My little helper

She was pretending to scrub the floor!

As Fiona has started to be more interested in my daily work around the home, I’ve tried to incorporate her little hands to help alongside mine. My Mom (and also my Dad) trained me from a young age to enjoy working. I didn’t come by it naturally by any means! But Mom taught me that work was given to man before the Fall (“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15), and that it is not part of the curse. The curse was that man would toil at his labor and work by the sweat of his brow, and that woman would have pain in childbirth and have a desire to rule over her husband. So work was part of man’s duty before the fall, and continues to be part of our duty to this day.

I am trying to instill in Fiona the same principles of a good work ethic and doing all things as to the Lord as my parents did in me. Since Fiona is still so young I haven’t explained to her yet that whatever she does should be done as to the Lord, but I plan to start instructing her once she starts talking and understanding more. Right now, any new thing I show her she loves to do! So while she has a desire to learn, I plan to train her to like working and helping out in our home. Granted, I have to be patient with her work and it may take a little longer to do my work, but in the long run I know I will reap the benefits of training her while she is young. Children are such a blessing from the Lord, and we are so grateful for Fiona!

Helping to put the clothes in the dryer

The cute little face that helps me with the dishes now!

Helping to make egg salad for lunch

She loved peeling an egg and then helping me mix up the egg salad. She must be a true cook because after we mixed it all up she stuck her little fingers into the bowl and tried a small handfull to see if all the right ingredients were in it!

Another video of Fiona!

Samson recorded this video of Fiona eating her breakfast the other day. I think it is really cute! As to the context of oatmeal being a “table tennis” breakfast, here is an explanation: Samson wrote an article last year about how eating raw oats with milk and fresh fruit is healthy for an athlete. He wrote about how it helps him keep up his energy and how he feels full all morning even while practicing when he eats oats for breakfast. He nicknamed the breakfast “table tennis breakfast” for his article.

Garlic Red Potatoes Recipe

The other day I was looking for a new way to make red potatoes. I came across this recipe from All Recipes.com. They turned out very delicious! The only suggestion I would have is that I had to bake mine for longer than the recipe called for, but that may have been due to the fact that I had an extra pound of potatoes baking in my dish. I plan to make them again sometime soon!

The flowers in my garden

We are having unusually warm weather this March, even though the official day of spring isn’t until tomorrow. Spring is one of my favorite seasons! Usually the winter seems long even in the midst of the sparkling snow. This year, we had a mild winter. Add to that a two week vacation to the Florida Keys and you can call me spoiled! I was expecting to come home at the end of February and experience winter for a month or two. But the weather has not really gotten that cold considering what it normally is like here in Ohio. The warm March weather has caused many plants to start budding and flowers to burst into bloom! I missed taking a picture of the crocus- the first herald of spring, but this afternoon Fiona and I went for a walk and then I snapped a few pictures of the flowers blooming in our garden. Of course my favorite “flower” is Fiona!

Delicate hyacinth

Bright and joyful daffodils!

"Do you see this leave, Mommy?"

Happy to go on a walk!

My Mom hosted a surprise 18th birthday luncheon tea for my sister, Rachel, on Saturday. She was very surprised and blessed by all the ladies who came! Here is a picture of us with some of our relatives.

Back row- Grandma D., Melody, My Mother
Front row- Aunt Kathy, Grandma R., Rachel, Me
Celebrating Rachel's 18th birthday with a surprise party!

And because I couldn’t resist adding this picture to this post, here is a fun one!

Fiona with her cousins!
L to R- Corban and Job (my brother and sister-in-laws boys), Fiona, Caleb and Judah (Samson's sister and brother-in-laws boys)

The other day my sister-in-law, Melody, had a play day which included both sets of Fiona’s cousins! We lined them up for a picture, and surprisingly it turned out really well! Aren’t they cute?!

Fiona discovers…

...that a washcloth sticks to her belly in the tub...

...that she can play the piano all by herself!...

...that Mommy's cupboard is a neat hide-a-way and her 100 cookie cutters are great fun to get out of the container...

...that her homemade baby wipes (made from paper towels) are fun to pull out!...

...that Daddy's nightstand drawer is fun to sit inside...

...that looking out Grandma's window with cousins Caleb and Judah is a lot of fun!

...that clean cloth diapers stacked up are fun to climb on...

...and that when the snow melts and you discover Mom's stash of hats and scarfs, it's fun to play dress-ups with Mommy!

Two Year Anniversary!

Two years ago last Monday (January 9th), my beloved husband and I were wed!

Exchanging our vows

Gazing into each other's eyes...

