In Loving Memory

7 months ago, my grandma, Geneva Swartzentruber went home to be with Jesus. About a month later, Linea was born. I often find myself wishing that Grandma had gotten to see her and hold her, even if it was just once... But I have to remind myself that God knows best and His timing is perfect. I continue to grieve over her loss, but my fond memories of Grandma and the knowledge that she is safe in the arms of our loving heavenly Father bring me comfort during those times.

Not too long after Linea was born, Mom gave me a cute little dress that Grandma Swartzentruber had gotten for me when I was a baby. It finally fits Linea, so I put it on her and sat her on the little stool I've had since I was a little girl - a stool that Grandma painted for me. I got some really cute pictures of Linea on that stool wearing that little dress that says "Grandma loves me." I am publishing this post in loving memory of Grandma Swartzentruber, a woman who proved to me in so many ways that those words were true. Thank you, Grandma, for your love, and for your godly example to me.

Jeremiah's Wedding

My cousin Jeremiah got married on Sept. 10. Even though it rained most of the day, it cleared up just in time for the ceremony! The white lights in the tent were beautiful in the dark and it turned out to be a lovely evening for a wedding. Congratulations Jeremiah and Katie! I realized as I looked back at pictures that I never got one of the bride and groom! I will have to ask them for one! Here are some of us at the wedding, though!

Wonderful in White

I was disappointed when I looked back at the pictures I had of Linea on the day of her dedication at church. There were some nice ones of the 2 of us and even of her, but she was sleeping in them and the sun was shining in some not so good places. I worked so hard on making that dress that I felt the need to take some more in order to get a few fabulous pictures! The dress needed to be mended in a few places, which I finally did, and I was relieved to find out that it still fit her well enough to get some pictures! So here is a glimpse at the photo shoot we had one afternoon.
She might have extremely fair skin, but she pulls off wearing this white and cream ruffley dress so well! I wish she didn't grow out of clothes so quickly!

Family, Friends, Fun

Sometimes when you get busy, you forget to photograph the "every day" happenings that often make really nice memories. As I was preparing to do a final post from the month of August, I found a few of just that type of picture. If there are typos here, I blame my daughter (currently sitting on my lap) who is doing so much reaching and grabbing these days that she keeps hitting buttons on the computer! And, the latest knews - as of August 31, is that she officially has a tooth popping through on the bottom! Therefore, everything goes in her mouth for a good chewing. :)

Bathtime, despite the fact that the first few experiences involved a lot of screaming, has now become a favorite, with lots of kicking and splashing and the occasional giggle.

I finally was able to get a picture of Ben reading to Linea. She loves to touch the books and look at the pictures, but sometimes I think she really just wants to get that book in her mouth. I love to see Ben play with her and read to her so this is one of my favorites!

A few weeks ago, we did a last minute tomato day. We went down to Apple Creek and canned tomato juice with mom. Here she is with her grandbaby.

And here is Linea, experiencing the satisfaction of canning your own goods!

Most of the time when I take Linea and Simon for a walk use the stroller, but occasionally, the backpack, or in this case, front pack, is more convenient. She absolutely LOVES to be in the pack where she can see everything and kick her little legs.

Tim and Marcia (aka Grandpa and Grandma Fuller) came for a very brief visit a few Saturdays ago. They were in Ohio for a party for Ben's Grandpa Miller, so they stopped by for a few hours. Linea took a little nap on her grandpa.

And she even got to try out our hammock:

One Saturday evening in August, Linea and I got to enjoy the company of a few of my friends from Wayne County. Here we are with Tara and her son, Quinn.

Sara also came and Quinn really seemed to enjoy her lap and her help getting into Linea's swing!

And let's not forget Kari. She and Tara are both adding little ones to their families at the end of September! Yay for babies!

And while they were here, we were successful in getting a cute picture of Linea and Quinn together.

We also got to enjoy the company of friends from college, Christine and Justin one evening.

Wow! I guess I didn't realize how much we did in August until I looked back at pictures! That was one busy month - no wonder it went so quickly!

Ben and I are excited - September and October are our favorite months of the year here in Ohio. So Happy September everyone!

Five Years of Happiness

Five years ago, August 12, 2006, Ben and I got married. I still have pretty vivid memories of a gorgeous August afternoon, the excitement of starting a new chapter in my life, and my throat turning completely dry on my way down the aisle! The anticipation of making a huge, life changing commitment and my nerves going crazy at the thought of singing the song I had written was almost more than I could handle. But then, I remember the moment when I was standing at the front of the church, my dad handing me over to Ben and I don't think I can even describe the feeling of complete calm, contentment, and peace that came over me... sigh...

Five years later, I can look back on a lot of fun and exciting times, along with some bumps in the road, and some really tough times that I couldn't have gotten through without Ben, and I am so very thankful that I walked down that aisle five years ago and decided to spend the rest of my life with him. Anyway, I am rambling and you are ready for pictures. While we were in Indiana, we were able to sneak away for a few days to go to Nashville, IN. It is a cute little town with a ton of neat shops to browse in and some very nice hiking trails. We were able to enjoy both and just have some time to reconnect as a couple. We didn't realize how busy Linea was keeping us until we were away from her! She stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Fuller while we were away.

Here we are at our second hotel - the first one was not exactly, well, anniversary trip material.

Here we are in a little spot between a few shops. Not many towns have a rustic looking trellace between places of business - this is my kind of town!

On our actual anniversary - August 12 - we were back home and my parents came up to watch Linea for the evening so we could go out to dinner. Fortunately, I insisted on getting pictures before we left, or we would not have these.
Here's to many more years of marital bliss!

Fuller Family Vacation

If there is one thing I've learned about the Fuller men, it is that they are not "plan ahead" type of people. This 'vacation' was planned and re-planned, re-planned again, and in the end, it was really a haphazard, unplanned week of family togetherness. Nonetheless, it was so nice to all be together and we enjoyed it. However, I am not sure if we women are up for attempting to plan anymore week long vacations or anything else with these boys! You just can't get them to stick with a plan! But again, we enjoyed our time together despite the lack of having any idea what we might do from day to day. We spent the week at Tim and Marcia's house with an evening field trip to Justin and Ashley's apartment. And we had fun. Here is the whole family - don't we look happy?

And Marcia thought we should take some in our sunglasses since we found Linea some baby glasses on a shopping trip. Doesn't she look like she's posing? Ha ha!

Linea enjoyed her time with her Fuller grandparents.
And we took some pictures for great-grandpa Fuller who bought this little onesie just for Linea:
Our baby chick got to make use of her sunglasses and swimming suit while we were there.
We set up a "pool" for her in a blow up baby bathtub on the back patio. Her favorite part was trying to chew on the sides of the tub. (I am not sure why this is blue and underlined. I am not literate in troubleshooting the blog, so it's just going to have to stay this way.)
She also got to go swimming in the pool at Ashley's parents' house - the Mayos were very generous in letting us come over and crash their pool for the afternoon. Linea seemed to like it in her little floatie.
It was also at the Mayos house where Linea rolled over from her back to her belly for the first time. Later on in the week she went from belly to back. However, she's only done it a few times since, despite my efforts to put her on her back and belly daily. Maybe she is motivated by a large audience. :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to getting the whole family together again soon!