half-birthday

Today is the little handsome's half-birthday!  I can't believe that six months ago Owen was born.  It feels like he has been a part of our family forever, and yet, it seems like he just got here.  Well, little man, we love you and wish you a happy half-birthday!

Treasured in my heart

"And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."  Luke 2:18-19

And then again...

"And he said to them, 'Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.  And his mother treasured up all these things her heart."  Luke 2:49-51

When I read these verses, I can't help but wonder what it would be like to be Mary and intimately watch the Savior of the world grow up.  Since he was fully human and fully God, I question whether he cried when he had a dirty diaper, if he had to go through sleep/nap training.  I watch Owen learn to talk and wonder what was it like for Jesus, the Almighty God, to be a baby and humbly not communicate through words.  As Owen begins to get up on all fours, I imagine being Mary and being a part of watching Jesus learn to crawl.  Can you imagine how amazing that would be?!?  I ask myself, how much did Mary love Jesus because he was the savior and how much did she love him simply because he was hers.  My heart fills with love for Owen and my heart melts.  What was it like for her??  I believe Beauty reached its peak with the Creator of the universe became like His creation and took the form of a helpless baby boy born in a manger, to a young mama and a probably scared step-father.  Oh what it would have been like to be Mary and watch my Savior grow up!  But what a blessing it is to watch my little man daily become more and more himself.  I am so thankful to be a mama!  Here is my little list of things this morning that I am "treasuring in my heart."

1.  Owen has recently started saying consonants.  The one that he keeps repeating these past few days is "da-da-da-da-da."  I know he really isn't saying "daddy" but I love hearing him say it.  He loves his daddy so much and it melts my heart when he says those words.

2.  When I pick him when he's tired, his little arms wrap around my neck and his little fingers kind of scratch my neck like he just wants to make sure I'm still there.

3.  Also when he's just woken up for a nap, or ready to sleep, he will nuzzle his face into Jon or my chest.  It is so precious.

4.  Sometimes he'll just look at Jon or I in anticipation for a smile.  When we do, his face lights up and he smiles back!

5.  Finally, these pictures that Justin took at Thrift for Hope of Owen and Kaisa the other day make me smile so much!

 

Family Photos

Yesterday we took family photos with Justin, a good friend who also shot our wedding.  He did an amazing job capturing Owen despite lots of hair pulling, grass eating and spitting up.  Our friend Liz tagged along and learned a lot from Justin too.  We all such a good time together during the beautiful day!  If you want to see the pictures, click here.  Here is a preview of some pictures to hook you into visiting Justin's website.  

Also, just for fun, here is an engagement picture and a wedding picture.  Whenever people come over and see some of our engagement photos they say that we look a lot different.  I don't see it.  But, I am so amazed at all that God has done these past few years.  In April 2008, we started dating and now 2 1/2 years later we are married and have a handsome baby boy.  I am so thankful that God did a work on my heart and Jon's while we were at Drake.  He brought us both to a place of surrendering our lives to Him and trusting Him with the future and the details.  I never would have thought that I would be on staff with Great Commission Ministries and fall in love with Jon Schreiner, especially not that he would fall for me!  I am so grateful that God had our hearts and lead us in that direction.  Sitting here is making me remember and stirring my heart to continue to relinquish control because I know that he is not finished with us yet.  I am excited to see how He is going to lead us and where he'll take us!  Anyway, here are the pictures:

If you are looking for a photographer for a wedding or family photos, we highly recommend Justin at justinsalemmeyer.com.

My first attempts to be a Do It Yourselfer

Magnets

A few years ago, my friend Megan Horn gave me some magnets that I have absolutely adored ever since. Last Christmas, Bo and I copied the idea and made some magnets as Christmas presents. Here is what we did:

{Step 1} Take a clear stone that you get at craft stores (they look like vase fillers).

{Step 2} Modge Podge a piece of a magazine, craft paper or photo to the flat side of the stone. You should place the side you want to see face down. Let dry.

