SEVEN...

Seven years of marriage... I can't believe it. But to my dear husband (of seven years! just trying to make it sink in...), I just wanted to say:

-I love you: if there were enough hours each day to say it a million times, I would.

-You are a wonderful husband: loving, providing, protecting, and serving.

-You are a good man: God-fearing, giving, hard-working, and kind.

-You are an excellent father: patient, fun, and prayerful.

-And, most importantly, I thank God for each day I have with you and look forward to all the ones in the future...

Here's to many, many more anniversaries!

to Your name give glory!

As much as I love telling you all about my efforts at exercise and our adventures, I want to take a moment to talk about something that really matters... adoption.

Right now, our friends Jay and Ashley are flying home from Ethiopia with their two new children. It has been quite a journey of trial and faith, but as Jay was waiting in the airport in Germany on the way to meet his children, he wrote this reminder:

Our spiritual reality before our adoption was much worse than cold feet and bad shoes. We were slaves. Slaves to a master who desired to annihilate us. Thanks be to Him who adopted us as sons. He who adopted us calls us to live purposeful lives for His glory, like soldiers, farmers and athletes that Paul gives as an illustration (2 Tim 2). God grant us the strength to do as you call!

Adoption is a beautiful picture of our God's love for us. According to Galatians 4:3-7, "In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Praise God for his grace and our new-found identity in Him!

In addition, God has shown Himself faithful again in his dealings with Jay and Ashley. You can read their story on their blog here. Please, continue to pray for Little E, their new baby girl, who is still very ill. Pray that God would revive her quickly through the better medical care that she can receive in the US. And most of all, give God the glory He deserves for His tender, loving hand that welcomed us, former enemies of God, as His adopted children AND paved the way for the Browns as they followed in His steps by adopting children who needed love and protection.

I leave you with this from Psalm 115:1-3...

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,

but to your name give glory,

for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Why should the nations say,

"Where is their God?"

Our God is in the heavens;

he does all that he pleases.

10 Months... continued

Now on to the pictures while Oliver was 9 months old. I'm not too far behind, right? He just turned 10 months on March 24... Maybe I'll even complete his 10 months pictures on his 11 month birthday - wouldn't that be impressive? Oliver thinks so...

One of the regular highlights of our week is playgroup. We recently had a new addition to our group: sweet little Frank. These boys are so fun to watch together!

Oliver agrees!

They both have fabulous blue eyes, don't they?

And we had to say goodbye to precious little Stephanie (who had just woken up in this picture!) because she's moved back to London. :( So sad...

Other than that, Oliver continues to amaze us as he grows more into a loving little man each day:

He still adores bath time; it's almost impossible for us to stay dry while he bathes because of the splashing!

And the squirt toys:

Makes your heart melt, doesn't it?

He's also thoroughly enjoyed his new high chair (can you tell he just woke up here?), where meal times are his favorite part of the day. Because I'm succumbing to the pressure of other moms who have posted these facts, I'll share that his list of foods has gotten rather long (despite the 5-day wait rule to watch for allergies), and he loves every bit of it! He's eaten rice and oatmeal; turkey, chicken, beef, veal, and salmon; potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, winter squashes, and zucchini; peas, green beans, broccoli, lentils; apples, pears, prunes, and bananas. His favorite finger foods are rice cakes and green beans, and he eats most things very finely chopped now, but no longer really pureed.

He drinks a little water during meals, but otherwise we're keeping milk as his main liquid.

Anyway, other than food and baths, play time is all he's got. Ain't that the life?!?!

He is quite a serious little player sometimes, with a passion for taking things OUT of bags, buckets, cabinets, etc. He hasn't really gotten the hang of putting things back IN... but I'm realistic; I know it may never come.

Can't beat the joy, though:

Or the intensity:

And even more than his toy bucket, he loves to play with whatever household items I leave within his reach. These pillows made a great play zone:

And dad's drumsticks are an absolute favorite:

But most surprising to me is his fascination with the washing machine. He loves to simply sit and watch it spin around (we have a front loader)... hilariously precious, if you ask me:

I know I probably sound so mushy and pathetic, but this kid is amazing. He still does his fair share of whining, and he wakes up sometimes at night when his teeth hurt... But truly, we could never have imagined that he would be the blessing that he is. I am constantly amazed by how he and his actions illicit a love from my heart that I've never known. What an amazing thing to think that our Heavenly Father loves us all the more...

Support Our Troops

A detour from our Italy trip posts... sort of. While in Naples (post to come soon), we had the privilege of visiting my older brother, Rhys. He is with the US Army and has been stationed in Naples to work with NATO for the past year and a half. He just left yesterday for Afghanistan.

We love you, Rhys. We miss you. And we're praying for you. I appreciate any reader who is willing to do the same.

