bathtime bliss...

one of our favorite times around our house is bathtime! the boys would stay in there all day if we let them. here are a few of our favorite bathtime photos...

christmas pictures...

    

hope you all had a wonderful christmas!  this year was exciting for us.  it was greyson's first christmas and hudson is now at the age where he really understands what christmas is all about.  he loved putting a new sticker on his advent angel each day and putting together his puzzle of mary, joseph and baby jesus.  we made monkey bread and sang happy birthday to jesus on christmas morning.  we ended up re-lighting the candle a few times because he loved blowing it out SO much!  both boys enjoyed opening their gifts.  greyson caught on pretty quick and was actually pretty good at it!  we really enjoyed spending time with our families over a few days of celebrating and are very thankful for all we received!  what a wonderful holiday!!

we have a lot of pictures to share but for now CLICK HERE to see our pictures from christmas with our families...more to come later.

joy to the world...

wishing you all a very merry christmas!  we pray that you will be filled with the hope and joy of Christ this season!  

too funny!!

if you need a good laugh...CLICK HERE to see pictures of my adorable boys!!  :)

our christmas miracles...

.....................last year ...................................this year


each year we've done a "lights" picture like this since the time hudson was just a baby and now it's a tradition. it's amazing to look back at the other pictures like this and see how much hudson has grown and changed. what a miracle it is to think that greyson wasn't even in the picture last year! wow! how great is our God!?!?!

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"worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. let all the earth tremble before him. tell all the nations that the Lord is king. the world if firmly established and cannot be shaken" ~psalm 97:9-10

in the holiday spirit...

sorry it's been a while since our last update! hope you all had a good thanksgiving...even though it was a couple weeks ago now! ours was spread over a couple different days so we spent thanksgiving morning making cookies as a family and then later delivered them to the Refuge of Hope in canton. hudson especially enjoyed the baking but it also gave us an opportunity to teach him about having joy in giving to others. we told him that we were going to give them to people who need them, even kids just like him. it was great doing that as a family! later that week, we decorated the house for the holiday season and hudson had a ball! he loved helping set up the trees and hanging the ornaments all by himself. he's got such a sweet, lovable personality and he loves to showcase that for the camera...as you'll see in our picture slideshow! lately, he has loved having his picture taken and he especially loves taking pictures himself, too! hum...i wonder where he gets that from? :)

hudson finished his first session of swimming lessons yesterday. he even got a little report card at the end and he has "officially" mastered kicking, blowing bubbles and listening and following directions. he now likes to show us all he can do during his bathtime...even with greyson in there he somehow still finds room! he loved his "pool class" and is excited for the next one. another exciting event for hudson was taking down his crib and putting together his "big boy" bed. hudson had never tried to get out of his crib so we've made it this long just letting him stay in it. we were going to make it into a toddler bed first and then we thought, why not just go to the big, full-size bed and make one less transition! he loved putting it together and getting his new mattresses. he has slept perfectly in it since the day we set it up and he's never tried to get out of it. we tell him he has a nicer bed than mom and dad!

greyson is 8 months now and getting so big. he got his first tooth and started to stand on his own all in one day. he loves standing all by himself and will do it forever! he now has two teeth and is starting to take a couple steps with his walker. he doesn't seem big enough to be doing that...he's our baby!! have you noticed his hair??? it's red!! everyone always ask where it's from and actually, it's on both sides of our families. it was destined to happen. it suits him perfectly! he is such a happy, easy-going, sweet boy. both our boys are constant reminders of how GREAT God is...they are truly gifts from him (psalm 127:3)!!!

we uploaded a ton of new pictures! CLICK HERE to see them!

circus and swimming...

i guess i haven't been doing too well at keeping this updated! hudson has had 3 swim lessons at the YMCA and he LOVES it!! we watch him on the monitor and he sits at the side of the pool splashing and kicking his feet. (he is allowed to splash while the teachers are working with the other kids!). he especially loves the fun shower after "pool class".

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andrew has always wanted to take hudson to the circus and it was in cleveland a couple weeks ago. he, papa and hudson left early and headed up for lunch in the city and then the circus. hudson loved seeing all the animals and the motorcycles. he still talks about the "big show"!!

