Thanksgiving 2013

I have so much to be thankful for this year.

1. "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Psalm 28:7
   
   I am thankful for a God that loves me unconditionally and provides for all our needs.  I'm thankful that I serve a God that doesn't give up on me, even when I feel like giving up on Him.  I'm thankful for a God that hasn't a perfect plan for each of us, even when I don't understand that plan.  I'm thankful that God is my strength and my comforter.
    
2. I'm thankful that we several Bibles in our house because we are blessed to have an abundance of English translations available to us.  I'm thankful for an organization, Wycliffe, that has a goal to bring the Bible to every people group, even those that don't even yet have a written language.
   
3.  I'm thankful for my amazing, loving husband.  We have been through so much in the last few years and have grown stronger together.
   
4. Anne is our rainbow baby and a blessing.  Someday she will understand what that means.  We love her so much.  Words cannot even begin to describe what a miracle she is.  There are days that I just stare at her beautiful face in awe that she is really here.  I'm thankful that I'm able to stay home and take care of her everyday.  I love watching her experience all her "firsts."  The look of awe and wonder on her face when she figures something out or experiences something that first time is so fun to watch.
   
5. I'm thankful for my family.  I'm thankful for parents that are still married after 33 years.  My parents taught me the value of marriage and commitment.  They taught me the value of work and that there was no such things as a free lunch.  I'm thankful for sisters and a brother that love each other.  I'm thankful for an extended family that loves each other.
    
6. I have some of the greatest friends anyone could ask for.  The few years have not been easy for me and one thing you realize when bad things happen is who your friends are.  I'm thankful for their listening ear and their hugs.  I'm thankful for the new friends I made in an incredible online support group.  I don't know how I would have got through it without them.

I have so much more to thankful for.  I could list things forever.  We have a home, food to eat, electricity, jobs that provide for our needs, a ministry that we love, monthly financial partners that believe in us, people that love us that prayer for us regularly, and much more.

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Anne!

One Happy Mom

 I love watching Anne learn new things.  She doesn't usually like to lay on the floor.  Frankly, she is not often a fan of not being held.  We have been trying to have floor time a little every day just so she gets used to playing by herself.  This morning though I got out her play mat to see if she would at least try to play with it.  She seemed to enjoy looking at all the colorful animals.  She just sat and stared at the lion for several minutes.  She is so close to grabbing ahold of the giraffe.  She just hits it and occasionally pushes it by her face.

 She loves her new swing.  Our friends Mike and Sarah has a swing similar to this one and she loved it when we were in Ohio.  For the past week, she would only take about 20 minutes naps by herself.  Yesterday, she slept for 3 hours.  I was able to get all the dishes and laundry done.  I even got to cook myself some lunch.  Thank you Once Upon a Child.  Today, she has been napping for an hour.  We will see what I can get done today.

I'm so in love with this little girl.

Anne's Nursery

I figured since she is almost 6 weeks old now, it's probably time that I post some pictures of Anne's nursery.  She is one blessed little girl.  We love her so much.  She has a great view out of the backyard out her window.  Her rainbow bears keep watch of the room.

She has more clothes then I do.  She has a closet in her room with newborn sizes that she is wearing now and 0-3 month that she will be wearing next.  In the other room, we put the bigger sizes that she will grow into.  It's hard to imagine her that big since she is so tiny now, but she is growing so fast.  Her socks, hats, blankets, burp clothes, etc are in drawers in the other room too.

Her changing table and baskets of onesies and sleepers in newborn and 0-3 month size.  The big basket on the top shelf has her cloth diapers in it.

Her dad is a bit of an Ohio State fan so it should be no surprise that her room is Ohio State themed.

Rewarding Wycliffe Weekend

We had another fun-filled weekend.  Steve was invited to speak at two different churches, one on Saturday evening and the other on Sunday morning.  Friday afternoon, we drove to Toledo, OH to visit Steve's Grandma.  Anne loved meeting her Great Grandma.   Steve's brother Randy and his father stopped by his Grandma's house to meet baby Anne too.  We stayed overnight at Steve's Grandma's apartment on Friday night.

