Praise God!

We have a contract on our house! I can't hardly believe it. After only 40 days on the market we are on our way to moving out of our first home. Part of me is a little sad because we really do love our home. The other part of me is excited to move to a different part of town and try something new. We're going to rent an apartment for a year or two (hopefully) and then will try to buy again. We found an apartment we like today and will be moving the first week of July.

Keep us in your prayers that the inspection and appraisal goes smoothly; they could cause potential snags that would be deal breakers.

Yay! We're moving to the south side!

Happy Father's Day

Here's to the very best daddy (and husband) I know. We love you so much!!!

9 Months! (almost)

Emma will be 9 months old in a few days. We celebrated by having her picture taken at Sears. They do a really awesome job and you can purchase a CD so you can make your own prints.

Emma wasn't extremely enthusiastic about the picture taking process. I think we got several good shots, though. Enjoy a few of my faves.

"Kitty"

Emma has begun babbling using lots of consanants and lots of syllables. Normally this sounds like another language with a few "ma-ma's, da-da's, and ba-ba's" thrown in the mix. (We pretend that she know what they mean.)

This morning, I was sitting on the couch with Emma getting her ready. She looked into the dining room where Jack (our cat) was stretched out on the floor. "Kitty." She said, "Kitty." Just those two syllables. I know it was probably just one of those cool coincidents that we get to witness occassionaly.

I've wondered, though, if sometimes babies know in their mind that Jack is a kitty but they just can't get their mouthes to work right yet. In their head thinking, "Kitty, kitty, kitty, Jack is a kitty," but when they open their mouth it comes out, "grbrammm." And then, sometimes, they get lucky and it comes out just the way the intended it.

Yeah, probably not.

Hangin with the big kids

After church, Emma and I went to see me very good friend Kellie. Kellie will be having her second baby, Carter, any day now! We are so excited and had to take her some goodies for him. We also got to see Ashlynn's new bedroom. Ashlynn is 3 and just the cutest little girl ever. She is very excited to meet her baby brother and I think she will be a good little helper.

To help her prepare for her new status as a "Big Girl", her baby room was updated. She got to pick out new furniture including a full size bed and a matching dresser. She got new bedding and pillows and, well, her room is fit for a princess. It's precious.

Emma had a blast playing with Ashlynn this afternoon. She bounced on her bed, sat on a princess couch with her, rolled around on Ashlynn's bean bag and played with some of her toys. It was a great day. I hope the next time we visit it will be in the hospital to see baby Carter!

New Jammies!

Emma's aunt Jill and uncle Joe sent her some new jammies in the mail today. Old Navy makes the cutest baby stuff! After her bath, Emma put on her new jammies and sang, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into her hairbrush. Now she's off in dreamland. Good night.

Splish splash, Emma's taking a bath

I feel like time is moving so quickly. Sometimes that's a good thing. My very good wonderful friend, Kellie, will be having her second child any time now. I remember the day she called me to tell me she was pregnant and that seems like only a month ago. Sweet Carter will be here soon and I can't wait to kiss his face off and squeze his little cheeks.

I am also so happy that it is almost time for Kevin's sister Mae and her husband Ian to move closer to us! They live in Charlotte right now where Ian is completing a laproscopic fellowship. But they will be moving to Wichita in a month or so which is only about a 4 hour drive away. It is going to be so awesome to be this close because they are expecting their first baby this fall (and I have to be able to kiss his/her face off too!)

Emma is growing so fast. I can't believe she'll be nine months old in a couple weeks. We've just decided it's time to move baths into the big girl tub. Her baby tub turns into a seat that you can put in the big tub to help keep them from going under. She has always enjoyed her baths and smiled and gabbed through them. But man, oh man, she loves taking baths in the big girl tub. She kicks her feet and wiggles her fingers through the water. She really loves it when we pour water on her with a cup (see pic above). She'll be taking showers before I know it. Okay, I'm rushing things a little.

Consider your birth order

Our pastor at church has been preaching on a series entitled "Pain in the Family." This week's sermon was all about sibling rivalry and birth order. He used the stories of Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his envious brothers. God used the rivalry between both these sets of brothers for His holy plan.

Our pastor challenged us to examine the birth order in our own family and what implications that has for our purpose within our family and for God.

As many of you know, I am the oldest of 4. My next closest sibling, Laura, is 10 years younger than me and the twins, Eric and Lindsey, are 14 years younger. Growing up, I begrudged them so much. Because I was so much older, I called myself the live-in babysitter because that's all I seemed to do. I despised the fact that they followed me everywhere, always wanted in my room and that, yes, I even had to take them on dates sometimes!! I know, can you believe it?

Anyway, I have later said that since I had more of a motherly role with them I feel we are closer now than we would have been had we all been closer in age. This was a blessing in December of 2006 when our mom died. Because I was so much older, I feel like they were able to look to me as a strong comfort and almost maternal figure. I was able to comfort and hold them in a way that no one else could, not even our fathers. I am thankful to God for His wisdom and His blessing upon our family and birth order.

I look now to Emma and wonder how God will use her as the oldest child in her family. I pray that God blesses her and reveals His plan to her. God bless all of you, my dear friends and family today!