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greyson will be 8 months next week. he's rolling all around and loves to stand at his activity table and play. today he pulled himself up to stand so it won't be long before he's all over the place!!

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CLICK HERE to see all the recent pictures.

a scare and a thrill...

most of you already know about our scare with hudson this past weekend but for those who don't...saturday morning, hudson passed out and had a small seizure. we called 911 and they came and took us to the ER. they did some tests that all came out normal and then admitted us so that hudson could be hooked up to a heart monitor for a few hours. we waited until the evening for him to be seen by the pediatric neurologist. he said that even he does not know "why" this happened but it is likely that it will never happen again. comforting...sort of! hudson was great through all of this and very cooperative with all the doctors and nurses. thank you to all of our family and friends who have been praying for us. we REALLY appreciate it! God has truly shown us how amazing He is...and for a mom who is always concerned about the health of her boys, He has reminded me that He is in control and i need to continue to put my trust in Him. :)

on a completely different note...andrew and i went to the mccain and palin rally that was in green yesterday. because andrew is green staff, we were able to park right at the stadium and also go straight to the front of the line!! that is something that we may never have the opportunity to do again so it was very exciting to be a part of.

CLICK HERE to see some new pictures.

quick update

we've been keeping pretty busy around here so i wanted to get some new pictures out. we went to the open house at the fire station last week and hudson saw all the fire trucks and ambulances. he was able to get up in them and check everything out. this year he was more interested in the ambulances than anything else...i think it's because he knows that uncle nick now drives an ambulance and he thinks that is SO cool!! every time we see an ambulance he says "uncle nick!". greyson got in on the action too and drove the fire truck for a little bit.
we also went to chuck e cheese's a few days ago...CRAZY!! talk about over stimulation...but of course, hudson loved it! he was a little nervous at first about climbing up into the tubes but once he was up there he didn't want to come down. he had a great time playing all the games and wants to go back really soon.
CLICK HERE to see some new pictures.

fall fun!

today we went to may's farm for some fall fun! we went on a hayride and hudson was able to pick his own pumpkin. he loved feeding the animals and playing in the corn bin with his cousins. greyson loved the hayride too...even though he slept in aunt kim's arms the entire time!

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greyson is 6 months old now! he seems to be doing new things everyday. he sits up on his own and loves it. if he's not eating or sleeping, he loves to just sit with toys all around him. hudson helps him with that...bringing him almost every toy he has. greyson is eating all sorts of food now but especially loves bananas, and thinks he can hold them himself. it works at first, but then gets a little slippery! he weighs 19 lbs now...proving that he loves his food!! his cutest new thing is how he will start laughing at anything. he'll grab his foot and just start cracking up! you can't help but be happy when you're with him! :)

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hudson will be 2 1/2 this month. he's started going to a church program on sunday nights called puggles. he loves to go to "class"...as he calls it. he's learning about all the things that God created. if you ask him who created the sky or clouds or trees...his answer every time is "bible"!! between sunday school and puggles, all week he asks for "more class" and "more bible". it's so cute to see him learning and understanding new things.

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CLICK HERE to see some pictures from this past month.

a weekend of "firsts"...

labor day weekend was a big one for hudson. mimi and papa have their camper set up in the driveway so they planned a campout for hudson...and andrew. they went over on sunday night and roasted marshmallows and hung out. we were talking all week about sleeping in the camper so hudson was ready with his "cars" pajamas and his "cars" pillow. greyson and i went over in the morning for breakfast and hudson was so excited to show me where he slept! we ate breakfast and then all headed up to headlands beach in mentor. it was hudson's first time at a beach and right away he was very interested in the sand. it was so cute to see him knealing down and examining it! he wanted in the water right away...it was hard to get him out after that. daddy, uncle nick and papa had him pretty far out in the water and he loved it! mimi, greyson and i watched from the shade!! it was a really fun day. we'll talk about it now with hudson and he keeps saying he wants more. :)

CLICK HERE to see pictures from the weekend.

summer's over...

well, the end of summer is here and it's back to work for andrew. it was so nice to have him home these last couple months...hudson especially loved having daddy here all the time. he would wake up every morning saying, "no daddy byes!" and they would go down and make their usual for breakfast...homemade biscuits. i have to say that hudson has been a little disappointed when i walk in his room in the morning and tell him daddy isn't home but he gets over it as soon as i tell him there are biscuits downstairs!

