Chlorine, Sunshine, Water, Sunscreen and Picnic Lunches (cute pictures of the girls)

This summer has been a summer of fun! I giggled to myself the other day when I was going to the bathroom and looked in the bath tub and realized there was a dark circle around the tub from the girls' baths. They have been spending so much time outside our tub was dirty. I thought to myself, that is the sign a wonderful summer. Then I was pulling Layla out of bed one morning this last week and she smelled like swimming pool (chlorine) and sunscreen, and I though that's a sign of a wonderful summer. We have been having a wonderful summer! The girls and I have played and played.

For the first time in my life I don't want summer to end! We are loving the warm weather, and I suppose that's a good thing with our next transition. We have been frequenting parks, fountains, swimming lessons, and just simply enjoying the backyard. God has been doing so much in us as a family as we are learning and growing in preparation for Cambodia.

                               Amirah at Prospect Lake! She is so fun, and becoming so brave! 

               Layla Lou! She is one of the silliest kids I have ever met, and such a fun little water baby!

          Backyard fun! Grandma's planter has become their outdoor play house and watering the plants                                                                is a favorite pass time!                                                          

                                     Amirah finally got her glide down on her balance bike!

                                     Layla is figuring out this walking thing, she is loving her walker!

I have been learning and thinking a lot about who I am, who God made me to be. I have been thinking about the importance of our identity, and understanding how we uniquely reflect our Heavenly Father. Often when we are playing I think about this stage of life, how confident the girls are in who they are, and what they want to do. I've been thinking about when we lose that, what happens? How come we let others steal pieces of that? I don't ever want anyone to take that from my girls. I pray that they will grow in confidence of who they are, and with confidence that Jesus loves them so much, exactly how they are. That way they can always reflect the exact aspects of God that they were created to reflect, and change the world with who God made them to be.

As I am relearning at age 28 who God created me to be, and changing things about who I had molded myself into, I am finding freedom. Freedom to be me, freedom to play in the fountain with my girls, freedom to just watch, freedom to play and to be me, freedom to talk to and enjoy others around me, and freedom to see the joy in the way that God created me to be.

Summer is wonderful. Being, and becoming more of who God created you to be is wonderful. Enjoying the girls is wonderful. Soaking up the sun is wonderful. Learning and preparing for Cambodia is wonderful, and hard. God is doing and teaching us so much, and I am confident that when January comes we will be boarding that plane as confidently as we can, as prepared as we could be, and with hearts ready for the next season. God is so good, so faithful and so trustworthy!

Share your life.

My hope as you read about our wanderings, about our planning, our adventures, our hearts, is that you hear and are encouraged to take those next steps of faith in your walk with God. That it invigorates you to do something to move, to trust, to actively pursue the Living God. My heart for discipleship always sees the value and the impact each thing I post could/can have on someone. Whether it is here on our blog or if it is on my Facebook page. I want to encourage, build up, and spur others on towards what God has for them in their lives. I want to share our hearts to do that. I have never been a very private person, and secrets have always been hard for me, especially with the people closest to me. I want to share my heart and my heartache with others. My joy and my sorrow, and I want to share in theirs! My hope is always as I pour out my heart, volunteer information about my life, and what God is teaching me, others will feel free to do the same. I love connecting with people, sharing things that matter, and sitting in each others' messes and joys, simply being there for each other. I am convinced that this is the best part of discipleship, the best part about loving people and walking through the day to day with others.

I have searched out people here in Colorado Springs to connect with. People to enjoy and to learn from. Moms to mom with, family to love, and new friends to be made. I am really enjoying connecting with new people here, and getting so much time with our extended family. It is hard though! I find myself missing the deeper relationships I had in Durango. The depth from being friends for 10 years, seeing each other in the hospital after having babies, or spending every Sunday together worshiping. The depth from serving together and watching softball together. It is hard to get people to come out of their shells, to let you in, and show them that they are safe connecting with you, and being in a bigger city maybe makes it harder! Many are so guarded, and worried about offending. I don't get offended easily, and often don't worry as much as I maybe should about offending others because I am not offended easily. Which can be so good and so bad, because I can offend and never realize it, and good because I would like to think it makes my self-protection easier to break through. I don't need to guard as hard because offense isn't part of my normal personality.