Springing to a new season

Whew! What a crazy busy 2 weeks!

I started my new job, went through and very.... thorough orientation. Most days I drove to the downtown campus. Mix my disdain for driving + big city rush hour traffic + never quite leaving "on time" = stressed adrenal glands and a (slight) overcomsumption of chocolate covered almonds.

Did my first 12 yesterday, and aside from achy feet, I surivived! Seeing has how the last 12 I did was back before Eliaya, I saw this as quite the accomplishment. The phrase "the calm before the storm" takes on new significance in labor & delivery. The board looks great on a Monday morning... uh oh, you know craziness is about to ensue. But kudos to the team, we made it out alive. Shout out to BHE L&D.... miss you guys!

Jarrod and I have been, well, honestly it's been a very rough past few weeks spiritually. While in seminary-land, and even before really, we heard of problematic theology and the rise of "liberal" thinking in the church, but had not experienced it firsthand. It's been a bit of a reality check, and to prevent becoming one of those bloggers who rants-on-the-verge-of-gossips-online-instead-of-addressing-problems, I'll leave the details out. The Lord is using this to stir passion in us to search out His Word and find answers and work on clearly communicating them. I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY (caps intentional) recommend Mark Dever's book The Church: the Gospel Made Visible. He draws out false thinking, ie if something is not essential for salvation it is then unimportant and dissmissable, and works through why we should care about the practices in the church. Paring Scripture with every point, he speaks plainly and unapologetically  I have learned so much, and I'm only 1/2 way through. Read it.

This kid is almost 1 year old!!! Holy smokes. When did that happen?? She's been a busy-bee, here's a list of new accomplishments:

- now we can climb... everything.
The stairs, on the coffee table, and her favorite, the rocking chair -->
She pushes it up to just below the window, climbs up and just laughs and laughs as it wiggles back and forth. I'm sure at some point she'll come tumbling backwards and I'll don the cape and rush to the rescue, vowing that she'll never do it again (first time mom after all) and we'll snuggle till she's better. But for now, I'll enjoy as she enjoys and be thankful.

- we're making the jump to regular milk (praise the Lord the pumping days are done!). She didn't seem to mind.... too much, so long as the milk was warmed. We're learning she's quite particular, not about taste or texture, but the temperature of her food.

 - She LOVES books. They probably fall second on the list only to goldfish. She'll pull one out, open it in her lap and start reading "bah bah da bah ba" -turn page- "da ba ma ma bah". Precious. Then when she's done she will come find your lap and give you the book to read. It's neat to see her attention span increase day by day. A month ago we could read maybe 2 pages in a kids cardboard book before she would lose interest. Now she'll watch and listen through 2-3 pages of the Jesus storybook Bible!


Perhaps the most exciting update... drum roll please........
She can walk! She took her first steps last Monday (11th). Standing next to me, I threw her paci onto Jarrod's chest (he was reading on the floor), she looked at me, then step-step-step, crouched down to pick it up, then stood up and looked back gleaming "look mom, I can get that!". Once she realized what she accomplished, she promptly fell down. Such has been the case since. If motivated by paci, milk or the dog, she'll waddle around, but once cognizant of the situation, quickly returns to crawling. Awesome.

We're in the midst of birthday preparations, tons of pictures to come. It's a "goldfish" theme (how appropriate, I know) and it is single-handedly responsible for me caving in and joining pinterest! Here's the first creation ------>

Straw wreath (14"), 170 7" balloons, 200 floral pins, 2-3 feet of ribbon, cardboard for the hat and a picture of baby girl. Took about 3 hours for this uncrafty lady to finish it all. I really like it!

Alright friends, nap time is just about over. I hope you have a wonderful day and to my Christian brothers and sisters, I pray that you would seek the Lord steadfastly and would stand firm in Truth, unswerving in the throws of popular opinion. Our God is true, mighty and so worthy of praise. Romans 11:33-36 says "Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid? For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, amen."

with love,
-the Reeds