My Prayer Tonight

As I tucked Sophie into her bed for the night a few minutes ago, my heart was very burdened for my friend Michelle and her family. Grayson, who is just a couple weeks younger than Sophie, is very sick in the hospital. The doctors are still trying to pinpoint what it is that plagues this sweet boy.
As I thank God for my family's health, especially Sophie's, I am praying fervently that Grayson would be healed quickly and completely and that the Bryant family would know the peace of Christ that passes all understanding. Please pray with me.

Yeah for Better Homes and Gardens!

I am so excited because I was just selected to host a house party for the cleaning brand Clorox. Our family loves their products and uses them in every area of cleaning our house. Now, I get to have my favorite things all together. I get to host a party with my friends and I get to try out free new product. Yeah!
Our party will be:

At Our House
Sunday, October 5th
7:00pm

It will be a great time of fellowship, eating, and trying out new product that will keep our house clean while being safe for our family and the earth. This will be wonderful! Stay tuned.

Yeah!

Of course this all happens when my camera is dead....SOPHIE IS WALKING!!!

Earlier tonight, she took a couple of steps in the kitchen, but she's done that before. But, later, she took 5 steps directly to me. When she got to me she kind of threw herself into me and giggled. So, Josh sat on the floor and she walked between us. Throwing herself to us each time she reached our arms and giggling. She somehow knew, maybe it was all our cheerful squeals, that she was doing a good thing. She looked so proud of herself as she ate dinner and played a little more.

My mother heart is hoping she doesn't grow up too fast as she sleeps tonight.

Keeping Up...

It's getting harder to keep up with Sophie these days. Originally, we only had to put safety locks on one of our cabinet doors. Now, we're going to have to do a few more! This morning I came back into the kitchen to find her kneeling over the dumped out, brand-new, container of oats. She smiled, putting some into her mouth, like nothing was out of the ordinary.

On another quick note...Sophie can now feed herself with a spoon. This morning she was eating yogurt for breakfast. I filled the spoon, she fed herself, and then would hand me back the spoon for more. We have a big girl now!

And to all, a GOODNIGHT

We saw this sunset when we were driving home from Portland and it just reminded me how beautiful God's creation is. We may not be able to know or control all that goes on, but He does. At the end of the day, we can have peace. God is on the throne over all the earth and we can have a goodnight.

Farmer's Market

My dad's new favorite thing is the farmer's market on Saturdays. He's always been a big fan of fresh fruit and veggies...so this place is perfect. While we were up, Sophie and I went with him for a fun time with Poppy! And, of course, I couldn't miss the opportunity for more pictures!

Family Pictures

The whole group L-R: Amy, Dave, my Mom, my Dad, Uncle Phil, Aunt Neva, Josh, Me, Sophie, Uncle Rick, Taylor, Eric, and Aunt Kathleen. If you're missing from this, send me a picture and I'm sure we can photo shop!



Josh and Me and Dave and Amy:



All of us with Dad and Mom:



Grandma and Sophie:



Poppy and Grandma and Sophie:

We are FAMILY...

Right after getting home from the retreat, we all left to go up to Portland for the next three days. Josh had seminary starting, but we also got some wonderful time with my family! Sophie loves Poppy and Grandma's house. Uncle Dave and Aunt Amy also came up. My Uncle Phil and Aunt Neva were here from Maryland. My Uncle Rick, Aunt Kathleen, Tay, and Eric came over and we all had a mini family reunion...everyone who wasn't there was missed very much. Micah and Heather are starting their teaching year in Germany and Joel and Lauren are still in Maryland with Blueberry. It was so much fun to have everyone together. Sophie, of course, soaked up all the attention she's grown accustomed to.

On our way...



Sophie helping Daddy study for seminary...



And getting her own story too...



She's getting so good at taking bites...



And modeling Poppy's video game headset (she was so pleased)...

Mommy's Time Away...

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I went away to camp Tadmore with some friends of mine for the pastor's wives conference. It was a very enriching time of fellowship and teaching; I was very thankful to Josh and Diane(my mother-in-law) for watching Sophie so I could have time away with the Lord and dear friends. I did miss Josh and Sophie very much even though it was only one night away; it's probably a good thing!

Sophie loves her friends

My lil' gal is blessed with some special friends. My dear friend, Michelle, has Maddie and Grayson (who is only 2 weeks younger than Sophie). The three of them have such a great time playing, I just thought that you should all see who they are. Even at her age when I tell Sophie we're going to see Maddie and Gray...she gets a big smile and starts kicking her legs (which is "Sophie" for I'm super pumped!) Maddie is one of the only ones who can get Sophie to do her deep belly laugh...those who have heard it, know what I'm talking about. It's the deep laugh that sounds like a pretend doll because it's such a classic laughter sound. My favorite sound...my Sophie that happy, she just can't contain it!

Sometimes it will happen...

Now that we have internet, we also have cable. It has opened up many new opportunities that our previous 4 channels just did not allow us, like HGTV. I'm obsessed with this channel because it's all about remodel and decorating. Granted, I'm usually giving my opinion right along with the "professional" because, let's face it, sometimes they just don't know what they're talking about!

Josh said that I'm not allowed to watch anymore, because he thinks that much decorating is unhealthy. I just told him that when he's at work, sometimes it will happen!

Date with Daddy

Sophie got to go on a special disc golfing date with Daddy last night and she had a very fun time...she's getting quite good at eating, I mean, throwing the discs.

Here she is getting her stuff ready to go:



Here she is playing hard...working on the technique:



There's always fun to be had with our great daddy!

Thank You Fisher Price

So, my friend Michelle (based on her adorable family blog) won the opportunity to host a Fisher Price party. They sent her boxes of free and wonderful...did I mention free...toys that kids got to play with and then keep. All we had to do was hang out and then send in our opinions. And anyone who knows me, knows that I would have such a hard time with that! :-) Sophie is very excited about her toys.

Here is the party and the toys (Sophie wouldn't hold still long enough to be in any pictures...big surprise):

I love my family

Sophie is going on an adventure...

My darling girl may not know our words yet, but make no mistake, this girl is great at communication! This morning she was very insistent on having her backpack on...the backpack that is basically her same size. She got it for her birthday, so I've just been using it as her diaper bag. It was very full today and pretty heavy for a little girl, but she was determined. I think she had it on for around 10 minutes. Her adventures even led to explore the container cabinet, what luck!

Borrowing a quote

This was on a friend's blog, but I liked it so much because it's a good reminder when storms of anxiety may arise.

Hope...
Let nothing disturb you.
Nothing dismay you;
All things are passing:
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all that it strives for;
Those who have God find they lack nothing.
God alone suffices.

St. Teresa of Avila

Our Monkey

Yesterday, I was really excited when Sophie climbed up onto her little child's chair and sat at the matching table to play blocks...until her confidence became too much...when we had her do it for Josh's mom later that day, she kept on climbing right onto the table. She then sat there smiling like she had just accomplished a great feat. Waving hi to everyone with a big smile she played momentarily with her blocks until we could take her off. We all had a good laugh when she was distracted with a different toy.

On the Farm...

A few weeks ago, Sophie and I went to see the animals at Lone Pine Farm with our friends Michelle and Maddie and Grayson! It was so much fun. I wasn't sure how Sophie would react, but she loved seeing the animals and even tried to feed them some grass!
Then to make it a true day out, we had to have ice cream!