What a difference...

a year makes! Above is Madeline on Thanksgiving 2009. She is so much taller now and has lost a little of her "baby face." She wasn't potty trained and certainly hadn't been anywhere for an extended period of time without a parent or grandparent. Her favorite activities were riding her bike, watching Sesame Street and Dora and scribbling all over her coloring books with her crayons. This time last year, I was five months pregnant with Millie and I knew she was a girl, however I didn't have a name picked out yet.

Fast forward to this year. I have two beautiful girls. Millie is now almost eight months old. She can just about get up on all fours to try and crawl, however she prefers to be held. She loves to make growling noises and adores her sister. She also likes to yank on Rocco's ears and feel his furry coat. Madeline has been potty trained for quite some time now and attends preschool twice a week. She even stays for lunch there from time to time. She can draw smiley faces and loves anything to do with pirates, Spiderman and Superman. She can frequently be found wearing her Superman shirt and Thomas the Train hat. She loves to make her sister laugh.

We are lucky, blessed, happy, whatever you want to call it. Above all, we are THANKFUL. I could list everything we are thankful for, but it would be too long (maybe another day as I think it's a good practice :)). I know that God has blessed in amazing ways, especially in the form of the two cuties above.

I still Paul Boersma's message to us at our wedding: do not forget the Lord your God. He reminded us of two things: to surround us with community and to always give thanks to God. It was a beautiful message, based on Deuteronomy 6: 4-12

Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! 5 Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! 6 Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you 7 and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. 8 Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; 9 inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. 10 When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you're going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn't build, 11 well-furnished houses you didn't buy, come upon wells you didn't dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn't plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, 12 make sure you don't forget how you got there - God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

Let it be know we haven't forgotten!