Growing Girl

Today Kenna is 14 months old! I keep telling people when they ask her age "oh, she just turned one." But when I stop and think about it in months, I've had to realize that she was almost 14 month old! (She loves to put her little feet up on the high chair tray like this- she always either does this or swings and kicks them).
I've been feeling a little nostalgic recently with how quickly my little girl is becoming a little girl and no longer a baby. I can hardly seem to keep up with her clothing- it feels like on a daily basis I am setting aside clothes to hand down to her cousin and trying on three things in a row to find something for her to wear that isn't pulling a little to tightly somewhere as she gets so tall. Putting her in the bathtub yesterday, I looked at her in the same little duckie towel that she used for her very first bath so long ago (it's not in the pictures, but we used it- it was huge then!). I was holding her up to standing on the countertop because she loves to laugh and smile at herself in the mirror, and Matt came in and said "she looks so big!"
It's so easy with a little one to focus on the next big accomplishment (walking on her own) and each new thing that she's doing that she couldn't do yet just yesterday. So much focus is on the stages, looking forward, and commemorating the "big" things that we get all dressed up for and take pictures of. But especially as a stay at home mom, so much of what I do on a regular basis doesn't seem that important at face value... much of it is laundry or cooking or feeding Kenna, things that will have to be re-done each day and sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes there's not always much that feels like it was "accomplished" at the end of the day.

So I took some pictures of her playing in the bath and with her towel, not because it was any kind of special moment or accomplishment (for her or me) or new stage, but because there will never again be a time that my little Kenna bear will be 13 months and however many days old, singing and smiling and handing me toys in the bath, looking in the faucet to see if the water will come out, and pointing at it to indicate to me that she wants it to. Next time, she will be 13 months and however many days old plus one, that much closer to 14 months... 15 months...
I think pretty much all moms can identify with the sort of unspoken bittersweetness of their child getting older. You want them to grow, to learn, to experience new things, and to have a full happy life. It has been one of the greatest joys of my existence, watching Kenna discover each new thing about herself and her world, more so even than I thought it would be. But at the same time, there is the little daily letting go of the tiny dependent newborn she was when I first met her. There is a sadness in the finality of who she is today and a joy knowing she will be just a little bit different tomorrow- and that being her mommy gets better and better each day! There is also a joy (and a little disbelief!) in knowing that each day brings us closer to shopping for her first school supplies, and then before I know it, shopping for her prom dress. It's crazy to think.
So, right now, being a stay at home mom with Kenna is my joy and privilege, a gift from God as I get the front-row experience of this wild and wonderful blessing that is my child.

What We've Been Up To

We've been pretty few and far-between with the blog posts recently, so I thought I'd write a little mini-update of what's going on with us so far in the new year!

#1 We're still working on losing weight.
We started Weight Watchers together back in August and have each lost about 30 pounds! Definitely exciting and something to be celebrated. I forgot how good it felt to be forced to buy new jeans... and stuff that hasn't fit me since before I was pregnant with Kenna is fitting again, and that's fun. We both have about 40ish more pounds to go though, so we are trying to keep at it. As can be expected, Christmas time threw us off track a little bit. Who wants to count points when all those cookies are around? Since we have such flexible day time schedules right now, we've also tried to take advantage of the chance to make diet/exercise a priority as a family, like taking walks around the mall (avoiding this cold weather!) and cooking dinner together. Since I have 40 pounds left to go to my goal weight, Matt surprised me with this really sweet idea:
There is a $5 gift card waiting for every 5 pound increment I have left to lose, and each time I lose 5 pounds I get to use one of the gift cards (or I can save them to have $40 to spend when I reach my goal)! So now they are all lined up on the fridge as a reminder every time I get the urge to snack aimlessly. How sweet is that? I thought this little "system" was a really sweet and creative way to show me his support! I love that the "almost there" one says enjoy, and then the very last one looks like a celebration!