Thanksgiving

At the risk of sounding cliche, I am thankful for family, friends, food, and fun. All of which we were blessed to experience over Thanksgiving this year. In fact, since we currently live in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving (no, France is not Godless and ungrateful, Thanksgiving is just a New-World tradition.... think about it), we got to celebrate it twice: once on Thanksgiving Day and again on the weekend when all our American friends (plus some extras ;) were able to get together.

On Thanksgiving Day, Tim and Rachel were kind enough to host us:

Rachel prepared a fabulous feast:

Blaine entertained Chris with puzzles and games:

Baby Jude was precious and relaxed as usual:

And Oliver seemed to revel in the occasion:

Then, on Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting many thankful people. We had an incredible pot-luck feast:

People crammed into our little kitchen to make their plates:

And we ate for hours:

Not forgetting dessert, of course:

With 14 adults, 6 children (5 under the age of 2), and one dog, there was never a dull moment:

But sweet Jude was precious and relaxed as always... can you believe this fabulous kid?

And, I believe, fun was had by all. To the Philbricks:

The Garners:

And all our sweet friends (who, for some reason, escaped the camera that day), THANK YOU for being so wonderful. And, most importantly, thank you, Father, for we know that "every good and perfect gift" comes from you. Amen.

Running the Race...

Now I am not a runner myself, but I can say that if anything is going to motivate me to run it is a combination of encouragement and competition because, yes, I have been known to be a bit competitive from time to time (please keep your snickers and smirks to yourselves, friends). I love how the Spirit uses Scripture to cut straight to our core:

Therefore, since we are surrounded

by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us... run with endurance the race

that was set before us. Hebrews 12:1

That was the theme verse for our church retreat last weekend.

Don't get me wrong, the whole retreat was wonderful: excellent speakers, challenging sermons, inspirational worship, and (leave it to the French) great food; but the part that made the most impact on me was simply the fellowship. Of course, that only underlined the first portion of our theme verse, "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." I was SO blessed by spending time with this incredibly eclectic bunch: North Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans, and South Americans (unfortunately, Australia was not represented... maybe we should invite some Australians to our church ;). How incredible is that?!?! And, even better, we found great unity and friendship because we are the body of Christ. Beautiful. So, for me, the photo version of this weekend is basically a montage of people and their interactions.

Mad and Stephanie, adorable.

Tiffany, gorgeous.

Mad... not sure what he was doing, actually, but it made me laugh!

Marwen wins the prize for kindness to the little humans; he was a pro with Oliver.

And good with sweet little Gabriel, too.

Speaking of little humans, there were some PRECIOUS children there. Lucy-Bell (hope I spelled that right, Jaz!) has the most beautiful skin.

And I love daddy/daughter pictures.

And mommy/son pictures.

Talk about Bambi eyes. I don't know how you do it, Tim and Rachel; I'd give in to those eyes every time.

And precious little Jude was an angel, as usual.

I think the prize for the most photogenic child ever, though, goes to Joni. Even with a busted nose (little boys will fall down...), he is loved by the camera.

Doesn't this look like it should be on the front of the game box?

Speaking of games, the adults had some serious competition going. The basketball started right away, and from the pictures, Sherman seems to be the star (though I think it might partly just be that his red shirt stood out well!):

Connie and Thomas (bless you, both!) organized some hilarious games for the group. The spelling game (teams had to spell the answers to the clues given; first time to complete it got a point) had some teams strategizing.

Others seemed to be questioning their answers.

While still others were simply competing. Sandra's face. Pastor Al's stance. Priceless.

Most importantly, fun was clearly had by all.

Another game (4 on a couch) had half the room removing one shoe. Brilliant idea, by the way, for making two teams; much better than the risque "shirts and skins" m.o. of most junior high football games.

It took us all a while to understand the game. In our defense, it's a complicated game to begin with, but there were close to 50 people, many whose first language was not English, and plenty of people who did not know everyone's name. I repeat, complicated.

But fun. And, for the record, the one-shoes won. [yes, that's my foot in the brown and orange doing a victory kick]...

Even more hilarious was the game Fast and Furious, which we played the following night. Poor Thomas and Connie tried to referee, but the mobs did not make it very easy on them.

Just to give you a taste of the game, it ended Olivier and Fred wearing lipstick. I repeat, hilarious.

There were also board games galore and even a little karaoke. Good times.

One of the highlights was the beach, a mere 5 minutes away. I took about a million beach pictures, but most will be saved for another day. For now, suffice it to say:

And Rachel found a cool shell.

On the way back, Tim and Blaine raced. Blaine smoked his dad, of course.

And Dannayea joined them after the race.

Truly, I cannot put into words the beauty of this weekend. The camaraderie. The encouragement. The blessing.

A family for us so far away from our own. Thank you, all, for being part of our great cloud of witnesses.