Josh and I put up the Christmas tree (thanks Aunt Rita for letting us borrow it again!) the first Friday night in December while Becca was sleeping. Saturday morning, we put the lights on before Becca got out of bed. Becca was so amazed and delighted – “Tree – pretty lights.” The following night Josh put up light around our living room. It’s so cozy with all the lights on.

The night of the Arlington Christmas parade it rained. We decided that we didn’t want to attend a parade in rainy weather. I was really disappointed, since I’ve been looking forward to the parade since last year’s. I thought Becca would really enjoy it. Josh decided since we didn’t go to the parade, we should have our own. So we put our “parade clothes”on, got our instruments, and paraded around our home.

Becca got an early Christmas present – a front facing car seat. Becca loves her new seat. She loves facing forward. You can see from the pictures of her first ride, that she was quite delighted. Three days after getting her new seat, Becca was still laughing with delight every time we went somewhere.

We saw a really neat house in Plano, TX. Gordon Lights is a home that synchronizes their Christmas lights to music. It’s quite impressive. The entire cycle of songs is about 30 mins. Becca loves the lights…she said, “Becca so happy!”

If you’re interested in seeing a bit of what we saw, here’s a youtube link to one of the songs they did.

Here’s a post filled with random details. One of the great things about being a mama is that every day is filled with all sorts of delightful randomness. Randomness that makes me stop and smile and think, “I love being Josh’s wife and Becca’s mama.” Becca’s big accomplishment for this week is climbing out of her bed (a pack-n-play). She successfully climbed out twice during nap time. The first time she was crying that she had to go potty (a typical nap-time escape routine); the second time she played in her room for quite some time before she appeared to me – quite proud of herself. When I asked her to show me what she did, she was quite excited and I was shocked to see her do a full flip, landing on her back. (I was thinking, “THIS is how you get out of bed?!) She stood up and said “Becca really funny,” but when I asked her if she was hurt, she started crying. I guess that’s not how her two first escapes went; ever since that third experience she hasn’t tried getting out of bed again. (However, a few times since then we’ve gone into her room and found her in the pack-n-play when we hadn’t put her there. Apparently she likes climbing in to play with her “friends” — who all get thrown in first.)

Above is a sneak peak at Becca’s Christmas dress. I figured since Christmas is on a Sunday this year, Becca better have a nice dress to wear to church.

What you see on the left is what we call “magic underwear.” For quite some time I’d been wanting to get Becca some big girl underwear to see if it provided any extra motivation in taking a break from her playing and going to the potty. I found out that most stores don’t carry underwear for a little girl like ours. The smallest I could find is for 30lbs: Becca is 24.5lbs, but it worked. Becca enjoys wearing her magic underwear and so far it’s proved to be useful in helping her go to the potty.

This weekend we had dinner with some of Josh’s former Thai students. Dow (next to Amy in photo) finished her Ph.D this semester and is returning to Thailand at the end of this month. Dow treated us to a wonderful Thai meal to thank Josh for reading her dissertation to help with the English grammar. Both Dow and Mook made sure that we didn’t eat anything too “simple.” We enjoyed our time with them. Becca liked the fish tank, except the largest fish frightened her. When it started swimming towards her she yelled “Nooooooooooooooooo!!!” It was really cute.

A few months ago a family from our church gave us their daughter’s kitchen set. It’s an amazing set, including fridge, sink, stove, and oven, with a full set of dishes, coffee maker, food, pizza (with removable toppings), and all sorts of kitchen gadgets. Becca’s favorite things are the plastic cookies and the pizza. Moms, it’s the kind of kitchen we dreamed of having when we were little girls. We’re very thankful to the Countrymans for their generosity to our family.

This past week Becca decided her legs were getting dry and that lotion would be the solution. Only problem was that she forgot to roll up her pants and in the process she moisturized the couch, too. [Another lesson to Daddy that I should should check quickly when things get quiet. -JJ]

Becca is enjoying Mama’s Christmas cookie baking. She loves cookie dough. Becca continues to enjoy reading. We got 7 new books at the library and read them all in one sitting as soon as we returned from the library (including 2 Curious George books – lots of words).

