Awww! Remember when she looked like that? My sweet, energetic, imaginative girl is 3 years old now! She had a birthday last Monday. Her gifts this year were some new puzzles and a balance bike!

I can hardly make the connection between these precious pics of a tiny human I was just getting to know and the little girl-lady Hadley is today. We know every nook and cranny of her 3 year old character now. She's an enthusiastic greeter (shaking hands with everyone at church) with her own language and a huge imagination. She loves to run up and say hi to everyone she sees while shouting their name, whether they really exist or not. (Mom! Dad! Grandma! Mickey! Sophia! Tinkerbell!) She always acts like it has been ages since she has seen you. She's also a skilled actress and doer of puzzles. She's got a great memory and a deep love for her baby brother, wearing sunglasses, chips and salsa or guacamole, and fruit of all kinds. This summer she's a busy little camp-wanderer and just discovered somersaults and Sophia the First. A few of her numerous interests are books, capital letters, mail boxes, traffic lights and stop signs, animals, gardens, all kinds of produce at the grocery store, balls, babies, flowers, lotion, and anything at a desk or in a kitchen. Some of her current catch phrases are:

"Booyah!"
"Pixie dust, away!"
"Mom? I need... hmm... let me think..."
"Ohh, so nice!"
"Chap-oss!" (Casper)
"Uh-oh, I gotta go potty."
"I so much!" (I missed you so much!)
"Mom, can I have have apple ee peanut bubba?" 
"Sing Jesus Wuve Me So"

She's the best! I love her.

In the midst of walks on the gravel with our cousins, eating Grandma Judy's good food, endlessly pulling sandals on and off, and watching the maintenance men working the grounds, the Lord has been answering my prayer for our summer at camp. I'm happy to report that He has provided a sweet window of quiet time with Him every day so far. And not only the time, but He planted the desire for that fellowship with Him in my heart. He is so faithful. (I haven't made it out to the dock yet. It rained this weekend. Hopefully soon!)

I'm currently reading my usual devotionals (*see note at bottom of this post for a list of my favorites) as well as the book of Mark- which has been so, so good. This is the first time I've gone through one of the gospels as an adult, and with the addition of a study bible. It feels like a whole new ball game. Jesus is bringing me so much deeper and I just appreciate everything so much more and I crave the studying part of reading my bible. I'm keeping notes as I go, but I want to get better at journaling and meditating on what I read each day. I chose to start reading Mark because of something I read in Elisabeth Elliot's wonderful, useful book Keep A Quiet Heart (one of my big favorites) and I instagrammed about it a few weeks ago:

Whew! Hi guys! We've been here (living at camp) a week already and this is the first time the thought of blogging has even struck me. (!!!) We finished up the school year last Friday and the very next morning we packed up the car and closed up the house in town! And here we are. My days are much the same -- keeping my little ones in tow and entertained and fed and safe and somewhat clean, and the laundry in progress. I also wipe a ton of drool from my teething boy's chin and the cute little buns of my almost-3-year-old potty training/trained girl. I feel like I transferred my normal job to a new, prettier location, with super fun neighbors. Casper is getting close to the point of a good nap and nighttime routine and Hadley is loving living around her friends, playing endlessly, and sleeping hard. And we're working on not being afraid of Champ the camp dog ;)

Grant has already been out mowing (with eye protection on- don't worry) and the anniversary of his injury just passed. We are so thankful that the Lord spared his eye and we continue to pray for full healing and clear sight someday, if that's the Lord's will.

Summer's off to a great start! Tomorrow morning is the first staff meeting of the 2014 season and I cannot wait. I'm a sucker for meetings.

Our thoughts have been getting really camp-centered lately. I've been sorting summer clothes and cleaning out kitchen cupboards and we'll be moving to Camp Shetek in just 3 days! This will be my 8th year at our summer home and I'm so excited to see what Jesus has in store. For anyone reading who doesn't know our story... Grant and I met at this camp in 2006 and have had the opportunity to live and work there together since 2007. Grant's job will be helping maintain the camp grounds as well as giving tube rides on the lake, helping with the ropes course, organizing Mail Call, hosting Skit Night, and filming, editing, + producing all of the camp videos. This year I won't have official camp responsibilities, as my family responsibilities are already a full-time gig. :)


I've been thinking a lot on what my summer mindset should be. Honestly, I'm dreaming of having quiet time in this spot -- making good use of the way the Lord reveals Himself in nature and in His word. I always feel a revived and particular closeness to Him when I'm out here, with the lake and the sky the only things in my view. I'm really gonna try to make time for more purposeful dock-sitting + bible reading this summer at camp. You'd think, living at a bible camp, it would be easy to do both of those things, but it's actually a real challenge.

