Oh oh those Summer Nights

There's not much better than a long summer night, with sticky hot air, friends, family, a grill, and a porch swing! We are so blessed to have these luxuries at our fingertips each and every day and our hearts are forever thankful for these little perks of summer.

I love living in a place where there are four distinct seasons, because in its own way, each season makes you thankful for it and for the next...kind of like life, huh?

Tonight we are in prayer for a family in our church whose little baby is hanging onto life with every bit of fight he has in him...of course, our first thoughts are to pray...when it's time to pray, my 28 years of instinct kicks in and immediately I think of calling my awesome grandfathers who have prayed me through many situations in life. When I heard of this little baby, I immediately wanted to call my grandpas. I told my mom of this longing, and she said something I know will stick with me for the rest of my life..."Jenn, its time for us to now pick up that mantle." My gut reaction is to say, that mantle is too heavy, too big for me to even go near, let alone bear, but the thought of that responsibility is so mind-blowing, so God-sized, that it must be real. God gave me those wonderful men to teach me that a lifetime of faithfulness causes others to believe and grow, and so the circle of faith goes on and on. I'm so blessed to have a family like I do, and so humbled to pray to a God as merciful as ours.

I'm also so blessed to have a house full of the life, mischief and love that only 2 little boys can bring. Josiah's big accomplishment of the week has been completing his memorization of "Where the Wild Things Are." He loves this book and I hope to video him reading it with his dad one night. It's a memory I'll never forget. Another great Josiah story this week is this: He has done so well with potty training but occasionally during nap time, he'll be wet when he wakes up. Jeremy went in to get him from his nap yesterday, and when he walked in, he noticed Josiah was wet. He said "hey buddy, did you pee pee?" Josiah said "No daddy. While I was sleeping, the water hose climbed up my window and sprayed me in the bed!" LOL! What a creative, and silly little boy!

And then there's Silas! What would I do without my Silas? He makes every serious situation seem a little lighter, and keeps us all on our toes. Even Josiah doesn't know what to do with Silas, ha ha! Silas this week has started saying "Mommy and Daddy." Instead of the usual "momma and dadda." It's so sweet, but he already knows how to work them in his favor. He's able to count to three now, and he loves to try to use the potty already! He probably is ready to potty train, but I'm not...ha ha! I think we'll save it for September when Josiah starts preschool (sob!)


Here are a few pictures from a local water park we visited this week and a couple extra!

Enjoy, and hug those you love a little closer tonight...