This morning Vivian's preschool hosted Muffins for Moms to celebrate Mother's Day. It was so sweet to sit with her and her preschool friends and I could tell she was enjoying it, too. These pictures are not in order...this one was taken when we came back to the room and V gave me her gift...her handprint on top of mine with a poem about forever being hand in hand :) This is not a good picture but it definitely shows our biggest discipline issue with V right now...putting her fingers in her mouth.

After eating our muffins, the girls had to give each other some love.

She is so excited to run and play with Avery!

Avery and her mom Janelle.
I couldn't get a good picture of us. V realized that I was smiling/posing for the camera and she thought it was so curious. She would only look at me!
And these are the beautiful flowers that were delivered to me yesterday from Mom and Dad (for my birthday)!

Mom took some pictures with her camera of the girls while we were away. Looks like they had lots of fun! When we brought them home last night, they transitioned so easily, as if they had never been gone. So thankful!
(Stephen and Michael, could you email me any pictures you took on your phones while you were here? There aren't any of you guys...)

Last Thursday we flew to Orlando for the Interstate Batteries (where Aaron works) Convention! It was a much-anticipated vacation and we had a blast. We tucked the girls in bed at Papa and Gramme's on Wednesday night, and didn't see them until yesterday afternoon! We missed them a lot but knew they were also having fun away from home. Aaron and I spend a lot of time together, relaxing and talking, reading and watching a few movies, ordering room service and eating all meals together. Of course Interstate put on a lot of entertainment for us, too!
Enjoy some pictures. To make it easier to follow, here is a brief summary of what we did while there:
Thursday: traveled (long layover in Atlanta), Aaron golfed while I napped, out to eat at Downtown Disney
Friday: breakfast, big meeting for the company, I went to the pool while Aaron had other meetings and played golf, out to the movies and popcorn for dinner
Saturday: Aaron had meetings and I slept in, I shopped with friends while he went to the pool and played golf, Interstate party at SeaWorld, Shamu show
Sunday: All day at Island of Adventure and Universal Studios, dinner with all of the employees at Ruth's Chris
Monday: Aaron morning meetings while I got a massage at the hotel spa, I went to the pool while he played golf, and we watched a movie in the room before the big karaoke party that night.
Tuesday: traveled home. problems with the plane in Charlotte so we were VERY delayed.

We just got back from Kate's 9 month well-check with Dr. B. She is healthy and strong! She weighs 18 lbs, 8 oz. (30th percentile) and is 28.5 inches tall (70th%). Her head circumference is 17.5 inches (50th%). He said she has leveled out on the weight gain curve but is getting a lot longer (tall and lean).
One thing I forgot to mention about Kate in the post last week is that she is going through a separation anxiety stage. She looks for me everywhere, crawls to me and pulls up on my leg, fusses when I leave the room, etc. Dr. B said this is the stage right before she becomes very independent and it will pass soon. I don't remember V doing this, so it's unusual for me, but I like being needed so much!

Our Kate is 9 months old today! I LOVE this age. She is quick and I have to watch her all the time, but it is such a joy to see her play and climb and be purposeful about what she does. She is showing some big physical changes...she is cruising furniture now and can climb things. She is very comfortable with crawling and can get anywhere fast. She can sit up on her knees when she's playing. She is getting three of her top teeth right now at the same time and I feel so bad for her...her gums are so swollen. It has affected some naps I think and sometimes when she's fussy I just attribute it to the teeth. But it hasn't been that big of a deal.
She has increased the amount of formula at each feeding to about 7-8 ounces. She still has a bottle 4 times a day and eats 3 meals a day. She's eating more finger foods now. She particularly likes avocado and yogurt just like her sister, and she's crazy about Cheerios.

I saw her looking in the mirror in her room for a long time yesterday. I think she's starting to figure out that there's something special about the baby she's looking at :). It was fun to witness that.

She has continued to have some issues with her skin. The constant drool around her mouth makes it irritated and I have to keep Aquaphor or Vaseline on there.

She has learned to cuddle with me and Vivian in the mornings before we get moving for the day. I love that time with them. I bring them to the bed with me when they wake up and we just lay there for about 20 minutes, cuddling and tickling and playing with the baby monitor and watching for trains.

She still has about the same daily schedule, but she is starting to drop her 3rd nap. She only has it once or twice a week. On the days when she only takes 2, she is definitely in bed by 7, if not before.

Happy 9 months baby!

