6 months: Rockin' and Rollin'

Eden turned 6 months last Thursday and we are excited to enter into the new phase of babyhood with her!  I thought it'd be fun to list off a few personality traits she's already exhibiting.  Who knows if they'll last but it is so amazing to watch Eden emerge into who she's going to be.

determined

If there is a toy or object or person in front of her that she wants, Eden will do whatever maneuver it takes to get herself there.  She spins, she rolls, she scoots backwards and she s t  r   e    t     c      h       e        s.  Until she finally gets it.  Then 30 seconds later she sees something else and the determination kicks in again.

mover

Eden is on the move.  Constantly.  If I lay her down in one spot and then leave for 30 seconds, I come back and she is on the opposite side of the room.  She is our little wiggle worm always on the move.  We can't even feed her a bottle without her trying to squirm out of our arms.  We may have to administer a weight lifting and reflex test before anyone holds her to see if they can handle her.  I'm sort of serious.  She's almost leaped out of my arms on multiple occasions.

In other moving news, Eden is SO CLOSE to crawling.  Our determined little girl wants it so badly.  She gets up on all fours and rocks.  Even a few times I've seen her sort of jump forward.  We'll keep you updated when she actually starts.  It'll be so fun to hear the sounds of thud thud thud again on our floors.  We cherished the sound of Owen's crawls all around the house.  

Don't judge me for letting her cry!  She gets crazy frustrated if she can't get to something - there's no way around it but letting her cry through it.  It's good for her anyway. :)

social

Eden continues to just love being around people.  Especially her mama.  To illustrate my point, today she and I were playing on the floor.  She was content and playing with her pacifier.  Not a care in the world.  I got up and walked to the bookshelf and out came the whimper.  Then I walked to the kitchen to grab a drink and then came the wailing.  I walked back over to her, picked her up and a huge smile spread across her face.  She loves other kids.  Anytime she is sitting facing another baby she just wants to grab their face and kiss them.  Its so cute.  Her little body gets into excite mode and she can barely sit because of the pure joy.  I'm still unsure if she will be an extrovert like her brother, but one thing is certain - she will be a loyal and caring friend.  

With cousin Ben at his 1st Birthday party last saturday.  They already adore each other.  Happy Birthday Ben!

loud

Our house is anything but quiet.  Especially because of being in college ministry, we constantly have friends coming through our doors.  And our friends have some fun-loving (ehem, loud) personalities.  Okay, okay, I'm sure Jon and I are not quiet either.  And when Owen is awake there is constant laughter, roaring, neighing, oinking, mooing, jabbering, running, jumping, "boo"ing, pillowing fighting, dancing, singing, and you get the point.  So Miss Eden has decided she too needs to be heard.  She talks, she cries, she coos,she squeals, she grunts, and some even say, she roars.  When she is awake she lets you know it.  I hear of babies who are easily forgotten because they sit so quietly content.  Not Eden.  She wants to be a part of the action too and can't wait to tell you all about it.

I had a video of Eden's sweet laughter during a game of peek-a-boo.  But it wouldn't upload.  maybe I'll try another time.

Favorite photos from the past few months.  Isn't she so sweet???

Christmas in Des Moines

Christmastime is here... Well, it was when these pictures were taken!  Even though its February, I thought I should finally get around to the task of documenting our first Christmas as a family of four!  I'll post a few different parts so there aren't a million pictures on each post.

We had fun getting ready for Christmas this year.  When we set up the tree, Owen immediately said "Oh!!!" without any prompting from adults.  It was perfect.  Also, Carol helped liven up our tree by giving us each a Christmas ornament for Christmas.  Owen's was a dog which was also perfect.  Grandma Deb got Eden her Christmas stocking which is so cute.  

Something I always enjoy about the Christmas season in Des Moines is being with the students when they don't have school!  There's always a smaller crowd which means everyone still sticking around hangs out together most of the week.  One night we had the students over to make Gingerbread houses.  I thought they turned out wonderful!

Another night, the girls from our DTC Bible study had a cookie making/exchange/swap thingy.  It was so delicious.  I love spending time with those girls!

Jon and I had fun making a couple batches of caramels this year after we had so much fun doing it last year.  Hopefully, it'll become one of our family's Christmas traditions.  No pictures though...

On Christmas morning we were in Kansas City, so the four of us had our special time on the Tuesday before Christmas (because Tuesday's are our family day).  We had a big breakfast, opened presents and then played a game of cribbage while drinking hot chocolate.  It was a great day together.

Post coming soon... Christmas in Memphis!

The Kind of Love

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1 John 3:1-3


I am a sinner.  Though Christ lives in me, I mess up everyday.  This week has been particularly a more difficult week.  I have not loved Owen & Eden as I should; in fact, I have been impatient & harsh at times.  I have cried most of the days this week.  One day, I felt like the best thing for me to do for my family would be to run away.

Then something amazing happened.


Jon cancelled some plans yesterday and allowed me to go find a quiet place in the house to pray.  So I went our bathroom (the only place in the house where you can't hear anyone) and talked with God about it awhile.   God has refreshed me with His love for me.  Yesterday, he reminded me through Psalm 61:2 that He can "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I."  And all day long, when my amount of love had ended he reminded that through His grace I could love more.  When my patience ended, He could bring me more patience.  When I thought I wasn't going to make it, He could carry me.

