catch-up

here are some pictures from a fun and busy november:

our first time at the joe seeing the red wings. we won, of course! :)
ammy reading to stelly at thanksgiving
stelly and appy
me and my girl
after a nice thanksgiving day

stelly with mimi and gampy when they came to visit us bearing gifts from the east

stelly in her chinese dress

stelly snuggling with baby asher during our visit to see aunt charissey and uncle jared

it's so nice seeing men with their children. matt and jared were so sweet and let charisse and i do some shopping at a huge outlet mall while they handled the kids in the food court for a few hours. not an easy task for anyone!

stelly helping daddy put up our christmas tree

annual jd halloween party

it was matt's idea for stelly to dress up like minnie mouse this year. since we brought her a minnie shirt home from florida back in july she has been very excited to spot mickey and minnie anywhere and everywhere. if there's a picture of one of them anywhere in a mile radius she will point it out - even if it's on our neighbor's key ring 3 houses down!

her loot
looking very excited about the ring pop (although she has no idea what one is)
some pumpkin pants from ammy for the occasion

October Tributes

I love October. It's one of my favorite months. My grandma's birthday is October 16. She would've celebrated her 71st birthday this year had God not taken her home to be with Him in December of 1985. Although her death from an earthly perspective was tragic, from Scripture we are convinced it was gain (phil 1:21). Her life on earth was Christ and her life in heaven with Him is far better (phil 1:23). So during this month, I can't help but remember her godly testimony and amazing influence on my life for eternity's sake.

Also, Matt's birthday is this month. I can't write about him because it's just too hard to do - honestly, I'm not eloquent enough to even touch on the kind of man he is. In scriptural categories, he meets (exceeds) the qualifications of what a godly man and Christian are supposed to be (and the true test of this is what he is in our home). And so it would only follow that in human categories - the deep heart needs that every woman hopes (but doesn't really expect) to have met - he has done what my bruised and skeptical heart never thought possible. So as October 23 approaches, I am humbled at God's giving him to me and want to remind him how thankful I am for him.

Last, Reformation Day is October 31. I've blogged about this before, but can't let it go by in 2007 w/o remembering Martin Luther. What follows is a tribute to both him and Matt. Now that I think of it, I like the fieriness of both their personalities!

Luther on Diapers

Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? 0 you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful. carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.”
What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “0 God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers. or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.”
Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.
Martin Luther, “The Estate of Marriage”(HT: Cranach)

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We love you!

enjoying the last little bit of summer

stella absolutely loves josey. if we've having people over i'll say, "stelly! guess who's coming to our house?" her go-to answer is always, "josey!" if i ask her what we did that day, once again her answer is almost always, "josey!" last week, we did get to have josey over to play and stelly was loving life! here they are enjoying their fruit snacks and sippy cups.

it has been nice having some extra time to play outside and go for walks with the extended summer weather. stelly loves to play on her "playground" as she calls it. thanks to some very generous friends for this fun gift!

although it looks like we were feeding the ducks in the middle of the night it was actually still light out, but we had to use the flash anyway. there's a nice little pond and lots of ducks along the new walking track that circles fairlane green and all the new shops. some friends told us to take stelly there and let her feed the ducks. she loved it!

household drudgery? i hope not!

each month with stelly is such a joy. it's wonderful to enjoy life from her perspective. things we might take for granted have a whole new significance when seen from her little 2 year old eyes. these past few months have been humbling reminders too of how much we need God's help to train her in the way she should go. i don't think it's a stretch to compare it to what paul mentions in II cor 11:28, that daily he faced the pressure of his concern for all the churches. i must admit i don't have a lot of "stress" the way it's commonly viewed, but the responsibility of parenting is a weighty one, and it's good to feel that weight. in the "mundaneness" of my life as a wife and mother, it's so important i never miss the perspective of one of the main reasons why i do what i do. i love this quote in a book by one of my spiritual heroes, missionary elisabeth elliot:

"The story is told of three women washing clothes. A passerby asked each what she was doing.

