Ethan, Amy and Baby Emelyn

Emy having a blast on the neighbor’s Radio Flyer tricycle. Go Emy, go!

кожевниковой порно марии

Taken today in Emy’s playroom. An Emy dancing video was requested by sister Jenn and Emy never lets family members down!

Breakfast With Emy Over Labor Day Weekend (Part I)

Breakfast With Emy Over Labor Day Weekend (Part II)

• дом 2 порно солнце

In the above video, Emy learns that it’s not a good idea to drink the bath water. The follow-up video shows she was able to recover and enjoy the rest of the bath!

Wow, our little girl turned one today! What better way to celebrate than to introduce her to cake for the first time. Emelyn patiently waits to see what lies ahead. попки фото

“Ok, I see a candle and it’s sitting on top of some sort of food. I don’t think I like where this is going. Seems scary to mix fire and food.”

“Great. They’ve got the camera out. I suppose I should act interested…still not sure about all this though.”

“All right – THAT’S IT!. I hate this cake and I’m scared of it! GET IT OFF ME!!”

“Thanks dad. I was scared out of my mind. I like to stay clean at all times just like Mom.”

Birthday wishes all the way from Indiana from Aunt Tori and Uncle Andy!

Just a quick recap of some recent events.

1) Had a great Valentine’s Day with Amy!

2) Enjoyed a weekend visit to Coral Springs and Boca Raton Florida to visit Amy’s grandparents!
3) What a great NBA All-Star game! One of my top three favorite sporting events of the year!

Those of you who know me can probably infer quickly I’m not referring to an actual race….I wish I was more excited about exercising! I’m referring to the Christian life. God’s been getting my attention lately in a number of ways, through our pastor’s wonderful sermons, through Bible studies in I John with our community group (great people!), and through the powerful testimonies and writings of modern saints – Rachel Barkey and Francis Chan.

First, Rachel Barkey…a Canadian Christian, 37 years old, wife and mother of two, dying of cancer which has spread throughout her entire body. With only a short time left, she tells her story of battling this insidious disease, with a vision of glory before her. Absolutely powerful – do not miss watching this. It’s 55 minutes you will not regret. I love her simple words: “Know God, Know yourself, Know the Gospel, Know your purpose. Serve with Joy.” Click Here

And Francis Chan…My mother-in-law was raving about this book recently and I took note, but hadn’t read it yet. Then, my friend Joni talked about how it was convicting her to the point of great discomfort and I thought, do I want to read this? But now, thanks to my sweet sister-in-law’s facilitation (go Tori!), and the fact that my husband already had a copy of the book in the house (he’s always one step ahead of me!) I am reading it with Ethan’s mother and his three sisters. Already, Chapter One is excellent, and he uses online video clips to augment the book. I can tell this is going to make me uncomfortable…ugh. This is good uncomfortable, though. “We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry.” Ouch – I can relate to that last sentence all too well. “In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.” So true. I am far too easily distracted.

Our pastor Jamie spoke about loving people this morning, and Ethan and I talked about this afterward, because we saw something yesterday that really hit us. We were in the car at a busy intersection with Emelyn in the back seat, and we saw an overweight, dirty man standing in the median with a cane. Another man, who looked more like we look (washed, nice clothes, etc.), walked across several lanes of traffic, went over to the dirty man (who was begging for money), and embraced him, brought the beggar’s hand to his chest, and spoke to him. It was a brief exchange, and then he moved on. The beggar stood in the median and just wept, openly. Cried like a baby. Ethan and I wondered if perhaps he wept because he had been touched by someone, someone who didn’t seem to mind that he was dirty. We both got teary. But then we drove on. We both talked about how we wanted to turn around and invite him to get in the car and take him out for a meal, but we didn’t, because we were afraid he might be crazy or dangerous, and we had our baby in the car. Did fear hold us back from blessing someone? Was that wrong? What would you have done?

The next time I post, I’ll probably have some pics from our trip up to S.C. My sister is having baby girl #2 this Thursday, and we are eager to meet little Hollyn Paige. Please pray for us, that we will be a blessing to my sister, who is having a planned c-section, and for her husband and 2 year old daughter. Pray that Emelyn will sleep well in a new place and that she will be a fun distraction for her cousin!

My father mentioned over the weekend that we hadn’t updated in a long time.  We are going on two months, so it seemed like the time to update, except that we are coming off of two rather stressful days caused by (1) illness, and (2) a heavy workload.  We went over to my parents’ house on the Gulf Coast for Mother’s Day, and all was well until Sunday evening, when I started feeling sick.  Fast forward 24 hours and I was really sick, the victim of some disgusting little virus that had to run its course.  It was awful.  Today, I have consumed Gatorade.  That is it.  And I have no desire to eat anything, but I know I need to.   We ended up staying at mom and dad’s until this morning, so I could recover.  Meanwhile, Ethan is working a lot (it just has to be done right now), so we are both on our last leg, you could say.

In times like these, I realize how many things I take for granted, health being at the top of that list.  Over the weekend, before the disgusting bug, mom and I visited a dear friend who has been wheelchair-bound for years, with a degenerating spinal condition.  In spite of her condition, she has maintained an amazing outlook and spirit.  Although her condition has affected the range of motion and strength in her hands, she has recently taken up painting and paints beautifully.  She hasn’t let her struggles stop her from being a bright, creative person.  I wonder if I would do as well, if the tables were turned. And I think of another friend, Scott, who has been battling cancer for years with a faith that never ceases to amaze us both.

So, here is the challenge:  to have a gracious, Christ-like spirit when I feel terrible, when my husband has to work a lot, when I cannot control things…

I Thessalonians 5:18 – Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.