Moms, Should I Force Her to Eat?

I need opinions/experienced moms to chime in here.

Alice seems to be going through a "reverse" growth spurt... at least that's what I'm calling it. She goes through phases where she eats whatever I put in front of her without a problem. Her current phase, however, requires me to pinch/pull her ear and tell her to open her mouth... with EVERY bite, no matter what I'm feeding her. I was attempting to hold her head and that was just hard to do. She turns her head and rests it on her shoulder away from the food. The ear pinch/pull has been most effective. Occasionally I can get her to "help mommy" by holding the fork/spoon with me and getting it into her mouth. Once in a while I just need to touch her ear slightly and she'll open her mouth. Most of the time I have to get her by the ear and (attempt to) patiently tell her to open her mouth and eat her food. If I give her finger food, she eats some and then plays with it and makes a HUGE mess or throws it on the floor.

Mind you, her meals have been significantly smaller because I can only force feed her so much. PLUS, if she doesn't eat a good sized meal at breakfast/lunch/dinner, she wants to snack all day. She does have a fairly regular "snack" after she wakes up from her nap in the afternoon. A typical eating schedule for her is breakfast at 8/8:30, lunch at noon, nap time from 1-3ish, snack around 4, dinner at 6. One book I read said that you shouldn't be concerned about what your toddler eats in ONE day, but look at the content of their meals over 2-3 days. Clearly that's not intended for a pregnant mommy who can hardly remember at lunch time what SHE ate for breakfast, let alone what her daughter ate two days ago. Do I really need to keep a food journal for my 19 month old??

So.... Do I continue the route I'm going, trying to get her to eat a decent meal at "meal time"? Should I let her dictate being all done and then not feed her snacks when she wants them so she'll eat a better meal at the next meal time? Do I just go with whatever and let her snack here and there throughout the day? No one ever tells you about these kinds of things before you become a mom. I guess I wouldn't have been that interested in hearing it before I had a child. Funny how that works. But seriously, I'd love to know what others have done or even if you're going through the same thing with your toddler... What has worked for you???

Three days til Christmas! And just for fun, here's a really cute picture of my two favorite people :-D

Laughing with Daddy

Another one...

More Spaghetti

For those who don't have Facebook...

Moved

Russell Moore's writing usually leaves me wowed. His talent for turning a phrase in a new or unusual way makes me laugh or cry or marvel. His blog post today is worth a read and it probably affected me more because Moore just celebrated the arrival of his baby boy. Here's a sampler:

Early on in your unborn life, a doctor told us he thought you would have Down Syndrome. He turned out to be wrong, but we didn’t know that until you were born. Sadly, you probably won’t meet a lot of kids with Down Syndrome because so few of them ever make it to birth these days, so you might not even understand what that is.

When the doctor told us this, your mother and I looked at each other and knew right away that you would be a gift: Down Syndrome or not. Your worth and your value wouldn’t be in whether or not this age saw you as having “power” or “success,” but instead based on your bearing the image of the God who made you and who loves you.

Read the rest here.

Thrift Stores

For those who don't know, I LOVE thrift stores. I especially appreciate ones that are well organized and know that they are thrift stores (i.e. CHEAP). This morning we went to my FAVORITE thrift store because as a club member I received 50% off all clothing, shoes & accessories. Woot. I'm totally there. We got a ridiculous amount of clothing for the girls (mainly Alice) and a few things for Andrew & me. I feel much more ready for "winter" in southern California and am thankful that I no longer will need to wash Alice's clothes every few days to keep her in long sleeves :-)

Today marks 36 weeks of pregnancy, which means only four more weeks until my due date. For a good couple weeks I was convinced that Emma was going to come early. I'm not so sure anymore. I think it was just wishful thinking since I'm starting to get more and more uncomfortable. We shall see if there are any changes to report from the next doctor appointment this Friday. It will determine our Christmas whereabouts.

This particular Monday also happens to be the first of SIX Mondays where Andrew will have the day off work AND school. Of course our thrift store morning was something that wouldn't have happened without him. I love having my husband home and less stressed with a break from school. We are so blessed!

Quiet Moment

At our doctor appointment yesterday we learned that Emma is head-down! I'm very thankful for that as I'm not good at determining what lump on my stomach is which body part of hers. But she's creating a LOT of pressure and lower back pain that comes and goes.

Alice is having a rough morning and is now in playpen time--apparently the ONLY thing that's okay at the moment. She's already gotten one molar and the second one is either just poking through or about to. It appears the behavior (crying, inconsolable maniac) may be connected with incoming teeth. I've also had some pressure in my sinuses the last two days that's causing headaches and throbbing. I'm sure you can imagine how that feels with a screaming 19 month old to add to it. Please pray!

Less than half of the month until Christmas... :-D

To Do

This morning Andrew pulled out the advent calendar ornament which begins the second third of the month. Just 16 days until Christmas!

It's also (according to the countdown <----) 38 days until my due date. THAT seems very soon. I think Emma "dropped" on Saturday. I won't go into detail, but I can breathe easier and haven't had any heartburn since then. She's still moving a lot, but does seem to have slowed down a tad. I'm pretty sure I look smaller than I did with Alice, but I'm not sure. I've gained right around 20 lbs, though having the flu certainly influenced that. I feel like there are still so many things to do before Emma arrives, so I'm going to make a list. I like lists :-)

To Do:
-Take hospital tour (planned for Monday, Dec. 19)
-Get a few more baby items
-Make list of who to notify of Emma's coming
-Figure out what to do with Alice when Emma comes
-Make & freeze some meals
-Pack for hospital
-Install baby car seat & move Alice's car seat

Okay... that doesn't seem as overwhelming as I was making it in my mind. And now Alice is awake. Today was a good nap day. This week has been good nap, bad nap, good nap, bad nap, good nap. At least she's sort of "consistent." Happy Friday!

The Advent Calendar

I can't believe an entire month went by and nothing was posted on our blog. Actually... I can believe it. Hopefully the rest of December won't be like November was.

Now that it's officially the Christmas season I've been listening to Christmas music almost non-stop. I hope my husband would say something if he's annoyed... He hasn't said anything yet :-)

I also finally made our own advent calendar which I plan to use every year. LOVE IT! I got the idea from a blog I randomly stumbled upon, though I changed a few things based on what I had (or didn't have). Part of my lack of blogging has been trying to get this thing completed during Alice's lamely short naps and once she's in bed. Not to mention the fact that I got the flu right after Thanksgiving and wasn't feeling 100% until about a week ago. Then Alice started throwing up. Oi. When an 18 month old has a tummy ache, there's really no way of knowing until they throw up all over your bedroom floor. Not that it happened that way with us or anything.....

