august recap

hey again! so now that's it october, i thought i would go back and review the month of august! :) not sure how much i can remember though....we had some fun visitors: phil's oldest nephew, ben, came out for 6 days. they ran around the city, watched the air and water show, and then we went up to WI for a couple days of camping which was really good. we went back to Devil's Lake State Park, which we hadn't been to in several years - we highly recommend it. there are some awesome hikes and it doesn't take too long to get up to a really nice view. we are planning to go back up there in a couple wks. to enjoy the fall colors and hopefully not freeze for one last camping trip of the year!





then right after ben left our friend ann came for a few days. we used to work together at Sunshine Gospel Ministries, but she left a year ago to take a break, travel the world and figure out where God is taking her next. it was fun to catch up and we got to help phil work at a neighborhood festival where the coffeeshop our church owns (ipsento) had a stand selling frozen mochas....yummy! :)





then phil and i celebrated 8 YEARS of wedded bliss. we can hardly believe it - it's a good reminder to make the most of each day b/c they fly by so quickly. we went out for a nice dinner and then attended a seminar on "openness" w/ our adoption agency. it was actually a really good evening....and crazy to think that most likely by the time we celebrate another anniversary we will be parents! anyway, they had a birth mom there who gave up her little boy 2 yrs ago but one of her requirements was that the adoption be completely open: meaning she has a relationship w/ her son and his parents. it was really good to hear her perspective and we were already willing to consider an open adoption but now i think i really want it - it could be really cool to have a relationship w/ the birth mom and see how God could use that. as well as making it a lot easier on the kid.







so, to wrap up august and the whole summer, we went back out to MI for labor day wknd to hang out w/our friends at the lake. it was....well, how can i put it? WONDERFUL! there were around 10 of us that went out and we did it all: tubing, skiiing, swimming, fishing, laughing, sleeping, puzzle making, eating, and more! oh yeah, and on the last morning, our friend's grandpa (whose house we were staying at), said, "i'm really surprised no one took the kayaks out - it's a perfect morning for it...." - so i went to find phil and said, "grandpa T just twisted my arm - we have to take the kayaks out before we leave b/c we don't want them (the neglected kayaks or the grandparents) to feel bad"! :) it was a delightful way to wrap up a perfect wknd. thanks so much to our dear friends the gilberts and talens!!!









that last pic is me and my friend sara tubing - she was gonna go by herself (she hadn't been out yet but most of us already had), so i said, "friends don't let friends tube alone!" ;) well i think that's all i've got for now. maybe in my next post i will actually tell you about the books i read this summer - there were some good ones!