VBS at Foundry UMC

It's blog catch-up time, in case you were wondering!! ;)

I had the incredible privilege of getting to document this year's VBS at our church. This program is for kids who have completed kinder-5th grade. However, if you volunteer, then your preschoolers get to attend their own modified program.

Last year, I was a group leader for a bunch of adorable kindergartners, and I rotated through each section with them, but this year I had the BEST job! I got to see every single thing that went on, every rotation, every group, every story, every craft. I just floated from place to place like a fly on the wall. Wow, what an experience!

Children were led to Christ, personal stories were shared, relationships were solidified, people were inspired ... it was just incredible. I am so proud of my friend, Brigitte, who coordinated the whole thing, but also humbled and amazed by every single person who worked to make it all come together.

I took hundreds of pictures, but here are a few of my faves:

volunteers praying

God sightings (where kids wrote down all the ways they saw God's goodness)

my favorite (Laurel is my friend, Mel's, little girl)

praying over blankets they made for children in the hospital

This one had me crying. The kids had their "sin" wrapped around their arms. One by one, they removed their sin and placed it on the cross, giving it over to Jesus.

speaks for itself

music time

one of the many amazing Bible stories I saw

I was so blessed to have been a part of this incredible week!!

Dance Class

Avery is taking ballet and tap this summer and really loving it. Here are a couple of pictures from a few weeks ago.This was right after her birthday party, so of course she had to wear her new princess earrings! I love that she's so girly!

{P.S. These pictures look strange because I had to shoot with no flash through a one-way window.}

Avery's 5th Birthday

This was such a fun birthday! Avery had been anticipating it for at least the past 6 months. After changing her mind several times, she finally settled on the theme "Pinkalicious" after one of her favorite books (and her very favorite color, of course!) She also knew she for sure wanted to have her party at "the gymnastics place", so that's what we did!

It was a ton of fun, and she had a ball being the center of attention.

(That's her, being thrown way up high into the foam pit.)

Ella had lots of fun, too!

Happy birthday to you!



We had 17 kids there! The coaches were busy!

On the day of her actual birthday (the following Tuesday) we had an all-about-Avery day. Boy, did she know it and milk it! She would say, "Since it's my special day today, can I ______?" Of course, how could I say no to anything she asked for?

She spent the morning at our church's incredible VBS, then went to Studio Movie Grill to eat lunch and watch Charlotte's Web. That night, the four of us went bowling, followed by dinner at Chick-fil-A (her choice of course). I'm not sure why Ben and I even paid for shoes, because Avery bowled for all of us.

I LOVE these pictures we got! They totally capture the mood of the evening.

It's really hard for me to believe my baby is FIVE already!