Our Little Chatterbox

Zion, our sweet little girl.  You have discovered your voice.  And we could not be happier.  We are so thoroughly impressed by your level of understanding and your ambition in developing your vocabulary.  Each day we are surprised by your many new concepts and words grasped.  We know you are a gifted young lady, already surpassing our highest expectations of your brilliance.  Keep doing your thing little girl, Mama and Dada are so very proud!

As of today (only 16 months old!) you can say the following words (*and signs):

Amen

Apple

Banana

Baby*

Backpack

Ball*

Bath
Belly Button
Boat

Book

Bike

Bye-Bye*

Boo-Boo

Bible

Car
Choo-Choo

Coffee (Okay, so you still say Ca-Ca but I think it counts)
Cookie

Dada

Dog

Duck

Down*

God

Happy
Hi*

Help*

Icky (Which sounds like "y tu?")

Key

Love (which is more like Vah)

Mama

Map
Me

Meow
Mine

Moo

More*

Milk*

Nana

No (Which I have to stop encouraging, but you say it SOOOO cute while scrunching your little nose, lol.)

Oh
One

Owie
Pig

Poo-poo

Please

Pray*

Pretty

Shoes

Socks

Thank you
Three
Truck
Train

Turtle
Two

Up*

Violet

Water

Word

World

Woah!

Wow

You also count to 3!!

We are incredibly impressed and feel so blessed to be your Mommy & Daddy.  God has richly blessed you, daughter, both inside and out!  We love you!

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Deep Breath In, Deep Breath Out

What a day I've just had!  Seriously, today was full of challenges, crazy temptations, and emotions.  Before I plunge you into the madness, let me just say that, I have really changed.  Not like, "Oh you hit your 30's"maturity boom, but more, "Wow, God is really changing me from the inside out" kind of change.

I've always been sort of a "hard" person - extremely tough on the outside, stoic, unshakable even.  Not. Any. More.  Lately, I have been repeatedly blindsided by my emotions, the outward display of them as well as the intensity.  I'm not on any hormones.  I am not a wimp.  I am just easily moved to deep feelings over things that I used to appear numb to.

Don't get me wrong...this post is not a complaint at all, more of a revelation or an "ah-ha."  I used to think that my inability to display emotion was a permanent part of my personality, but I've come to realize, over a lot of grueling soul searching over the last decade, that it was actually a self-defense measure I acquired in childhood.  I am realizing how it made me seem phony, and callus to many people who I genuinely care about and longed to connect with.  I fear I may have even lost out on friendships because people took my lack of emotion as indifference or contempt.  Brutal introspect aside, and as uncomfortable as my newly flowing emotions are making me, there is so much joy in knowing that the huge wall that kept me so reserved, is now down.  I feel, ALIVE!

I am vulnerable and it feels great.  There, I said it.  So, about today, already...

Top 5: October 2011 Events

Oh October, the month where days turn a little darker, a little colder and remind me how very few of them are left in the year!!  Looking forward to:

1.  Date Night! I am slightly embarrassed to admit that Jerry and I have not been out for a date in many months.  That is all about to change!  We have a sitter booked for the evening and will be heading out for a little romance - all a surprise to me at this point.  Can't wait to follow up with a post for that night!

2.  Mom's Group! I volunteered to host a mom's group (sans kids) on Thursday evenings (bi-weekly) starting on the 6th.  I am not only excited to dig into another meaningful study of God's word, but to reconnect with some ladies I have not seen for most of the Summer.

3.  Family Visit!  My wonderful mother and father in-law will be joining us the second weekend of the month and we have already begun to plan a trip to farm for fall festivities including: apple picking, pumpkin picking, hayrides, corn mazes and petting fuzzy little farm animals.  I can't wait for Zion to experience this for the first time, and in the company of her grandparents!

4.  Fall Festivals!  New York City has a ton of kid-friendly events to celebrate fall.  While Jerry and I are not big on Halloween itself, we are fine with Zion experiencing the fun of the non-scary activities.  We'll be hoping to attend a few different events, possibly the Madison Square Park Fall Kids Fest, Halloween Parade & Pumpkin Sail and the 69th Street Halloween Block Party.

5.  Baking/Cooking with Fall Ingredients: This year I plan to make my first ever Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Spiced Apple Cider with my juicer (and the apples we pick), Pumpkin Bread, delicious roasted Acorn Squash and so much more!  Don't worry I will definitely be posting up recipes as often as I can!

What are your plans for October?  What do you love about Fall?

Far Away From Home: Why Community Matters

I have a rather large family, which continues to grow.  Pictured above are my 5 sisters, 1 brother and 3 step brothers.  (Not shown is 1 brother and 2 brother-in-laws, 1 sister-in-law).  As crazy and ridiculous as it can be to have so many siblings, it is also a ton of fun.

When my sisters and I were younger we used to dream about living on the same street, raising our families together...growing old together.  We never anticipated that we'd end up spread out across the country, thousands of miles away from each other.

Developing a Theology of Homemaking

Image from TheWayEverlasting.com

A few weeks ago during a message series called, "Joining God in the Renewal of All Things", our Pastor Jon Tyson spoke on being on the "Redemptive Edge" of your industry.  A key example of what he meant by that statement was his description of a common misconception of how we can bring change to our very broken and corrupt world.

Pastor Tyson gave the example of placing a strong Christian in a "CEO" type position at a major cable company in order to create lasting change in broadcasting and programming.  He refuted this idea by stating that even if that were to happen, any major changes would be usurped by the demand of the masses for the very material we would want removed.  It wouldn't take long before the board of directors would send the Christian CEO packing.  

Instead, he suggested, that same Christian could get thoroughly invested in the philanthropy oriented area of the company, where he could offer suggestions where large amounts of profit could actually be used to do good in the world, therefore redeeming it for the Glory of God.   

Mommy's Little Helper, Daddy's Little Princess

Zion is growing and changing with each passing day.  We are incredibly blessed to have such a beautiful, charming and spirited little girl.  We can't help but look at her now with pure delight, even as she begins to explore her independence and test her limits.

I have found that where she used to love to follow simple commands, and as a result receive lavish praise from Jerry and I, she now gives me a little smirk as if she's saying, "What if I don't?"  In order to combat this, I have noticed that I now need to make every simple task a fun and exciting one.  This is actually pretty easy...I just ask her if she will be Mommy's Big Helper, to which she enthusiastically nods her head.  Granted, it does take sometimes 3-4 times as long to do the simple things, it prevents a melt down and keeps her busy, while making her feel proud and purposeful.

Zion has always loved being a girly girl.  From the very beginning she has loved it when I have gotten her dressed in "Prih-tee" clothes or have spent time doing her hair.  She loves to gather all of the materials from my bedroom - her hair pretties, brush, spray bottle and comb.   She plops down on my lap and away I go doing her hair.  The minute I finish, she pops up quickly and toddles over to the full length mirror to admonish herself.

To see her big smile as she looks at herself and loves what she sees, is adorable.  She appears to be getting close to the age where twirling and showing Daddy her "Prih-tee" dress or "Prih-tee" hair is a part of the day to day ritual.  We sure love our little princess, who's personality is certainly blossoming before our very eyes.