Luke's 2nd Birthday

Water entertains Luke more than anything else in the world.  Fortunately for him, there is basically a bridge per resident in this city, and every single time we drive over a bridge, Luke begins to ask, "Waar? Waar?" (as in, "Please, let's go play in the water?").  When we finish our drive over the bridge, he begins to cry.  Every single time.  Sometimes Paul will slowly drive over the bridge just to get a good laugh out of this predictable occurrence.  When we take him to the ocean, he's 100% fearless,  and he usually cries when we drive down our street after beach play dates and asks, "Oceeen? Oceeen?"  

So it only seemed fitting to celebrate Luke's birthday at the beach!  Our good friends, the Kaylors, treated us with a visit to see us, and we all went to the beach in the morning.  That evening we ate dinner on the water and walked around the waterfront of downtown Charleston as we ate Luke's beach birthday cake.  

My friend, Julie Kaylor, is a talented photographer and just sent me these pictures from the celebration!

This little boy is a blessing from the Lord!

Yummy beach cake!

This right here melts a mommy's heart!

Here's Luke with his buddy, Scott!  Luke can't wait to meet the newest Kaylor addition this winter!

The Kaylors faced the challenge of trying to take a Tennant family picture around bedtime!

Happy Birthday, precious little boy.  We love you more than you'll ever know!

Behold His Power and Glory

It's a miracle, really.  

One year ago today, Diane Schreiner was physically unrecognizable in a comatose state at Louisville's tertiary care hospital as she recovered from brain surgery.  Anyone who knew Diane grieved the possibility of her suffering any loss- whether that meant the loss of her own life or the loss of mental health and functionality.  So people from all of the world prayed while acknowledging God's sovereignty, and we waited to see how God would use Diane's bike accident for His glory.  And what a story of glory there is to share!

This time last year I wrote about Diane here, wondering if the personality traits I described would even be preserved.  Not only did God preserve them, but He pruned and strengthened them!

Diane still gives her time to invest in the lives of those around her.  She resumed mentoring Mary Ellen and me in her home weeks after being released from inpatient rehab.  When our newborn baby kept me homebound in November, Diane prioritized our mentoring times by having her husband drive her to my home so that we could continue our regular meetings.  We have continued to share our struggles, joys, and prayer requests with each other.  

  

She still has that hilarious Johnny Cash ring tone on her cell phone and very obviously loves her family more than anyone else.  But what has strongly influenced me since her accident has been her willingness to follow her husband's leadership as he has closely monitored her through each step of the healing process.  She's one determined lady, and even when she would want to stand before she had the strength to do so - or even when she didn't want to eat as much food on her plate as she knew she needed to - or even when she wanted to resume her exercise hobbies, she agreeably followed her husband's guidance and supervision.  No grumbling in return- just a quiet acknowledgment and trust that he wanted what was best for her.  This was mentoring at its finest- through example! 

And with her words as well as by her example, Diane still spurs me on to love my husband and children as Christ calls me to love them. Her recent e-mail to me with parenting advice was read at a perfect time: right before we left for a grocery store experience that would include a meltdown from a certain 2-year-old living in our home!  I was glad to have been reminded to be a mommy with a backbone and not just a nice mommy.

But most noticeable in Diane over the past year has been the glory of God displayed in her life in her own relationship with the Lord.  Though Diane has undoubtedly experienced moments of frustration, I have yet to hear a complaint come from her mouth.  Instead, she has chosen to view this trial as a means of God's sanctification in her life.  During one of the first times Mary Ellen and I visited with her at her home, she was sharing that she couldn't ride her bicycle for a while.  Instead of complaining, she acknowledged, "I guess God's work in my life right now is more important than riding a bike."  Diane knew that the steadfast love of God is better than any earthly luxuries in this life.

And just as I assumed, she did scold me for writing a blog post about her last year.  I think her exact words were that she didn't know who I was writing about.  She'll probably scold me for writing this post, too, but don't worry, Diane.  God gets the glory in this post just like He does in your life! Our last meeting occurred days before Mary Ellen and I moved from Louisville, and Diane shared the following psalm with us:  

"So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will praise you. 
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63: 2-8

To acknowledge the one-year anniversary of Diane's accident is to behold the power and glory of God, because He has been her help.  His right hand has upheld her.  Praise be to our great God for preserving your precious life, Diane!

Adventures in Charleston

We live in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.  Before moving here, I assumed that our time in Charleston would be considered more of a vacation than an adventure.  In reality, it has been both of those!  

In my opinion, any slimy animal- or anything with pinchers, for that matter- is a result of the Genesis 3 curse.  And it just took one day in Charleston for us to realize that we now live among many of these cursed creatures.  As we were making our big Wal-Mart run the day after we moved in, we opened up the van door to find three slimy tree frogs inside our van door!   At least one of the two of us was amused.  

About a week after we moved in, a new friend and I decided to stroll our kids around the lake at the nearby park, but as we approached the lake we were stopped by the park workers who pointed out an alligator swimming across the lake!  Secured in his stroller, Luke enjoyed watching it swim across the lake and exit on the opposite side, and when Paul came home that evening, Luke told Paul what he saw as he shared, "Owl-gare. Water."  

A few days later I took the boys to a playdate at the tidal pool on the beach, and a friend shared that a beached bull shark had been discovered in the same tidal pool just a few blocks down.  Here's the article about it.

And just two days ago as I strolled the boys to the neighborhood pool, we found a giant, foot-long frog  in the middle of the street.  I thought a phone call to my husband would somehow ease my agitation, but instead he reminded me with laughter that our neighborhood "is named after a marsh, after all." Somehow forgetting about the frog, we enjoyed a peaceful morning with the luxury of having the pool all to ourselves, so we thought.  But we were wrong:

Yes, that's a "cwab," as Luke would say.  Certain that my fearless one-year-old would attempt to catch him in the bottom of the pool had he known about this, I decided to keep this awareness to myself.

Finally, Charleston has more bugs than I could have ever imagined. Thankfully, we have a member of the bug patrol living at our house:

When he is outside, however, takes on the role as the bug greeter.  He frequently waves at the spiders and ants outside with an enthusiastic "Hi, bug!" and "Bye bye, bug!" 

It might seem as if we are wandering around in a wilderness, but I know better than to complain about it!  So here are acknowledgements of God's kindness to us while in Charleston:

- Friends!  We've made more friends than we expected to, and we've only been here for about a month. 

-  Paul enjoys his job!

- Visits! We have already had visits from friends and family.  We're thankful that the Doty family spent some time with us, and we loved venturing through Charleston with Mama T!

-  Water.  We love the beach and the pool!

This was Luke's first trip to the beach at an age when he could appreciate it!

Caleb's first trip to the beach!

Whether we're at the pool or at the beach, we usually play in the water until this happens.

Charleston has already proven itself to be exciting, and we look forward to all that lies ahead during the remainder of our time here!