more dada... and starting to pull up

dada...

Ellie is definitely a daddy's girl...

in the cart

Ellie sat in the cart for the first time today when we went to Meijer for groceries. She did so well! It was great not having to lug her car seat into the store, and the cart cover that I bought has a shoulder harness so she won't tip over to the side. Mom will be proud that I didn't get BABIES' DIAPER GERMS on the seat, nor did I let any existing ones get on Ellie or any of our produce!

Mr. & Mrs. Kidd

Here is a photo of the happy couple from their Oct. 13th wedding. You can't see in this photo but they're both wearing matching red and white Nike Shox sneakers. It was very cute.

They cruised to Bermuda for their honeymoon and are now firmly ensconced back in the booming metropolis of Bath. It's very nice to have Kadee around during the week now!

playing on halloween

Ellie and Jackson... learning to share???

(Sorry about the extra photo - I think it's the fault of my old-school template.)

for locals only :-)

There is actually a quiz for people from Mystic. It's pretty funny. I was a little surprised I didn't score higher, but it HAS been 15 years since I lived there (yikes!)

I scored a 86% on the "How Mystic, Connecticut Are You?" Quizie! What about you?

Mama, Dada... Poop?

It seems like Ellie will stay the same for a while, and then all of a sudden she's hit so many milestones it's hard to keep track. For about a week now she has been saying ma-ma-ma and da-da-da nonstop. I could swear that she said "poop" the other day too which would be quite fitting for our household. It might be my imagination but I think I've heard "Ellie, Doggie, and Baby" in there too. I guess the rule is she has to repeat it, but I haven't heard repeats on "Ellie" or "Doggie" yet. Her diet has expanded to include sweet potatoes and carrots, but she has decidedly rejected peas (see picture) and green beans. Her face at the first taste of green beans was priceless.

the latest

I'm busy today - but I need breaks so I'll be typing on my post throughout my morning. I'm getting progressively more ADD with work as I get older - I used to be able to focus and go for hours but now I need a constant stream of distractions. Maybe it's Facebook's fault. :-)

Tomorrow is Matt and Kadee's wedding. Justin is performing the ceremony, I'm singing, and Ellie is wearing a pretty red dress to match their colors. I can't wait to see Jackson, the ringbearer, in his little tux. How adorable will that be.

Ellie has decided that she loves sweet potatoes. It's amazing how quickly she learns things... now when I put her in her high chair she starts smiling and getting excited, which only escalates when I put her bib on, take her box of cereal out of the cupboard, and turn on the water. By the time I sit down with her sweet potatoes, her eyes are huge and she's bouncing up and down and grabbing for the spoon. It's so adorable!

In our endless house-hunting, we looked at a very cool place in Mason the other day. Almost 100 years old, very unique and unpredictable in layout with two awesome fireplaces, and needing our love. I did get startled and shriek at one point when I glanced into the sink and saw a dead mouse. After the initial shock, I peered back in and noticed that it was lying next to a (thankfully) dead, very very VERY large thousandlegger. It was so large it actually had FAT legs. I'm not daunted by unexpected finds in houses anymore after Justin found a dead rat in the oven of the Stirling Ave. house that we rehabbed, and later discovered the deceased's former home raining down from a ceiling that he removed. After seeing how beautifully that house turned out, one little dead mouse won't deter me. The thousandlegger was a bit frightening though. :-)

Riley's Here!

Riley Khensani Ngubeni arrived Sunday morning at 2:30 AM! What a beautiful little girl - measuring in at 7lb 14oz and 21" long, with a VERY full head of beautiful, soft black hair! Denise and Bambi are doing great. Ellie is so happy to have a girl friend... she let me know this by trying to grab the little bow out of Riley's hair. :-)So far in 2007 Brenna, Jackson, Ellie, Joel, Gavin, Danielle, and Riley have arrived, and we're eagerly waiting for Baby Girl Edson and 2 Baby Boy Johnsons! Baby Craziness!

Disco Preacher....

Watch at your own risk!

words

It's always interesting to me to observe the different eddies and swirls in the flow of life with God. I never talk enough about Him, and it's partly because all the words that we're used to hearing and speaking to describe Him are precisely that - we're used to them, and they tend to lie flatly in my mouth. Terms like spiritual growth, living water, revival- all precisely descriptive, but it's not only non-native speakers of Christianese who tune out at their mention. We all do. In my unending quest to stray from the expected, lately I've been trying to find words that aren't stupor-inducing to describe that vivid reality of His presence. And I'm not having much success. He is so far beyond our words sometimes that I feel like it's almost inappropriate to try and force Him into them.

I think it's for that same reason that His Word is living (Heb. 4:12). It's not just the Bible being described as living, it's that His own words about Himself are multi-dimensional, active, not stale, and not confined to our short-sighted descriptions. We use dead words to try to put God into our understanding; He uses living words to give us a starting place to expand our knowledge of Him. His words are just the beginning - to actively take us from just that, words, into the vibrant knowledge of Him that includes our senses and hearts and souls. Yes, His Word is truly active - it awakens, it grips, it shows, it lightens, it cools, it quenches, it ignites, it soothes, it troubles, it feeds. It is exquisite in that way only He can be.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. (Ps. 51:15)

pic of the tornadic storm, from the south

Click the link for a fantastic pic of the storm on Flickr.
Barn Storming on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

tornadicism

At about 5:30 PM on Friday night we had a tornado come right through Lansing. I happened to be working late that night and was at the International Center on campus, and got herded into the basement with everyone else who was there. Of course I was freaking out as my cell signal cut out in the basement and Justin and Ellie were at home, about a mile north of the damage. There were a few hundred people crowded into the MSU Bookstore sitting and waiting it out.

It turns out that the storm produced an F3 tornado in Potterville, southwest of Lansing, and was still rotating by the time it got to the city. The rotation went right through the South Side, within a block of some of our church members' homes. Luckily no one was hurt and there are just a lot of trees and branches down in the path area. Our favorite Fazoli's restaurant had its windows smashed in by a flying billboard.

the end of an era

It's official: last night I packed up the oboe, went to the UPS store, and sent it off to RDG in Los Angeles to sell on consignment. I have to admit, I did feel a sentimental twinge although it's been sitting in my closet for the past 10 years. There's nothing like that distinct oboe smell when you open the case... although the romantic sentiment rapidly turns south when I start thinking about reeds.

I forgot how much I always had to explain to the general public about what an oboe is. The guy in the UPS store got that faintly amused look when he asked why I needed so much padding and I explained it was an instrument. "What kind of instrument?" I told him a wooden one that could crack with big temperature changes. Look of amusement deepens... then changes to incredulity as I tell him I need to insure it for $4000. "What, do you play in the Boston Pops?" he asks, still laughing. I tell him no but the people who play in the Boston Pops play this type of instrument. I then told him it was an oboe, and then watched him type O-B-O into his form. I politely added the E on the end for him and after laughing at me some more he promptly charged me the $83 I needed to ship it. I just hope it gets there in one piece!

dad is hilarious!

Here's a video Justin made while I was gone last week... I'm glad Ellie was having such a good time.



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8544935170061197192