Friday night, Josh surprised me by taking me to hear one of our favorite singer/song writers. I thought we were meeting Dow and Mook for supper, but was shocked when we went to the concert. I had no clue where we were going. We got to hear one of our favorite songs, Planting Trees, as well as a series of songs going from Creation to the birth of Christ. The Matthew genealogy is one I hope to learn one day.

From Becca’s annual spoon picture, you can see she’s come a long way since Nov. 2009. Her current weight is 24 lbs. and 7 oz. (19th percentile) and height is 32 in. (8th percentile). She might be on the small size but right on track compared with my 2-year-old stats (weight 22.3lbs; length 32.5in.) . . . she’s small just like her mama! Dr. Raine gave Becca a glowing report. We’re very thankful for the good health God has given her these past 2 years.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Becca’s 2nd birthday. I told Becca that we were going to go to Chick-fil-A on Saturday for her birthday. During the week whenever I’d talk about Becca’s birthday she would tell me that we were going to Chick-fil-A on Saturday! But before we went to Chick-fil-A, we had a little surprise for Becca . . . bounce houses! Our mall has a place with lots of bounce houses. Becca was quite delighted to get to “fall down” again. After our fun outing, we had more Flopsie cake and we opened presents. Then we went for our annual visit to the NICU to thank our nurses for taking care of Becca.

My sister Emily visited with us for a week at Thanksgiving (Tuesday to Tuesday). We really enjoyed having her with us – she’s the perfect house guest and was a great help at Thanksgiving and with Becca’s party. Becca loved her Aunt Ememememe. When we were at the Woods, Becca would go to see Emily in her room every morning. I’m not sure exactly what they did up there, but Becca got a make-over one morning. Becca cried the morning I told her that Aunt Emily had to go away to her own home. Becca pointed to the bed and said “Aunt Ememememem – right here!”

One other fun thing we did as part of house-sitting was enjoy the Woods’ outdoor hot tub. They told us we could heat it up, so we saved it for the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Becca loved it and so did we. Josh and Emily warmed up in the hot tub and then jumped in the freezing pool and then hurried back into the hot tub . . . Becca and I watched. The same night, Becca got to stay up past 7  to watch the Hoops and Yoyo Christmas special on TV and Elf on a Shelf. We told her it was part of her birthday celebration. And of course, Emily and I just enjoyed being sisters.

A big thanks to Emily for all her picture taking!

The day before Thanksgiving, Becca and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo with my sister Emily. I wasn’t sure the weather was going to be good for zoo-ing, but it turned out to be a perfect day to visit the zoo. Each time we go to the zoo, Becca seems to enjoy it more. This visit she got some close up views of several animals. She was delighted to sit on the alligator’s back, since we have a little rhyme about alligators that she enjoys saying.

A big highlight for Becca was riding the train. She really enjoys trains and once I said we were going to go on a train ride, Becca’s thoughts were focused on one thing – TRAIN RIDE! Another interesting experience was feeding the hungry birds. Once you had a seed stick in your hand, the birds were very eager to be your friend. Becca wasn’t too sure of what she thought of having birds up so close to her. She kept saying “no thank you! no thank you!” We had a great day at the zoo – thanks Grammy for sending Aunt Emily with $$!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was the best Thanksgiving we’ve had in a few years and we’re thanking the Lord for an excellent day. Emily was a great help with all the preparations. Just like last year, the turkey and Becca were close in weight. Our turkey was 20lbs and Becca is 24lbs.

We were house sitting at the Wood’s (same house we were at this past summer) for 10 days and the extra room gave us the opportunity to invite more people than we would have been able to in our apartment. We had two families from our church – the Countryman and the Rodriguez families. Both are families without any relatives in the area. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them all. After our meal, we had a little birthday party for Becca.

