7 months old

Madilynn is 7 months old. She is sweet as can be, a little dramatic and has finally slept through the night a few times. We love having her in our family!

Eli goes to Texas

Eli with his bags packed. We HAD to take his baseball and tee. 

 
Eli is off to Texas to spend a week with Grammie and Pops and Aunt Laurel. Although Landon and I feel a little lost with out him here we are enjoying our quiet house and getting a lot of things done! We are so excited he gets to spend a week with Landon's parents. I'm not just saying this because my in-laws read this blog, but they are the best and it does make me sad we live so far away from them. I'm so glad Eli is getting to spend time with them and he is having SO much fun I don't think he has stopped to miss us yet!

Now I get to hang out with this sweet girl all week!

When Neighbors Take Marriage and The Home Seriously

I would like to welcome my husband Landon to our blog. Landon, thank you for your contributions to our family blog….

When Neighbors Take Marriage and The Home Seriously

We are fortunate to live in a neighborhood of midtown Jackson where we are literally surrounded by church members and close friends. We can step out on our back screened porch to see the porches of four different families from our church. In fact, one of our next door neighbors is a family of one of the pastors in our church. They are our family’s dearest friends, entertainers, counselors, babysitters, and playmates. They are just flat out great neighbors; all twelve of them.

While Ross and his wife Kathy have ten children (2 boys and 8 girls), they also counsel the majority of couples (including us) in our church before marriage. One of the reasons Ross is our church’s go-to guy for pre-marital counseling is because he clearly explains how marriage between man and woman reflects Christ’s love for his church (Eph. 5). And not only is this topic one that I have heard him talk about at church or in counseling sessions but again and again, I have heard the theological significance of marriage and children brought up at dinner as our family sat around the already crowded table in our pastor’s dining room. Each time, it’s a topic that garners rolled eyes and huffed breaths from the teenagers as they listen to the shtick that they have heard time and time again from their relentless dad. But they listened more than I thought.

A few weeks ago, their middle school daughter’s birthday was coming up and she was told she could have two friends over to spend the night. She attends public school in Jackson and had befriended two sisters whose parents were going through a divorce. So Ross and Kathy’s daughter, as winsome as she is funny and sometimes dramatic, asked if she could have the two girls over because she wanted them to see what a normal family looked like. As I stood in the backyard hitting a tennis ball back and forth while Eli ran back and forth like a ball boy at Wimbledon, I asked her about her birthday sleepover. As she began to talk, I listened to her desire to bring these two girls into a loving home that she had experienced her whole life. How precious it was to hear her describe how what she had seen and heard from her parents created in her a desire for others to experience the same. While she didn’t say it explicitly, what she had seen and experienced from her parents was a microcosm of the self-giving love that exists within God himself, a love that forever draws others deeper into its perfect communion.

                                 

Those few moments of conversation while playing backyard tennis reminded me the importance of teaching in our home. Deuteronomy 6 emphasizes constant teaching for a reason. Our children are listening and watching. What we believe and cherish most deeply will play out in our bodies, just as Jesus said. And they will likely play out in our children’s bodies too. And we desire what is played out will match what is described and proscribed in the Scriptures. I just hope Eli and Madi would experience God’s self-giving, inclusive love in our home that they too desire to bring others into it, just as our next door neighbors have demonstrated so well. 

6 months

Madilynn was 6 months on April 26th. She now weighs 13 lbs and 3 oz. She is starting to eat some baby food and has slept through the night once but is getting better which is meaning I am starting to see an end to no sleep! She is such a sweet girl and she loves Eli....take a look.....

The Joy of Two

I love this picture because Eli asked me if Madilynn could sit next to him while he watched Sesame Street.  She was perfectly content being right next to him on the couch. 

I recently wrote a small blessing for a friends baby shower about having two kids. I wanted to post some of my thoughts on this while I'm six months into having two....

Having one child is difficult. Or maybe having one child that is Eli is difficult. I’m not really sure. I’m sure everyone has a different opinion about whether a transition to one or one to two is more difficult. For me, being at home all day with a very energetic little boy and figuring out what to do with him is pretty challenging and I knew what he needed was a sibling. Thankfully, God gave us Madilynn only 21 months later.  I really feel like one of the best gifts you can give your child is a sibling. Someone in which they have to learn to love, to play with, to share with, to communicate with, and to be a part of a family with. Teaching the gospel to Eli has now opened lots of new doors now that Madilynn has entered his world. Even though I have already found him spitting juice in her hair, attempting to cut her hair with scissors, growling at her, laying on top of her, I have also found him, kissing her, making her laugh, singing to her and sharing his favorite toy Donkey with her. I have already tried to teach him about respect, love, patience and self control all in the short 6 months she has been alive. 

Of course there are some challenges of having two. How do you fit two kids and all your groceries in the cart?  How do you fit two car seats and all the accessories in a 5 passenger car? How do you get them both on similar nap schedules? Why does one cry and always wake up the other? Even more Laundry? What about getting your groceries from the car to inside the house, really? I have NOT figured this one out.

For me the transition from one to two has been a joy. I love having two! And it has already provided minutes of entertainment for Eli. 

Daily my prayer has become, give me patience and creativity to teach, entertain, and love Eli and Madilynn. May the Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us; may he turn his face toward us and give me peace in our home each day as I am with them. 

Easter

Here are some pictures from Easter...

5 Months Old

I'm a bit behind. But here is Madilynn at 5 months. She weighs 12 lbs and 3 oz. She still is NOT sleeping through the night but such a happy girl when she is with her mommy. : )  She definitely makes me feel great about myself and lights up and sometimes even squeals when I enter the room. We just might have a mommy's girl on our hands.