#2 We've gone on two dates in the past two weeks!
This has been a lot of fun, and a big treat for us- our awesome Sunday School class gave Matt a gift card to Outback as a thank you gift for co-teaching, so thanks to them we were able to have not one, but two dinners out! Our good friends Brian and Mandy (and Kate and Thomas!) gave us a gift card to a movie for Christmas (they know us too well!) so we were able to go see Twilight: New Moon (I know, I know) and Leap Year (excellent and we highly recommend it!). Kenna got to play with her grandparents one night and our lovely friend Joanna another night! Surely two bloomin' onions in one month is not so good for the weight loss thing, but man were they good! Maybe we should have saved one for Valentine's Day...

#3 Catching up with the Amersons
Our good friends Asheton and Tracey were in town right after Christmas and we were able to hang out with them for a few hours and see Kenna and their daughter Bailey play together! Kenna and Bailey are two days apart in age and haven't seen each other since last June when they were just 7 months old!
As you can imagine, these girls are much bigger now, and had a blast pretending to talk on the phone to each other. Even though we interrupted both their naptimes, they had lots of fun playing and chatting (so did their parents!)
I love this photo of Bailey, and had to laugh:
because it reminded me so much of this one of Kenna- at church waiting for the Christmas Eve service to start.
"Why are you still taking my picture, Mommy?" Where do these sassy little attitudes come from? (Don't you love that little bow holding on for dear life to one little hair? It lasted all of about 10 minutes on her head). PS girls- stop growing up so fast.

#4 Otherwise being entertained by our child.
Kenna, as usual, is a ham and so much fun to be around! Every little stage just seems to get cuter and more fun, even as her little temper and personality grow as she tries to figure out her world. She is still not walking on her own quite yet, but I am sure it is because I have told her we're going to start potty training when she does! She's into lots of girly things right now- she loves shoes and jewelry, and tries to "put on" anything and everything by looping it behind her neck... especially my scarves. She must be going through a growth spurt because she is eating everything in sight- she eats all of her food and then comes to our plates for more! She is such a people person- she loves to laugh and does great with church nursery, babysitters, and bigger kids. Her favorite toys right now are phones of any kind- whatever she can get her hands on. She really loves to throw a toy and then chase it down (yes, our kid likes to play "fetch") and sometimes she'll even play it with Pontouf! They are great friends, and Kenna thinks it's hilarious when Pontouf chases after a toy she's thrown. She loves to jabber and sing- we love imitating the little songs she makes up, and I can't wait until she can express her sweet little thoughts (for us to understand) with that sweet little voice.

Some not-so-fun things that we are disciplining right now are throwing food, taking her bib off in the middle of meals (especially frustrating during messy meals with messy little fingers!) and screaming- not as in crying, but as in loud bursts of screams when she wants something/can't reach something/ can't make something do what she wants it to do. She is fighting to not take naps, but we're still using the cry it out method at naptime and bedtime, which is really sad sometimes, but always works. She cries no matter what when we put her in the crib, but she usually cries for a few minutes and then settles down.

#5 Getting back on track.
It's hard to get back into a "normal" schedule after Christmas. There's something sad to me about taking down all the ornaments and decorations, so the house has been in kind-of a cluttered, half-cleaned up stage for a week or two. I'm always trying to figure out how to best optimize our space (especially the living room, since it is where we truly "live" most days!) since we have an active toddler now. I usually hit a "spring cleaning" phase early in January or February, and for me cleaning really is more like organizing and rearranging. Hopefully I have not driven Matt too crazy with asking him to help me move furniture! We are so blessed to be here and have loved making it a home. I try not to put too much stock in life feeling "normal" as so many things have taught me that there really is no normal! Matt and I have both started daily devotionals- he's doing My Utmost for His Highest and I've started going through Streams in the Desert, both of which have been really good so far!

Here are a couple of pictures of us from Christmas that I meant to post before.Headed to church on Christmas Eve:
And Kenna opening her stocking on Christmas morning at our house (yes her "stocking" is a little paper gift bag- read a funny story about our stockings here!):

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Jail

(We realize we are TERRIBLE bloggers recently! More real updates soon to come!)