"Washing clothes," was the first answer. "A bit of household drudgery," was the second. "I'm mothering 3 young children who some day will fill important and useful spheres in life, and wash-day is a part of my grand task in caring for these souls who shall live forever," was the third."

now, the third lady's perspective is the one i want!

here are some misc. shots from some sept. activities:

ever so hesitantly petting the bunny our little piggy

mirroring the way daddy was standing
sun hats are so important on those blustery fall days
before heading to the library for reading time
taking after her mimi in the kitchen
she loves to watch me make dinner and says, "i see?" when she wants to stand on the stool to get a closer look

eastern market

ok. i know some of you have already gone to the eastern market, but if you haven't, you have GOT to go. it was one of the most fun things we've done in awhile. it was a gorgeous day which made the city radiate and the fact that i'm a foodie probably predisposes me to enjoy all things food-related, but if you take those factors out, i think anyone would enjoy the market. there are several football fields worth of fresh, beautiful produce, spices from around the world, bright assortments of mums and fresh-cut flowers, fish, beef...you name it, it's there. it's similar to pike's place market in seattle but bigger and with our own unique detroit edge.
there are a few fun places to eat too. we had a delicious lunch at russell street deli. next to it there is zeff's coney island (featured in RR everyday mag a few mos back). a few doors down is johnny mac's cookie factory.
the public market is open year around on sat from 6am-4pm. i've heard that the earlier you go the better selection, but the later you go, the better the prices.
here are a few pics from our fun morning...

who does stelly look more like?

fun visits

we had a great time w/ our families who visited us at different times throughout last week and this week! thank you for the blessing you are to us! we love and miss you!

gampa and mimi by our newly landscaped front yard. it looks great! we couldn't have done it without you!!

appy and ammy at a fun park in flat rock. we still had a great time even if the sprinkler was already shut-down for the season!

time flies

that was then...

dec 18, 2005

this is now...

august 25, 2007

stelly loved getting to play with you maddy, syd, and colby! thanks for visiting!

hugs and kisses from us all

big girl bed

this month has been a month of "bigs" for little stelly. big girl potty, big girl panties, big girl bed... and it has made mommy quite sad. i cried like she was leaving for college when we took her crib down.

we decided to opt out on the toddler bed thing and just move her into a twin bed. these are the before lights out pics. as you can see, she's very excited to be in her big girl bed!

and after lights out when we checked on her a few hours later this is how we found her sound asleep...

ain't no party like a detroit party

recently i read an article that told us michiganders to come on and just admit that we like saying we're from metro-detroit b/c it gets a rise from people. the article made me laugh b/c i think how many times after saying where we live, we've gotten the response (and you can imagine the facial expression that goes w/ it), "oh. is it really as bad as we hear it is?"

i must admit when we first moved here i thought i had traveled back in time to an era where bruce springsteen's music was the rage, chunky oak furniture was the decor of choice, and mesh shirts were en vogue. the past five years have made me grow to appreciate this area though and the occasions are less frequent when i double-check the calendar to make sure the year really is 2007 and not 1987.

so, we are kind of proud to say where we live and yes, we must admit, it is fun seeing how people respond. here are a few things we have enjoyed in and about the city and that we submit to nay-sayers as we try to convince them that no, detroit really isn't as bad as they've heard it is...

(why do i start w/ food first?!)

1. andiamo riverfront

2. coach insignia

3. atlas global bistro

4. small plates

5. hockeytown

6. greektown

7. mexicantown (lupitas, el comal, xochimilco...)

8. vicentes cuban food

9. the newly constructed riverwalk

10. campus martius park

11. superbowl XL

12. tastefest

13. belle isle

14. fox theater

15. detroit institute of the arts

16. pistons, tigers, red wings, and even the lions

17. detroit zoo

these are just a few of the things we've enjoyed in the "D." more recommendations of things to see and do in the city from you native detroiters are appreciated too. i know the eastern market is top on our "to do" list before fall.

with aunty jenny at the riverwalk

clown at the arab and chaldean festival in hart plaza making a ladybug wrist balloon for stell

playing in the fountains at the riverwalk in some of our recent visits

with joy and lisa at hart plaza

all grown up?? well, kind of!

here stelly is sporting her new "bob" haircut and going potty on the big girl potty! she has done great and is such a big girl - almost! i guess "big girls" don't usually suck their thumbs, but that's just fine. she's still our baby, after all!