Family Pics

You know that song "Butterfly Kisses," with the line ... I must've done something right to deserve a hug every morning and butterfly kisses at night.  

Well, just a cursory glance through these pictures is proof of quite the opposite.

We didn't do anything to deserve this.

But our lives are so full of the sweet mercies of Jesus, to be lavished with such a wealth of smiles and snuggles and ducky hugs and giggles.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

 Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

 Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

HUGE thanks to Lawrence Chui for capturing these sweet moments!

Weakness and Evangelism

This was a great word on how my personal weakness and ineptitude relate to sharing with others about Jesus.  Encouraging.  Convicting.

Last week...

Last week was July 4th.  (Was it only last week?)

Ben, Victor, and I took a little trip down to Iowa for a long weekend. It had originally been planned as a 10-day vacation with the whole Anderson crew, but due to some unforeseen health adventures, the "whole clan" part of vacation is postponed until August. Nevertheless, it was great to have 4 days away.

I should perhaps not have been surprised when we were about an hour down the road and Victor started coughing.  And Ben pointed out that he had a drippy nose.  The doom and gloom side of me groaned inwardly, remembering our last trip to Iowa and its subsequent trip to ER for Victor's cough.  But some little voice inside urged me to kick out the depressing forecast and ask God for mercies and trust Him for goodness... and He surely granted those mercies!  We did add the neb treatments back for the trip (plus a few days), but nothing really developed more than some pretty awesomely green gunk in his nose.

So we were free to really savor the many highlights of the trip:

- Ben and I ran a 5K and Dad and Lori ran an 8K on the morning of the 4th.  My first race since August 2010!  (Which strikes me as rather pitiful, but anyway, it was fun!)

- We enjoyed a traditional post-race breakfast at Riley's, complete with fabulous pancakes, waitresses in 4th of July attire, Trivial Pursuit questions, and a cinnamon roll.

- Fun small-town parade, primarily consisting of fire engines, Tootsie rolls, and tractors.  Big winner for the little boys!

- Lots of fun running around at a hidden neighborhood playground.

- Belated celebration of Dad's birthday and Father's Day... complete with sports trivia to win his presents.  (And strawberry pie with homemade ice cream!)

- A very toasty walk around the Cedar Rapids farmer's market with Lori and Hudson... who was FABULOUSLY excited about the "choo choo tracks" which we were blessed to cross not once, not twice, but FOUR times in our meanderings.

- Such a delightful time at the Banowetzes' coffee shop The Retreat ... our own private room, caramel pecan roll, and Betsy-crafted white chocolate caramel iced coffee.  Wow.  Happy place.

- Belated celebration of Betsy's birthday with chocolate chip bundt cake.  But I'll be honest.  I actually polished off about a quarter of the Coffee Buster Bar Dessert made on her behalf earlier.  I realize that for some of you it may seem that the majority of our family gatherings center around food.  But that may explain why food is one of my love languages to this day...

All in all, such a sweet time.  Ben did hide away for several hours a day to keep up with Greek.  (This man has been relentless in his perseverance through this CRAZY intense class.  Miss him.  And proud of him.)

Love you all, family.

18-months old!

18 months!

One year old

11 months

10 months

9 months

 
8 months

7 months

6 months

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Dear Victor Albert,

The last few months have been so full of change and growing!  Seeing your little personality emerge little by little, watching you figure things out, enjoying your "little man" moments... I love, love, love this season.

18 Updates for 18 Months:

18) You love climbing all over Mt. Mommy.  It's a real good test of ab strength to have you clamber up and down when I'm lying on the floor.  This is also a good incentive not to spend too much time lying on the floor...

17) We've just started playing catch with balls.  You think it's hilarious to throw them (in any direction) and then run and get them when I throw them.

16) You love coloring with crayons.  You also love stuffing them into your seat, throwing them on the floor, chewing on them, poking them in your ears, and most of all, getting more and more handfuls of them.  But you're also good at putting them back in the bag when we're done.

15) Now you can climb on the couch without help.  You look very pleased with yourself when you get up.  But you still have no concept of the edge, so the dismount is sometimes a little rough.

14) The red hair and curls are getting a little thicker.  I have to agree with the people in the store who say you're handsome.  But we pray your heart will be even more handsome, little one.

13) You love, love going outside.  Riding in the ergo, the wagon, or the jogging stroller are all high points of the day.  We spend lots of time at the park across the street, especially going up, up, up and down, down, down the little hills.

12) You're quite the cleaner.  Laundry, vacuuming, and sweeping are all favorite activities.  You have even begun putting books back on the shelf (sometimes).  We hope to cultivate that interest! 

11) You're very social, like Daddy.  You love nursery at church, playing with your cousins, and meeting the little folks who play at the park.

10) A few of your favorite things: lawn mowers, your snuggle ducky, donkey, and puppy, crunchies (i.e. Cheerios), bathtime, buses, ice cream, pens, applesauce

9) You are a big talker now.  We can catch what you say much of the time, the latest being:
Plane
Lawn mower
Bike
Bus
Applesauce
Crayons
Paper
Bath
Bib
Grammy
Grandad
Grandma
Pop-pop
Nana
Blue
Bird
Up
Ergo
Truck

8) You can eat more breakfast than Mom now.  For example, 3 eggs, a sausage patty, several handfuls of Honey Nut Cheerios, and a smoothie.

7) We are working on obeying right away the first time.  You really are growing in obeying, especially when we ask you to come or say that you may not touch something.

6) You're still taking a short morning nap (about an hour) and a longer afternoon nap (about 2 hrs), and going to bed around 7pm.  Now you generally sleep in until about 5:45am!

5) You are learning to wield a spoon and fork.  You love it!  And mostly you do quite well.  Occasionally, Mom doesn't fare quite so well (i.e. when you were feeding yourself applesauce while Momma held you at Wed Connection a few weeks ago, and you managed to quite substantially cover her front and back.  To those who wondered, no, I didn't sit in bird poop...).

4) It seems like your lungs are getting stronger.  We have had a few weeks off the neb treatments, but when a cold comes on, the cough sneaks back in, and we'll zap it again for a few days.  Feeling so thankful to see some improvement!

3) You love to push and pull things.  The wagon.  Our cooler.  The laundry basket.  The jogging stroller (even though you have to strain every muscle to reach the handle).  Buckets.  Chairs.

2) You still give such. wonderful. snuggles.  I love when you wrap your arms around my neck for a long squeeze.  And I pray you never outgrow that.

1) Sometimes you sing along with me at bedtime, "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance on you; may He keep you in perfect peace, may He keep you in perfect peace."  I love that.  And I love you and pray that God will continue making you a little boy who seeks His face.

Love you to pieces,
Momma and Daddy