Summer in Review

Okay, so we know it's been a while. As much as I've enjoying seeing updates on all of our friend's blogs, I should keep ours up to date a little better! I could never get tired of seeing our most recent post with Brendan's 18-month pictures, but I'm sure that you (the few readers we have retained) would like some updates! We actually didn't take very many pictures this summer at all - it seemed like we never had our camera (and if we did, the battery was dead), and we're still working on getting the promised pictures taken by friends and family. So here we go, starting where we left off...

We celebrated our 6th Anniversary on June 15, as well as a special Father's day! We celebrated by going to the Kapp family reunion in Chillicothe, OH. It was really nice to see family that we hadn't seen since our wedding 6 years ago. Brendan was surely the hit of the afternoon. We took 2 (yes, two) pictures that day... (again, more to come...)

Brendan has also enjoyed lots of swimming/sprinkler time this summer. He really enjoyed having Daddy home 3 days a week, and he is definitely looking forward to having Mommy around more when Daddy goes back to work. Here are a couple of backyard fun pictures with Daddy, and then the pool with Mommy and Daddy one Saturday morning.

We had a really fun summer, and packed in lots of fun memories with Brendan. He is absolutely a delight to spend time with, but yet has challenged us as parents like never before. We've learned that after a long day (or long hour...), we have to stay strong in our relationship together and not let anything get between us in our marriage. We've begun to experience signs that the age of 2 is right around the corner...and all of those time our parents warned that paybacks would be coming, well, I'm beginning to think they were right! We've been committed to prayer as the strength of our family, looking to HIM for our daily guidance. What an amazing privilege to teach our little Brendan to pray, praising Jesus for all that he's done and asking for his help as we walk each day. I've been able to do a little reading this summer, and there are also several blogs that have been an amazing source of inspiration for me. (I've added a link to Angie Smith's blog to the side...if you haven't visited before, plan on spending some time...and tissues)

I'm closing with this for now, and while I only got caught up though June, I promise more will come! In my next post watch for some highlights on our recent trip to the Zoo!

**Brief disclaimer: Neither this post, nor any other post, is inclusive of all Russell family adventures. By no means does this mean that our time spent with you that remains unmentioned was any less important or less significant! :)