A Starts To Crawl

Here is a video of 7 1/2 month old A learning to crawl. As of now, she only crawls when she really wants something.

Clapping

Last week I was singing "If You're Happy And You Know It" and A started clapping all on her own. Of course every time we pull out the camera she doesn't do it as much but you can see in the very, very beginning of this clip that she claps on her own.

Sleepover Fun

While my sister and brother-in-law are enjoying a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico, A and I got to sleep over at their house and play with A's 4 cousins. That's right, me and 5 kids. It was a blast! Here is one picture with A playing with her cool cousin E. Below is a video of cousin W making A laugh after a nap.

Haiti

Over the past week and a half we have seen on the news and I have heard through Haitian friends of the devastation in Haiti. Along with the devastation, we have heard story after story of people who are miraculously found alive and the people who would not give up; those under the rubble and those searching for them. How a husband dug and dug for 6 days for his wife before they were able to rescue her barely injured. A 15 day old baby who was lost for over half his little life and saved. We see people singing and praising God in the streets and helping complete strangers. It has amazed me to see people rising above adversity with songs, dancing and a fearlessness that I can only believe comes from God. It has been a great reminder not only how blessed we are but how trivial things on this earth are (Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10) and how much more important it is to help our fellow man (and woman) regardless of their geographical location.

When I was in Haiti a few years ago, we (the group I was with) primarily stayed in villages far from the capital however for a couple of days we did go into Port-au-Prince. There were men carrying these, what looked to be, back breaking wagons overflowing with all types of things. Sometimes these men would have so much weight on their backs that you could literally see them inching step by step, sweat pouring down their faces. And then you would see a man set down his load, walk over to another man and either leave his load to carry this strangers load so this other man could rest or take things off of the strangers wagon and place them on his wagon to make the strangers weight much lighter and more bearable. This selfless act of the Haitian men has been a great example to me of how we can lift burdens off of each other; in particular those struggling in Haiti right now.

While I was there the people who we were staying with gave us each one of these hand made figures. On the bottom of it is this scripture verse: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

If you are looking for a place to donate you might want to check out http://www.worldvis ion.org/home. nsf/pages/ home.htm/ or http://www.water.cc/initiatives/haiti/

Where to go?

My sister, C lives about three hours from us so we decided that it would be fun if the four of us (me and A and C and her daughter P) met half way to hang out for the day. We picked a restaurant to meet at that was half way for each of us. It became apparent that we had a waiter who was very eager to turn his table over so with no where to go we ended up in a McDonald's located in a Walmart where we could sit for as long as we wanted. Here are pictures of our unsuccessful attempts to get a 7 month old and a 4 month old to look at the camera at the same time for some smiles.

Bath Time Fun!

Of course we need a before picture of crazy hair puff.

Martin Luther King's Day

How would your day today be different had Martin Luther King not have done all that he did? How would your day be different had Rosa Parks never started a bus protest? I know my day would be dramatically different. R and I may never have met or married and if we did, we would of had to face far more injustices. So as I sit here with my beautiful inter-racial baby on my lap I feel abundantly blessed for all people, past and present, who took a stand for equality and that A will not live in a world were her mother and father can not go to the same restaurants or schools.

When R and I started dating in 2000 we were living outside of Boston. When going on dates in Boston together there were times that we received looks, stares and the occasional rude comment. A couple of summers ago R and I went out for some ice cream and were walking on the sidewalk when a truck drove by and a man proceeded to yell out his window looking straight at R and called him the n word. What has happened to R and to us over the past nine years disgusts me to no end but it pales in comparison to what would have happened 40 + years ago. It is so hard to swallow that there are still people today that will hate him, A and our extended family not because of who they are but because of what they look like, yet at the same time I am so grateful that people have changed their views, words and actions over the last several decades because of people like Dr. King and Ms. Parker. So how do we continue their legacy? What can we do to ensure that this bundle of joy squirming in my lap will not have to experience these hateful words and actions? Let's get our of our comfort zones and get to know someone who is from a different ethnicity, economic level or religion from our own. To paraphrase Dr. King, you cannot change darkness with more darkness. You can only change darkness with light. May we be light to others when we see an injustice occurring.

Such A Dilema

The tough choices of a 7 month old. Do I scratch the kitchen table or the cardboard box?




If only decisions stayed this simple. :)

Five Years

About nine years ago I was sitting with my college roommate in a packed cafeteria when a tall handsome guy walked by looking for a place to sit. My roommate called him over and she introduced him to me. As he sat down I noticed a bracelet on his hand and asked him about it. He proceeded to tell me that it was from a camping trip he had made with his church youth group in which he gave his life over to Jesus Christ. Little did we know that four years later and five years ago today that the very same church that sparked our first conversation would be the church that we would stand in front of to pledge our love to each other through our marriage vows.

The last five years has been indescribable! God has used our marriage to teach us, grow us, encourage us and bless us in absolute abundance. A few months ago God used R to encourage us as a family to memorize scripture together. The passage that we are currently memorizing is Isaiah 40:28-31.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

It has been our experience over and over again over the past five years that when we put our relationship in God's hands He renews our strength and we soar like eagles.

It's been an awesome adventure and there is no one I'd rather journey with! Love you R! Happy Anniversary!

What can I say?

Hair pictures never get old... :)

New Hair Style

A few posts down I posted pictures of A's hair after sleeping in braids. Yesterday we were at A's Nana and Papa's house to celebrate Nana's Birthday and while we were there Nana braided A's hair again. We made sure this time to take some pictures. It is hard to see them really well in the pictures but her whole head is in little braids (the ends curled up because we didn't have rubber bands to hold them in place). A sat still the whole time as Nana braided them.

Side view...
Papa wanted in on the fun too!

This is a picture of A in action as she tried desperately to eat Nana's nose over and over again. Yummy!

Happy Birthday Nana! We love you!