Anyway, the advent calendar is FINALLY done and I'm getting back into the swing of things after a really wonderful (despite the flu) break from it during the Thanksgiving week. Finally got the Christmas decorations up on Sunday night and got some much needed cleaning done around the apartment. Laundry is in full swing... actually almost done so I'd better get these pictures up... Plus Alice (of course) is awake after a 1 hr 20 min nap. Sigh.

I digress. Here are the much anticipated pictures of my handmade advent calendar. Okay, maybe not all that anticipated, but I'm pretty thrilled about it. The last step is to write names of Jesus on the backs of the ornaments along with a reference of where it appears in the bible. Thank you Pastor Ron for that idea!

In other news, Fred the frog finally kicked the bucket. I refuse to believe it was entirely out of neglect, as we hadn't gotten him crickets in quite a while. He was old and, as far as I know, lived a good life. Poor Fred. He's in the dumpster now. It smells a bit nicer around our apartment without him, but he was a very interesting conversation piece. He didn't contribute much to that conversation, but that's okay. He was a cool pet for a few years. Alright, off to get the girl and fold laundry. Happy December!!

Small Miracles

At this very moment a miracle is happening in our apartment. The first miracle happened about two hours ago when Alice pointed to her crib after a short 5 minutes of rocking/singing with mommy, indicating that she wanted to lie down in there. Whoa. I put her down, she was awake. As I listened to her over the monitor, she settled herself and fell asleep after less than 10 minutes. Yes, that was miracle number one.

Miracle number two is still in process. She's... still... asleep... TWO HOURS LATER!!! After three and a half weeks of bad naps I am SO thankful for this one day. I don't know how long she'll sleep. I don't know if she'll do this again tomorrow. I don't know if this is a result of bad naps on Saturday and Sunday. Frankly, I could care less what caused this excellent nap. I still haven't heard a peep from her. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

We also had another doctor appointment this morning and little Emma's heartbeat sounded good and strong. She kicked the machine several times, but everything is right on track. Alice really doesn't like it when mommy lays down on the table so we can hear Emma. She sat next to me on the table today and it helped a little. Funny girl. I asked about making a Christmas (driving) trip and the doctor said he'd give us the okay as it gets closer, but I'll probably be fine.

Speaking of Alice... She just started making noises. Wow. That was just over two hours. She's not crying, but making happy noises. YAY!! Miracle number three.

Here are some updated pictures for those of you who haven't seen them on Facebook. And of course, a really excellent family picture. Because every woman who is decently pregnant around Halloween should have a jack-o-lantern shirt and carve a pumpkin to match.

Trimester the Third

I realized last week that I'm in the third trimester already. Whoa. Feels like the Emma pregnancy has gone MUCH faster than the Alice pregnancy. Monday will be 30 weeks, which then (in my mind) begins the count down, as opposed to the count up, of pregnancy. Single digit weeks until she arrives. Whoa.

For those interested, Alice is still fighting her naps. For several days now I've had to hold her and rock/sing until she falls asleep and then transfer her to the crib. Today I put her in while still awake and she fell asleep in about 10 minutes. It was a small victory. It felt even smaller when she woke up after only an hour and 10 minutes. Sigh. Yes, she's awake right now. No, I'm not getting her yet...

She's been making more attempts at words and will grunt the number of syllables in a word that I try getting her to say. It's pretty funny. She's got "up" and "bye" for sure. Although "bye" sounds like the same sound a sheep makes: "buh." Hey, we'll take it! It also appears that she's about to get some teeth. I realize I said that recently, but they still haven't shown up. Her gums look sore in spots and she REALLY doesn't like me sticking her toothbrush in there. I'm really hoping that the teeth will come and she'll go back to normal (as in at least 2 hour) napping. I've heard of some kids who stop napping at a young age (some as young as 6 months??) and I'm praying Alice isn't one of them. Sure, I could still attempt "quiet time," except I'd have to supervise in order for it to actually be quiet and it still probably wouldn't be that quiet. Alice isn't exactly a quiet child. Shocker if you know her daddy. I'm listening to her squeal over the monitor as I write this.

Okay, the maybe-she'll-fall-back-asleep hope has been completely crushed. Off to get the girl.

Pool at Grandpa & Grandma's

Mommy's Little Helper

Octoberness

Alice finished lunch just after 12:30 and went down for her nap around 12:40. She fell asleep at about 2:10 after I went in there (for the second time) and scratched her back/arms/feet until she fell asleep. I also went in with Tylenol. I'm pretty sure she's about to get like 10 teeth. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but she's been super crazy for the past two weeks. Not once has she taken a 2 hour nap. Most days it's more like 50-80 minutes. Then she's basically a disaster for the rest of the day, wanting me to pay complete attention to her at all times. "No, you can't prepare dinner! No, you can't use the bathroom! No, you can't clean up after me!" Bummer for me. She's been crying a LOT. Makes me appreciate the fact that she's normally a very easy-going, calm and cheerful girl. I've also begun allergy season, which makes me more exhausted than the normal pregnant-tired. I wonder if Alice has been bothered by allergies too, but it's hard to tell since she has recently discovered what tissues are and would be thrilled to use one every five minutes throughout the day.

We did make a trip up to Santa Clarita to visit Grandpa, Grandma and Alice's two uncles. I think Alice's favorite part was the pool Grandma got for her. It was pretty fun watching her play in it. We also made a trip to a baby consignment store. They had two large final clearance dollar racks and were having a special "Buy 10 items, get 10 items free" sale. I totally scored. Alice has some pants now for the cooler weather and a few more long sleeved shirts. YAY!

Here's a slideshow of October pics.


And you'll never guess who just woke up. Maybe she'll fall back to sleep...

Bachelor Party

Amy and Alice left Thursday morning for Santa Clarita to visit my parents and brothers.

I stayed in Orange County.

It was weird.

Sleeping alone in a king size bed is weird. Being able to spread books and magazines and my Kindle and my dinner all over the living room floor was weird. The silence was sometimes weird.

I realized that Amy has experienced what I experienced yesterday and today a lot more than I have. I realized how thankful I am for my wife, my gift from God (An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels - Prov. 31:10). I realized how different life has become since I got married, and then how different it became once Alice was born.

When we're living life, we're in it and going, going, going, so there's not often time to reflect. Or, maybe I don't make time to reflect as I should. I know I'm rambling, but it just feels so different I had to express it some way, even in such a disconnected way as this.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I were single. It's hard to imagine. Sometimes it's terrifying to imagine. I'm not sure such speculation is all that helpful unless it brings me back to being thankful anew for the way God has providentially provided for me/us, especially since I met Amy.

Okay, work is calling, but I just needed to reflect on that for a moment. God is a good Father and he gives good gifts to his children. Praise the Lord!

Where Did the Nap Go?

