Where is God?

"Where is God?" Sarah asked me this evening as we read what she has dubbed "Pappy's book". (Sorry Pappy, we don't why! A family at church gave it to her at Christmas.)

This is one of her favorites right now. But let's be honest, she has something like 10 favorites at any given time. The girl likes to read. And we like that.

The fun comes on this last page. (Sorry that it is sideways!) It says:

And then, in the dark, Junior fell fast asleep. He wasn't scared, because he knew that God was right there with him.

So Sarah looks at me, then looks at the page, and then back at me. And then, quite concerned, she asks, "Where is God, Mommy?" Her face was so transparent. Junior said God was with him, but Junior was the only one on the page. This is a problem.

How to describe where God is to my 2.5 year old . . . how to keep a theological question of this magnitude simple . . .

My best shot was to say that God lives in the hearts of people who believe in Him. Junior believes in Him, so God is in Junior's heart. He lives in Mommy and Daddy's hearts and we hope that one day He will live in Sarah and Josiah's hearts.

She was satisfied. And she really liked putting her hand over her heart and my heart.

Later on, I asked her where God lives. Her sweet and funny response: "God lives in town...and in our hearts."

Wrestlemania 2013: Cage Match

A Fist Bump to start the match

The Classic Pin

The Sleeper Hold

The Gigglemaker

Not really sure what to call this

The Elbow Pin

We're not really sure who won

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we simply try to show one another love. Here is a photo tour of our simple, love-filled day.

I made a cheesecake early in the week, just because I could. Valentine's week is a good time to get away with lots of baking and lots of chocolate!

A surprise tea time visit from our friend, Kim. Those are strawberry chocolate chip scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Yum! The tea is Paris, one of our favorites when we go out to tea.

And Ms. Kim brought Sarah a cookie, which Sarah can still describe in detail. 

For dinner we acted fancy, but had one of our favorites: Papa John's and coke!

I had some craft time with friends and came up with this little treasure. It took some serious editing to cut my list to 52!

Dave made dessert and it was fabulous: homemade ice cream, the real cook-it-on-the-stove variety. He even made his own chocolate sauce!

Sarah made Daddy this fun heart at MOPS that morning. I made a cool scratch off card, but didn't get a picture. Two parts acrylic paint for every one part dish soap- it really works!

Isn't he thoughtful :)

The Blizzard of 2013

It looks like the name Nemo just wouldn't stick, as even the news is calling it the 2013 blizzard now. It hit us hard up here on the Cape, mostly because it left a vast majority of the homes here without power for 1-4 days.

Were it not for the power outage, the blizzard would have been pure fun. It came Friday night, which would have left us with nothing to do but play in the snow, attend Sunday worship, and play in the snow some more. But with a power outage, it suddenly becomes much more difficult. The heat goes out in the house, along with most of the other houses, the house gets cold, you get cold, and freezing pipes become a real danger.

We first lost power late Friday night, as Emily and the kids slept and I kept a fire going. By morning, the house was in the high 50's, although we didn't notice until we got out from under our covers. The snow had piled up the night before, which you can see in the series of pictures Emily took (the captions are hers also.)

9:30am

10:30am

11:30am

12:30pm

1:30pm

2:30pm

3:30pm

4:30pm

5:30pm

7:00pm

10:00pm

10:30pm- I went to sleep!

9:00am backyard...lots of sticky snow

Front yard at 9:00am. It kept snowing until about 4:00pm!

Sarah went with us to check out the snow drift against the garage door. That is her "stay warm inside" outfit for the day- PJs on top and lots of layers underneath!

This was in the driveway after the guys shoveled and snow blowed (blew? my southern education has not prepared me for this situation!) .

Back of the house from the wood pile Saturday afternoon. It would have been quite beautiful if we had heat :)

We were surprised at how well they kept warm

Our sun room stays in the 30's for most of the winter, so early Saturday we took our food out of our refrigerator and set it out on the table in hopes it would stay fresh. Some of the church guys went around and shoveled some driveways, which helped me occupy myself during the afternoon.

With a cooling house, kids who had already spent the day wearing coats in the dark, and our phones losing charge, we decided to spend the night in the church office building. The church building was one of the few that had power, so we spent a warm night there with any number of electronic devices charging.

Sunday worship was cancelled, so we slept in Sunday. We spent the morning at a friend's house eating a hot breakfast, freshening up, and laughing. The shower was most welcome, as wearing a coat all day and never showering can get to feeling pretty gross. Also, the light from the snow and their windows made for some great pictures of Josiah's bath.

Concerned about freezing pipes and thawing freezer goods, I came back to the house to start another fire and set our frozen food out in the snow. Of course, I had to take some pictures, too.

Some friends down the street had their power restored, so we spent the night at their house with them and another couple. Each family had children, so it turned into quite the slumber party!

Monday morning I came back and checked on things, finding the temperature to be 40 degrees. The faucets had already been on a slow drip since the day before (to prevent freezing). Between the two of those, I was confident we had at least two more days before I truly needed to worry about freezing pipes. We went to the mall so that the kids could run around and spent the afternoon with our friends again.

