Redeemed

We lay my uncle, Jonathan, to rest today. His birthday was Monday, Sept 28 and he turned 52. Just hours later, before the sun could break on the next day, he was already gone.

Jonathan was not married nor did he have children. He had spent the last 19 months of his life in jail and had he lived, he would have spent another 8.5 years there. It all sounds so sad and tragic, I know.

And truthfully, parts of his life are sad. The way it ended, specifically, was incredibly heartbreaking and something I dont think i'll "get over" for a long while... if ever.

But what some people dont know about Jonathan is what I want to share. Because tonight, as i've thought about the sum of his life and the choices he made, I cant help but to be grateful that there is no limit to how many said "bad choices" we make that make us unworthy of Gods love and grace and salvation. And likewise, there are no number of "good choices" that we can make that make us easier to love or more worthy of the same grace and salvation. In fact, often times it can be the people who have made all of the "right" choices in life who can be most difficult to love because their own sense of justification can cause them to lose sight of just how great their need is for a savior.

That was not true with Jonathan. Jonathan knew he needed to be saved. Both from himself and to Jesus.

Shlaine spoke at his funeral today. And wow... what an AMAZING job she did. She shared about his tender heart and how, as his little sister, she had often been protected by him. She shared a story in particular that I think tells a LOT about who Jonathan was. She was about 9 and he was 11 and they were riding on his dirt bike when they wrecked and she was hurt pretty badly on the leg. They were a little ways from home and he, being only 2 years older than her and "scrawny", carried her the whole way home... crying the entire way and telling Shlaine how sorry he was that she was hurt. That was Jonathan... always wanting to have a good time, always hurting when others hurt, always wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Through his life, Jonathan made many bad choices and found himself in and out of trouble much of his adult life. But in the last years of his life, you could see that the same 11 year old boy's heart was still the same... tender, compassionate, loving, kind, caring. The last 2 years of Mommie's life, Jonathan spent caring for her day in and day out.

But most people already know that about him. What you may not know is that the last 19 months, while in jail, Jonathan spent his time in Gods word. Leading bible studies. Completing bible course after course, stacking up certificate after certificate from Campus Church.

In Jonathan's belongings that we got back from the jail was stacks of letters from other inmates, thanking him for the bible studies he led, the prayers he had prayed for them, the encouragement he had given them. This is something we just found today... the day we said goodbye.   One in particular stood out as a young man told Jonathan that he knew that God had called him to ministry but that he had ran from that calling, feeling unworthy and like a failure. The young man had turned to drugs as he ran from his calling and through this had found himself in jail... with Jonathan. And it was through the bible studies that Jonathan was conducting that the young man was drawn back to the truth of Gods word and who he is (and who we ALL are) in Christ... Redeemed.

Today, at the funeral, we played the song Redeemed. I'll end with the words of the song as i just dont know any better words to speak to Jonathans life. He was created by God, for God, to bring glory to God. And while parts of his life did very little of that, other parts (specifically the last 19 months leading up to his death) were full of those things... And for that, I'm grateful.

Seems like all I can see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off theses heavy chains
Wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed

All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet

I don’t have to be the old man inside of me
Cause his day is long dead and gone
I’ve got a new name, a new life I’m not the same
And a hope that will carry me home

I feel confident that Jonathan is in eternity with his Savior... fully Redeemed.

Lainey Reulet: 10 months

Our Little Lainey is getting not-so-little!! 10 MONTHS! That's almost a year, folks! *sigh* 

This is a re-cap of Lainey's life from May14-June 14

Oh, my sweetness, how this girl's smile just melts my heart!

She's still a little unsure as to why the Monkey gets to crash her monthly photo shoot with Mommy!

HOLY TEETH BATMAN!!!

