Soooooooooo about my desire to blog more this summer.... Does anyone even still check this blog?

Life is BUSY! And I thought things would slooow doooown in the summer. I thought I'de FINALLY put up some pics from WAAYY long ago, mostly for the grandparentals. But, I really do want to be more disciplined to update the blog more often. I just got myself into a rut- you know what I mean? The longer I didn't post, the harder it was to just sit down and crank one out. Its not like there has been a shortage of things to blog about that's for sure.

So here's what we're going to do. For the next week, my goal is to do a post a day, to get myself back in the habit. Sound good? Here we go....


**Dan graduated from Virginia Tech!!! Yay for Dan! But not yay for us- this means he is LEAVING!!!!! Who's going to eat all of our bacon when we go out of town? Who's going to stop by on his way home from campus just to see Abby? Who's going to fall asleep on our couch while watching Top Chef or The Bachelorette??? I know he is moving on to bigger and better things (like, a beautiful new wife named Katie who we LOVE), but really, couldn't he just stick around for one more year? Good thing Matt's coming in the fall.
She gets her "Berlin eyes" from these two- my Dad and grandmother

Goofy brothers, as usual. I can never get them to take a serious one. Bah.

Aren't they so sweet?

**Abby was baptized! What a joy and blessing! Our biggest prayer for our precious covenant child is that she will know the Love that her heavenly father has for her, that she will know that she is a sinner and has no hope for salvation without Christ, and that she will call upon Christ at a young age. What a humbling task it is that the Lord would entrust us with her. We know that we cannot do it by our own strength! What a blessing it was to be surrounded by so many who love and follow the Lord, and who pledge to help us in raising Abby to be a woman of God! And we know that our hopes for Abby are not in vain, because we serve a faithful God, and we trust that he will draw her to himself. I can't wait for that day!
Her pretty baptism dress


Doing her "dance" on grandma Benson's lap

I absolutely LOVE this one. Could they be any cuter??

Abby loves reading so much now! (Although she mostly just eats the books...)


**We went to camp! Every May, InterVarsity hosts a week long camp for our students at a Young Life camp in Goshen, Va (yeah, Rockbridge!!). Students sign up for different "tracks" that they will go through throughout the week, on different topics such as learning how to read and study the Bible, how to lead a Small Group, Justice and Kingdom work, how to follow Jesus, sharing the gospel, etc. They also have LOTS of crazy fun!!! Staff are responsible for working the tracks- teaching, leading small groups of students, etc. I got to work with future Small Group Leaders, which is my absolute FAVORITE thing to to as IV Staff! My students were awesome, and I can't wait to see what God is going to do through them next year! Here is a picture of the students I had for the week:
You may notice that half of them have on VT shirts and half have on UVA shirts. Thought they may be bitter enemies on the football field, these students love each other so much and had a great time together, learning from each other all week. There were lots of jokes and teasing, of corse, but we had a GREAT time!

Rockbridge is famous for their food- the best camp food on the east coast. And the BEST part is dessert. For every meal. Yummmy giant cookie with ice cream!!

Abby with one of my favorite students, Vicky. She's graduating this summer and going on to do Engineering Missions with EMI, I'm so proud of her and will miss her a lot!

Andy was my hero all week. While I was working every day from 9-12:30 and 6-9:30, he watched Abby. Fed her, changed her, put her down for naps, took her for walks... He was SO great with her. But I have to say, it was pretty hilarious watching him roll up to meals with her- he's so tall and the stroller is so short!!!



The whole Virginia Tech chapter. I love these students!! I think I probably have THE BEST JOB in the entire world.

**Matt graduated too! YAY FOR MATT! And YAY FOR US- because he is coming to Tech in the fall! Matt has wanted to go to Tech his whole life- all you have to do is walk into his bedroom at home and see all the Tech stuff all over his walls, and there should be no doubt as to where his loyalties lay! He worked so hard throughout high school to get there- hands down, Matt is the most disciplined and driven out of the three Berlin kids. I mean, the kid is nuts. For example, when we go to the beach as a family, Dan and I are content to sit on the beach for HOURS- reading, sleeping, whatever. But Matt has to GO- he's gotta be doing something- throwing the frisbee, swimming, running, playing tennis, whatever. Just not sitting for longer than 20 minutes. And thats one thing I really love about him. He knows how to set goals and pursue them with gutso. I'm so proud of him, and SO excited to have next year with him! It has been the biggest blessing to live near Dan this past year- it has made us such good friends, and I can't WAIT to have the same gift of a year with my "baby" bro Mattiephish! (sorry Matt, it had to be said- no matter how you protest, you will always be my baby bro.) We love you!