The beach

Ainsley's First Drive in Movie

Here we are- the car is all set for us to lay back and enjoy the movie

Here's the screen and all the cars lined up for the show. Ainsley didn't quite know what to think about the idea of a drive in movie. The skeeters decided to join us for the movie though, so the littlest member of the movie crowd was not so excited about the drive in.

Playing in the fountains

Lillianna LOVED playing in the water

Splash, splash, splash

Lillianna leads the charge into the water

Ainsley was not so sure about the fountains- she doesn't like the water getting in her eyes

Discovery World

laying on a bed of nails

the ship

Fish, fish everywhere

petting the fish

The "Hive" a 3-d simulator of outer space- we got to walk on the rings of saturn

A visit from Ainsley & Oma

Mixing up birthday cupcakes

a cupcake that looks like an ice cream cone, tastes good!

Lillianna learns the art of licking the spoon

Lillianna Goes to camp

Not even 10 months old and Lillianna has already gone to her first week of Bible camp! She loved it. She loves being outside and if she had the option would spend all her time there, so camp was perfect for her. Plus, she recieved non-stop attention while we were there. Who doesn't love a baby? And one who is as charming as she is gets lots of loving. It was so amazing to bring her to a place that I love so much and have seen change so many lives. It was also fun to see how she was able to break down walls between people. The week we were there, there was our group from Racine, another group from a Spanish speaking church in inner city Minneapolis, and a group of kids from a special ed class in rural WI. It took a while for this combination to start to become friends and become a community, but some of that happened while they would get to know Lillianna.

Having fun at camp

Worship

Going to the farm

On Thursday, we went to "Land Connection" which is a farm that is run by a retired pastor and in the summer is opened up to kids from camp to come and learn about where our food and other resources come from. It is always amazing to me how little our kids know about these things. The kids love it because the get to sample some things from the garden- this year it was just chives and spinach since it has been so cold and because they get to pet the animals. Lillianna loved the animals. Even though it was nap time, she was non-stop smiles and squeels! I have a feeling we are going to be saying no to a lot of requests for pets in the years to come.

Camp Friends

Miranda greeted us at the car the day we arrived with hugs and told us that we were her new friends. It was true. She was born with a whole area of birth defects and has had to have many surgeries in her life, but is one of the most joyful, gentle souls I have ever met. I miss her a bit now that we are home. She has about 20 things she says over and over- "You're my friend" "We match" "I know someone with that name" "She looked at me" Her and Lillianna became friends fast and it was wonderful to see them enjoy one another. Thanks Miranda for reminding me of how easy it is to look for the good in life!

This is Alicia she was another special needs camper that spent the week at camp with us. She also LOVED Lillianna. She did a lot of walking with her last week.

This is Ronald from Uganda. He could make Lillianna laugh and laugh!

Allelwah- a friend from Racine at camp with us for the week and my HUGE helper for the week. It would have been a much tougher week without her help. She even changed some diapers! Here is Lillianna doing we favorite thing these days- walking. It won't be long before she can do it herself, but for now we have the backbreaking job of walking with her. All. the. time.