(Josh here to wrap things up by linking to funny a little video I made last week using footage I recorded during one of my research trips this summer. The link goes to the previous post.)

A very happy 2nd birthday to our dear sweet little girl! We thank God every day for giving you to us. You bring us so much joy, so many smiles, and you fill our home with laughter. We love you, our sweet little bear.

The night before Becca’s birthday I told her in a sad voice that tomorrow she was turning 2 and that she was growing up. She looked at me and her little lip stuck out and she said “no thank you! no thank you!” I guess she doesn’t want to grow up. I told her that it was ok and that she would always be our little baby. That seemed to calm her down. It was so cute.

We had a birthday celebration for Becca on Thanksgiving day. We made it part of our Thanksgiving celebration. Becca liked her cake and having everyone sing to her.

We have plans for more birthday celebrations today. I’m planning to take the “spoon” picture when we get home from house sitting this afternoon.

A very happy Thanksgiving! We’re looking forward to a day celebrating with Emily (my sister) and friends tomorrow afternoon. We’re also going to have a little birthday party for Becca while we have people over. I’m writing this Wednesday night and am currently in the process of making her cake (Josh is out looking for black food coloring), potatoes are boiling for tomorrow . . . I think it’s going to  be a late night.

We have so much to be thankful for. But I think I’ll sum it up with our morning prayer, written by Josh:

Father of Lights,
You never change.
All Your promises are certain,
And all Your gifts are good.
Thank You for joy and trial,
For work and rest,
For food and drink.
Thank You for the Word of Truth,
and the New Birth.
Grant that we may receive Your gifts with Thanksgiving,
and give to others as You give to us.
Through the power of Your Spirit,
and the love of Your Son,
Who live and reign with You now and forever,
One God.
Amen.

Thursday morning Josh told me we were going on a special date Friday night. I knew we were going to a concert in Dallas, but I didn’t know who we were going to hear. Josh told me to list three performers. . . I listed Yo-Yo Ma, James Galway, Evgeny Kissin. All people I knew we weren’t going to see. I was shocked (and got all choked up) when we arrived at the Dallas Meyerson Symphony Center, and Josh told me we were going to hear Sir James Galway. The entire concert was excellent. We had great seats about 10 rows from the front (an advantage due to student discounts). The program consisted of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2, Smetana’s The Moldau, and Janacek’s Taras Bulba. Galway performed the Mozart and then did three short pieces as an encore: a traditional Irish jig, Danny Boy, and a movement of Bach’s second orchestral suite (played “double time” according to one reviewer, and it’s true!).

Becca has started asking to “help” wash the breakfast dishes again. In the past she had been very interested in helping, but then she lost interest. So we’re back to getting an “extra bath” every morning. We’ve also somehow started the tradition of reading a book while wrapped in Mama’s towel after bath time. Two years ago this time of year, Becca and I were trapped in a hospital bed . . . it’s such a blessing to be washing dishes and reading to our little gift from God!

I started listening to Christmas music this weekend. You might think it’s a tad bit early, but this holiday season I’m planning on soaking up all I can of Christmas and enjoying every moment. And why not? After all, I haven’t really had a normal holiday season two years in a row. We’ll start with a nice calm Thanksgiving – no time in the hospital (first time in 3 years), no traumatic events that turn the Christmas season into an exhausting time mingled with joy and grief. Everything is going to be perfect and filled with laughter and joy.  That all sounds good, but those were my same expectations last year…and it certainly didn’t turn out that way. The other day I started wondering what’s going to happen this Thanksgiving…maybe my appendix will explode, maybe something will happen to Josh or Becca, maybe….”Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

I can choose to live in fear about what’s going to happen this year or I can hope in God. Hope – trusting that He does use all things for His own glory. Hope – looking at our little girl whose body (shoulders to bottom) was the length of a spoon at birth and who now is a very active, happy, talkative almost 2 year old. Hope – knowing that God uses miscarriages for the good for His children and for His own glory. So I’m looking forward to this season by hoping in God. I’m breaking out the Christmas music early, teaching Becca how to dance to the music, and enjoying hearing my girl squeal with delight as I twirl her around the room as we start of our holiday season.

