Kelly and Elaine- Our Students from China!

I'm so excited about hosting our two lovely girls from China!  Kelly and Elaine will be staying with us for about 3 weeks and we have been having a great time!  They came in on Friday mid-day and seemed to feel comfortable with us right away. They absolutely adore Nathaniel and have fun playing with Checkers too.  On Friday we took them to my aunt's wedding rehearsal where they helped decorate the bubble jars to pass out after the reception.  On Saturday morning we took them jog/walking and it was super hot!  They walked under an umbrella.  It was very cute.  Then we all came home rested a bit before we all headed to the wedding.  On Sunday they enjoyed church watching the Big VBS show and were thrilled to recieve a free poster of the Superheroes.  After church we witnessed 2 dear friend's children get baptized.  I am so thankful that our students were able to witness this.  I briefly explained what it meant so they could understand what they were doing.  We had lunch with 2 other host families at subway which they seemed to enjoy the cookies more since they ate them before thier sandwich! Ha!  We went swimming before the rain and then ventured out to the Galleria where Elaine purchased an ITouch.  She is crazy about it.  Tonight my sister-in-love and I taught them how to latin dance with a video dvd.  It was a blast to watch them attempt to move and dance.  We laughed our heads off together.  So fun!  That is all for now and I'll keep updating the blog with more fun with Kelly and Elaine.

A Spiritual Makeover and July Happenings

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.  Jeremiah 32:17

I have been so behind in my blogging!  I have been busy taking care of myself. God has been doing a spiritual makeover in me and it hasn't been the easiest thing to go through, but I am thankful for the changes he is bringing about in my life. 

I'm learning to carry my own backpack, so to speak, and learning why I have spent most of my life overweight.  I have joined Weight Watchers and am joining a local running group to start training for the Houston half marathon.  I'm super excited to see what God has in store for my and Lesh's life.  He too is training, but for the FULL marathon.  I may change my mind later and train for the full, we shall see!  I have lost a total of 13lbs that I have worked hard to shed.  I have a long way to go but with WW, the running group, a great support group of friends, and of course God I hope to finally conquer the extra weight I've been carrying around for years!  Just like Jeremiah 32:17 says, Nothing is too hard for our God!  I know that his great power will help me to overcome.

Now on to the fun!  Nathaniel is an absolute hoot!  He is such a character!  He is charming and a big flirt with the ladies! Today at church he was watching people come into church and he would give the men serious looks, but the second a lady walked through the door he would put on a smile and throw his hand up to wave.  He also tries to get girl's attention in public places.  He is something else!

Nathaniel loves to play in the laundry basket and read his books.

Nathaniel loves to eat his snacks at his picnic table that my mom got for him.

He especially loves this puppy and will carry him all around the house.

On Friday we had some friends over to watch the Riff Trax for The Lord of the Rings.  What are Riff Trax?  It is an audio file that you down load from their website and they have hundreds of them.  Basically you play the audio at the same time as the movie and it makes hilarious commentary about the characters, the storyline and so on.  It is so funny and makes the movie 10 times better!  We told everyone we were doing a meat and potatoes night so everyone brought food to go along with the theme of the movie.

These are mashed potato cupcakes my friend Mindee made!

They are actually vanilla cupcakes with caramel sauce on top with a square of laffy taffy on top to look like butter.  Aren't they great?!  Quite tastey too!

Meatloaf!

These were actually sugar cookies with cinnamon and sugar.

These were rolls made with potato flour and were yummy!

Cheesey mashed potatoes!

And of course our fancy ales!

Yesterday we celebrated my Sister-in-Love's birthday and had a blast! 

Whew! That was the longest post I have ever written!  I told you I was way behind!  I'll try not to go so long next time.  Blessings!

Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday we spent our day with family. We had some great BBQ and Nathaniel got to see his first fireworks ever! Last year he was still a teeny baby. I actually thought he would be terrified of the loud noises, but he actually LOVED them! He kept clapping after each one and saying. "more." I was so glad he enjoyed it so much! He went to bed late, but he did sleep in a bit today so I'm thankful for the extra sleep! 

I am so blessed to have family that lives in town and we get to spend lots of fun times together.  All of Lesh's brothers had their significant others with them and it just gave me a slight glimpse into the future when they all grow up and get married.  What a wild house it will be then!  We had some great quality time in prayer thanking God for our Nation and our freedom to celebrate Christ.  We are truly free when we give our lives to Jesus the One and Only.

John 8:31,32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

These are the fireworks that our family put on last night.  The neighbors across the street also did fireworks too so we had a great show!

Please Don't Go!

This is what I see every morning when Lesh leaves for work.  It is so sweet and just makes me want to cry! Nathaniel looks out the door until Lesh's truck pulls away.  This boy loves his dada!

16 Months Old

Nathaniel is 16 months old today!  I took him to the doctor this week for his 15  month checkup.  I should have taken him last month, but this mom is a terrible procrastinator so the pediatrician we see always takes about a month to get in for a well- check up.  I love his doctor though!  Here are Nathaniel's stats at 16 months!

Wieght: 25lbs. 11oz. 70%
Length: 32 in.  60%

He has grown so much since his last visit to the doctor!  At 16 months Nathaniel so so much fun and can do so many things on his own.

-Still sleeps 12 hours at night and takes 1 two -three hour nap.
-Eats 3 meals a day and 1-2 snacks
-Says many words although not perfectly clear.  His favorites are dog, more, milk, mama, dada
-Enjoys playing with cars and balls, and of course with our dog Checkers
-Loves his bath time with dad
-Sleeps with his blanket and pacifier- we keep these in the crib only
-Loves to get girl's attention everywhere we go.  He touched a girl's arm at subway while in line for food, and waves at all the ladies in the grocery store. 
-Has a very social personality and likes to show off for people.  I don't know where he got that from?!  Ha!

Nathaniel is a blessing to Lesh and me!  Happy 16 months Nathaniel!

New Best Friend, Short Lived

My mom came over today and brought Nathaniel a new toy! It is an Elmo doll that plays a guitar. Nathaniel LOVES the darn thing. He has been dragging it around all morning. My mom likes to buy gifts months or year ahead when she sees sales. She kept this doll in the garage and unfortunalely the fake leather jacket that Elmo is wearing has deterriorated! His arms were full of black stuff from hugging the doll. So I think we have to throw it away. That black stuff got all over my couch too. You know when your tennis racket grip starts to get old it comes off onto your hand? Yep, that's the stuff. Lesh told me we are going to have to buy him one now. You moms out there with Elmo dolls- do they drive you crazy?

A Splashing Good Time!

Today we went to a splash pad and cut Nathaniel loose!  He had such a great time playing and then his uncles joined in on the fun too.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy outside!