Not only do I tend to skimp on important things with the fun and freedom that comes with summer, but camp days are our busiest and good habits are easily lost when you uproot normal family life. And I'm a nursing mom + toddler mom, so realistically, it's hard to carve out quiet alone time. The summer days are full and the sun shines long and it makes my mind coast. This year I want to stop that trend. Complacency is not what I want camp to be for me. 

I'm praying for a summer of growth in grace and no more coasting. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. // Let Thy grace Lord, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. 

"Don't let summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute... It is God’s earth! It is a video preview to the reality of what the eternal summer will be like when “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:23).
The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be. The glory of God. Summer is for seeing and showing that. Do you want to have eyes to see? Lord, let us see the light beyond the light." -John Piper

My sweet, smiley Casper is 4 months old. And all of a sudden we are starting to play. And, this is huge: he's more interested in the ground. He's been laying on it for long stretches (if I'm with him) and standing on it with my help. He's learning how to hold toys and trying to roll over, too. Not a huge fan of being on his tummy yet. He also seems super interested in his sister. He's constantly watching her and laughs the hardest when it's right in her face. The other day when Hadley started crying, he was watching her so intently and then his own lips started pouting and quivering. It was so precious! I have to remind Hadley to give him space, because she loves to come bounding up and smother him with kisses, hugs, head pats, and her crazy (but awesome) hair. Every morning this week we've been turning on some music and camping out in Hadley's room (because she has carpet) and he'll just watch Hadley and I throw the ball and do puzzles for a little bit. Then he's ready for us to talk to him and sing and make noises and read books above his head. Also, he's teething. Oh, Lord help us get these teeth out without too much trouble! :)

Lunch time for our family means leftovers. We used to be sandwich addicts, but those days are long gone. Then, for a couple years I made big batches of things at the beginning of the week and portioned it out for us to eat until Friday. At the beginning of this school year (by the way, there are only 9 1/2 student days left!) we made another lunch switch. I started cooking a big enough meal at dinner time that we could stretch it into a lunch for all of us the next day. It has worked out so nice! Skillet meals are especially convenient for this system, but we still make our favorite roasted chicken dinners all the time, and soup works well, too. Another lunch improvement we made this year was getting this mini crock pot/warmer for Grant. No more cold food at his desk! It has been huge. After filling Grant's crock pot, I pack the rest away into these glass containers for Hadley and me. Glass storage makes me love leftovers twice as much. I should really look into a toaster oven because I've been warming our lunch leftovers in the oven all year long and don't even want to think about the electricity...

Anyway, here's one of our recent favorite dinner finds (it just got thrown together one night and we loved it) and it makes a really yummy lunch the next day. We happened to have ground turkey, asparagus, carrots, celery, and bell peppers on hand the night that it was created, but it would be great with any combo of ground meat and veggies. I used zucchini instead of asparagus when I made it yesterday. It doesn't look like anything special, but it's surprisingly packed with flavor! I think the key  is a little tiny bit of heat (red pepper flakes), something tangy (vinegar of course - you know me), and the extra big spoonful of coconut oil on the pasta (fat gives things flavor!).


Turkey & Veggie Pasta

3 T. olive or coconut oil
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium red or yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch of asparagus, chopped 
1 or 2 zucchini, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped (optional)
1 T. minced garlic
sea salt to taste
1 pound ground turkey (or beef, chicken, or pork)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper (rough guess) 
1 lb. bag of brown rice pasta (we like Trader Joe's organic brown rice fusilli)
2 T. coconut oil 
splash of red wine or apple cider vinegar, to taste

In your largest skillet (I like to use my cast iron), heat oil over medium heat. Add veggies, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until tender. While the veggies are softening, cook your pasta according to package directions. Push the veggies over to one side of the pan and add in the ground turkey. As you brown and crumble the turkey, season with plenty of sea salt and give it a small shake of crushed red pepper. Once meat is cooked (no more pink), add in the hot pasta and a big spoonful of coconut oil. Give the pasta a few good splashes of red wine vinegar (I think it needs a little tang, but feel free skip this step if you are vinegar sensitive) then toss it all together and serve hot. 



