Like a Weed

Our little AbbieG, as she is affectionately called, is a growing girl. All the cliches are true. It all just seems to go by in the blink of an eye. She turned nine months on the 10th and had a doctor's appointment the following day. She weighs 20 pounds (almost 90th percentile) and measured 28 and 3/4 inches long (75th percentile). She's loving her big girl food, but is still all gums. We keep thinking her teeth will make their appearances any day, but nothing so far. It's hard to keep her from standing these days.


As soon as we set her down she immediately scurries to the closest object she can pull herself up on. She then looks around so proud of herself as she stands up with the rest of us.


She's saying Mama and Dada a lot more and it seems she's doing it intentionally. She also screams (a lot...we're working on that) to get our attention.


Elisabeth still, of course, brings the brightest smile to her face. They love to play together and their laughing is infectious.


Abigail is a speedy little crawler.


If we come toward her she will almost always start crawling in the other direction as fast as she can while laughing.


I felt like I was playing defense tonight while Elisabeth and I were trying to get her to crawl into the living room. It always makes us laugh. She moves a lot faster than I remember Elisabeth doing, but I suppose she's just trying to keep up with her big sister.

She is such a joy in our lives and we love each day with her.

The Simple Things in Life

I've mentioned before that I thoroughly enjoy having a fireplace and subsequently a fire to go in it. We were just blessed with an abundance of firewood, and yes, to me, it is worth blogging about! There is just something about the simplicity of sitting in front of a fire listening to the crackle of the wood burning and feeling the warmth on my cheeks. I love everything from the smell to watching the flames dance about. I love the accomplishment of building it into a raging fire that makes the entire house feel cozy. It just does something to make the atmosphere more enjoyable. It creates a certain ambiance that I love. The firewood was delivered a few days ago and dumped on our driveway.

The rainy season is underway, so my little helper and I had a job to do to get it all stacked in a dry spot. My littlest helper was thankfully taking a nap...that was the best way she could help any way! So I put Elisabeth in charge of the kindling and off we went. I've honestly never done that before, and as my husband will tell you, I've come A LONG WAY to stack an entire cord of wood by myself!


I was quite proud of myself for completing such a big task, but I was more excited to have been given this blessing and to know that we will be able to enjoy a warm fire all winter. Such a simple thing, but such great joy!!


Now, if only there was a little snow to go with it... ;)

Confession:

I am very detail oriented and thus easily overwhelmed. Too many details make my mind spin, yet I care deeply about the details. This has caused many a problem throughout my life. I have not blogged simply because I want to share every detail that has happened since we moved here almost six months ago. But each time I think of all there is to share in this neglected blog of mine I get considerably overwhelmed. And as hard as this is going to be for me, I've just decided to get over it and move on and share our life NOW...otherwise I might never blog again! Yes, I also have procrastination issues, but I'll just confess one thing at a time! ;)

So, right now...

We are loving the Oregon fall



and admiring all that God has created.



We are having fun decorating for the season.


We are loving the cold weather that warrants the use of our fireplace.


Brian is busy being SuperDad



while simultaneously getting a lot of hands on training in residency! ;)


We are loving our church here and are growing in the Lord. Our backyard is a beautiful and peaceful place to have some quiet time with the Lord.


We are praising Him for all that He has done and continues to do in our lives.


We WERE spending many days at the park behind our house. The rain has started, so this will just be for memory's sake!





Abigail is eating big girl food.



She still prefers to sleep with a blanket over her face...she does that all on her own now!


Abigail is officially EVERYWHERE! She's crawling and pulling up on anything that will support her. I think Elisabeth was only a warm up to all that Abigail will be! She's feisty and ornery, yet so sweet and tender. She is a blessing beyond measure!



Elisabeth is growing up so fast. She is so quickly approaching four...FOUR!! She loves dresses and loud, "fancy" shoes. She's becoming such a precious little (big!) girl.


I am so proud of the girl she is becoming. It blesses us to see God at work in her life. To see her heart flourishing each day for Him is more than we could ask for.


She loves learning and we have "school" often. We're not regular about it yet, but becoming more so. Her memory amazes me! She is already trying to memorize books as I read them to her so she can "read" them herself later on. She has learned all of the basic sounds to her letters and can write several of her letters well. We have fun sounding out words together, and I've caught her a couple of times sounding words out on her own. She's a smarty pants!


Elisabeth and Abigail spend endless hours playing and laughing together. Elisabeth has already been saying that Abigail is her best friend. I am so grateful they have each other and love being sisters. They are precious together and bring Brian and I more joy than we could have ever imagined!







We cherish having weekly family movie nights. It's always a big deal and involves setting up the air mattress in the living room with lots of pillows and blankets, pizza, chocolate milk, a "special treat", and a thoughtfully chosen kid-friendly movie. We always have so much fun and look forward to this special time with Daddy each week.


We are loving our little family of four and so grateful to be here in Oregon. We love it here! We love the weather, the scenery, the mountains, the forests, the ocean, our new friends, our new church, the abundant fresh fruits and vegetables, the local berry farms and orchards, having our own fruit trees and herb garden, our neighbors, our community...I could go on and on! Now if we can just convince our families to move up here... :)



But, right now...above all, we are THANKFUL!

True Colors

Sweet smiles,

true colors.

Abundant joy.

So I Don't Forget

Right now some of our very best friends are here. They drove all the way from Southern California to see us. Everyone except Abigail and I are asleep. The windows are open and a cool breeze is flooding the house. Our neighbor has been reroofing his house for several days, and he has been serenading the neighborhood with music from a Braveheart/Gladiator-like soundtrack. The music is dramatic and beautiful, and plays as though it's the soundtrack to my day. The sunshine is intoxicating as I am working on my Bible study on Luke 12. I am reminded that the Lord says not to worry. And that He values me most of all. And He values YOU most of all. Will you remember that today? It is a truth I don't want to forget.

I love

spending all

of my time

with these precious

smiley,

adorable,

silly,

lovable sisters.