Then Saturday, we were off to Lima, OH so Anne could meet her Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Carl, and her cousins Ariana and Heiress.  Of course, Anne loved them too and they loved her.  Saturday was a busy day with a lot of driving.  Anne did a great job tolerating being in her car seat for so long.  Saturday evening, we stopped at Great Hope Missionary Church in New Carlisle and Steve shared with them our Wycliffe ministry and how they can be a part of it.  Anne was so excited and proud of her daddy that she started cheering (ie: crying) right as he started talking so I missed a portion of his talk.  It was a pretty small church and everyone was really nice and welcoming to us.  They invited us to join them for their after church potluck too.

Saturday evening, we stayed with our friends Mike and Sarah again.  They are spectacular friends and Sunday morning Steve shared about Wycliffe at their church service.  We are so excited that God is opening up these opportunities for us to share the great work that He is doing in Bible Translation.  We are always looking for new opportunities, not just to whole churches but also to small groups too.  God has been good to us this year.  We are praying hard that He continues to provide as only He can.

One Month Update

Our sweet little girl is one month old today. I can't believe it.  We love her so much.  I love watching her discover new things.

Weight: 7 lbs, 13 ozs

Height: 22 inches

Eating: She is still eating around the clock.  Usually about every 2-3 hours and sometimes as often as every hour.  She still wakes us up throughout the night to eat.

Sleeping: She is more alert and awake during the day in the past week.  Her eyes seem to be able to focus more.  She will turn her head to the sound of our voices.  I try to get her to take a short nap during the day, so I can get things done around the house.  When she is awake, she wants to be held.  We are going to have to work on that in the future, but for now I'm enjoying my snugglebug.  She still only sleeps about 3 or 4 hours at a time at night.

Milestones & Firsts: Well, everything is new for her.  

Some noteworthy things were:

* She had her first road trip to Ohio.  

* She "watched" her first Ohio State game.

* It could have just been gas, but I think she smiled at us.

* She is holding her head up more and starting to push with her legs against my legs
* She loves to snuggle up on daddy's lap and fall asleep.
* We tried cloth diapers this week and it involved a blow out and a whole wardrobe change.  Her legs appear to be too skinny still for the ones we have.

Anne's First Road Trip

This weekend we took a 4 hour drive to Springfield, Ohio.  It was Anne's first road trip.  I love documenting all her "firsts."  I just love watching her figure things out and learn new things.  She slept almost the whole way to Ohio, except for when we stopped to eat and get gas.  She woke up and started to protest her being in the car seat still about 10 minutes before we got the Riley's house.  She did a pretty good job sleeping during the night, even though it was a new environment.  She is growing up so fast.  We stayed with some friends, Mike and Sarah.  Anne just loved meeting some new friends.  At first, we thought that they trip would too long for Anne, but she traveled like a champ.

I don't think we had any idea just how much stuff we would have to bring with us just for her.  The car  is full of Wycliffe stuff, her stuff, and a few things for us.  I just hope we didn't forget anything.  We will probably have to do laundry if she keeps spitting up on her "spare outfits."

Steve had the joy of speaking at the morning service at Trinity Missionary Church in Springfield, OH this morning.  Steve shared about who we are, what we will be doing with Wycliffe and did a message on 1 Timothy 1:5.  

"But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Tim 1:5 (NASB)

τὸ δὲ τέλος τῆς παραγγελίας ἐστὶν ἀγάπη ἐκ καθαρᾶς καρδίας καὶ συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς καὶ πίστεως ἀνυποκρίτου, 1 Tim 1:5 (Greek New Testament)

Everyone at the church was really great and seemed receptive to Steve's message.  They also loved meeting baby Anne.  She did such a great job listening to her daddy speak.  We are praying that God will lead some in the church to partner with us and our ministry.  We had so much fun this morning meeting everyone.  Steve has known the pastor for many years since he was a counselor at Ludlow Falls.

Mike and Sarah have a 4 month old son.  Sweet baby Anne looks so little next to Johnny.

The Strangest Place (Short) from Wycliffe USA on Vimeo.