Date Night!

When Jonathan and I were first married, we determined Friday nights to be our "date night." We have done pretty well at almost religiously reserving those nights for quality time together. However, having a baby changes a lot of things.... and this mama has just recently gotten the nerve (and the eating routine figured out) to go out with the hubs. We have to drive about 25 miles to get to any sort of selection of restaurants to choose from, so we knew leaving Ross for a dinner date would mean we would be apart for about 3 hours. We decided to make Valentine's Day our first night out together alone. It was fantastic! Ross did very well and we were able to relax and enjoy each other's company. We are looking forward to many more date nights to come!

It was also significant celebrating our love for one another on Heart's Day. What Jonathan used to tell me was just an invented occasion to purchase unnecessary things, actually turns out to be a true holiday. Apparently there was a man named Valentine who was executed on February 14th, 269 for refusing to say, "Caesar is Lord." He instead exclaimed, "Christ is Lord!" and therefore was martyred for his faith. He wrote love letters to his girlfriend from prison before his execution, and from this we have come to celebrate our sweethearts each 14th of February. For Jonathan and I, knowing the background made our dinner all the more meaningful.

ASSOCIATE Pastor, Reverend Jonathan Whitley

Last Sunday was a big day for this Whitley family. Jonathan was installed as the Associate Pastor to Youth and Families. He had been serving as the Assistant Pastor for the last two years and moving to the title of "Associate" is a promotion as well as an honor. His role is essentially the same, but being called as an Associate includes more job security and an overall approval by the congregation. In fact, at the December congregational meeting, church members unanimously voted to extend this more permanent call to Jonathan. It is such evidence to us that we are in God's will when so many people are pleased with his ministry.

Another affirmation for us that we are where God intends us to be was the "Charge to the Pastor" given by Mark Laster. If you're interested and have time, you can give it a read:

"About 3 years ago, a new search committee was formed and assigned the task of finding a new youth minister. We spent months praying and talking about what kind of person we wanted working with our youth. We began to list all of the qualities we would like to see in our new youth minister. A few resumes into our search, I began to realize just how picky we were. I mean can you really find one person who loves kids unconditionally, is humble yet confident, conservative yet bold, someone who kids like yet respect, as well as someone who can act like a kid yet lead like a mature adult? In addition they needed to be funny, friendly, athletic, family-oriented, and biblically sound. Of course, they also needed a loving, supportive spouse to partner with them in the ministry. And oh yeah, we would really like it if they were musically inclined as well. It's no secret that a couple of us on the committee might be considered a little 'practical' minded. In my case personally, I might more honestly define that as a little lacking in faith. So I must admit, at some point, I began thinking that someone who possessed maybe 80-90% of these traits might not be so bad. That is, until the resume from a church-planter in North Carolina came across Randy's desk.

Jonathan, you and Tara fit the bill perfectly. You're a perfect reminder to me to never put God in a box. We asked for the 'impossible' and God delivered. I say all of that to say this: I can say today with complete confidence that at this time, in this place, you are God's man for the job.

The task--your calling--is not an easy one. Many have written today's youth off as yet another lost generation. I don't agree and I know you share that opinion. Our youth live in a sinful, messy society, one not of their own making, but of their inheritance. You have the difficult charge of showing God's love and compassion to a hurting generation, yet all the while teaching them the biblical principles of personal accountability before a holy and just God. The task is steep, and no doubt the stakes are high, but as I've already said, I am absolutely confident that in Christ, you are fully capable of continuing to meet the task, to complete the charge. 'With Christ nothing is impossible.' As we have already witnessed in your work thus far at FEPC, we know you are a man of the Word, so I will end this charge with the words of the Apostle Paul, spoken to Timothy:

'All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared both in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.'

Jonathan, you are a talented man. Through the gifts given you, and through the Word, God has thoroughly equipped you to carry out His ministry. I therefore charge you to love those you are called to minister to, all the while, preaching the Word of God unapologetically. And do this all knowing that First EPC loves you, and your family, and we look forward to many years of ministry and service together.

Celebrating Baby Boys

Our first Christmas at home with Ross was such a time of reflection. I made a stocking for him in early December that has puppy dogs on it--he loves dogs. He really actually enjoys all animals, but dogs make him absolutely squeal with laughter so that seemed fitting.

We were able to really appreciate the blessing of our son in our lives and of the Son Jesus Christ, the giver of life. It was a meaningful time of year and we are so grateful for God's mercy and grace.

Before Ross was forward crawling on Dec. 22nd, he spent a lot of time scooting in reverse. This picture sequence shows him working his way under a chair:

What about Christmas in St. Louie?

There were so many photos to share from Christmas that I just didn't know what to post...so I have finally made some decisions. We met up with the Whitley crew in St. Louis. The five Whitley wives enjoyed our first holiday with Kristen!

