Eli's Second Birthday

Two years ago, I was laying in a hospital bed holding the most wonderful little baby I had ever seen. Snow was slowly dancing to the ground and time seemed to stand still as the little life in my arms looked into my eyes for the first time. My heart ached as I experienced the most intense love I've ever known- a love that my Saviour feels everyday for each one of His children in a greater way than I'll ever understand. I must have asked a thousand times that day, "Lord, is this what Your love for me feels like?" to which I almost audibly heard Him say, "No, my love, that's not even close."

Those days in the hospital seem like just yesterday, but they also feel decades ago. It's been exactly 2 years and I have treasured each special day. There have been difficult days (newfound food allergies, swine flu, and nap-less Sundays) but those memories won't ever stain the great days (trips to the zoo, playing at the park, swimming, sharing oreos).

Here are a few pictures that I snapped of Eli at our house today:

Life in 2010

Hello? Hello? Anyone out there? I had almost forgotten about my blog, but logged on today just to see how long it had been since I posted and it's been nearly 6 months! Yikes! I've got a lot of updating to do.

In October, Tim went to Catalyst conference in ATL and heard a few people speak on the issue of worldwide orphans. God used that moment to break Tim's heart for children- but he had to come home and convince me to jump on board. He started talking to me about God doing "something" whild he was gone but I just knew it couldn't be as big of a deal as he was acting like (afterall, I'm the one with the crazy ideas). When he finally spilled the beans, I was pretty shocked but excited to see what God had in store for us. We sought God's will for our lives through prayer, scripture (and memorized James 1:27), and wise counsel. Initially, we spoke with a few adoption agencies but just didn't sense that was what God had for us. So, I called DCFS and a case worker came over and after a month of intense classes, we were well on our way to being foster parents. There was one child that we were able to keep for a weekend and had the option of adopting her. That same week, we took a pregnancy test and it was POSITIVE!

At that point, we knew we had to take a step back and really find out what God wanted us to do. It was a heartbreaking decision, but we came to the conclusion that we are definitely called to adopt a child, it's just not right now. The little girl was a sweet little baby with the most beautiful blue eyes and captivating smile, but we know that her current foster mother (who has had her since birth) is a wonderful woman and is taking great care of her.

Now we are focusing on preparing Eli to be a big brother (he has no clue what's coming!) and to continue following God wherever He leads.

Tim is doing great at work; he started a college worship service on Sunday nights called The Gathering; most weeks we have about 50 students. He's working on planning an international mission trip at the end of 2010 (I won't be able to go since the baby will be so young) and has so much on the calendar for the students.

My sewing business is going quite well. It seems to go in spurts of craziness and then a lull- right now I'm in one of those crazy spurts (Tim will confirm that it really is making me crazy!).

Eli is as curious as a mischievious kitten; this past week he stuck a 4 inch screw in his nose and the next day at school put graham cracker pieces in his nose. Everything long an skinny is a "tarrr" to him (his word for guitar). He plays songs on spatulas, yard sticks, and the remote control. We are done with diapers during the day, but still have an occasional accident and he has to wear a daiper at night. His cute little bottom looks so funny in his tiny little underpants (which are hard to find in his size!).

That's all I've got for now. A couple from church is coming over for dinner and it still looks like a state of emergency in my living room

I'll try to blog more often, my friends!

In Christ,

Gwenny

Funny Vacation Stories

Several funny stories for you all:

Well, let me preface this all by telling you where we are. A wonderful couple from church invited us to use their condo for a week and we gratefully accepted. After visiting friends in Kansas City, we drove down to the condo here in Lake of the Ozarks.

Last night we went for a walk and we saw a sicada (sp?) crawling on the pavement. I pointed it out to Eli, and he put his hands on his knees and bent down to get a good look at it. Then, without hesitation, he stood up, stomped on the bug, and shouted, "Uh-oh!" as Tim and I looked on in dumbfounded disbelief at the now flat and lifeless bug.

Today we were all three brushing our teeth in front of the huge bathroom mirror and Eli started studying Tim closely for proper dental heigene tips. Usually Eli just sucks the toothpaste off his toothbrush and calls it good, but today he followed his Daddy's every move. Tim lapped up water from the faucet and swooshed it around in his mouth, Eli did the same. Tim spit the water out and rinsed his toothbrush off, so did Eli (although the "spitting" part was more like giving a raspberry). Then, Eli tapped his toothbrush on the side of the sink 3 times just like Tim and waltzed off. It was so cute.

Eli is finally mastering fork usage. To promote utensil use, I've been cheering for him when he correctly uses his fork. Tonight at dinner, he forked his potatoes into his mouth and hollered, "Yeah!" and clapped after each bite. What a goof!

We enjoyed the most wonderful delicacy today: a snicker caramel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It was a granny smith apple dipped in caramel, then a layer of vanilla peanut butter fudge, then chunks and crumbs of snickers, and finished with drizzles of milk chocolate. I have no idea how many calories this thing added to my hips, or how many years it subtracted from my life; what I do know is this: it was worth it!