All is well here in the Jensen household. I teach piano lessons 3 to 4 days a week.  Becca continues to be a very busy little girl. She also has an interesting sense of humor – last evening I told her to eat all her refried beans by saying each bite was a different one of her animal friends. She loved eating all her friends! Becca’s talking up a storm and has plans to keep me busy all day long: “Mama play Becca!” “Mama sit here!” “Mama play!” “Mama color Becca!” “Mama talk Becca!” “Mama clean it up.”  “Mama eat it up!” “Mama read!” (“Mama read self!” – that was going a bit too far…my 23 month year old was telling me to read to myself!?!) Josh continues to work on his dissertation research. He’s also been busy fulfilling his work obligations as the department chair’s research assistant. (Plus, in the last few weeks, doing a website for AM Fabrication in Fort Worth, owned by some friends of ours.) I have an amazing husband who, though he has many responsibilities screaming out to him, still continues to be a wonderful husband and father. So glad God gave me my man!

Friday night Josh and I carved our first jack-o-lantern without adult supervision. We had a great time deciding about the face and then putting our knifing skills into action. We were both quite pleased with the results and spent the rest of the evening sitting on the couch in the dark, enjoying our glowing pumpkin. We introduced Becca to the pumpkin the following evening. She loved it!

In addition to the pumpkin, we added a little cat to our home this weekend. Becca loved having her nose painted black, and she cried when I cleaned the paint off before bed. We took her to a trunk-or-treat event, and she was very excited about getting candy in her bucket. On the way to the event, Josh told her that people might put fruit and tracts in her bucket . . . she said, “no! candy (in) bucket!”  Becca enjoyed seeing the “eensy weensy spider” on different people’s trunks. She loves spiders because of the song.

The best part of the event for Becca was the bounce house. Since it was a small event, we let Becca go in by herself. If you ask her about it, you’ll get a very enthusiastic response: “Bounce House! Fall! Yay!” The next day I had to run errands and everywhere we went Becca asked to go in a bounce house. She broke down and sobbed at Walmart when there was no bounce house there. I’ll have to keep my eyes out for events with bounce houses!

A very happy 100-week birthday to our dear sweet precious gift from God, Rebecca Grace. Becca’s come a long way since Nov. 2009. I always get a little choked up when I look back at pictures from Becca’s birth. God has truly blessed our family with Becca. He spared and protected her life, and we thank Him every day for giving us our little girl.

We recently had a friend, Diana, over for dinner. Diana is a linguist with SIL International in East Asian. We enjoyed hearing about Diana’s work (and Becca enjoyed wearing the “lampshade” hat that’s worn by villagers where Diana works).

Becca continues to love going to the library and reading her weekly book picks. She has an excellent memory with stories. Some mornings (if she gets up too early) I let her read in our bed, while Josh and I have our morning prayer time. It’s really cute to hear her “reading” books.

I’ll close with a few pictures of some of our home decor.

The photo on the left is of our dinning room picture wall.

The scene on the right and below is from one of Becca’s favorite books Can’t Catch Me. I bought the animals at Hobby Lobby and designed the “set” from construction paper.

And here, left and right, some of Becca’s art, entitled “Spring Hands, Summer Hands, Autumn Hands” & Winter Hands”. Becca loves tracing her hands (which so far doesn’t come out looking much like hands), so we decided to take advantage of it. Just above Becca’s art are pictures for our 3 Christmases together. Black cardstock and clear contact paper make great frames.

Our first fall in Texas I prayed for a pumpkin and God used the Bixbys to answer my prayer. This past weekend, Josh bought a pumpkin for us and it’s a reminder to me of all the prayers God has answered while we’ve been in Texas. As I look at our real life pumpkin – Becca – I’m reminded of how many blessings God has given us in her. She’s the “pumpkin” I look at this fall as I pray for other requests, knowing that God answers in His time and in His way.