New Year, New Priorities

I promised Lindsey that I would be more diligent in writing in the blog this year. She's always done such an amazing job, that it gets tempting to just let her continue doing the amazing job she's already doing, as my posts tend to be more abstract. But here goes...

This past week in Sunday School, I had the privilege of continuing on with our Marriage and Family series. This week, I taught on priorities, but I think it would be more accurate to say that I was taught that I need to focus more on what should be a priority in my life, and the life of my family. It is often said that teaching is the best way to learn something and while studying for my lesson and searching the scriptures, I discovered that God isn't confusing at all concerning priorities. Not one bit in fact.

In my studies, I found that there was a poll taken of people who claimed no religious affiliation regarding priorities for their life in Silicon Valley. They were as follows:
1. Choosing the right career
2. Earning a good income and accumulating wealth and property
3. Meeting and choosing the right marriage partner.
4. Raising children properly.
5. Being involved in their community and church. Many join churches for social interaction.
6. Saving for retirement and living healthily to an old age.

The amazing thing is that these priorities that they have listed don't seem like bad things. In fact, most of us would be willing to argue that these things are good things. I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but as I looked over their list, and I searched the scriptures, I didn't find these things to be necessarily godly things, just because they were good things. Having seen this list, I was challenged to examine my priorities and look long and hard at what I put in the place of great import in my life (whether by actions, how I spend my money, time allotted to do that activities, or my words).

In all seriousness, a world that does not believe in God deems it possible to obtain a great job, wealth, property, a loving spouse, well-behaved children, a better community, great friends, and a healthy happy life without the help of the won we as Christians claim is the giver of life and so much more. So often, when we seek to be good Christians, I fear that what the only goal is to be moral and upstanding. It is no wonder that so few see a difference between Christians and non-Christians unless a Christian does something fanatical, when they see the same priorities and lives lived out by us that they see in themselves.

So as I seek to understand priorities from God's perspective (using Scripture), I don't see him making too many lists. I don't see God promising wealth, excellent health, great jobs, perfect spouses, well-behaved children, happy retirement, and friends that will never leave you. No, I don't see those as His promises or as His suggestion for our priorities (no matter how good we may deem them all to be). Instead, His instructions look a bit like this regarding priorities:

1. Seeking to know and love God more fully every day-Deuteronomy 6:5
2. Loving and encouraging our spouse-Ephesians 5:22, 25
3. Raising our children to love and fear God-Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4
4. Loving other believers-Romans 14; "forgiving each other"-Ephesians 4:32; "encouraging" 1 Thessalonians 5:11
5. Loving and reaching non-believers-Matthew 28:19

As I list these out I am reminded, even now, that God gives what the world never can: peace, hope, love. The world gives copies and cheap imitations of each of these (the kind you might buy from vendor on the streets of NY), but God's gifts for this life are eternal and carry into the next. The world can give physical things, but only God can give eternal things.

As we, our family and yours, go into the new year, let's make loving God and bringing Him glory, seeking and saving the lost, and living lives different enough that those around us take note THE priority. The last thing we should want to do, is to end up looking exactly like those who have no peace, love, or hope, while claiming that we do. Happy new year friends!

Wordless Wednesday: Ninja Baby

(On a very cold walk that lasted only about 15 minutes!)

Sweet Little Cousins

We had a great Christmas this year, and yet again were able to spend time with both sides of our family! We are so blessed with awesome families, and it is so fun to see our kids start to grow up together. This is the first year they were able to really interact and play, and they just really love each other. There was lots of toy sharing, snack eating, hugs, sippy cup borrowing, and present opening together. Kenna is just two months apart from Beckley (Matt's sister's little boy) and just six months apart from Emerson (my brother's little girl) and it's really great to have them at the such close age levels. She also has two older cousins to look up to: Ansley who is five (Brogli side) and Evan who is almost three! (Dean side). Sorry if this all sounds a little over-sentimental, these are just some fun things about the stages they are all at that I want to remember for our photo albums!

