All Sorts of Things and a Traveling Rocker Baby

To answer your question:
Yes, I'm still blogging!!
If you can't read the WHOLE post, AT LEAST look the pictures!!
Pay special attention to the fam pics by Brandon & Bethan!

Jude in his rocker baby do!

He looks like a different kid doesn't he?!
We've come to find that moving is the theme of Jude's life. His little body is always going, even when he's sleeping he's all over the bed!! He's also been on 6 round-trip flights and by the time we move he will have taken 8!!! This little one is a trooper!

He's using lots of words now and beginning to sign really well. Although it is quite common that he learns the word before he learns the sign! What good is that?? He now uses signs for eat, momma, thank you, please, fish, and water. He attempts to sign cracker and diaper as well.

He's constantly singing or making music with anything he can turn into a musical instrument! He's fallen in love with guitars. Somehow he knows to hit the strings and not the body...he pays more attention to things than we think! He's also recently learned not just to bang, but to strum with his fingers!

He's mastered a quick walk that's sure to turn into a run in no time. As always, he LOVES to play chase with Daddy. He giggles so hard as he walks that it makes him fall!

Here's a recent development...Rocker Baby.

We spent a great two weeks in Colorado at PILAT, a how-to-learn-language school...meaning we didn't actually learn our target language. I know this is confusing...it was to us before we went! But we were so thankful for it! It focused on a learner-driven style and taught us how to prepare best for using a language tutor. We were also surrounded by gorgeous scenery and new friends! I was so excited that we got to hike!Sunrise Picture!!
Gorgeous Colorado Sunrise! PTL!

Our new friends Consuelo & Aaron with precious Malachi & Sonora!
(Give us a break, it's hard to get 3 kids to look at the camera!)
(for the record, Jude is blowing a kiss to the camera!)
My friend Becky and I on Pike's Peak
(okay so we didn't exactly make it to the Peak...)

So in a 24-hr turnaround we headed to College Station to connect with our WONDERFUL friends there! We were so thrilled to be back at LH! We got share at Hope Groups and meet some new friends! Thanks so much to the Royers, Supers, and Amanda who let us crash their places! Here's a fun video of Jude and Josiah! I just caught the tail-end of Jude laughing at Mrs. Rachel!




Here are Thomas & Rachel! Our sweet, sweet friends who willingly host us EVERY time we come to College Station! We are so thankful for their wonderful hearts! The Father is really working among us!
(who knows why my eyebrows are clear up to heaven in this picture!
I was happy, what can I say?)

So in another whirlwind 24hr turn around, we headed to be with our friends Brandon & Bethan in KY for 6 days!! We SO enjoyed our time with them and I, personally, gained so much from this godly woman! Just being in her presence is good for my soul! We got to talk through a lot of things that really gave me a lot of perspective! I am so thankful for their place in our lives!
But can you believe that the WHOLE time we were there we did not get ONE picture of the four of us!??! TRAGIC!!!
However, they did take some fun pics of us!! They are so talented!
Sweet Kisses!!
May He make our path straight...
Precious Jude!!Finally! Couple Pictures! These are our first since our engagement!


Want to hire them? They're professional photographers! And they're willing to travel!!

And AFTER THAT...in a 5 hr turn around, my sister Kaye and niece Gracie (who live in FL) surprised us in Houston!! Soon followed my sister Mary and niece Chloe (who live in San Antonio)!! And of course wonderful Amy was already here in Houston! It was so fun to be all together again! I definitely didn't think this was going to happen for AWHILE!
This a pic my mom caught of me cuddling Grace when they surprised me!
I was so thrilled to see her!! You can connect emotionally with adults over the phone or Skype...but babies are so different, you just have to be there to touch them! And I thought I wasn't going to get to hold Grace for several YEARS!

Okay, that's enough uploading of pictures!! I'm just going to have to do the pictures of Jude, Grace, & Chloe later!!

Hope you made it through the whole ENTIRE post!