reflect

What a month.

This summer has been packed full of joys and sorrows, endings and beginnings, loss and change and joy. Lots of joy and lots of laughs.

I wish I could summarize it adaquately, but that might be a bit too personal for this 'ol blog.

I will share, though, about particular days.

This was the best monsoon of the summer. Complete with intense hail!

 Zoey is growing and changing every day. She loves her daddy.

And our Zoey bird just turned six months! This was her at five months. What a little gem.

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 My dear friend/room mate from Bible School came to visit! We've been so fortunate to see her nearly every summer. Not often more than a couple of days, but my heart rejoices that I've actually been able to see her at all. She's a dear soul sister in Christ and I am so thankful for her. I miss her so.

 Love this shot.

Kate and her dear road-trip friends. Two of the four summers I've seen them I've been pregnant. How fast life goes, man.

Last week Zoey's torticollis came back, this time with revenge. It was rough to see our sweet birdy have such a hard time with her neck. But after many stretches and extra tummy time, she's back at it and stronger than ever. So incredible how the body works and what growth spurts do to us. In her case, a physical growth but, but I can feel the inner changes during an adult-growth spurt. Equally they're not fun, but oh so worth it.

My Grandpa passed away a week ago. It was a bittersweet time as family gathered from all over (including my dear brother, his wife and their little Junebug!) It was so wonderful to see all of them, though sad to sad goodbye to my dear grandpa. He's the first relative I've lost in my adult life and death is a tough one. There's great joy knowing that he's with Jesus, but it's hard to say goodbye.

Grandpa's legacy. And there were even some missing.

Cousin friends! They're only two weeks apart. Loved meeting Junebug. Can't wait to watch her grow!

LOVE this shot.

Jack gets in on the fun.

Grandpa and three of his five grand kids.

My cousin, Mandy's little girl Elly loved holding Zoey. It was so precious.  The two of them were like baby-twins and I can already see that their disposition is similar. So amazing to have cousin's kids look similar! 

Ender, another cousin's kiddo. So cute in his little pants!

 Cousins and toys and legos. Oh my goodness.

The girl's crashed. That was a rough weekend on little babies. 

Cousins and Uncles looking through pictures of years past. A favorite pastime for most of us.

Leslie and Ender. Such a dear friend and fellow dreamer.

My cousin Mary and Elly. (p.s. those are the best cookies in the world. Mmmm..)

Aunt Connie, Mandy and Abbie. Abbie has perfected her smile-from-the-internet. LOVELY!

As if to bid Grandpa a good farewell a beautiful monsoon made it's appearance with fierce winds and light rain. We ran around in the grass to try to take it all in.

My sister in law, Mel and Juniper.

Abbie and Andy. 

An attempt at a family picture. I'll try to work it with it to lighten the orange, but that was the only one where I didn't look pregnant. Sorry, mom! ;)

And to polish off the weekend we celebrated dad's 60th birthday early (since everyone was there.) It was complete with a chocolate cake and Olive Garden takeout. So wonderful.

More pictures to come...and more thoughts. But for now, my little two year old is holding onto my arm after waking up from a good nap.

...'til later.