One cool dude.

This cool dude loves to wear his sunglasses on top of his head just like mommy.
Lookin' pretty cool despite that skinned up chin :-(.

Weekends.

Whew-life seems busier than ever these days!

Up until last weekend we had enjoyed having family in town for the previous three weekends. Our weekends were full of fun trips to the park, Owen's 1st Easter Egg Hunt, a rainy but lovely Easter Sunday, Owen's 1st pony ride, Owen's 1st popsicle, a trip to the zoo, & lots of time playing outside.

Faithful Parenting.

This time last year, our pastor was finishing up an e-mail devotion series that he faithfulyl shared for over a year.

Earlier this week I stumbled upon one of these devotions that I had saved because it resonated with me at the time. As I re-read it, it reminded me of "the big picture" of my role as a parent. It's so easy for me to get bogged down by the smaller details of day-to-day life with a busy toddler and I lose focus on what ultimately matters.

So, I will share it in hopes it will resonate with you-whether you're a parent or not.

Faithful Parenting
April 19th, 2012
3 John 1:4

"I could have no greater joy that to hear that my children are following the truth."
 -3 John 1:4

"A closer pastor friend of mine recently turned my attention to our focus verse. He claims is as his favorite verse. In fact, when his children were young, he would tuck them in at night, touch them on the forehead as if bestowing a blessing, and then he would quote, "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth." Great thought, right?
What could give any parent greater joy than that of knowing that their children were following the truth? Let me remind you that children learn most of what they know from their parents. They watch the example. They listen to the words. They imitate the actions. If you want your children to follow in the truth, then you have to role-model truth for them. Your faith...your fidelity to Christ...your commitment to the church and its ministries, will all be clearly communicated to your children. If you want them to care about matters of faith, then you must care about matters of faith. Why would they develop a passion for things in which you have no interest. Faith matters. Truth is important. The promise of the Gospel needs to be told. If you want to have the joy of knowing your children care about such things, then pour out your life doing the things that matter most. Live with consistency, devotion, and authenticity. What if your child one day turned the phrase and said of you "I could have no greater joy that to know that my parents are following the truth." Remember, you can't leave a legacy if you don't live a legacy."

Father, burden us with the responsibility of carefully role-modeling the faith for the next generation. May we never mar the image of Christ in the eyes of our children. Amen.

-Jon Roebuck

One big guy.

Owen,

I feel like just in the last 2 weeks that you have grown up so much. You're just so big in size, personality, and skill.

You are constantly chatting. You have lots of words that we can't quite understand, but many that we can- mama, dada, hi, bye, dog, cat, brush, bath, teeth, cookie, cracker, cheese, side (for "outside"), crash (your newest word which you learned when I was stacking blocks & you were busy knocking them over). You make animal sounds for cow, sheep, horse, monkey, dog, & snake.

You are always moving. You run all over inside & outside, scatter toys all over the house, chase after Sadie...you rarely stop-even when you're exhausted! Your favorite thing to do is be outside. You cry sometimes nearly uncontrollably when we come back inside. It's just precious to watch you run all over the yard carrying your dollar store shovel!

You're becoming a big boy eater. You're a little more picky than you were a few months ago,but still a great eater. You're willing to try pretty much anything & right now your favorite food is broccoli :-). You are becoming pretty skilled at using a spoon to feed yourself oatmeal, and you're making improvements with the fork too. At school, you now sits in a little chair at a little table rather than in a highchair. At home, we have taken the tray off of your highchair and sit your plate on the table. What a big boy!

You are learning so many new things every day. Watching you learn new things is such a joy for me. You are always watching & imitating what we do which has been a very humbling experience for daddy & I. You have learned that we do certain things in specific rooms of the house so if we tell you it's time to do laundry, you runs to the laundry room or if we say it's time for dinner, you run to your chair in the kitchen. I am so proud of how much you have learned in your 14 months of life!

I love that although you're getting bigger every day, that you still love to run over and kiss me, hug me, & snuggle up. I can't express how much I love you and how proud I am to be your mom.

I love you Owen.

Mommy

Dragon Park.

We had a glimpse of spring a few weekends ago, so we took advantage of the sunny, 70-degree Saturday & headed to "Dragon Park".

This was Owen's 1st  real playground experience and to say he enjoyed it would be an understatement. He played for nearly 2 hours and might have kept going if we hadn't decided that it was time to go.

He had very little interest in the "little guy" playground equipment and went right on over to the bigger equipment. His other favorite activity was playing in the mulch-he's easily amused!

Owen has been back to the park twice since our first trip (once with us & once with Papa & Grandma). We're definitely looking forward to spending lots of time at the park this spring & summer.