Then this morning I read the passage in 1 John 3:1-3.  And, oh my goodness, I am so thankful for His love for me.  Because of Jesus' death on the cross, I can stand before God as "holy & perfect".  However, while we are still on earth we still have our natural body and don't live out the perfection that Jesus has given us.  Which bring us back to what I was saying at the beginning of how depraved I am and how much I need Jesus daily.  This verse gave me such hope in remembering that He is not done transforming me.  The woman I was this week doesn't have to be the woman I'm going to be next week, next year or next decade.  I am His masterpiece and He is still working out my character to look more like Him.  What I may be has not yet appeared but when I see Him one day I will be like Him and oh what a glorious day that will be!

Here are some pictures of Owen & Eden just because I know you love them. :)

Already november!?!?

As I was sitting down to update the blog, I started thinking, "Wow!  I can't believe it's already November!"  And its actually now almost December, almost Christmas, almost Faithwalkers and almost the New Year!  It feels like just a few weeks ago since we last went to the splash park before summer ended.  Time is such an interesting thing.  Eden is 3 1/2 months now.  It feels like she has been in our life for much longer than that, yet the summer feels like it was just here which meant Eden wasn't.  She is already almost 4 months, when she can technically start baby food, but she still feels so little compared to how old I felt Owen was at the same age.  Anyway, this post is just a big collage of our fall and the fun we've been up to.

This Halloween we took Owen & Eden to a few neighbors houses for trick or treating.  Owen was kind of unsure about it, but loved the candy!  Here is my handsome Tiger & pretty pony:

Our neighbors dog got dressed up as a mailman!

Later that week, Grandma Tickles & Great-grandma Farmer came to visit.  We played at the house a lot & went to the fall party at the church.  We loved having them in town!

Below is a picture of Owen & his beloved friend Kaisa at the harvest party.  Its so fun now to see Owen & his friends interact really well together.  I love watching them learn & grow up.  Now whenever we come to one of the church parking lots Owen yells "Kais!" (usually without a reminder from me that we are going to see her!)  Such a smart boy.  I also put some other pictures of Owen & Kaisa from the fall.

Another visitor we had this fall was Aunt Mandy!  Mandy is in the process of switching jobs & just moved back to Kansas City so she came and visited for most of a week.  We loved having some laid back time with her.  The kids just adored her!

Owen & Eden continue to mostly coexist but more & more we are watching Owen's interest in her grow!  He now calls her "E - E" and is concerned when she cries after a nap, says "shh" when she's sleeping and laughs when we talk to her at breakfast.  Here are some photos of the two of them.

The other day it snowed & Owen was in love!  The cold did not deter him from wanting to play in the snow.  He ate it, of course.  He made snow balls.  He just loved every minute of it.  Here is our Minnesota blooded son in his winter get-up!

On Tuesday, Jon surprised with my Christmas present early.  When we woke up he told me he made dinner reservations at 5:30 and that I needed to look nice.  I asked how nice and he told me I needed to wear a dress.  Needless to say, I was giddy all day!  I was so excited & even borrowed a friends dress just to have more fun and feel like I was wearing something "new."  He brought me to dinner at a friends house where some of the Grand View students served us dinner in a romantic setting.  Then he presented me with tickets to Wicked!  I was so so so excited to get to see it.  I loved my christmas present!  Thanks Jon!

To finish this long post, here is a picture of how Owen now begins the morning carrying his stuffed animals from his crib to the breakfast table.  I love him so much!

Vacation to Idaho!

In October, we took a vacation to visit Matt, Melanie, Katherine & Wesley in Idaho (Jon's brother's family  ).  We had such a good time, especially since Scott (Jon's dad) & Anne, Pat & Ben (Jon's sister's family) went with us!  We loved watching all of the kids play together.  It's pretty amazing how spending four days with older cousins helped Owen develop & grow a lot.  As soon as we got back he's been saying TONS of new words & interacting really well with other kids.

Here are all the cousins!  Here is a little glimpse of what we love about our cousins/niece/nephews!

Katherine - She is the oldest & finally not the only girl!  She is a perfect oldest cousin.  She has a lot of compassion for people.  She is a "dearheart" to all of the younger cousins, showing them around, teaching them, playing with them & cuddling with them.  She is a great dancer & will teach Eden a lot about princesses, horses & headbands!

Wesley - Wesley is a awesome combination of total wildboy & tenderhearted.  We love his total "boyness" in riding the 4-wheeler, liking spiderman & roughhousing it with the boys.  Also, he kept coming up to Eden and wanting to hold her & love on her.  Owen just adored Wesley & we can't wait to see their friendship grow as they get older.

Ben - Ben quite possibly could be the sweetest baby boy we know.  He is all smiles & just soaks everything all in.  It's been so fun this year to watch him grow up.  As he gets older, I can't wait to see how he joins in on the fun.  Owen & Eden are lucky he is in between them.  He's going to be so fun to run around with!

So the craziest part of the trip is that Jon tore his hamstring 13 cm the night before we left.  He then traveled 4 hours to Minneapolis, flew to Denver, flew to Spokane & then drove to Bonners Ferry, Idaho.  Here is a picture of his leg.  Be prepared its nasty!

It was also wonderful to spend time with all of the adults.  We played games, ate delicious foods, & had great conversations.  We were so thankful for such a great trip.