quick pics

Lookin' more like Grandpa Chamberlin...back in the 80's and 90's.

(Dad, I think you had this exact outfit! HA)

 

 Winter pajamas are our favorite around here!

17 Months gone by...

The last 17 months have been very wonderful!

Very few days go by where we are not so abundantly grateful for Ethan.

Although it's been 17 months, it still feels like a short time ago that we brought him home from the hospital.

We are enjoying getting to know him more and more, and delight in loving him!

 

He is our son, and with him we are well pleased!

We are thankful for...

 

A little bit of sun...

A whole lot of smiles....

Always time for sand...

 

 A few more sticks...



A time to sit...

A little bit of silly...

 

A whole lot of sweet!

 

Psalm 118:1

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

 

And a good reminder:

Zechariah 4:10 NLT

"Do not despise these small beginnings..."

A little more fall please!

I have been working on this post for about 3 weeks now and can never quite finish it!

It is still not finished yet, but here are the pictures I have so far, and I will add more, hopefully very very soon! There are so many to add!

 

Ethan enjoying the outdoor fall weather!

Learning to work together on things as a family.

Just a little fun!

 

Pretending to eat the pumpkin stems...it's a fun game around here. 

Ethan in a diaper never get's old...right now anyway!

 

Cute, sweet boy! So much laughter!

 

Ethan at Center Grove Orchard pumpkin and apple farm.

He is very curious about the animals.

It was such a fun afternoon as a family!

 

 

Sitting on a 130lb pumpkin!

 

Throwing hay was one of his favorite things to do. 

 

 

I taught him how to feed this goat!

 

"Look Mom."

 

And he fed the goat by himself! 

 

Entering a "3 little pigs" house!

 

 

stay tuned...more to come!

 

2 Timothy 3 NLT

(our prayer for Ethan and our family)

^"10 But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance....

¹⁴ But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. ¹⁵ You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus."

 

 

Dinner Time Prayer

Happy Birthday Steve!

We love you, and you are an amazing man, husband, father, and friend!

 

If you are reading this blog, I just want to start with this; this blog is entirely so I will not forget a sweet moment with our baby boy that brought me so much joy and laughter today:

At dinner time, Steve and I always hold hands to pray before we eat. We usually hold Ethan's feet, as he is in between us in his high chair already eating. Tonight, Steve asked Ethan if he wanted to hold hands too. Ethan's face seemed to express him exercising his will and he chose, yes, I want to hold your hands and join in- as he reached out to grab each of our hands. So, there we were, the three of us holding hands, heads bowed and Steve began to pray. Ethan sat there holding our hands quietly, but looking really confused like, "what is going on," (the look he always gives us when we pray before dinner).

As Steve was praying, I was peeking at Ethan *). After a few moments, Ethan kept holding Steve's hand, let go of mine, grabbed a few oyster crackers from his high chair, put them in his mouth, and then grabbed my hand again; like nothing happened, like I didn't notice.

Meanwhile, I started to laugh, and needless to say, our saying grace before the meal was over.

The silly little boy was so sweet, innocent in that moment, and just funny!

I never want to forget this and the look on his face!

It's so awesome to see him want to be a part of our family and want to follow our example in things.

The example of praying as a family, not sneaking food in the middle of prayer! HA!

 

Also, I have a small NLT bible that Ethan really enjoys. He is always gentle with it, I actually give it to him to hold and carry around and we have never had any ripped pages or anything; yet. He says, "bible," which is what he calls every book right now.

He will open the bible and act like he is reading it outloud. He holds it up in front of his face, looks at the pages, and talks jibberish. This bible also distracts him for a longer time than most of his toys.

It's really cute to watch, and actually really blesses my heart a lot too.

Time always tells in a person's life, but right now, it's awesome to see Ethan's little heart so interested in and gentle with God's Word; wondering about this book that we hold so dear to our hearts.

I pray the Lord would keep stirring his heart through his Holy Spirit; that one day he would be a man after God's own heart, with genuine, sincere faith, and he would bear fruit unto salvation!

 

Ethan we love you so much!

Now, here are some pictures!

 

 

pumped about pumpkins!

Steve carving our family pumpkin!

Enjoying time together watching dad, playing in the pumpkin fun, and enjoying the company of friends!

 

Psalm 86:11

"Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you."



Hearts of Fathers to their children!

"He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers"

Malachi 4:6

 

 

 

Quick Pics!

 

Our Sweet 15 Month Old!

We delight in you Ethan!

It's been really fun watching Ethan grow. His personality is emerging more and more and he is such a delight to Steve and me.

He's getting big!

We too praise God for another healthy baby appointment!

 

I am so glad I caught this picture: the Bjurstrom boys!

Ethan is not quite walking everywhere on his own without falling, but he is getting close and can walk from one side of a small room to another!

GOOD JOB ETHAN!!

 

We are very excited about the seasons changing.

We take wagon rides as a family pretty much every day and I really like to bundle Ethan up; it WAS cold this day so a hat was justified! Oh yes, the blanket too!

We walk through the neighborhood and see what we can collect to put in Ethan's orange bucket.

We mostly find leaves, sticks, rocks, and acorns! Such a fun time!

Ethan will sit in his wagon and sing, talk, and point to all the birds and dogs!

 

Ethan is getting pretty good at throwing a ball and I see that soon we will have to rule out throwing balls in the house!

This is not a clear picture, but I wanted to share at least what I had;

preparing Ethan for the FUN FUN snow!

Ethan really likes books, especially books about animals.

We took a trip to the zoo the other day as a family; Ethan's first zoo experience!

It was a wonderful time and kept Ethan distracted from his tooth pain and cold.

Steve and I drank Starbucks coffee, which was needed after a recent night we had with Ethan, which you will read about below.

 

Ethan having fun with Jade!

He is really sweet with her and they make each other smile!

Jade is the daughter of some friends of ours in our bible study whom we have welcomed into our home Monday-Friday each week.

It has been a really wonderful time and God has given me so much grace! It has not been as difficult as I thought it would be!

Oh yes, and here is THE NIGHT.

Two nights ago may have been Ethan's worst night ever. Poor guy, he screamed pretty much all night, we are pretty sure because of teeth. Thankfully this was a night Steve did not have to work so we took two hour shifts holding the little guy and occassionally sleeping next to him. This is the only way he would fall asleep; which was only 3 times through the night and for 1-2 hours at a time.

It was so hard to console him but he just screamed and threw his body if we held him OR put him in his crib; even with ibuprofen on board.

I have never heard of a baby having such a hard time with teething and I have felt VERY unprepared for this extreme event.

Ethan did get 9 teeth in a matter of two weeks, and 7 of them within 4-5 days.

It has been crazy!!!!!

We are so thankful Ethan is feeling better; for his sake and ours!



 

And hear is the cute little man with his hands on our shoulders!

We pray that Ethan would only continue to give us his heart!

 

 

 Proverbs 23:26 NLT

"O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways."

 

Proverbs 20:7

"The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them."