and....we're back!

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been. I am ashamed really. I don't know what happened. I guess things have just been busy. I hope you are all still checking and will be pleasantly surprised to see a new post! Hopefully now that I have broken the cycle we'll be posting more often. Sometimes these things are hard to keep up with! I am not sure where to begin. I think I'll start with the oldest news and bring it to a close with the most recent.

In May we traveled home to the motherland of Missouri. We went to Springfield to see family (really our cute niece!) We unfortunately did not get to see Dave and Cort, but we did get to spend a nice weekend with Mandy, Kevin and little Emma. She is too precious and as you can tell in the picture her uncle is quite fond of her. He was sad to leave her! We love that girl!







June whizzed by didn't it? I spent a week in June at Sardis Lake Christian Camp. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have been going there for the past 12 yrs. I can't believe it has been that many. I have spent more time as a counselor than I did as a camper! SLCC as we call it is located in Mississippi and is just a little piece of heaven on earth. It really is a special place. I can definitely say the time I spent there as a young person really changed my life and has really shaped who I am. I have made my bestest friends there and enjoying going so much. I enjoy working with the kids and teaching every year (even though I stress about my lesson and procrastinate a bit every year- I know Amber is laughing as she reads this!) Most importantly camp is a time to really focus on God and how we are living our lives as Christians. I think it's funny how we say we are there for the kids, and we are, but we need that week just as much as they do! They really are an encouragement to us as well. We had such a great week! We had an awesome theme- "Fight On". It was based on lyrics to a song that one of our former campers and friends had written and produced with his band the Blacksuits ( I tried to put the song on here, but had trouble). He lost his life this past March while on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic. It was so shocking to hear this news. He was a special kid, and his example will live on. On a brighter note Amber and I had so much fun being back with our Cabin 7 Girls! We took a demotion to cabin 1 last year and bunked with the 8 year olds so Jack (then 6 months) could have an easier week. It was great to be back in the oldest cabin. We had such a great group of girls. Our nightly Bible classes and devotionals were so awesome (especially the night I taught- just kidding!). We also had nightly singing with the older cabins in the camp Gazebo (it's big) and this is always the highlight. I LOVE singing (especially "camp/devo" songs)! The week really was a breath of fresh air. I came back behind, with a ton of laundry (it's the worst ever), and utterly exhausted, but refreshed. And that made it all worth it. Poor Joe :( He always has to work. Here are just a few pictures Session 2 of SLCC 2008 .

Here is a picture of Amber and I. Friends since 3rd grade. 12 years together at SLCC! I love that girl!

Here is Jack with his Cheetos face. He had a blast at camp! Love that boy! Don't you want to kiss his cheeks off? He calls me "gull". At least that is what is sounds like. I'll take it though- he'll learn the /j/ sound later!

Here is Charlie. He is the little man I escorted to the camp nurse, Trey, because he got hit in the head with a softball. He had the biggest knot on his head! Here you can see the indention the softball left behind. He is soooo cute!

You can tell we really rough it at SLCC! This cracked me up when I walked in the mess hall! It was all for a good cause though- burning everyone at camp a CD of the gazebo singing!

We had a good 4th of July weekend. Joe was off on Friday and Monday so we enjoyed the long weekend together. We enjoyed a fun get together with our church family at one of our Elders homes. We played a new game cleverly named "Corn Hole" where you throw corn bean bag things at a piece of plywood with a hole in it. Kevin and David would have loved it! (Costello boys love those yard games!) The 4th was a good day too. We went to Ft. Campbell, bought some cotton candy at the carnival, and enjoyed an awesome fireworks display. Those Army posts really do go all out.

Here's a picture of Joe enjoying the festivities.

I think that will do for now. Do you feel caught up? Don't worry I'll fill you in on all the ordinary stuff later!