Golf Tournament Recap!

This post is without pictures, as I am waiting on the awesome photographs taken by two very talented photographers. But, I have been really excited to share about the 3rd Annual Isaac Timothy Delisle Memorial Golf Tournament. Pictures will be in a later post.

85 golfers and numerous volunteers joined us for a day of golf, dinner, prizes, and a chance to hear about the amazing organization, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know how special this organization is to Spencer and I, as well as to thousands of families across the country.

The weather threatened rain, yet the day of the tournament was warm and sunny... and just cloudy enough at dinner time that folks could better see a short video presentation about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep's mission and services to families. Golfers appeared to have a blast, for which we are grateful!

Two local photographers who volunteer their time with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep shared their experiences from their perspective... how and why they got involved, what it is like to share such a painfully intimate time with a family they do not know, and what they have learned or gained. A close friend shared about her experience of using Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep's services after the birth of her son, Henry, this past January... a particularly poignant moment of the evening for sure.

We are still finishing up the financials for the tournament, but it is looking like approximately $3000 will be able to be sent to this amazing organization to allow them to continue with the important work they are doing on behalf of bereaved families. We are grateful for the generosity of so many who made this possible!

Pictures to come...

What's Happening?

A lot! Particularly since it has been well over a month since I last posted (yikes!)

We are excited to share that at last Tuesday's ultrasound (at a little over 17 weeks), that our baby not only looks healthy, but that we will be welcoming another little BOY in December. We are excited for Isaac and Eliana to have a little brother, and for some trucks and trains to invade our house :) And since one of you readers was the one who put us on to the name Eliana, which we obviously fell in love with and chose for our daughter, I would love to hear some of your not-too-common but not-too-random boy names! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have a suggestion. Bonus points if it has a really great meaning :)

Did I also mention that I know a bazillion other gals who are pregnant and are due within a month or two of me? Well, not a bazillion, but several... four of whom are close friends or family. I just think it is really fun to be pregnant with friends!

Eliana just turned 17 months and is just absolutely amazing. She is a ball of serious energy, loves to laugh, has a great sense of humor, and a pretty strong will. We traveled to the beach twice this summer, and she had a blast playing in the sand, running into the ocean and splashing in the surf. Ellie apparently has a great affection for sand crabs (her mother does not!) but doesn't quite understand that you aren't supposed to squeeze them. Since we have been back from the beach, she talks about "ocean," "sand," "toes," and "shovel" constantly. She loves to sing songs (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Do You Know the Muffin Man are two of her favorites), and she is even learning to count! Ellie still loves her books... her lift-the-flap Bible and Oh Baby, Go Baby! are two that she loves. She talks up a storm, and I love that she is becoming more conceptual than just literal. Like right now... Paula Dean is on the Food Network, and she points to the screen and says "COOKING!" She is learning so much right now, and it is just amazing to watch.

The 3rd Annual Isaac Timothy Delisle Memorial Golf Tournament is THIS Friday! The details have been coming together, and we are excited to see what God is going to do through this event. We are grateful to be able to highlight and financially support Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization that is extremely special to Spencer and me. We would appreciate your prayers this week as we work through a pretty extensive to-do list, that the details would come together, for good weather, and most of all that God would be glorified through this event.

I've started a (very) part-time job working from home. This job is not only an absolute blessing (I mean, who doesn't like being able to work in their pj's while sitting on their comfy couch??), but has been a really fun challenge. It has caused me to develop and utilize skills that are in some ways so much different from being a teacher, and I am really enjoying that change. The flexibility of my schedule is definitely an added bonus as well!

So that's the latest on us in a nutshell! It's been a busy month, including a trip to the beach, my laptop crashing, and all kinds of things, but we are grateful for some really exciting things coming up through the rest of 2011!