End of another week

It's Saturday morning and Erik is out with Micah running some errands and Keziah is enjoying her first cheerios in the highchair beside me. She is devouring them!

I liked what I had done with the pictures of Micah the other day so I decided to bring both kids back to the same place to try to get a good updated picture for one of my bigger frames. Getting a good shot of both of them was impossible; Keziah was so busy trying to grab the camera and Micah was refusing to sit still since I had promised him some blackberries. But I still managed to snap a few good ones in the grass. I made the colours more vibrant by using the saturation effect on Picasa2…

Keziah seems to be finally making some milestones. No crawling yet, but she’s close. Here she is in her almost crawling position:



She is also finally interested in standing (her legs were always like jelly when I tried before) and she has finally discovered the joys of jumping in her exersaucer.

And yes, I noticed that both videos end with her crying… That’s our girl! I've been seeing more and more of Erik in her personality these last weeks. Not that Erik's a whiner :) But Keziah has an intensity about her that reminds me of him. And she's stingy with her smiles - which is apparently how Erik was as a baby. And he still takes life pretty seriously... So far, both kids seem to have personality traits of their dad. Maybe our next baby will have my laid-back personality???

I'm not sure what was up with Micah in that last video. He’s been doing anything to get attention lately. I recognize that it’s a result of him not getting enough attention these last weeks. Erik and I feel some days that we are always on his case about stuff and I don’t like that. I feel the need to have firm boundaries for him, but it’s hard always saying “Micah, don’t do that!” or “Leave your sister alone!” We need to be intentional in catching him in good behaviour so we can reinforce it. And we definitely need to have more quality Micah-time.

This week went by fast and Erik's got 5 days of a new job under his belt now. Life may be getting into routine for us again but each day is clouded with sadness. Some days more than others. The other day I spent an hour googling Nathan's name and information about the accident as if there would be some comfort in knowing more than I already know. Or maybe I just wanted to sit in the sadness of it all for awhile. I came across some blogs I hadn't seen before and a few other articles, etc. It's strange to read what other people are writing about everything. As I read it I'm overcome with how sad it really is. Knowing that this tragedy is "our" tragedy is sometimes a little unreal and reading about it makes it sink in all over again...


Doug & Elissa had some discouraging news yesterday. She went to have her jaw checked by an oral surgeon here in Abbotsford. He was very unimpressed with the wiring job done by the Calgary doctor and recommended that they re-do the surgery or else there might be permanent loss of feeling on one side of Elissa's jaw. Of all of Elissa's injuries I think the wired jaw has been the most frustrating and she has been counting down the weeks and days to when she will get the wires off. Now to think that it could be mid-October before it's all over feels like another big blow. They have the option of just leaving it be and hoping for the best but the doctor didn't seem too optimistic. We can always pray for a miracle right? God is definitely in the business of defying medical logic. Please pray for them as they make this decision and let's pray that another surgery wouldn't be necessary.

Yesterday marked week 4 since the accident. Four weeks that have felt both long and short. Rosanna said last night that she hates how time has elapsed since then. Every day takes us further from when Nathan was alive and with us. And every day makes us afraid that we'll start to forget him or learn to live life without him. It's feels as though we can't stand to live in the pain and grief but going on without Nathan is even scarier. Yet, none of us have a choice.

Our good friends Craig & Jen generously mailed us some great books which came yesterday. Last night I started reading “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. I’m barely through the first chapter and I can’t wait to read more. The introduction really whet my appetite and as someone who’s grieving, I know it will bring a lot of comfort to learn more about our heavenly home where Nathan is already dwelling. I appreciated the author’s humility as he introduced his book. He was aware that many of his thoughts on heaven would seem to contradict what we, as Christians, have always thought to be true. But he has done his research and believes the scriptures have a lot more to say about Heaven than we might think. So, I’m excited to read on.

We are so consumed with the here and now that we forget that the present is just a small span of time in the matter of eternity. Not only that, but the tangible things in the present are so very temporary and intangible compared with the things of heaven. With that thought in mind, I've had this scripture running through my head this morning which I will leave you with:

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

~ 2 Corinthians 4:18