we did go on a little overnight trip a couple weeks ago to a cool park that andrew and i found when we were away. it's called preston's hope park and it's set up like a mini town. hudson loved going into all the different buildings and playing on anything else he could find. we spent over 3 hours just playing...greyson was content in the stroller the entire time just watching hudson play. we then went back to our hotel and went swimming. it was the first time hudson had been in a big pool and he loved it. greyson actually liked it too...i just pulled him around in a little ring and he was happy! our plan was to go to a beach near cleveland the next day but the weather didn't cooperate. it was still a fun trip and we learned a thing or two about staying at a hotel with little ones! :)

both boys seemed to grow so much over the summer. greyson is 5 months old now. he is such a happy baby...always smiling. he especially loves watching hudson play and giggles when hudson does anything silly. hudson does a really good job at entertaining him and greyson loves every second of it. hudson is really expanding his vocabulary, repeating almost everything we say now. we're constantly amazed at how great God is for entrusting us with these two awesome boys and we can't imagine life without them.

CLICK HERE to see pictures from the last few weeks.

movie...

just figured out how to do this, so we'll give it a whirl!

cleveland and picnic...

well, august is here and we can't believe that this summer is slipping away so quickly. we've been up to a lot lately so here are the updates.

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greyson is officially 4 months old and growing like a champ! he weighs 15 lbs. and 14 ounces (exactly 1 lb. more than hudson did at the same age) and is 25 inches long. his new favorite things are looking in mirrors and grabbing his toes. as always, he's been wonderful and had his first overnight stay at grammie and papa's - in which he did perfectly! we got away for a couple days and went up to the cleveland area. although we absolutely adore our kids, it was so nice to get away, be together and relax. we did everything that we could in the shortest amount of time..it's easy to do that when you're not hauling around 2 children! we went up to cleveland, walked the entire city (tower city, rock hall, etc.), and ate at the hard rock cafe. then we drove down and stayed in our hotel in independence, had a nice dinner, worked out in the fitness center and relaxed. the next morning, we drove over to headlands state park (in mentor, ohio) and walked up and down the beach together, hopped back in the car and drove to legacy village. it was great!

today, we packed up a picnic lunch and went down to monument park. while greyson relaxed in the stroller, hudson loved walking all around, over bridges, and watching ducks and the waterfalls. we went up to the monument and he loved it. he loved it so much, he walked all the way down the steps on his own - and that's a lot of steps. needless to say, he's sleeping good tonight! :) well, that's it from the homefront for now. check back soon for more updates! CLICK HERE to see some new pics!

camp out!

over the weekend, we had a campout with hudson! he absolutely loved it! first, we set up the tent together in our living room and got our pillows and blankets situated. then we played with our flashights and read books, watched his favorite movie (Cars!) and ate s'mores. hudson and daddy slept on the floor together all night long. he had a blast and is still talking about it! the older he gets, the more fun he is! he's becoming such a sweet little boy with such a lovable personality! it's absolutely amazing and we are captivated by him, and God's glory everyday! CLICK HERE to see some of pictures of our camp out and more.

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greyson still continues to be wonderful! he's getting so big and strong, it's hard to believe he'll be 4 months old this week. wow, time sure does fly! he is so smiley, expressive, vocal and loves to stand up all the time. he's especially loving the exersaucer right now! he is such an incredible blessing to our family. God is good! we are cherishing every moment because we know they only stay small for such a short amount of time...and in case you're wondering...YES, greyson will be our last baby (unless God has other plans we don't know about). hope you all are doing well. we'll catch up with you soon!

blueberry pickin'

