of that instruction.

When I asked Micah what he thought about the earthquake, his response was, "It hurt my ears." I guess I'm not the only one who thought it was loud.

As for Ashlyn, the shaking was enough to wake her up momentarily and notice that her mobile was swaying back and forth. But she quickly went back to sleep. She probably figured it was just her big brother jumping around again...

Growing so fast...

Ashlyn turned 4 months old on Thursday. With the last month she is not only getting bigger, but also starting to do more. It's so fun!!! I love this stage with babies as they begin to interact with the world around them. We are so enjoying our baby girl ~ she brings such joy to our lives. Here's a few of her new things from this month...

Sitting with her sweetheart bear

She moved out of the bassinet (and Daddy & Mama's room) into her crib. Micah is thrilled to have a roommate!

Beautiful new facial expressions

Discovering her hands ~ one day I caught her just staring at her hands as she was trying to clasp them together. It was so cute!

Blowing bubbles

Getting an "updo" ~ she finally has enough hair for me to try to play with it a little

Beautiful baby eyes

Her newest thing is licking anything that comes near her mouth. (Watch out if you try to give her a kiss!) She was in her baby bjorn this particular day when I realized that the entire side of it near her face was all wet and her tongue seemed to be glued to it, of course only until we pulled out the camera. We tried to get a picture of that tongue but she just wouldn't cooperate. The tongue, combined with oodles of drool that come forth from her mouth have led us to finally pull out the bibs in an effort to try to keep her shirts dry. It didn't really work with Micah though, so I'm not expecting it to help with her either. It looks like we've got another drooler on our hands...

The 4th of July

Our little American Sweetheart!

Today Ashlyn discovered that she can use her feet to make noise with the rattles on her bouncy seat.


Micah had fun making an Uncle Sam hat. Of course, now he wants to know "Who's Uncle Sam?"

We went to the lake for a picnic and to watch the fireworks

While we waited, Micah had fun playing in the water...

...and playing with the rocks.

Ashlyn enjoyed being out at the lake, but she didn't stay awake long enough to actually see the fireworks.

We ran into the ice cream truck at the park so Micah enjoyed cooling off with a popsicle

Ashlyn and Daddy

When the policeman came through on the quad he stopped to give Micah a "Jr. Officer Badge."

Hope you all had a fun 4th of July!

Look at our Big 4 Year Old!!

We celebrated Micah's actual birth-date with a special family day. It was fun to have Daddy home with us for breakfast and a little morning adventure. Here's what we did...

We started the day with Breakfast Birthday Cake ~ a family tradition

Micah received a few more presents, including this sand and water table which he absolutely loves! It makes a huge mess, but he has lots of fun doing it!

After breakfast we went to Mountasia and took a few spins on the bumper boats. It was a hot day so it felt good to get wet.

While Daddy and Mama took turns on the boat with Micah, Ashlyn was content to lay in the shade


Cuddle time with Micah and Ashlyn

Daddy got Micah an air-powered plane for his birthday. They had fun testing it out at the local park. It was pretty windy though so the plane certainly had mind of its own. It thought it was a kamikaze plane from WWII... There was not a safe kid in the park. Fortunately it didn't actually hit anyone!!! We'll have to try that again in a less crowded park.

Micah finished his special day with his free ice cream from Baskin Robbins - can you see the blue ice cream all around his lips? I guess it must have been good!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

We celebrated Micah's 4th birthday with a party at a local park on June 28th. He invited several of his friends and provided me with all the instructions for the type of party he wanted... lots of people, a backhoe cake, a pinata, and lots of balloons. He had so much fun and is already talking about what he wants to do for his 5th birthday! Thanks to everyone who was able to come and make it a special day for him!

Look at me, I'm 4 years old!!

The backhoe cake ~ there was a lot of candy used to decorate the cake so the kids all had fun picking out what part of the cake they wanted to eat. (Micah had fun decorating it as he got to "sample" all the different candy. Too much sugar for this kid!)

Blowing out the candles

Hanging out with his friends

The kids all had fun going to the top of a nearby hill and then running down

Micah and his buddy Jack

Cooling off with a little water (thanks to Daddy!)

Pinata time ~ no big sticks for this pinata. The kids had to jump and pull on a piece of caution tape. Grab the right tape and you open the trap door to let out all the candy.

The wind made this task a little difficult

Jack got the lucky piece of caution tape

Micah was excited about his new Mack transporter

Micah, Daddy, Ashlyn, and Mama

After the party (and a nap), Micah and Josiah had fun playing the pool

The babies were content to sleep while the boys splashed around

And they got a little play time together at home. Joshua is starting to catch up with Ashlyn. He's not looking like a newborn anymore.

Daddy made special "ice cream mice" for dessert

We finished the day with the wrecking ball game that we weren't able to play at the park because there was too much wind.