Over the past two years our love for each other has grown deeper and deeper. We have shared many joys together and a few sorrows. Throughout the daily routine of life we have bonded closer and grown to appreciate each other more. One of our favorite parts about being married is the fact that we can share life’s experiences with each other. On our trips we can see the same beautiful sunset and not wish someone was with us to share the beauty. We can laugh at an inside joke between the two of us, know what the other needs by a glance, and we enjoy holding hands as we go for a walk pushing Fiona in her stroller. We look forward to spending many more years together- “until death do us part”!

~1st anniversary~

~2nd anniversary~

Enjoying a kiss!

Watch my little girl practice her table tennis forehand

You know your husband plays professional table tennis when he teaches your daughter her forehand stroke at 14 months old! Watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj_w2MIvejE&feature=youtube_gdata

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior on Christmas. We were able to gather with our family at various get-togethers and enjoyed seeing everyone.

With Samson's grandparents

Fiona playing with her new car!

Fiona doesn't walk on her own yet, but this new walker toy may help her out a bit! She loves walking behind it making the music play!!

Samson and I celebrated the coming New Year an hour early with a sparkling grape juice toast and a kiss! The Lord was so faithful in 2011- His mercies are many towards me and my family. I know I can trust Him in 2012 because He has shown Himself faithful in the past.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted on here yet about our exciting news… we are expecting another little baby sometime around June 2nd! We are thrilled that the Lord has blessed us with another child! Fiona is growing steadily and by June will be quite the big sister ! She is practicing her mothering skills on her baby dolls presently. She kisses them, hugs them and even patiently disciplines them when they are misbehaving .  I love nursing her and feeling the little one in my womb move about and kick- a wonderful time of motherhood!

Lovin' my 'lil girl!

We had our first snow of 2012 the other day, and I took Fiona out to experience snow for the first time. She liked tasting the snow and I even helped her walk around a bit.

Before we went outside...

I was taking a while getting ready, and I also decided to try and take some pictures of her in her cute snowsuit... I guess she had other plans (like going outside?!)

First touch of snow...

"What does it taste like?"

"Whatever this snow stuff is... it's really cold and wet!"

"And it really doesn't taste that great, either!"

"Nonetheless, it is quite interesting..."

The other day I was invited to a ladies tea party at a friend’s house where I was able to meet Elisabeth Elliott! Because she is getting older, she isn’t able to talk to people now, but we listened to a recording of her talking about the Christmas story from several years ago. It was very exciting to meet her in person! I enjoyed reading several of her books when I was younger and am sure I will read others in the future.

Me with Elisabeth Elliott

l to r- My Mom, Elisabeth, Me, Fiona and my sister, Rachel

Samson made dinner for me the day of the ladies tea party since I was gone most of the afternoon … he made a lovely lemon chicken stir fry and fresh fruit on vanilla yogurt. We ate by candlelight and he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers adorning the table! The flowers are cheering up my kitchen counter-top now, so I snapped a picture to share with you all.

We ate the stir fry before I thought to get a picture, but here is the lovely fruit bowl!

I am so blessed to be married to Samson- he was worth waiting for, and shows his love for me in countless ways each day. We will celebrate our second anniversary on the 9th of this month! I can’t believe we have been married for nearly two years- in many ways it seems like we’ve been married for more than two years, we’ve had so many wonderful experiences and traveled so many places together!

My dearly beloved husband

Perhaps I’ll be able to blog more often this year… but life with a dear husband and two little munchkins might consume most of my time I’ll post when I’m able and not neglecting other duties!

I had tea with a dear friend, Audre, the other day. I forgot to take a picture of the two of us, but I took a picture of the table before she arrived.

Samson captured her trying on my scarf~ isn't she cute?!

Guess where we were…

Any ideas as to where we are in this picture?

Happy 1st Birthday Fiona!

Fiona the day she was born!

The Lord brought our dear daughter, Fiona, into the world on this day last year. The past year has been full of fun “firsts” with Fiona: first outing; first car ride; first airplane trip; first smile; first bath; first time rolling over from her tummy to her back; first hockey game (she watched!); first tournament watching Daddy play table tennis; first word, “Dadada”; first time crawling; first swim; first food… The Lord has blessed Fiona with very good health in her first year- she hardly had a sniffle! She is such a blessing to Samson and me. Our home has much joy and laughter because of her smiling face.

We celebrated her birthday today with both sides of the family gathering at our house… about 25 people! Fiona was a little overwhelmed, but she enjoyed herself and is taking a long nap now after such an exciting day.

Showing her how to blow out her candle

Happy Fiona!

Getting a "grasp" of how to eat a cupcake- she loved it!

Seeing how her new baby doll can "suck" its' thumb

Cupcakes I decorated

Fiona's fancy cupcake