Caught Up in the Moment

My sister, Shelley, and her daughter, Bailey, were in town visiting my parents and our family this weekend!! We were so busy enjoying time together talking and laughing, that the whole visit transpired without a single picture of us all together!! Funny how as much as I try to keep our blog updated, I could miss something as simple as a family snapshot. Here's the most recent picture of Bailey I have:

Bailey is amazing!! I can't believe how mature and articulate she is for just finishing the sixth grade. She volunteered 90 hours of community service as part of the Young Heroes program, which she joined in January. With this program, she volunteers three Saturdays a month from 9:00am-4:30pm for a variety of charitable and non-profit organizations. And she told me that she even enjoys things like picking "invasive plants" like Ivy from city parks. She earned a silver pin and certificate from President Bush and the White House.

She also wakes up every morning at 5 am, by her own choice, to arrive at school by 6:30 am to help the teachers set up for their classes. She stays after school for two hours, twice a week to participate in an advance placement math program, and on top of all this she gets excellent grades and has a ton of friends. I'm so impressed with her! It is purely out of her own initiative. When asked what she liked about the volunteering, she replied that it felt really good to contribute something to the community, and expect nothing in return and seeing the difference her service makes in the lives of others. Wow. I think when I was in sixth grade, I spent most of my time worrying about passing notes without getting caught. :)

My sister Shelley has extremely busy too! She helped found and organize the Jaguar Arts Festival, for Bailey's middle school and was featured in the Seattle PI just last week. They raised $3,000 to help support and celebrate the art program there. This isn't exactly new to her, she's been actively volunteering at Bailey schools since Bailey was a toddler. Having earned a double major in History and Sociology from the University of Washington, Shelley is a strong advocate for education, and an incredible example to me of what is possible with creativity, hard work and courage to forge new ground. Not to mention, she's hilarious!! She always keeps us laughing :)

It was of course a blast to see Mom and Dad too!!! They were so sweet to make the drive our way and save us some time and stress packing up the boys. I'm so glad Dad works close so we have a chance to visit with both Dan's parents and my own. We count ourselves very blessed.

I did happen to catch a couple pictures of Forrest wondering out in the grassland by our picnic table and taking Grandpa's dog, Cheyenne, for a walk.

A few shots of Forrest:



I have more to say, but since this post is already getting long, I'll call this good for now :)