One Year Update

 We celebrated Anne's birthday today.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day.  Anne is so blessed to have so many amazing friends in her life.  My parent's house was just full of people that love Anne.  

Thank you to everyone who came.  I can't believe she is one year old.

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Weight: 17 lbs, 9 oz
Height: 27.5 inches

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Eating: She loves to eat.  There isn't many foods that we haven't fed her that she hasn't liked.  She prefers to feed herself over purees now.  She still nurses around the clock, getting up several times a night. 

So far:
Thumbs Up: sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, avocado, peas, squash, carrots, bananas, whole wheat cereal, guava, watermelon, pasta with sauce, meatballs, yogurt with any fruit, BBQ anything, kidney beans, eggplant, meatballs, bread, hot pretzels, hummus, cabbage, brussel sprouts, ice cream

Thumbs Down: oatmeal cereal, spinach, peaches, any pureed meats (but she will eat chicken right off the bone cut into pieces)

Sleeping: We are starting to some sleep training.  I started reading the book The No Cry Sleep Solution.  Hopefully, the book will give us some give tips to help her sleep better. 

At first, she just looked at the pretty cake. She wasn't sure what to do with it.  After her dad and Grandma showed her to taste it, she happily ate some.

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Milestones:
* She can say: dada, mama, mommy, uh oh, hug

* She can sign: more, all done

* She is growing and changing everyday.  She just loves to explore and learn new things.

* She is crawling and climbing everywhere and getting into everything.

*Anne has 7 teeth now. 

* Her favorite way to start her day is to hug her bears.

The party wore her out.  Sweet girl snuggled up with her dad and took a nap.

Happy Birthday Anne

It's 2am and you are probably wondering why I would want to be awake this early.  Actually, if you know my little girl, you might not be wondering since she loves to wake up in the middle of the night for fun.  Tonight though, I think she just wanted to reminisce.  Exactly one year ago, at about 2am, our little girl decided it was time to enter the world.  She had chose her birthday and needed to break her mommy's water to make it happen.

I have to say though that when my water broke, it was probably the most relaxed I had been the entire pregnancy.  I think it was because I knew that by the end of the day, I would likely be holding our rainbow baby.  Our two and half year journey to becoming parents would finally end with a baby in our arms. 

This last year has gone by so fast.  I just nursed her and rocked her back to sleep.  I am just as in love with her little face now as when I saw it for the first time.  We have such a fun day planned.

Our beautiful miracle turns one today.

Happy Birthday, Anne!

Fall Harvest: Sweet Potatoes

We have never attempted sweet potatoes before, so we had no idea what to expect.  The plants grew huge with really big vines everywhere.  Next year, I think we are going to give them more room.

Not bad for our first time.

11 Month Update

Eleven months have passed since our beautiful baby entered the world.  The time has gone by so fast.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  Everyday, she gets more and more personality.

Milestones:

* She is growing and changing everyday.  She just loves to explore and learn new things.

* She is crawling everywhere and getting into everything.

*Anne has 6 teeth now.  Three on the bottom and 3 on top.  Number 7, I believe, is on the way.

* She started to really enjoy standing and cruising around the room on her walking toy.  It's fun to watch her learn these new skills.

*She can climb up steps now.  She hasn't mastered down yet though.

 

Let's go shopping, mom.

She is "walking" and climbing now.

 Queen of Peace Peace Fest -- Anne got to dunk Grandpa in the Dunk Tank.

 Anne introducing papa to her friends.

 She got to try her first Blueberry donut at the Blueberry Fest. -- Loved it!

We stopped by Ben's Pretzel in the mall.  She ate almost an entire Pretzel Stick by herself. -- Loved it.

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Weight: 16 lbs, 4 oz
Height: 26.5 inches

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Eating: She loves to eat.  There isn't many foods that we haven't fed her that she hasn't liked.  She prefers to feed herself over purees now.  She still nurses around the clock, getting up several times a night.  She loves to feed herself peas.  If we will her tray with various food, she will push the food out of the way and eat all the peas first then continue with the rest.

So far:
Thumbs Up: sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, avocado, peas, squash, carrots, bananas, whole wheat cereal, guava, watermelon, pasta with sauce, meatballs, yogurt with any fruit, BBQ anything, kidney beans, eggplant, meatballs, bread, hot pretzels, hummus

Thumbs Down: oatmeal cereal, spinach, peaches, any pureed meats (but she will eat chicken right off the bone cut into pieces)

Sleeping: She still nurses around the clock, waking up every 3-4 hours during the night.  I hoping this habit breaks soon.  We are trying a sleep routine of diaper change, bedtime snack (usually nursing), then a bedtime story, then getting rocked to sleep.  This month has been rough.  She has started to not want to sleep without us present.

