Joseph is saying goodbye to the DC area.

Joseph and Tom have been good friends since they met when Joseph moved to Northern Virginia over 3 years ago. He was in the saber arch in our wedding 2 years ago and wore his Navy uniform proudly. Joseph has decided to get out of the Navy to go to seminary in L.A. County, California. He will be at Biola getting his MDiv. Lelia and I met up with he and Tom in Northern Virginia on Tuesday to have lunch at Red Hot & Blue. It was a great adventure for us girls! It was also the very first time I got to see where Tom works! All of his jobs before this one were the kind where if he told me about them he would have had to kill me...so this was a special treat! Now I can picture the little cubicle where he is sitting when I talk to him during his work day. It was also wonderful to put faces with the names of those he works with.

Joseph, we wish you all the best in your time on the West Coast and we look forward to updates on your life and studies. We can't wait to witness the impact you will have on many as you pursue God's vision for your ministry.
Love, The Clarkes

Learning to Write

New Photos

Crawlin' through the tunnel Papa Toomey bought Lelia.

On the move after a bath.

Check out those piano legs :)

Eating an apple.

Ian and Lelia listening to Jon play music at Bible study.

Watching the Blue Angels with Uma

Chocolate ice cream euphoria!

Ummmm...Italian

Lelia's Baby Dedication / Mother's Day

Lelia was dedicated to the Lord at church on Mother's Day. It is what our church does instead of infant baptism. It is more about the parents making a commitment to raise their child in the ways of God than it is about what it means spiritually to the child. It is our hope that when Lelia is old enough to understand who Jesus is she will make the decision to profess her faith in Him by being baptized! It was a very special day for us!

Lelia's Buddy, Drew

We just met Drew 2 weeks ago. I ran into Liz, a girl I went to high school with, at church and found out that she has a son just 2 weeks younger than Lelia. Liz and Drew came to our play group this week and had a blast! I hope they are going to keep spending time with all of us!

Happy and On-the-move!

Invited to our first birthday party!

Lelia was invited to her first birthday party last weekend. It was her friend Georgia Holden's 1st birthday. As you can see in the picture above, Lelia had her very first lollipop there and LOVED it! It was a bit of a sticky mess to clean up...bath tubs have to be the worlds greatest inventions for parents of small kids!

Bonus-Grandma Lonnie

Bonus-Grandma Lonnie came over to play with Lelia a few weekends ago so that Tom and I could get out for date. We realized that it had been almost 4 months since we had been out on a date! We don't plan to let it go that long again...time flies when you have a little one to love and take care of!

The Gott Boys

I went to play with Ian and Preston Gott yesterday. They have the coolest house with lots of toys. I had never played with a truck until I started playing with them a few months ago and I love them. I hope Mommy and Daddy get me a few.

Me and Mommy Going to the Cubs Game