June 20

A month ago, we offered to host a get-together for our small group. We finally settled on a date, only to learn that my aunt and grandparents were coming into town during the days after. Still, we soldiered on. Even when we decided to host a dinner two nights later for 17 people. And then when the leaders of our small group weren't able to make it, and another family dropped out, then both of the single guys in our group weren't able to come. 

Chris and I honestly discussed cancelling the event, but we decided not to. I'm so glad we stayed the course, because we had so much fun! We spent all day running around, preparing for it (I even hit my 10,000 steps without leaving the house!), and the kids were remarkably cooperative. Caleb was definitely excited for it; all week he asked if today was the day that our small group was coming over.

Amazingly, the rain (which has been coming in torrents all week) stopped last night, so we had a warm, sunny day for our get-together. We grilled lots of meat, got out the sprinkler for the kids, and went fishing at the pond. It was awesome.

Funny story: three women in our small group were all due to give birth to babies during the first two and a half weeks of March. Two of those babies came in March; Eli came in January. Here's Eli with Campbell, who was born (right on time) in the middle of March.

Campbell's big sister is six months older than Lily, and Lily loves her. But when Cadence wanted to use Lily's swing, Lily got mad. Luckily, we worked  out a compromise. Both girls were very  happy!

Caleb, meanwhile, was so excited to play with boys his own age. He and Reagan had a lot of fun with the water blasters.

After dinner, the older kids took their fishing poles up to the pond, and Caleb and Daisy eagerly joined them. Caleb and Daisy each caught a fish, and had so much fun! We are so blessed with our church small group!