We like this best with noodles, but if you don't have any on hand, I've also made it with rice! Here I used brown rice, asparagus, red pepper, onions, and carrots.

On Saturday, Grant and I celebrated 6 years as husband and wife! Praise the Lord! The day before, we received some old camp pictures from a sweet friend (who actually took this picture of us! Thank you, Kait!) and it led to us re-hashing sweet memories and re-connecting the dots of how we got together. We were amazed at how many people the Lord used to bring us together. So many tiny, intricate details that built our camp-launched connection and so many great camp friends to thank for their part in our story! (Which will continue. I know, I'm so late in writing more of it! I've been feeling really guilty about it lately, seriously. You have no idea!) Basically, I'm still marveling over it all. God is so good and His plan, so unexpected.


And here are a few tidbits about our marriage, because I want to remember these little things.

• The first thing we say when we walk in the door of our house is almost always, "I need some water!" We must be thirsty people. (and Grant might add, "Agua, por some-more.")
• John Mayer Continuum is currently back in our car. We like to resurrect music from our past.
• Grant often prays as we're backing out of the driveway.
• We Amazon shop a lot.
• And yet we both desire to live so simply. :)
• After the kids go to bed, we try to get stuff done quick and then crash on the couch to talk, watch Jimmy Fallon videos, and eat apples and almond butter.
• It's not uncommon for us to jokingly (but seriously) ask each other, "What are your hopes and desires and dreams for the day?" translation: What's on your to-do list?
• We both wish we could re-experience our American History classes.
• We both wish Chipotle and Target weren't 2 hours away.
• We don't currently have a "hobby" together -- we have babies. :)
• One way we serve each other lately is taking turns holding Casper or diaper-changing while the other person gets something done.
• He dreams big and I am easily intrigued.
• It's not uncommon for us to spend an evening looking at plane tickets and dreaming of going to sunny places.
• It's also not uncommon for us to wish for more snow and blizzards.
• John Piper has brought us closer together.
• Least favorites: wasted time, dumb movies, late nights, complaining.
• Most favorites: the sun, a good mix of work and play, growing closer, becoming better at something, finishing to-do lists, traveling, experiencing God's faithfulness.
• Things we don't: keep secrets (surprises) from each other very well, go on dates regularly, let our calendar get too packed.
• Things we do: want to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster at Disney World, enjoy simple, well-designed things, eat a lot of chips and salsa/guac.
• Going to bed at the same time is a routine that's important to us.
• Grant thrives on having someone to lead and take care of. I thrive on nurturing my people and having someone to defer to.
• Arrested Development and Parks & Rec jokes abound at our house.
• He's clever and innovative and full of thoughts. And I've got a good memory and am always ready with a question or perspective. Together we make great conversations.
• We talk about things that matter on a daily basis. (Jesus, relationships, feelings, struggles, sins.)
• We like to analyze and ponder God's Word and work together.
• I thank Him for this. For all of this!

Hey guys! Grant's surgery went well and he is feeling good. Praise the Lord! Thank you all so much for your prayers! The world is just really, really bright. His eye is still crazy dilated, so it's hard to appreciate how nice the new lens is yet. Now we are just praying for a quick and full recovery. I made him a couple of favorites -- these cookies and this curry -- to speed the recovery process :)

Hey, blog friends! Grant will have eye surgery this morning around 9:30. Some of you have asked to be updated, so just wanted to let you know. Thanks so much for praying! We are excited for him to be able to see out of his left eye again!

For those who don't know, while mowing at Camp Shetek last June, a rock ricocheted off a tree and struck Grant square in his left eye. It damaged his lens and pupil, and created a trauma-induced cataract. His vision has been very disabled since the injury. Today he will get a new lens! Praise the Lord!