MILESTONESThis past month has been a big month in our household. One Sunday we dedicated all three children to the Lord in church and the next Sunday Pete was baptized! So much to be thankful for and praise God for...(ask Pete more about his baptism if you are interested).

Silas did it!! He is officially potty trained and we are definitely praising God for this accomplishment. He's showing off his dry diaper after a good night's sleep.

We finally found a dress up outfit for Silas... Woody. He hasn't worn a dress in a few weeks now...another big accomplishment.

Look who has 2 teeth and started eating solids! Josiah is almost 7 months old now and learning all sorts of new things. He's eating, sitting up, laughing, and looking very cute.

Joe even slept through the night 2 nights in a row...14 hours straight to be exact! Holy Moly!

What a cutie!

Lily finished her first soccer season this past week. She had a lot of fun running up and down the field, occasionally kicking the ball and I had a lot of fun coaching all the kids.

Lily, Kate and Sadie showing off their soccer medals at the end of the season party in our backyard.

We have enjoyed getting to know these two families who both have cute little babies. Darius(who is sitting next to Pete and holding Ella) and his wife Alison are leading a small group with us at church and it's been great getting to know their family. Clark (next to Darius holding Sammy) and his wife Natalie have also been awesome friends to us since we moved to Austin. You guys all ROCK!!!

This is my sweet friend Krista Enoch who I have known for 16 years. We ministered together to innercity kids in Rochester, New York when we were students at Wheaton. I got to hang out with her for a couple of days when she was visiting in Dallas. LOVED every minute of it!

Enjoying life...Yes, this is me (Lori) back when I was 12 years old and I wore braces for 1 year. My teeth needed a lot of work but they came out looking perfect. They stayed looking great until....

Five years ago when my two front teeth decided to grow apart again. After a few years of trying to get use to "the space", I decided to get braces again and get rid of the space. I feel like a junior high kid again with my braces. In this picture you can see a small ear ring in my ear. The same week I got my braces put on, I got my ears re-pierced. EXCITING!

The three kiddos looking cute and enjoying one another.

Lily posing in B and Grandad's beautiful backyard. We sure have enjoyed being able to drive over to their house for the day or an overnight.

Pete had a conference for work in Seattle so he took me and Joe along and we made it into a mini vacation. We spent the weekend at one of our favorite spots in the world, Olympic National Park. We had the perfect date that day: a hike around Lake Crescent, dinner at the Historic Lodge, then dessert by the lake while watching the sunset. What a refreshing break!

Here we are on top of Hurricane Ridge soaking in the amazing views.

We spent 3 days in Seattle for Pete's conference. During that time, Joe and I explored Seattle and found some great coffee shops, bookstores, parks, and enjoyed cooler weather.

Here's Joe hanging out at the yummy bakery in Pioneer Square where we ate lunch.

Lily is playing soccer! She is having so much fun making new friends and learning how to be aggressive. She was a bit timid the first two games but then something clicked for her during the third game and she was on fire! She went after every ball, made break aways down the field and even scored a goal! Her coach was sure proud... do you recognize her coach in the picture?

Here's Lily on the sidelines with one of her new friends, Kate.

Daddy playing lincoln logs with his cute kids.

We have enjoyed being a part of a new small group at church . We(five families) meet in a different home each week, eat dinner, worship, then the adults have a study while the 16 kids all play together. Here's Silas and Lily before they went to the play "The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe" with other members of our small group.

We are also enjoying getting to know our neighbors. And we are especially excited to get to know a young couple down the street with a daughter, Emma, who is Lily's age. Here's Silas and Lily after we went to Emma's birthday party. Lily got her face painted like a cat and Silas was a tiger. They ended up looking like twins.

STARRING: JOE

our superbaby
with his favorite sister Lily

with his sweet cousin Evan

with his adoring siblings

twins with Lily
with his beautiful great grandmother Dottiebeing his cute, sweet self. We love you JOE!

I realized there was a lack of pictures of Joe in the last two updates so he's the star of this update. He is now 4 months old and doing great. We are so thankful for this sweet boy... what a blessing he is to our family!

