Friday, October 17, 2008

Growing

Jonathan has almost lost his newbornness. The tiny arms, legs, nose, and fingers are filling out into squeezable, cuddly baby chub. The "I'm lost in a new word" cries have morphed into "I know what I want and I want it now" screams. And the blank stares are being replaced by smiles, coos, and inquisitive looks.

I know that many of you see these changes especially pronounced because you don't get to see him very often, and every time you do he is in a new stage of development it seems. But sometimes it feels that way for me too - babies go through so many changes in the time period when parents are so sleep deprived they don't always know when one day begins and another ends. After a night of getting up every couple hours I seem to make it through the following day in a daze, enough aware to make sure the boys are safe and cared for, but not enough for much more. Then Jonathan will bless me by sleeping 8-10 hours and I will wake up with new life and wonder where the time went. Jonathan is now almost 3 months old and loosing that newbornness.

And not to leave Michael out, he is growing too. Every couple of weeks he looks taller to me - is able to see over and reach more and more things around the house. He is participating in big kids worship now at church with a love and excitement for praise songs that can often put his parents to shame. He is learning letters and numbers and learned to use scissors the other day.

You can see updated pictures of my big boys here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchaig/

Saturday, October 4, 2008

By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving

As I looked outside today, I noticed that the leaves on the trees here are starting to change color. Their tips are transforming into beautiful shades of reds and golds. God is so creative and so consistent. Every year the trees decorate creation glouriously.


It remined me of a forum post I made the other day about whether Christians are worried about the economy right now. Here is my post:


"I am learning what I can about the stimulus plans and things so that I can be well informed about what is going on. But I don't feel worried about it. I think that many people (including us probably) are in for some tough times in the next couple years, but God is BIGGER than that. He has promised to care for those who call on His name and he has never failed in that. A friend of mine always said, "I serve a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills!" and it is so true - He is able to provide all that we need.


I would also like to encourage all of you Christians not to give up tithing during rough times. Keep bringing your tithe to the Lord. He tells us this will lead to blessings in our lives. I know it can be hard to trust that giving money to the Lord first when there are so many bills to pay will not lead to destruction, but I've never heard anyone say, "I went without the necessities because I tithed to the church." God always provides."


I'm so glad to be serving our great God. I truly can "not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Phil 4:6

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mommy's New Man

I got some great pictures of Jonathan today.













We are loving the fact that he is smiling so much now! In fact the other day I strapped both boys into their carseats and Jonathan looked right at Michael and giggled. For the next couple of minutes, they just laughed in conversation with each other in true brother camaraderie. It was the first moment they truly interacted with each other. And it was then that I realized all the trouble they were going to get into together and how much they'd love doing it together.