Happy Birthday Jesus!

The God who opens the womb, giving the gift of children, became a child growing in the womb of a woman.

The One we depend on for everything became dependent on human parents.

The One who holds the universe in His hands was held in the arms of Mary.

The One who created the first woman was born of a woman.

The Ancient of Days became a newborn.

The Helper became a helpless baby.

The Creator became a creature.

(I read this from a friend's blog and had to share. Just love it!)

Merry Christmas! Let's celebrate the birth of our Saviour! Happy Birthday Jesus! We thank you for all our many blessings - and praise you for your miraculous life, love, and sacrifice.

Thanksgiving 2009

I am sooo behind on my blogging, but I couldn't forget to include our Thanksgiving festivities. We spent Thanksgiving with Matt's dad and step-mom in northern IN. We always have so much fun visiting them and of course Brooks loves to see Grandpa, Nonna, more cousins, aunts & uncles! On our way, we stopped at Arnold's Drive-In as usual. On our way into town, we stopped to see Granny Miller. She was so surprised and happy to see us! She is always so gracious and thankful. That evening, we were blessed by a visit from Uncle Tim & Aunt Sondra. So happy to see them and thankful they took the time to come see us!

For Thanksgiving dinner, Bobbie made her delicious steaks along with the sides we all love - sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, etc. I've never been a big red meat girl, and really didn't like it until I was pregnant - which is when I craved red meat. I blame my newfound liking to steak on Brooks. Dinner was wonderful! Bobbie is the hostess with the mostess!

The next morning we had our usual breakfast at Essenhaus - but just the 3 of us this time. Sooo good! We also had to visit the mall - I really enjoy the Christmas hussle and bussle at the mall. Some people hate it, but I love it! Didn't do any buying, but enjoyed ourselves anyway.

We visited one of Matt's childhood friends, Justin, and his family. Justin and Erin were in town from CO and we don't get to see them often since Matt & Justin both moved away after college. We had a short visit, but good to see them, as always.

Unfortunately, our trip up north was cut short by Brooks' sleeping escapades, or lack thereof. For some reason, he would wake up every 2-3 hours. Thought maybe his teeth were bothering him , but Tylenol didn't even do the trick. So, in order for mama to get some sleep, we decided to come home early - after only 2 nights. The fact that we were leaving for FL the following week contributed to our decision to leave. The sooner we could get home and get Brooks' sleep back to "normal" the better. (Funny thing is, he has slept great since, EVEN in FL! Who knows!) That little stinker! :)

Enjoy some photos from our lovely Thanksgiving 2009...

Our delicious dinner

Brooks & Granny

Brooks with Uncle Tim & Aunt Sondra

Jaden teaching Brooks how to play piano

Justin & Matt with Logan & Brooks

Brooks opening his very First Christmas presents from Grandpa & Nonna

8 Months

My beautiful baby boy is 8 months old today! Unbelievable! We are so very blessed and thankful for him. He has brought so much joy and love to our family. He's only been here for 8 months, but I'm not sure what we did before him. It's as if he's always been with us. He is so much fun - a bundle of laughs, giggles, coos, and babble! He hasn't started crawling yet, but probably will any day now. I'm not worried or rushing him - I kind of like being able to leave the room without looking back wondering where he is off to or if he is following me. Enjoying it while it lasts! :) Here are some recent pics of him. By the way, according to our scale at home, he is weighing 20 lbs!

What a beautiful little smile...

The look on his face here is priceless...


Daddy & Brooks on his 1st Halloween

Brooks' Dedication

Brooks was dedicated to the Lord on October 25th, 2009! This most important day was incredibly special and we will remember the celebration forever. We are so thankful to our families who were present to share in our joy and praise. And we are so thankful they committed to join us in lifelong prayer for Brooks and our family. The verse we chose for Brooks is below - this is our prayer for him:



For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Colossians 1:9-12

Our family with Pastor Jeff

Such a special day...you are our gift from the Lord, Brooks. May you follow Him all the days of your life. He is our comforter, our deliverer, our provider, our joy, our strength, our Saviour.
We all love you and will pray for you continually - may you seek Him in all you do and love Him with all your heart.

Brooks & Tay-Tay!

We were able to visit Charity & Tatum a few weeks ago. They are so cute together. Not quite old enough to interact much, but they're getting there. When we first put them next to each other, they barely looked at the other. Then after a few minutes they were grabbing each other and we eventually had to separate them! They may be little, but they sure have a mean "grab"! Ha, ha!

Tatum has her cute little hand on Brooks

I think Brooks was wanting to kiss her here :)


Now he wanted to eat her hands!

Ah, sweet Tatum lovin on Brooks

7 Months!

Brooks is 7 months old today. Can't believe it. He has been changing so much lately. Sometimes I look at him and see such a "big boy"! He is so much fun and so easy going. This past month, he had his first trip to a pumpkin patch/fruit farm. And he also caught his first cold. :( He was congested for about 2 weeks and his cough is still lingering. Sleep was quite challenging for him at first, but he is much better now. He was such a trooper through it all. Didn't hardly fuss at all, except at night when he couldn't sleep. And thankfully he never developed a fever. Here are some pictures of this past month...

Checking out his bat

Love it when he makes this face...

First Bites!

Well, it's been a while since lil Brookser had his first bites, so I better let you all know how my little one likes his new taste of food. He loves it! We offered his first food, sweet potatoes ( a mommy favorite!), and he didn't bat an eye! He acted as though he'd been eating this stuff all along. And let me tell ya, he has liked everything we have fed him. No funny faces. No refusals. Just eat. Ha! Hopefully this means that our little guy won't be a picky eater like his mama and daddy were! :) Here are a couple of our favorite pics of him having his first bites, and his first try at a sippy cup!

Patiently waiting for his first bite