We are enjoying ourselves so much and are very appreciative to the McFarland's for sharing their amazing condo with us. So far the only casualty is one coaster, but we promise to replace it! Sorry!

In Christ,

Gwenny<><

Great things St. Louis has to offer

We have recently become huge fans of everything FREE in St. Louis and today was probably the best time yet! We went to check out the less-than-week-old city garden, which includes several fountains, sculptures, plants, and these squirt-up-from-the-ground water features that cry out "Run through me!"

We thought that it was going to be too cold to let Eli run through them, so none of us wore anything conducive to playing in the water (nor did we bring a spare change of clothes). But once Eli laid eyes on the water squirting up in the air, he wasn't going to let us get out of there without giving it a try. We stripped him down to his diaper and Tim sat down to babysit the stroller (aka "stay dry") while I stayed close to Eli as he toddled around the wet tile. A small crowd started gathering as Eli began to put on a comedy routine by holding his face over the water sprayers and they would suddenly and without warning expell huge amounts of water right into his face. He'd look up, gasp for air, and then giggle contagiously. Each time he would do something silly, gentle laughter would roll over the growing crowd that was now nearing 40 or so people. A fountain that was about 18 or 24 inches deep caught his eye and he headed toward it. It had a decent sized wall around it to avoid falling in, so I let him approach it thinking he'd be fine. In a split second, Eli had scaled the wall and jumped in the fountain. Without hesitating, I jumped in after him (screaming like a crazy idiot mom all the while). I plucked him from the water and put him back down to play in the squirty things, but he cried because he wanted back in the fountain. Every mom, grandma, and concerned onlooker in his audience also screamed when he fell into the fountain, but laughed when he cried to get back into the water. Everyone had learned his name by this point and was calling out, "Go Eli!"

After a half hour of chasing Eli and soaking my own clothes, tennis shoes, socks, and every square inch of my body, I decided it was time for us to dry off and move on. Eli didn't agree, but was forced to obey. Mind you, we dried Eli with a blanket and put his dry clothes back on, Tim never got a drop wet, and I left a trail of wet footprints for the over 3 miles that we walked (literally!). We walked down to the arch, went through the landing, met people from Canada and took a group picture for them, watched several helicopter tours land and take off, talked with some people from California, and then wound around downtown until we found a little Italian restaurant and grabbed some dinner.

We finally got back to the van to head home and I took of my tennis shoes and sock and my toes were wrinkly and icky from being in wet shoes for the past 3 hours. But, it was SO worth it! Eli was so fun to watch, Tim and I had a great time chatting as we strolled the streets of downtown, and we had great opportunities to talk to lots of people.

I can hardly wait for our next chance to go visit the City Garden...although next time I'm wearing crocs!

In Christ,

Gwenny<><

P.S.- For those of you who live far away, we invite you to come stay with us for a long weekend; we'll be glad to show you around our wonderful city!

A good day

What better thing in life is there than sharing a glass of milk with someone you love as you munch on Chips Ahoy together? This morning Eli and I had each had our own stack of cookies (mine much taller than his stack of one) and he was delighted in taking swashy sips of my milk as crumbles of his cookie trailed back into the glass. I didn't mind a bit. The sheer joy in his eyes as he giggled after each gulp was enough to overcome how gross it was that the milk was tainted with chewed up bites.

God has truly blessed me with a wonderful son. Thank you, Lord!

New Pictures of the Monster Baby!

Marathon?

I don't quite know where to start, as it's been too long since I updated you all! Eli is doing great; he's growing and developing by leaps and bounds! He has really accelerated with his sign language and verbal skills. He now says, "shoe" and "-ock" pretty clearly. For some reason, the "s" in "sock" just doesn't want to come out. He is doing great with potty training; it's a rare occassion for him to have a poopy diaper anymore. I'm super proud of how wonderful he's doing!

Tim is terribly behind in his seminary workload. The administration was very kind to grant him an extension to complete his work. The college ministry is doing well; we've seen some growth since the shooting. I think it really caused many of our students to realize the importance of following Christ whole heartedly and making it a priority to be at church.

My business is going well and continues to grow a little each month. I've got some new items that I'll be putting on my website soon. Super cute custom outfits, tu-tu's (great for pictures!), cloth diapers, and a few other things. I've got some big orders to do this week and am looking forward to getting those finished and shipped.

I guess what I really want to tell you all about is my new goal. I've been flirting with the idea of training for a marathon for the last few weeks and last night as I watched Biggest Loser, I made up my mind that I'm going to do it! After a quick google search, I found a marathon (26.2 miles) in Columbia, Missouri on Labor Day. Most marathons are run on Sunday mornings, which just doesn't work well with our schedule, so I was glad to find one on a Monday! Today was my first day of training; I planned to go out and run for 30 minutes and I ended up running 4 miles...and I was even pushing the Monster Baby in the jogging stroller! I was happy with my workout, but fear that tomorrow it might be a feat to walk across the room without collapsing. I think what I really want from this marathon is more self discipline. I want to be that Proverbs 31 woman who rises early, the one who works hard and takes care of her family. I guess that's all for now, I'll keep you posted on my progress (or potential lack thereof!).

In Christ,

Gwenny<><