celebration...

this is mary celebrating because....

...we purchased our ONE WAY tickets to INDONESIA!  we leave july 20th.  yahoo!  

this is actually mary dancing around luke sitting in the bumbo... but it looks like she's dancing tribal style.  also, the purchasing of our tickets was a major celebration, but i was also slightly sick to my stomach as we did it.  it's just a crazy feeling.  but, we are SO excited to get out the door!  if this is the first time you're hearing about us moving to indo and want to know more, shoot me an email.  

one day...

one day JESUS is coming back.  today i long for that day.  revelation 21 talks about it...

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look!  God's dwelling place is now among the poeple, and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"  Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."  He said to me, "It is done.  I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.  Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children."

that is what i long for.  for the day when we dwell in God's presence, when God restores all things, when our bodies and minds are free from our sin, when there are no tears or pain or death.  Jesus conquered it all on the cross and i long for the day when we see the fullness of it.  we can have glimpses of his victory in our lives today, but we won't see the fullness of it until the day he comes back.  that is what i want.

but until then, i'm thankful that we have a hope that is unchanging and eternal.  that we can live longing for what is certain to come and certain to bring more joy and peace and fulfillment than we could ever imagine... in our lives and also among every tribe, people, nation and language.  i'm thankful that God is with us today, to guide us and comfort us in this fallen world.  i'm thankful that we have a certain HOPE in him.

matching

we had a nice evening downtown with our dear friends, the carders.  it was lily's 2nd birthday so we went for pizza and a fruit dessert.  lily is mary's best friend (whether they like it or not) and they had a great time together.  last week mary wore the flower skirt in the picture to lily's house... lily wanted to wear it the entire time. so, i went out and got her one for her birthday and we dressed them like twins for dinner in the park.  they look nothing alike but they were both super cute in their matching outfits.  

we tried to get lily to look up for a picture but she was a little too into her treat.  we were singing "this little light of mine" to get her to look up but only mary played alone.  :)  

mary was shirtless downtown for at least an hour.  she ran into the sprinklers there and got wet so she insisted that she not wear it.  turned out to be good because she was NOT clean with her huge piece of pizza by herself. 

the birthday girl... who is VERY hard to photograph because she is always on the go... this is the best i could do.  i love her cute little facial expression here, shows her funny personality.

luke and sam... best friends as well

and this is what the little brothers did... lay there, sleep in the ergo and eat.  that's what they do best at this stage.  they were also not easy to photograph... oh well.  

dedication

it was a big weekend for our boy.  he started food and did pretty well.  today was day 3 of food and we forgot to feed him.  typical.  luckily, he doesn't really need the food yet.  

sunday luke was dedicated at church.  it's a time to publically commit to raise our son in the understanding and fear of the Lord and pray for his salvation.  our church community also commits to love, encourage and pray for him as well.  it's a neat time.  danny's family joined us so it was fun for us (and especially the kids) to get to spend some time with them.

luke chewing on aunt "teddy's" finger to stay quiet during prayer... i thought it was cute

i would have enjoyed the dedication a lot more if mary would not have been up there with us.  i mean, she's usually a pretty well behaved little girl... but she is two for two when it comes to bad behavior in front of our entire church.  thanks, mary.  i was dripping sweat, all flustered because she wouldn't stay still.  i finally let her down and told her to go sit with her buddy, jude knight, and eat his snack (thanks, bianchis!).  she got off the stage but then just stood there in front of the stage.

then, she got her arm stuck inside of her dress and started saying, "help mama!"  so here i am, slightly embarrassed and slightly thinking she's hilarious.... dripping sweat.  the last time she was near the stage for easter children's sermon she thought playing chase was a good idea... so i had to run down the aisle in my loud boots chasing my laughing child to get her out of there.  she's special.  

everyday

i've been posting pictures of fun, outside activities and practicing with my new camera.  but, this is everyday life inside.  we do go to the park most days but we also do a lot of hanging out at home in our pjs (or no clothes for chubby, sweating luke).  they especially enjoy their bonding time in the crib.  

mary "holding" and kissing luke

luke is trying to eat mary's face... he tries to pull people's faces towards him and eat them

laughing in the crib

this is what they do every morning and afternoon.  mary wants luke in her crib when she wakes up and then they "play."  now that luke is rolling over she has more fun.  she gets right up in his face and laughs really loud... and eventually he usually joins in, or cries in fear, depending on his mood.  

there are a few things in common between these four pictures: mary and luke (of course) but there is also a giraffe burp cloth.  one day i put it under luke's head when i laid him in the crib and mary thought it was the greatest thing ever!  everytime she holds him or has him in her crib she first askes for the giraffe burp cloth (thanks, mrs. marcantonio!).  

half a year

luke is 6 months old today. i can't believe it! i feel like he's still my little newborn but he's clearly not. if you've seen him in person you know that he is a BIG guy! i think his hefty weight has kept him a little behind mary in the milestone department. :) he started rolling over about a week ago and can't quite sit up yet, but he's getting there. he still lights up a room with his smile and let's you know if you leave his line of vision. sometimes if i'm trying to get something done (like pack lunch for the park or get the diaper bag ready) i station mary in front of him and she sings songs or pats his head. he's happy as ever as long as someone is there with him! he really is such a sweet little guy.

here are a few pictures i took of him this weekend while downtown. i almost didn't take the time to do it, but i'm so glad i did. he's so smiley and easy to take photos of now because he's actually still (unlike his very mobile sister).

a glimpse of his ideal schedule: 8ish wake up and eat. 10:30-11:30ish nap time (often times this nap is at the park) and eat. 2-4:30 nap time and eat. 6:45-7:15 nap and eat. 9:30 eat and bed time. though tonight he kind of boycotted his evening cat nap so he went to bed at 9. i think he's about done with the third nap. we'll see.

he is still affectionately known as "baby yute" or "bubba yute" by his big sis. she has continued to be pretty sweet to him, though she does test her boundaries with him a bit. she loves to talk to him, make him laugh and kiss him. it's so sweet.

luke, we love you more than you know. we are so thankful for your sweet, sensitive little personality. i hope that you will always smile as easily as you do now. we love you!

ears and duck tours

mary had a great weekend with everyone here! she got all of the attention she could ask for. she loved being with michael, and she especially loved his facial hair and his ears. weird, i know. when she was on his shoulders she put both fingers straight in his ears. it was a tad uncomfortable for michael, but he was a good sport. i don't know what she was doing here.

mimi helping mary eat her hummus and pita chips, compliments of the half marathon expo.

speaking of half marathon, it was a rough one. i think i got about the same time as i did on this same race last year... when i was four months pregnant! i'm not sure why it was so terrible because my training runs were pretty good and much faster... maybe it was the heat. luckily, none of us cared about our time so we just jogged along. thanks for running, dad, dylan, carolyn and sarah!

danny, looking very serious, was feeding our boy while i gave my body a rest in the grass. he also took mary on a little walk around this grassy area (by the north end). apparently a duck tour bus pulled to the side of the road to have everyone say hi to mary as she walked by. she waved back with excitement (she loves saying hi to strangers) and then the driver handed her a roll of duck tour stickers. she was really excited about the stickers and proceeded to put them all over danny's arm hair. nice work, mary. she has quite the personality these days... so much fun!