This past Saturday we experienced something quite beautiful. Our friend Julia gathered 20 friends and their children to come over for a time of fellowship, Mexican potluck and prayer. After we ate, the children played in the back yard while the adults stayed inside to pray. They laid hands on Mark and Noah, anointed us with oil, and poured out their hearts to God on our behalf.

We’re still making slow progress with Noah, and some days are still very hard. Satan, that liar and deceiver, has been trying to attack our hearts in three areas: one, that we’re isolated (e.g., we’re in this alone, no one really cares, no one understands, people are getting sick of helping you because this has gone on for so long); two, we should stop praying (e.g., why bother to pray, it’s obvious it isn’t helping, Noah’s still not eating, and you’re really not at the top of God’s to do list anyway); and third, that God’s character is on trial (e.g., can God really be good? if He was you’d be out of this situation by now, He’s not good and He must not love you or care about you very much).

As our friends prayed, the amazing thing to witness was that the Holy Spirit laid on their hearts to specifically pray against these lies. The very fact that there were 20+ people praying in our home showed us that we’re not alone and there are kind and faithful friends committed to seeking God on our behalf, willing to be a phone call away to stop and pray with us if needed. And of course satan doesn’t want us to pray—he knows the power of prayer and is happy to make us believe we’re defeated instead of us knowing we have victory in Jesus. So we continue to ask, seek and knock, and cry out to Him, for where we are weak He is strong! They also prayed that we would “taste and see that the Lord is good,” that He is working on our behalf, cares for us, and is meeting our needs… “I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord” (Ps. 27:13-14).

In between friends praying, some would read a portion of Scripture or offer an encouraging word. We prayed that satan would not rob us of our joy, for the joy of the Lord is our strength! And we need His joy and strength to continue to run this race. It was really an incredible time—we felt so encouraged and refreshed afterwards, like we had wind in our sails again. We’ve even been able to proclaim “God is good!” in the midst of bad reflux episodes. There were a few people who showed up that we had never even met before! Yet here they were to pray for our family. It just goes to show you how deep that bond in the Lord is between brothers and sisters in Christ. So now we have new friends, too! We are humbled, we are blessed, and we have seen His love poured out through His saints this past weekend. Many heartfelt and sincere thanks to those of you who came and blessed us as you did. We will remember this always.

My friend Joash is getting married today.  Scott and I have been up in Vancouver since Wednesday and we’re ready to send this guy off.  He and Matthea have been planning for this for the past eight months, and the culmination of everything today celebrates their wonderful relationship.

Although we haven’t gotten a ton of sleep, we’ve been having a pretty good time.  We arrived late Wednesday night; we’ve been running lots and lots of errands since then.  We had a fun time at the bachelors’ party Thursday night, and Joash got a lot of poetry-reading in.  (We also pigged out on sushi.  I was amazed at how much Bowen and Rock ate.)

Last night was the rehearsal and the dinner, which was a ton of fun.  All of their friends and family are so fun to be around, it’s likes an instant family, which very well represents their church.  I even got to play a little bocce ball at the park last night, creaming Scott and Steve five-to-one.  Rock, rock on!

So today is it.  Joash and Matthea tie the knot.  Then we get to party.  The hardest thing about this wedding is not having my bride here with me.  I miss them terribly!

Tomorrow and Monday Scott are I sight-see around Vancouver and Seattle, and then it’s back to hot, dry Albuquerque.  We’ve had a lot of fun, though, and I have certainly improved my driving skills.  It’s going to be hard to go back to the States now!

Remember how I sewed dresses for my friend’s four daughters this past spring? Well, we recently received pictures of them and I thought I’d share them here. These pics were taken in April when it was still cold outside - that’s why they’re wearing turtlenecks underneath. The dresses are just the right size to last through two seasons, yeah! I love the twirling pictures. Twirling in a dress is the most fun, especially when the skirt of the dress is made from five yards of fabric!

