Catching Up

Wellll it's been awhile, but I can say that we've been busy!
So to make up for the lack of posts on my part, here's a big one looking back at a few highlights of the last few months in the Fountain Home.
 

We hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend in... July? who had her 10th child just a few days ago. We got to hold the baby 3 hours after she was born. =)

Putting the finishing touches on the fruit torte.

Her friends and family. =)

Outline, outline, outline, paint, paint, cut, cut, snip, cut, cut, cut.

Daddy turned 46! We had some friends over and had a great day. Happy Birthday, again, Daddy!

One of my mom's aunts was visiting from California, and my mom's brother and his family were in town from Tulsa as well. We had everyone over and celebrated Aunt Esther's birthday.

Hehe, I love this picture. Grandma and two of her sisters telling a story from their childhood.

Like father, like son.

Aunt Esther, Grandma, Aunt Joanne, and Aunt Lorraine. Almost all the sisters. =)

I love the sky out here!

We celebrated Andrew T.'s, Allison's, and Grandpa's birthdays at our grandparents houes in August. They wouldn't slow down and let me snap a picture of anything but the cake...

And here's a lovely shot someone got of the back of our heads.

At the end of July, I ended up getting a job at Starbucks. I'm a certified barista! Soon to be a certified trainer. That's right. haha. It was neat because I wasn't even looking for a job, or really even planning on looking. The opportunity pretty much fell into my lap, and after some prayer and obvious answers from God, I decided to take it.

A quick note: This is silly, but I was hesitant at first because, despite having my own father's hearty stamp of approval, I was thinking, "What are certain people gonna think?" I know there are those who are gonna go, "Gasp! A WOMAN. Outside. The home. This is terrible. She is terrible." But then I realized, why do I even care what people like that think? Besides the blatant hypocrisy from those sources, it's obvious in Scripture that I'm not forbidden from holding a position outside the home. I could write a whole thing on this. But I won't. I'll just finish and say that I'm glad I had to overcome my "fear" of man, and just stand firm and confidently in Him. This pushed me to the point where I really don't need anyone's approval but God's! Not that I want to shirk all genuine, good authorities or anything like that, but I think too often we make our decisions based on other people, and not the true Word of God.

Anyway, it's going really well. The customers are all great, and it's fun memorizing their drinks. =) My shifts fit in perfectly with the rest of my day.

Alllsooo, a couple weeks ago, I got braces! I know what you're thinking- "But your teeth are so nice!" (haha aren't I vain?) Anyway, I went in just to get a retainer because I noticed a few years ago that my teeth were starting to shift, and I didn't want them to go further. Our family's orthodontist decided that he'd just fix my teeth all the way for just the cost of the retainer. And I only have to wear the braces for 6 weeks. Woohoo.

Check 'em out:

(I woke up from a nap (I've been sick and stuffy..) and thought, "Hm, I need some sort of record of my braces.")

More news:

A few weeks ago we became members of a really sweet church in Castle Rock that we've been attending since about May. I love it.

After that, both Anna and Aidan were baptized! I think Daddy's becoming more and more Presbyterian... =)

We also recently went to the zoo. Andrea has some new found income (she's been published a few times in our local paper, and Grandma has been selling Andrea's coloring books), so she treated the family. She had the younger children write reports on some of the animals, and that's how they earned their ticket. They were excited to point out which animals they had researched.
I didn't have my amazing camera when we went. =( But we did have other cameras, so the day was not all lost.

So huge! And I think this one was "only" 16' long.

Komodo Dragon.

Feeding the giraffes.

(A soundtrack occasionally accompanies our lives...)

The lions... We didn't get to feed them. =( But they came really close!

The budgies.

Contrary to popular belief and jokes, I overcame my fear of birds looong ago. So there. I was perfectly fine being in that cage.

(But I guess I might have had a problem if it was a bunch of crows landing on us... shudder.)

A one minute and thirty second recap of the rest of the zoo:

Now I can't decide if I would rather be an eagle or an otter if I were an animal... flight or aquatics? That is the question.

(Aaand upon further thought, I think the answer is flight.)

Oh, we also so a bear in the wild later that day. As we were packing up our picnic we were warned that a bear was heading up the creek. We finished up, put the little ones in the car and went to check it out. He was a pretty small black bear. But he was fat. So, so fat. Haha Allen said that if it wanted to hurt us, it would have had to roll over us.

Until next time!