Today, we created a new tradition for our family. We took Hudson to Wades Fruit Farm in Paris, OH to pick-our-own BLUEBERRIES. For awhile now, we’ve wanted to take him out and do something fun with him – something special just for him. Hudson absolutely loves blueberries and when we heard they were “in season” we knew it would be the perfect trip. “Mimi” Snavely watched Greyson for a few hours and we ventured up to the farm. He loved it (to say the least)! He was in heaven! – Not only were there fields and fields of blueberries, there were TRACTORS! He spotted those before we even got to the blueberry hedges. The whole time, he ran around with a bucket and pulled blueberries right off the bushes…and of course, he’d pop a few directly into his mouth at every bush, too (the nice farmer gave him permission)! He also thought it was hilarious to steal them out of our buckets when we were bent down picking! J The weather was gorgeous and we had a picnic in the back of our car at the end of it all! What fun we had!!! Overall, we picked almost 8 pounds of blueberries! This will certainly be something that we’ll do every year from now on with our boys! Next year, Greyson will be able to get in on the action, too!
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CLICK HERE to see photos from our blueberry picking adventure!

fourth of july fun and fireworks...

Hello all! Sorry it’s been so long since the last update! We’ve been having so much fun together in the summertime. What a blessing it has been to have the whole summer together…and we still have over a month to go!
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Greyson is now over 3 months old (hard to believe!) so we went to have some professional pictures taken. They turned out wonderful and we got some good ones of Hudson, too. Our plan was to have a few pics taken of the boys together and then the rest mostly of Greyson, but when we got there, wouldn’t you know, Hudson jumped right up onto the podium and started posing away! Needless to say, Hudson certainly doesn’t shy away from the camera. So…we got some great pictures of both our boys.

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You’ll definitely want to CLICK HERE to see lots of new photos including a lot of the professional ones we had taken. On the Fourth of July we had SO much fun together. We kept Hudson up to see fireworks. We had a blast! The best part was that we didn’t have to go anywhere – you can see the North Canton fireworks perfectly from our deck! We went to the park, ate ice cream, played, and watched the movie Cars. When the fireworks began we walked out to the back deck to enjoy the show! It was so much fun to see his reaction to them since he’s never seen them before. He was all smiles as you can tell from the pictures! Hope you all had a marvelous holiday, too! Check back soon for more updates. Blessings to you all!

fun, father's day, and dedication...

what beautiful weather we've had lately! we've been keeping quite busy since andrew is on summer break from work. we practically live outside. hudson loves to play outside, go swimming, go on walks, play at the park, and basically anything else that involves being outdoors. greyson is such a little trooper and relaxes in his bouncer or in the shade somewhere while hudson plays.

hudson and greyson are both doing so good. it is such a blessing to just sit back and watch them interact with eachother. it's so sweet! husdson talks to him, watches him and still wants to help in any way that he can. he also rubs greyson's head and loves to give him kisses. greyson watches hudson's every move and is full of smiles everytime he's spoken to (by anyone). he's such a lovable, happy baby and we've been extremely blessed to have had such a good baby boy! he's 12 1/2 pounds, sleeps perfectly and has been in his "big boy" bed in his own room for some time now. thank you, Lord! :)

we also attended rebekah's cousins wedding. it was a blast and hudson was certainly a hit on the dance floor (to say the least). he danced all night and didn't want to go home when it was over. he's got such a personality when he knows everybody's watching.

in addition to it being father's day, today was also the day that we dedicated greyson at church. it was so nice to have our friends and family there to share our special day with us and witness us making the commitment to raise our boys up in a christian home where Christ is always the center. we celebrated together with family and had a cookout at grammie and papa's.

CLICK HERE to see lots of pictures of our family enjoying our time together.

our butterfly experience...

hudson had a great time watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. he checked on it everyday and finally, a few days ago, the caterpiller emerged from the chrysalis a beautiful "painted lady" butterfly. here are some pictures of our butterfly experience!

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we made a post a few days ago...don't forget to scroll down to see some new pictures.

parade and picnics...

the past week was sure an eventful one! now that the weather is finally warmer, it's been so nice to get outside and do some new things. last weekend, we celebrated nick's graduation from college and leanne's 21st birthday so you'll notice some of those pics in the slideshow. we also made a visit to a smith family friend's farm where hudson got to see some neat farm animals. although i think his favorite part was sitting on the big tractor and playing in the canoe with his cousins. greyson was sound asleep during all the excitement. on memorial day, we walked down to the north canton parade in the morning which was fun. he especially loved seeing all the firetrucks! again, greyson was fast asleep during the parade!

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CLICK HERE to see some new pics from the week!

you be the judge...

Hudson ~ 8 weeks............. Greyson ~ 8 weeks

Hi Everybody!

