Isaiah's Birthday!!!!

Isaiah turned four on April 29th when we were in Colorado so we celebrated his birthday for a whole week. He had a Cars themed party in Colorado with Seth's side of the family and then we had a Music themed party in Washington with Rachel's side of the family and Isaiah's friends. Both parties were perfect for a four year old. Cars is absolutely Isaiah's favorite movie and since he sings and plays his air guitar almost non-stop, it was great to hit both elements of his life. The Cars pinata in Grandma Rhonda's garage and the lip sync portion of our music party were especially fun! Friends at the Music Party
Black Guitar Cake made specially by Grandma!

Opening gifts with cousin Aiden in Colorado

Elias and Great Grandma Peggy watching the Pinata bash

Cars Pinata

Colorado Trip

Garden of the Gods

What a trip we had to visit family and friends in Colorado! Flights went better than I expected with Elias sleeping a good chunk of both. We visited two zoos (Denver and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs), the Denver Children's Museum, the Garden of the Gods, our old stomping grounds in Winter Park, and spent a lot of time with Seth's family. There was a lot of fun packed into a week's time and it was worth every minute. Isaiah's birthday and our anniversary landed during the trip and so we had a chance to celebrate the whole week too! For the picture tour of our time, visit here.

Feeding the giraffe's

Building with dad at the Children's Museum

Holding up Balancing Rock at the Garden of the Gods

Isaiah & dad at the Garden of the Gods

Isaiah and cousin Aiden, who are a month apart in age

Iblings Family Reunion

On Friday, July 11th we traveled to Vancouver to pick up my brother Will who has been at Bible School in New Zealand this last year. (Check out http://www.capernwray.org.nz) I can't even explain how good it is to have him home-he is a changed man and it's awesome! Isaiah talks about him all the time and I don't mind one bit if he wants to emulate Will and the lifestyle of serving and loving and giving that I've seen come out in him even more since being away. Did I mention how good it is to have him home? For now that is...I know he'll be off again soon. Will was barely home three days when we all headed up to Cedar Springs Retreat Center for a reunion with my dad's side of the family. 70+ Iblings at one location can be a bit overwhelming at times, but it was wonderful! This season of life doesn't afford me much time to sit and talk to people without distraction (we'll call those distractions Isaiah & Elias!), but just being there to see the growth in our extended family was so encouraging. We meet every three years and spend four days together. How grateful I am to belong to such a group that loves being together and that takes great effort to gather from all across the US and Canada to celebrate our heritage and our Creator.

Isaiah and 2nd cousin Lillian spent most of the day chasing each other around the grounds, kicking the soccer ball, playing games and reading books. I can't wait to see what kind of mischief they get in at the next reunion when they are six instead of three!
One of the big blessings was getting to see my Grandpa Willard again. He is 86 and is starting to show his age both in physical and mental capacities. He connected very quickly and very well with the boys though and the picture of him giving high fives to Isaiah or just holding Elias' little hand will forever be etched in my memories. A firm reminder to love well and as often as you can while you have the chance here on earth. All in all the last two weeks has reminded me again about how thankful I am for family and how we are created to be in community with our families. Check back again in three years for the next Iblings Family Reunion Update!