The 6th Month

"No matter how much time passes,

no matter what takes place in the interim,

there are some things we can never assign to oblivion,

memories we can never rub away."

~Haruki Murakami~

My mind continues to short circuit as it attempts to comprehend the sheer fact that our son is six months old.  

Our little guy has gone from this...

to this....

He has such joy and his smiles hold nothing back.

Oh, little one, may this joy you have never run dry. I pray that these moments will remain as memories burned in my mind for days and years to come.

I want to remember how you:

• crinkle your nose when you laugh, just like I do
• cross your feet at your ankles as you ride in the carseat or stroller or even as you play on the floor
• squeal with delight when you see daddy running down the hallway to come and give you a zerbert on your tummy
• calm down and listen intently as I sing "Amazing Grace" and then "May the Lord" to you before you head off to dream land at bedtime
• take your pacifier in and out of your mouth just for fun
• grasp onto my clothes with your chubby little hands and burrow your face in my shoulder when you get excited
• open your mouth as big as you possibly can and eagerly lean forward in anticipation of what mama will feed you on that spoon coming towards your mouth
• sleep on your hands during nap time and wake up with perfect little indentations of your fingers all over your face
• bat your arms up and down when you get excited

Oh, little one, I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, 

as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

God's Perfect Gift to Me

I just realized that I never posted this back in May, it was still sitting in my drafts...oops... but I wanted to post it despite it being so late because even so, I still daily celebrate the fact that I married this wonderful man!!

It was two years ago that we said "I do." We said I Do to loving each other through thick and thin, to bearing with one another in our silliness and stubborness, to encouraging one another as we walk through this life, to being Jesus to each other sharing the gift of unconditional love and sacrifice, to being a witness to their life. Someone once said, " We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet...I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things...all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

A good many things have been witnessed by us as we've walked through the last two years of marriage. :) We've seen each other laugh and cry. We've had evenings watching the sunset cuddle up together, and we've also had evening where we worked late into the night just to get things done. We've served the Lord side by side and loved doing so. We've done our best to live out the verses engraved on the insides of our wedding rings. On his, Ephesians 5:25 where Paul speaks to husbands, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." On mine, Ruth 1:16-17 "...Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates us."

I love this man I married because he is God's Perfect Gift to Me. None other would do, God chose him specifically for me and I am ever so thankful.

Nathan and I celebrated our 2 year Anniversary a month early because our Anniversary falls on THE day that we move into our new house in Pittsburgh. Our trip consisted of an overnight stay on a Bed & Breakfast passenger car train in WI, but no children allowed, so Josiah stayed home with Auntie Naomi and Uncle Isaac for his first 24 hours away from Mama (and Daddy). I am so blessed to know this man. He is God's Perfect Gift to me, truly, I do not know what I would do without him in my life! He is my #1 fan and greatest encourager. He leads me (us including Josiah) in the ways of the Lord and points us to Jesus daily. I love how he signs off his emails with "Only Jesus" as his signoff because it is so true of his life. God is so good.

Won't you stay awhile?

The sun sets behind the silhouette of the church steeple outside my kitchen window, painting broad strokes of soft pastels that gently welcome the stars into the night sky. I feel peace in the evening. Sitting outside and feeling the smooth, cool air on my skin while all of nature sings it's song into the night, brings a calm end to a busy day. So peaceful, so serene.This is me time, my time alone with God. Him and me, & me and Him.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Make time for the quiet moments when God whispers and the world is loud."? Won't you stay awhile? What would God have to say to you as you pause this evening to listen while nature sings it's lullaby? 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love you.

I am for you.

I love watching you and revealing Myself to you throughout your day.

You matter.

You are not alone.

When there's not enough you to go around, I AM enough.

I rejoice over you.

I am watching out for you, your comings in and your goings out.

Seeing you laugh and enjoy life brings me joy.

You are my child.

I love you.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And then....stillness. The serenity of sitting in the presence of God. Just you and He, & He and you.


I love you too Daddy, thank you.