My Ebenezer

I took the time this evening to upload my photos taken thusfar on our Connecticut trip. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, especially today. Grampy teaching Noah how to "bow an arrow" (Noah's term). We took a hike up a mountain. Uncle Joel was kind enough to tote Noah for part of the way. Josh and Noah on top of the mountain, overlooking the beautiful valley. The group of us, minus Mom Rowley, who stayed at the bottom of the mountain with Titus. We didn't think he could walk that far. ;) Wasn't it just beautiful? I am always fascinated with the way that God has wired into girls and boys their preferences. Take Brianne for example. She picked flowers for her mommy and all her aunts. All girl... Noah, on the other hand, picked up a lizard and offered to let us all hold him. Totally boy. Josh carried Noah part of the way too. Uncle Joel, always helpful. The tower at the very top of the mountain. Today we went to the Yankee Candle store, which is more than ju...

I had forgotten how lovely summer is in New England. I had forgotten how vibrantly green everything is, and how pretty the gardens are; such different flowers from what we see in Florida! I had forgotten what summer was like without humidity threatning to melt you should you venture outside. And folks, I had forgotten that it can actually be chilly in August. Yes, chilly! Thinking I was smart, I packed a zip-up hooded sweatshirt "just in case" an evening or two got a little nippy. Evening, shmevening! Even before we got off the plane, the captain announced, "And it's 66 degrees in Hartford." Gulp. 66 degrees? In the middle of the day ? I looked down at my shorts and short-sleeved shirt I was wearing and grimaced. Yes, folks, it's a little chilly here. So chilly, in fact, that Josh and I went out to the Salvation Army first thing the next morning and bought ourselves some warmer clothes. Who knew? That said though, it really is beautiful here! ...

Lord-willing, tomorrow morning we will board a plane for Connecticut. We will be loaded down with books, dvds, coloring books, little cars, cds, and two little army men to hopefully distract Noah and keep him busy. If you think of it, please pray that the Lord would help him to obey us tomorrow while in transit. Actually, for the whole week would be nice! We've been fighting some mighty big battles lately over basic obedience issues. We are becoming weary of arguing with a three-year-old, and weary of the constant discipline which seems to bear no immediate fruit... But this post wasn't about discipline; that subject can wait til later! For now, we are headed up North for a week away. We're looking forward to cooler temps (I packed a sweatshirt just in case!) and time with family. More to come!

*True Story* I sat down at the computer, rather excited to blog about this week. I was going to share the photos I took, devise witty little captions for them, and enjoy my all-too-infrequent unloading of thoughts into my blog. I plugged in the camera, ready to upload the scores (okay, few ) pictures I had taken, only to be greeted with this message: "No images found on device." Excuse me, what? You mean I have taken pictures all week long and they're GONE? What mistake is this? I turned on my camera and looked for myself. "No image" So. I can jump up and down about it or I can move on and write anyway. These two weeks with Esther have absolutely flown by, at least for me. We've been shopping, to the beach, jet ski riding, I've been working, and she's been playing with Noah. I can't tell you how many games of Chutes and Ladders or Candyland have gone down. Countless. I on the other hand, have been able to go to a doctor's appointment b...

Today I turned 30, and I embraced it. Really, what other choice do you have? You can't change how old you are; might as well jump in with a smile on your face! So now a 30-year-old looks back at me in the mirror, and I'm fine with that. It's who I am. And now, for the party... Josh took me this evening out to eat. Cracker Barrel? Hardly. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse! We had never been, but had heard how good it is, and decided that my 30th birthday was the perfect time to try it out. It. Was. Delicious. Best steak I've ever had. Best everything I've ever had. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience: linen tablecloth, linen napkin, 2 forks, 2 knives, dressed-up waiter, the little scraper they used to scrape our bread crumbs from the tablecloth periodically throughout the meal. They had sprinkled confetti on our table and had a birthday card waiting for me, along with a complimentary (delectable) dessert at the end of the meal. I would have...

Here's the story: Josh and Noah were riding bikes in the driveway. Noah tried to cut too close to Josh's bike, and they wrecked. Josh came out unscathed. Noah.....well.....not so much. See pictures below. And now a question: To get his 3-year-old professional pictures taken on Wednesday as planned or not? I'm open to opinions!

The last few days we've been enjoying ourselves outdoors quite a bit. Esther loves Florida, except for the "bugs and the mugginess." Here's a short recap with pictures of our Saturday. Much of the time, Esther is reading. She finished the 2 books she brought with her, so I raided my own bookshelf in search of a good one. When I discovered she had never read Jane Eyre (a travesty!), nor had she seen the movie.... well, you just need to read Jane Eyre at some point in your life. I told her it's about a girl who becomes a governess for a man with a deep, dark secret. She was intrigued... Noah and I were blowing bubbles. (Take a look at this beautiful, unmarked face. These photos are the last you will see of him this way for a while. Alas, Noah is sporting a pretty bad road rash on his face now due to a nasty fall off his bike last night.) I look like I'm concentrating pretty hard on that bubble-blowing. It wasn't that difficult or complex, I promise...

Here we are, almost halfway through August already! I gave the end of the VBS story yesterday; today I'll continue with other updates. After VBS, we enjoyed a few more days with Mom Rowley while she was still here (staying with Matt and Jen). On Sunday, Mom Rowley and I sang a duet in church, "Count Your Blessings." When we had been practicing that song the week before, Noah had this Major Meltdown because we were singing "his" song without him. He melted down further when he learned that he wouldn't be singing it in church with us either. I have *never* witnessed such behavior from him over something like this. Since when does a song belong to a person, I wonder? Many tears ensued, and it took us awhile to calm him down (and me for that matter). His fit happened to take place in front of about 15 people, and in my experience, those are the most nightmarish for me to handle. I ended up in tears! Thankfully by Sunday, we had no further issues from th...

Remember me? Life has been extremely busy over the last couple of weeks. So busy that, although I would have loved to sit down and blog, time just didn't permit. In fact, it laughed in my face at the mere mention of blogging. So here I am with what seems like weeks worth of news, and I'll just have to jump in. VBS finished off great. I was so impressed with how the teens that came from Connecticut to help out were so willing to, well, help! They embodied "initiative" which is so refreshing in a world where few people have any. They really did their best to serve in whatever way they were needed, and I know we couldn't have run our first VBS without them. Each morning we had more and more children come, which was a direct answer to prayer! Noah invited two of our neighbor kids, who were able to make it. They both had a great time and now I'm praying for more opportunities to expose them to the gospel. Here are a few more pics from that week: Matt Harp...

Last weekend, 22 helpers from Truth Baptist Church in CT travelled the 20+ hours by van to FL to help us run our very first Vacation Bible School. Or if you're Noah, it's called "Evation Bible School". We've had a lot of fun catching up with them, and gearing up for this week! We're already 2 days into VBS and the kids love it. Praise the Lord we had some visiting children yesterday, and even more came today! Here are a few pictures of our first day: Registration Table Older kids' Bible lesson Jen cuddling a nervous Brianne. How do you move a group of little kids? Here's one way! Snack time. Noah looks like he's asking an important question. Probably, "what flavor drink did you get?" Little kids' snack time Little kids' game time. You can't beat parachutes! Little kids' craft time Deep concentration I'm noticing I was heavy on the little kid pictures, and didn't take any of the big kids. Could be because I ...