A few things...

1) Luke can crawl! How exciting. He is everywhere; he can also pull up now. He is a hazard in and of himself. We are trying to make the necessary adjusts to this kind of living but its crazy!
I was just telling Luke this morning that while I love him and I am excited about his growth and development-he was a lot easier when he was less mobile!

2) Thank you all who have been praying for us, we have been sick, but at least we have done it as a family! Presently we are all on antibiotics, Aaron has gotten better fastest b/c he got started first. Daddy had a sinus infection that kinda took over, Luke has a head cold that became two ear infections (which he has handled very well!), and Mommy has a head cold/infection. We're into our second week of the "Martian Death Virus" (reference to the Barbers there!), and I think we are on the mend! YEAH.

3) And now for the biggest news of all...we bought a house! We have a closing date the second week of May and are moving into our new townhouse that weekend. We are so excited! Its in Oswego, IL and puts us 5 minutes closer to church. Its in a great location, and we are excited about the investment.

So people-these bits of news can also be converted into Prayer Requests. Hopefully you will all keep us in your prayers as we parent Luke and watch him grow, as we get well, and as we prepare to make this move which is getting closer and closer.

Bye-bye for now.

Easter pictures

This first picture we took outside, it was a nice day, the grass was green, Luke is wearing short sleeves....

...but then it got cold, it got very cold, and I had to run out and get the poor guy a long sleeved shirt, it even snowed! So these other pictures are of the clothes he actually wore on Easter. This, his first Easter.

He is Risen! He is risen indeed.

Luke is still growing so big, almost 8 months old! He can hold himself up, and he is so close to crawling! His consonant vocabulary is getting larger, but his favorite thing to say is "dada".

He is ready for his first Easter, no candy or dyeing eggs this year, but maybe next.

Tomorrow we will say "He is Risen" in the morning, and head off to church (bearing cinnamon rolls if all goes as planned).

Not much else going on right now that I'm gonna blog about, but I thought I'd share these pictures of Luke and a Happy Easter sentiment. I'll share Easter pictures later!

My Devotions

Psalm 22 Titled in the my Bible as
A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise;
I titled it The Discouraged Believer
-Emotional Rollercoaster.

Psalm 22:1-2 -> David's pity-party
discouraged, depressed, 'forsaken'; eyes off who God is and what He is like.
Psalm 22:3-5 -> acknowledges the truth about God, despite his feelings. Meditates on what he knows to be true:
-God is enthroned-in control
-God is holy, pure-He will not do anything wrong
-God in entitled/worthy of our praise and obedience
He reflects on how God handled faithful patriarchs, and His fathfulness to them (how much more we have)
Psalm 22:6-8 -> David discouraged again.
Meditating one time doesn't fix everything. We have a sin nature, and an enemy in Satan. Paralyzing the saved-containment. David's eyes are off who God is and focused on who he was-despair. We are not able to handle life's circumstances.
Psalm 22:9-11 -> David again relies on what he knows to be true about God. Meditates on God's purpose and Him as Creator. God orchestrates life's circumstances to teach us the lesson of faith.
Psalm 22:12-18 -> David once again takes his eyes off his Lord and onto his circumstances.
Psalm 22:19-21 -> David once again remembers what he knows to be true.
Psalm 22:22-31 -> David reaches emotional and spiritual stability. He praises the Lord where his focus is.
Persevering in what we know to be true! Called to faith.

note that the next chapter is Psalm 23-The Lord, the Psalmist Shepherd, a chapter of dependence.