Renée, Samuel, and I made it back from a [short] 10-day vacation to our friends’ farm in upstate New York. Renée found awesome tickets online for the trip, so it was too good to pass up. (We’ve been looking for an excuse to go back and see our dear friends, the Dunns, since May, so this was the perfect fit.) After getting up at 1:45am Albuquerque-time to make our 4:35am flight, we arrived back in Albuquerque a little after 12:00pm and got to rest for the rest of the day.

We were sad to leave our friends, however. We had so much fun while there. We learned how to milk a cow, which is not as easy as you may think. We also got to participate in a turkey slaughter, which was both gross and intriguing at the same time. (For all you hunters out there, it is decently gross to gut the turkey, but not horrible.) I got up on a 25 ft. extension ladder with a hair dryer to melt off a thick layer of ice on their satellite dish for their Internet connection (only to realize later that the real reason that the connection wasn’t working was because the send and receive cables were backwards). I also braved -24° windchill to help chop up a tree that had been downed from the previous week’s ice-storm (which also left 3/4″ of ice on the ground). We also celebrated Greg’s 40th birthday (and in Jewish tradition, when you reach 40, you’re an elder) and gave him lots of gag gifts, as well as the real gift of Carcassonne (Renée and my new favorite game). The rest of the time we spent hanging out in the house with the Dunns, working on schoolwork with the children, and watching Samuel adjust to his new environment: learning to interact with nine other people, learning to climb up and down stairs, and learning to say “thank you” in sign-language.

While we have fun with the Dunns, we are also always so refreshed. It is so relaxing to be on a farm away from the busy city life we’re used to and enjoy simplicity. We celebrated the Sabbath together and enjoyed reading God’s Word as a family, meditating upon what we read, and then celebrating our commonality in Christ together over meals and prayer. Renée and I feel spiritually nurtured and poured into by our conversations with Greg and Kirsten and love discovering the truth of Scripture with them. I guess this just means we’re going to have to plan another trip out to visit their family.

I think we’ll wait until it’s just a tad warmer, though.

Well, today was the last time we’ll see our dear friends (unnamed for their protection) for a while. Three years, in fact. They’re leaving to go overseas, to share the Gospel in a very dangerous part of the world. We’re excited for this new time in their life. It’s always peace that follows from being in God’s will, and now it’s time for them to go. But we’re sad, too. Not for them, but for us! We’ll miss them. (Have a safe trip you guys, we’ll be praying for you)!

This city is getting increasingly lonelier. So many of our close friends have moved to either another country or to another state in the last year and a half. Sigh! What a void in my heart! It’s always hardest when you’re the one left behind. I try to be content where I am, but it’s hard. I’m trying to focus on Who I’m following and not so much where I’m going. Continuing to remind myself to have faith in the One who holds my future. If you happen to be reading this, say a prayer for us regarding this struggle, thanks.

As you can tell from our lack of updates, we have been busy around here! We’ve been in the throws of wedding preparations and partying, because six of our friends are getting married this summer. Three down, three to go. Up next is Tiff’s wedding, which will be in Houston. We can’t wait for Sammy to see his Memere and Pepere and Uncle Paul!

Speaking of Sammy, today he is nine months old! We can’t believe it. He’s looking more and more like a little boy each day. Where did our baby go? We are having so much fun with him. He’s crawling all over the place and seems to get faster by the day. He enjoys carrying a block in one hand as he crawls, and lately likes to crawl right over our stomachs if we’re lying on the floor. We’ve turned into jungle gyms. The other day he crawled right up me and grabbed my face with his hands and just laughed and laughed at me. It was so neat to wrestle with him and hug him and laugh together. He’s also learned not to touch electrical sockets and dad’s guitar, and it’s amazing to see how much he understands! No, stop, don’t touch, please, night night, wave bye bye, hi, happy, more, hungry, lay on your back, come to Mama, kisses, and the list goes on!

We took Samuel on his first airplane flight to upper state NY in June. He cried almost the whole way on the flight out, but coming home he was great. Mark and I just wished we had eight arms to manage the wriggle worm, diaper bag, carry on, car seat, stroller, etc.! We’ve been meaning to write a little bit about our vacation to NY, because we came away with so much from our time there. Here it goes:

(Thanks for the nice segue, Renée!)

