Spring Break

This past week we traveled with a group of Bryan students to Nashville to help out an organization there-- Community Servants operating in the Wherry Housing Community of Smyrna, TN.
The basic idea is this: Community Servants works with the Wherry Housing Community's Tenant Cooperative to renovate old rental units. Community Servants has some input into whom the unit is rented to and the cooperative has the additional income from a unit that would otherwise be uninhabitable. It is a win-win-win arrangement. Community Servants is able to minister to particular families practically and spiritually (many are refugees or the homeless) while coordinating newly-remodeled, affordable housing for them, and the cooperative is supported on the financial side. The neighborhood is a safe and clean one because of the personal investment of the tenants in the cooperative and the Community Servants ministry (many of those who have been helped in the past do the helping now). Volunteers within the Wherry community, from the Nashville area and from around the country provide the labor. Our team worked on two units, painting, sealing, cleaning, doing some tiling and flooring work. We met both of the families who will live in the units. Oh, so rewarding!
Henrik wasn't able to participate in the renovating, but he was a great cheerleader/court jester. He did an A+ job sleeping in an unfamiliar, noisy place, too! Good work, kid.
Now all three of us are pretty darn exhausted, plodding into another week. Whew. And that is that.

Ben's January

Ben has been a busy one, too!
The semester began with the Spiritual Life Conference, with speaker and author Andy Crouch. From his website's bio:
"Andy is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership." He is also a senior editor at Christianity Today and a really, really nice guy.
You can listen to a few of Andy's Bryan presentations here.
I think it was really fun for Ben to have Andy on campus as Andy's writing relates to some of Ben's special loves: art, creativity and the kingdom of God.

Ben has also been busy recording a few interviews with Bryan chapel guests. The show is a production of the college which airs on the Christian radio station here in Chattanooga. Some segments have not aired yet, so those aren't posted, but here are two that are available:

"Being the Protagonist in Your Story"
Interview with Gary Stratton October 24, 2009

MLK Day Project Interview with Danielle Rebman January 16, 2010

It is a source of happiness for Ben to bring challenging speakers to campus, and we hope that their good work (and Ben's, too) yields good fruit in the lives of the students.
Hope you have fun listening to these!

Henrik's January

Henrik is talking to himself as he falls asleep for his nap. Lately he has been eating A LOT, which must mean he is growing, been pretty independent of his pacifier and started to mimic more of what we say. He doesn't make use of the words he knows all that often, but he'll pull out "da-dee," "baby," "ba" (ball), "seess" (this? please? it's definitly used when he wants something), "buuuh" for peek-a-boo, "ah," "moo," "ooo," and "rahhh" for puppy, cow, owl and lion sounds, respectively. And he is very helpfully signing "please," "all done" and "diaper." It's fun to see him gaining and using language!

Last night as I was folding and putting clothes away he observed that it was really funny to flop clothing onto his head and walk around like that. I tried to get one expressive picture, but got about 50 blurry or super-bright photos of the side of his head instead. Sigh.
Here's something, anyway:

Snow in the Cove!

We love you, Henrik.

Table Talk

Ok, so who is the funnier guy, my dad or my son?

Makin' Cute Stuff for Kiddos!

Ashlee just sent this to me, and I'm hoping to get busy sewing, and I bet some of you all would like to, too! In the past she's also mentioned a need for pillowcases (standard size) sewn from kid-print fabrics.
Also, I'll be seeing Ashlee at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I can deliver them right to her if you don't know her.

From Ashlee:
"My little hospital depends on the work of volunteers to make our kids blankets, laundry & wheelchair bags and we have been in serious short supply of them (laundry bags, specifically) the past few months. Today, when I heard my patients were losing clothes because of this lack of organization, it motivated me to do something. I, unfortunately, don't have a sewing machine, so I'm calling in support - you! The bags are super basic and can be made out of whatever sort of material (they're hardly ever "kid themed" so if you have an old flat sheet covered in roses that you don't use, it will be perfect for this job). They tend to be about the size of a king sized pillow case and some have a very basic draw string at the top (this is helpful, but not necessary). If you are interested in helping out, let me know! I can take them directly to the hospital or you can contact the volunteer office if you'd rather do it that way: Paula Cronquist (Volunteer Services manager)651-229-3937 pcronquist@gillettechildrens.com If you know of anyone else who might be interested in helping, please feel free to pass this along. Please don't feel obligated, I just thought it might be a fun thing that would help out some really cute kids I know :-)"

Last Week in Photos

Henrik fits in the 5-gallon pot! Last year he fit in a pumpkin...

The view of Snow Falls Pocket Wilderness from Buzzard's Point. Ben and I hiked this as a date!

Sunday afternoon playing in the leaves. I took a LOT of photos and couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Ben painting the house. It might be a while before the final unveiling...

Happy First Birthday, Henrik!

Your birth-day seems a world away, and yet each day from that one to this is so dear. Watching you grow this year and loving you more and more all along the way has been fascinating and joyous. We love you, Henrik! Happy first birthday.

September 22

October


November 14


December


January 1


January 16

March 10

April 24

June 1

July

September 17

September 19

Its been a great year, Baby!

Welcome, Phoebe and Welcome, Jordan

Presenting the newest babies in the family:

Phoebe Bella, born September 5



Jordan Xavier, born September 14


Dear little ones and your sweet mommies,
We love you all so much (the rest of your family, too!) and are so grateful for the joy that you are in this world. And now, may you all sleep well.

Yay, Garden!

Having a productive vegetable garden is really important to me. Despite a good amount of effort on the part of myself, Ben and even Jim and Becky (who dug out a new bed in the spring), I have felt pretty disappointed by the results. The ENTIRE spring crop failed, and my carefully cultivated summer crop has only yielded herbs and half a handful of green beans. Until this morning. I have just harvested a good handful and a half of green beans and even a zucchini, which, I might add, grew in spite of the fact that I have no male plant growing. Perhaps a really helpful bee visited the neighbor's garden first. And there is hope for more fresh produce! The herbs are really taking off, the tomato plants are bowing over with huge fruit, the bell peppers are blimping, and the huckleberries are ripening. Yay!
Also, Ben comes home tonight. And so far, no call about a missed or delayed flight. Yay!