Happy Day After Father's Day

To my dad first:

There are no words to express my gratitude and appreciation for all that you do and for all that you are.  You are Godly, loving, wise, hard-working, generous, even-keeled and fun.  You really are the best dad, and now I feel so privileged to witness you as a grandfather, and to see you delight in that role.  I love you so much.

Tanner-

Hannah is already such a Daddy's girl.  She has been since this time last year, before she was born, when your voice could send her instantly into a kicking frenzy.  I love witnessing how tender you are with her.  I love that you can get her to bed at night, especially since I can't.  I love that you all get to spend so much time together, she will be better for it.  I love the way her face lights up when you walk into the room...I think she gets that from me.  This year has been full of amazing memories, I cannot wait to see what the next one will hold.

Hannah is really lucky to have two grandfathers that are completely crazy about her.  Hannah is pretty crazy about her Poppy as well.  Here she is giving him lots of kisses.

And now for my favorite Father's Day card this year:

I might have a small obsession with Tiny Prints greeting cards.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. -Matthew 28:19

If there is anyone who deserves to wear this shirt, it is my sister.  She is hands down the best aunt imaginable.  She loves Hannah so, so much.  I honestly do not know how we would manage without her.  This week, she took Hannah to gymnastics and to two swim lessons.  She kept her while we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday, she fed her meals, she played with her endlessly.  We did have to manage without her for about 10 days while she went to Midland and Dallas week before last, and while we survived, we were ready to have her back in Houston.  And Hannah was really ready, her reaction when she saw Melissa walk through the door after a ten day absence was priceless.  We all wish there had been a video camera.

Today, I dropped Melissa off at the airport yet again.  This trip, she is headed to Tanzania.  I think this will be Melissa's fifth or sixth (should know this answer, not really sure) trip to Africa, but her first to Tanzania.  She has had a heart for Africa since she was in high school, and I think it is so cool that she makes it a priority to go back annually.

All loaded down, headed into the airport

Melissa was pretty sad to leave Hannah.  It really touches me to see how much they love eachother.



"I'm not sure about you leaving me for two weeks, Aunt Melissa"

 Anyway, you can read about their trip here.  We will be praying for her, confident that she will be doing great things, while we anxiously await her return in two weeks.

While on the topic of Africa, a friend from our growth group and a medical student, Amanda, is working at Baptist Medical Center in Ghana this summer. She also has a blog that is incredibly touching and insightful.

Three other friends from our growth group are headed to Guatemala with Living Water International next week, so we will be praying for them as well.

A Prayer for Missionaries:

O almighty God, Lord of the harvest of souls, we ask You to guide and bless all who have gone forth to preach the gospel. Endow them with the gifts of generosity and concern. Send your Holy Spirit on them, that He may strengthen them in weakness, comfort them in trials and direct their efforts. May He open the hearts of their hearers to receive Your message. Let Your revelation enlighten all minds for the salvation of souls, and let Your love heal every heart and body for the happiness of each person. May all people consciously acknowledge You and serve You by living the teachings of Your Son. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Pictures

Some from this week and a few from the past month or so that I have never posted:

She loves our phones



She looks so grown up to me in this one



We're Still Here

I am insanely busy at work right now, so I have hardly taken any pictures over the last week and have not downloaded any at all yet.  I did find a few on my iphone that I can share.

Hannah started swimming lessons last Tuesday.  She has been in the pool every day since then and is a little water bug.  She is really comfortable in the water and though she has not really figured out how to blow bubbles or spit water out, it does not seem to bother her if her head goes under for a second.  I don't have many pictures from swim lessons as it is pretty hard to handle her, much less a camera.  Tanner came with us to take pictures Wednesday, and they told him it was prohibited before he was able to get any.  I do have this one, taken on our walk home on Friday.

Hannah also had her first little gym class on Thursday.  She really enjoyed it and was so cute playing on all the equipment.

We went to Austin on Saturday to see Granddaddy and to go to the superregional baseball game.  The game was really exciting and so much fun.

Pardon the terrible picture

This happened:

It was the highlight of a great game.  It made me wonder what hitting a clutch 3-run homer in the 9th inning of a must-win game must feel like, and it made me wish I could have that feeling.  Somehow, I don't think nailing a really complicated excel model will ever fill me with that level of exhilaration.  Anyway, this is how Hannah responded to all of the excitement:

Sunday, Mimi and Poppy came over and brought dinner and Hannah had a ball with them, as she always does.  I say this all the time, but Tanner, Hannah and I are so, so blessed by our families.

Now I suppose that I should focus on work, as I certainly did not wake up at 430 am this morning and hurry to the office for the purpose of writing a blog entry. 

Contentment

This weekend has been nice and low key.  Just what we needed.

Hannah still looked pretty in pink.



She crawled to her pool for a refreshing dip in her clothes (no need to report me to CPS, I was watching, and chose to be entertained rather that to intervene).  The episode culminated with a skinny dip.

The highlight of our weekend was last night's dance party.  Saturday nights at our house are pretty crazy these days.  Note the unassisted standing.  She prefers to do this on the bed.

10 Months Old

Hannah became a 10-month old on Monday.  She continues to be joyful and a joy to us.  Few things upset her, the problem is that the two things that really get to her are pretty common occurrences - diaper changes and bed time.  I suppose they share a requirement that she lie down and be still.  This girl likes to move.

Two more teeth popped through last weekend, so she has four now.  She has refused to nurse for several weeks now, so is getting four to five bottles of pumped milk a day.  I am really ready to finish pumping.  I was horrified to come home Monday to a freezer full of melted milk.  I shed real tears.  So I am back to pumping four times a day trying to rebuild my stored supply before our next trip.

She is eating well.  She is eating a combination of baby food and grown up food.  Tanner grilled some fish the other day, which she really loved.  We generally try to feed her bites of whatever we are eating, but she still gets most of her veggies from baby food.  I have pretty much stopped making it, so Gerber (and a bunch of organic baby food brands) it is.

This week has been a whirlwind and I have not taken many pictures.  Here are some from week before last, when Adam and Claire came over to play.

They are getting better at looking at the camera

I love the look in Claire's eyes here

She knew what she wanted

Little cat fight

Adam loved Winston





Hannah exploring the house

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Cloudcroft with my grandparents.  I grew up going to their cabin there, and wanted to take Hannah and Tanner before they sold it.  Turned out it sold a few days after being put on the market, so we ended up going anyway and renting a cabin across the street.  The weather was amazing, we enjoyed spending time with my grandparents, and I think they really enjoyed spending time with Hannah.



The cabin




The lovely fence the new owners built




The steps up to the cabin




The cabin we stayed in





Mimi (or Gigi) and Hannah reading








Hannah and Grandpa




Lots of blue eyes