We went to upstate New York (specifically, Fort Plain) for some much-needed rest-and-relaxation and to visit some very dear friends of our’s, the Dunn Family. We spent 10 wonderful, relaxing days on a beautiful green farm in the middle of Amish country.

Yes, our friends decided to put away the lawyer profession and become farmers. What a great decision it was! Because of this, we got to relax on over 140 acres of land in our own little summer house next to the pool, hang out in a three-hundred year-old stone house, and play in the barn (and a little work too, installing a wireless network for them). I got to drive a tractor and rototill their garden, as well as mow the lawn on the riding lawn-mower (that thing goes fast) and cultivate some raspberries. Renée helped plant potatoes, gave the girls a princess party, and had a hoot-a-nanny of a time with Kirsten at the local Price Chopper. We got to take lots of walks, celebrate the Sabbath day, and enjoy of the most fun conversations with the family that we’ve ever had. We also got to play Human Uno and the age old classic, Pit, as well as a fun game out of Rio Rancho called Bohnanza.

Really, there’s so much more that we did, but it was one of the best vacations that we have ever had. Never have we enjoyed relaxing so much and just being together with their family. Furthermore, God really used the trip to show us what a God-centered family and lifestyle looks like. Aside of wanting desperately to visit again, God has prompted us to really concentrate on developing a family mission statement and vision, walk more closely to Him, and depend on Him for the next stage and steps of our family, in all aspects. It’s incredibly humbling, but also extremely exciting just to see how He loves His children and provides for them! We feel like we’re on the brink of something large, and it’s fun to trust God (although scary, for sure)!

We certainly miss you, Dunn family! Hopefully, we will see you again soon!

Wow, this is the summer for celebrations. We have a bunch of friends getting married (six, to be exact), and all we can say is, “It’s about stinkin’ time!” Haha. We highly recommend marriage around these parts.

Also, our dear friends Tim and Jeni have been accepted by the IMB to serve the Lord in the Middle East. It’s something they’ve looked forward to for years, and now it’s time to go! So exciting.

Another fun thing to look forward to is our trip to New York, visiting our friends the Dunns on their farm… in the middle of Amish country. We can’t wait, we have missed them so much since they moved away! We may even swing over to Rhode Island for a day, we’ll see.

Speaking of, we just got the good news that my cousin Mandy is expecting her first child. How awesome to start families together. I’ve aways loved that me and my cousins were so close in age!

Well, God is good, and His blessings abundant. Life is grand.

Today marks the one-month anniversary of the life of our son, Samuel. It’s amazing to think that it’s already been a month that he has been with us. On the one hand, time has absolutely flown-by as we try to figure out how to be the best parents we can. On the other hand, when I remember back to being in the hospital with Renée recovering, it seemed like an eternity that we were there. Most of that I attribute to a lack of sleep, though.

So life is indeed different now, but much better. I so enjoy coming home from work in the evenings not only to my beautiful wife but to my handsome son. I gather more joy from watching him soaking in everything around him than I thought possible. I love to lay him on my chest and watch him as he tries to figure out how to use his arms, then his legs, and then both in sync. Now that Renée and I have a schedule set up, I even look forward to getting up with him at 5am to feed and change him. (Well, feed him, anyway.)

It’s fun to share in this adventure with good friends, too. Although we haven’t seen much of them since Samuel and Kenny came along, it’s neat to think of the adventures that we will be having. Being only eight days apart, Kenny and Samuel are sure to become friends!

As I think back over the previous month of change–in roles, in sleep patterns, in lifestyle–the thing that stands out to me is the incredible grace of my wife. To look at her and see how she has turned into a wonderful mommy, how she so willingly and graciously gives up herself so that Samuel is fed, cared for, comforted–truly amazing! How wonderful the bond that God creates between a mother and her son.

And how wonderful the bond between father and son. It’s given me a brand new appreciation for the bond between Father and Son.