We got some great pictures of our happy little campers this Christmas.

The Brogli/Edwards cousins:

Ansley Bug (5 years) Kenna Bear (13 months) and Beckley Boy (15 months)

Doesn't that group hug just melt your heart? These are some super active kids, so I'm amazed we got them all to sit still together for even a minute. But it seems like if one of them starts to hug, they all want to hug each other! They've even been known to give some pretty big smootches. The little jumper Kenna is wearing was a hand-me-down from Ansley- it makes me happy to think of them being connected in that way, and makes me a little less sad to think about how quickly they are all growing up and outgrowing things! I was amazed to see Ansley sit and write out her name and several other words. Beck is constantly on the move, and Kenna is about 15 teeth behind him- she has some catching up to do!

The Brogli/Dean cousins:

Evan Buddy (2 years) Emmie Grace (6 months) Kenna Bear (13 months)

Matching girly girls!

It totally cracks me up that the girls have the same amount of hair and it is the exact same color! The girls are wearing little matching outfits that their great-Grannie gave them. Evan was much more excited to help them open their gifts than worry about what anybody was wearing. Good thing Kenna and Emmie both love big kids so much! Evan is speaking noticeably more words and more clearly... he had a blast playing with the Jesus toys (kid's nativity) and knew all of the members of the family- Joseph, Baby Jesus, and "Mary Mommy." Emmie is sitting up and babbling, very obviously holding her own with these big cousins.

We love all these kiddos so much! I love waiting to see how much they will change with each year and each Christmas. I think no matter what, they will always be little cousin friends.

Merry Christmas!

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." -Luke 2:10-14

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God... Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2nd Corinthians 5:17-21

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Merry Christmas from the Brogli family!

Christmas 2009 Photos

I admit, like many people, I can get a bit obsessive about "the perfect" Christmas card picture. This tends to be one area that the Lord continually has to teach me to keep my attitude in check, to remember what this season is really about, and to know that I am not perfect.. so to try to present myself as perfect by obsessing over "the perfect" Christmas picture can make me pretty ridiculous.

We did a good job at staying easygoing and lighthearted while trying to take some at home in front of our tree, but with little to no natural light and a cranky, nap-needing baby, we were getting some not-so-great results from our attempts with our timer. So we finally broke down and went to the professionals. Picture People is doing a special right now where if you bring a brand new toy to donate to Toys for Tots they give you two sheets of portraits for free! Since a 10x13 enlargement counts as one "sheet" we decided that would be a great way to get a family portrait that we could also use for our Christmas card photo. We ended up having a really good time getting them done- Kenna is such a ham for the camera and tends to charm the pants off anyone that she is around. Maybe we should look into baby modeling!

Here are our favorites:
Kenna had so much fun playing in the little sled with the fake snowball. We also had some taken of her standing up and holding onto a little tiny prop ottoman that was so cute.

It's really hard these days to get a picture with all three of us in it (especially where Matt and I are not making crazy faces because we've been giggling maniacally and tickling a baby trying to get her to smile) so I'm so thankful that we have these lovely ones to remember this time, this stage, and this little window of our little one who is growing oh-so quickly.

Each year, I try to let go of a little more of my perfectionist tendencies and appreciate that the little imperfections in each photo means we are real people, imperfect sinners saved by the grace of a perfect Savior! I want to focus more on my love for a husband who will put on a collared shirt knowing that "let's just try one more" means at least 10 more photos, and for a baby who absolutely loves to smile and can light up anyone in a room with her laughter. Merry Christmas!

"Getting Through" the Holidays

I've been thinking a lot about a phrase you hear often from adults this time of year, "I've just got to get through the holidays." For kids, Christmas is a time of huge excitement and wonder and anticipation. For adults, real life can often set in and it easily can become a time of stress, frustration, and even dread. I think a lot of times that comes from loss- of a loved one especially. We know so many people who are celebrating Christmas through the feeling that someone is missing, or remembering a pregnancy that ended in loss instead of celebration. That is so hard, as we know first hand, since this is our second Christmas (third, really, if you count the time that she was unresponsive in the hospital) that we celebrate without my mom. Just this week, we have a family member who is thinking of a birthday where their parent "would have been" a certain age, and as we were leaving church on Sunday, we saw a teenage girl sitting near a headstone among the poinsettias that belonged to her mother who committed suicide recently. That's hard enough to see on any day, but seems especially hard and unfair at Christmas time.

