our sweet pea eating her sweet peas at 6 mos

Merry Christmas!

baking christmas cookies on pajama day

enjoying the finished product

decorating for Christmas

stelly's own little tree for her room

"helping" daddy with the tree

My favorite carol verse is following...praying this for our family this Christmas and as we start the new year. The good news is reason to sing! What hope we have!

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise the woman's conqu'ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent's head.

Adam's likeness now efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place;
Second Adam from above
Reinstate us in Thy love.

Hark! the herald Angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

ruby red delicious (a.k.a. rubalicious)

our hybrid at 5 mos.

ALONE

This word sparked reform in 1517 as it still does today in the hearts of those who embrace the exclusivity of Christ - "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by ME." John 14:6

This year on my annual Reformation Day (which is actually tomorrow) tribute to Martin Luther, I want to post a hymn he wrote. Luther was a talented musician and was the forerunner of advocating that common worshippers use music in public worship. We all are familiar with his rousing hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," but Luther has many other rich hymn texts. Below is one based on Psalm 130:

"From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee"

1. From depths of woe I cry to Thee,
Lord, hear me, I implore Thee.
Bend down Thy gracious ear to me,
My prayer let come before Thee.
If Thou rememberest each misdeed,
If each should have its rightful meed,
Who may abide Thy presence?

2. Thy love and grace alone avail
To blot out my transgression;
The best and holiest deeds must fail
To break sin's dread oppression.
Before Thee none can boasting stand,
But all must fear Thy strict demand
And live alone by mercy.

3. Therefore my hope is in the Lord
And not in mine own merit;
It rests upon His faithful Word
To them of contrite spirit
That He is merciful and just;
This is my comfort and my trust.
His help I wait with patience.

4. And though it tarry till the night
And till the morning waken,
My heart shall never doubt His might
Nor count itself forsaken.
Do thus, O ye of Israel's seed,
Ye of the Spirit born indeed;
Wait for your God's appearing.

5. Though great our sins and sore our woes,
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our utmost need it soundeth.
Our shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free
From all their sin and sorrow.

Title: 329 from The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 130
Author: Martin Luther
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Titled: Aus tiefer Not schrei' ich zu dir
Tune: Aus tiefer Not
1st Published in: Johann Walther's "Gesangbuechlein"
Town: Wittenberg, 1524

And because part of what I love about Luther is his fieriness, I have to include this quote of his about music:
"When man's natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress and embrace. A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs." – Martin Luther
LOL! Said as only he could say!

monkey business

hot off the press for the grandparents...here are some pictures from tonight's annual jd halloween party!

she always has been a little monkey. now we have a costume to prove it! :)

the first banana i've ever liked!

what a pair

i didn't mean literally to eat the banana!

tired out from all the partying

waking up - love the paci ring around her lips.

4 months

little ruby continues to favor her daddy. she looks exactly like matt here in a picture my in-laws have of him around 4 months.

love never ends

i fell in love with you and the love became something new

it keeps getting stronger than we ever could have longed

love keeps growing more love

our vows they started breathing and they took on flesh and blood and we held them in our arms and tasted that God was good

happy birthday, my love!

3 months!

God will take care of you

That's what Stelly tells Ruby when she's crying. "It's OK, Ruby. God will take care of you!"

Here's a pic of a well-cared for little Rube. Love those blue eyes!

Rubes is 2 months old

Our little 10 pounder turned 2 months old yesterday. Found out at her Dr. appt today that she is following Stelly's footsteps of 25th percentile on weight and 75th percentile on height. She has some chubby thighs on her though which I can't get enough of.

sisters

stelly loves when i sing the "sisters" song from white christmas (what little i know of it). she is so glad to be a big sister and will tell you, "i'm a big sister now!" as if it's the most important news of the day. thankfully, i think, we're winding down the adjustment phase and getting settled into a routine. we are so blessed and our hearts are still overflowing with joy to the Lord at His kindness to us. we sing for joy at the works of His hands (psm 92.4)!

here are some pictures of our blessings - two very different looking girls! one with light brown hair and dark brown eyes and one with strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes. i wonder if they will have drastically different personalities too? time will tell!

i had to include these cute pics of matt and ruby.

this was the first time she smiled in response to us! i love how uncoordinated their little smiles are. so precious!

Stelly's 3!

Stelly had a really special birthday weekend! At her annual check-up this week the nurse took Stelly's blood pressure, weighed her, and then she sat on the table waiting for the Dr. She looked at the nurse and said, "Do I have a baby in my belly?" The nurse cracked up knowing I had just had a baby. I told her Stelly had gone w/ me to several of my appts and had seen me do all those same things so she thought she must have the same "condition" I had! :) It was quite funny. One of those Stellisms that must go in her baby book. Here's a picture of our happy sweetie celebrating her 3rd bday! We thank the Lord for our Stella Grace!

Rubes at 1 month

her name

RUBY
"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." Prov 31:10
As precious as our little Ruby is, by God's grace, we hope that one day she will be worth even more than gems of great price b/c she will have an inner character that is priceless in God's sight (I Peter 3:4).