{Step 3} Adhere a magnet to the flat side where you just modge podged. The adhesive I used was called Goop. You could use a hot glue gun or anything that has a strong adhesion.

{Step 4} That's it!

Owen's Baby Blanket

For my birthday, I got a sewing machine. I was inspired by this because while I was pregnant, I tried my hand at sewing with Carla Richey and Anna Judd. You can see what I made on this previous post. I also appliqued some onesies that Owen barely fit in. When I got my machine I tried some more burp cloths and they totally didn't work. And sew (get it?), I neglected my machine and my projects for the next two months. Then, I was inspired. I saw a cute and simple quilt on Etsy and decided I would try again. I went to the quilt store to get some fabric and came across this ridicously cute fabric of Eric Carle's illustrations in Brown Bear, Brown Bear and designed the quilt around that fabric. It was surprising simple after a few bumps. Here are the pictures and the "how-tos."

{Step One} Pick out your fabrics.

I choose my quilt to be 16 sqaures. I wanted four of them to be the Eric Carle squares. With 12 left, I decided the less expensive option and bought 6 fat quarters and decided to use them twice. For the back of the quilt, I choose a polka dot flannel that brought in a few of the colors.

{Step Two} Cut out your squares.

This is where I hit my first major bump. I almost didn't do the quilt because of this. I knew my squares needed to be at most 9 inches per side because I choose to use a Fat Quarter (which is 18 inches per side, I think). And so I tried to cut a square using my table as a guide. After I cut it out, I realized it wasn't a 90 degree angle. I got frustrated and this is where I stopped. A few weeks later I was sitting on my futon and realized I could make an accurate guide using an 8 1/2 x 11 card stock. I overlapped them and cut one down to make a square pattern with 8 1/2 inches per side. Success! I then proceeded to cut the remaining 15 squares while I drank some coffee and watched Owen play independently. :)

{Step Three} Arrange your squares.

Lay the squares out the way you want them arranged. Write down what you came up with.

{Step Four} Start Sewing!

I decided four squares together into four rows first. I took the top row and put two squares that are next to each facing in. I pinned them on the side they were connected at and sewed a straight line. I just choose one of the lines on the machine and had that be my marker. I'm sure you normally do that, but I have no idea how to sew. After the first two are connected, sew the third square onto the second in the same fashion. Do it again for the fourth. Do all four rows the same way. Next, sew the rows together in the same way. Finally, cut out the back piece to fit the size that your quilt became. Turn inside out, pin, sew all but one side of a square. Bring the inside out and sew the final side really close to the edge. You have a baby blanket!

CF

One tradition I have loved that began four years ago is going to Center Grove Orchard with Grand View Campus Fellowship. The first and second year we went early enough in the day to go around the orchard and pick apples. We enjoyed such a sweet time of love and laughter. The third year and this year we went at night with a large group (58 people this year!) and went on a hayride, carved Jack-o-lanterns, jumped on a giant pillow and wrestled in a pool of corn kernels. This year I noticed they had an animal farm too! Maybe its new, who knows? I can't think of many things more fun to do in the Crisp, Cool Fall! My favorite part of this year was that Owen got to join us!

In other news, Owen is gaining quite the personality! He is a Charming Flirt. For instance, today we went to Target to peruse the clearance items and every. single. person. we walked by he flirted with unashamedly. Women stopped to talk with him. Men stopped to talk with him. Other kiddos came to touch him. I hope he remains charming but loses the flirt standing by the time he enters his tweens. {He's not smiling in the one below but he's so cute with those cheeks I couldn't resist}.

Along with being a charmer, he has all of these new Crazy Faces. My favorite is the one below. My handsome baby boy is growing up so fast and I love learning who he is!

Here are also posting some pictures of him enjoying the bathtub. In the pictures, he is splashing and then looking up and smiling. He is such a goof!

Finally, there is a picture of Owen loving on Liz VanderSchel's dog Maddie. So far Owen loves dogs... but they don't really seem to want anything to do with him.

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!