This is our modern day baby book! It is our prayer that years from now, Zeke and Adalynn will look back at the details of this blog and understand just how much we looked forward to meeting them and love them!







Saturday, June 25, 2016

June 2016


One Month Old
8 pounds, 3 ounces
21 inches long

What's she doing?
sleeping through the night
sleeping in her crib
scooching in her bed
smiling
nursing 5x/day
sucking her fingers

Getting a good picture of a one month old is not an easy task! 

Isaiah 40:28-31
   
"Have you not known?  Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might, He increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not be faint."

God has used these verses in a special way this past week to speak to me.  He has reminded me that I cannot do anything in my own strength.  It's his strength in me that allows me to be the wife, parent, daughter, friend, etc. that He is calling me to be.  Waiting on Him renews my strength and I will not be weary!  What a relief!!



Father's Day

Gregg was working a midnight shift this Father's Day, so he slept most of the day.  We were still able to spoil him a little bit!  The kids decorated the sign you'll see below, got him a card, I made him bacon and eggs, and the kids answered a questionnaire about Daddy.  You'll see Adalynn thinks his name is Superhero and his job is hunting...ha!  Zeke was pretty accurate and clearly loves spending quality time with his daddy!  Lily Faith is already bonded to Gregg and loves sleeping on his chest.  It warms my heart to see them experience their earthly father's love and sacrifice.  It is hard to comprehend how much more their Heavenly Father loves them.  Some day, they'll really know what a gift this is!!







Wynna Saves the Day

Gregg had to go on a short trip to Atlanta, so my amazing mom came down again!  She had just returned home from Amarillo and came down the following day!  We were so grateful.  We enjoyed lunch out and the kids got to go swimming again!  I seriously think there should be an award for the most amazing mom/grandma.  She sacrifices so much for Jared and me and our children!!





Pool selfie!

Lunch at The Bistro


Adorable chef costume Wynna brought them!


Adalynn's First Haircut

Adalynn had one trim when she was a toddler, but this was her first big girl haircut!  We only took a few inches off, but it was nice to even it out a bit.  She was SO excited to go see Ms. Lori and have her hair cut.  She started talking about it the moment she woke up until our appointment at 4:30pm!  



Siblings

Zeke and Adalynn continue to enjoy talking to Lily Faith and loving on her.  She smiles at them constantly and puts up with being held!  It's such a joy to see our children loving one another!

Smiling at Zeke!


Happy siblings!

And just for fun...here is the one month collage I did for Adalynn in 2013 (and Lily Faith's again for comparison):





To close, I'll share the collages I made of Zeke and Adalynn's first and last day of school pictures.  I didn't realize how much they'd changed!  



Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Hall, party of five...first few weeks!

I thought this was fun to see her before and after!

Sleeping Little Ones

The first few weeks, as many of you know, babies sleep a lot!!  I seem to have a hard time resisting taking pictures of her sleeping!  Adalynn provided some precious sleeping pictures (while holding her Bible!!) too!



I couldn't believe the similarities in the girls in these two pictures!








After nursing, laying on my chest!

Precious girl!


Awake Time

Somehow I continue to forget to get pictures with my mom and the kids when she's here.  It is usually so busy!  Thankfully, we have the wonderful professional photos done by Shannon (last post!).  I do have one below of her with the kids the day she left.  

Adalynn adores holding her "Sissy" aka "Wi-wee Fayf!"  Lily Faith is becoming more alert and still trying to figure out how she'll suck her fingers or thumb.  

My dad came down a couple of weeks ago to meet her.  He ended up getting to spend some quality time with Zeke and Adalynn reading the paper and playing with a frog toy they have.  I know they felt so special to have Papa play with them!

Sissies!

So safe in Daddy's arms

We LOVE Wynna!

