Jonathan's First Swim

Saturday was the day Amy's been looking forward to for a long time! We suited Jonathan up and ran over to the Y for a little free swim. I think he liked it.

Jonathan at the Park

We took a trip to the park last week to take some 3 month photos of Jonathan. Drew did a great job of capturing his budding personality.

He is smiling and laughing a lot---loves to look at any face, and will talk to you if your commit to having a conversation with him:)

Daddy picked out the alligator toy. He and Jonathan became friends very quickly!

At the Lake House

We enjoyed a couple of relaxing days with our friends Todd and Diana at their folks' lake house last weekend. Jonathan turned 2 months, Daddy turned 408 months, and Mommy turned a couple of 360s on a kneeboard. It was a lot of fun.

Jonathan's Mat Time

Where's our certificate?

We've completed the first month of our new homeschool class, "Parenting by the Seat of Your Pants." Jonathan is one month old, and we are enjoying every day. He is getting more cheeky, and we realized he's put on a nice round belly. He's starting to fuss a little more, so it turns out we don't have a "freakishly perfect baby." I'm learning the upside down principle of tired babies: if baby gets too tired (from going out or breaking routine), their little brain prefers crying to actually resting. It didn't make sense at first, but now I equate it to nights that I'm so tired, I can't turn off the TV. Boys never learn.

Gommy brought Jonathan a special shirt from Oak Island, slightly modified to reflect our story. It says "Someone who loves me went to Oak Island, NC and got ME." Just right.

I've shot some video, but I need to sit down and get it into a watchable format. I've always said that I would NOT be the parent who makes friends (or enemies) sit through 15 minutes of video to find that one scene when the kid does something adorable. ("It's coming up soon - I promise!") I look forward to sharing a little montage of Jonathan's first month.

Amy's been keeping one eye on Jonathan and the other on the Olympics. It's been exciting to think about China and Salem as so much media attention has been focused on China, her people, and her culture. I look forward to seeing the "Bird's Nest" in person when we go and get Jonathan's little sister.

Our friends have been great - folks are bringing a couple of meals by each week, and everyone asks about how we are doing. We are good. Sleepy at times, but not edgy. But what you really want to see are pictures, so here ya go.

By the way, don't be surprised if we move the blog over to Wordpress. Me no likey the way blogger works with photos so much. We'll let you know.

2 weeks old and hittin' the road!

We're gearing up for our first family road trip since Jonathan came home. Gone are the days of two duffel bags and "if we forget it, we don't need it." Jonathan has been sleeping well, so we are eager to see how he does in multiple venues.

We're going to a conference north of DC with Sovereign Grace and we are excited. A great conference will become a bigger adventure as we enjoy it with the little man. As a bonus, we will get to visit with the Northern Scotts on the way back.

In case you haven't heard, God did an incredible thing last week through our church. As surprised as we were byJonathan's arrival, the necessary fees were a bit of a shock as well. We trusted God knew what He was doing, but we didn't know how we were going to see Him take care of the expense. Our church family stepped in and generously provided what we needed. That's no small thing - praise God! You can read our response on Concord's blog.

Baby pictures!

Our friend, Diana Simpson, is an amazing photographer. Just to prove it, visit her site to see some pictures of Jonathan. She spent Tuesday morning with us, and we had a blast. I had no idea a photo shoot could be so much fun. You can look at more pics as a slide show on the same site. Thanks, Diana!

Amy's mom and Drew's parents have been with us for the last several days, fixing up the nursery and getting our house retrofitted for baby. It has been a huge blessing.

We need to figure out how to share stuff folks actually want to read, but a day by day journal would be pretty dull. We'll post when he adds a new trick to his crowd pleasing routine of cry (politely, or course), eat with enhusiasm, burp, poop, and sleep beautifully.

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened on the way to finding Salem. And it happened quickly. We'd like to introduce you to our son, Jonathan David.

We'll post more in a bit. We're all doing fine, although a "good night's sleep" now has a different standard of measure.

Thank you for praying for us as we receive this amazing blessing. And don't forget to pray for Salem. With the Olympics and other issues in China, we still expect to wait another 18 months to hear news from Beijing. In that time, we'll have to update our files and China wil review us again. Plus, we'll be raising Salem's big brother. Praise God!

By the way, Cody is learning to love Jonathan, too. He has not, however, offered to help with 3 a.m. feedings.