Hellooooooo!!!

Hey Friends and Fam! Can you believe I've been "gone" (from the blogging world, that is) for SO LONG!!! Our internet is as slow as Christmas, and we've been having major technical difficulties. But here I am - even if I won't be able to make up for the last month. =) We're doing well. Asher and I have actually been in TX since this past Saturday and are having a great time...but we miss Beau!!!

An overview of the last month: We have not ceased to be amazed at the "surprises" at the camp. We are very blessed to have retired volunteers who have been renovating cabins during the weeks. Beau was fixing the dump truck for them to use before their arrival, no one had mentioned that the brakes were out on it, so when he thought it was fixed, he started it up and ran it into the one building on camp that had begun to be renovated. He was REALLY happy about that one!!! So then he proceeded to repair the building for the next several days. He did a great job! =)

We've had lots of visitors already: Mom and Dad, Mark and Barbara, Emily and Claire, Amy and Cooper. We've loved having all of them. I think I've blogged since the sisters' and my parents' trips but not since Emily's second trip and Mark and Barb's visit. Claire and Asher had a great time together. Things are really starting to get interesting with them. They're getting to be good little buddies, and after their visit, we noticed that Asher was doing a new thing or two that he picked up from Claire Bear. He reaches out for things he wants more and kind of opens and closes his hand like, "Come here Mommy, I need you." I can't resist it. =) He also played on a playground for the first time and actually had a really fun time. I didn't know if he would care one way or the other about it, but he loved playing in the gravel - and didn't even try to eat it, which I couldn't believe. And he climbed to the top of a very tall slide ladder...with me right with him of course. But he has officially turned into a CLIMBER!!! He is a BOY!!! They stayed for a few days, and we loved having them there. Then, I think that next weekend Mark and Barbara came for a couple of nights. Beau and Mark worked on the building that I was talking about before and hung ceiling fans at our house. And Barbara played with Asher while I worked on our kitchen. And we spent some good time with Dina and Dusty as well. We love them! It was a fun "reunion" for Dina and Barbara!

Speaking of Dina...she's amazing! She made a beautiful handmade quilt for Asher. She just loves to do sweet things for people! She makes us dinner, homemade pies, takes care of Asher, gives us tips on the area, and is just a great friend! She takes care of us! And we love Dusty, her son, too! Last week, he spent a couple of days helping us at the camp while he was on Fall Break from school. He has fun hanging out with Beau...playing games, of course! And he's so sweet with Asher! I look forward to going to his basketball games this fall. I've gone to one so far, and I never knew a junior high game could get so exciting, =)

We now know that Asher is, indeed, allergic to peanuts, milk, and egg whites. One night a couple of weeks ago or so, his eyes almost swelled shut, and we took him to the ER. It was so scary!!! But he was fine! He looked like a little boxer (a fighter, not a dog). Poor little guy! But after that, we got an allergy test done. A "6" is a serious allergy, and he had a "3" to peanuts and egg whites and a "2" to milk. So it's not BAD, but serious enough that we need to be careful! (not that we weren't being careful before) Anyway, so now I read labels on everything and ask every waiter lots of questions.

Asher is walking!!! Two or three weeks ago, he started taking one to three steps at a time, but just in the last few days he has really taken off. He still falls a lot, but he can walk across a whole room, and he's really picking up speed too. He's pretty darn cute!

That's all I've got for tonight. I'm sure I left LOTS out, but maybe I hit most of the high spots. Speaking of high spots, while I was in Waco the last few days, I got to see some of my great friends who I have not seen in such a long time: Steph S. and her cute curly headed baby boy Nathan, James Mark and Maria (and Mia Praise of course!!!), the newly expanded Dunn family (Emily Elizabeth is BEAUTIFUL and has so much DARK hair!!!), Tia Marie and her not quite two month old baby girl Anna-Kate. I love Waco and my friends!!! I miss them!!!! And there are so many more of you that I want to see (in Waco and beyond)...and hopefully will soon. There's NEVER enough time!!!

Good night for now. I'll try to be a "better blogger"...since I have been labeled a "blogger loser" (or something like that) by my professional blogging sisters! =)