Going...to Celebrate!

February has been the month of celebrations! We celebrated Matt's Mom's 50th birthday, Matt's 24th birthday, and Elizabeth's Dedication. Also, Ellie just turned 6 months yesterday.  We have been fortunate to celebrate and spend some great time with our families and friends this month!

First, we headed down to Findlay, Ohio, to celebrate Matt's Mom's birthday.  We had fun giving her a basket of her "50 Favorite Things" and going to The Bistro for dinner.  We also watched the Calvin/Hope basketball game on the big screen at the local Buffalo Wild Wings.  The best part of the weekend (in my opinion!) was going to the tea house with the girls.  We enjoyed scrumptious treats, tea and had great "girl" conversation!

Last weekend we celebrated Matt's birthday and Ellie's Dedication.  After the Calvin basketball game (of course!), we got together with my family and Matt's family for dinner and then headed over to the VP's for dessert.  Catherine had an amazing trio of desserts: individual strawberry shortcakes, blueberry caramel cheesecake, and peanut butter truffle brownies!  Yum!  It was so nice of the VP's to have all of us over!

On Sunday, we all headed to our church, Ada Bible Church, and were delighted to hear Pastor Ed Dobson speak on "Do Not Worry".  It was a real treat to hear him, as some of us used to hear him at Calvary Church before he retired due to having Lou Gehrigs's disease.  After, we had lunch at our house before heading back to church for Ellie's Dedication service.  It was a very meaningful service filled with worship, a challenge to parents, and a time to gather with our family to read a blessing.

We were glad to have the opportunity to publicly dedicate ourselves as parents to raise Elizabeth Joy in Christ.  We hope that we may model for her and teach her how to follow Christ.  In our letter to Elizabeth, we told her...God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die so that you may have an abundant life in Him - both on Earth and in Heaven.  As believers in Him, we know that nothing else on Earth even compares to the JOY of knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior!  We were so thankful for our families and close friends to be there with us for that special day!

Elizabeth has truly been a joy to play with in the last month.  She is sitting, grabbing for ANYTHING in her sight, and she loves to giggle!  She likes her veggies (we will see how long that lasts)!  Our cell phones and the remote are more fun than her toys.  She is quickly growing out of her clothes (had to sadly retire her Trumpette socks). She sleeps through the night, but still needs her swaddle.  The activity center makes her laugh out loud every time she is in it.  It has been fun to watch her develop more each week!

We have been so blessed to have these special moments with our families and friends recently!  Time has gone by so fast in the past few months, and we cannot believe that it is already half-way to Ellie's 1st birthday!  We are trying everyday to enjoy each moment together, and are thankful to God for His good gifts each day in our lives, as we know that "Every good and perfect gift comes from Him" (James 1:17).

Growing...to 14 Weeks and 14 Pounds

This Fall has flown by.  It has been weeks since I last updated, and I have no idea how I can fill in all that we have done in the last month.  Ellie has been growing SO fast.  She is three and a half months old and is definitely becoming more and more of her own person everyday.  She makes so much noise- squealing, gaahing, and sometimes even giggling.  She is constantly entertained by people smiling and being goofy to her, and she gives the most adorable smile.  We had to retire her newborn clothes-a bit sad, but we are thankful that she is healthy and growing strong!  She weighed 14 pounds today...almost double her birthweight!

We have done a lot in the last few months!  In addition to our cottage trip, we saw my family in Plymouth and Matt's in Findlay.  We saw PCMB (our old marching band) perform at GLI.  We had our own "Little Pumpkin" on Halloween.  We celebrated Laura's 21st birthday, our nephew Peter's 2nd birthday, and my Mom's birthday.  We had visitors too.  My friend Hannah from Calvin came in from Minnesota.  My good friend Caryn (practically my sister growing up) came back from California and visited us for a few fun-filled days. Matt and I went on our first "date" since before Ellie was born (thanks to the VP's).  Patti and Zac came up for Calvin "B-BALL"!  We are so thankful for these special times with family and friends recently. Thanksgiving is already in a few days and the Christmas season will soon be rolling (for some of you it already is)!  We look forward to many more fun times in the next few weeks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going...to get over the Tiger's loss and get ready for Calvin Basketball!

Last night was a sad night in our household.  For those of you who know Matt, you would understand.   Ever since he went to the old Tiger's Stadium when he was young, he has been a faithful fan of the team through the  good years and the bad (more of the bad).  When we started dating, I quickly realized that Matt has a passion for sports, especially Tiger's baseball.   I adjusted to the fact that on 162 days of the year, there would be a game at 7:05 or 1:05 (DVR is a necessity!).   As a result, I have grown to enjoy baseball and we have fun watching it together.

So, back to last night.  The Tiger's lost in the 12th inning against the Twins, losing their first place division standing.  For the entire season, we were confident that the Tiger's would make it to the playoffs, and last night, they lost it all. I won't go into the details - Matt and Zac have that covered in their blog (mittensportsreport.com).  I am sad for the Tiger's and for Matt, but we have hope.  Matt's next favorite team, the Calvin Knights, are hitting the court later this fall.  And soon we will have our Saturdays scheduled for the VanNoord Arena (and perhaps a few exciting road trips).  Matt, this is my ode to you:  We have hope, and not that kind of Hope, as in the Flying Dutchmen, but hope in that we have a new team to follow starting on November 10.  And, of course, spring training will be here again in no time.