JULY

A month to remember

"We're ready for take-off"... Lily and Silas looking like pilots in the backseat as they listen to one of many movies on our roadtrip to the Midwest. They did a great job on this 21 hour drive that we decided to drive straight through.

Our visit started in Columbus, Indiana where we enjoyed 2 weeks with Pete's family. Silas is helping Grandpa catch some fish.

Lily having fun with Grandma.
Celebrating the 4th of July with some sparklers.
We loved hanging out with Ben (Pete's bro.) and his wife Jess and son Jonas. Here we are on a refreshing hike in Brown County. We went on the hike after we ate a delicious breakfast at the Hob Nob, an all time favorite spot for us when we visit Indiana.

Silas enjoying the ride on Daddy's back.

Lily and Silas both LOVED hanging with their cousins. Here's Lily with Jonas.

Since the kids never get to go to their cousin's b-day parties, we had one big birthday party for everyone. Here they are blowing out the candles on their cupcakes.

The main activity for the birthday party was playing with this ball sprinkler. Fun times!

We all spent an afternoon at Aunt Jess's house playing in their BIG backyard.

Lily and Silas standing with Ada, Allie, and Lucy Glaser (Pete's sister Jamie's kids).

One evening the grandparents babysat the kids and the siblings went out on the town. We found that Columbus has some fun night spots. We ate dinner at a restaurant where there was wonderful live music. Can anyone recognize who the musicians are?? Ben and Jess Newell... they ROCK!

Ahhhhhh..... I love my Newell sisters! Here I am with Jamie when we said goodbye at Wheaton College campus where she was joining her husband Josh for a conference. We sure had fun with Aunt Jamie!

After we dropped Aunt Jamie off, we drove on to Sycamore, IL where we spent 2 more weeks. Lily continues to love anything that moves. Here she is showing off her frog that she caught in the backyard.

Having fun in the driveway at 541 Lincolnshire Dr..... this will be the last time to visit 541.

We enjoyed the county fairs in the Midwest: one in Columbus, IN and another one in St. Charles, IL. The kids loved seeing all the farm animals. There was a great petting zoo at the IL fair.

Lily's favorite was this little chicken. She was ready to take it home with her.

This was garage sale #2 , only 6 days after garage sale #1 at 541 Lincolnshire. Mom and Dad sold their house in Sycamore the week before we got there so we spent the time getting it cleared out for the new owner.

After a week of clearing out the Sycamore house we were ready for a break, so we accepted the Floits offer to visit them up at Washington Island, WI. What a wonderful few days we had with them (Ron and Mary, Ingrid, and Gretchen and her husband, Mike and 2 boys). We loved relaxing at the beach, touring around the Island, enjoying the sunsets, watching the boats go by, and visiting with our dear friends.

Lil and Silas loved hanging out with Miles Minard, Gretchen's oldest son. They were very sad to say goodbye when we left.

Enjoying an island sunset right outside the Floit's back door.

Saying goodbye.... until next time. Love you guys!

Playing ping pong one last time in the garage at 541 Lincolnshire. This was a favorite pastime growing up.

And one last picture taken in front of the house. Mom, Dad, Ron and I with our 7 kids. It was an emotional 2 weeks, as we realized it would be the very last time to be in the house we loved.
God sure did bless us big time in that home and we are so thankful for all of the awesome memories we have from there. I am especially thankful to mom and dad for giving me such an incredible childhood. The words that come to mind when I think of growing up in that house are: good memories(from the day I came home from the hospital after being born to the day I got married), home, consistency, safety, warmth, love, acceptance, rest, welcome, familiarty, always there, dependable and fun. I'm going to miss that place a whole, whole lot, but as my mom reminded me, heaven is my true home and I will look forward to the day when I spend eternity there with Jesus.

Time to go back to Austin after being away for a month. Our road trip home was a little more leisurely and we stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit their zoo. It just happened to be the one day out of the year when admission is free.

WOW.... what a GREAT trip!!.... fun memories of our times with family and we also got to see many, many friends who we love so much. Thank you everyone who made the effort to see us and spend time with us. We loved every minute of our time with each of you!!!!!!!!!!! Now it's your turn to come and see us in Austin. You are always welcome.