Our Journey, His Work

Monday, August 25, 2014

Cornerstone Visit

We have been looking forward to the weekend of August 15-17 for a while now because our brothers & sisters in Zionsville, Indiana came to visit us in Robbinsville for the weekend! After many trips to Indiana over the past year, we were delighted to have the elders and church members of Cornerstone Community Church come to our neck of the woods! It was a JOY to see all of them, see what the Lord is teaching them, and reconnect with one another!

The elders shared at church on Sunday morning the journey they have been on up until now and it is evident how sweetly Jesus' pursues His Bride! It is super encouraging to here that they are not focused on 'tangible' things such as church growth, numbers, offering, etc. but completely zoned in on being conformed to the image of His Son daily and becoming hole!

On Saturday, we enjoyed lunch at Colin's house and then everyone toured ETM's property and the vision of the ministry was shared! For those of us with kids - we stayed behind and enjoyed some front porch sitting and catching up.

Wyatt & Andrew

Aunt Dana & Wyatt

We start them young around here :)
Working on garden goodies!

Front porch talks!

LOVE how Dana loves on Jayden (and Wyatt) -
SHE IS SO GREAT!

Cornerstone & Our ETM team!

YESSSS love the background action!!!

Serious talks!

Ellen, Jess & I

LOVE THIS FACE!
AND he is about to be ONE (YIKES)

Cadyn & Jayden are only 5 days apart!

Meet photographer GINA (aka AUTUMN)

The Carmichaels & Shulers (Plus Miss Melissa Thacker)

In order to send off our Cornerstone family well - Lil Frank showed off his back flip moves that he learned at Governor's school this summer! DO ENJOY!

What a fabulous weekend bonding with our family in Indiana!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

TWO MONTHS

On August 7th, Jayden was TWO MONTHS old. Of course, I loved the little guy as a newborn but this stage has brought about an entirely new level of love and fun to the mix. I literally cannot get enough of his big smiles and the discovery of his voice. He does his best to mimmick anything I do and it absolutely cracks me up. I know he was a 'human' when he was born but NOW he actually feels like a 'human', a little person developing each and everyday.

Jayden and I headed to his TWO month appointment just the two of us and we made it through 4 shots together too. He weighed 13 lb. 6 oz. (82.98 percentile) and grew 2.25 inches since his one month appointment measuring 24.5 inches (92 percentile)! The doctor said he was healthy, great, and growing!

I don't know what I would do without an iPhone for picture taking...

the morning of his TWO month appointment

headed out - my sidekick and I

naked baby - he has no idea those shots coming

WE both did well! :)

It doesn't get much better than spending
the days with this fella! :)

TREATING MYSELF TO DD!

Little facts to remember at this stage:

He is not big on being held. Nope. He is NOT a cuddle bug. He is independent and he likes his space. Now if this does not cause awkwardness with people let me tell ya! The first thing anyone wants to do with a newborn is pick them up and cuddle them in that newborn hold. Within seconds, Jayden lets you know he ain't feelin' it and it's interesting how some people respond. This is not to say that he NEVER likes to be held because of course he does sometimes and this mama savors those moments! However, the majority of the time he likes to lay on his changing pad (which we take EVERYWHERE we go) because he can stretch and stretch and stretch! He loves his bouncy seat and swing still too!
He loves when you talk to him and make all sorts of funny noises - high pitch, low pitch, whatever you got. He tries so hard to do it himself too.
He is not a big fan of tummy time but we do it anyway. He's been rolling from his tummy to his back for quite a while now which freaked me out because it happened wayyyy too soon in my book (at 22 days old yikes). The little guy is strong people.
He continues to blow me away with his sleeping. He basically wakes up one time each night to eat and that is generally around 4 or 4:30. He will fall back asleep after that feeding until between 6:30-8.
He is not a big napper. He takes these short cat naps that really do not amount to much in my book so we are working on that. However, if we leave the house, he will sleep for HOURS.
He eats so well and will definitely let you know when he is hungry (or hANGRY) - are you surprised? He is the son of Jennifer Shuler :)
He lets me drag him all over the place praise the Lord!

Jayden was in a photo shoot for the CASE tractor calendar before we headed back to Robbinsville on August 7th and he was NOT feeling it. Since these shots were taken on the TWO month mark - you can understand why he is dressed in his CASE attire!

And we took these when we arrived home!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Our Random Days

Everyday has looked different this summer but just a few things that remain consistent (and this was written before Rance started back to school):

We get to love on little man everyday!

We get to watch him grow and change!

We get to adapt to life as parents TOGETHER!

We get to enjoy the outdoors!

We get LOTS of visitors!
We get to invest our time in people!

And best of all, we get to choose to see God's pursuit & grace each day!

Picture Summary:

Rance began running weeks ago to get back into shape for cross country season. He has never enjoyed running the way he does now with a stroller and a fun sidekick! Although, the run is a lot more strenuous in these mountains pushing a stroller.

Jayden's future running gear!

We cannot leave out the garden and lovely crop of squash, tomatoes, zuchini, cucumbers, beans, etc!

Several mornings look like this - sitting on the side patio with a cup of coffee, the Word, and little man! We enjoy the SAME setting in the afternoons also!

I cannot begin to go throw the thousands of pictures we have taken (not even kidding). It was impossible to even scroll through and pick out favorites so I gave up and these are the first few I scrolled upon.