Happy 8 Months!

Wow! I really feel like I just wrote the "Happy 7 Months!" blog post. This last month went by too quickly. He's also changing so much each week. I can't get it photographed and recorded quickly enough:)

So, the camp stories and photos will still come at a later time- after the next camp. This post will be just about Kubi:)

He had a great check-up on Tuesday at the doctor. He's healthy and growing well. He weighs 9.44 kilo, or around 20 lbs and 12 oz. I haven't measured his length yet, but my guess is 28 1/2 inches. He's talking and screaming all of the time. He loves peek-a-boo with a cloth on his face, and with Daddy playing along. He still says "da-da" a lot. He's drooling like crazy, but no teeth. He's eating 3 meals a day and doing well with it. He's great at eating finger type foods alone, and I love to see his independence. He definitely loves to explore and do things himself, but he still usually wants us within sight:) He can now follow me, although slowly, from one room to another, so it's helping some with the whole "cry when they leave the room" problem. He's still one of the happiest babies I've ever seen and I just love that he smiles so much. Today he charmed an elderly lady at the pharmacy by smiling at her and talking to her. I also love that he is still so great with strangers. I hope he'll continue to be this social.

He's crawling forward and backward now, and using his arms, hands, legs, and feet to do it. He's not up on his knees doing it, yet, but he does rock a lot on them and he's already pulling himself partially up on things. Yesterday he crawled to me, then pulled up against me onto his knees, then crawled over my legs trying to get to a toy. It was fun to watch:) He wants to go everywhere much quicker than he can get there so, he gets a little frustrated at times.

He still loves to read before bed and he'll follow along through about 3-4 books.

Today he was playing near me on the couch, and he came over to me and he bit my nose, then he leaned back, looked at me, and laughed really hard. Sometimes I can't believe he can have the sense of humor he has already. He knew just what he was doing and it was truly hilarious. Sometimes he'll just catch my eye and then laugh like we're sharing an inside joke. I love it. I think he and I are going to be good friends:)

Here are some pictures of Jakub from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy! And thanks for your prayers about all of the work and transitions this month. Only a couple more weeks of it and then a break before we head home to the U.S. We'll need your prayers for that transition and travel as well. :)


Jakub with Crazy and Laura, two of our helpers for the first camp.




This is how we hiked up the hillside together to watch the afternoon camp sports games. He didn't mind that it made us both really sweaty:) He loved facing outward where he could see everything and everyone.



A couple of friends of mine and Sarah K.'s came to visit us at camp. This was an important and wonderful moment for us because they are dear friends of ours and they had so much interest in us, our lives, and our work that they wanted to drive up to camp for a day just to see what it was like and to spend time with us. We were so thankful for and so thrilled at this blessing. We had a great time together and it was nice to have some more little kids around for a day. In this picture is Mikulas, one of Jakub's good friends, who is only 2 1/2 weeks older than him.




I just can't get enough of that sweet face:) One more story before I go. In the mornings when I go to get him out of bed he's started hugging my neck really tight and snuggling into it like he's so glad to see me and won't let go. I love it! It's one of the best moments of each day:)

Camp!

I just wanted to quickly write and tell you that we made it through the first camp of the summer and it was fantastic! We had close to 40 students come and there were about 70 of us total. It was so hard to say goodbye to the students today and it seems some of them felt the same way. We heard positive feedback from them and we're looking forward to seeing some of them at our follow-up events we'll be hosting throughout the next week. Then, next Saturday, we will leave again for our second camp. We have about the same amount of students coming so, we are super excited to do it again. We are so thankful to God for how he blessed us over the last week with eager and excited Czech teens, hard-working American campaigners, and lots of fun and spiritual activities. I look forward to writing more about it, with photos, in the future, but there is not much time for that now. I just wanted to update you on the first camp and ask for your prayers for the second one beginning in a week.

Also, please pray for Jakub as he transitions from camp, to home, to camp again. We'll also have a visitor staying with us this week. Jakub did well the first time around, though is pretty tired and a little over-stimulated after a week of lots of attention:) He's doing great through it all, though, and we couldn't be more thankful. Hopefully it will go well the second time around.

Please also pray for his check-up this week as he turns 8 months old:) I can't believe it! I'll blog more about him later, too. He's doing well, eating 3 meals a day now and loving it:), and he's crawling with arms and legs now, and forward as well as backwards, but still on his belly like an army crawl:). He rocks on the knees, but doesn't go forward on them yet.

