The phrase sleeping like a baby....

...should really be sleeping like a toddler, at least for our little girl.

Here's just a little project we've been working on (if you click on the picture it gets a little bigger):

A few weeks ago I realized that I could take pictures in the dark using my iPhone and it made absolutely no sound. The silent function works on flash too :). And that led to another realization, short bursts of light do not in any way disturb our sleeping beauty. 

I LOVE that I will have these memories. Half of the nights Eden looks like a sweet baby and the other half she looks like a rowdy teenager (or at least what I imagine her to be, I know she's still little and I'm in no way ready for her to grow up!).

Because she is such a sound sleeper, I typically readjust her after I've taken the picture, set her on her pillow, cover her back up, remove bows we forgot about. Sometimes she's just so cute I have to sneak another picture.

Although she showed early signs of being a climber, she doesn't seem to think those habits can apply to her crib, and stays happily in it until we take her out. Thomas has finished building her toddler bed and Eden and I helped paint it. It's been in the basement for a month and she cries if we mention trading it for her crib. I know, I know, no rushing this one, I like my sleep thank you :).

There's been a lot to blog about, but little time, and fewer eloquent words (at least on my part). I've been reading some wonderfully encouraging mom books, attending a soul feeding bible study, pondering Mark in our church's Sunday School, and struggling, but making strides in daily study and prayer. Thomas has been doing mostly the same (except for  the mom books, but really, who has time for those when you're nose deep in the ancient mysteries of old testament history, culture, and language??). We long to share these growing pains with our family and oldest friends. I'm hoping to find ways even through my clumsy writing to share them in this forum, though I'm being a bit timid because words can so often be misunderstood and twisted online!

This verse keeps coming back to me:

2 Corinthians 12:9: 
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
I am a weak writer. I am a weak explainer of my faith. Words often fail me, and I do not like to put effort into things I do not excel in. But God can use me, and I need to let him, even in these things. God can show Himself even through my clumsy speech if I am willing to put my weaknesses out for others to see.  So...... be patient with me on this journey as I try to share what our focus and growth has really been in this temporary home (and no, it's not my sewing skills).