This has definitely been the month of teething for Lainey and is making for some interesting grins

So at 10 Months old, Lainey is:

• Sleeping pretty well but we've needed to shorten her morning nap a tad. It used to be 2 hours but we are doing about 1.5 hours now. So she starts the day at 7am, naps 9:30-11, 1-3 and bed at 7pm
• Crying out some at night... my guess... TEETHING
• Speaking of, she got "G" on June 4 and several more are right behind!
• CRAWLING!! Literally, we came home from her 9 month check up (the day after she turned 9 mo) and I sat her down on the front porch on a blanket and she promptly got on all 4's and started crawling! I just happened to be videoing her and caught it! SO exciting!
• Pulling to standing! This started June 12 at Tracy's house. Of course its the summer and she wont be going to tracy's again till August, but we had her keep Lainey for us to take the big kids to the waterpark and BAM... she pulled to standing at her house! Show off!
• Making "bad face" like a maniac. Cracks. Me. Up!
• Still saying "dadadada" like crazy but no mama (consistently) yet. Only the occasional babble that sounds like mama but clearly is just a babble. No, I dont count that ;-)
• Moving on up to 12 month clothing for some of her clothes. Some 9 mo stuff still fits fine, so we are in transition
• Size 4 diapers
• Still on 5mL prilosec twice a day
• Still on baby's only organic formula and taking 5ish ounces 4 times a day
• Still eating great! She is VERY open to new foods and this month loved cucumbers! And CHEESE

Mack and Rhyan continue to be AMAZING with Lainey. But I have to speak about Mack specifically for a moment. I was pretty sure that when she started crawling (and getting into his toys) that his love for her would be over... but I was wrong! Now that she can crawl, he will use a toy or a rope or anything that interests her to "lure" her down the hallway to his room so she can "play" with him in his room (this consists of them each playing separately in his room, but being in there together makes it more fun of course!). He is SO good to call to us and say "Mommy! Lainey is getting into the dog food!" Or "Mommy! Lainey picked up something little and put it in her mouth!". He's super protective of her, shares his toys with her, will be the  FIRST to take her a toy or sing to her if she's upset and just overall i'm AMAZED by his sweet heart with Lainey. He loves having a little sister and recently told me we needed to have FIVE babies because he LOVES babies :-). Im thinking.... NO... but isnt that sweet?!!

We are ALL enjoying having her!

Lainey Reulet: 9 months

This is a summary of Lainey's life from April 14-May 14... her 8th month of life! She is 9 months old now! And if that seems like a strange thing for me to type, its for one reason: to make it easier for me to scroll through her milestones in my phone and look at dates and see what is appropriate to add here ;-)

So the BIG thing this month is that Lainey got her FIRST TOOTH!!!! Hooray!!

And not only did she get one, but she got 2 within a day of each other!!

The other big news for the month: Lainey got herself to a sitting position on her own!

She's also decided that her monkey is HILARIOUS. She cracks up just looking at him. Which makes pictures fun... and difficult! HA!

And she's started noticing that I put stickers on her. And she's not having that. Which, again, is difficult. I know that every mom says as the kids get older that it'll be nice to be done with the monthly pics and I see why (i did them with Rhyan and Mack but not with a sticker).

Lainey also had her 9 month check up at the Dr this month. She is growing well! Here are her stats:

Height- 28 1/4" (74%)
Weight- 20lbs 9.5oz (79%)
Head- 44.5cm (66%)

At 9 months, Lainey is:

• Still sleeping great. Naps 9-11 and 1-3 and in bed by 7:30. Wakes at 7ish
• Keeping our bedtime routine of bath, bottle, bed. She almost never falls asleep at the bottle
• In a size 4 diaper all the time, now
• Still in 6-9 month clothing
• On 5mL of prilosec twice a day
• HAS TEETH!!! She got tooth "P" at 8mo 1 day and tooth "O" at 8mo 2 days
• Gets to a sitting position on her own from laying down now! AS of May 7th
• Eating solids great these days and I'm feeling much better about it! She loves to eat what we are eating! We've introduced cheerios and other small finger foods and she shovels it in! 
• Loving yogurt, green beans, peas/butter beans, etc and chicken and cheese best. 
 

 We are loving our sweet Lainey Rue!

Lainey Reulet: 8 months

This is a summary of Lainey in her 7th full month of life! And it was a FUN one with new skillz!

 Lainey is officially a SITTER! She can sit completely solo and we feel comfortable walking away now!

And she's a PRO "bad face" maker now. ;-)

Lainey is also SCOOTING all over the floor! She started trying right as she turned 7 months and here at 8 months she's scooting all over!

• Lainey is still sleeping great! 2 naps 9-11 and 1-3.
• Bath, bottle and bedtime at 7
• taking 4 bottles of 5ish ounces each feeding (7, 11, 3, 7)
• wearing size 3 diapers but close to moving on up. In a size 4 at night only for now
• still in size 6-9mo clothing
• saying "dadadadada" constantly. Still no mama except for the occasional mistake :-0
• eating 3 meals a day with the family now. We continue to offer whatever we are having. Her favorite foods are butter beans, green beans, any fruit but especially blueberries. She doesnt love carrots UNLESS they are cooked in a roast
• loves books but admittedly, Rhyan reads to her more than I do. But thats a win/win, right?!?!
• is SO close to having a tooth! 

Our family just loves having Lainey! Its amazing to me how we've all bonded over our love for her!

Zoo Atlanta

Last September a sweet friend of mine called and let me know that she had the Zoo DVD from the library and asked if we wanted to meet her up there and do a little hand off so that we could get free tix to the zoo for that weekend! I called Jeff who was in the area and even though he doesnt love the zoo and wasnt thrilled about the idea of going, he agreed to get the DVD from her so we could go for FREE! :-) I was grateful for him being a good sport!

We got our free passes when we turned it in at the library and decided to go that Saturday. Lainey was about 9 weeks old at the time and was in a wonder week so she was already NOT napping well. This is the balance we have to decide on with 3 kids now. Who's needs are greater? While the zoo is not a "need", the fact remained that if we did not go to the zoo, you could BANK on Lainey not taking a good nap anyways. So in this case I felt it wasnt really fair to the big kids to not take advantage of these fun free passes! So I grabbed the ergo360 and we went! :-)

We got off to a rough start, as pictured below. I just wanted a pic of the big kids but Mack, as usual, wasnt having it. He got in a better mood pretty quick but it wasnt looking too promising! HA!

The kids loved the elephants! We got there early so it was still cool out and the animals were all out and about which was really cool! I think we saw more animals that day than ever before!

The tiger was down in the bathing area just pacing back and forth RIGHT at the glass. It was so cool that he was up so close but also a liiiiiitle creepy that if the glass broke he could eat us for lunch! HA!

Mack was obsessed with holding the map and telling us which way to go (which obviously he didnt have a clue!). Cute though.

When we kind of abandon ship on the sleeping part of babywise, we always stick to the feeding schedule. This helps us to ensure that the baby has eaten enough calories in the day to help ensure better night time sleep :-) Win Win is what we call that! So I stopped around this monkey cage and let Lainey eat (and subsequently poop!) while the kids and jeff explored the reptile area and playground for a little while. Then we headed to see what is, in my opinion, the best part of Zoo Atlanta. The GORILLAS!

We took in the bird show that day, as well. That was our first time taking advantage of any of their shows and honestly, it was GREAT! The kids loved it and the birds were really awesome!

Then we headed to the picnic area and ate lunch! I was prettttty proud of myself for getting all 3 kids out of the house with everything we needed, including a packed lunch! So we didnt spend a PENNY on food!

And then we, of course, had to head to the petting zoo area! This is always fun!

And we decided as a last minute thing to treat the kids to the train ride. Um. Which is lame! I had no clue that the train ride was so SHORT! It was about 5 min and cost us more money than 5 min should. Boo.
But the kids obviously loved it so I guess i dont regret it, anyway ;-)

It was our first big outing as a family of 5! And Id definitely say it was a success! Lainey napped in her ergo at about the time she should have napped and both big kids had a great time! All for free! YAY!