Because of that, I wanted to share a few resources we've found that have helped us related to grief. I hope that they can or have already helped you as well, or that you can pass them on to someone. Here are some blog posts written by others with helpful suggestions if someone you know is grieving:

-Practical ways to serve a family that is grieving.

-How to help your grieving friend.

And here are some excellent books that can be a resource to you and a friend! We recommend reading it for yourself and then giving it to them as a gift. I promise it will be helpful!

For a clear view of what heaven is and is not: Heaven by Randy Alcorn is one of the most excellent books out there. I started reading it immediately after Mom died, and it was just too much to take in, I want to go back and finish it. It would be a

Jesus doesn't promise us that life will be easy, or that even acceptance of him as our savior will instantly grant us a free pass around suffering. That's hard to know and harder sometimes to live out. But what we do know, and what we are promised is that a reunion with those precious loved ones is waiting for us in heaven, if our trust for salvation is in Christ. And we know too that at that time every tear is wiped away as only God is able to do. In the meantime, we can trust our loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing heavenly father to walk with us through the days we're not sure we can bear on our own. I'm so thankful I don't have to!

Christmas Cookies

I came to the realization this year that many of the things I used to do with my Mom at Christmas time, I would have to pick up the slack and do myself if I wanted Kenna to experience them. The two major ones of importance to me were putting the ornaments on the tree and making Christmas cookies. Last year, we had just had Kenna and I had a hard time finding the motivation or energy to really decorate at all. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who put up all the ornaments for me while I sat on the couch nursing Kenna. This year, we made it more of a family project, and she was much more able to be involved!

Daddy and Kenna decorating the tree, 2008:
And this year:
(PS- How is it possible our little bear could have grown so much in just one year? My two favorite people decorating the Christmas tree in the glow of twinkly lights- now that's a tradition to keep!)

As for the Christmas cookies, I feel like I took every opportunity I could find to make Christmas cookies! Our Sunday school couples' social, a ladies' cookie exchange, the last meeting of one of my classes, and I even packaged a few up for the nursery workers that keep Kenna during our missions class at Southeastern. I forgot how fun they were to do, and how dangerous now that I am the grown up and have no one to keep me accountable for how many I've eaten!
I made two of my favorite classics, peanut butter hershey kiss ("kissmas cookies") and powdered sugar snowballs (pecan shortbread balls rolled in powdered sugar! Mmmmm!). I also made a new recipe on a whim, coconut almond snowflakes, because I love coconut and I had everything I needed on hand for them.
Party-ready cookies!

Another sort of unspoken Christmas tradition of Mom's was how much she loved Hallmark's Keepsake ornaments and would love to get one each year for the big events that happened in our lives... getting engaged, studying abroad, baby's first Christmas, etc. I had to laugh when I saw one of their 2009 ornaments and thought maybe I needed it to commemorate the year of cookies:
Unfortunately, I doubled the recipe for the coconut cookies and ended up having to throw some of them away because they made so many! I feel like I took them everywhere with me, trying to get rid of all these cookies! (Matt hates coconut, so I was on my own trying to eat them). The only kind I have not made yet that I promised Matt I would are sugar cookies with icing, so the year of the cookie making will continue!

ELF!

This was too funny not to share!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's Christmas Time!

Our snowflake socks say so.
Decorating the tree with Daddy:

Going to church with Mommy (and Daddy too!)
Hurry up, Christmas!

