Saturday, October 10, 2009

Who Da Man?

Ju-dah Man!...
That's the chant that echo's around our house. Someone will randomly shout out the question, and the rest of us will resound with the answer. God has surely blessed us with this boy.
He knows our voices now, and seems to take a special interest in each one of us.Here he is cranking his neck just to see his daddy.
Isabelle often has to get creative to get close to him, but she is resourceful.
I never dreamed she would adore her brother the way she does. She kisses him all day long, and will get upset if I don't attend to his needs in a 'timely' fashion...like as soon as he makes a peep. In the car, she needs to be close enough to touch his head or hold his hand. And she's contstanly speaking encouragement to him; he may not understand now, but one day he will.
Even his little pouty cries are adorable. He's been such a good baby so far. He's very content, and rarely cries except for the occasional gas bubble. He knows what he wants already though...when he wants picked up he'll begin letting out little squeals every minute or so that grow in intensity to yelps until you get him. It is so funny to hear a baby so little do this.

In case you can't tell, this little man has stolen my heart.
one absolutely smitten mama,
ejk

Thursday, October 8, 2009

This week's top 10

This week has been quite emotionally and physically draining, so I want to focus on the good things God has sent our way. Here's the top 10 list in no particular order:

10. Tuesday night's homemade Chinese dinner with the Dexters...oh yeah, it was de-li-cious!

9. Newspring's 2nd sermon in the "End of the World" series. It kicked my butt in a '5 mile run, feeling the burn' kinda way. Just what I needed to hear.

8. A husband who loves me enough to listen and love me through life's downs...but also loves me enough to call me out when my thinking/attitudes are unhealthy or just flat out wrong. 

7. The Beth Moore 'Inheritance' Bible study I get to be a part of at church, and the beautiful ladies I get to grow alongside.

6. That God-Sent young man (I don't even know his name) who helped me out to the car at the grocery. Turns out Chicco car seats take won't snap on to the top of the cart and take up the entire basket of those Kroger carts with the 'Cars' attached for the kids to ride in. Needless to say, I looked pretty pathetic trying to push a cart with the baby & Belle and a cart full of groceries out the door.

5. Judah has totally 'come alive' this week cooing and smiling all the time. His little personality is beaming through, and being his mommy is such a joy.

4. Belle had 2 miraculously obedient nights at bedtime in which she got herself ready and climbed into bed without any prompting from us. 

3. A 2nd batch of pumpkin cookies...ummm. Sinful and heavenly in the same bite!

2. Aron taking Belle on a date night to see 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'. We hope to continue this well into her teen years. Her daddy is the guardian of her heart, after all...until he hands her over to the man she will marry.  

1. While they saw the movie, Judah & I hung out at Target. This particular Target has a Starbucks. So while Judah enjoyed his latte de mama...I sipped a pumpkin spice latte. 

0. (I thought of one more...so I'm going to throw the ole zero in there) Did I mention my husband?!  His heart, his passion, his integrity...dedication, loyalty....I could go on but some of you may grow squeamish! And the fact that he is charming & dashingly handsome, well that's pure icing on the cake.
ejk

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

he smiles

Last night I caught Judah cooing...well this morning I finally caught the smiles. Thank goodness for the Flip...its so handy for impromptu moments you don't want to miss.
ejk

Monday, October 5, 2009

He Speaks

Psalm 8:1-2 (The Message)

Psalm 8

A David Psalm
 1 God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name. 

 2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; 
      toddlers shout the songs 
   That drown out enemy talk, 
      and silence atheist babble. 


My sweet BabyJudah is already smiling and cooing. I've been trying to catch him for a week, but he just stares intently at the Flip anytime I pull it out. Today, however, I caught his sweet little voice.
This one's for the grandparents.

ejk

Sunday, October 4, 2009

promise

11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

I love rainbows. Every time I see one, I try to wrap my mind around the supernatural implications of the appearance of its brilliant light in the sky. A visible, tangible sign of God's heart toward humanity. A heart that longs to redeem and restore creation to its intended glory. 

I love the symbolism of the promise beyond the pain of current circumstances. The beauty that emerges from despair. And the reminder that the best is yet to come. 
I think our children are much like the rainbow that illuminates the dreary sky. Hope in this dark world. A picture of purity and light. A promise that God has not given up on humanity yet.




treasuring the promises - big and small - of our faithful God,
ejk

Saturday, October 3, 2009

my brother's keeper

Judah fell asleep about 2 minutes into tummy time today, so I took the opportunity to jump in the shower. When I got out, I walked into the the living room to find big sis had taken it upon herself to go find a blanket, cover him up, then snuggle up next to him with a blanket of her own.

She watches over him like a hawk. Infact, as I type this post, she just informed me that "broder needs feedin' ". Duty calls. But what a beautiful duty this is.
ejk

Thursday, October 1, 2009

House of Sickies

We arrived home Monday night, and awoke Tuesday morning to a lovely stomach virus for poor Isabelle. She had to miss her dance class and was so bummed.

Aron has been hit hard with an upper respiratory infection. He came home from work about an hour early so he could try to rest and heal up before band rehearsal tonight. While he was buried in the covers trying to sleep...
and she was out cold...
and he was supposed to be napping...
I quickly threw together a dinner I hoped would comfort my ailing family. 

The veggie soup (plus a lot of roast...aron must have meat in his veggie soup or its not a meal) and grilled cheese hit the spot on this cold day.
And in honor of the first day of the beautiful month of October, pumpkin cookies.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A healthy Dose of Perspective

Many of you know Aron & I are like the only 2 people in the world who don't have cable. It started out as a financial decision while we were paying off our student loan debt. But the absence of the boob tube in our world has created space for other really great fillers of our time.

At least once a week we'll catch an online worship service from some of our favorite pastors of churches that we are following. It may sound wierd that we "follow" churches...but by that I mean, that we are staying connected to the amazing things God is doing through these groups of believers.

So one of those churches is Newspring Church in South Carolina. We just watched the first week of their current sermon series last night: How to Survive the End of the World.
I needed to hear exactly what Pastor Perry Noble had to say. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day trivial issues in our lives that we forget or become blind to the big picture. And when we lose sight of that, we lose purpose, perspective, and passion. 

If you have a spare hour this week, grab a hot cup of tea and watch. (We usually skip through the worship portion straight to the teaching...just for time sake). To watch, click HERE.

This is the trailer for the series:

Thank you God for awakening my heart through this. God, forgive us for our negligence - for sleeping and pursuing comfort after comfort while the broken wander aimlessly and tragedies go on unnoticed. Show us how to love, show us how to walk in justice.
ejk

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

home and back

We made a quick trip home this weekend. We wanted to meet our new nephew, Isaiah Matthew. Here are the two cousins together: Judah & Isaiah.
Belle devoured every minute of cousin time. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures. She spent hours playing with Chloe & Grace.
Speaking of cousin time...the boys played horseshoes.
And as you can see from the Bengals and OSU gear, we did get to watch some great football games too.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

time away

We're off for a quick trip to O-H-I-O; I like to spell it like that during college football season.
Aron's sis, Kara, and her husband, Brian, delivered their first child, Isaiah Matthew, last weekend, so we've got to go meet our newest nephew.
See ya Monday night!
ejk