Cabin Fever

Summer is the month for staying indoors here in Saint George. With 105+ degree temps outside and relatively high humidity, I am so happy we have air conditioning! What a life saver.. I am so thankful I work indoors too, I feel bad for anyone stuck outside. It just feels so strange to go from a place where you look forward to summer to where you dread it! All this heat has me feeling a lil bit of cabin fever! Oliver is a blast and I'm having fun rolling around the carpet with him, reading him stories, and feeding him solids! But the indoors is beginning to make me feel like I'm in a prison. We have been trying to get out of the house and go swimming, Oliver is finally starting to like the pool. But its hard to feel motivated to haul all the baby stuff to the pool, esp by myself. I am just anxiously waiting for fall to get here so we can go for long walks and play at the park. One positive, I'm getting to read more. I just ordered a bunch of books off amazon too. I'm currently reading "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" by Norman Giesler and Frank Turek. I am really enjoying it. I bought a few more books from Norman Giesler and am waiting to get more money so I can get some of Revi Zacharias works as well as more C.S. Lewis and Michele Behe. I have been in a theology, philosophy, and apologetic mood lately. It has me feeling incredibly motivated. This would be a good thing if I didn't feel so stuck. Stuck indoors, stuck in my job, stuck in Saint George, stuck in life. I doesn't help that working out isn't an option because of my pelvis, but I also haven't been able to go to physical therapy. I just havent had a baby sitter and when Dan is home to watch Oli there aren't any appointments available. I am trying to stay active by taking the stairs at work, but I haven't been able to really get my heart pumping in awhile. I think that's adding to the trapped feeling. At least last weekend we got a mini vaca. Dan and I went to SLC for my sister in laws wedding. We had a blast! Better weather, more green, and big beautiful city made for good medicine. My sister in law, Jamie and her new husband Lance looked so happy! They make a great couple and I'm so happy for them. The reception was held in a family friend's backyard nestled at the base of the mountains, giving us a spectacular backdrop. The theme was a country picnic with root beer, wildflowers, and soup, salads, and sandwiches catered by Zoopas. Dan's cousin and one of the groom's friends sang and played live music. That night we stayed at a gorgeous 5 star hotel in down town salt lake called the Grand America. We weren't even allowed to carry our own bags in, a bellman had to, that's how fancy it was. Here are some pictures of the view from our 19th floor room! As well as Oli's first solids. I didnt get any pictures if the wedding because I was video recording. I'll post the video later.

I should have posted this a while ago!

Here are some pictures from our first camping trip as a family! We went to Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming, and we stayed at Jenny Lake. We also made a quick day trip to Yellowstone. Pretty fun stuff, I can't wait to get out camping again!

Life "rolls" on

Oliver is a rolling machine! He is cruising around the house like nobodies business. It seems like just yesterday he was a helpless little ball in my arms. I kind of miss him actually wanting to cuddle with mommy. Now I have to settle for sleepy Oli snuggles. I can totally see why some people have tons of kids. They grow so fast, you feel like all the fun stages are passing before your eyes!  Monday will be Oli's 6 month check up and I'm anxious to find out how big he has gotten. Breast feeding is still going well, I'm so happy that we have made it to the 6 month mark and we are still going strong. Today we even participated in Le Leche league's "Big Latch", an attempt to break the world record for most women breast feeding at the same time. It was pretty cool to be a part of that. I'm thinking in the next month or so, it will be time to start solids. I will definitely have to do a post on here about that one. I keep slacking on updating this, I will have to get better. Maybe once I finally get Oliver back on a regular nap time I will actually have a set time to keep this updated.

 First teeth!

 Favorite ride!

Taste of perspective.

I recently picked up a book that I have had sitting on my shelf for a few months now waiting to be read. It's called "The Good News About Injustice" by Gary A Haugen. Gary Haugen is the founder of International Justice Mission and also served in the investigation by the UN of the Rwanda Genocide. Now, I am not naive to the fact that there is a great amount of suffering in this world, and I am not naive to the fact that God has given us the tremendous responsibility to do something about it,  but this book is pounding new perspective into me. If you consider yourself a christian, you should read this book. Gary Haugen does an incredible job of reminding us God's call for us to "seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17).  A short time ago I was reading the story of Moses and the part the sprung out from the pages and made my heart ache was how the people were commanded by faro to leave their infants exposed so that they would die. I had a vision of tiny babies left out in the streets to die while their parents hear their cries yet can do nothing. I could hear them crying for their mothers, I imagined the horror and helplessness their parents had to have felt. They had no one to stand up for them in that moment, to defend them and stand up for what was right. No one to "rescue the oppressed". As a parent I am haunted by the thought of someone inflicting suffering upon my defenseless child and not being able to do anything about it. That's where this book comes in. Justice is God's idea. The suffering of this world does not go unnoticed. God has charged us with the duty of caring for the least of these. IJM is a wonderful organization, they are the ones speaking for the oppressed and giving us a way to combat injustice in an ever darkening world. I applaud them in their efforts to be the strong arm for the weak of this world and I plan to find out more ways that I can help the ministry. I would expect that in this life of luxury we could all make a little sacrifice so that others don't have to suffer. If you call yourself a christian, you cannot afford to let yourself become desensitized and numb to the suffering of this world.  Christianity is not merely about your salvation after death, it is also very clearly about service to others.  It is so easy to be swept up in the small problems of our days. I am so guilty of ignoring my many blessings. I routinely have major melt downs over things that, honestly, don't matter in the least. I have got to stop worrying about things that are so superficial and worldly, I could donate the money I spend on them and save lives! What could be more important than that? My priorities, like most people in this privileged country, are so very skewed. Now the question is, am I willing to make the sacrifice so that others may have their very basic needs met? I sure hope so, and I sure hope I don't stop feeling burdened for those in need either. I pray that God redirects my focus so that I can see the blessings that I have and show me ways that I may bless others. By the way, if you actually read through my entire, somewhat depressing blurb, and you feel so inclined, please consider donating in my name to Stop Child Trafficking Now. My previous post has all the information you need, any amount of money and prayers will do good, I can promise that!