Missed Chances

Yesterday Matt stopped to help the car parked beside us in the Wal-mart parking lot jump their dead battery. It was cold and rainy, and Kenna not only needed a nap, but we had just come from her doctor’s appointment where she had gotten four shots. As I watched Matt help the guy, I sat and thought of the small handful of gospel tracts in my bag that I had told Matt I would give away weeks ago and hadn’t yet. As I thought to roll down the window and hand it to Matt to give the man, Kenna fussed and I instead turned around to soothe her, mentally rationalizing that as a mom, she was my first priority and ministry- a child who will grow up with access to the gospel not only in the words on the page of a Bible story, but hopefully lived out before her daily by her parents. Will she call me hypocrite when she becomes old enough to see me speak of the importance of one thing and not do it? The example I set before her is not a responsibility I take lightly.

And how many others have there been? The acquaintance who is heartbroken after an adulterous relationship ended when her lover went back to his wife. The mom at work who mourns the deep loss of a stillborn child. The co-workers when I was at Target in front of whom I cared more about what they thought of me than how Jesus could change their lives. And how many perfect opportunities that I let slip away, such as the lady on the plane next to me who told me she and her husband always fly separately so that if one of them were to die, their kids would still have one living parent to take care of them? It would have been so easy to have asked her where she thought she would go if she were to die, but I didn’t.

It is well with my soul. I have the eternal assurance of being rescued from my own sinfulness, of a future in heaven with the God who loves me unconditionally and knows and created the tiniest, most hidden parts of my heart. But is it well with the soul of the woman who will not smile back at me in passing in the store as I Christmas shop? Is it well with the person who has obviously not showered recently and is unpleasant to stand near? Is it well with the people who pass me every day? So many hurting people. We have the answer, but do we have the time?

What are we doing, Christians? Do we care about people? Do we care enough to speak to them personally, telling them what God has done for us, rather than just invite them to church so the pastor can “do his job?” Think about the words we will sing this Christmas:

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Until He appeared and the soul felt it’s worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

… sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we

Let all within us praise His holy name!

Christ is the Lord!”

This Christmas season, and every day, take the chance to give others the most important gift we possibly could. Don't miss it. Tell someone. Not just "have a blessed day." Not just "I'm praying for you." Tell someone that we celebrate Christmas because Jesus the Savior came to live a perfect life and die that we could have salvation from the sinful nature that we all have that separates us from God. You don't have to have a seminary degree (I sure don't!) or be a super outgoing person or know how to have some theological debate. I want to care enough to speak up, enough to be a little uncomfortable talking to a stranger, enough to bring up a subject that is personal and oh so important.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." -Romans 1:16

"If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" -David Otis Fuller

Thanksgiving and Two November Girls!

As you can tell from our lack of updates here, we've had a really busy month! That tends to happen with Thanksgiving and our two November birthdays (Kenna's and mine) all in the same week! We started off on Sunday with a very happy little party to celebrate how much our sweet little girl has grown up this year!

Happy first birthday, Kenna!

Uncle Creech took some amazing pictures for us (including the one above) so that we could sit back and enjoy the party! We had the perfect amount of food, family, and friends who we consider family all in one place. (ps- This is my first attempt at uploading a slideshow, and it doesn't include pictures of everyone, but I did not want to hold off on posting this any longer, so here they are!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On Thursday, we did double duty for Thanksgiving dinners and got to spend time with both sides of our family on one day! We had a delicious lunch with Matt's family, and then got to host my family for the first time. Matt made the most incredible turkey, and we had all the fixin's including three pumpkin pies. He is really the cook between the two of us! (I'm realizing now I did a terrible job of taking photos of this holiday!)

At the Brogli's:
At our house:
I definitely was fed well on my birthday (haha) starting with a dinner with the Deans, then lunch after church with the Broglis! Sunday night, Matt and I left Kenna home with Papa and got to go out on our first real date in what feels like quite awhile! We had dinner at Twisted Fork, and then went to see the Blind Side, which turned out to be pretty good.
We wrapped up the night by picking up some milk and other essentials at the store (you know you're a grown-up when!). I ate crab dip and dessert at lunch AND dinner yesterday. That right there is the sign of a good birthday.

Birthday Girls!