the beach

Two weeks ago we went away with Jonathan's mom and siblings to North Myrtle Beach for a couple days and were able to just retreat from the world.  It was so nice! I LOVE the beach.  Seriously. There's something in my soul that just rests at the beach.  I could do without the commercial, touristy, flesh scene but the nature itself is sheer bliss.  When I'm at the beach I realize just how naturalistic I am in my relationship with God.  I feel like I'm able to see glimpses of how mighty He is and how limited and finite I am! This vacation I thought a lot about how tiny and low to the ground our man made society is and yet how often it captivates all of my time and attention.  Walking on the beach I could look up and see how indescribably huge and unending the sky and atmosphere are compared to the couple hundred vertical yards of what we call society. When, for a second, my mind has a glimpse of how much bigger God is than me, I wonder why I don't gaze on him more but get caught up in this world here. I think this is a huge success for the devil. If he can just keep my attention on this egocentric world man has made, I will forget God. I'll start to live for things made by human hands instead of living for things that are made by God and never fade or perish.  I'll waste my life.  Oh how easy it is to live a distracted life,  succeeding in man's world but failing in God's. Lord, may I live for your kingdom and not man's. May I devote myself to things that will last beyond the grave.May Colossians 3:1-4 characterize my life:

May I "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set my mind on things above, not on things that are on earth. For I have died, and my life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is my life appears, then I also will appear with him in glory" (Col 3:1-4)

And now that I'm done ruminating... here's some pics from our vacation. :) 

(a lot of phone shots as I didn't take my camera on the beach) 

 Training her to be a beach bum from an early age 

 I love this picture of Eliza and Aunt Julianne. :) 

 Mother's Day morning Eliza, Jonathan, and I went on a walk. If I had to dream up my perfect morning it would be walking on the beach with my family. Thank you Jonathan! 

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of our time at the beach was Eliza starting to walk while holding on to someone. She'd been "furniture walking" for about a week but was to timid to walk without anything in front of her (um yes, she's extremely timid with just about everything... you should have seen how scared she was with the waves! Poor thing. We stayed clear of them and pretty much just played in the sand)

 And once she learned how much fun life is vertically she was pulling up on everything. 

...which tended to wear her out! :) This was at dinner one night and she had just had enough. We were so tickled because she's normally so alert but right in the middle of the restaurant she decided she should just take a quick snooze! 

 Finally, pictures with my camera. :) My beautiful mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I love being related to them! 

 Jonathan with his mom, brother, and sister 

The only family pic we snapped... not the best but I love Eliza's face.

Eliza clinging to her dadda because she was afraid of the water. This is a perfect picture to capture her pose for anything new on the vacation.  After a little while though she'd warm up and be her usual sweet self... 

That's all for now. :) 

Grandpa and Grandma Dubbelman

This blog post is a bit delayed but in April my Grandma and Grandpa came to visit from NJ. It was so good to see them and have them spend time with us and Eliza. :) Oh how I wish we lived closer to them so we could see them more often! Here are some pictures from our time together...

My sweet grandparents who are in such great health for their age! Jonathan and I are definately taking notes from them! 

 Grandpa and Eliza. 

Eliza rocking with Grandma :) 

Grandma let her sit on her lap and eat her snack.  Don't get used to it Eliza!

Are you noticing in all these pictures Eliza is being held? hmm... Dad reading with Eliza (or really I think Eliza is reading to him). She loves books!  She also loves her grandpa very much. 

Hilariously enough, we matched (not on purpose)! When my sisters, Ruth and McCall, came over we asked why they didn't think to wear stripes too. :) 

Aunt Ruth with Eliza. :) 

We had a great family meal together with my parents, grandparents, Ruth, and Sam and McCall to celebrate my birthday (we missed you Luke and Steph). I think Eliza thought everyone was singing to her and she was definitely mesmerized by the candle. 

All in all, it was a really sweet time with my Grandma and Grandpa and I'm already looking forward to seeing them again!

12 months

Well Eliza is officially no longer a baby. I'm not sure when this transition happened but all of a sudden my daughter is a grand explorer, a constant babbler, and a sheer delight in showing off her personality. Here are some things she's loved this past month...

We love the "outside" and are constantly banging on the windows. Eliza also knows the doggies are outside (not ours) so she goes to the window and barks. :) 

Toys have become a lot more interactive and we love taking things out of boxes/bins. (haven't quite gotten to the putting them in stage...) 

Bath time is still a constant joy although splashing has risen to a whole new level and we're trying to get her to not stand up and topple out of the tub. :) 

Chicken Nugget LOVES books and will often just sit there opening one book after another. 

A new obsession- this walker/bike from her Mimi. Although I'm pretty sure she's supposed to first use it for walking she prefers her dadda to push her. Look at the joy on that face. Poor Jonathan's knees. For some reason she associates this toy with Jonathan so when she sees him she crawls over to it, pats it and looks at Jonathan. She's definitely learning how to communicate what she wants. 

Playing is hard work.  When we're tired the fingers go in the mouth.  

Eliza is ONE!!!!!