Summer Harvest

"Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce." Jeremiah 29:5 ESV

 Our tomato plants have taken over our front yard's garden.

 We finally have a little green pepper on our pepper plant.  Sadly, I think our zucchini plant is dying.  It just doesn't look healthy.  Maybe, we will have better luck next year because I love zucchini.

We have sweet potatoes growing in the backyard too and they are growing like crazy.  They are not ready for harvest yet. 

 Here is what I picked today.  Aren't those the cutest little green peppers you have ever seen?

Our Garden Progress: Front Yard

Our front yard garden is really coming together. My mom has been a huge help with this project.

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This is an early picture.  The flowers are much bigger now.  In the front, there are Begonias and behind them are Lilies and some Asters.  I also planted a Rose Bush in the back to add some more color.  On the right side are several Cherry Tomato plants.  The Tomato plants have grown huge.  I have been able to bless some neighbors with the abundance.

Anne is always helpful.  She is a great supervisor and encourager.

10 Month Update

Anne's new love is to open and close doors.  Because of this, Steve has installed safety locks on the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom.

 She loves to explore.  She first task each morning is to pull all her toys off the shelf and play with all of them.

 When ever possible, she wants to break out of her baby gate.  The park is her favorite place to go.

Chick Fila's Cow Appreciation Day

 

She loves to eat!

 
Her first 4-H fair.  The Elkhart County Fair is huge. She loved seeing all the animals.

At the Amish Acres Arts and Craft Festival, she saw her first puppet show.  She was just enthralled in the show.

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Weight: 16 lbs, 2 oz
Height: 26.5 inches

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Eating: She is still nursing around the clock.  She prefers to feed herself solid foods to getting fed purees.  We have breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, then a bedtime snack.  This routine seems to working.  There haven't been many foods that we have had her try that she hasn't liked.

So far:
Thumbs Up: sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, avocado, peas, squash, carrots, bananas, whole wheat cereal, guava, watermelon, pasta with sauce, meatballs, yogurt with any fruit, BBQ anything, kidney beans

Thumbs Down: oatmeal cereal, spinach, peaches, any pureed meats (but she will eat chicken right off the bone cut into pieces)

Sleeping: Not much has changed in the sleeping department.  She still nurses around the clock, waking up every 3-4 hours during the night.  I hoping this habit breaks soon.

Milestones:

           * She is growing and changing everyday.  She just loves to explore and learn new things.

* She is crawling everywhere and getting into everything.

* She can wave now.

* Her favorite word to say is "dada."  She babbles it all day to her toys and anyone who will listen.

*Anne has 5 teeth now.  Two on the bottom and 3 on top.

Prairie Camp: Prayer

Acts 12: 1-5:

The great gift - seldom used: Prayer.
Can you really say you are satisfied with your prayer life?

Why do we struggle with prayer?
1) We are not convinced that our God is BIG enough to do what He says He will do?

2) We have an over reliance on our own answer (just find the answer in a book).
3) A misunderstanding of spiritual warfare. We are at war every day.
4) We live in a DIY society. 
5) We treat prayer as a backup power source.

It's when the experts fail us that we run to prayer.

Acts 12:1 - "It was about this time..."  Just when you things are going well, that is when the enemy likes to strike.

The most important decisions of our lives were decided outside of our control (height, birth place, gender, etc). We are not in as much control as we think we are.

We don't like helplessness but we need it in order to prayer.

- Maturity in the faith is not self-reliance.  Maturity alerts us to how weak we are. God's power is made real in weakness. (Matthew 8)

- Helpless people regularly take a inventory of their heart.  Prayer is a conversation between our hearts to the heart of God.

Don't let distractions defeat you.

Prairie Camp 2014

Day 1: "The more you depend on what it's your hand, the less your will receive from God's hand"

Day 2:

Matthew 6:5-6 - Where is your place that you go to be alone with God in prayer?

***Some gifts can only be found alone with God in prayer.***
You can hear when you are alone. There are no competing voices. There is no pretending in the closet.  You can't fake out God.

Matthew 11:28-30 - Alone with Him I find rest.  When I'm rested, I remember who's God and who's not. 

***Alone with Him I find my direction.***
His agenda may be different then mine.  Sometimes God changes your plans so He can spend time with you.  Some of the best times with God are unplanned.

