It's been a while!

I know I haven't written anything in 3 weeks so I apologize and that means this post might be a little long. I am going to put a few pictures up first and then I will get to my post.







The kids are doing really well! David is into everything and asserting his independence. He figured out how to move the kitchen chairs and now will climb on them and then can reach anything on the table. Jon's birthday cake was in the middle of the table and while I was changing Alex's diaper, he climbed onto the chair and started eating the icing off the cake. He let me know he was wanting something because he screamed my name "Erie, Erie" I just didn't know he was wanting the cake! And yes, he calls me by my name instead of mommy. This is not my choice and we say mommy to him all the time but he insists on Erie! (he can't pronounce the n) I will admit though that it is pretty funny to hear him call me by my name.
Alex is working on 5 teeth at the moment. She has done amazingly well for cutting so many at one time. Her hair is really starting to grow and I think it is going to have a lot of curl in it. The back and one longer section on top is starting to sit in little curls on her head. It is really cute!! She now crawls at hyper speed throughout the house. Her little legs and arms just move as fast as they can and she can be in another room in the blink of an eye. David and Alex have started playing together a little bit. Mostly they will crawl up and down the hallway with each other and just laugh and laugh! I love watching it! I have tried several times to get this on video but every time they see me they stop and come to the camera. As soon as I get good video I will post it.
We left yesterday for a quick trip to Houston. Kevin and Laura went with us and we had a blast! We went to the Astros/Red Sox game and the guys watched while Laura and I mostly talked. Then we went to church this morning at a pretty progressive church where most everything was led by women. None of us had experienced a service quite like this before but it gave us several things to think and study on. It wasn't bad, just different. Parts of it were really refreshing and others were a little uncomfortable. It challenged me to think about what I believe and I always welcome the chance to grow and come to a greater understanding of my faith and what God has to say to me, so overall I really enjoyed it. We then went back to Jon's grandparents and had an amazing lunch!! We were so full when we got on the road it was hard to stay awake! Thank you Mimi and Grandpa for letting us stay there and for the great conversation and food. Thanks also Mom and Dad for watching the kids. I know you had a blast and we really appreciated it! ( hope you aren't too exhausted)
Now on a more serious note...
I would say that over the past few weeks my walk with God has been in a valley. I guess the best and quickest way to explain it would be that I have just been struggling with who God truly created me to be and whether or not I am living within his purposes. I don't really want to get any further than that but I do want to share my God moment with you. In church this morning we sang the song "In Christ Alone". I have always liked this song but I haven't heard it in a while and today I heard the lyrics like they were being poured into my heart giving me strength and hope. I thought about the song all day and how the words were what I needed to hear. That my Father gave me his Son and when I live in Christ there is no worry, he holds my destiny! I looked for a good video of this song so I could post it and when I listened to the one below I had streams of tears running down my face by the end. It was even more powerful after thinking about it all day. I am so thankful that I am a child of God and that he has given me such an amazing crowd of witnesses in my life to share my journey with. I pray this video touches your heart. It is about 5 minutes long but please take the time to listen all the way to the end because the very last verse is worth the wait. Have a blessed and amazing week!

The Kids

I haven't posted about the kids in a couple of weeks so I thought I would devote some time to them. David is saying and understanding words more and more. Today he brought me his cup and said "more drink" and when I told him we couldn't go outside without our shoes on he brought me his shoes and sat down in my lap for me to put them on him. I just love watching him learn and rejoicing in the smallest accomplishments. I had no idea before I had kids that when parents clapped and encouraged their children over the tiny things, that they TRULY meant it! I am totally delighted at every little thing my children do! He also learned to swim with his floaties on. At first you had to hold him or he would end up with his face in the water or he would keep his mouth open and end up sucking in water. He didn't want to be held though, so he quickly figured out how to keep his head up and his mouth closed.
Alex is starting to walk around things as long as she can hold on. She will go down the coffee table but she hasn't figured out how to turn the corner yet. She will also take a few steps holding on to a walker. This week she started cutting three teeth on top so that cute grin with the two bottom teeth is about to change. (Not that it won't be cute, it will just have more teeth!) It is actually really good that she is cutting more teeth because last week she just decided she had had it with baby food. If you try to put something pureed into her mouth she will spit it out or gag on it. She prefers to just have table food. She is really good at feeding herself so we just cut everything up really small and she pretty much eats whatever we are eating and she loves it! She just smiles and laughs the whole time she is in her high chair eating. Alex is also saying dada. She screams it sometimes and this is to the delight of her daddy!
It is funny to me how I can already see such differences in their personalities. David has always been pretty independent. When he started crawling he would just crawl around the house and get into everything and explore. He didn't really care if you were around at all, and he wouldn't crawl to you unless he wanted food. Alex on the other hand follows me around the house. If I am in the kitchen, so is she. If I walk into a different room, she crawls right after me. If you put your arms out to her and say her name, she will always crawl right up to you and let you hug or kiss on her.
I think I have covered everything for now so I will close with pictures and videos from the past month.

Studio Blue Rocks!!

I wanted to let everyone know about Studio Blue. I am sure some of you already know about it but I want everyone to know! My friends Brandon and Heather started this photography business and it is really worth taking a look. Brandon really takes some amazing (and original) shots! They are doing this as a side business for now but would really like it to be full time. I highly recommend them. They are very decently priced and will work with you to get whatever shot you are looking for. We are going to have them take Alex and David's birthday pictures along with some family shots and I can't wait!! I posted a link to the right so you can look at their website and see for yourself how great Brandon is. Just click on Supremely Awesome Photographer.

The Shack

I wrote a pretty long post yesterday about the book I just finished reading called "The Shack" by William P Young. I went back and re read some parts this morning that I wanted to think over some more. After I read them I decided to delete the post I made yesterday and start over.
The book was very touching to me. It contained a lot of dialogue that I enojoyed and it made me want to experience a stronger relationship with my Creator. With that said, I also want to say that I found some pretty big flaws in the theology behind many of the conversations within the book. As someone who has a pretty grounded faith and understanding of what I believe in Scripture I think it was just fine to read the book. I was capable of reading it as a work of fiction and someone elses ideas of what God might be like. If you are a new Christian or if you are easily swayed by post-modern thinking then I would suggest that you never pick this book up. It has the potential to teach some theology that I believe just isn't supported by scripture. But I would love for anyone who feels like they can read this book objectively to pick it up and read it. There were some parts that really helped me and that I felt were completely grounded in scripture. I would love to discuss this book with some of you whether you liked it or not.
While writing this post I have been looking online at several discussions about the book. I had no idea it was so popular. So you might have already heard a lot about it. A lot of people seem to really hate the book. I think you have to read it as a work of fiction and someones imagination and leave it at that. Well I am anxious to hear everyone elses thoughts...