Then, Monday night, we got a call from a neighbor saying the power was back! The house warmed up fairly quickly, although our beds were cold when we first got in them! The next day I went in to work while Emily got the house back in order. A day later, you would have never known what the house had been through.

It was quite an adventure, one that we are thankful God brought us through. I had never been so thankful for God's protective watch over our children and the warm beds He gives them. We can say on both sides of it that God was good to us.

Happy 9 months, Josiah!

We were excited to visit the doctor this morning and see how our little guy is growing. He isn't going to be our little guy for long! He has changed significantly in many ways this month. I love that he has become really aware of what's happening around him. 

Weight: 23 lbs 12 oz (96%)
Length: 30.25 in (98%)
Head: 18 in (72%)
Diaper: cloth and size 4
Clothing: 12 and 18 month (especially shirts), Shoe: size 4? (let's be real, we pretty much never put shoes on him, and if the floor wasn't so cold we wouldn't put slippery socks on him either...)

Likes: opening/closing doors, climbing things (but not really pulling up, ex: up stairs, into the bumbo, through the coffee table), kisses, waving/being waved to, refusing food he doesn't want (I really think this brings him pleasure, me...not so much), playing with Sarah, destroying something Sarah is playing with (as any little brother would do), identifying every cord in a room

Dislikes: being alone (but thankfully no separation anxiety at nursery, so far), being stepped on (thankfully, it isn't malicious and doesn't happen often), too many sweet potatoes

Schedule: As always, merely our general aim.

7 am: Wake and nurse/cereal and fruit

7-9 am: Wake time
9-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and nurse/vegetable
11-1 pm: Wake time
1-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and nurse/cereal and vegetable
3-4:30 pm: Wake time
4:30-6 pm: Nap
6-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Nurse and down for bed

Sleeping: I think this has been a better month. The past week or so we decided to try keeping Josiah up for a couple of hours or until he got fussy before putting him down for naps. We also solidified a pre-sleep routine that consists of a diaper change, reading Good Night Cape Cod, and singing Good Night Josiah, Sleep Tight Josiah and the Doxology while we put him down (the same way every time) in his crib. Longer wake times and a sleep routine are both tricks we have tried several times before, but in an effort to really nail down a routine that works we are trying them again. And there is seemingly more success this time! I think it is working somewhat because he is starting to give some sleep cues, namely fussiness. :)

Eating: Josiah likes eating. Nursing is still going well and he is enjoying solids, though I find there are some days he enjoys them more than others. He has perfected a particular lean back eye roll combo that he pulls out when he doesn't want to eat anymore. At first I thought he might be having an allergic reaction, but no, he was just tired of sweet potatoes. We have started letting him eat a few finger foods, like sweet potatoes fries and squished peas. 

Moving: He sure does lots of it. I officially can't leave him alone. I used to be able to put him downstairs in the living room, as low as you can go, and step away. But over the last week or two he has learned to come up the stairs. Since he can't go down the stairs yet, there's no time to blink these days! Thankfully, we haven't had any big tumbles yet. I can put him back in the far library/guest room and intercept him before he gets to the stairs, so that is convenient. Josiah's latest trick is climbing. He loves to climb on, in, and up anything he deems conquerable. For a few days when we put him down he wouldn't do anything else. I am glad he has gotten over the novelty and remembers that he can simply play. 

Talking: He seems to be doing some repeating. "Mama" and "dada" are part of his babbles and repeats, but I don't think he associates the words with the people yet. He and Sarah will mimic each other- hilarious! He seems to really understand a lot more of what we are saying. Josiah takes correction well and turns when we say his name.

Teething: Nothing new other than a few strange moments. For example, one night he refused to eat before bed. We gave him a frozen teething ring and he tried to eat it in one bite. As usual, we blame anything unexplained on teething.

Fun facts:
- A big change this month was Josiah's move upstairs. He is now set up next to Sarah and has a little more peace and quiet. It is nice for us having them in the same part of the house. Sarah is the only one who occasionally suffers, as she sometimes wakes up when he does.
- He waves on command and loves to be waved to.
- It is still very necessary to put a hat on him when we go outside, but he really is getting some hair. It roughs up nicely after a bath.
- He still flashes his most handsome smiles while pausing to do the "beach babe".
- He likes to make sure he is in the same room as the action, moving from room to room as Sarah or I do until he really gets into playing with something. Games that have held his solo attention include opening and closing doors and scooting across the steps. No other entertainment necessary! He is becoming more and more of a brave explorer.
- Since he moved to his big boy convertible car seat, he has, by necessity, also started sitting in the front of the shopping cart and in a high chair when we eat out. (As the second child he doesn't get the seat cover to deflect germs as often as Sarah did....) I have also started training for the Olympics (look for a gold medal in weigh lifting 2016) since I now carry him in and out of buildings and hold him when people stop to talk (as opposed to popping his infant seat in a stroller). 
- The doctor confirmed that, like Sarah, he has a bit of eczema. We will continue to lather with lotion (or "ocean" as Sarah calls it) after bath time as long as this dry weather lasts.

Next appointment: Monday, May 6, 2012 at 9:40am

Big boy bath time!

First shopping trip from this vantage point.

Loving it!

"They wouldn't give me any bloomin' onion...what's a boy to do!"

Playing!

First time up the steps

Football!