The Intentional Life

Picture of the 3 kiddos after decorating the tree. At one point Maddie was so excited and bouncing up and down, she bounced her diaper right off (honestly) I want to post a pic but wasn't sure about putting a bare bum on the internet :) Just a random picture of Maddie i took one day - she has proved to be quite photogenic :) Celebrating Jesus' Birth... That's what we have been trying to ingrain into out children's ' heads this whole month of December. To teach them to anticipate the celebration of Christ's birth, not the opening of presents. We've been able to celebrate with both sides of the family, a little spaced out through the month. Back on December 11, we got together with all the Suvar's up at Sam and Kat's new home in Toledo. It was a great place, room enough for everyone to stay overnight and hang out from Friday to Sunday. Thanks Sam and Kat for opening your home to all the (wonderful) chaos! On Christmas Day we got together with t...

This Thanksgiving we were on duty at Gateway. Although we were very bummed to miss family gatherings, we are thankful that the time went smoothly. It can be kinda dicey with everyone home from school for 4 days straight....look out Christmas vacation! I tried my best to make a real Thanksgiving feast and ended up making the turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, noodles, gravy, and pumpkin pie all from scratch. The only thing from a box was the mashed potatoes...i know, i know, but by the time i got to the potatoes, i was DONE with cooking! We enjoyed a filling meal and watched football and played some ping-pong. The electricity went out around 7 PM but THANKFULLY we have a generator so we had partial power. The next day we set up the tree and all the resident got in the spirit and helped. Owen and Hannah had so much fun as well. Maddie, we stuck in a swing to keep her from pulling the tree over. We also spent some time drawing and coloring turkeys, writing down what we are than...

This past weekend Paul ran another marathon. He was not satisfied with his time last month at Columbus (he was 31 seconds shy of his goal). So he signed up for another one to try to beat his goal time of 3 hrs and 30 minutes. One glitch...we were on duty...for the whole weekend. This was only made possible by the help of Paul's parents who kept our kids for the weekend - thank you!!! Saturday morning Paul got up sometime in the 4 or 5 o'clock hour (i can't remember) and got himself ready and headed to Columbia City about 45 minutes from Leo. I got up at a much more reasonable hour and herded the residents through breakfast and then into the van to go watch Paul. We set ourselves up at the finish about an hour before Paul was set to run by. The residents got caught up in the excitement and cheered on all the finishers that ran by. And at about 3 hr 24 minutes we saw Paul down the road about 3/4 mile from the finish. Two of the residents ran with Paul to the finish...

It's actually been about 2 weeks, but Maddie has figured out how to pull herself up to stand. She loves to stand at the toy box and will spend over half and hour just pulling stuff out and talking to herself. Now that she is pulling herself up, i have realize how lax we have been in having a baby-proof house. The coffee table used to be safe for things to be set, but not anymore. She is getting into stuff we were not even aware was an issue. Looking back at the other kids' baby books, Maddie is about a month, if not a month and a half ahead of the other 2 with her physical development. I figured she has to be, just so she can keep up (or get away from them!)

Back in March a picture was taken of the six baby girls who were born to houseparents at Gateway all within an 8 month time span. It's 7 months later and we did another 'photo shoot.' The last time Maddie was 1 month old and slept through the whole thing. This time we were contending with 6 girls who could crawl or walk and wanted to eat the leaves :) But a sprinkling of cheerios and tossing leaves helped us get a few good shots. Thanks to Stef Beer for taking the pictures.

All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. I Corinthians 9:25-27 So the race we had been training since April for finally came and went. Paul and I ran the Columbus Marathon (he the full, me the half) this past weekend. The kids stayed with the grandparents (thank you!) and we headed down to Columbus to take a shot at reaching our desired goals. We had gorgeous running weather. The race started at 7:30, just before the sunrise hit downtown, with a cool, crisp high 40's morning. By the end of the race it was mid 60's and sunny. Paul started our morning with a prayer and verse (can you guess which one?) and I was reminded of it as I was running later that morning. Training for a big race has quite the correlation of running the race of life spiritually speaking. Both take d...

Four years ago today, Owen made his very quick arrival into this world by a (surprise!) c-section in the early hours of the morning. Today he delights us with his morning smile, asking for his daily oatmeal (yes, he eats oatmeal every morning...he loves it :) He moves through the day constantly asking questions, and having a remarkable ability to remember every answer. He has a sensitive heart that often leads him to hurt when others hurt. Our sweet Owen, 4 years old! We love you, Owen, and we are so glad that God chose us to love you and raise you up to know Him. Happy Birthday!