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November 27 ThanksgivingWe are so blessed! It is wonderful to remember at this time of year just how blessed we are! We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving this year with my side of the family, including a feast for 32 family members. (though it could have fed many more!) Ella enjoyed playing with some of her second cousins, and Lucy decided to use the time to advance her walking and talking skills. During the time we were there, she began saying her own version of Grandpa, Grandma, and Troy (much to their delight!). She also began cruising around the furniture and walking while pushing a walker. Both of these were firsts for her. It just seems like her development is improving by leaps and bounds lately. On Saturday, Jeff and I left the girls with my parents and drove to Mattoon to visit Jeff's sister, Valerie in the hospital. She was there with an infection and not allowed to have children in the room. We had a nice visit with Valerie and Linda, then went by Jeff's grandma's house and saw her and Bill for a few minutes before driving back to my parents' house. We got good news last night that Valerie was able to come home yesterday and has seen much improvement. We have our Christmas tree decorated now (and even one in Ella's room), but the rest of the house isn't done yet. I hope to have pictures by next week. It's the most wonderful time of the year...and the busiest! Remember the reason for all of the excitement...Jesus was born! November 20 Two 1sts and a 31stToday (11/20) is Jeff's 31st birthday! Happy Birthday, Jeff! We enjoyed celebrating last night with a dinner at Tumbleweed followed by chocolate cake and ice cream (all by Jeff's choice). Tonight we're having his favorite meal at home and going to a choir concert.
I also want to highlight Lucy this week. She is pulling up on everything in sight now, including in her crib. She is beginning to take a few steps to get things nearby when she's standing and will walk long distances (initiating her own steps) while holding adult hands. We are most amazed, though, with her language development! At only 12.5 months, she has about 13 words! I am so excited to share this clip:
Happy Thanksgiving! Remembember to give thanks to the One who has given us every good and perfect gift! November 12 Lucy Pulls Up/Christmas PicturesLucy reached another baby milestone on Tuesday as she pulled up to standing by herself for the first time! She has done it many times since then, which is making us re-evaluate our babyproofing (or lack of!). She's crawling faster and farther distances now and is so happy to be able to go wherever she wants. She continues to communicate more with us through gestures, words, and signs. She did two new signs on her own (understanding the meaning, not just imitating us) on Thursday this week - "please" and "drink." Just in the 10 days since she turned 1, she has seemed to grow so much older! Her personality is really coming through and we are having so much fun getting to know her.
On Friday afternoon, we left for a weekend "back home" in Louisville. We had a blast seeing our friends and church family again. We know so many special people there who love us and it really did feel like coming home. Our friends were so generous to give us meals and a place to stay. The only money we had to spend the whole weekend was for gas and our pictures. We did have one strange moment, though - seeing a stranger pull up to our old house and go inside! Ella seemed to know it was our old house, but was more excited about seeing our neighbors' kids next door. She has missed them and all her friends in Louisville so much. Sunday School was like a glorious reunion for her. She has been gone just long enough that it all seems familiar to her, yet it's not "home" now. All in all, we had a fabulous time.
The main purpose for our trip was to have our pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. I am a faithful, unpaid salesman for them and recommend them highly to anyone! We had a really good photographer and were very pleased with the pictures on the whole. We did family pictures and pictures of both girls together first, so by the time we got to Lucy's pictures by herself (to be her 1-year pictures), she was kind of burnt out on the whole thing, so we don't have many good ones of just her. I've included just a few of the 75 (!) pictures they took. Please forgive the poor resolution on some of them. When I did some editing to them on my computer, then saved them, they didn't stay as clear for some reason.
We are enjoying having Jeff home with us today on his day off. We needed a day to recover from our weekend! November 05 Concert/Friends Visit/Halloween/Lucy is 1/Grandpa is 64You get two weeks for the price of one this time! We've had so much going on during the past two weeks, I didn't have time to post an update last week. (Hence, the mile-long title!)
On Tuesday, 10/23, Jeff directed his first concert at his new school. I accompanied several songs, and Jeff even got to accompany a few while his student interns (from a local university) conducted. It went very well and Jeff got many compliments on the improvement in the choirs from past years. (But would anyone have expected any less?!) I think it was a confidence booster for him and a great way to start the year!
I am thrilled to report that God has led us to the church where we will serve Him here in Evansville. After attending for about two months, asking lots of questions, meeting with the staff, getting to know the people, observing the life of the church, and, of course, much prayer, we joined Oakhill Baptist Church on Sunday, 10/28. This is the church where Ella has already been attending Awana on Wednesday nights. We are so thankful to be part of a church family again and we're anxious to see how God will use us in this new setting.
On Monday and Tuesday, 10/29 & 30, we were so happy to have our friends from Louisville come for a visit. Becky (mom), Isaac (3), Gracie (2), and Owen (3.5 months) stayed overnight with us and we had a wonderful time. (Dave, the daddy, had to work.) I really enjoyed having a friend to spend time with and talk about "mom" stuff with, since I haven't been here long enough to get to know other moms well yet. Ella was just a giddy ball of laughter the whole time. She has really missed her friends from our church in Louisville, so this was especially exciting for her. Isaac, Ella, and Gracie played, ran, and laughed hard the whole time. What a wonderful blessing to have them here! We are looking forward to seeing them again soon as we travel to Louisville this upcoming weekend!
We attended the Fall Festival at our church (it's so nice to say "our" church!) on Wednesday night. Ella was a butterfly and Lucy was a ladybug. Our little bugs looked super-sweet and even made the "Trunk or Treat" picture page on the church website. Unfortunately, Ella was not quite feeling herself that night. We found out on Friday that her cold turned into a double ear infection. She's had antibiotics and is doing much better now. Lucy also got the cold, but as of today, her ears are still fine.
The biggest event of the past two weeks was Lucy's 1st birthday! Though we can hardly believe it has been a year, Lucy turned one on Friday, 11/2. We had her party on Saturday, 11/3, and had 16 family members in our home to celebrate. To everyone's delight, Lucy blew out her candle all by herself and she happily obliged to dig into the yummy cake. When Ella turned one, Jeff and I joked that we had actually kept her alive for a whole year! With Lucy, our goal was to keep her safe from Ella for a whole year! We had her 1-year doctor's appointment today and she measured 30" and weighted 23 lbs. 12 oz.! She is SUCH a sweet, happy baby and we are so thankful for the blessing she has been in our lives.
And finally, we celebrated my dad's 64th birthday with a surprise lunch for him at a restaurant in Carmi, IL on Sunday afternoon. After just seeing everyone at Lucy's party, he never expected to see us all again the very next day! He just thought he was going out to eat. His actual birthday isn't until Tuesday. After lunch, our family went with Mom and Dad to a nearby park and enjoyed the beautiful, autumn surroundings. As the kids walked around and went swinging with Grandpa and Grandma, Jeff turned Lucy's carseat around in the van and she got to enjoy a new experience on the way home. Just another sign that she is growing up!
I think that's finally it! Now I need some sleep!
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