Aaron's Nanny passed away on Sunday. She was born on July 3rd, 1909. She was 100 years, 9 months, and 29 days old. I didn't know her well, having only met her twice, but everyone talks about how amazing she was. She was very much a matriarchal figure of the family and a great woman of faith. Praise God for the legacy that He granted her to have in this world, for the sake of many generations exalting Christ because of her faithfulness in teaching her children about Him and reflecting His image in the way she lived. Praise God. Nanny is in the center of this picture, with most of her family surrounding her.

Today we were at Papa and Gramme's to go swimming! It was our first time putting on our bathing suits and getting in the water for this season. And of course Kate's first time ever! V looks so mad in this picture! I think she was annoyed that I was making her take a picture when she just wanted to have fun swimming.

Kate didn't like it at first but warmed up to the idea very quickly. She was happy to kick her legs in the water. Both girls mostly stayed in little baby boats.

Taking a break to eat lunch! Can you see that K raided V's Goldfish stash?

Yummy...peanut butter crackers for lunch. Gramme is the best.

Both girls were worn out after so much fun and took great afternoon naps.

Aaron and I took the babies to the park on Saturday. We brought a picnic lunch with us, but Vivian didn't care anything about eating because of all the fun happening and equipment to climb, so we had to take turns between eating with Kate and playing with Vivian. She wore herself out!
Enjoy some pictures... This picture should be at the end...you can tell how hot and sweaty she is by how red her face is :)

Kate's first time in the swings.

On Friday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Joey's 29th birthday. Of course we went to Frankie Rowlands, which has been his birthday choice for the past several years. We had an awesome time, and the food was great as always!

Happy Birthday, Joey!

Today we took a trip to Charlottesville to see Uncle Michael! We talked about it all morning and Vivian kept saying, "Michael, Michael, Michael" over and over. We went out to lunch with him in between his classes.

When we first got there, Kate ate and then we waited for Michael to meet us after his class. We started out waiting in the car like this... and then decided it would be more fun to wait outside in the grass and eat a little snack.

Uncle Michael with his nieces.
Great day trip for us!

Sorry these pictures are so blurry. I took them with my camera and I couldn't hold my arm still. Anyway, I am so happy that my girls are starting to play together! They played with these refrigerator magnets while I made dinner tonight. Such a sweet, sweet sight.

After she finished eating dinner last night, she asked to see the Scholastic Book advertisements I was looking through. She sat here like this for another 15 minutes after dinner, looking at the pictures of the books. She looked like an old man reading his newspaper at breakfast to me! I thought it was hilarious :)

This is what I live to know and long to experience. The mission statement of my life and the church I serve: "We exist - I exist - to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."

You don't have to say it like I say it. You don't have to say it like Louie Giglio says it (or like Beth Moore says it or like Voddie Baucham says it).

But whatever you do, find your passion and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will be like the apostle Paul. Nobody had a more single minded vision for his life than Paul did. He could say it in different ways.

Acts 20:24: "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

One thing mattered: Finish my course, run my race.

Philippians 3:7-8: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ."

Here are all the pictures that Gramme took with her camera while they were at the beach. It looks like they had so much fun! We can't wait to go again this summer...all of us :)

Can you believe these are the only pictures I took from the bridal shower yesterday?

Don't waste your life. It is so short and so precious. I grew up in a home where my father spent himself as an evangelist to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. He had one consuming vision: Preach the gospel. There was a plaque in our kitchen for all my growing up years. Now it hangs in our living room. I have looked at it almost daily for about 48 years. It says, "Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."

I am here at One Day in a sense as a father. I am 54 years old. I have four sons and one daughter: Karsten is 27, Benjamin is 24, Abraham is 20, Barnabas is 17. Talitha is four. Few things, if any, fill me with more longing these months and years than the longing that my grown sons not waste their lives on fatal success.

So I look out on you as sons and daughters and I plead with you as a father - perhaps the father you never had. Or the father who never had a vision for you like I have for you, and God has for you. Or the father who HAS a vision for you, but its all about money and status. I look out on you as sons and daughters and I plead with you: Want your lives to count for something great and for eternity. Want this. Don't coast through life without a passion.

Three weeks ago we got word at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards had both been killed in Cameroon. Ruby was over 80. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: To make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby's side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over the cliff, and they were both killed instantly. And I asked my people: was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great vision, spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ—two decades after almost all their American counterparts have retired to throw their lives away on trifles in Florida or New Mexico. No. That is not a tragedy. That is a glory.

I tell you what a tragedy is. I'll read to you from Reader's Digest (Feb. 2000, p. 98) what a tragedy is: "Bob and Penny... took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells." The American Dream: come to the end of your life - your one and only life - and let the last great work before you give an account to your Creator, be "I collected shells. See my shells." THAT is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don't buy it.