bookworm

i don't think it's an exaggeration to say that including the time i read to her each day, stelly would love to have her nose in a book for hours on end. whether she's being read to or "reading" to herself, it is definitely her favorite thing to do!

trying to remember...
maybe this is where it was...
nope...try again.

Love cannot from its post withdraw

The doctrine of perseverance has been such a comfort to me over this past year and a half. There were and still are times that I fear my faith will fail depending on what God's sovereign hand deals us. However, the fact that my faith is great not because of the amount of it but because of the Object of it, has been something I've had to remind myself over and over. The obejct of my faith is Christ and He is too great and too powerful to lose any that the Father has given Him (John 6:39). This old hymn text (recently recorded in an updated format) has comforted me and given my soul inexpressible joy on more occasions than I can count!

The Love of Christ Is Rich and Free

1. The love of Christ is rich and free, fixed on His own eternally; Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove, long as He lives, His own He’ll love.

2. His loving heart engaged to be, their everlasting Surety; ’Twas love that took their cause in hand, and love maintains it to the end.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw! Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law, can turn the Surety’s heart away; He’ll love His own to endless day.

3. Love has redeemed His sheep with blood, and love will bring them safe to God; Love calls them all from death to life, and love will finish all their strife.

4. He loves through every changing scene, nor aught from Him can Zion wean; Not all the wanderings of her heart, can make His love for her depart.

5. At death, beyond the grave, He’ll love; In endless bliss, His own shall prove the blazing glory of that love, which never could from them remove.

-William Gadsby (1773-1844)

It is quite a stretch (to say the least) to transition from God's love for us in Christ to my love for Matthew and Stelly, but although imperfect and a mere reflection of that amazing love, my love for them is deep, nonetheless! Here are some fun Valentine's pics:

Pucker up, Ammy! This smooch is for you!

My two loves!

Opening valentine packages from both sets of grandparents.

A special delivery from Mommy and Daddy!

"A Sovereign Bullet"

That was a line from a sermon I listened to when I was expecting Stella. It was a John Piper sermon on motherhood. I was so excited about expecting our first baby and one Monday night while Matt was in class I decided it would be good for me to listen to a Piper sermon on parenting. I couldn't find any sermon titles that caught my eye. Actually I only came across one, "To Be a Mother is a Call to Suffer". It was not exactly the type of title to match the warm, fuzzy feelings of maternal anticipation I had, but I knew how good Piper was so I listened to it anyway. Of course, it was just what I needed to hear. Not really then, but God in His wisdom had me listen to that message knowing that the bibilcal truths of it would bolster my soul in the stormy times He was going to allow us in His sovereignty.


As most of you know from a post on our blog back in Nov of 2006, we lost our 2nd baby. We found out about the loss around 18 weeks. There were no apparent reasons that we lost the baby - the baby had no chromosome abnormalities or any other glaring problems that we were aware of. Our Dr. told us to wait a certain amount of time and we could try again to conceive. She chalked the loss up to the fact that miscarriages are really common. We didn't have any reason to think otherwise, although the fact of it being a later miscarriage made me a little uneasy since I had heard that the later the loss the more likely it is that it indicates a problem w/ the mother. God allowed us to conceive again and we were so thankful, but hesitant b/c there were still uncertainties. I had an ultrasound at 10ish weeks and everything looked good. I went in at about 13 1/2 weeks for my routine appt and there was no heartbeat. The Dr. had the Ultrasound Tech check immediately for viability and sure enough we had lost again. This loss was extremely discouraging b/c we weren't sure we would be able to have any more children and were puzzled as to what the problem was since I had a textbook pregnancy with Stelly. Again, there were no abnormalities w/ the baby so the Dr. ran a plethora of tests on me to check for any autoimmune diseases that I might have that could be causing these complications. Everything came back fine.