To celebrate the first day of fall, Becca and I made a little project for our apartment door. I think I saw this craft idea for a Christmas wreath in a Highlights magazine when I was a little kid. Becca loves tracing her hands, so it was easy to get lots of hands for our autumn wreath. Add a little glue, cardboard, and contact paper and presto!, you have a wreath. Becca loved working on the project with me. I think her favorite part was playing with (eating) the glue!

Friday night we took our yearly visit (2008, 2010)  to the Hall Pumpkin Farm with René, Yani, and Amaris. Going through the corn maze was a little different with 2 toddlers. They both loved running around the maze, as well as riding tractors, sitting on pumpkins, and riding in a wagon. I think Becca’s favorite part was pushing Amaris in the wagon . . . she mentions it to me every time she remembers going to the pumpkin farm.

“I need you to get some things together for Becca, she’s going  home with the Rodriguezes. We’re going on an overnight date.”  What a surprise! This is what Josh told me when I came home Sunday afternoon from a church bridal shower. René and Amaris had dinner with Josh and Becca while Yani and I were at the shower. A little while after Yani and I got to our house, we were sending Becca off on her first pajama party sleepover.

My sweet husband had planned a little getaway – hotel, museum visit, babysitter – all without my knowledge. We stayed at the The Fairmont Dallas, located in the West End of Dallas. He strategically planned our hotel location so we would be able to walk to our Monday field trip.  We enjoyed walking around Sunday and Monday. It was lovely to spend some relaxed time together.

For dinner we decided against eating at The Heart Attack Grill (“Over 350 lbs? Eat for free!”) and ate at the original Spaghetti Warehouse. The restaurant was filled with antiques. After dinner we walked around a building that had fountains all over the place. It would be a really neat place to play in warm weather, if they allowed such things.

Monday morning we visited the Dallas Holocaust Museum. The museum exhibits center around events that took place on April 19, 1943: the start of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Bermuda Conference, and the day of the attack on the 20th Transport train from Mechelen to Auschwitz by three men armed with one gun, a lantern, and 4 wrenches (over 200 Jewish deportees were able to get off the train).

We had a wonderful time on our little vacation. My man is so sweet to plan the trip for us. I’m thankful for the thoughtful, loving man the Lord has given me as my husband. And for those who are wondering, Becca did great on her first pajama party. Yani gave the girls a wonderful time together!

This past weekend Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came for a visit. Grandpa knew exactly what to do to warm Becca up to him . . . he brought her a new “Flopsie” bear. The panda is a Rinconada – “carefully hand-carved and detailed in fine grain earthenware ceramic material.” Becca is delighted to have her new “glass Flopsie.” Becca also enjoyed reading and playing games with Grandma. It was fun to see her interact with her grandparents.

On Friday Grandpa & Grandma took us to the Dallas Zoo. It was the perfect day for being at the zoo – great weather and not many people. Becca’s favorite part was walking (“Becca walk!“) around the zoo. The animals Becca really enjoyed were the giant lizard, the elephants, the giraffe, and the fish. Becca was quite worn out after our day at the zoo.

Saturday we went the Fort Worth Stockyards, where we saw a little bit of the western Texas. The rest of the visit was chatting and just enjoying time together. On Sunday both Grandpa and Grandma spoke at church for our missions emphasis Sunday. We had a great visit together and now Becca has some fresher memories with her grandparents J.

I’ve written two posts this week. This one is some memories of my great grandma. If you go to the next post, you’ll see pictures from our past week.

My great grandma (Becca’s great great grandma) went home to be with the Lord Monday morning. Great Grandma was 102 and was happily anticipating heaven. She told my parents the last time they visited with her that “the next time I’ll see you will be in heaven.” We were able to visit with my Great Grandma last summer so she could meet her very first great great granddaughter. I’m very thankful we were able to make the trip and make a few memories for Becca to see when she’s older.

