a very special day!

sweet love...

happy birthday, precious lily!
we can hardly believe you are two years old today! these last two years have been the most beautiful years of our lives. you bring so much spunk and joy to each and every day. you have changed so much over the last year... from tentatively walking, to asking us to race you every day. from putting syllables together to now stringing sentences together. it has been so thrilling to watch your imagination come to life and to realize all that your mind is grasping. you have made our lives so incredibly rich and we absolutely adore you. happy second birthday!
WE LOVE YOU, NINNIE!
love,
mom and dad

bubble love

sometimes she takes my breath away...

joy...

it is with OVERflowing joy and thanksgiving that we look forward to the arrival of the newest member of our family in june!

i am fully aware that one day she will not appreciate these...

but they were just too cute not to love...

and of course what followed the naked gallivanting by lily and pooh bear was a small success on the potty... half of which i discovered on her bedroom floor! ahh the freedom!

a beautiful reminder...

“Remember as you’re cleaning—as you’re iron­ing, as you’re sewing, as you’re pick­ing up, as you’re paint­ing, as you’re beau­ti­fy­ing your home, as you’re doing things to make your home attrac­tive, remem­ber that you’re paint­ing a pic­ture for your children—a pic­ture of God.

You’re demon­strat­ing to your chil­dren in ways that pen­e­trate deep into their hearts, the heart of God, the ways of God, and you’re increas­ing the like­li­hood that your chil­dren will grow up to love that God and to want to be like Him.

You’re demon­strat­ing para­bles of spir­i­tual life to your chil­dren as you work with your hands, as you serve in your home. When you pre­pare food for your family, you’re demon­strat­ing to them that God is a faith­ful provider.

When you’re being qual­ity con­scious in the things that you pur­chase, you’re show­ing your chil­dren the excel­lence of the char­ac­ter of God.

As you are orderly, you are teach­ing your chil­dren that God is a God of order.

When you clean things up in your home, when you keep a clean home, you’re show­ing your chil­dren the impor­tance of purity, holi­ness of heart, of being clean and washed before God.

When you’re dis­ci­plined in your life and habits and sched­ule and the time you get up and the time you go to bed accord­ing to the way that God has directed your family, you’re teach­ing your chil­dren that the Chris­t­ian life requires dis­ci­pline. You are teach­ing them that you can’t just stay in bed and become spir­i­tual. It requires effort and coop­er­a­tion with God’s Spirit to develop godly habits, pat­terns, and sanc­ti­fi­ca­tion in our lives.

When you reach out your hands…to the poor and the needy and you’re min­is­ter­ing to the needs of others, you’re show­ing your chil­dren the heart of God for those who are poor and needy and oppressed.

There is indeed no mun­dane task! Every task assigned to you is spir­i­tual and paints a pic­ture of God!”

From No Mun­dane Tasks by Nancy Leigh Demoss from passionatehomemaking.com

joyful domesticity...

ps. kristi, she would sleep in this apron would i allow it! thank you! thank you!

laughter and love

we had a wonderful christmas in z'ville spent with tons of family and friends. it was busy as always, but absolutely perfect. (except of course the huge hole that was left in our hearts as we desperately missed ash and jose.) lily couldn't adore her aunts and uncles and grandparents any more. she was in heaven!

christmas eve...






christmas morning...



sweet uni sammy...


lily managed to put more and more clothes on as the morning wore on...


this one's for you ash and jose!


demonstrating the "perfect pushup"




brotherly love...

and the days that followed...

in the company of wonderful friends


so so sad to drop dad off at the airport...






you wouldn't even believe how hard it is to get a picture of jim with his eyes open. this was the best one we got!

we love and miss you all so very much!