Seems like I'm getting bigger by the second. Okay, that's probably an exaggeration. At our last doctor appointment (Monday) I was measuring right on the money: 27 weeks. I really don't remember when I started to measure bigger for Alice, but I'm thankful that Emma seems to be sticking to the charts so far. She still could become a moose baby... Our next appointment is in three weeks and then we'll start the every two week visits. Whoa. I can't believe we're already this close to her arrival. Actually, it really hit me the other day that we're having another baby. We're going to have two babies under age two.

Alice seems to be making steps toward potty training, though it's a bit hard determining whether she's pointing at her diaper because she has to pee, she just went pee, she has to toot, she has to poop... or some other reason that I've yet to figure out. If Alice had her way, she'd get a diaper change about 15 times a day, even if the diaper had next to nothing in it. She'll point and grunt at her changing pad and then her diaper and pat the changing pad and grunt. So funny. We're currently working on getting her to use words. Most of the time she just points or grunts or says animal sounds, though she definitely has "ma-ma", "duck" (duh), "tug-tug" (from a book), and "hot." She gave up on "da-da" and "da-dee" which she used to say exclusively. The last two days when I ask her to say "da-da" she says "na-na." Not really sure where that came from, but she does seem to be associating "na-na" with her daddy.

She also hasn't been napping real well for about a week now. The longest nap she's taken has been about 1 1/2 hours when it used to be up to 3 1/2 hours. Bummer for me, but I think she's getting more teeth. She's got all 8 in the front so now I'm expecting molars or canines... right? Something like that. I'm just hoping that these short naps are not indicative of a new habit. We shall see.

Alright, I've got lots to do before she wakes up from her probably too-short nap. Dude. She just started making noises after I finished typing that line. It's been 45 minutes. Seriously. Done. With. Lame. Naps. Off to dishes. Oh, and here's Alice playing with some friends in the nursery at church and at the birthday party of one of those girls.

The Longer Version

I'm going to attempt to keep this relatively short, but I make no guarantees...

Well, we went to Virginia and Washington DC last week and Alice had her first two plane rides. Both flights were non-stop and she napped! On the way to DC she napped for about an hour and the flight home... maybe 15-20 minutes. But she did really well and we had a few people tell us that she did great. YAY Alice!

We arrived late Wednesday night, were picked up by my sister at the airport, checked into our hotel, and attempted to put Alice to bed. I think she actually fell asleep around 10:30 or 11? I don't really remember. She had some pretty crazy sleeping patterns (if you could call them "patterns") while there. She slept in on Thursday until 9:30 or 10 and then we headed off to DC via the metro. It was a BUSY day and we saw tons of stuff, but we definitely need to go back. Alice did great in the stroller for most of the day and took a nice nap in the afternoon. We were all pretty beat by the end of the day and finished with dinner at Chipotle. YUM.

Friday we packed up from the hotel and went to breakfast at IHOP before heading over to Arlington National Cemetery. Since I'm a tired pregnant woman, we only saw a fraction of the cemetery before going to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) just outside the cemetery. Again, since I'm a tired pregnant woman, I asked Happy to let me stay (with Lisa & Alice) while he walked back to the car and came to the memorial so I didn't have to walk more. He got lost for about 45 minutes in the car and ended up near the Pentagon before finding his way back to us, waiting in the parking lot of the Iwo Jima Memorial. So exciting :-) We then sat in a bit of rush hour traffic as we left DC and headed to where we stayed in Virginia. Matt (Lisa's boyfriend) graciously housed us for the remainder of our stay in Virginia and was incredibly hospitable. Lisa managed to procure every large baby item we needed (stroller, car seat, high chair, pack n play) which made our lives significantly easier. It was awesome.

We met up with Mom as we drove down to VA and stayed up late (or just stayed on CA time?) playing with Alice until her bed time and then chatting once she was asleep. Really wonderful. Dad & Belen drove down Friday as well, but went straight to their hotel since it was so late. Everyone (Happy, Amy, Alice, Dad, Belen, Mom, Matt, Lisa) spent Saturday walking around downtown Staunton (pronounced Stanton) doing some sightseeing which eventually led us to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. We got a tour of the home where he was born and got a glimpse of what life was like back then. Really crazy. Makes me appreciate running water and electricity and... carpet :-) Saturday night was dinner at El Puerto with a massive group of Godwins and Lenkers (Matt's family). The food was delicious and the company was even better. Mango salsa is, as Happy would say, the bomb diggity.

Sunday morning we went to church at Barren Ridge Church of the Brethren, where Matt grew up going to church and where his grandparents still attend and his cousin's husband is the pastor. We both thoroughly enjoyed the service and were warmly greeted by Matt's grandparents and cousin's family. After church my long lost friend from high school came for a visit (who knew she lived only an hour from my sister???) and we had a low-key, hangout afternoon. Mom made butternut squash soup for dinner that was delicious. In fact, I wouldn't mind some right now...

Mom had to go back home on Monday so we said our goodbyes before heading to Charlottesville (where Lisa lives & works) to tour Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. REALLY cool house and beautiful gardens. Alice did well on our tour of the house as Mommy maintained a steady stream of Cheerios to her mouth. She lost it at the very end of the tour and we slipped out a side door before joining back up with Daddy & Aunt Lisa for our self-guided tour around the gardens & cemetery. After Monticello we were all ready for lunch, but decided to make a very important stop for cider donuts... I mean, to see the Carter Mountain Orchard and the amazing view of the Virginia countryside. Okay, I'll be honest, I've been craving cider donuts (specifically from Mack's Apples, the farm down the street from where I grew up) for basically this entire pregnancy. Unfortunately, cider donuts do not exist in my southern California life so I was MORE than happy to stop and check out these cider donuts. I want one right now...

Alas, donuts do not make for a hearty lunch so we went to a delicious sandwich shop called Baggby's which Lisa recommended. We then found a bookstore that Happy wanted to check out, which was where we ended our small tour of Charlottesville. Lisa showed us her house and then, as we drove back to Matt's, pointed to where she works. Such a nice area! It makes my southern California life feel like the big city. Dinner was at Matt's house--these spectacular lasagna rolls that Lisa made--and then laundry as we prepared to leave Tuesday morning.

Phew. That's the "stuff" version. Lots more could be said, but I'll save that for in person conversations with those interested :-) We're home now and mostly adjusted back to California time. Alice is going on 1 1/2 hours in her nap (the first decent nap since we came home) after a fun morning at the Irvine Pumpkin Patch. Pictures can be found here, but here's a cute one just to entice you to check out the rest!