I’d like to take a little time to remember my great grandma. Growing up we always visited Great Grandma in the spring to plant tomatoes and other plants in her garden. She would always feed us egg salad sandwiches. At Halloween, my dad would take us trick-or-treating to Great Grandma’s, so we could show her our costumes. She gave out lollypops with smile faces on them. Great Grandma started the Jack Corner Basket at Thanksgiving – she always brought a small gift for everyone at the meal. One year she wrote a story for everyone.

Great Grandma gave great presents. For my birthday one year she gave me her bingo winnings for that year – $65.00. Another year she gave me an old tin chocolate box with her high school ring in it and other keepsakes she saved over time. As my great grandma got older she gave everything of value away. Looking back it was a great way for her to enjoy giving away her possessions.

As an elementary kid, I stayed with Great Grandma once when my parents were away for a few days; she wouldn’t let me wear my socks in bed – she said I needed to air out my feet. My poor feet were cold all night. These are just a few of the memories I have of my great grandma. But one memory that sticks with me from recent years is this: Great Grandma was always proud of her family. When we’d visit her she would repeatedly tell us she had a wonderful family and that God had blessed her with a wonderful family. I hope if I live to my hundreds I will have such a heart of gratefulness to God for my family. I also hope to continue the wonderful heritage of loving the Lord that Great Grandma left us.

Obituary:

Last Thursday we went to the NICU reunion party at Arlington Memorial Hospital. Every year in September, they have a reunion party for their graduates. We were delighted to see Dr. Tisdell and many of Becca’s nurses. It was so fun to “show” Becca off to the people who took care of her during her first three months. I told Becca she was going to make a lot of people happy – and she did. The nurses did a wonderful job with the party – it was a camping theme. Becca absolutely loved the “Big Horsey!” and the activities. We love the NICU staff for all they did for us and Becca. They truly are some of the dearest hearts in Texas. (The nurse who is the “head planner” of these reunions – Toni – recently started a business called Tiny Starts with gift baskets for families of newborns, especially preemies.)

My youngest brother, Joey, visited us at the end of his training at Deloitte University. We enjoyed spending time with him and were glad he was able to extend his trip to visit with us. Becca liked Uncle Joey right away. When we went on a walk after supper she wanted “Joey come.” We’re really proud of all Joey’s accomplishments. He is working for Deloitte as a federal consultant. My little brother living in D.C. – wow.

Our church picnic was on Sunday. Becca enjoyed the playground at church. She got to slide with Dillon and Meaghan. She is also enjoying playing with Amaris at church on Sundays in nursery.

The last picture is of Becca helping me make cookies . . . you can tell which part her enjoyed the best!

Children are truly a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5). Every day Josh and I get to experience this verse in vibrant color. Becca brings so much joy into our home and we’re grateful for each precious day we have with our little girl. My desire is to enjoy each day, not looking forward by wishing for things to come or backward by wishing for things the way they used to be.

Becca has done a few new things this month. Our church had a special service for 9-11. The Bedford Fire Department Honor Guard came to present the flags and they brought their firetruck. Becca was quite pleased to sit on it, and she really wanted me to go inside, but we didn’t think that was a good idea.

This month Becca has also started using her little stool to reach things.

At the beginning of the summer, Becca and I used to go lizard hunting. I promised her that I would someday catch her a lizard. This month I finally caught her one. We walked all the way back to our apartment to show Josh our catch and get his help for pictures. Becca kissed the lizard, but it didn’t turn into a prince.

Becca is now the proud owner of her very own library card. I was getting a little tired of reading the same books over and over again, so two Mondays ago we went to our public library to get some “new” books. Over the next two days I lost count of how many times we read read “All Aboard” — a book about Mr. Bunny’s train ride — and “The Eensy-Weensy Spider” — a book with the familiar song plus 7 new verses.

I was sick all last week, so having “new” books to read was helpful. One morning we spent a long time reading in our bed. Becca wanted to read there instead of the couch.