One of the things that happens when you are alone with Him, you are yoked to Jesus.

***Alone with Him my character is conformed to His.***
The source of my unrest is my forcefulness and my pride.  The journey to true rest is patience and humility. (Acts 4)
You get filled with the fruits of spirit.

***Alone with Him I'm moved by His heart.***
vs. 30 - When it's His heart, it becomes light.

Chapters

Everyone goes through different chapters in their lives, through chapters of grief and through times of great favor or blessing. Each chapter, when you look back, was just a portion of your life and each one serves a purpose. For example, the languages and cultures to which I (Steve) was introduced as a child have taught me something that widened my view of the world. Also, when one grandfather passed away, I learned to appreciate my time with the other while he was still alive. Even today, our experiences in life are teaching us.

Over the last two years serving with Wycliffe, we have been learning. Bridget and I have struggled and celebrated. We continue to celebrate the life of Anne, knowing how God’s provision brought her into our lives. We struggle, and in ways may always struggle, with the two losses we experienced before the joy and blessing of Anne’s birth.  Our story is not unique, but it is very personal and we don’t share it lightly.  

 
     We recognize the need for growth, both personally and as a family. At the same time, Wycliffe allows us two years to develop our partnership team and we were unable to do that. We feel we must step away from Wycliffe for a time.  And yet, it is our desire to return to this ministry someday in the future , as God leads, after this time of  intentional development.

 

I do not think we have the words to express to you what it means to us to know you believe in us and this work for which we still feel a calling. Your partnership with us has been an encouraging blessing. I am certain we would not have come as far as we have without your prayers. We do not have a way to thank you that seems adequate. We appreciate each and every one of your influences in our lives.

As we move into the next chapter of our lives, we choose to continue to support those who do not yet have the Bible in their language and those working along side them. We have decided to partner with colleagues and friends in Wycliffe, Paul and Christy Dubois. We invite you to consider joining us in partnering with them. 

With heavy hearts, we humbly thank you,

Steve, Bridget and Anne

Days of preparation are not lost days.

                                                  - Pastor Lance Nothstine

9 Months Update

Anne never ceases to amaze us. I absolutely love that I have the ability to stay home with her. She had her 9 month check up on Friday and she is perfectly healthy. We are so blessed to have a healthy, growing girl. She loves to eat but she wants to do it herself now. She fights me for the spoon if I try and feed her. She loves to use her fingers and feed herself. She will try just about everything we put in front of her. The doc OK'd tomatoes yesterday, so she go to try some pasta noodles with tomato sauce. She loves it.

She has learned this week how to clap, so now she claps and dances to her music.

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 Anne is crawling everywhere now.  She loves to pull her toys off the shelves and play with everything at once.  

Weight: 15 lbs, 15 ounces
Height: 26.5 inches

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Eating: She is still nursing around the clock.  We have started introducing solid different foods.  She is starting to prefer to eat whatever we are eating, instead of enjoying her purees.

So far:
Thumbs Up: sweet potatoes, green beans, applesauce, avocado, peas, squash, carrots, bananas, whole wheat cereal, guava, watermelon, pasta with sauce, meatballs, yogurt with any fruit

Thumbs Down: oatmeal cereal, spinach, peaches, any pureed meats (but she will eat chicken right off the bone cut into pieces)

Sleeping: Not much has changed in the sleeping department.  She still nurses around the clock, waking up every 3-4 hours during the night.  I hoping this habit breaks soon.

Milestones:

*"Mama" and "Dada" are her favorite things to say.

* She can pull herself up to a standing position.  Because of this, we had to full lower her crib mattress and we have to watch her carefully so she doesn't fall.  She hasn't learned fear yet.  Sometimes, she struggles to get back down when she gets up.


* She is still a daddy's girl. She loves when Steve comes home from work and when we visit Sears during the day.

*She loves to go to the park, anywhere outside really.

          * She loves to pull her toys from the shelf and play with everything all at once.

*Anne has four teeth now.  Two on top and two on the bottom.  I think a few more are on the way soon.

 Aside from reading and playing with blocks, she spends her days crawling around, dancing and clapping, playing with friends including her cousin, Austin, and just enjoying life.  She is generally pretty happy kid.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Steve.  You are an amazing father to Anne.  I love you! 

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

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Happy Father's Day to the great husbands out there who have children in their arms, to those who have lost children, to expectant fathers too and all the fathers in heaven! If you have a friend or family member who has lost a child or lost their father, please don't forget them today.
Father's Day is tough for some.

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Here are a few pictures of Steve with his daddy's girl.