Alice's First East Coast Visit

Here's the little woman waving in the airport after her first flight. She did SO great. I don't have time (or energy) right now to write a full post, but wanted to point interested readers to pictures from our trip. There are over 200 and mostly of stuff (as opposed to people), but SUPER cool. We had such a wonderful time visiting my sister and other family members and seeing what life is like in Virginia. Alice is mostly back to California time, though hasn't napped so well yet. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Glad to be home, but missing family. Hopefully there will be another visit in the not-too-distant future!

"Nap" Time

12:00PM Alice sits down for lunch
12:40 Alice finishes lunch
12:50 Alice has clean diaper and lays down for nap
1:30 Alice has played/fussed enough for mommy to correctly assume poopy diaper
1:35 Alice lays back down for nap with (another) clean diaper
1:55 Alice still hasn't slept but receives medicine for teething pain
2:15 Alice FINALLY falls asleep
2:55 Alice wakes and begins "unconvincingly awake" fussing
3:45 Alice begins laughing/playing... sounds like sticking her fingers up her nose while saying "nah, nah, nah, nah" (apparently I've heard it enough to be able to identify over the monitor)

So, what's a mom to do? I know she needs sleep, but it's looking like that won't be happening before bed tonight. Perhaps she'll go to bed early? Let's do a comparison of Alice's normal nap time routine:

12:00PM Alice sits down for lunch
12:30 Alice finishes lunch
12:35 Alice has clean diaper and lays down for nap
12:45 Alice is asleep
2:30-3:00 Alice wakes up from nap and plays happily
3:30 Alice is retrieved, cheerful and well-rested

Okay, I guess today I just lose. Perhaps this means she's getting her molars. I'll be sure to update if something happens in the coming days/weeks. It would be REALLY perfect if they decided to cause her the most pain during our flight to DC/Virginia and then is a disaster the entire week we're there. Am I being too sarcastic?

Seeing as today is the official first day of autumn, of course I had to change the theme of the blog. Even though I've had my autumn decorations up in our apartment since August 31, I decided not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the best season of the year so as to see it on the blog the second school starts. Now Alice is back to unhappy fussing. I think she's good and awake now. No chance of a good nap today. Oi. Have a lovely weekend! And happy birthday Scott!

Making a Liar of Mommy

Of course as soon as I post saying that Alice doesn't perform in front of a camera.......

Quiche & Cinnamon Rolls

 I made a broccoli and cheese quiche recently. It was really delicious and I'm glad I took a picture so I could remember how delicious it was. I also made cinnamon rolls which were spectacular, although not the kind that use yeast. They were more of a biscuit than a roll. Unfortunately I have enough frosting left over (in my freezer) to make another batch.

Bummer. I'll just have to suffer through eating MORE cinnamon rolls. Click here to find the recipe for Easy, No Rise Cinnamon Rolls, which I found on a blog. She's got some pretty good recipes and ideas to stretch your meals so you pay less for groceries. Smart lady.

Words

I can't believe it's already September 20. Sorry for the lack of posting these past couple weeks. Apparently being under the weather sucks out of me any desire to blog. I think we're all mostly better now, with a lingering cough or runny nose here and there.

In the last couple days Alice has started to really try to say words. For about the past week she's been making animal noises and before that was particularly interested in the different parts of her face. The cutest and most recent word she's been attempting is "Amen" which sounds more like "ah-nnn." Unfortunately, she's camera shy and I haven't been able to capture ANYthing on video. Most of her performing happens when it's just Mommy & her. Even with Daddy around she gets a little shy at times. I've seriously considered hiding a camera some time and letting it run. Surely I could capture something then...

But did you know that a cow says "buuuuu" and a dog grunts twice and a cat says "mah" and a monkey makes a high pitched "AH" sound? The animal she's closest to the actual sound is a sheep "baaa" and that's stinkin cute. She also does a horse noise that's pretty good and a bear "BAAH!"

Parts of her face & body that she knows: eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, lips, cheeks (some times), chin, ears, hair, hands, knees, and feet. If you ask her "Alice, where is your nose?" She'll usually point to hers and then yours and probably anyone else around who's listening. The same goes with ears and eyes and sometimes a few of the others. When you ask about her mouth she opens it wide and squints her eyes a little. Her tongue is stuck out of her mouth when requested and she runs her fingers over her lips and says "bbbb" when you ask about those.

I know I'm biased, but does every parent think their child is THIS cute???

Oh, and you can find more pictures from the month of September (granted, not that many) on the web album or click here.

Sick

Tuesday morning Alice woke up with a gross runny nose. By the end of the day she had a fever and her nose was a constant slimy mess. Thursday morning Happy woke up with a sore throat and runny nose. By the end of the day on Thursday he had a fever, could barely breathe through his nose and his cough sounded horrible. Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat. By the end of the day on Saturday, I DIDN'T have a fever or runny nose (praise the Lord), but was pretty exhausted. Today Alice & I stayed home from church so we wouldn't pass our germs onto anyone else. She just went down for her nap and I think I'm about to do the same. I think times of sickness really make me appreciate the immune systems the Lord has given us. Not to mention the fact that we have never had chronic pain to struggle through. I am so thankful for the health that the Lord gives us day in and day out, but it reminds me of so many I know that do experience chronic pain. Many of them are such an example to me of joy in suffering. I pray the Lord will guide me in that joy if/when I experience suffering.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3

Updated Picture Album

Check out some updated pictures from the summer!

Confident Parenting

Is there really such a thing? Are there really moments where a parent thinks "Hey, I'm doing a good job at this child-rearing thing"? It has happened, on occasion, that something I was attempting in the parenting realm actually worked. But my response is more one of surprise than of bolstering my confidence as a parent. Is it just a matter of finding the right method? Doesn't every doctor tell you that every child is different? Does that mean you have to change your method with each child? What if one method traumatizes my child? Is it all trial and error in hoping your child doesn't turn out to be a horrible person???

Now insert Christianity. I know that there are principles in the Bible regarding parenting. Not to mention the fact that the character traits that the Lord is developing in the lives of His children are also traits we can seek to instill in our children. But I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the Bible about potty training or weaning or introducing solid food or offering utensils at meals or getting rid of the bottle and using a sippy cup or whether you even DO use a sippy cup...

I've been blessed to watch several Christian couples seek to raise their family in a godly way. Mainly I've been observing from the "child" side of the equation, but in the last couple years my perspective has drastically changed. It's pretty amazing how the Lord works to change the PARENTS of the child as soon as that little one enters the world, but it's also a pretty sobering realization when there are two lines on that little at-home test (I think especially for the mom). More than once I've wondered, "Lord, are you sure I can do this?"

I love my daughter (soon-to-be daughterS) but, man, there are times when I just can't stand her. Thankfully those times are few and far between, and often related to the amount of sleep I've gotten--or haven't gotten. And even more thankfully, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him'" (Lamentations 3:22-24).