I’m sure we’ll have some more new experiences this month . . . life is full of fun and excitement here in Texas!

One of the neat things about starting a family is starting family traditions/practices. I want our family to be rich with traditions – not only holiday traditions but also daily family traditions. Here’s a few of the regular family traditions/practices we have right now.

Something Josh and I started when we were first married is Friday night Date Night. We reserve Friday nights to be together without school work or other distractions (like taking phone calls). Now that we’ve been blessed with Becca we have Family/Date night. When the weather is nice we typically go to a park. Then after Becca goes to bed, Josh and I play games or read together. This past Friday, we visited a park that we found about a year ago. A year makes a huge difference when it comes to playing with your baby at a park!

A practice (we hope it turns into a tradition) that we’ve recently started is lunch, dinner, and bedtime Bible reading. After thinking about all the books we read together in a year (just a chapter at a time) we decided to add chapters of the Bible into the mix. We’re reading one chapter from the Old Testament after we eat lunch and dinner, and we’re reading one chapter from the New Testament before we go to bed. So far, we’re both enjoying this new practice, and it’s been a good way to start teaching Becca to sit and listen to Daddy read the Bible.

After Becca was born, we decided to memorize hymns. We are currently working on Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted. So far we have learned the following hymns: Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor; God Moves in a Mysterious Way; Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven; O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus; Be Still my Soul; Be Thou My Vision; All Creatures of Our God and King; A Mighty Fortress is Our God; Come Thou Fount; Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence; What is the World to Me?; Praise to the Lord; Come We that Love the Lord; My Jesus Fair; He Who Would Valiant Be; Come Christians Join to Sing; Break Thou the Bread of Life; I Run to Christ; Rejoice, the Lord is King!; and Jesus, Lover of My Soul. Our practice is to sing the hymns we’ve memorized while we drive to church on Sunday mornings. We also sing a couple verses of the hymn we’re working on each night before we eat dinner.

After reading a chapter entitled “Mealtime Prayers with the Pipers” from Piper’s book, Pierced by the Word, Josh decided to write mealtime prayers for our family. This was part of my anniversary gift. We have the morning prayer memorized, and we’re working on the noon and evening prayers.

We end the day (well, Becca’s day) with a bedtime ritual. While Becca drinks her bottle of milk, she sits in my lap while Josh reads a Bible story to her (from The Jesus Storybook Bible or The Big Picture Story Bible). Then we sing “Goodnight, Our God is Watching Over You” (something my parents — especially my dad — would sing to me when I was little), then we pray for Becca and tell her “Daddy loves you, and Mommy loves you, but most of all, Jesus loves you” (another tradition from my parents).

Slides. Several weeks ago, the thought of going down a tube slide by herself invoked fear in our little girl’s heart. I could not get her to go down them without me, which meant I ended up with bruises and missing skin from trying to have a toddler on my lap and go down a tube slide. I’ll admit it, tube slides are scary. There’s a lot of uncertainty looking down from the top. It’s dark! What if I get hurt? What if I flip over? What if . . .  Poor Becca couldn’t see the end from the top where she stood . . . it was just a dark tunnel of uncertainty that made her afraid to do anything except sit up at the top and run the opposite direction whenever Mommy called for her to come down. Becca didn’t realize that Mommy was waiting for her at the end of the slide. She didn’t realize that I was climbing halfway up the slide to help her come down. She was afraid.

This week, something changed. Becca went down the tube slides all by herself over and over and over again. She loved it. She came down head-first and then transitioned to feet-first on her tummy. She now loves slides. We went to the water play park for the last time last week (the water shuts off on Labor Day) and Becca wasn’t overly interested in getting wet – she wanted to slide. She knows Mommy is at the end of the slide. She knows now that sometimes Mommy meets her halfway up the slide to help her come down.