I decided to see a Perinatalogist, Dr. Mason, after hearing a dear friend who has known her own griefs in childbirth, speak so highly of him. It was in his office that I found out that God had given us (and taken from us for His own good purposes) a little girl with my 2nd pregnancy and a little boy with my 3rd. That news was hard to hear. Our meeting with him though was so encouraging. He ran an amazing amount of bloodwork on me (and even did some tests on Matt) to see if his original thoughts were right. And they were. Basically, I have a blood-clotting disorder called Thrombophilia that only effects me when I'm pregnant. Dr. Mason said my blood vessels had all they could take in my pregnancy w/ Stelly which is why I've had subsequent problems but none w/ her. He said that they have had great success treating these cases but could not guarantee anything. If I could conceive again, the treatment would involve daily shots in my abdomen of a blood thinner and an oral supplement of folate in addition to my prenatal vitamin. He said after a certain amount of time we could try to conceive again and once the pregnancy was confirmed we would start the treatments.

God once again allowed us to conceive. I am almost 19 weeks pregnant with our 4th child and we just got very encouraging news on Wednesday afternoon that our baby girl looks healthy and the treatments seem to be working so far. Our hearts are so full with thanks to the Lord for this good news! We are trying not to run before Him b/c there is still a lot of time left. We literally are just taking it one appointment at a time and seeing what God does. We have learned so much about Him through this and His good purposes in joy and sorrow. We want to be faithful to praise Him when He gives and when He takes and we are so dependent on Him for strength to do that.

If you think of it, we would appreciate your prayers that over the next months we will persevere in God's good purposes for us, whatever they may be. Of course, we would love to hold a healthy baby in our arms again, but are learning that is not the most important thing. We want to treasure Christ more than His gifts. So easy to say, but as many of you know from your own trials, hard to do when your heart is longing for those gifts.

starting a new year

we were so glad we got to welcome in the new year with the haneys and other good friends at jason and liz's on new year's eve.

me and vivi

matt is watching in awe as liz is "bringin' it" to jason in wii tennis like it ain't ever been brung! (jason, this is our blog and that's our story and we're sticking to it! :))

matt's parents came up to watch the very sad ohio state game with us. here are some pictures of simulated and short-lived excitement during the game!

touchdown! we did score a few of those!

on new year's day we took stelly to chuck e cheese for the first time. that is worthy of a post all it's own so stay tuned!

christmas in ohio

it is so nice being able to see both our families when we go home for a visit. we had a wonderful christmas celebrating with them. stelly had been working on memorizing luke 2:8-14 since october and she was able to say it for the christmas services we attended with them. amazingly enough, i think she understood some of the humility of Jesus' birth b/c she felt really bad that He didn't have a crib for a bed. that thought seemed to sink in because it was something she could relate to (not b/c she didn't have a crib, but b/c a crib was pretty central in her life for 2 years!).

even though christmas is put away at our house, everyday we continue to celebrate Jesus and His power to save His people from their sins!

stelly loving spending time with ammy
appy's birthday is on christmas day so he gets double the presents!
when she got to mimi and gampa's she headed straight for the santa hat
proud buckeyes (even in spite of our loss on monday night)
mom owen always makes the most delicious food, so christmas dinner is even a step up from that (yes, it's really that good!).

christmas baking and our own little celebration

maybe we should've gotten her her an apron for Christmas! can you tell i'm a laid back mom?

stelly's such a good little helper in the kitchen (not indicated by the previous picture!). one thing she did to help w/ christmas baking was unwrap several dozen hershey's kisses for peanut butter blossoms.
in this picture she's wearing or holding almost every gift she got from us!every time i read this book to her i tell her that of course she would tell mommy what had gone on that day while i was out! (our children will not lead secret lives, right, charisse?!?!)
what a shocking surprise! matt got me a past present future ring! i was so excited to get such a beautful and thoughtful present!

i got matt these starter clubs since he's learning to golf. his hood is up so you won't "fear the fro." trust me, it's not nearly as cool as ben wallace's, although i love waking up to it every morning!

I Guess Snow Isn't For Everyone

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow on the ground. Most area churches (including ours) had to cancel their services, so I guess you could call it a snow day. I thought it would be fun to take Stella outside to play in her first real snow while I shoveled our driveway. You can see her response below, hence the title of my post. Maybe next year...

I think the neighbors could hear the weeping 3 blocks away.
This is what happens when you forget to buy your child boots. We had to wrap her shoes in Target bags, so she is probably going to hate us some day for taking this picture. What can I say? Sometimes you have to improvise!
Still not liking it very much.
Now we're warming up to the idea.
Of course you can always stand where it's warm and just look at it (though you can't take the hat off).

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!