March 2nd, 2007

One year ago Aubrey Grace came into our lives. Everyone said it goes fast but I thought at least the first year would take its' time.

You are a precious gift from God, Aubrey Grace. You are "fearfully and wonderfully made," and our prayer is that as you grow you will understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Jesus' love is for you. We pray that you will trust Him with your heart and serve Him faithfully and boldly. We love you so much, sweet girl. Happy birthday.

Canoeing

Aubrey's newest friend, Ellen Marie, came over to play the other night while her mom & dad went out together. Aubrey loves babies. Just wanted to post this cute picture of Aubrey loving on Ellie. And we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today and head out on the canoe. Aubrey had a great time.

I am amazed at God's handiwork...even here in the deep south. :) These trees are standing by themselves and it seems like they are rooted in the water. I thought it was beautiful in a very southern way.

The cutie in orange.

He melts me.

I had to post this for Mom and Aunt Connie: Aubrey gives me this look a lot and I was excited to finally capture it on film. When she does this I feel like I'm looking at a picture of Grandma Farwell. I call this her "Graham" expression. If I'm wrong, don't tell me. :) I like believing that God's given me a little girl that has some of her great-grandma in her. :)

Highlights

I guess it probably hasn't been too long since I last blogged but I feel like a lot has been going on in the last couple of weeks and I wanted to just highlight some of the biggies:

John: Studying, studying, studying. He is about 2 months into advanced (helicopter training) and he is moving right along. He has a check ride on Monday and then his first SOLO in the aircraft. The check ride is important because the instructor will test John to see if he knows what he needs to do in any emergency. The solo is exciting because it's the navy's way of telling the students that they have confidence in their abilities. The end is in sight for our time here in Milton/Pensacola. We are looking forward to what God has ahead for us but we are also enjoying the rest of our time here.

Anna: God really laid it on my heart to facilitate a Bible study here for the women who live in the Milton area. We meet every other Thursday night here at the house and are studying a great book: "Biblical Womanhood in the Home." This has been such a great learning experience for me...the Lord did not give me the gift of teaching so I have been seeing how HE is able and how He truly does work in weakness. And I've also been blessed by how refreshing it is to be around women who care about what God thinks over what everyone else thinks. It makes for deeper conversation and deeper friendships.

Aubrey Girl: is walking now. She discovered her complete freedom to roam around the house about 3 weeks ago and shortly thereafter figured out how to open the screen door and head on out to roam around the yard. And now she is quickly adding running to her reportoire. She waves and says, "Hi," to any passing friend or stranger and she squeals with delight when John walks through the door. She continues to be such a bright spot in John's and my life. Oh, what a precious little one we get to watch over for a while. God is so good.

Our Family of Three: On top of studying, the women's Bible study, and exploring the newly discovered "big girl" world of walking, we continue to be involved in OCF on Tuesday nights, cooking the meal for 20-25 people about once a month, I attend a Saturday morning girls' book study while John & Aubrey have a Saturday morning date, and we continue to enjoy the rich friendships God has provided here in northwest Florida. And through it all John & I are cherishing the fact that we get to live our lives together on this crazy adventure.

So, there you have it. If you read this far then you are a very good friend (or family member). :)