toofs

It is a lovely day in Memphis. Cool weather and clear skies, fall in the air! We had a great weekend: time in Jackson with the Curlins (a sweet time of renewal with the Lord), time spent blowing up the new whitewater raft (the expression on Joel's face when the raft arrived was similar to the one he had at Jaden's birth!), a roller-blading costume party with people from our church body (trust me, rollerskating in costume as an adult is far better than the 10 yr old birthday parties that I was so selfconscious at as a child, this was a blast!).

As for Jaden, he is all over the place...he crawls like a pro, pulls up on anything and walks anywhere as long as he has a sofa or wall to hang on to. He's so precious: he says mamamama mama often and also likes to hum along with music, specifically the rabbi who raps - I can't spell or pronounce his name. He currently loves to feed himself anything he can get his little fingers on and his favorite time of the day is when I hand him his toothbrush and let him go to town...see the picture.

long month

These are some shots of my friend Caden and me hanging out, he likes to read and I like to turn pages.

Below is Dad and me in the new house...this is the guest room, make your plans to come visit us because you'll have a room all to yourself!! We don't have to share anymore, though I do enjoy slumber parties!
It has been a while since we've put up a post. First of all, my camera battery charger is packed and in some random box in the new house. We, however, are still in our old house, enjoying the last few weeks in our beloved first home. We have also had a packed few weeks, as if the weeks before that were not packed and crazy and emotional enough.

Since our last post, we've half-way moved, put our house on the market and had it shown many times (which is great!), had the new house painted from top to bottom and dealt (or begun to atleast) with the most difficult and sad time in the span of our short, but full marriage. Three weeks ago we found out that we had lost the baby growing inside of me. That precious child lived for 8 weeks and 6 days but for some reason unknown to us, his or her life ended there. We were shocked to find out we were pregnant, and far more shocked to find out the baby had died. It has been a sweet time of that "unexplainable peace" from God and also a much more sad time than I could have ever imagined. Even as I type, there is just a deep heart ache inside me...yet our God who made us and loves us shows Himself to be so faithful in these times. It's is so ironic to me that during the times that I think I'd question His presence the most - those are the very times that I know Him to be more real than ever. The times that I think would be the most difficult to grapple with questions of "why?" are the very times all the noise around me becomes silent and my heart is given a peace that could only be a gift, because it's simply not something I could muster up. So I am thankful. Thankful even for the pain of loss because it makes real the beauty of life - though I'd never have chosen this path myself and if I could change things, I would. I am all the more thankful for the life of Jaden as I am again reminded that each day, for him and for us, is a gift and we are not promised tomorrow. So today I will live in gratitude and trust that this way, though not my way, is best.