McDonald’s

Elle and I met Kim and Monica, who brought Addie and Myles, at McDonald’s for lunch today.  This was Elle’s first fast-food trip.  I ordered two large fries (for just the two of us) and we ate them all.  Delicious.

Addie and Elle

So sleepy now with a full tummy.

Birthday Girl

Happy birthday to our sweet little girl!

Dedication

Last night we dedicated Elle with our small group.  It was such a sweet time.  We are so blessed to have a group of friends who are committed to partnering with God in impacting our lives with truth.  

To us this dedication was a proclamation before God that Elle belongs to Him.  Since she was born, we have been giving her back to Him, but last night we wanted to do it with our small group because they are the people we do life with every week and who pray with us and for us.  We can’t do it alone and know that we have nothing to offer her on our own.  We need God to raise our daughter. 

Receiving her first Bible.

Our friends gathered around us and prayed over us.  It was beautiful.

During the week I was thinking about what scriptures to have read before the group prayed over us and Elle.  I know there are a lot of scriptures that would seem ideal for a child’s dedication, but what I kept going back to was 1 Corinthians 13.  John and I want Elle to see in us that the pursuit of love is the central purpose of life, the most cherished character trait.  “Love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).   

I read the following in a book, “Maybe true love begins with simply admitting — to God, to yourself, and to your child — that you don’t know how to love.” 

This rings so true in our lives.  We come up short on this most every time.  In the end the most important issue is love.  It always has been, always will be.  More than anything else, our daughter needs to know that we truly love her. 

1 Corinthians 13:3-7 and verse 13 reads as follows 

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut.

Doesn’t have a swelled head.

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. 

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.  And the best of the three is love.    

We want to thank our small group and Tim and Nicole Geisland for praying over us that God will continue to reveal to us how to best love our daughter and that we lead her in loving Him and others.

Bed-Head

Mom doesn’t help my bed-head by putting this hat on me.

Expectant

Prayer is [] crying out day and night without seeing justice and continuing anyhow.  The danger is that in waiting so long for Jesus to answer, our unbelief bests our belief, and we stop waiting, stop hoping, stop praying, and just go on with things . . .

To pray well is to cultivate holy patience and perseverance.  It is to practice holy waiting, which means often to keep on praying in spite of the poor results.  “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” Isaiah says, “They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31 KJV). . . God intends waiting to invigorate and replenish us rather than debilitate and deplete us.   

So we wait.  Expectant.  He will show Himself.  How, when, where – we do not know – but He will show Himself.  He always comes through for His beloved.

“His banner over me is love” (Song of Songs 2:4).

Cooler Days

Serious face

Sneaking a peek at dad through the sunroof

Flowers

Elle and her cousin-to-be, Eliana, are going to wear flower clips to the wedding so I had a friend of a friend make them.  Unfortunately, Elle won’t be able to wear one.  You’ll see why below.

She just won’t keep it in, so I put a much smaller one in her hair.  I wore this one to a wedding I was in a few weeks ago.

Much better.

For Uncle Brad

My brother told me that he is tired of seeing pictures of Elle eating stuff.  He suggested I put up pictures of her doing things equally awesome like sword fighting or figure skating.  We don’t have a sword and John’s BB gun would not have the same effect.  Also, figure skating is not in the budget.

Instead, I decided to post a picture of her wearing the shirt her Uncle Brad gave her when she was born.  It finally fits and I’m sure he won’t have any objection to me posting this picture even though she is neither sword fighting or figure skating.

Mac and Cheese

Bananas

All kids try to eat the peel at some point, right?