18 Months

My sister, Rebekah, sent me this cute picture and I thought it would be a good time to do a Landon update. I can't believe my baby is 18 months, time just flies by.
Here are some things that Landon has been up to:

He's starting to say two word phrases: "Bye bye, daddy," "Happy Day" (for Happy Birthday), "Bite Please," "My baby"

He's identifying a few people/things in his cartoon Bible - Jesus, Moses, David, Ark, Sky (for creation). He loves looking for Jesus in the Bible and any time we ask him who the Bible is about, he says, "Jesus."

Many time when we say "I love you," he says, "Jesus," and we say, "Yes, Jesus loves you." Then he says, "Bible" and we say, "Yes, the Bible tells us that.

He started to really like to play with legos. He puts several together then points it at me and says, "bang bang!"

Anytime we turn onto the road our church is on he starts kicking his legs and says, "AJ, Ja Ja" - for two boys in our church AJ and Josh that he absolutely adores.

He says, "Amen" after any songs we sing at church or after the prayers.

He loves chocolate and always wants to eat his dessert first (like any kid would) - of course I don't let him :)

Sometimes I cradle him as I would a baby and rock him back and forth and say "you're my baby." Recently he started saying, "my baby" when I start to hold him like that.

If I tell him we're going to see someone and ask him several minutes later who we're going to see, he remembers.

Every time we're waiting in line he makes conversation with strangers. He first says, "one" and holds up one finger (to tell them how old he is) then he says, "basketball." I don't know why, but he thinks it's a great conversation starter.

He's 32 inches long and just over 26 pounds.

Anyway, I just thought I would post these few things to have a record of it. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. We will be spending it in Iowa this year for the first time since we've been married. I'm looking forward to the traditional Butter Horns - a family recipe for the best rolls ever :) And of course being with family and friends. Well, today is a beautiful day and I need to go enjoy it! Hope you are all having a good weekend.

The Second Miracle

We are going through John 6 in BSF and I wanted to share a few things I've been learning.

John 6:16-21
"Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

I had always been amazed at how the Lord Jesus walked on water, but never noticed this second miracle in this story. The sea of Galilee stretches somewhere between 6-10 miles based on the map below from Biblos. They had only rowed about 3 to 4 miles yet as soon as they let Jesus into the boat, the sea is calmed and they immediately reached Capernaum.

Before Jesus came, they were struggling on their own. He knew their struggles and came to them. They didn't recognize His presence in the situation. Jesus made Himself known and they welcomed Him into the boat. We need to welcome him into our boat or rather recognize His presence in each situation in our lives. He knows our troubles and wants to help us through them so we can be where He wants us to be.

Menu for the week

After being gone a couple weekends in a row, and having our Thanksgiving kids club a couple days ago, I am finally getting back into the groove of menu planning.

M: Chicken Stuffing Bake
T: Lime Chicken Soft Tacos with Mexican Rice
W: Three Cheese Baked Spaghetti
R: Asian Peanut Wraps
F: Homemade Pizza
S: Leftovers
S: Grilled Cheese with Carrot and Squash Curry Soup

Landon and Sophie

Last weekend we went to the parenting conference in Topeka. It was really good, we learned a lot! Here is a little video of Landon and Sophie giving each other a big hug.