After a particularly frustrating occasion with Alice, I found myself pondering all this, but the Lord brought to my mind the fact that He is MUCH bigger than any method that anyone advocates. He already has every day of Alice's life planned out and no amount of my sinfulness will thwart His plans for her. I pray that my parenting is a help, not a hindrance in her life. I pray for patience and perseverance with her in those challenging times. I pray that the examples of her daddy and mommy lead her fall on her knees before the Lord Jesus Christ and admit her sinful condition and need for Him to save her. What a privilege it is to be her mommy and bring these requests before a Heavenly Father who listens and cares and has the love and wisdom and power to accomplish that which we pray for.

Emma... Something

Almost forgot... Here's a lame picture of Emma last week at the ultrasound. I figure it's better than nothing, right? Sorry for the glare from the flash of my camera taking a picture of the printed ultrasound picture. We don't have the skills (or equipment) to scan it like I did with Alice.

Half Way There

Today marks twenty weeks of pregnancy, or five months, which means twenty-ish more weeks and (Lord-willing) little Emma will be here! In celebration, and for those who keep asking for it, here's a picture of me at twenty weeks.

Just because I'm cool, here are twenty differences and similarities between this pregnancy and the first (probably not to be read by the faint of heart... or the faint of stomach):
1. Alice & Emma - both girls.
2. Alice made me throw up three times. Emma only made me dry heave once.
3. With Alice I gained weight fairly steadily from the start. With Emma, I still haven't gained much.
4. With Alice, I was hungry ALL the time once I hit the second trimester mark. With Emma... not so much, but food is finally starting to sound good again... some times.
5. Alice was super active starting at 15 weeks, which is about the earliest the mom can start to "feel" baby move. Emma waited until last week to remind her mommy that she's in there.
6. Once Alice started moving it took her daddy a long time to feel her move. Last night Emma kicked her daddy's hand after only a few seconds.
7. With Alice I wanted to eat fruit, vegetables and bagel bites ALL the time. With Emma I want to eat doughnuts all the time. Alice often got that which she desired. Emma has not been satisfied much at all.
8. With Alice I could NOT handle being near, let alone touching, raw meat of any kind. With Emma it hasn't been much of a problem.
9. With Alice I worked full-time until I went into labor. With Emma I'll work full-time until I go into labor, but won't get paid for it :-)
10. Both Alice & Emma have managed to suck all the iron from my body at an early point in pregnancy, putting me on iron supplements. Really fun.
11. With Alice I didn't exercise much until the end of the second trimester. With Emma, going on walks (before the heat wave) has been a regular occurrence.
12. With Alice I'm sure I had some "nesting" symptoms at some point, but with Emma it's been nearly constant. I'm a cleaning and organizing maniac.
13. With Alice there was a good amount of fear (of the unknown, of going back to work, etc.) that sort of overshadowed the excitement at times. With Emma I've been pretty excited (after the initial shock) to have another little one.
14. I thought Alice was a girl from day one and was right. I thought Emma was a boy from day one and was (apparently) wrong.
15. With Alice we didn't want to find out the gender, but changed our minds. With Emma we did want to find out. Actually, I think my wonderful husband would have agreed with whatever I wanted to do.
16. With Alice her name was kept a secret (with very few exceptions) until she was born. With Emma... well, duh. Obviously we've already shared her name.
17. With Alice we weren't completely sure of the name until a few weeks before she came. With Emma we don't have a middle name yet... Still have time...
18. With both Alice & Emma, the quest to find a girl name was made more purposeful after the gender was confirmed. We already have two boy names. It would be funny/ironic if the Lord gave us all girls!
19. With Alice I didn't have a preference of girl or boy. With Emma, I really wanted a girl, but was excited when we thought she was a boy. Then was MORE excited when we found out our doctor was wrong!
20. Thankfully, with both girls I didn't have any problems getting pregnant. With Emma we found that I can, apparently, get pregnant VERY easily!

Okay, that turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. So, if you read that whole thing, your reward is a really cute picture of Alice. And if you didn't read that whole thing, you can still enjoy this really cute picture of Alice.

Back to School... Part-time!

Andrew/Happy is back in school, hence the new background. He started classes on Wednesday and is taking Educational Ministry in the Church and Hebrew. Two classes, as opposed to his full-time load of at least three. Then again, Hebrew is a three unit class that really should count as four since he's in class four hours each week, and the other class is another three unit class. He's going to have plenty to keep him busy. Please pray for good time management and perseverance! We're looking towards a Spring 2013 graduation date, Lord-willing.

We had our big ultrasound on Monday and everything is looking great. The only real news to report is that Caleb is actually Emma! Turns out our doctor was a little ambitious when I was 12 weeks (that's VERY early) in predicting a boy. Although I did think I was having a boy, I had a weird dream less than a week before the ultrasound that "Caleb" came early and was a girl. Very strange. In my dream I panicked because we didn't have a middle name. We still don't have a middle name, but have a few ideas. We'd like to have some kind of biblical significance in the first or middle (or both) name of each of our children... So if you're dying to pass on a suggestion, that might help guide you. We've had a handful of people suggest Emma Rose. Apparently that sounds good to lots of people.

Another SUPER exciting thing... I went to a free couponing class last night hosted by the OC Register and am really excited to get started. Just need the coupons now... I was pretty hyped up about it last night and my poor (and wonderful) husband had to listen to me go on and on about how much money we can save and the different methods. I'm such a nerd.

Alice is finally ready to be done with her nap, though she's been awake and playing for 40 minutes! Love that girl. Some day I'll get better at posting pictures. First I have to take them. Turns out Alice is just about as photogenic as her Grandpa Gilmore. Anyone who knows him will understand what that means, but if you don't... I'll just say, Alice doesn't quite yet know how to smile at a camera and keep her eyes open! Have a lovely weekend!

Last Days of Summer

In honor of the last days of summer before school starts (on Wednesday) for my hard-working husband, clouds on the blog seemed appropriate for a few days. After that, you'll have to stop by and see what NEW and EXCITING theme we have for the start of the school year.

Tonight we went to Red Lobster for dinner with a coupon and a gift card (REALLY excellent). I got snow crab legs and a shrimp skewer. Crab is delicious. It reminds me of lobster, although is much harder for me to work with. Maybe I'm just more accustomed with how to get the meat out of a lobster, having watched it my whole childhood. I guess I'll just need more practice. Anyone want to take us to Red Lobster?? We're ALWAYS up for it :-D

Tomorrow Andrew/Happy preaches for the second week in a row at church during the morning service while our senior pastor & family are on vacation. Tomorrow's passage is Mark 8:1-21. Last week was really good, even though he preached for nearly an hour. Didn't feel that long at the time :-) If you think of it, I know he'd appreciate prayers. In fact, he's at church right now preparing notes to be inserted into the bulletin and he's been a little longer than I would have expected... Could mean issues.... Hopefully not!

