Adalynn ~ 9 Months Old

Weight: 18 pounds, 13 ounces (53rd percentile) ~ Length: 28.5 in. (81st percentile)

What she is doing:
Crawling from hands and knees to sitting
Scooting and crawling all over the place
Putting everything in her mouth
Saying baba, mama, dada
Biting Mommy while nursing (ouch!)
Eating soft boiled egg yolks (I need to be more intentional about adding new foods)
Being TOO CUTE!

We are thankful!

This month, I read a blog post on Ann Voskamp's blog, "A Holy Experience" that suggested making a Thanksgiving Tree.  She had pretty leaves you could print out to use for this activity.  You will see hers below.

Each day you have your children tell you something they are thankful for, and you take a leaf off of the tree, read the scripture printed on it, and write down the child's item/thing for the day.

With all we have going on, I didn't have time to get a "tree," so we are placing our leaves in a bowl of fake pumpkins and gords!  It works for us.  I wanted to remember what Zeke said this year, so I will share his list here along with the scripture we read that day.

1) My toys ~ 1 Thes. 5:16-18
2) My basketball hoop ~ 2 Corinthians 4:15
3) My lovey ~ Hebrews 13:15
4) My bike and dinosaur ~ Hebrews 12:28
5) My playground ~ James 1:17
6) My basketball hoop (he forgot he already said that!) ~ Colossians 4:2
7) My puzzles ~ Colossians 3:15
8) My letters and my numbers ~ 1 Timothy 4:4
9) Daddy (I think I may have prompted this a little even though I tried not to!) ~ 1 Cor. 15:57
10) My food ~ Colossians 2:6-7
11) Helping Daddy ~ 1 Cor. 11:24
12) My name ~ Ephesians 5:20
13) My new house ~ Philippians 4:6
14) The swimming pool ~ 2 Cor. 9:15
15) My lego trucks from Wynna at Walmart ~ Psalm 107:8-9
16) The bushes [in our backyard] and the bouncy thing [trampoline the old owners left] ~ John 11:41
17) GOD AND JESUS ALSO ~ 1 Chronicles 16:34
18) Adalynn ~ Daniel 6:10
19) For going poopoo [sorry, it's what he said!] ~ 1 Chronicles 16:8
20) The penguin, door thing, other pot, and snowman [he was referring to putting up Christmas decorations with Mommy] ~ Isaiah 12:4
21) My shake [Shakeology!] ~ Psalm 118:24
22) My new Veggie Tales Christmas DVDs ~ Ezra 3:11
23) Putting together my train tracks ~ Psalm 145:7
24) The Happy Birthday, Jesus sign ~ Psalm 69:30
25) Books ~ Psalm 31:19
26) Wynna, Mommy, Zeke, Daddy, and Adalynn ~ Psalm 28:7
27) Adalynn's A in her room [the letter Jami made to hang on her wall] ~ Psalm 35:18
28) That Wynna and Papa are coming home [they came to our house in Americus] ~ "Psalm 30:12

After 16 days of being thankful for "stuff," Zeke said (completely on his own), that he was thankful for God and Jesus.  He wanted to make sure I wrote down both.  I don't know if he truly understands yet, but that warmed my heart to know that he is thankful for our Father in Heaven and His Son.  You can guess what I was thankful for that day!

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

Gregg's new job is going to present new challenges when it comes to scheduling, but we are thankful that he has a job he enjoys that provides for our family.  He had to work on Thanksgiving, but my parents came down to visit after they enjoyed lunch with Jared and his family at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Papa was so sleepy after the drive down that he had to take a nap (with his coat still on!)

We decorated the Christmas tree.  Zeke really enjoyed it for the first time this year!

We took him to have his first haircut in Americus by a real barber.  He was such a big boy!

My parents stayed at the Windsor Hotel downtown.  It was built in 1892.  If you are ever in Americus, we highly recommend staying there.  It was beautiful and in walking distance to all the little downtown shops and restaurants.

Gregg and I got to go out to dinner with my dad.  It was our first night out without the kids in months.  We decided it was a date night with a chaperone...ha!

We had such a nice time with my parents.  We are also thankful they let us put them to work.  My mom and I sewed and worked on other projects while my dad and Gregg put together Adalynn's doll case, which was quite a puzzle!  It is a blessing to be within driving distance and we are thankful they were willing to make the drive.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless!

God is love!

Being a parent has certainly allowed me to reevaluate God's love for me.  This is true for many reasons, but recently, I am so thankful that God loves me in spite of my selfishness, unreasonableness, and constant need to control.  I see Zeke struggling with those sins and realize what a mess I could be to God.  BUT...

I am HIS child and He does not see me as a selfish, unreasonable, control freak.  He sees me as pure and blameless as I continue to seek Him and surrender things to Him.  Yes, this is an ongoing process, for sure, but all I have to do is ask, and He wipes my slate clean.  How grateful am I!

I want to love my children unconditionally.  I want them to know Christ and accept God's love in spite of their imperfectness.

Now for some updates about what we've been up to lately (note: I'll write Adalynn's update next week with her 9 month pics)!

It seems each day is full of moments I want to remember.  Zeke makes me laugh, causes me to be in awe, and causes me to draw nearer to God (otherwise, I'd go crazy...see above!).  He is full of personality and opinions.  We continue to pray that his strong will may be used for the Kingdom of God someday in a mighty way. 

He loves to run and play outside with Browning, play on his playground, and just get dirty (he is a typical little boy, after all).  He is also very analytical and structured.  He continues to enjoy sorting things, counting, reading, and has recently started enjoying coloring.  We have started home school lessons a few days/week where we discuss character qualities such as compassion and kindness.

He wanted to set it up just like the box!

