Mommy's Helper

I've been praying that Karis will have a servants heart since I knew that I was pregnant.  It's my and Mike's desire that our kids will be loving, kind, and helpful to others -  among lots of other things.  This week I got to see my prayer for Karis start to take action.  She's REALLY mobile now, and is following me all over the place.  It was so sweet to see that she takes such joy in trying to help mommy.  I'm going to continue to pray that she has a servants heart, and I'm super excited to see how the Lord answers it!  Here are some pictures from the last week of Karis being a helper.


She helped Mommy cook, and even practiced some taste testing!  I know that soon we'll be making some scrumptious meals together!

She even helped unload and reload the dishwasher.

The next day Karis helped me reorganize my shoes.

At the end of the week when Mommy was tired, she "read" Mommy some of her favorite stories.   She's already a great reader!  They were full of expression.  One went something like this:  "ba ba bababa!  dada da!  Baby!  baba  ba  Mama!"  It was great! 

July 4th

For the 4th this year we just relaxed, went to church, grilled out, watched a few fireworks, and had some chocolate vanilla swirl yogurt.  It was great!!  This weekend we also went to the park to play and did a few odds and ends at the house. 

This weekend Karis is also 11 months old!!!!  I can't believe how fast time has flown!  It's kind of sad to me how she's not really a baby anymore. :(  Karis is doing so good!  She's crawling all over the place, pulling up on anything she can manage, and she's "talking" away!  She does say mama, dada, pawpaw, dog, baby, and yea.  Her vocab is definately starting to grow!  She loves dogs and her baby.  She also loves her daddy!!  I love how she crawls up in his lap and lays on his chest.  It's precious!!! 

We've also had to start "loving" on her a little bit when she throws a fit or won't listen.  That's been a little difficult, but I definately want her to learn right from wrong.  I am starting to see just how much I don't know about raising a baby and how much I need the Lord's guidance.  It's a little overwhelming sometimes to think how I could make it without the Lord's help.  Thank you Jesus for being such a great, gracious teacher!!

Here are some pics from the weekend!

The Month of June

Here are some pics of our trip into Amarillo.  We went into town to see my brother & sister-in-law before they move half way around the world for a few years.  Tim and Tonya are missionaries for MAF.  They recently recieved a new assignment to Kenya.  It was really good to see them, even if it was only for a few hours!  Please support them with your prayers as they are moving themselves and their five kiddos to Nairobi.  We will try to post more about them later on when they get settled.  You can also go to the link at the bottom left that says "Tim & Tonya" for more info.

We also visited my parents while we were in town.  Karis LOVES dogs.  She found a new friend in Yaffie while we were there.  Here are some pics of Karis and Yaffie and her PawPaw.

My wonderful Hubby, Mike, also celebrated his birthday while we were in Amarillo. 

The last weekend in June we took Karis to the aquarium.  She absolutely loved it!  I couldn't get very good pics of her though because she was glued to the fish and other animals. She would literally try to move me out of the way so she could see.  Here are some of the ones that I did get.

The rest of these pics are from the park and just hanging around the house.