I hope you are all well and thank you for your prayers. They mean a lot to us and they help keep us going!

Rockin' and rollin'...

Kuba is performing these moves everywhere and anywhere he can these days. He does it in the high-chair, which makes for some very messy eating:) He does it on the floor, in the bed... A couple of nights ago he woke around 5am and when I went to check on him he was up on his knees in bed, rocking, and saying da-da over and over. It's just the sweetest thing... :)

I also put up some new pictures in the post below. Enjoy!

Lake Poděbrady

Hi again! As you can tell, I'm posting a lot right now because tomorrow our wonderful and exhausting month of camps, campaigners, visitors, and camp follow-up events begins and I'm pretty sure I won't be writing a lot for the next several weeks. Please remember our camps and the teens we'll be working with in your prayers. Our theme this year is around the idea of different voices. These voices you might hear all around you from peers, society, close friends and family, as well as your own voice, and the most important voice of all- the voice of God. Which will you follow? Which ones are loving and honest and how do you know? Can you tell truth from lies- even the ones you tell yourself? What will help you know the truth? Who can you trust and why? What is the voice of God like? and more... These are the things we'll be exploring at our camps with the kids through games, skits, stories, testimonies, videos, music, movies and small discussion groups. We hope the kids will learn a lot, as well as have a lot of fun with us and their friends through the 7 days of each camp (one for older kids and one for younger kids). We also pray the kids will want to spend time with us after camps are over as we provide another year of fun activities and devotionals for them throughout their next school year. We hope they'll see and hear God working through us! Ok, so can you tell I'm excited and ready for camp? I hope Jakub will have a good time and cooperate through it all. I think July is going to turn his "routine" world upside down:) Please pray he'll adjust well to all of the changes, to all of the people, and that he'll stay healthy through it all.

Ok, so I really got on here to say Happy 4th to you all and that I hope you had a wonderful holiday yesterday. Yesterday was also Sarah K.'s birthday so we celebrated it all after worship time together. It was nice! Josh and I also went to a lake in Olomouc with the Keens this morning to have some relaxing family time together. It was a little too cool to swim (yes, it still gets cool here when rain comes through:). Kuba enjoyed the time with the kids, being near the water, watching other people, and getting to eat some grass:) Here are our pictures...



Eating an apple with Uncle Corey...




Eating grapes with Evan...



Evan eating a pb and j sandwich after swimming in the cold water:)



The boys talking to each other:)






Jakub practicing his new moves... (Can you see the red hair? It's really coming in now. We're not sure where the red comes from... but we like it!)




We had a really nice time together and relaxing near the water. It was like the calm before the storm... :) I hope you all have a great week! Maybe I'll get another picture post in before we disappear for a while. I'm going to post a video here in a moment. Enjoy!

Helfštýn Castle

We took a trip with some of our teammates and friends yesterday to a near-by castle. It's only 30 minutes from Olomouc and it's one of the most well-preserved castles, and a large one, in central Europe. It's from the 1400's and it's gorgeous. For some parts only the ruins remain, but they were still in good shape. We had a wonderful time and the weather could not have been more perfect. Kuba, of course, loved being outside, being with the people, and exploring the sites with us. This castle also had an small, but awesome, exhibition of art made by blacksmiths. I have a lot of pictures so I'll get those started. :)

A view from the watch tower.


Jakub got pretty heavy by the time we had climbed to the top:)



Inside the ruins, which are not all that "ruined" when compared to other places and castles we have visited before. This one really was pretty in-tact and well-preserved.

The best family photo we could manage at the time.


Me and Sarah trying to be serious long enough for a photo with our kids:)

That's a little better...


A mosquito, which was labeled in Czech as the night torturer. So appropriate...



A musician




Kuba and his friend (born on the same day in Olomouc) Vita at our children's class.


Jakub learning to feed himself...



He's learned how to sit himself up if he has something to pull up on or push off of. I think the bouncy seat is no longer really safe:) He can also sit himself up from the boppy pillow. He can almost do it on the floor from his tummy, but not all the way. He's getting up on his knees and rocking a lot now, but our wood floors are slippery so he does it better when we're somewhere with carpet or on a bed. He's still biting and drooling like crazy, but still no teeth. Ok, have to go. It's time for his morning nap:)