Snow!

We made it to CO Springs. It was a pretty great drive, with good tunes and a good baby (who has excellent taste in music, if I do say so myself). We woke up our first morning here to SNOW! So of course, I had to go out and buy boots for Ellie so we could play. She was very concerned about the snow on her mittens and boots, which makes me think we need to get her North more during winter.

Thankful

I thank God for my wonderful husband, and that God brought us together at an early age.
I thank God for my daughter and the way she continues to grow and amaze me.
I thank God for my parents, who invested so much in their children.
I God for His faithfulness, to claim my heart and the hearts of my siblings.
I thank God for the generosity of my extended family, and for their prayers and concern while Luke is away.
I thank God for my church family, who constantly and consistently live out their faith and commit themselves to the physical and spiritual well-being of the Body of Christ.
I thank God for protecting my husband during these last five months.
I thank God for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for God becoming man that we might be reconciled to Him.

Thy Mercy

Thy mercy my God is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue.
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here, for
Sin would reduce me to utter despair.
But through Thy free goodness my spirit's revived,
And He who first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart,
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground
And weep for the praise of the mercy I've found.

Great Father of mercy, Thy goodness I own
Through the covenant love of Thy crucified Son
All praise to the Spirit, whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.

-Caedmon's Call

Vocabulary Explosion!

Ellie showed me FIVE new words yesterday!

First, she started nodding her head as she answered my "do you want a cookie?" with her usual "uh-huh." She continued to nod her head all day yesterday and today, both to answer "yes" and to let me know that she thought her chicken at lunch was delicious.
She repeated "milk", "dude", and "Susie" several times, and, without any prompting, started saying "mine-mine-mine." I credit her two-year-old friends with that last one.

Daddy is going to be so impressed when he comes home in... one month!

Humility

I've been doing some thinking about my new status as stay-at-home mom, and mother-of-toddler, and temporary mommy-without-daddy, and I think my biggest problem is pride. I think that if I'm honest, my struggles at home come from two places: feeling inadequate when it comes to raising my daughter and feeling that others think I'm inadequate when it comes to raising my daughter.

If I were humble, I wouldn't be so concerned that others think I'm a supermom, so it wouldn't bother me when my normally happy baby has a meltdown in the parking lot, or when she shakes her head "no" at me and laughs instead of coming back to my side.

If I were humble, I would recognize that I'm not capable of making my child love God or desire obedience. If I were humble, I would recognize my inadequacy and fall on my knees, daily, hourly, for patience, gentleness, wisdom, mercy, energy, and encouragement to see every moment as an opportunity to teach and train my daughter. I would pray that the Holy Spirit would soften her heart, make her alive in Christ, turn her to saving faith and a desire to live a life of thankful obedience. If I were humble, I would recognize the pattern of my own sin in her pattern of toddler misbehavior, and thank God every day that He is a loving Father who shows mercy to his children.

My Little Ducky

Susie's bargain was worth far more than $.50 in entertainment-- for the kids and for me!

Thing One or Thing Two?

Things got a little wacky at our friend Joshua's birthday party this weekend. Here's Ellie, in full party mode, sporting one of Joshua's new toys on her head. I think she looks like a Dr. Seuss character.

Investing in Heritage

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from him." Psalm 127:3

Ellie made it through the whole service today- I didn't have to take her out once!

Now, I know this doesn't mean we'll never have to leave the sanctuary again, but it's the first time since she was tiny and slept through the whole thing that I didn't have to carry her out. It helped so much that she went right up to Mr. Dan at the beginning and sat on his lap for a good long while. And it has been so encouraging to talk with other parents in our church about training toddlers. We are so thankful for the love shown to Ellie by our church family here. What an investment they make in the life of this little one, and all of the young children we are blessed to have worshipping with us! What a powerful witness to these children about the sacrament of baptism! What a loving God to not only bless us with children, but also with so many compassionate, faithful adults to assist us in raising our little one in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!

The Very Hungry Butterfly

Yesterday, Ellie ate 6 chicken nuggets at lunchtime! And some apple slices, and some peas. I think she was gearing up to transform into...

a beautiful butterfly!