I am Still Alive

Never fear.

Just having trouble fitting it all in.

We had a lovely, lovely time with our dear friends from CT who came out for the Shepherd's Conference earlier this month. We were privileged to have Tim, Cynthia, Adele, Marji, Benjamin, and Karsten stay in our home for the whole week. It was really so wonderful to spend time with all of them again. They have been missed so much. Above are Cynthia, Adele, Karsten, and Marji at the L.A. Zoo where we spent an afternoon during their stay. We had a number of logistical mishaps with that number of people, but we had a splendid time nonetheless.
One thing that was interesting to me this year: of all the men who came from our little CT church, the majority of them were not there when we were there. That is not actually the interesting part. The interesting part was how they all felt like old friends anyway. It was so great. The Lord's church is universal and these are our brothers in Christ, co-heirs in Christ's kingdom. Praise God for how He thoughtfully takes care of His people! Above, Frank (a new friend from CT), reads a book to Kurt.
It was so wonderful to see our old CT friends, the Peppers. They are now living out here in our neck of the woods, but we just don't see them nearly enough!
How fun to have the Harasicks here, as well. Our new friends mixing with our old friends...so lovely! God has blessed us to know some of the most amazing, godly people in our lives. You all encourage me so much. Praise God!

So Fast

So, I had shared with all of you that Mr. Contentment, a.k.a. Kurt, was very slow to learn to sit. He was 8 months before he could sit well. Last week he finally decided to take a stab at crawling. So the "army crawl" ensued. Then he figured out how to get up onto his knees as you can see in this picture. He loves drawers! Loves 'em. So you can imagine how thrilled he was when he figured out how to pull this drawer open and get to his knees.

Now 2 days ago we all looked over and he was standing! Standing! He only started sitting 4 weeks ago, one week ago he learned to crawl, now he can stand! Amazing! He loves to torment Thurston by crawling over to his crate and pulling himself up on it. Then he stands there and literally screams at the dog. These are squeals of delight, but Thurston just looks horrified when he does it. Too funny!

Now he's trying to cruise along the coffee table...something he is NOT good at. He had a great fall this morning bringing on many tears and wails. Poor little boy. He needs to slow down. I liked it when he was Mr. Contentment!

We tried our first attempt at the 2007 Christmas picture yesterday. It was NOT successful!Taking pictures of 4 children all over the age of 3 is easy. Taking pictures of 4 children and a 9 month old is NOT easy. The problem was the big kids kept looking at Kurt! I couldn't get them to look at me! Sheesh. Upstaged by the baby again.

We will be traveling to Atlanta for Christmas this year. My sister, Beth, is expecting her second baby, a boy, around the first of the year. Yippee!! My Mom and Dad and brother Mike and his girlfriend will all be there. We will also have the pleasure of seeing the Henriques family in Birmingham, AL and the Runkle family as they visit Greenville, SC. We are thrilled at the opportunity to see dear family and friends all in one trip. It will be wonderful!

Have a great day, everyone. Enjoy your families. Much love from the left coast.

A Reunion of Sorts

We had the wonderful, wonderful privilege recently to have some great old friends over to visit. Do you recognize them? Come on, most of you out there should!

Isn't it amazing when God orchestrates a special reunion of dear old friends in Christ? This was one of those times. We had sweet, sweet fellowship. We had new friends (Karen!) meet old friends. We shared stories and how God has worked in our lives. It was a truly blessed time!