"Mommy, 12 of them have 2 wheels and 3 have 3 wheels."

While Gregg was out of town, our neighbor down the street came over and picked up our pine straw, laid it in the beds, and mowed.  He went and picked up 2 guys he knows who are in need of work from across town.  I was able to pay them, but our neighbor wouldn't accept pay.  He is incredibly kind and it was a perfect way to show Zeke kindness in our everyday life.

We have also been practicing writing Z-E-K-E, but his fine motor skills are not quite there yet.  We will continue practicing with no pressure until he is really developmentally ready.  He has a great time coloring.  This was the first picture where I think it clicked when I said, "Stay in the lines!" (we gave it to our new next door neighbor to show kindness)

Because I am a HUGE fan of Christmas decorations, we have started decorating already.  We have been talking a lot about Zeke's nativity scene.  He's very interested in the three wise men because we told him he would receive three gifts at Christmas just like Jesus did (although one of his is from Santa and two from Mommy and Daddy...I don't think Jesus got a gift from Santa!).  Anyway, I let him smell my frankincense and myrrh essential oils.  I showed him my gold earrings too, and he asked to smell them..ha!  We are enjoying reading Christmas books and watching BOZ and Veggie Tales Christmas DVDs as well.

"Happy Birthday, Jesus""

Lastly, I want to mention the quick, but much appreciated visit from my mom while Gregg was out of the country.  She drove down after BSF on a Thursday and had to leave Sunday at noon, but we got a lot done (hung art, organized some of the garage, moved curtain rods, patched/painted, went to Walmart, she sewed) and had such a great time together.  Words can't express how thankful I am for her!

Vinyl wall art ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31

We placed this in my laundry room/pantry...I love it!

Cloth Diaper Reveiw

Occassionally, I have the opportunity to write a guest blog post for some of my blogger friends.  A couple of months after Adalynn was born, I wrote a cloth diaper review for, "Your Thriving Family."  Adalynn and I tested a Lotus Bumz diaper!

Just click on the underlined "Lotus Bumz Review" below.  You'll also see a little picture of tiny baby Adalynn! ~ Lotus Bumz Review

And here is a recent picture of Adalynn...just for fun!

Baby gator and police man

It is November 2, 2013 and I put the kids in their "Halloween" costumes today!  We didn't do anything on the 31st and actually didn't have ANY trick or treaters come to our home.  Apparently, we live "out in the country!"  That is okay with Gregg because he gets to eat the candy!

This year we continued to wrestle with the idea of celebrating Halloween.  We don't like the history behind it, yet we know that is not what most families in our culture are celebrating.  We also don't want to just go along with the masses because "everybody is doing it."  We want to be intentional about how we raise our children.  We do not serve sugary candy to them, so we also have a hard time getting them all dressed up to go to other people's doors to ask for it!

My friend Sara, wrote a thoughtful post on the subject: I'm Struggling with Halloween this Year

A good friend and I had a conversation about this recently.  She reminded me that we do not have to make a decision for the rest of their lives.  We can take it a year at a time.  In her neighborhood, they feel like they would be alienating themselves from their neighbors that do not know the Lord if they didn't participate in some small way.  They do not wear any costumes rooted in witch craft (devils, witches, ghosts, etc.), but do dress up and socialize with their neighbors.  In Americus, families generally go to the historical part of town where the houses all look a little spooky (in my opinion).  Our neighbors are mostly older couples, so it is not really an issue here.  

Hopefully we will find a new church home soon.  Many churches have fall festivals, trunk or treat, etc., so that might be an option to allow our kids to wear costumes.  As my mom reminded me, I used to start planning my costume for the following year the day after Halloween.  I just liked to dress up for fun (maybe that's why I became a ballerina)!

I'd like to create a dress up bin for the kids (like Sara mentioned in her post).  Why not dress up randomly throughout the year?!!

If you are reading this and you take your children trick or treating, please do not feel judged by me (us).  We support your decision and honestly feel torn about ours.  However, Gregg and I still do not feel peace from the Lord about taking the kids trick or treating quite yet.

Now for a little fun.  Here is a little comparison of Zeke and Adalynn in the gator costume as infants:

Now we get to look forward to giving thanks and celebrating Jesus' birth.  Happy fall and God bless!

Adalynn is 8 months old!

I was amazed that I was able to keep track of Adalynn's month stickers while living in the apartment, etc., but somehow they have been misplaced now that we are in our new home.  I had to improvise and use an "8" block for the photo this month.  I think it still turned out great! 

Here are some other shots from our impromptu late night photo session...

As you can imagine, I was very pleased at how much she enjoyed playing with the little ballet slipper! 

She is getting stronger, and more interactive with each day that passes.  She likes to go from sitting to laying down, and rocks on all fours like she wants to crawl.  I know it won't be long until she is mobile!  We are continuing to slowly settle into our new home and thank God every day for all of His blessings!

Zeke and Gregg's day out with Thomas

As we begin our new lives here in south Georgia, I've noticed the things that we do not have readily available.  However, last weekend, we were ideally located to the "Day out with Thomas" at the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park in Cordele, GA. 

Gregg and Zeke drove over on Saturday, October 26, 2013 to see Thomas and take a ride.  Here they are before they headed out

When they got there, Zeke said they got to see "Thomas puffing into the station."  I wish I could have been there to experience his excitement!

 

Then, they got to board the train and take a ride.  He looks like such a big boy here!

Of course, they had to look at the fire truck before they headed home!

Asleep with his ticket in hand.  He came home beaming and ready to tell me all about it!

What a blessing to have a husband who wants to spend time with our children.  As Zeke gets older, I can see more and more days like this for the two of them.  It warms my heart!

P.S. - It's three days later, and he is still walking around with his ticket and the certificate they gave him...