JEAN
Jean is one of those names that is on both sides of our family. Matt's grandma, who went home to be with the Lord in March of 2007, was named Eugenia, but people called her Gene. You can read Matt's tribute to her here.

Matt's mom's middle name is Jean. Before I married Matt, I went to the church where his dad pastors. I remember one time Matt's dad praising his wife saying that as II Cor 6:3 describes, she lives her life and conducts her ministry "giving no offense in anything so that the ministry will not be blamed." That is the testimony I've observed in her through the past almost 10 years I've known her.

And my grandma's middle name was Jean. I have mentioned my grandma a few times on this blog, but wanted to elaborate a little on why she was so special to me. My mom was a single parent who worked hard to take care of me and did a good job at it. My grandparents were a big help to her in letting me stay with them while she worked. I loved going to their house. My grandma was saved later in life and it was her greatest regret that she did not know the Lord sooner and have opportunity to raise her children in a christian home. She saw the opportunity she had with me and wanted to make the most of living the gospel before me. As a little girl I would wake up early and go out to the family room looking for my grandma. I would almost always find her kneeling in front of grandpa's lazy-boy chair earnestly in prayer, often with a tear stained face. Her days always started this way. She took full advantage of the time she had with me and poured every ounce of spiritual knowledge she could into my young life. When I was 5 and began questioning her about what it meant to be one of God's children, she is the one that led me to the Lord. She taught me many scripture verses, Bible stories, and how to flesh-out the christian life in practical ways. I remember she would pray as she put her make-up on in the mornings that she would do so in a way that wouldn't unnecessarily draw attention outward but would accent her inner character. She prized modesty and was always careful about the way she dressed. But most importantly, my grandma loved God and wanted other people to know what an amazing God He was! She would take me with her and we would go visiting people in their neighborhood that she had built relationships with for the gospel's sake. God used her to effect my life in profound ways for the 9 years she discipled me. On December 13, 1985, we had a horrible winter storm. The roads were icy and I knew grandma would have a rough time getting home from the christian school where she taught. I called my grandpa to see if she had made it home OK, and that's when we got the news that she and my little cousin had been killed in a car accident on their way home. At a younger age than any of us expected, she was with the Lord she loved.

When we thought of the precious gift from God that Ruby is to us, we wanted her to have a name that was special too. So our Ruby Jean has a name rich in the spiritual heritage on both sides of our family.

Praise the Lord Ruby Jean is here!

"You have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."

James 5:11

Ruby Jean

June 24, 2008

8:32 PM

6 lbs, 9 oz, 18 in long

Click on this link to see the pics.

"new zaster"

these past weeks with my little stelly have been especially precious to me. i'm trying to cherish each moment i have left with it just being the two of us here each day. following are some pictures of a few of our favorite things to do in our daily schedule.

putting together puzzles

learning her states

going over her letters and playing with play doh

cooking together - she loves to go get her little stool so she can see what i'm doing and be a helper. she can zest a lemon like no one's business! :)
playing games

the title of this blog entry is what she calls a song i have sung to her nearly every day since her birth. when she was born, i decided i wanted to have a special song i would sing to each of my children during our devotional time that would encourage them in their walk with God and really be my prayer for them. the one i chose for stella is an old hymn text by john bunyan called "He Who Would Valiant Be." i obviously changed the gender for stelly. although the words are old, i love the truth of the text. of all the things we wish for our stelly, the utmost prayer of our heart is that God would save her and that she would persevere in her faith for Him, come what may.



She who would valiant be 'gainst all disaster [what she calls "new zaster"],
Let her in constancy follow the Master.
There's no discouragement shall make her soul relent,
Her first avowed intent to be a pilgrim!


Whoso beset her round with dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound her strength the more is.
No foe shall stay her might though she with giants fight,
She will make first her right to be a pilgrim.


Since, Lord you do defend us with Your spirit,
We know we at the end shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away.
I'll fear not what mean say,
I'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.

happy father's day to my husband of 6 years!

John Bunyan on the Duties of Fathers and Parents (1628-1688):
"As touching the spiritual state of his family; he ought to be very diligent and circumspect, doing his utmost endeavour both to increase faith where it is begun, and to begin it where it is not. Wherefore, to this end, he ought diligently and frequently to lay before his household such things of God, out of his word, as are suitable for each particular."

Thank you for loving like Christ, Hon. I'm so thankful for your influence in our home for the gospel's sake. We love you!

Making Room for Ruby

We found out last week at my appt with my specialist that as a precautionary measure he is recommending a little earlier delivery at 39 weeks. He used to recommend delivery at 36 weeks for people w/ my condition, but has found that's not quite necessary anymore if the NSTs are going well (which praise the Lord they have been!). However, he doesn't want me to be on the new medication I started last week for any longer than necessary and also doesn't want to risk stressing the baby. So, Lord willing, we're looking at a July 1st induction. The Lord is good and sovereign in all of this. He has humbled me and shown me that I am not above the sin of worry (which in my pride I used to think I was) since I've struggled w/ anxiousness so much over these past months and still do as delivery approaches. I am so human and it shows when I realize that (ironically and inanely enough) I desperately need grace to trust our trustworthy God! So I pray, "Lord, I believe. Please help my unbelief!"


