january update from our home

God has been good to us this month (as always).

baby girl has seemed to turn a corner with her fussiness.  she now has long periods during the day where she is happy and cooing and playing.  even more fun is to see esther and baby girl interact.  one of esther's favorite things to do with baby girl is to stick her (esther's) fingers into baby's mouth and then in her own mouth and then in baby's mouth, and then in her own mouth... and on and on... its hilariously cute, and both babies have fun with it.

i've been reflecting a lot on our decision to take in another baby while esther was still so young.  sometimes i feel like we are crazy (and if we are out of our minds its for God's sake).  but there are many things i am thankful for in this situation.  i love that esther isn't an only child.  i love that she has a little playmate (although baby doesn't play that much yet... but she does let esther stick her fingers in her mouth :) ).  i love that she is learning to recognize that there are other people in the world with needs besides herself.  i hope it will lead (by God's grace) to her being a selfless person.  i love that we are being stretched in our faith and forced to depend on the Holy Spirit.

its sad to me that esther will probably never remember her first sister (besides stories we tell and pictures we show).  but that too will be worked together for good.


another major theme in our life right now are some major changes at our church.  our former pastor recently accepted a pastorate in mexico city, so we are currently looking for a new lead pastor.  God is doing a lot of cool stuff in the midst of this.  we recently had a workshop with people from our church to identify our mission/vision/values.  God surfaced a lot of things for discussion, both strengths and weaknesses of our church.  we have identified some next steps for growth and even have a very promising potential pastor coming to visit next month.

oh, and my january goal of sourdough bread baking? its going really well.  more on that in another post.

one of the first loaves of bread i made,
a sourdough country loaf

we just got some disappointing news... esther's medicine dosage has been increased for the second in this month (until this month her dosage was initially decreased and then has remained the same since). (read more about her diagnosis here).  this has many implications... more frequent blood draws, which are a tearful, heart wrenching events. this also means that it is less likely that they will ever try a medicine free period when she turns 3.  this could also has implications for ministry locations in the future, if we need to be near a large city for frequent endocrinology appointments throughout her childhood.

in other very important esther hope news, esther learned her first food word... "apu" (apple) and can now eat a whole apple if i hand it to her without slicing it (of course i keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't choke).