The infamous question that everyone always asks sounds something like this…“does Greyson look anything like Hudson did when he was a baby?” We thought we’d post two pictures of the boys, each at 8 weeks, wearing the same outfit and YOU be the judge!

All is well at our home! Greyson continues to be great and is growing like a champ. He’s 8 weeks old and about a week ago he was weighing in at 10 lbs. 8 oz. He is becoming so expressive and especially loves the sound of Mommy’s voice. He’s also so strong and loves to stand up on his “own”. He has always been and continues to be such a wonderful baby and is very low-maintenance. Ever since we brought him home from the hospital he only woke up once during the night and the last couple weeks he’s been sleeping all the way through! Hudson was a good sleeper like this too, but we didn’t think we’d get this lucky twice! We’re definitely grateful for that!

Hudson is such a wonderful big brother and still loves to be a helper around the house. He’s really talking a lot and continues to pick up on new words everyday. He loves to draw, color pictures, play with his trucks, and play with puzzles. He’s doing great at learning the letters of the alphabet and it’s so fun to be out in public and see him pointing out the letters he knows! Now that the weather is nice (finally!) he loves to be outside and mow the lawn, go on walks, and sweep the porch. He’d live out there if we let him! He’s getting so grown up and it just keeps getting better and better! God is soooooo good!

It’s been a while since our last update so CLICK HERE to check out some of the latest photos of our family. Enjoy and check back soon for more updates!

too cute!

we just had to share this picture with you!

party time...

we celebrated hudson's 2nd birthday this weekend with our family. his actual birthday was april 10th, but without knowing when greyson would arrive, we played it safe by scheduling it a couple weeks later. hudson LOVES firetrucks so it wasn't too difficult to pick a theme for the party! he had a blast!

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CLICK HERE to see some party pics and more!

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greyson was a month old this past week! can you believe it?!?! it's flown by so quickly! he is such a calm, even-tempered baby and is becoming very expressive. he's begun smiling at the sound of our voices. he loves going on walks and being outside with his big brother.

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a lot of people have been asking where we have our professional pictures taken so we thought we'd pass the word along to you. it's called babyfaces (down by tjmaxx in belden village). the website is http://www.babyfacesstudio.com/. if you visit the website, you'll notice that greyson's picture is on the main webpage (by the 0-3 month sample photos)!!! we tell him he's famous already! :)

to follow-up on hudson's eeg (read previous post)... the results came back and turned out to be completely normal (like we had expected they would be). we thank God that everything is fine and we know that He's always in complete control! thank you so much for your prayers!

our boys...

Hudson Andrew
2 Years Old

Greyson Cooper

2 weeks old

EEG...

with hudson now being 2 (see previous post) we made our regular trip to the pediatrician. all is well and hudson, as usual, is a healthy growing boy! he is 34.9 inches tall and weighs 29 lbs! so big compared to greyson!

we made a brief trip to Aultman hospital for a precautionary EEG test. He did a fantastic job and was such a good boy! He sat still the whole time and the nurse said it was a "record" - normally it takes 1 1/2 hours to complete and hudson was done in 40 minutes! we were so proud of him! we layed in the bed with him and played with toys and read books together. thankfully, he was as happy and pleasant as could be, even laughing and giggling at times. of course we can't go anywhere without the camera so CLICK HERE to see some snapshots of the EEG today.

birthday boy!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, HUDSON!

the latest...

hi everybody! you've probably been waiting for an update for some time now, so here's the latest update from our home...

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things have been going suprisingly smooth around the snavely house. it's sooooooooo much easier the second time around! greyson is wonderful and is SUCH a great baby. in fact, he sleeps all night long, only waking up once to eat (AMEN to that!) and then he's out again until morning! he is extremely calm and never seems to be bothered by anything, rarely even letting out a cry (except for diaper changes and baths). he was jaundiced for a little over a week following bringing him home from the hospital and we made numerous trips to the doctor to be checked, but now he's jaunice-free! we were thankful that it cleared up in time that we never had to do any kind of treatment to resolve it. praise the Lord!

hudson is doing amazing as well! he's quite the helper around the house and especially loves giving greyson hugs and kisses. he's fitting into this role as "big brother" perfectly!!! it's beyond our amazement as to how well he's made the transition! it's so neat to see how loving he is with greyson...it makes us to excited for the future. they are great together!

so that's it from the homefront! CLICK HERE to see some pictures that we've taken over the past couple of weeks. Enjoy and come back soon for futher updates!!!

