JJ...the Baller

Well, it's becoming quite apparent that the whole "baller" idea with JJ is "no joke". As you can see he looks like quite the little athletic one in his Adidas basketball outfit. As a bonus you get to see me in my preggo belly which is also "no joke" at this point...

JJ has his own "oop" to "doot" the ball in now thanks to his friend Shelby, from church, letting him borrow it! We are so glad to have it and he goes out for a few minutes each day and practices shooting:) I went out with him just today and was amazed at how good he's become at shooting it in there from various angles...seriously, he just wants to get it like nothing else!

So Jared and I have already talked about not being "those parents" who push things on their kids...so you all can keep us accountable in the years to come that we just let him "be JJ".

CSU-Carnival

These were the only pictures that I got at CSU for myself. That was pretty indicative of how, when my battery ran out on my camera, I was too tired to re-charge it and think about more pictures...though, if I had, I would have gotten JJ with his new friend, Trenton, and our new friends, Alan and Stephanie, and JJ's Kids' Care place with his "teachers" especially Amy who he really came to love by the end...Hopefully I will post some pictures on here from facebook of all of these neat people.

Now, on to what I DO have...below, is JJ in the "choo, choo" with his Daddy. This was quite fun for him to ride. He was just taking it all in. In the top left picture you can see a smaller, bright-colored train that kids could ride by themselves. We didn't try him there but I'm curious how he would have done...(side note, bottom center is JJ with his "plane buddy" Cannon who he sat behind on the way out to Colorado...it was a great entertainment until they both konked out in the last 45 minutes or so of the flight:)

...however, considering that JJ, while seated in bottom left in the car, did not actually ride this ride because he was too scared of being by himself (or with a friend from church later), I don't think he was quite ready to go it without Daddy on these rides.
I don't blame him with these cars, because they moved around pretty fast! In the top left in the front seat of the car are Grace (not quite 2) and Gloria (19 months) from our team who rode the ride together. Some brave girls!

I think these pictures are just adorable! JJ rode on a horse (with Daddy's help...as you can see, he wasn't too steady) and really did great. I don't think he would have done it without Daddy, but thankfully Daddy could walk right with him. It was sort of a "live carousel" with the horses attached around a center ring by chains.

My friend Erin from church planned this Carnival and I think she did a great job! Go Erin!!

CSU Photo Overview

Well, since the only photos that I got at CSU were of the Carnival on the first night, I decided to see if I could find some on the internet to give you a picture of where we spent the 10 days in late July '09.

CSU: Colorado State University

This is actually a really good view of the mountains that we saw just outside of the dorm where we stayed. (just looked longingly at them this time...INTEND to hike them next time!) This is probably the best view of what we experienced. All of the main sessions were held in Moby Arena. There were thousands of fellow staff from all over the U.S. in all sorts of ministries who we worshipped with and were encouraged with...it truly was special to be with so many linked by a common calling--something that all of us have sacrificed for and believed the Lord to do. From those who just joined staff to those on staff 50+ years, it truly was a life-giving time of refreshing that we don't want to come home and forget...