Monday marks 19 weeks pregnant for me and I'm just (sort of) starting to feel mostly good. My appetite seems to be coming back, which is nice. Up to this point food has mainly been something I have to choke down because I need to. Not that it's been coming back up (no actual "morning sickness" with this little guy), but nothing sounds good. Ever. Or, nothing WAS sounding good. But I'm definitely not at the point where I'm hungry all the time, which is fine by me!

Monday is also our official ultrasound where they do lots of measurements and the gender is revealed or, in our case, confirmed. They'll probably confirm the due date (Jan. 16) as well, though up to this point everything seems to be on target for mid-January.... and another moose baby. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. I'm really hoping that by some miracle the next one will be a little less monstrous. Not that I'm expecting it, but I can hope.

Just for good measure, here are some Alice pictures of the spaghetti hat video that's on facebook. If you haven't seen it, you should :-)

The Nursery (Take 2)

As I was going through Caleb's clothing (well, really it's Alice's gender neutral clothing that she's handing down to her brother) again today, it occurred to me that I don't remember this eager anticipation feeling with Alice. Perhaps there was more fear of the unknown with her arrival... maybe with the overshadowing of going back to work after maternity leave... not to mention nursing for the first time... Anyway, I've had some MAJOR nesting "symptoms," if that's what you call it. The latest was the purchase of a glider with matching ottoman from craigslist. I decided it would be good to have since I had been standing and rocking Alice to bed at night. As she is now around 25lbs and my belly is getting more and more prominent (had a stranger ask me today if I was expecting #2), holding her like that is HARD. Sitting and rocking with her is easier.

All that to say, we made the purchase on Saturday and I spent the rest of the day moving around and redecorating Alice's/soon-to-be also Caleb's room. I'm such a dork. I was most proud of myself for not purchasing anything new (aside from the obvious chair & ottoman) in my redecorating. Not to mention, the blanket my mom knit for Alice (which I LOVE) is now out in plain view, along with the beautiful quilt made by a very talented lady in my church (which I also LOVE). I then spent much of Monday sorting all of Alice's baby clothes and reorganizing her closet. The nursery is ready. Now I just need another baby to add to it!

Love Mondays

Yesterday was the first Monday that I haven't been working, Happy's been home, and NOTHING else was happening for the entire day! It was a very excellent day, especially having been followed by two partial days of nothing else happening. While I do enjoy doing things and seeing people, I also REALLY appreciate having nothing scheduled. We ran a few random errands and went for a long afternoon walk. Just a relaxing not-much-happening sort of day with my husband and our little girl. I am so blessed.

Today was also a very good day, though very different from Monday. Started the day with breakfast for Alice & mommy and then Alice blessed mommy with another blueberry poo (She really likes blueberries and we have some that need to be eaten. When you don't have much variety in your diet and you take care of business in a diaper... It's messy). Then Alice had some great playpen time during which mommy was able to take a shower. We spent the morning reading and re-reading the same 6-7 books, folding & putting away laundry, and playing with her obnoxiously loud ball-popping contraption (which, of course, she loves). After lunch, Alice took a good long nap and mommy got some more laundry done and did some tidying of the mess that had been made earlier. Mommy also got to catch up on emails and plan dinner. Once Alice woke up, around 2:45, it was back to reading books until I had to start dinner and get it cooking so we could bring it to daddy before 5. Actually, I was shooting for 4:30 but it was closer to 5. Ah well. We ate dinner in Happy's office, came home, then went for a long walk. Alice lost the battle towards the end and fell asleep for 5-10 minutes before we got home. After walking around the apartment complex for 15 minutes, we came back home, gave Alice a bath & bottle and then put her to bed. She's been asleep for almost an hour and I'm about ready to fall asleep in this chair. Time to wash dishes and then off to bed for this tired pregnant mommy! I love being a stay-at-home mom :-)

Tisha B'Av

At sundown last night, observant Jews began fasting to observe Tisha B'Av, perhaps the most sorrowful day in the Jewish year. It commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish temples by the Babylonians and the Romans, respectively. To read more about it, go here.

The Story of Everything

I appreciated this presentation of the story of the Bible in less than five minutes. Maybe you will too.



HT: Z

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

I'm going through this book with some of the girls in our youth group. It's a great book, but hard to read some times. Here's a quote from the chapter called "The Sovereignty of God."

Our first priority in times of adversity is to honor and glorify God by trusting Him. We tend to make our first priority the gaining of relief from our feelings of heartache or disappointment or frustration... We honor God by choosing to trust Him when we don't understand what He is doing or why He has allowed some adverse circumstance to occur. As we seek God's glory, we may be sure that He has purposed our good and that He will not be frustrated in fulfilling that purpose.

Alice Finds Her Ear

 For lunch today Alice decided when she was finished with her cheese that the last piece fit quite nicely inside her right ear. Of course, we had to get a picture. Needless to say, that piece of cheese went in the trash.

August Already??

This month has FLOWN by! After the camping trip with church and our vacation, we came back to a wedding, a prayer meeting, a graduation party, Vacation Bible school, high school camp for Happy & an almost camping trip for Alice, Grandma Gilmore & me. Crazy month!

Vacation Bible School (VBS) was the week of July 18-22 from 9-11:30AM. I helped with crafts and had SO much fun. This was the first time I've been able to be any part of VBS at our church and I definitely want to help next year! I was amazed at how many kids and workers came out for it and even more amazed at seeing the Lord's hand in it all.

Right now Happy, 2 other counselors and 26 students are headed back from Wildwood (at Hume Lake). I was able to spend part of the week up there and see some of the students... and of course my hubby :-) I had planned on camping but when another youth pastor's wife found out that Happy's pregnant wife was coming up to camp with a one year old and mom-in-law to help she thought I was insane and offered for us to stay in their cabin in the loft area where there were two extra beds and a bathroom (with shower) they weren't using. Such a blessing! Needless to say, we were glad to change our plans and have easy access to a shower! Plus, Alice made two new friends with the 3 1/2 yr old son and 17 month old daughter of the other youth pastor's wife. I was encouraged to talk to another young wife of a youth pastor & mom of two and hear how ministry happens at another church. I had my plans for the week but God had better ones!

So, it's true, if you haven't heard yet. We are expecting baby #2 in mid-January. Not entirely sure if the due date (Jan. 16) is accurate, but we're going with it. We already found out (very early) that it's a boy, so we're all looking forward to meeting little Caleb Michael in the next 6 months or so. Well, at least Happy & I are looking forward to meeting him. I'm sure Alice will warm up to her little brother eventually. I am hoping I don't get as HUGE as I did with Alice, but am assuming that another moose baby is headed our way. Around 8-9 months of pregnancy I just look like I've got a beach ball under my shirt... not a basketball, a beach ball. They're bigger... MUCH bigger. People ask me if I'm having twins, if I'm about to burst, can I still shave my legs... all sorts of exciting questions. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. Maybe Caleb will be nice to his mommy and stay under 9 lbs as well.......... Is it wrong to pray that he stays under 9 lbs?