When asked, “If you could parent your daughters all over again, what would you do differently?” Carolyn Mahaney answered, “I wish I had trusted God more.” She writes, “For every fearful peek into the future, I wish I had looked to Christ instead. For each imaginary trouble conjured up, I wish I had recalled the specific, unfailing faithfulness of God. In place of dismay and dread, I wish I had exhibited hope and joy. I wish I had approached mothering like the preacher Charles Spurgeon approached his job: ‘forecasting victory, not foreboding defeat” (Girl Talk, 2005, pg.65).

Motherhood  for me can be like standing up at the top of a tube slide. There’s so much uncertainty – there’s so many “what if’s.” After Becca’s premature birth and then even more so after our miscarriage, I struggled with fear. What if something happens to Becca? What if she falls down the stairs when we’re visiting our parents? What if we lose another baby? What if something happens to Josh? Carolyn Mahaney’s words are a reminder to me that I can be just like a little one at the top of the slide. It’s dark. I don’t know what the end is like. But God is there. He knows all about the slide – the turns, the speed, the ending. He’ll even climb up halfway to help me come down. When I trust that my heavenly Father knows all about what each slide holds for me, the fears of motherhood give way to joy in Christ. Trusting God is far better than living in fear and in the “what if’s.” It makes sliding something I want to do “again and again.”

Another thing Becca is really enjoying is tents. She loves being in our homemade tents. We build her tents all over the place. Josh makes her a special one in our bedroom – in the dark – and they use the electric lantern. It’s really fun to hear them play together. The tents usually end up pretty crowded, as Becca likes to bring in her animal friends.

This week at the park, there was a stray duck on the basketball courts. I’m not sure who enjoyed the Cheerios more, Becca or the duck!

One thing people tend to comment on when they visit our home is the number of books we own. One of the things Josh and I started in the first year of marriage was reading to each other. Each Sunday we read a chapter of a book focused on the home. We also read through a book in our morning devotional time together. Josh reads fiction to me in the evenings, as time allows. We try to get a chapter in each night. We’re currently reading through N. D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards Series (ht to J. Farmer) and enjoying it immensely. We love the we read together so much–it’s a great thing to share in marriage.

Here’s a list of the books we read in 2010 and the ones we’ve read so far this year. It’s amazing how much you material you can cover when only reading a chapter or less a day.

Books Read in 2010
(You’ll notice in 2010 my solo reading was nonexistent . . . dissertation and Becca!)

Fiction:

NonFiction:

Books Read in 2011

Fiction:

Nonfiction:

Josh and I are not the only readers in our home. Becca loves books. Of all the gifts she’s received, books seem to be her favorite “toy” (besides all her animal friends, who are becoming more and more important!). We read with Becca multiple times a day. She does a great job filling in words for me, and it’s a lot of fun.

Becca’s favorite book is the Jesus Storybook Bible. Becca and I read from it each morning as she drinks her bottle of milk. We usually read from it 1 or 2 more times during the day. (The picture on the left shows some of Becca’s favorite Bible stories.)

Becca’s second favorite book is about Hanukkah. We read it over and over again. It’s so cute to hear her say “Hanukkah” (something like, hah-nah-nah-nah). Becca’s motivation for wearing pony tails in her hair is that it matches the girl in the Hanukkah book. Most of the books Becca likes are rather short, but recently I have been reading her The Little Engine That Could” a lot. She likes the voices of the different characters.

One other thing to share about. Becca is doing well with her potty training. She keeps a dry diaper as long as I take her to the potty often enough. She rarely tells me she has to go potty and if I ask her if she wants to go, she usually says “ah-ti-ti-ti” (= no thank you). We use stickers to reward Becca – one for a dry diaper and one for going potty (chocolate is now only used for special occasions). I started this by making a sticker chart for Becca. However, one day Josh let her put her reward stickers on his laptop. This started the apartment-wide sticker chart. Now Becca puts her reward stickers all over our home. It’s really cute and well worth it. (The picture on the left shows how many diapers Becca used in 2 weeks. It’s the first time we’ve been able to go 2 weeks before washing the diapers.)