Spring is Here

Well, it seems that spring has arrived and with it a very busy schedule. We had grammo in town for a few days, left for Tennessee shortly after, returned home and a day later we welcomed memaw and papa to town. Addie was baptized just this past weekend too. We have greatly enjoyed these refreshing visits from family and always look forward to more of them.

Some of our springtime activities have included trips to the zoo, a visit to the arch, and many days outdoors!

Addie's baptism went really well and waa a glorious day to celebrate her part in the covenant family! We ask you join with us in trusting God that both she and Wyatt will come to know their great need for Christ and his saving power!

We have only a few weeks left for the spring semester and then we enter the home stretch of our last year at Covenant Seminary. Praise God for his faithfulness in keeping us here and providing for our every need. Continue to pray for direction for both David and me as we start seriously considering what and where our call is! This is very exciting to think about and also very daunting. May God guide our every steps.

We should have some pictures of the above activities posted within a few days! Enjoy!

Much to Praise Him For and Much to Pray About

I think by now many of you have noticed that our dear friends at seminary, Steve and Jen Allen's little daughter Amelia, has a blog concerning her prognosis and daily updates on her condition. Amelia was born just days before Addie and several weeks ago was diagnosed with leukemia. She is finishing her last round of chemo and hopefully will be returning home this week. We give thanks to God for giving her lungs strength and clearing them so the ventalator could be removed. Amelia's cries are now heard and her strength gaining slowly. Praise God that she even will be able to come home soon. Jen and Steve have a very long road of treatment and recovery for Amelia so please keep them in your prayers. Some things to continue to pray for are listed below as well as the link to her website for more daily specific needs to pray about.

Amelia:
*tolerance with the side effets of chemo
*rest
*strength
*stay infection free (very important!!!)

Steve:
*rest, strength, and health (also very important so nothing is passed to Amelia!)
*wisdom with school. Steve is set to graduate this May and move to Tennessee to start a study center in Nashville. This is a very trying time to figure out how all of these things can be accomplished with Amelia's care being of top priority.

Jen:
*comfot, rest and strength!
*more and more opportunities to hold Amelia in her arms and care for her!
*health...Jen has a fever that has kept her away from Amelia for a day now.


Amelia's blog: www.ameliaallen.wordpress.com

Wanting God to Check Out the Room

So, the other day David was in the tent with Wyatt and of course being two Wyatt was acting selfish and not wanting Daddy to touch any toys. So, David told him that everything given to him is really God's stuff and he has given it to us to enjoy. Wyatt naturally responded, "No, it's mine!" And the conversation continued.

Shortly after our pastor came to visit us to discuss Addie's coming baptism. Wyatt knew we were talking about God and a few minutes later he was whispering to me that he wanted God to see his toys in his room. I told him God gave him his toys and that he sees him playing all the time, but he was very persistant that God come to his room.

Then it clicked. I said, "Do you mean Pastor George?" He said yes. So, Pastor George took a trip to the tent in Wyatt's room. Thanks Pastor George!

Please Pray

One of our friends here at Covenant has just learned that their daughter, Amelia, has been diagnosed with leukemia. She is four months old. Steve and Jen Allen are finishing their last semester at Covenant Seminary and preparing to move to Tennessee after graduation. Amelia was born just a few days before Addie and has recently been sick with a series of viruses and has just not seemed to recover from them. She had her blood tested last night where it was discovered that she had an abnormally high white blood cell count. She has had some treatments to exchange her blood in order to lower the white cell count and also has had chemotherapy this morning. Steve and Jen are waiting for the results of her bone marrow biopsy which will determine the type of leukemia Amelia has. There are several types and some of them have higher rates of being treatable even to the point of full recovery. Please be praying with us for their family and for healing in little Amelia. Steve and Jen need prayer for strength as they wait on the test results and wisdom as they work with doctors on the right course of treatment for her.

Our Spring Warm Up

Spring is slowly starting to appear and this week we have had several warm days. We have spent them outside of course trying to make the most of our outside toys while we can! Unfortunately, we were unable to get to the zoo this week. We're saving that for when Meemaw and Papa are here! Can't wait to see you.

Times are changing...

This title has many meanings for me today.

First, this is my late shot out at our spring forward time change. In my former days before children this was the most dreaded of days where in fact we lost sleep and spent the next two weeks recovering. I believe I may have posted something back in the fall about how I once loved the "fall back" time change and children completely changed that! While the adult population lost an hour of sleep this past weekend, we actually kept the status quo. Our children continued to sleep in to their normal hour which in fact was one hour later Sunday morning. While that day nothing changed, Monday and Tuesday have been different! We have actually been able to catch a few extra zzzz's in the morning while the kiddos are adjusting.

On a heavier note, both exciting and sad, our neigborhood is changing. And while I have anticipated this time for over a year now, I don't think I am prepared for it. One of my closest friends moves this semester in May. They have taken a call to Colorado at St. Patrick's Presbyterian Church. This is fabulous news, but also sad as we are still hear in St. Louis for yet another year. Our other close friends that live adjacent to our apartment have bought a house where they will probably be moving to before the semester is over. I know we only have one year remaining, but it is so sad for me to think of spending it here in a completely different manner than we have enjoyed so much over the last two years. I know God is faithful to provide us with what we need, so I pray he will protect me from loneliness and provide new meaningful relationships.

Finally, little Addie is changing...constantly! She is now four months old and a true delight to be around (except of course in the middle of the night!) She is rolling around, smiling and interacting with us, and showing huge interest in her newly discovered voice! She has experimented with rice cereal and seems to like it too. We are loving her new stages and look forward to her many more changes to come in the next year!

While Daddy was out...

My little thumb suckers!


Who doesn't love chocolate popscicles?



Daddy's old t-shirt...much loved!


More hair accessories!

David took a trip to Chicago this week for ministry purposes and I flew solo parenting our two youngsters for the week. We survived, even had a little fun while managing being apart from our daddy. Let me first just give a special kudos to single parents on how they manage because I frankly need the daddy of our house around and am not sure I would know how to survive without one! And for every household that has a baby, there is one sure thing about solo parenting...bedtime is a bitch! Just how does one bathe and clothe a two year old when the four month old is screaming unless she is held? I tried a number of ways but don't think I have it figured out yet. My only solution is to just let the poor four month old cry because it will only be for a short while but a two year old tantrum is much more difficult to recover from!

Addie Grace turns four months, and so...

Here is our little darling at four months. Dare I say there is a trace of her mother in the first picture??? She seems for the most part to have passed through the colic phase and seems to be overall enjoying life a lot. She loves Wyatt and any attention he is willing to give her. She is quite vocal (did anyone think she wouldn't be???) We are really enjoying and loving this precious gift of life!

And so, no we are not having another one right now. The "and so" is our funny new Wyattism. The other day while talking Wyatt started connecting ideas together with the words and so. It is quite funny to listen to. He will babble on and on and on and then take a long pause and say "and so" and then just continue in on another rant about any number of things!

For example, he told David on the phone tonight..." I play with Jack and Jeb. I make long train. Jeb took my train...and so, I got spanking." And so, mommy seems to think he left out the most important turn of events in the string where he through a fit when his friend messed up his train which led to the spanking, but it is quite funny to see him connect all these ideas together!

Gymnastics

So Wyatt liked gymnastics until the teacher asked him to do stuff. Then, he got very nervous and ran away! He stayed as far away from everyone as possible until the very end when the bubbles and stickers came out! He loved those! In the end Wyatt warmed up to Miss Angela and I think things will be even more excited next week. Or, so I hope!