Easter Photos

Rocky smiling with Daddy
Rocky on his tummy
Gracie laughing

Just a few of our many Easter photos! We took a bunch; it's harder to get Gracie to stay still these days, let alone get her to smile. Rocky is much easier to photograph! Still, we were able to catch a shot of Gracie laughing.

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

May His shed blood make me

More thankful for Thy mercies,

More humble under Thy correction,

More zealous in Thy service,

More watchful against temptation,

More contented in my circumstances,

More useful to others.

~a Puritan prayer

Thanks to all of you who prayed for our church service this morning. The Lord enabled Lou to preach a powerful sermon (one lady said it was his best yet), and we pray that the Lord would use it to encourage His saints and to draw unbelievers to Himself. One of these days, we'll figure out how to upload his sermons to the church web page so others can download them. (If anyone knows how to do this, please email me. I've tried but with no success). Praise the Lord, He is risen!

Lunch at the Beach

Skaket Beach
Gracie enjoying her yogurt
Mommy and Rocky
Daddy and Gracie with the crazy hair
Gracie in her cute rain boots!

It's the start of spring here in Cape Cod as the temperatures approach 50, we start to see spring bulbs push their way through the soil. The birds are coming back again; we've been hearing the Canada geese flying over our house. Today was such a nice sunny day that we decided to sit at the beach to eat lunch. It's such a blessing to be just minutes away from so many beaches. It was still too chilly to sit outside, so we sat in the car. It got a little messy as you can see by the yogurt on Gracie's face, but we had fun enjoying God's creation. It was nice to have a little time with Lou, too, before he goes back to reviewing his sermon for tomorrow morning.

I had to include the picture of Gracie in her boots, too. She loves her boots. She takes them off and puts them on again and carries them all over the house. We think she's going to be quite girly, although she won't keep a barrette in her hair. Her hair is a challenge for me as it's very curly and tends to puff up all over. I've tried to put it in a ponytail, but the pieces in the front are too short to fit into it, and she ends up looking like George Washington (little ponytail in the back and curls in the front).

From the latest photo shoot...

Rocky smiling
Gracie playing
Rocky is getting so big!
I think they've had enough of taking pictures!

Here's some of the photos we took this week. We're trying not to fall into that trap of taking lots of pictures of the first child and very few of the second. The kids really do change so fast. Rocky is just getting so big! He's already in 6-9 mo. clothes, and he's not even 3 mo. yet! I should have bought bigger sizes for him when there were sales; I had no idea he would grow so fast. Gracie is learning new things each day and saying more and more new words. Her latest thing is dancing. I'm not sure where she picked this up, but lately, whenever she hears music, she waves her arms and twists around--it's really cute.

Lou is busy this week preparing for his Easter sermon. Hopefully, it will be an opportunity to preach the gospel to some of those who might not normally hear it. Please be in prayer for this service. Tonight, Lou will be beginning a discussion of creation/evolution using some Ken Ham DVDs. The Bible study just finished the first section of Grudem's Systematic Theology, so they are doing this for the next few weeks as an interlude. Hopefully, this will be an encouragement to the saints.

I've been working on our next chapter for ladies' Bible study. We've been reading Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp, and this next study is on following Jesus' example as we counsel and interact with one another. It has been a good study so far. It's amazing to see how the Lord has faithfully timed each study we've had with specific concerns or issues in the church. Please pray that the Lord is glorified in our time together.

Back from CA

No, this is not our church....Lou took this last week at the Shepherd's Conference. We praise the Lord for giving him the opportunity to go and be refreshed and encouraged. It's so exciting to hear what the Lord is doing around the country (and around the world!). Gracie, Rocky, and I are very glad to have him home again, though. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for the week while Lou was away. We had a good time together, but we missed Daddy!
Things are back in full swing this week with church, meetings, Bible study, etc. Needless to say, Lou is keeping busy. Amy and the kids have had some play dates with some of the other moms in the church; this has been a blessing for the kids and the moms. Please pray that God would enable us to use that time for discipleship and encouragement. The kids are doing well. Praise the Lord, Rocky is sleeping better; he's been going to bed around 9:30 p.m. and sleeping until anywhere between 5:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Amy is appreciating the extra sleep! We're working on getting him to take regular naps now in his crib. Some days are good; some days there' s a lot of crying, but we're persevering. Generally, Rocky is a happy little guy; he's so happy to see us in the morning when we take him out of his crib--all smiles and cooing. I'm so grateful that God allows them to smile from an early age; it's so sweet!

So cute!

Here's a picture of Rocky from yesterday morning before church. Just had to post it!!

Please keep Lou in prayer as he'll be in California this week attending the Shepherd's Conference. We'll update soon!

Back to Blogging...

Gracie at 16 months

Gracie and Rocky getting ready to go to church

Rocky hanging out in his cushion

After a very long absence from blogging, we are attempting to get back to it. Between being pregnant and then juggling two kids, the blog sort of fell by the wayside for a while. We are happy to report that the Lord continues to be faithful, and we are enjoying life with Gracie and Rocky. Rocky was born on Christmas day, and he is growing so fast! We just had his two month doctor visit, and he is already 14 lb. 10 oz. and 25 inches long. He is smiling a lot and making all sorts of cute sounds.

Gracie started walking in January, and now she is all over the house, usually dragging a Trader Joe's bag filled with her toys (she loves to put things in bags and walk around with them). She is saying some words like "apple", "banana" (which sounds more like "belala"), "Ocky" (Rocky), and "mama" & "addy" (Daddy). She learns fast, and it is so much fun to see her learn new skills. We've been working on doing a puzzle lately.

Lou is as busy as ever with ministry, teaching through the gospel of John on Sunday mornings and 2 Thessalonians on Sunday nights. He is also teaching an evangelism class during the Sunday school hour and going through Grudem's Systematic Theology on Wednesday nights. Then, there's men's Bible study, counseling, studying, etc...it's busy! The Lord has blessed, and we've had a few new families and been encouraged to see at least one woman profess faith in Christ. We pray that the Lord would continue to use us to spread His truth.

Amy is busy at home with the kids, trying to figure out how to do things with two little ones. It's challenging at times, but God has graciously allowed her to see some progress. She continues to lead the ladies' Bible study at the church. They are currently going through Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp. This has been both an encouraging and convicting study.

We hope to keep the blog more up-to-date now. I'll try to post some more pictures soon. The ones on here now are already a few weeks old, and the kids change so fast! We need to take a new family picture, too, just as soon as we find the time...