My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Susie (on left): “Grammie, can we go out and play in the rain?

Becky: “What?  Are you nuts?”

Susie: “This is how you relax on vacation, Dad.  Stick out your belly like this.”

Susie: “Hee hee, I love having an audience!”

Becky: “I can smile just like my daddy!”

Becky: “Dad, are you still smiling?  Get a life!”

Becky: “Maybe if I smile really big, Grampa will let me play!”

Becky: “Woohoo!  I am the champion!”

Becky:  “Quit taking pictures.  Let’s EAT!”

Tomorrow, we’re going on a road trip.  And I doubt it will be nearly as fun as this car ride:

The girls were happy as clams today in their own little car, courtesy of their beloved GiGi (my Gramma).  It’s only a one-person vehicle, but they didn’t seem to mind being a little squished.  In fact, they were so enthralled with their new ride that it made me wish I could somehow tow it behind the truck on our trip tomorrow – they’d probably be a lot happier in there than in their car seats!  Of course, even if they weren’t happy, we wouldn’t hear them crying, would we? (Don’t worry mom, I wouldn’t really do that to them!).  Although, we may hear Becky honking from way back there – she was fascinated by the horn! 

Anyway, we’re taking a road trip tomorrow down to a lake cabin we’ve rented for the week with my parents and sister.  I’m very excited for my family to get to know the girls now that their little personalities are not so little anymore.  My sister hasn’t seen them since Christmas.  The last time she held them, she had to support their heads, like this:

Now the only support they need is a hand or two to hold while walking!

However, right now Becky is in fact in need of a little assistance.  She’s come down with a nasty cold, just in time for vacation.  She apparently views me as one giant Kleenex.  She totters over to me, buries her face in my shirt and wipes her sliminess all over my front.  It’s not my favorite role, but I’ll take it.  Because who could refuse a face like this?

Hopefully the car ride isn’t filled with too many sniffles and coughs.  But my mom has assured me that, cold or no cold, she will happily snuggle with Becky.  Maybe I can talk her into being Becky’s new handkerchief!

P.S. – I don’t know what the internet situation will be at the lake cabin, but I’ll do my best to update the blog while we’re away.  I know you’ll all be waiting on pins and needles to view more boating pictures! :)    

I never really thought about all that goes into learning to walk.  The coordination, the strength, the balance, and the faith.  It’s this last element that I’ve been pondering since yesterday, when Rebecca started taking her first tottering steps into the great unknown.    Walking truly involves quite a bit of faith.  When she haltingly reaches out a few inches with that little foot, she’s trusting in her legs, in the floor, and in my ability to catch her when she’s no longer able to keep going.  Sometimes, after she’s taken a few steps, her momentum propels her, face-first, toward the floor, but she squeals with laughter as she falls because she knows that I won’t let her crash. 

In a timely twist of fate, my father-in-law is also learning how to walk.  He recently underwent a total knee replacement, so he is slowly, carefully, putting one foot ahead of the other, just like his granddaughter.  He has faith that his new knee, put in place by a surgeon, will hold him. 

2 Corinthians 5:7 says that believers in Christ “…walk by faith, not by sight.”  Just like Rebecca, just like my father-in-law, we trust in what we cannot see.  Our steps are weak, faltering, and imperfect.  But like Rebecca, we know that we will be caught when we fall.  Like Dad, we know that though we cannot see the new life within us, we trust the work of the Great Physician.  We know that the pain of learning is temporary, and will ultimately give way to freedom.  Because I am trusting in the finished work of Christ to atone for my sins, the Word of God “is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). 

Walking by faith is a difficult concept for me to grasp, but as I watch others learn to physically walk, I am reminded of how to spiritually walk.  I can’t ultimately depend on myself, my own strength, because that will fail me (just as it does Rebecca when she careens toward the floor).  I can’t even ultimately depend on the great minds of this world, the doctors, scientists, intellectuals, because they are only sinful, created beings like myself.  But I can – I do – have faith in One whom I cannot see.  Why?  Because I believe in what He did.  He walked a perfect life, suffered and died, and was resurrected as God accepted His sacrifice for my sins.  In the words of the hymn writer:  

“We saw Thee not when lifted high,
Amid that wild and savage crew;
Nor heard we that imploring cry,
”Forgive, they know not what they do!”
But we believe the deed was done,
That shook the earth and veiled the sun.”

The next time you watch young child toddling along – or better yet, the next time you put one foot in front of the other, ask yourself what, or whom, you’re trusting in.  Are you walking by faith, or by sight?

Now if only we could convince Rebecca of the benefits of abandoning the bottle for the sippy cup! 

In honor of Jim’s birthday today…we went boating!  Aren’t you surprised?  (I must note here, to appease Jim’s expressed concern that some of our readers will interpret my use of sarcasm to mean that I wasn’t overjoyed that we boated today, that I was indeed overjoyed that we boated today.  I just figured that, given the frequency of our boating excursions, and the fact that it was Jim’s birthday, and the reality that Jim loves nothing more than a day on the water, that it was a logical expectation that we would spend his birthday on a lake.  My sarcasm was in no way intended to imply that I wasn’t thrilled to be spending his birthday boating.  Because I was.  Okay,  End of my disclaimer). 

We were invited to join friends and family at a nearby lake cottage, and we enjoyed the freedom of being able to lounge on land while others were boating.  The girls (and I) took full advantage of all the available arms.  Look at all the people who were willing to hold and entertain them!

Here’s a little blast from the past for you all.  Nearly one year ago, we visited the exact same wonderful folks at the exact same lovely cottage.  Can you believe how tiny the girls were then?

Here’s a photo of my friends Maria (a twin herself) and her mom Doris (also a twin herself), with our twins today…

…and a year ago.  The girls took up a little less space in their car seats then!  

And here’s Rebecca sleeping on the couch today…

…and a year ago.  Still snug as a bug in a rug!

I have to say, I was a little more exhausted coming home from today’s outing than I was a year ago.  Even though last time, I was still recovering from bedrest and childbirth, at least then the girls didn’t do much other than sleep and eat.  Today, they ate, babbled, crawled, cried, smiled, laughed, played…and slept – although only a little.  I can only imagine what next year’s cottage visit will be like, when we add in walking and talking!