Air Traffic Control

Well I've told you that Emersen wants to direct plane traffic. I've included pictures of her practicing her art. Outdoors she gets full view of all the planes that fly over preparing to land at the airport. She can pick out the airplane in her First Words book by finding the picture on the page. 

Yeah, she's got on her skinny jeans and boots. And her Meijer $5 long sleeve shirt in size 24 MONTHS...

The hill of our driveway was a little tricky for her...she sort of couldn't stop herself once she got going.

She doesn't have weird black streaks in her hair, I think the strings on Wes' hoodie got in the way here.

My parents are currently keeping Emersen. We had a practice service at Turning Point yesterday, which was awesome. They thankfully took her for a couple days as we were practicing child care procedures, which meant no childcare. The morning was really great - great turn out, lots of enthusiasm and excitement. The worship music was simply amazing. I know people worship God in different ways (singing, prayer, service) but music is my way, for the most part. There is something about singing with your church family. Plus, I need a group of singers to drown me out so I can sing at the top of my lungs, which I do. If I could wish for anything, I think it would be the ability to sing well. But God doesn't care about the tone or lack thereof, just the sincerity and generosity. 

Things to come on the blog: I just found a website where, if you have a blog and will write a book review, you can receive books for free to read! So I'll be doing that - I've already received the first book and have started reading it. It's about sex....so....tune back in, eh? You'll probably be surprised of the two-fold topic.

What else? I'm still catching up on previously taken pictures - Emersen feeding herself with utensils, maybe some silly face, a super cute new UK shirt for Em. And of course, I'm going to be updating on the church launch. It's simply the thing on the forefront of our hearts and minds right now. It was so rewarding yesterday to finally get a glimpse of the big picture God had when nudging Wes and I towards moving out to our area and joining a church out here. As Wes used as an illustration, God's will is sometimes like a puzzle to us. You have to put it together piece by piece and slowly you start to see what it really is supposed to look like, what the bigger picture is and how all the pieces fit together to make the picture. I regret not showing more faith in God's promise to provide as I started worrying, complaining, doubting (partly due to my lack of participation in praying and studying His word) where we were plugged in, while as always, He was just giving us puzzle pieces, one-by-one and slowly. I can't wait to  find out what other pieces are in store for the launch in two weeks. 

Ya'll just get ready....

Sneak Peek

I was at church tonight for training for the registration desk for Kidspoint and took a few pictures of changes to the facilities. I wanted to share as we are getting really excited about the launch of our church next month! Things are getting intense as we train and practice our new roles in leadership and service. We will be practicing this Sunday. I am super impressed as a mom at our child check in software. And very amazed and grateful for all the hours of craftsmanship and labor members have put into the building. Without further ado, here are pictures I took with my phone tonight.

Oh and the pics are of the toddler room I mentioned, the family room with a tv to watch the service, and the coffee cafe, as well as a couple signs.

Just Dance

You have to stretch first...

Em LOVES watching us play just dance. I'm sure it doesn't provide some hilarious entertainment.

Oh dear. This girl has gone wild...

I did NOT upload the same picture a couple times, I took pictures of Em in motion so she lifted, dropped, lifted, dropped - I was just documenting history.

She might be a hippy dippy flower child....or have a future in the Happy Hands club.

Don't you wish you could embrace your belly with such love?

And....that's all - I think this was her pointing to the audience before she bowed out. Oh wait, she's not in a performance? She's just in her living room? Don't tell her, she'll be crushed...

Up to New Year's Eve

Mischievous already! She can't really do anything though. She has learned to go watch for Grandpa in the morning. And when she sees him get out of the car, she starts trying to turn the knob. Those sidelites are her best friend - I'm sure they're full of nose smudges too.

She-woman! She LOVES her chair. She moves it around sometimes as well - or moves who or what is sitting in it.

Up close of some of my Christmas tree decorations - yes it was still up on New Year's Eve and probably several days after that because I was sick. Maybe a week or more? But I didn't do ornaments this year, with Em around and the tree being in her "safe" play area - where she can play without hearing "NO" all the time. It wasn't too pretty as a whole, but I'm pleased with that little picture of the decor.

Miss Waverly! She jumped on Emersen's new keyboard WITH microphone.

She hasn't quite gotten the grasp of how to do it...bit her mama is QUITE the singer and I'm sure will teach her some day. Mostly, you need to see the accessories this child has - her family keeps her stylin'.

Miss Waverly and her beautiful mama Kelli (aka Kell Bell in my book). I was so glad they could celebrate with us for New Year's, although with kids, it wasn't the whole night of course. Bittersweet this year as we knock off the "lasts" of holidays and celebrations with they Snyder's for a while - this summer they will be leaving for training for the mission field and then be off to Madagascar in the fall to serve as missionaries there. We just got back from Chandler's (Kelli's husband) ordination service. Just the first step of many that is making this journey or adventure seem more real. While I am truly excited beyond words for them as it's been their calling and dream since before they got married, it is hard to see friends go off and aways. Kelli's blog, In A Waverly World, is on the blog log so feel free to check it out; she has a link to another blog on her's that gives some history to their journey towards Africa as well. It's been awesome to see how God has molded them over the past years first as a married couple, then as parents, in preparation for His mission for them in Africa. We can't wait to see what adventures are there for them and hear about the AMAZING things God will do through them there. Kelli has told me I'm not allowed to be sad so....I plan on sharing my excitement for them on here to focus on that instead!

Pebbles

Need I say more? Do you see her hair?

She was currently going through a 2 day phase of taking a drink of water and letting it just dribble out of her mouth....onto her clothes. I think this was her second shirt of the day.

She really enjoys her rocking chair. Getting in and out and rocking and moving it.

Daddy horseplay time. He makes her laugh harder than anybody. It's so awesome to see the amount of trust she has with him. She'll let him do anything - throw her, spin her, act like he'll drop her, lift her, tumble her...anything.

Ready, set, hike.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you....

Below pictures are probably a span of a minute or two. It's unbelievable how expressive Emersen is with her face. She loves mimicking our facial expressions and actions. And then there is "silly face" you'll see below, with her mouth open in an "O". That's an Emersen original.

I am, on a daily basis, amazed at how much I love her, how cute I think she is and how smart she's proving to be.She may be an Air Traffic Controller at this point. She'll stop what she's doing to point out airplanes flying over. But she will also point out the airplane in a book she has. And can pick out various foods as well. We can ask her to put her toys away in her bin and she will do a pretty good job at it. She's climbing up the steps, and we're working with her on the down part. She has started doing little "fits" at times when you sit her down and she doesn't want you to do that. She discovered her love for Chick-fil-A last night; she had some grilled chicken nuggets from their kids menu. She was "yum"-ing all over the place!

Love her.

Cooper Christmas

The clan.

Tunnel to her new tent.

Em opened ONE present and then did the sign language for "more". Oh dear.

She looks like a little lady...

Loves these turtles - she feeds them and kisses them all the time.

She needed a little convincing from her favorite uncle to go through the tunnel.

And it worked! 

Can't believe it's been almost a month since Christmas. Em got lots of great stuff - sled, turtles, books, bows, the awesome tent, etc. Oh to be a kid at Christmas again. Of course, we got our portable dvd player that was to: Emersen AND Morgan....since there were two screens and lets be honest, I'm going to be watching Lion King with her. Thanks to all!