Aylin 9 months

Aylin is now 9 months!

Over the last 2 months, Aylin struggled with an ear infection for 5 consecutive weeks. That was a struggle for the whole family. In the 5^th week we learned that Aylin was allergic to penicillin. She woke up one morning with a rash, that throughout the day, turned into a full on case of hives. Thankfully the hives didn't seem to bother her. After that though the ear infection seemed to clear up, and – knock on wood – we haven't seen any more evidence of it.

She also has stared full on crawling. The kid is all over the place! Once she started crawling, we couldn't stop there, it was even more exciting to pull up on things! So she is into EVERYTHING. But having a blast. Nothing in our house is safe any more! Not even (or maybe especially) the critters!

She's also started to eat some table foods. Around Halloween she got to have her first real sweet potatoes, stuffing, and a roll. Then for Thanksgiving she got to have mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll. She also got to have her very own pancake (sans the butter and syrup!) last weekend when I made pancakes for breakfast. She LOVES table food. Partly because she loves anything she can do for herself, and partly because it's something new and exciting.

She is now also exclusively on formula. With the lovely ear infections she wasn't taking much milk because of the pressure that sucking puts on the ear drums. So my supply continued to decline. Once she was recuperated from the ear infections and eating better, my supply did not return.

It is so amazing to watch her learn and grow. She is such a joy! She was a Tiger for Halloween, and I took her up to the office to show her off. She loved seeing all of the people at the office. Then we spent some time at Nana's and got to see Uncle Brad & Aunt Kris. It was good to see Bradley while he was home for a bit. We recently enjoyed going to see the lighting of the Bentonville Square for Christmas. We've been getting to spend lots more time with Nana (Adrienne), Aunt Laura, Aunt Melinda, and Granny (Virginia). They take care of Aylin when Jeff has work. She's been having a blast there, and loves to show off for the ladies. We also got to go to the cabin out on the farm and hang out with the Harrison gang for most of the day yesterday. She decided she didn't like the sound of the 4-wheelers, but generally everything else was good. She loved her Papa Joe's toasted bread from the grill.

My new job has been keeping me very busy. I've been in classes pretty much for the last 8 weeks since I first started. I am finally done with classes, and now get to try my hand at actually doing my job! The more I get into the job, the more I enjoy it. But there are still many days that I feel I am in way over my head. I am hoping that will pass as I get more confidence with what I'm doing on a day to day basis. It does frustrate me though when I have to stay late because it takes me longer to finish things than I would like. Then those frustrations turn into distractions because all I can think about is my family at home and how i'm missing out. Those are things I will have to learn to work with, and figure out how better to handle both sides of.

I am praying that one day soon my life won't feel like such a whirl wind, and that maybe I'll be able to feel like I can stop and more fully enjoy what's happening. Because these days I feel like I am jumping from one thing to the next without being able to stop and take a breath in between.

We didn't have to, but we did anyway.

The internet monk had a blog post this week, dealing with "cohabitation". That subject is one that's very sensitive to Kristina and me, so I thought I'd drop a little blog post on it.

The church response to our relationship status was the straw that broke the camel's back with me and Kristina going to church. We were attending a church in Fayetteville, to remain unnamed because I still have a few friends involved there. The small group of which we were a part was looking for a new host. We offered up our place, but the leaders chose to disband the group rather than meet in our home. The reason? We were living together unmarried.

We were imperfect followers of Christ then, as we are now. We got married. A few years later, we had a kid. We're happy together now, as we were then. In March, we will have been married five years. We've had some rough times, but the grace and peace of Christ continues to reign, lead, and provide for us. Kristina and I knew that the situation we were in wasn't ideal. We were seeking to know Jesus better, and to know each other better, and recognizing our weaknesses and the realities of our respective pasts, we did so as best we could.

The philosophical and moral arguments about cohabitation aren't really relevant here.

The point here is that the Gospel rejects no one. No one. A Gospel-embracer trusts Jesus to effect the work of redemption. Until we as a body of believers embrace that, we will continue to be a proud and stiff-necked generation.

Click through to see the internet monk's original post here.