Nine months old already!
Digging in the toy basket
Bright eyes!
Crawling out of the toy box, as it's falling over behind her...
Miss Abigail is as busy as ever, speed-crawling and getting into everything! She tried to climb into her stroller the other day, which would've been cute to take pictures of if she wasn't at risk of falling and hitting her head on the ceramic tile entryway floor...She loves eating food and drinking out of a regular cup (with my help, of course), although she doesn't like her sippy cups. I've tried three different kinds of sippy cups, but she won't have any of it. She is down to three, sometimes two, naps per day, and is sleeping through the night, from 6:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. It's glorious. At least, when we get her down at 6:30. The other night we enjoyed an evening at the home of some friends, and because we had to interrupt Abby's sleep cycle, she woke up every two to three hours the rest of the night.
Abby isn't interested in walking yet, nor talking either. She babbles and is perfectly content to speed-crawl instead of trying to walk. She monkey-crawls along the coffee table and other furniture, but is happy where she is.
Brian is busy preparing for interviews in less than two weeks! The career conference takes place the first weekend in November up in Austin. The first two days of the conference we'll be busy with briefings on the companies, and at that time Brian will receive a list of the companies and positions for which he'll be interviewing. Interviews take place the following Monday and Tuesday, and then we will return home. He'll have a few days to rest, and then hopefully by the end of that week he will receive several job offers and follow-up interview appointments. We pray that by Thanksgiving he'll have the opportunity to accept a job offer that's a perfect match for him. Of course, follow-up interviews could run past Thanksgiving, so needless to say, we'll be spending this Thanksgiving here at home, just the three of us!
I am doing well, just staying busy as any stay-at-home mom knows! Physically I am very excited about improving my ankle strength. I've been able to run without any pain in my anklesfor the first time in six (6) years. I consider it to be a miracle! Or just lots and lots of physical therapy...but it's working.
Last week I had my last follow-up appointment for my carpal tunnel surgery; both wrists have healed up beautifully and I'm enjoying playing in the band at church again. It's great to be able to play violin pain-free too! I have a few other appointments here and here, in addition to my physical therapy, but overall it's amazing to see how much physical, spiritual, and emotional healing God has granted me this year.
I'm also enjoying a Bible study which focuses specifically on my two primary spiritual gifts (mercy and exhortation), and am learning how to allow the Holy Spirit to really work in my life with these gifts. It is exhilarating to use the gifts He has given me, knowing He has divinely appointed the daily happenings of each of our lives. It truly changes my perspective, and my attention to daily details and events. Brian and I have enjoyed looking back over the past year and a half, looking over all that God has taught us about the good He is bringing out of the pain we've experienced through losing Soren. Now it's time for us to go out and put our lessons to work for HIS glory. Which brings me to the following question: what daily, seemingly-mundane events or meetings can you use in your life, and how can YOU be receptive to the Holy Spirit and HIS will for you in those situations? ;-)
