what have you missed in our little lives? ava walks now. not so much from point A to point B, but defintely lets go of everything and takes 1-3 steps without holding on to anything. she'll walk all around our kitchen while pushing her high chair though all day long. and she walks up our staircase all by herself (with me/dad VERY CLOSE behind). she hasn't figured out going down them yet. that'll be the day...
the thing that intrigues me is she has no fear. she doesn't know what negative consequences are and that just amazes me. she, in her innocent and sweet life, doesn't know that harm could come her way if she takes one too many steps off the couch. she 100% trusts me and sam that no matter what everything will be okay. (deep thought): what if we would just trust God like that? how our lives could change if we would allow Him to be in full control. if we just let go of the control that we "think" we have. and since I'm not spiritually mature enough to do that myself, well I guess I need to learn from my 10 month old how to do it. She'll be my best teacher yet I bet.
enough of the deep thoughts. below are two relaxing pictures. ava spent some quality time with her friend Rachel tonight. they hung out at borders bookstore together. ava trying her hand at sharing by loaning her blanket to rachel and stealing her butterfly in the meantime. she'll get the hang of it some day...
and over the weekend ava, grandma and I went to Columbia to visit aunt sue, uncle bj, and cousins sam & joel. us girls and the boy cousins went to the Chestnut farm in Booneville. I learned more about chestnuts that day than I ever thought I'd learn in my lifetime. I mean, have you ever actually tried 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire'? DONE. I have. and it's not half bad. not really half good, but not half bad either. the chestnut pancakes, now those were good. aunt sue should make those for us :)
here are ava's 2 boy cousins posing with her while she's all bundled up for a closing picture of the day:
