Almost 1!

March 4, 2010.

Truly, it feels like a blink of an eye since that day. And yet, Eliana has grown and changed so much! Has it really almost been a YEAR? It feels like yesterday that I caught my breath and held it until I first heard her little cry right after she was born. It feels like yesterday that they held her up over the blue curtain and I saw that thick head of hair and beautiful chubby little face.

Eliana is walking, trying all sorts of new foods, talking up a storm, and is still as sweet and silly as ever. She loves making all the different animal sounds when you ask her what each one says, gives a high five, and thinks that pointing to a person's nose is hilarious. She is truly amazing. It is really hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that in a couple of weeks, we will be celebrating her first birthday. Elmo style. Because, she, like many other kids her age, seems to have become obsessed with this red furry friend.

The funny thing about time is that it always seems to feel too fast or too slow... meetings that seem to drag on, yet only lasted forty minutes; a year in a child's life that feels like it flew by in a matter of days.

One of my favorite psalms says:

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

Yet that can be so hard, can't it? Hectic schedules and too many demands can easily throw our priorities so out of whack... and that's when time flies, or it drags. To number our days, we need to be fully present, living fully in each moment, thanking God for both the little and the big things and knowing that each day is truly a gift.

Please Vote for Us!

Last fall I entered us into a contest to win a photography session with the awesome photographer, Crissie Traugott, who did my maternity pictures and newborn pictures with Eliana. She is awesome!

The bad news: we didn't win.

The good news: she's holding another contest and we are entered!!!

Could you please vote and help us win?

To help, please visit Crissie's Facebook site and "like" her page.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Crissie-Traugott-Photography/92815980769

Then, please lave a comment on our photo! Simply "liking" the photo won't count.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=501441025769&set=a.501440670769.273831.92815980769&theater

For every 5 comments, we get 1 entry into the drawing.

Thanks for helping us!

How to Make Love

In honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to direct you to an incredible post written by the eloquent Ann Voskamp. So, hop on over to her blog and check out this post. You'll be glad you did :)

In Joy and Pain, in Sun and Rain, You're the Same

Sitting here listening to Pandora, and on came one of my David Crowder Favorites... Never Let Go.

I love that line, the one that says, "In joy and pain, in sun and rain, You're the same, You never let go."

It is the constancy of God's character that causes me to still hope... to know that we can trust Him, not because of His activity, but because of His constant character.

These past few months continue to be filled with such joy as we continue to watch Eliana grow up. I am in constant awe of the miracle that she is... her amazing personality, how much she is learning, the way she laughs. How she is developing preferences for certain things, like sweet over savory (just like her Mama!) and like cats over dogs... for particular books over others. She is becoming a fairly proficient walker (video to follow in an upcoming post!), knows how to point to Mommy's nose, says several words (like purple, Isaac, and cheese). She is absolutely amazing.
It's incredible to me that a person has the capacity to envelope such joy, while the missing can simultaneously still linger. I often wonder what Eliana and Isaac would do if they had been given the chance to play together. I wonder if he would be as enamored by his little sister as we are.
I am just really grateful for the fact that God just meets us in that, and that the constancy of His character allows me to be able to trust Him, even though I don't always understand what He may be up to.

"...for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness..." ~ Psalm 26:3