baptism day

jonas was baptized this past sunday. he slept through the whole occasion

with only a slight flinch as the water trickled down his face.

astoundingly, our other four children stood next to us and looked on intently.

but my reflections, later, were that we go through our life

much like jonas did his baptism or much the opposite, in a frantic state,

mostly unaware of the hand of God at work.

its not often that we (or at least i) go through our life in the moment,

deeply aware of God, as our other children were for just a minute that morning.

but i'm praying that i will be in the moment with God more...

and by so doing i will be taking my children there, too.

growing and changing

jonas has begun to make the transition from newborn to baby...

always bittersweet for me.

but, now, hes chubby, smiley, and incredibly cuddly.

his days are full of attention from his adoring siblings,

or hes riding around the house in the sling.

hes actually just beginning to stretch out his legs,

my younger children have curled their legs in fetal position

for much longer than many babies,

as they really do live in the sling.

another one of the treasure of this stage for me is that

hes still little, lightweight, and sleepy enough

that i can keep him in the sling almost all of my waking hours.

so, all in all hes quite happy and healthy,

and we are once again relishing in the joy of having a baby in the house.

by the way, for those of you who remember,

doesn't he look like micah?

and, yes, those are reddish hints in his hair.

the cousins

i thought i would post a few pics of the newest cousins.

these two little girls are the first on my side of the family,


although the kids already have a cousin on joel's side (titus),


and several others whom we love as cousins,


but don't share our blood :).


anyway...





this is nora faith heiskell born on january 5. isn't she beautiful?


i think she looks just like my sister,


and it makes me so lonesome for both of them just to look at her.

and, this is elise lenore born on december 26.

both little girls were due on christmas day,

and her cousins were very thankful that little elise made it

at least until christmas afternoon before announcing she was on her way.

that is because i had the privelege of attending her birth

(and the kids didn't want to have christmas morning without me).

but, what a privelege it was.

its incredible how its a new miracle each and every time.

and shana was amazing, laboring all through the night and

into the next afternoon before elise finally made her way into the world.

anyway, here she is. i think she looks like her mama, too...

Elias is 8!

Elias is now 8 years old. Holy smokes. 8 years.

8 years ago we were in Chattanooga,

and I remember the time Matt and Josh

tried to convince me to go on a canoeing trip with him...

he was only a few months old.

Actually, I didn't need much convincing,

it sounded like a great idea to me.

On the other hand, Vanessa did need some convincing,

but Matt and Josh left that part to me.

Needless to say, we were absent from that trip.

I did finally take Elias canoeing this past summer.

I don't have a picture of it,

so you'll have to settle for a picture of him on his 8th birthday.

What a great kid he is. He's so smart.

And he's got a great heart.

And he's pretty good at art

(well not really the art thing, but he does like to do those little doodle-type drawings

that you do on those small pieces of paper while you are sitting in church).

He loves playing board games (ahem, Matt),

but only if he thinks he has a good chance at winning.

To be honest, he can beat at most of the games we play.

He's also alot like me; so much so that he often really gets under my skin,

but I guess that's way things go.

I love you, Elias.