Okay, last thing before getting Alice up from her nap. My wonderful husband will be 27 years old on Tuesday. Even though he points out almost every year that I am older than him, I still love him and am looking forward to celebrating with him!! Don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!

What I Listen To, part 2

My friend Eric Durso asked in a comment on the first post in this series how and when I listen to these podcasts. Before I move on to the next post in this series, I decided to answer those important questions so you could understand the context in which I listen to the podcasts I listen to and endorse.

My wife and some friends and family got me an iPod Classic for my birthday in 2007. Since then, I've consistently listened to thousands of sermons, most of them via podcasts. I had a cable installed in our Toyota Corolla that connects with our stereo, which is mp3 enabled. This way, I've been able to plug in my iPod and listen to podcasts while in the car. Almost all the time that I'm in the car by myself, I'm listening to a podcast. Depending on the semester, I spend a considerable amount of time driving to and from Biola University, which gives me about twenty minutes one way to listen to podcasts.

The other times in my life that I get a good chunk of listening time in is when I'm doing certain tasks around the apartment like washing the dishes or doing laundry. If I'm washing the dishes, I have the iPod in the docking station. When I'm doing the laundry, I normally have headphones on. I also sometimes listen to podcasts in my office at church. If I'm disciplined and am working out, that is another good time to listen to podcasts.

A caution needs to be noted here. There have been times where I have listened to podcasts too much and have ignored or drowned out Amy and/or Alice. This is not a good thing. I have to remind myself when it is appropriate and helpful to listen to podcasts and when it is inappropriate and unhelpful to be listening to podcasts. It is rare that listening to podcasts at home when the family together is a helpful thing.

Stay-at-Home-Mom Life

Happy Independence Day!!!

Andrew is back and we're in full-blown fireworks stand mode. Actually, that has just meant a few more phone calls than normal and making trips from the stand back to church with money so we don't have too much at the stand at one time. It's wonderful having him back home, though he seems to have some residual effects of Guatemala still bothering him. Fun fun fun.

This morning Alice & I went for a walk around the "lake" at the park down the street. It was HOT, but Alice was smothered with sunscreen and wearing her sunhat (which she is getting better at leaving ON her head) in her nice shaded stroller. If you haven't seen it already, Alice likes to wave at just about everyone who walks by. When we go to the grocery store, the doctor's office, Costco, to get the mail, she waves and smiles at anyone she sees whether they're looking or not. Today in the park there were a number of people running/walking around the lake. Some received a smile and cheerful wave while others elicited the coveted giggle. Only a select few were privileged to witness her overjoyed exclamations combined with all-over-body-wiggles and leg kicks. Those are my personal favorites.

As we made our way back home and I anticipated a dip in the pool I couldn't help but marvel at the blessing it is to be home with my daughter. I feel like I'm finally getting to know her better and seeing her personality blossom. Then again, it could just be the age she's in where things are easier to see now. Either way, I'M LOVING IT!!! Though I will say that the dip in the pool was less than pleasant with a squirmy almost 14 month old wanting to get in and out of the pool and run around and "jump" in and sit in her floating boat thing and get out of the boat thing and... well, you get the idea.

This week we're preparing for the college/F.I.T.(career) camping trip from Friday to Monday and then we'll take the rest of the week as a family vacation at Bass Lake at a friend's cabin. SO wonderful! My goals this week are to make an extensive packing list, have the first meeting of the girls' bible study (SO exciting!), get all the laundry done, and clean everything before we head out at a ridiculous hour on Friday morning. Hoping that Alice will transfer and fall back asleep in her car seat :-)

Almost time for Alice to wake up! The picture is from my sister's visit when we went to Disneyland (THANK YOU JACQUELYN!!!). Alice loved the merry-go-round. Have a lovely 4th of July!

TOMORROW!!!

Andrew/Happy gets back from Guatemala in less than 16 hours. My sister left California less than 8 hours ago, saving me from a VERY long week, and has arrived safely home in Virginia. I'm so thankful for my sister!

The Guatemala team leaves for the airport tomorrow morning at 5:30AM, which is 4:30AM here, and will (Lord-willing) arrive around 12:30PM in California. I will be joining the caravan of vehicles heading to the airport to bring them back to church.

I hope I can sleep tonight!!! :-D

Pictures!

This is me and my beautiful wife at some friends' recent wedding. Click here and here and here and here to see many more, including a lot of pictures of the little person you really want to see!

Summer Edition

There's been a lot of changes for our little family these past few weeks. First, as Andrew already mentioned, he's now the Associate Pastor at Village Bible Church. We couldn't be more thrilled! We're both praising the Lord at His timing and provision.

Second, my last day of work is Tuesday as Andrew & I have decided the time is right for me to be home with Alice more. It's hard to raise your child to know the Lord when she hardly sees you each week. So we're thankful for the change, but if anyone knows of something I can do to make some money from home, I'm all ears! Right now there aren't a lot of options for a mom with a 1 year old, but we trust that God has a plan for this too.

Third, I decided the blog needed a summer look. Okay I guess that change isn't such a big deal. I'm also hoping to be able to blog more frequently now since I'll be home, although I make no promises :-)

Alice is now rounding out the second hour of her nap, which means I probably won't have this lovely silence much longer. Off to laundry and other exciting stay-at-home mom things! YAY! (And I really actually meant that. I'm quite excited about doing stay-at-home mom things at 3PM!)

Two Quotes

Benjamin Franklin on good sportsmanship in chess from H.W. Brands' The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin:

"You must not, when you have gained a victory, use any triumphing or insulting expression, nor show too much pleasure; but endeavor to console your adversary, and make him less dissatisfied with himself by every kind and civil expression. . . . You may indeed happen to lose the game to your opponent, but you will win what is better: his esteem, his respect, and his affection, together with the silent approbation and good will of impartial spectators."

Michael Lawrence on sin in his Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry:

"As long as we think of sin as simple rule-breaking, we will never understand the enormity of sin, the incredible offense that it gives God, and the justness of his response. Fundamentally, sin is not a matter of our behavior, though it eventually shows up in our actions. Fundamentally, sin is a matter of our hearts, for as fallen creatures our ruling desire is to remove God from his throne and to sit there instead."

