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Happy Birthday Beckett!

Dear Beckett,

Happy first birthday! It is technically your birthday since you are 6 hours ahead in Casablanca. We wanted to be the first to wish a happy birthday. We wish we could be with you today to eat a cupcake and watch you blow out your candle. But not to worry, we will have plenty of celebrating to do when you come to visit. Here are some special pictures for you.

Did you know that you and Charlotte are exactly 3 weeks apart? This is you two together after she was born.

You both touched your feet to the sand for the first in California on the same day.

You and Charlotte love to play.

Sometimes you make funny faces when you think daddy may eat you.

You make us laugh all the time.

This was the day you taught Charlotte to clap.

Thanks for the fun brother. We love you! Aina, Cub Cub, & Charlucci

The Countdown begins...

Charlotte turned 11 months old today...which means one month left until her 1st birthday. 

Thought you may be interested in her latest stats.

Age: 11 months

Height: 30+inches.

Weight: 17.8 lbs (estimated).

Eyes: bright brown.

Hair: light brown.

Favorite food: Veggie Puffs.

Favorite toy: Giant life-size penguin (pictures will follow later).

Favorite outing: Carousel @ Stonebriar Mall.

Skills: Clapping, high five, brushing hair, giving kisses, laughing, smiling, pointing, crawling, standing, cruising,trying to walk,  finding tiny specs of trash on the floor and putting them in her mouth.

Super power: Sqealing so high that she can and will bust your ear drum. She silenced Maggianos the other night with her screech (ask the Hollemans:)

Aliases: Charlucci, Pow Pow, Tau Tau, the Gooch, Charlie, Carlotta.

Charlotte watches a DVD with friends.

Runners...until the race is won.

I got sick yesterday...like I have to leave work sick...like if I don't leave work right now I am going to throw up here sick. I drove myself home and went straight to bed. It lasted about 24 hours...I couldn't eat, my body was aching, and sleep and rest was the only thing that would bring relief. Sometimes I feel that God does this in my life to tell me to slow down and rest (if only I could get the message another way), but I seem to learn things the hard way.

I am a runner (or at least I have tried to make myself one). I love to run in the gym, treadmill, on the road. After I work out I am still running...just in life. You know Runner's High? I get the same thing by just accomplishing things throughout the day. Slowing down is something that is very difficult to do...there are so many things to do in a day...good things...work, working out, reading, spending time with people, taking care of my family, reaching out to others, errands, etc. Things I must do and things I choose to do...and most of the time I am in the moment and enjoy the many things I do...it's just that I think I am doing too much...scratch that-I am doing too much.

Slowing down in life is so relative...if I am driving 100mph and slow down to 75mph is that slow?

So there you have it. Just trying to figure out what "slowing down" means in my life. I know that spiritual analogy made to running the race...not to run aimlessly, that I should run as one to win the prize, to sun a good race, that I should do it with perseverance for the race marked out for me...perhaps there lies the problem. That I am confusing the race of life with the race of LIFE that is found in dwelling in His presence rather than just high fiving Him as I pass through the day.

I feel like I am stopping to smell the roses, I guess it's just am I really taking a deep breath? Today I took Charlotte to the pond to feed the ducks. The weather was cool, the sun was setting, she was babbling, her hair was shining, and I wished I had a different lens on my camera...but it was wonderful and I thought this is the LIFE. No where to be, nothing to do, but just enjoy the moment, all that God has given me and entrusted to me. I loved it and wished it could last longer...

So am I the only one who had a hard time with this? Now that I've written so much I don't even know what IT is...just know that I think I am doing IT wrong.

Any wisdom is welcomed.

An hour in the life of Charlotte - in 1 minute.

Year in Review.

I normally do this on New Year's but since we were on the other side of the globe, it was impossible and I had to hurry up and post on the New Year's Resolutions so I would actually start doing them (making some good progress by the way:). I am doing it without pictures which I regret, but bear with me.

January 26th Caleb and I went to Fond du Lac, WI for a weekend in the snow with a great youth group.

February 2nd was Charlotte's Baby shower, though we didn't know at the time that she was in fact a Charlotte.

February 8th was our 5 Year Anniversary.

March 3rd Beckett North Douglass was born.

March 24th Charlotte Marie Carruth was born.

May 11th I graduated with my Master's Degree in Counseling.

May 17th we were in D.C. to watch Carrie graduate from Nursing School.

June 12th was Charlotte's first day in Mexico with Mission Discovery.

July 11th was Charlotte's first time to put her feet in the sand at Seal Beach in California.

July 14th was Charlotte's first trip to Disneyland with her cousins.

July 20th we had Ella's early birthday party since they were moving to Morocco.

August 11th was the day that Scott, Diana, Ella, & Beckett went to Morocco.

August 20th was the day that my husband lost his father, I lost my father in law, and Charlotte lost her beloved grandfather when he passed away.

August 25th we said goodbye to Caleb's Dad with a beautiful memorial service. 

September 18th Caleb and I had our first Home Group meeting at our home.

October 31st we dressed up like Charlotte's Web for Halloween.

November 2nd was Charlotte's first trip to College Station and more importantly, Sweet Eugene's.

December 6th was the day our good friends Lindey, Ryan, & Espen moved back.

December 9th I learned that I was going to be an aunt to another precious niece or nephew.

December 25th we left for Madrid to meet Diana, Scott, Ella, & Beckett after 4 1/2 long months.

2008 was a year of extraordinary blessing and extraordinary loss. It's crazy that our lives are these journeys...some parts of which we know the way, and some parts that are unknown to us. Had we known the way last year would go,  we may not have been able to stand up under it all...but God reveals a little at a time and faithfully walked us through each step (even when we couldn't see the way). God is good...all the time. I can' tell you how many times these words came out of my mouth last year...sometimes because I felt it and sometimes because I needed to feel it.

So I'm raising my glass to a New Year, to first birthdays, first steps, first Easter, new life, growth, 6 year anniversary, 30th birthday, and all of the other thousand of things that are planned for our family. Thanks for walking with us.