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!

table for three

it was such a blessing to providentially run into our dear friend joy while we were in grand rapids last week. we knew she was going to be there at some point that week but didn't put it together until we were about 1/2 hour away that we were going to be there at the same time!! after some frantic texts we were able to meet up. we got a table for 3 at dunkin' donuts/baskin robbins in the wee hours of the morning. i prayed for joy today as i often do and wanted to encourage my hymn-writing, God-glorifying friend in God's sovereignty. i have big plans for her, but they are nothing compared to the plans HE has for her.

Well this day's been crazy

But everything's happened on schedule

from the rain and the cold

To the drink that I spilled on my shirt

'Cause You knew how You'd save me

before I fell dead in the garden

And You knew this day

long before You made me out of dirt

You know the plans that You have for me

And You can't plan the end and not plan the means

And so I suppose I just need some peace

Just to get me to sleep.

- derek webb

fun week

we had a great week with my mom and were sad to see her go. matt and i got to have a rare date night while she was here which was so nice. he recounted to me all the amazing sermons he heard at T4G on our way to grand rapids for our date. i love being married to a man who loves the gospel!

the "3" of us before we left for our night out

so sweet! i love this picture. stelly was quite sad to see my mom go.
stelly has had a few firsts recently. her hair is finally long enough to do pig-tails and i painted her little piggies for the first time! it's so much fun having a little girl!!

spring has sprung

nothing too exciting has been going on here this week other than spring cleaning. next week however, ammy comes for a visit so we are excited about that! my mom and i both have april birthdays so we always enjoy celebrating together. it is so fun having a birthday in the spring. it seems like the calendar year should start in spring when every thing is "bright and beautiful" and so fresh and new. actually, i think it used to until the mid 17oo's (during jonathan and sarah edwards life and times). anyway, we were able to get outside some this week which stella loved!! she ran and ran and ran. it was so funny seeing her run laps on our sidewalks, expending what seemed like 6 months of stored up energy!

nothing says warmer weather like sidewalk chalk!

these are stella's neighbor friends. we call them the "ella" girls b/c they all 3 have "ella" in their name - gabriella, stella and sabella.

finally getting to play on her playground!

finally

well, after i butchered our html, my tech savvy husband rescued our blog from destruction. it really wasn't that bad, but i got scared i would lose our archives and stopped messing w/ it until he had time to look at it and remedy my mistakes. it took him all of 2 minutes. anyway, i'm still working on updating the new look (thanks to ava, liela and connor for the inspiration - it's hard keeping up with the tallys! :)).

here are some pics of one of our spring activities so far this month - making edible bird nests. they turned out OK. not as good as kara's but it was a different recipe. stella had a blast regardless!

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).