Meeting Papa



Reading the comics with Papa!
Precious personalized shirt from Jan Cartwright



Zeke and Adalynn

What have the big kids been up to since the arrival of their baby sister?  We are out of school for summer, so our schedule has been a little all over the place.  Gregg was home until June 12th, so they got to have a lot of quality time with Daddy.  Such a gift!  Zeke is participating in the summer reading program at the library.  His personal goal is to read 25 chapter books and 75 other books.  He's doing really well and we know he can reach his goal!  Adalynn's goal is to have 25 books read to her.  She loves being read to, but also loves "reading" on her own!

Adalynn will attend ballet camp at the end of the month (Mommy can't wait!!).  I'm still trying to find an activity for Zeke...possibly tennis camp.  I'm not sure if they'll attend VBS this summer because we'll have company that week.  We start school mid-August and I know that will be here before we know it.  I'm trying to relax and enjoy the freedom of schedule we have currently!

In the meantime, Gregg and I have tried to take them each on individual "mommy/child or daddy/child" dates even if it's just to run errands.  We have all enjoyed that!

Wynna got us a pink bow for the mailbox!

Trying to learn to ride his bike with Wynna!

Riding her "bike!"

Getting ready to go swimming with Wynna

Bright, hot sunny day!


Swimming one last time before Wynna left

Hunting their stuffed animals! (bows were gifts for them from Wynna when Lily Faith was born!)

Daddy's jacket and vest are slightly big!

Ready to go to church with Daddy!

First library summer reading program for this summer...music from around the world!

Daddy took Zeke to Callie's birthday party at a local bakery

Zeke with the birthday girl, Callie!

Snuggling on the couch

Fun "painting" with water.  Mess free!!

Celebrations Continue

I turned 36 on June 3rd and Gregg and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on June 7th.  Zeke and Gregg made my birthday special by making a little trip to Walmart to bring me some goodies!  Sheeba and Nikita took me out to lunch, which was so nice!  

My Georgia t-shirt (picked by Zeke), dark chocolate, and "Marked as Christ's own forever" sign from Sheeba and Nikita

Lunch at the Bistro
Gregg and I decided to go to Ruby Tuesday for our anniversary dinner.  We had Katelyn (our neighbor who is home from college) come babysit Zeke and Adalynn and we took Lily Faith with us.  It was so nice to spend that time together focusing on one another!



Cutest little photo bomber!

She really wanted to be in the picture!

On our dinner date...she slept the whole time!

Complete



Lily Faith is now 3 weeks old.  It's hard to believe it, yet as I felt with both Zeke and Adalynn, it just feels like she has always been a part of our family!  It feels so COMPLETE.  

I was listening to a sermon recently by Keith Moore called "Perfection Through Correction - pt. 1 Godly Perfection."  As he taught on Philippians 3, he said that the word "perfect" basically means "complete."  The enemy wants us to think nobody can be perfect, so why even try.  Jesus is perfect and our goal is to live like Jesus.  This will require a mind renewal of our definition of what perfect means.

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." ~ Matthew 5:38

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." ~ Philippians 3:12-16

Keith Moore said God has called us to perfection (completeness/all the way)...not of flesh...not of knowledge...but of heart.  Jesus said in John 14:12, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father."  I believe God says what He means and means what He says.  I take Him at His Word and I trust Him.   Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.  We see all the imperfections, but God looks at the heart.  It's time to renew our minds and ask God to reveal to us what it means to be "perfect!"  

There is so much more to this teaching, so I'd recommend listening to it.  You can find it at: http://www.flcsarasota.org/listseries.php?xml=rss/PerfectionThroughCorrection.xml

Why do I share all of this?  If you remember, the word "perfect" was big throughout our journey with Lily Faith.  Zeke prayed for her to be "perfect" and the perinatal specialist and nurse used the word "perfect" to describe her!  Now, it makes "perfect" sense.  God made her complete...she even needed an extra week and 2 days to be complete!  She completes our family and we are so thankful for her!

May God bless each of you who read this.  Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

I'll leave you with a fun little collage of the kids when we had two compared to now!