Having Ruby is what's important and I know that she really has everything she needs, but it is sweet that I have a husband who allows me to have fun making/decorating a home for our family. In the past few days we have begun preparing for little Ruby by getting Stelly's new room primed and ready to paint (the plan is that Ruby will move into Stelly's ladybug room). Then Matt is going to refinish the hardwood floors in the room since that's the only room he hasn't refinished yet.

Matt is quite a skilled painter. It's an Owen thing, I guess. Dad O. started his own painting business to put himself through seminary and then for many years worked bi-vocationally painting so he could pastor. Consequently, he taught Matt to be a great painter. I really love watching him paint. I know this kind of painting is not an art, but I love how steady his hand is with a brush and that he doesn't need to tape anything off and doesn't get the paint anywhere but where it's supposed to go!

Unfortunately, Stelly must have more of the Neuhart gene when it comes to painting. My great-grandpa used to tell the story that when I was little and helping him paint I told him I better quit because I thought I was allergic to paint. Nice excuse! Anyway, it was so cute hearing Matt talk Stella through how to dip the brush and catch the paint on the wall before it runs, etc. She loved "helping" Daddy!

surprise!

last summer and fall stelly wanted nothing to do with the big slides at the park. she was terrified of them to say the least. kids her age were flying down them on their stomachs and backs and however else they could think to go down but she couldn't stay far enough away. so imagine my astonishment when we walk to the park a few weeks ago and she proceeds, with no prodding from me, to march up the steps and go down the biggest of all the big slides there. i couldn't believe it. what in the world?!

here she is on one of her trips down the big slides

every parent has one of these crazy hair bathtub pictures in their archives

so we had to add one to ours. now we need to get one w/ a bubble beard!
stelly rolled lakeisha into the hall one morning with both of them sporting their sunglasses
then she wanted to wear the "elton" glasses and hold keisha's bottle filled with necklaces

Women Who Hope in God

The following is a quote to honor the women in my life whose example has challenged me to hope in God: 1) my mom who is the epitome of what John Piper calls "velvet steel" - she is both strong and sweet at once 2) my mother-in-love (to borrow Elisabeth Elliot's reference to her own mother-in-law) who was my mentor in ministry before she became the dear woman whom I respect for raising such a wonderful, godly man (my husband!) 3) my grandma who is with the Lord, Carol Jean Neuhart, who was the most godly woman I have ever known. I thank God for all of you and the influence you've had and continue to have on my life! I love you! Happy Mother's Day!

I Peter 3:5 “This is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands.”

The Deepest Root of Womanhood: Hope in God

The deepest root of Christian womanhood mentioned in this text is hope in God. “Holy women who hoped in God.” A Christian woman does not put her hope in her husband, or in getting a husband. She does not put her hope in her looks. She puts her hope in the promises of God. She is described in Proverbs 31:25: “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” She laughs at everything the future will bring and might bring, because

she hopes in God.
She looks away from the troubles and miseries and obstacles of life that seem to make the future bleak, and she focuses her attention on the sovereign power and love of God who rules in heaven and does on earth whatever he pleases. She knows her Bible, and she knows her theology of the sovereignty of God, and she knows his promise that he will be with her and help her and strengthen her no matter what. This is the deep, unshakable root of Christian womanhood. And Peter makes it explicit in verse 5. He is not talking about just any women. He is talking about women with unshakable biblical roots in the sovereign goodness of God—holy women who hope in God. -John Piper, from The Beautiful Faith of Fearless Submission

Update

We are overwhelmed by how many of you pray for us and this pregnancy and wanted to give you an update. First, I just want to praise the Lord for the smooth pregnancy this has been. I have felt great (even better than I did with Stella) and we have had relatively few bumps in the road. The battle has been more in my mind of obeying Him with my thoughts and trusting His sovereign hand to do what He deems best. He has been so faithful to give me grace upon grace in this daily struggle.

Today I had an appointment and things continue to look good. We are on the homestretch now, Lord willing, with only 9 1/2 weeks left. Starting the week of May 12 (my 32nd week) to my 40th week, I will be having 2 non-stress tests a week, every Monday and Thursday. This is just another precautionary measure to monitor any contractions and to see if the baby is under any stress. My Dr. and my specialist had a nice long talk and they have a delivery plan for me, so as far as my Dr. is concerned things are all set on her end.

Thank you again for helping bear our burdens, and as Matt says, being the church to us. So many of you who grieved with us have been so encouraging to rejoice with us as God works each step of the way. It is almost surreal to think that the Lord is bringing us to the end of these long months of waiting. We certainly aren't there yet though and still want to be careful not to run before Him. Our hope continues to be in Him and our expectation from Him!

I realize all ultrasound pictures tend to look the same and I'm sure these are no exception. However, we had to laugh at Ruby's smile at the end of her photo session.

No smile...

Say cheese!