The Next Episode

Today marks the first time I've worked full-time since early June 2008. That's right, my church voted to increase my hours to full-time and my job title is now Associate Pastor. I have increased responsibilities that include preaching a little more often (8 or 9 times a year), developing and administrating our church's new website, starting some new ministries and lots of other possibilities. I'm very excited.

This is Amy's last week of working full-time at Pan-Pacific. Next week she'll be working some kind of part-time schedule.

We had a great time hosting a one year birthday party for Alice and enjoyed time spent with friends and family, some that we had not seen in a long while.

That's the update for today. Hopefully a lot more blogging will take place this summer!

Almost There

The title refers to the end of the school year and several other major transitions on the horizon. But mainly, I just can't believe we're only two days away from Alice Mary Gilmore turning one! We're celebrating her birthday on Saturday with friends and family and it's just crazy to think back to what life was like two years ago and then just last year at this time. Wow!

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
- Psalm 127:3-5

And I know I haven't continued the "series" that I started last month. I promise it will get moving this summer, if not before then.

Hole in the Head

I'll continue to the What I Listen To series next week, but I couldn't pass up posting this video. Wow.

What I Listen To, part 1

I have wanted to do this series for a long time, but just haven't started (is that the theme of this blog?). So today I was listening to a podcast and the content spurred me to just get something started, hoping that momentum would be started!

The series will focus on all the podcasts that I listen to on my iPod. Today I'll start alphabetically.

The Briefing

The Briefing is hosted by Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I used to listen to the Albert Mohler Program until it ended last year. The Briefing is "a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview." The podcast is updated every weekday morning and covers relevant news from the day or days before. It usually lasts 12-15 minutes and camps out on several topics. Recently, those topics have been Libya, the Middle East, and the US economy. Although Dr. Mohler usually talks about some of the main headlines that would appear in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and other major newspapers, he often finds smaller topics that are not covered well or thoroughly by the press. As you would assume, he also covers news about churches, denominations, missions and legal proceedings regarding religious liberty.

I find the podcast to be helpful, giving me a good summary of some major domestic and world events as I start my day. Dr. Mohler does more than just report; he analyzes and digs deeper than facts and opinions to the worldview behind the news. He is a keen observer of culture and does a balanced job at trying to see things from other points of view.

Today's podcast was especially helpful in dealing with the Florida Koran burning and the continuing repercussions in Afghanistan. Take 15 minutes and listen to it.

Hopefully this series of posts will help you find some good content for your iPod. If it does, let me know and spread the word. Share some of your favorite podcasts in the comment section below.

Next time, I'll share about Dr. Mohler's other podcast, Thinking in Public.

New Pictures

Check out Web Album 2 on the sidebar to see updated pictures from Amy's dad's and wife Belen's California visit!

The Five Best Toys of All Time!

This list is fantastic. I couldn't have said it better myself!

HT: JT

The Move and More Pictures

New pictures of Alice are available in Web Album 2 on the sidebar or by clicking here.

Okay, so that was the big news. In other news, we're totally moved in to our new two-bedroom apartment. We moved a couple hundred yards across the complex we've lived in since March 2009. We are really enjoying the blessing of more space and of Alice not sleeping in our room! She's sleeping so well, too. In fact, this morning, Amy had to wake Alice up to feed her. That almost never happens!

When we signed the lease, we were astonished to find that instead of having a rent of $1,495/month, we were given $100 coupons for the next 11 months of our lease, effectively lowering our rent to $1,395/month! Praise the Lord!

I've started school again and am taking World of the Old Testament with Dr. Ken Way, Evangelism and Follow Up with Dr. Tom Steffen, and Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, which is offered through Trinity International University and will transfer.

Amy and I are planning two vacations coming up in 2011 and looking forward to Christmas in New England. I'm also leading a mission trip to Guatemala June 23-30.

This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

Five Years Ago

Five years ago today I asked my favorite girl a simple question. She gave a simple answer. I'm so glad the answer was "yes!" Our lives are much more complicated, busy and draining, but I'm thankful to be living life alongside Amy Frances Gilmore.

For the full story, go here.

What's Going On In Egypt?

David Dolan is an American Christian journalist who has lived in Israel for more than 30 years. He has a very unique perspective on the happenings in the Middle East. I would encourage people to subscribe to his monthly Israel Updates. Here's a little taste of the article:

So the fact that Hosni Mubarak’s police and security forces are rife with corruption has been evident to me for many years. Does this mean I have been advocating the ouster of his autocratic regime? Not at all. This is because I’ve also long understood that the Arab people in general, especially the vast majority who are practicing Muslims, tend to be very proud folks, with the Muslims believing that they are the Almighty’s uniquely chosen sons and daughters, not Christians or Jews. This deeply-held belief contributes to the fact that the Arab masses have often proved to be very unruly, as some of my Arab friends freely admit.

God is Love, Right?

I enjoyed reading through D. A. Carson's little book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Originally a lecture series at Dallas Theological Seminary 13 years ago, the book has been tightly focused and provocative in thinking about the love of God in the Bible. Carson did a great job in translating his mostly serious, sometimes witty style of speaking into the text of the book.

I especially appreciated Carson’s refusal to capitulate to easy, casual explanations of God’s love. It is right that Carson ends the book by encouraging the reader to engage the abstract thought world of God’s love, but not without connecting it to the living, breathing world around us where so many are unloved.

I found the following quotes very helpful:

"Strange to tell, not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend. Abraham is God's friend; the reverse is never stated." p. 41

". . . the love of God in our culture has been purged of anything the culture finds uncomfortable. The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized." p. 11

“God in his perfections must be wrathful against his rebel image-bearers, for they have offended him; God in his perfections must be loving toward his rebel image-bearers, for he is that kind of God.” p. 69

1 & 2 Timothy

I have the privilege of teaching through 1 and 2 Timothy for the next several months on Tuesday nights at our church's youth service called Reality Check. As I continue to learn and develop as a teacher/preacher, I refine my style and habit of study. Of course, my study habits and times are also governed by my school schedule. I still have almost four weeks until school starts, though, so my schedule is much more flexible and open. I am hoping to utilize my knowledge of Greek in a more extensive way than I've been able to previously in teaching. To aid in my teaching, here are the resources I'm using:

Entrusted With the Gospel, edited by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Terry L. Wilder.
The Pastoral Epistles, by Donald Guthrie.
1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, by Gordon D. Fee.
Pastoral Epistles, by William D. Mounce.
1-2 Timothy & Titus, by Philip H. Towner.

I've yet to come up with a title for the series, but I love the intimacy of the letters from Paul to his "true child," Timothy. I also was attracted to the amount of topics that Paul touches on in the 10 chapters of 1 and 2 Timothy: stewardship, the gospel, money, widows in the church, biblical inspiration, church structure, elders, deacons, dealing with false teachers, just to name a few!

I look forward to laboring through these books over the next few months.