Part of what I love about the girls' names is that they were both popular 100 years ago and many people with those names are now great-grandmas. Both names evoke a vision for me of sweet old ladies rocking away together on a porch. I pray Ella and Sadie will live meaningful lives full of love and will be enjoying each other on a front porch somewhere many years from now.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Come Thou Fount...

When Sadie was born the song that was on my heart/in my mind during that season was an old Hymn called "Come Thou Fount."  I had recently googled the lyrics to all the verses, printed them out, spent some time meditating on them and worked on memorizing them.  I was so thankful to finally have the dream of a second child coming to fruition I wanted a song of praise to sing and this one fit the bill. 

Though not intentional at first, I started singing this song while standing or sitting, swaying with Sadie on my shoulder just before laying her in her crib.  Within a few months, as soon as those first few words came out of my mouth her head would collapse onto my shoulder and she'd snuggle in for as many verses as I'd sing.

We're at 13 months now of singing that song almost every single night of her life!  Chris has learned some of the words and sings it on nights he puts her to bed.  Ella has heard it so often she has also learned some of the words and sometimes requests "the bed time song" to be sung to her in her bed too :-)

The funniest thing about this song is that my sweet mother-in-law babysat one night and Sadie was not thrilled to go to bed for someone else (have I mentioned she's my attached baby? No "Miss Independent" like Ella was.  It was bad for a while around 9-11 months).  Anyway, Nancy was trying to do whatever she could to calm Sadie and get her to sleep and Ella told her "you have to sing 'Come Thou Fount!'"  Nancy was familiar with the song but not knowing the words to all the verses, she snuggled Sadie in the dark, put up a blanket between herself and Sadie (so she wouldn't be upset by it not being me) and googled the lyrics on her cell phone to sing them to her!  And it worked!  The image of this is hilarious to me.  And so sweet!

I like to think that as God has taught me a lot about praising Him through this song, Sadie is calmed by it not only because it is familiar and has become a tradition, but because there's something sweet, and sspecial, and sacred about those words floating up from a sincere heart and an innocent baby to a Worthy God. 
Come Thou Fount
Written by Robert Robinson in 1757, at age 22


1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing, 
 tune my heart to sing thy grace; 
 streams of mercy, never ceasing, 
 call for songs of loudest praise. 
 Teach me some melodious sonnet, 
 sung by flaming tongues above. 
 Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, 
 mount of thy redeeming love. 

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer; 
 hither by thy help I'm come; 
 and I hope, by thy good pleasure, 
 safely to arrive at home. 
 Jesus sought me when a stranger, 
 wandering from the fold of God; 
 he, to rescue me from danger, 
 interposed his precious blood. 
 
3.      Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
        He, to rescue me from danger,
        Interposed His precious blood.
        Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
        Prone to leave the God I love;
        Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
        Seal it for Thy courts above.

4. O to grace how great a debtor 
 daily I'm constrained to be! 
 Let thy goodness, like a fetter, 
 bind my wandering heart to thee. 
 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
 prone to leave the God I love; 
 here's my heart, O take and seal it, 
 seal it for thy courts above. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Inaugural Coloring!




Had to stick in one pic of my sweet Ella :-)  She was coloring too :-)


Happy with her finished product!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Beach Trip 2011

We had a fun but short trip to the beach.  We had to come back early for Ella to start school but we squeezed in all the important things-lots of time in the pool (we are not ocean people), A trip to the actual beach, Thrashers French Fries, Grotto's pizza, counting the ubiquitous Candy Kitchens, mini golf, the boardwalk, and funnel cake.  

So nostalgic for Chris and me-we both grew up going down to this same beach all the time!  We even stayed at the timeshare my parents have had for close to THIRTY years!  I learned to swim this same pool!!  I brushed my hair in the same exact mirror with light bulbs all around it where I burned my elbow when I was a kid (and still have teh scar). And, a bunch of people have been coming this same week since I was 5 years old and recongize and remember me!  It's craziness that they cheered Ella on in trying to swim across the pool 25 years after doing the exact same thing for me!  Blows my mind.  Thankful for this strange but sweet legacy!



Chris got asked to help in the mime show on the boardwalk

Ella's first bumper car ride!



It's blurry but i still like this picture of sweet little Ady and Michelle :-)









This silly face/pose is SO Sadie.  She's becoming a little ham :-)











Friday, September 2, 2011

We've got laces folks!

The time has come! Ella's first pair of shoes with laces! She can't tie them yet (I just gave her her first lesson) but feels like a milestone worth reporting regardless:) They're a size 12 and a little too big but she'll grow into them quickly I'm sure. My big girl!

Groupons Rock my World (the Cookie edition)

 A couple months ago I snatched up a deal for a cookie baking class at a new local kids bakery.  We cashed in our certificate and got a private baking lesson with the WONDERFUL owner, Lisa.  I really loved her-she was organized, good with Ella, prepared even though the bakery is still under construction, and really easy to chat with while we baked.  We had a great time and will definitely go back.

Getting ready!
Ella got to choose what kind of cookies to make from a bunch of yummy sounding choices.
Stirring hard!

Scooping


See, I was there too :-)
While the cookies baked, Ella got a box and a bag to decorate for her cookies. Genius use of time.
Then we got to taste the cookies right out of the oven.  Seriously REALLY good cookies.  Best chocolate chip cookie I can remember having in years.
Ella packed up her cookies and Lisa gave us instructions on how to freeze and thaw them if we didn't want to eat all 2 dozen right away. 


Overall, this was a really fun date.  We make cookies at home but there's something about a "date" (and her cookie recipe tastes way better than mine) that made it worthwhile.  They also have a ton of options for playgroups, birthday parties and more that sounded great.  Also, for those of us in church communities, Lisa and her husband are active Christians and very open to church-related groups coming in. She even mentioned having brought in a Song of Solomon Couples study to do baking classes that relate to marriage building!  We ended up talking about faith because I noticed that she incorporated the fruit of the spirit into the ingredient list when talking to Ella!  So, just because I really like Lisa and her cookies-go patronize Little Hands Cookie Co.!