Where has the time gone? It feels like just a couple months ago we were bringing this little chicken nugget home from the hospital...

(first day home)

And now she's ONE!

Someone once told me that the days are long but the years fly by as a parent. Oh how true that has proven to be this year.

The below picture captures Eliza well. She is our Ms. Intensity who doesn't miss a thing and is always studying what's going on. (Sound exactly like Jonathan? :))

So in honor of Eliza turning one we had a little party with family and friends this past Saturday.

I saw an idea on Pinterest to put up a picture from every month of Eliza. It was my favorite decoration.

And here it goes... singing Happy Birthday.

For as enthusiastically as she grabbed the whole cupcake, she actually just licked the icing to death and wouldn't bite it. Jonathan then crumbled up the entire cupcake for her (I think he envisioned her actually eating the whole thing) but she wasn't so sure she wanted it.

So then Uncle Sam gave her a cookie which she inhaled.

"Oh Boy that was good"

And we were so excited after the sugar that we decided to attack our guests. (yes, in an un-lady like manner we ended up tying her dress up because it kept tripping her up)

I love this picture because it gives a glimpse in to life as a kid. The world "centers" around you. ;)

I love my family and I thank God for such an amazing little girl. Eliza means "sworn to God" and our prayer is that she grows up to know and live for Jesus.

After the party we had a family dinner and Eliza, hyped up on sugar, and glad to be out of her dress, decided to dance for us. :)

11 months

Ok so technically, although Eliza turns one on Tuesday, she is still 11 months... *gulp" "12 months" just seems so big and scary and... OLD. How is she already almost 12 months!? ahhhh. Anyways, I digress... Here are some pictures from the past month. Eliza is very into exploring her environment. When I'm holding her she often wants down so she can crawl around. She's pulling up now but is not walking. She loves music, books, and doggies.

Precious little Eliza with a favorite toy of hers.

Her favorite doggy in the entire world is Lilly, her Mimi's yorky. I love this picture because they look alike. :)

Typical activity. On a mission to crawl to anywhere.

A new love of hers is the outside. Any time the door is open for a second she beelines for the door like she's finally found her chance for freedom.

We love wagon rides! (um side note- this was taken on I'm pretty sure the only cold day in March)

One of her favorite things to do is pull books off her shelf and then sit and flip the pages.

This is often how I find them reading books. So sweet.

We love our Eliza and seriously cannot believe she's almost one. I think I'm actually just going to believe she's eight months? ;)

Museum of Life and Science

On Jonathan's day off this past week we went to the Museum of Life and Science with our neighbors, Kelly and Tangi. It was our first time there and we were so impressed! The museum is amazing and has quite a diverse set of activities. Along with the normal "museum" like things (that include really neat science displays) they have an expansive playground with huge musical objects, a dinosaur trail, petting zoo, and butterfly house. I was so impressed and when Eliza gets older I can see her really loving all the different exhibits.

Here are some pictures of our time at the museum.

We started with the petting zoo. Tangi and Kelly are neighbors of ours and it's really fun to have babies around the same age together.

Other than dogs, Eliza has never seen animals before and was wide eyed with amazement.... ok let's be honest, she was actually scared to death unless we were holding her. After taking one look at the pigs she started crying and when meeting the cow she was literally trembling. But when dadda held her those animals weren't so scary and she was ok to look from a distance. It was really sweet.

Tangi and Legend. Our sweet neighbors who live right beside us. Eliza loves Legend and we couldn't ask for a better neighbor than Tangi. It's such a blessing to be able to raise our kids next to each other too!

Kelly and Corrina live across the street and we have just recently realized we're both stay at home mom with kids around the same age. :) Kelly is a wealth of mommy knowledge and really active with Triangle Mommies so she's a great encouragement for me to get out and try new things.

"Dad, seriously. What is that?"

I loved watching her take everything in. It blows my mind to introduce her to aspects of life that she doesn't even know exist. aka- animals.

The cow was my personal favorite!

beautiful

After the petting zoo we headed over to the butterfly house. You walk in to this huge building and there were butterflies everywhere. Amazing!

Oh I love this picture. Taking in all the butterflies.

Kelly caught a butterfly on her finger!!!

This picture beautifully captures a glimpse of who Kelly is as a mom. She has a love for all things science (um I totally can't think of a better word than "science".... shows how well I know the topic. ha) and is so excited to teach Corrina.

(side note- because I'm totally inept at "sciency" things I love that God sweetly puts me around people like Tangi who is getting a PhD in genetics and Kelly who loves science so Eliza can have a chance when it comes to learning about anything other than literature. Thank you Lord. :))

Kelly showing Eliza the butterfly. Not sure what to think...

"Um, I don't like him"... maybe she'll take after her mother after all.

Our last stop in the museum was to a play area where little kids can get down and roam.

:)

Sweet b bear loving a flower her dadda gave her. (this is seconds before she then tried to put the flower in her mouth. yum)

The end.

Eliza was officially exhausted and we had a blast! Thanks Tangi and Kelly for initiating the trip!