Welcome to the world, William David Chase!!

CONGRATULATIONS MATT AND CARLY!!

Between now and November, 7 girls (including me!) from my Bible study of young married women are having babies!! It has been such a blessing to be pregnant at the same time as some of my closest friends, and we have all been eagerly anticipating the arrival of each baby. The first one of the bunch was born yesterday, and Andy and I got to go meet baby Chase last night. Mom and Baby are doing well- please be praying for a FAST recovery for Carly as she had to have a C-section, but is otherwise doing very well!

Here are some pictures of their perfect, beautiful 8 lb. 10 oz. baby boy, Liam David.

Beautiful mommy and baby!

I can't get over how precious he is!

He's already sucking on all his fingers and thumbs.

Noa meets her new cousin for the first time.

I could have held him all night, but there were lots of people in line!

Summer flowers

We just got a new camera! We got one of the new waterproof digital cameras, and we LOVE it! (Special thanks to C.J., and Carly's sister Esther, for the recommendations!!) The camera has a ton of cool settings, incuding a special setting for taking pictures of flowers. Here are some of them.

Harborfest

Last weekend, Andy and I went to Virginia Beach to spend time with his parents, and go to Harborfest. We had such a great time! Andy's parents took us out on the boat to watch the Parade of Sails on Friday afternoon. I have never been so close to so many huge ships! Sailboats are so beautiful and graceful. On Saturday night we got to watch the fireworks (the best fireworks show I have EVER seen, no joke!) from the boat. It was neat to be so close, but we got covered in ashes from being so close! We also got to spend some time with Frank and Stephanie Barrell on Saturday night, and on Saturday afternoon, Trisha bought me my first pair of maternity shorts! It was a great weekend of visiting with our wonderful parents and catching up with good friends. Here are some pictures:

Parade of Sails:
Watching the ships go by













Bruiser-dog: Boat Dog

Bruiser loves the boat!

At the Fireworks:
Frank & Steph

Captain Bruce

Beautiful Sunset

Strawberries!

Don't these strawberries look yummy?
On Friday I went strawberry picking with some girlfriends in Weyers Cave. It was so fun to spend time with them, and pick a bunch of yummy strawberries! Although, I probably ate as many as I picked! We have been enjoying strawberry smoothies for the past few days, and I'm going to make some jam soon.

The whole strawberry picking gang- Sarah-Beth and Noa, Amanda, Sasha, Sarah, Carly, Tabitha and I.

Memorial Weekend

Andy and Alexe Weymouth, two of our closest friends from college, came and stayed with us over Memorial Weekend. We had such a blast with them, getting breakfast at Little Grill, swimming in a thunderstorm, going to the bookfair, watching Pirates, getting Klines, and catching up. It is such a blessing to have friends like these, friends I know we will have for life!! Here we are at Klines, yummy!

Bruiser loves ice cream, too.

Birthday Celebration!

My (jenny's) brother Dan turned 21 on May 23, so Andy and I went to Charlottesville to celebrate with the family. We had a wonderful time eating dinner at Vivace, a yummy Italian restaurant in town (though I couldn't really enjoy the whole meal, since I'm still having bad "morning" sickness ALL THE TIME), and then we went back to my parents place to shower Dan with gifts and play a little Settler's, a family favorite. Of course, we laughed a lot and had a great time, and of course, my Dad won the game.

Dan, Katie, and his loot.

Settlers of Cataan... a family stapel.

My baby bro Mattiephish, and his long flowing hair.

Happy Birthday Don-z-mon! We love you!!

Chapter Camp

In mid-May I spent two weeks at InterVarsity's Summer Chapter Camp at Rockbridge. As staff our role is to run the different "tracks" that students attend throughout the weeks. During the first week I was part of the Small Group Vision track, which serves to equip new Small Group Leaders for their new roles that will start in the fall. We train them to lead a bible study, grow as a leader, and essentially to cultivate a community in their small groups that is constantly growing and moving outward. I had a great week with my small group of JMU and CNU girls! One of the most exciting parts of my job is watching new leaders step into their roles and get excited about serving God and fellow students. And the longer I am part of this ministry, the more convinced I am that Small Groups are the heart of our ministry- that is where real community, change and growth happen. I love watching new small groups formed and grown, and this week at Rockbridge is just the beginning of that!

Week two I helped staff the Kingdom Living track. In this track, students study what it means to live as a believer, part of the Kingdom of God. They studied the Sermon on the Mount in the mornings, and in the evenings heard talks on topics such as Social Injustice, Sexuality, Politics, and Money. I was incredibly impressed by the students in this track, particularly the students I had in my small group. They seem to have an understanding about their role in this world and in the Kingdom that far surpasses what I understood at their age, just 4 years ago! Their heart for injustice- for grieving over the effects that sin has on this world and their desire to stand up to it- impressed me. It was an encouraging week for me. Another exciting part of my job is that we are shaping the minds of the next generation of working adults. I am excited and hopeful to see what these college students will do in the coming years- what God will do through them- as they combat injustice and stand for God's Kingdom.

Here are a few pictures from the week:

Week 1, we (the JMU girls) went "hiking" one afternoon. We're tough!

After hiking one day, the next day we spent the day by the pool. A nice way to start out the summer!

Mark and Ross, horse-shoe champs

Ali and Ross in the dining hall