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"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." ~Psalm 127:3

HE'S HERE!!!

After waiting (for what seemed like an eternity), we are absolutely thrilled to share with you that Greyson Cooper finally arrived at 10:06 p.m. on Monday, March 24, 2008 (just a couple hours shy of his official due date). He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19.5 inches in length. He is perfect in every way and is as healthy as can be!!!

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CLICK HERE to see some snapshots of our precious boy!

Here’s how it all happened - Rebekah had a doctor’s appointment in the morning on Monday and was sent to the hospital from there. She was induced at 5:00 p.m. and 5 hours later, Greyson arrived! Here’s the part that no pregnant woman would ever want to hear…the epidural did NOT work at all! She endured the whole laboring process feeling every bit of pain (which was absolute torture) but did an amazing job bringing our precious bundle of joy into the world! I couldn’t be more proud of her!

We had a great day and a half at the hospital and now we are home with our newest edition to our family. He is so very sweet, calm, and rarely cries unless we’re changing a diaper. He’s eating great and dirtying diapers like no other (that’s a big deal, ya know?). He’s very content and is not fazed by big brother at all. In fact, Greyson perks up when he hears Hudson’s voice. Speaking of which, Hudson is adjusting GREAT! We were unsure about how he would handle this huge transition and have been so impressed by how good he’s been with all the juggling over the past days and now having another baby in our home. He is very entertained by having a little brother so far and is especially “concerned” when Greyson cries or whimpers. Knowing Hudson’s sweet and loving personality, we just know he’ll continue to make this transition with ease!

Please check back in the upcoming weeks. We’ll definitely be sharing lots more photos and updates about Greyson and our growing family in the weeks to come! Thank you so much for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers and are confident they’ve made such a difference!

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almost there...

with just 10 "official" days to go till rebekah's due date, we are almost there. we made another trip to the hospital (as per doctor's orders) on wednesday, but no luck! it was crazy being there again. it really made us excited for greyson to arrive. we are sooooooo ready! the anticipation is killing us, but we know and trust that it's all in God's perfect timing when we finally get the chance to hold little greyson in our arms. we'll keep on trusting!

CLICK HERE to see some random pictures. honestly, we haven't taken many pictures lately. we have our hospital bags packed and the camera has been in there, because that's definately something we can't forget!

hopefully the next post will be news of greyson's birth! keep praying...

beyond comprehension...

with just 4 weeks to go (if that), we are officially in the home stretch and are as excited as ever for our precious boy to arrive! we made a hospital trip last weekend due to contractions, but were released to go home and "take it easy". everything is ready to go and now we just have to wait...

as we've been getting everything ready here for for greyson, i can't help but to think of the eternity we have secured in heaven through Christ. let me explain - as do any expectant parents, we've spent countless hours thinking out every detail to make sure that his new home will be perfect (setting up his nursery, the bassinett, getting all the supplies, etc.). greyson, however, is absolutely oblivious to all this. he has no idea what's in store for him. in fact, at this point, he could probably never even comprehend what life would be like beyond the womb. so here's the deal - we too, are loved and cared for in the same way. God is creating a place in eternity for every believer. and it's not only great, it is beyond our comprehension. it's so wonderful and He's thought out every perfect detail! how can we not love Him? sometimes we have the tendancy to slip away from the reality and awesomeness of our eternal Father. we can't even begin to understand what life will be like beyond our life here on earth. but we can! take a look at what Christ says...

"do not let your hearts be troubled. trust in God; trust also in me. in my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, i would have told you. i am going there to prepare a place for you. and if i go and prepare a place for you, i will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where i am. you know the way to the place where i'm going...i am the way, the truth and the life. no one comes to the Father except through me." ~John 14:1 - 6

let these words be a reminder today and everyday, to daily live in the reality that Christ has offered us! there is a better place that we all, as believers, can look forward to one day! and it's available to all! take him up on the offer!

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CLICK HERE to see some new pics!