Master's Portfolio

All done.  179 pages.  Bittersweet.

You can all refer to me as "Master Lara" now.  Or, just "Master".  haha

 I defend the portfolio next week and then I will officially be done with my Master's degree.  God has truly made a way for this to happen.  So many, especially my parents, have made it possible for me to finish this year.  Thank you, everyone for all of your support and help!

Sleepy-head

24

I have officially entered in to the mid-twenties.  On my actual birthday I ate lunch out with my mom (aka: my birthday buddy!) and Juliet and ate dinner out with friends.  I finished the night off with a margarita.  Then the weekend after my birthday I was at the lake with my Titus 2 group (Bible study) and they celebrated me with chocolate cake (thank you, Leah)! ...and I'm pretty sure I had a bite of the cake every.single.time I walked by it.  Calories don't count on your birthday week month, right?

10 Months

Juliet Isabel is 10 months old today!  This month she has hit a ton of developmental milestones.  She claps her hands, she dances ANYTIME she hears music or anything that kind of sounds like music, she waves and says "bye-bye", she says "ma-ma", she walks all over the place as long as she has one hand on something to keep her balance, she has stood by herself, she shakes her head "no" when ever she hears the word no, she gives [open-mouthed] kisses when prompted, she points and grunts/screams whenever she wants something, she climbs the stairs from bottom to top, she loves to read books (by herself and even more to be read to), and she crawls all over the place.  She is now eating all table foods and only has one bottle a day.  She no longer nurses. :(  With all of the traveling I did over the last month she really just lost interest and gave-up nursing in the morning before breakfast.  Her current favorite activities are climbing the stairs, reading books, pulling things off shelves and throwing them on the floor, taking things out of baskets/boxes and throwing them on the floor, and being entertained by anyone who will pay her attention.

She is such a fun, lively, silly little girl that keeps us laughing!

Blueberries

She loves them!

Baptism

Juliet Isabel was baptized today by Joe Mullen and Duane Davis.  She would not let Joe hold her for the actual baptism, but other than that we had no tears! :)  It was a special day for me to be able to make a public promise to raise Juliet up knowing that there is a personal God who loves her deeply and has a mighty plan for her life.

We also sand the song "Rejoice in the Lord" by Ron Hamilton this morning in the service, and while it had nothing to do with the baptism, I felt like the words were truly appropriate for my own personal story in becoming Juliet's mom and therefore Juliet's story as well.  I'll leave you with the lyrics...

God never moves without purpose or plan
When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;
In darkness He giveth a song.


Chorus:
O Rejoice in the LORD
He makes no mistake,
He knows the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried
And purified,
I shall come forth as gold.

I could not see through the shadows ahead;
So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day;
Then peace came and tears fled away.

Chorus

Now I can see testing comes from above;
God strengthens His children and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging more fruit I will bear.

My prayer is that Juliet will be filled with a joy that only comes from the contentment and peace of knowing that God is in control of all of her circumstances; may she always rejoice in the Lord.

Dupont Forest

Juliet's first visit!  ...And she slept for part of it.

Fun Fact: Hunger Gamers was filmed here!

Pool

Juliet is my little ballerina :) 

She loves taking baths but she is not "in love" with the pool yet.  One day, one day.

Adventures with Lizeth

So, we have been MIA over the last month or so because my friend Lizeth was visiting us from Mexico for 3 weeks, I was a bridesmaid in a wedding in the DC area, I was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and now I have about two weeks to finish up my last class for my Masters and my final Portfolio, which I will present the first week of August. Sigh!

That being said here are a bunch of pictures of our various adventures this month: