My Grandpa: Happy Birthday, Great-Grandpa Smith!
Micah came up with the idea of making a "Song Book" for Great-Grandpa, because they both love to sing. So, Micah chose 12 songs (including Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Peace is the World Smiling) and decorated each page.
MY COUSINS: One of the highlights of the week for me was seeing how incredible my cousin Doug was in caring for and encouraging our aging grandpa.
I also loved getting to be with Erin and Karen!! The three of us share SO many memories!
Lest I forget to mention how awesome it was to be with ALL of my cousins, here they are!
Taylor (left) and Will's (center) band performed before and after the Smith Mountain Lake fireworks. If any of you Virginia folks need a band, I'll put you in touch with them!
By day, Taylor entertained us with his wakeboarding,
and Will turned flips for us.
It was also great to see my sons forming bonds with my cousins, like Karen (who again deserves huge props for so many excellent photos!!) 
Thankfully, while Micah and Paul napped, I got to have some talks with my cousins.
My cousin Jessica gets the award for generating the most smiles!
Aunt Kathy -- check out your baby leading my baby to the beautiful lake!
Jessica is again bringing smiles!
MY NEPHEWS: Micah spent most of the week "swimming" in his life jacket, but he had a blast with his cousin Charlie!
This is our sweet Joey, Scott and Sarah's youngest.
You may think that this picture was hard to capture, but this excitement is almost always on Joey's face!
I love getting to be a mom with Sarah! It is so nice to be in the same "boat!" (punny, I know)
Sarah and Charlie are displaying the joys of Trac Ball and Noodles!
The next generation of cousins has fun, too!
My Mom: When I told my mom about Paul's first joke a month ago, (he tasted his plain Cheerios and said, "spicy" then laughed) she told me to put it in his baby book. Since this blog is his baby book, there you have the arrival of Paul's sense of humor!
Out of my Grandpa's five children, my mom contributes one-third of the 30 people to the Smith family mix! 
What an amazing blessing each of my mom's siblings love each other (and of course their dad) so well!
My Uncle Ralph and Aunt Faye are the most amazing hosts!
My sons: Paul, the beggar, ate all of Doug's banana; notice Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Graham?
Paul has fun splashing with dad!
The three-seater is just right for the Tongen boys!
After Anthony went back to work, I took the boys exploring around the lake every morning.
"HIT IT!" We're not sure who was more excited about Micah's first happy tube ride -- Micah or Uncle Ralph!?
Wakeboard Boat Driver-in-training
Here is the very last picture of Paul with straight baby teeth. We came in from the lake on Tuesday and Paul climbed up onto one of the mattresses on the floor. I asked Paul to come to me so that I could take his shoes off (I'm sure Doug appreciated the dirt in his bed!) but Paul instead ran the opposite way, the full length of the mattress and fell into the coffee table. He broke his front tooth in half and knocked back his incisor at a 45 degree angle. The pediatric dentist here is excellent and at this point, we are not going to have his tooth removed. It is hard not to look at his teeth and think of the consequences of disobedience; it reminds me to be grateful for God's mercy towards me despite my disobedience!
My entire, beloved family
While they were gone, Paul's speaking got so much clearer, so his translator became less necessary! Here he is displaying one of his favorite 
Papa Jay took the boys in a ride behind Duke and Dan. In the meantime, Anthony spent the week working hard with many research students while I worked hard scraping, priming and painting the exterior (shutters and 
What a treat!!!
Ever feel like you are drinking from a hose? Actually, I spent some great alone time painting while the boys were gone, and sometimes it seemed like I was similarly bombarded with all of the 
Papa Jay is training up two intently focused future farmers!
A big smile saying "thank you" to Grandma Jo and Grandpa Doug!
It takes friends to get over, under, through, up and down!
The hikes were rigorous and exciting! On the first day, we 
and didn't think we had ever been so happy to see rocks before (Laura's husband Billy had marked the beautiful, non-existent trail with them.) then we crossed streams for 2 miles until . . .
Melody found a comfy campsite for us that we thoroughly enjoyed. The next day, we hiked 10 miles up and down a 
My idea for the theme of this post came from our backpacking trip, because I was amazed at how the three of us fit together so well with different talents! If it hadn't been for Laura, I would have left the trail at a key point and would have been VERY lost. If it hadn't been for Melody, I wouldn't have had such a comfy place to sleep with such a soft, leafy mattress. Such examples of needing each other were numerous! 
It takes a whole church to have this much excitement for children!
I was the Preschool teacher for the 10 sweet children in the two above pictures. Micah chose to invite 3 friends who don't go to our church, since he had been looking forward to 
The crew leaders I got to serve with were awesome!
I loved seeing Micah help friends have a good time!
He was even brave enough to go up in front of 400 kids . . .
Twice! 
Paul enjoyed playing in the nursery with Ben, but they also thought it was quite a treat to sing and dance with the big kids!
By the end of a long, fun week, a tired Paul was needing Noah to care for him.
I suspect that I looked as glassy-eyed as Micah by the end, too.
It takes a community to reach the world!
Even though these three had been together all week, they were happy to see each other at Liam and Phoebe's 1st birthday party! I envision these guys being members of one body working together, too!