"We need to have a blog...."

Those were the words that launched this new post....

So last we left off....Jason and I were headed to the altar. Happy to announce we made it! Beautiful ceremony, great reception and very fun wintry honeymoon in North Carolina. Then back to reality!

Jason is preparing for graduation! 58 more days! (but who's counting). He has a rigorous last set of Boards in May and then he will be able to take a deep breath and enjoy some fishing before the student loans are due!

Isabelle is preparing to turn 2! She is feisty! And talks up a storm - sometimes we know what she is saying...sometimes we don't but we have learned NOT to just nod and smile because she knows exactly what she is saying! She has nicknamed herself, "Babycakes," - so if we say she is silly or crazy or anything else - she will say, "No, Babycakes," very indignantly! She is a challenge and parenting her is a challenge as probably any parent can attest.

Allow me to "philosophize" - the art of parenting a girl(or boy)treads a fine line between allowing a child to be who God made her to be and training a child in the way she should go. I sometimes get frustrated with certain qualities Isabelle exhibits, until I remember that children are not born as miniature adults. Children are fearfully and wonderfully made, but they are certainly a far cry from who they must be when they grow up. I read this quote...“Many parents,” writes James Stenson, “mistakenly believe that their task is to preserve character, not form it. That is, they believe that children come into the world with beautiful traits, admirable innocence, and that the job of parents is to maintain these as the children grow.” My initial reaction was a bit on the angry side....Isabelle seems at this moment to be perfection in her love and exuberance for God's creation. Every morning she wakes up naturally excited and eager something we as adults have to convince ourselves to do....I don't want to change a thing...just do my best to nurture and maintain. But then I thought, Mr. Stenson has it exactly right! Just as Isabelle exhibits the wonderful attributes I mentioned she also has the stamp of our fallen, broken human nature that makes her not want to share or makes her defiantly disobedient. So in the midst of all her innocence, there is an equal amount of fine-tuning and correcting and training etc etc. All all we can do is pray we get her at least on the right track.