Ladies, you may have been searching for him for a long time. You may have searched high and low, hither and yon, and other assorted places. But here he is, in the flesh....

We've had a bit of rain here in Oklahoma as of late. As a matter of fact, we just broke the "Consecutive-days-of-rain-in-Oklahoma-City" record with 16 in a row. That record dated from 1937. So, we have a lot of water. Which Kyle decided to introduce Noah to this afternoon, with noticably cute results. See exhibits A and B.

Noah is 6 months old today, and a very soggy half-birthday it is. The ground is so saturated that every little shower leaves standing water, all the better for those cute little feet to stand in, although this particular bit was running down the road.

What is that is so very cute about baby feet? He wasn't sure about it all at the beginning, but he got to the point where he was quite indignant that Daddy took him OUT of the water.

May I just say I really hate the way Blogger is formatting things now? And that I am annoyed that I am not smart enough to make it look better? Please ignore the misaligned text and the pictures stuck in odd places. I promise that it was all justified and aligned before I published. Just look at the cuteness that is the baby.

This is Noah, working on eating one of his stacky rings, which apparently have, if not nutritional value, then teething value. There's also a picture of Noah taking his first bubble bath. (Thank you, Mr. Bubble!)

I just had to post this picture. Noah and I decided that he should make Kyle's first Father's Day present. My sweet husband was kind enough to let me move when we celebrated Father's Day, due to my impending bouts of crying at commercials, cards, sermons, ugly ties, and ridiculous t-shirts. So, Noah and I went outside and Noah made his first fingerpainting. He painted the mat for this picture, then I took the picture of Noah post-paint, framed the whole thing, and gave it to Kyle, who seemed to like it. Overall it turned out much better than I had hoped and was very well-received. Don't we have a precious baby?

Well, I now have a sister in the other hemisphere. Karissa left yesterday afternoon for field work in Australia. We are all very proud, but very sniffly. This is everyone at the airport (except Bob, who was kind enough to take the picture so that we could all be in it) trying to keep from crying for long enough to take a snapshot. None of us are pretty criers.

Kris decided when she was in High School that she was supposed to do mission work. She talked to Dad about it, and he thought it was a great fit for her. She has done a short-term mission (6 weeks) in Moscow with the Let's Start Talking program and a week long mission trip to an orphanage in Leon, Mexico. Now she is going to be working with a church in Gosford, Australia for the next 14 months or so. I'm glad she's brave enough to do it, because I'm certainly not. We are all incredibly proud of her. She's sacrificing a lot of things to get to go, and people in her life (hello again, Bob!) are sacrificing too. We'll be posting lots of baby videos for Auntie K to watch, and having weekly web vists via webcam.

So, long and short of it is: K, we love you and we miss you and are so, so proud of you. Hang in there sweetheart. Once you get settled and busy things will be easier. Take in the gorgeous landscape, try not to get eaten by spiders, and we'll see you when you get home. Blog often (send me the link again!), send lots of pictures, and have a fantastic time. Promise that you'll go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef at least once, and take an underwater camera. Just give us some notice if we need to get dresses before you come home.

Everyone else: please keep Kris and her mission team in your prayers. I will link to her blog as soon as she e-mails me the link. If you know any rich people, or just mission-minded people, her team does still need some additional support. Just get in touch with me via e-mail or comment.

Peace be with you!