Post-cake

I forgot I had taken this birthday bath pic =)

Eating Cake!

Opening presents on birthday morning:


Judah's cake pics: I hope you enjoy it as much as he did =)

Beautiful, wonderful year

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet baby Judah. I am sad today to have to say good-bye to this first year. Part of me feels like he is just growing faster than I can possibly keep up with and savor. The silver lining is looking forward to all of the growing and learning that Judah will do in the future. He is as sweet today as he has ever been. I am continually surprised that I love him more and more every day. Thanks to all of you who have shared in our joy over the last year!

One year ago today:

(I'll post cake-eating pics/video as soon as I can!)

We thank God for our beautiful, healthy, wonderful, wonderful boy!

It's October!?!

I can't believe we're almost half-way through October! It doesn't feel like fall at all here in Jax. Ok, I'll admit to being happy it is only in the 80s during the day instead of the high 90s, but come on! Where are all the turning leaves and the jacket/jeans/warm boots sort of days?

We did have some really nice weather while we were on our trip in the Northeast! DC was beautiful for most of our time there, which made our whirlwind tour of the sights even more enjoyable. I also have to say, although who expected any different, that Judah was a total trooper and did great even as we hauled him around for hours on end. We toured the Capitol and the Library of Congress. We visited the Supreme Court (but unfortunately they weren't in session), the Natural History museum, and the National Zoo. We saw almost all of the monuments and memorials. The relatively new WWII memorial is really beautiful. We also saw Barak Obama's motorcade and actually saw John McCain in his SUV as he pulled into the White House for the emergency meeting about the bail-out plan that President Bush called. Apparently not much progress was made at that particular meeting, but it was exciting for us nonetheless.

The US Capitol

Forrest and Judah with Reflecting Pool in the background

Of everything we saw in DC, what moved me the most was President Lincoln's second inagural address that is inscribed on the wall of the Lincoln memorial. His humility, reverence for God, and love for his countrymen is deeply inspirational. If you have a couple minutes, it's definitely worth the time.

After we toured DC (thanks to the Granges for a wonderful place to stay in DC!) we headed up to Bryn Athyn, PA. It is a tiny town outside of Philidelphia where Forrest's mom spent much of her childhood and where she and my father-in-law went to college. We went for our cousin Maren's wedding and saw a bunch of other family as well. It was wonderful to visit a place that means so much to people I love. I kept imagining Mike and Lynne walking along the streams and exploring the forest together falling in love =) We had perfectly cool, misty weather surrounded by hills that were each greener than the one before. It was really beautiful.

On our drive home we saw old friends! Amanda hosted us in DC for another night on our way through. Adam, Sarah, Kathryn, and soon-to-arrive Elizabeth welcomed us in Norfolk, VA, and we saw Elaine and sooner-to-arrive Caleb in New Bern, NC. It was great to see them, but it also made me sad that we live so far apart now. I think I've been having a little "good-friend" hangover this week: the reminder of how easy it is to be with old friends makes my new friendships here seem like more work than I realized before. Worth it, but work. On the other hand, I also was reminded of the fruit that can be harvested from keeping in touch with those old friends even when they are far away!

And now we've been home for a week already! How the time flies. I've been thinking a lot about Elaine this week as her pregnancy goes on beautifully and we all wait expectantly for beautiful Caleb. I've also been thinking about Casey and Los who are road-tripping on their move across country. They aren't moving quite far enough across the country for my taste, but they will be closer to us than they are now =) And Beth O'Sullivan, come home already! =)

A quick look at Judah's newest tricks:

Juggling!

Judah's monkey impression (don't believe the look on Forrest's face, Judah can hang all by himself really well)!