The kiddos stayed in their jammies all day.

The obligatory "Grammie and the cousins" photo

We found out Aunt Brodie and Uncle Nate are expecting a little sibling for Malachi and the sixth Whitley cousin in August!

Ross played in the snow and went sledding for the first time.

Ross was able to enjoy a lot of playtime with his closest in age cousin, Eloise.

Our 10-month-old

Happy ten months to Ross today! Our little boy has learned so much and changed so much in the last few weeks.

Over Thanksgiving he started clicking his tongue and clapping. Shortly after, he began waving when we wave at him or tell him to say "hi." On December 22nd, he mastered forward crawling and on January 22nd, he took his first steps behind his walker and holding onto our hands.

Just this week he began pointing to things. He talks up a storm (in his own language for the most part). I would love to know what he's trying to say with such earnest! He knows his daddy well and calls him "Dada" most of the time. The other morning he woke up and heard construction noise coming from upstairs where Jonathan has been working with a contractor to finish. Ross looked up at the ceiling and said with a big smile, "Dada!" I think he knows what Jonathan spends a lot of time doing! Ross mostly calls me "Mom-mom" although for a little while he did call out for me through tears sobbing, "Yommy!" I'm not entirely sure that he's always referring to me when he says "Mom-mom." That seems to be the phrase he uses for milk as well....

Ross' third word is "cat." Although it comes out as "gat" or "dat." When the cats meow he calls out to them and points at the basement door, knowing they are on the other side.

He is doing well with solid foods. So far he has eaten avocado, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, peas and carrots. He "mmmmms" a lot when he eats and loves drinking water from a sippy cup. He is getting way too tall for his little whale-shaped bathtub. His little legs are too long so he sits with his knees bent. Hopefully only a couple more weeks till the upstairs bathroom is done with a full-sized bathtub!

As musicians, Jonathan and I are pleased to see Ross responding well to music. We sing to him quite a bit and he sometimes "sings" along. Lately we have noticed him recognizing specific tunes. When we sing "Bingo" he immediately starts clapping. I made up a song about Ross' lamb and when I start singing it he looks over at his lamby. I also made up a song about the shower squeegie. When I start singing it, Ross gets visibly excited because he knows the squeegie will follow and he loves watching the squeegie.

We are so grateful for these last 10 months with Ross and can hardly believe how much he's growing. He is such a happy little kid and keeps us laughing daily. He giggles at our silliness in trying to entertain him and lets us kiss him as much as we want. We couldn't have asked for a better son and have never had a better time in our lives!

Thanksgiving in KC!

We had lots of fun at Aunt Andra and Uncle Bruce's house for Thanksgiving this year. They smoked a local hormone/antibiotic/preservative-free turkey and had to check it every half-hour. Their efforts were well-rewarded with a beautiful feast!

We gathered with Bruce's family too, and Jonathan had the opportunity to play a guitar from WWII that Bruce's 100-year-old grandfather brought back. The day after Thanksgiving, we headed down to the Plaza to meet up with Uncle Stephen and Aunt Kristen. Glad to have another KC girl in the fam so we see each other more!

Snakes in the drain?

Recently I emptied an old glass of water into the kitchen sink and spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. Jonathan and I joke that I have "spidey vision", because I can almost always catch a spider--big or small--trekking across the ceiling, floor, wall, windowsill, etc. I looked toward the movement and saw camouflage in motion. My first thought was, this is some huge spider! But upon second glance, I realized there was a snake on the kitchen counter top. The following few seconds are a blur to me--all I know is I went from standing next to a snake to standing on the other side of the kitchen island, phone in hand. At some point I must have retrieved my cell phone from the living room but I honestly have no recollection. I called Jonathan and told him there was a snake in the kitchen. He said he was on his way and I said, "But call someone else too!" There was only one thing I knew my husband to be squeamish about: snakes.

It was a long 3 minutes that I forced myself to stare at the snake while Jonathan drove home from the church--I was not going to let that sucker out of my sight! The guys he called for help were unavailable, so we had to settle for the senior pastor--another city boy. Once I got Ross safely strapped into his swing in another room, the three of us discussed our game plan for capturing the snake. I held a pillow case because I thought whenever you see snake handlers, they seem to transport them in cloth sacks. Jonathan held a hoe and a long pole, thinking he could either get the snake to coil around the pole, or just whack the thing with the hoe (on the counter top). Randy (the senior pastor) held nothing in his hands because they were safely tucked in his pockets. When I suggested Jonathan use the pole to scoot the snake into my pillow case, Randy said, "I hate for you to have to do that but I don't want to get bit." We clearly called the wrong number for help. :)

Jonathan decided we should try to scoot the snake with the pole into an open cardboard box on the floor, then we could throw it outside. I argued in opposition, thinking the snake could easily slither right out of the box. I was overruled. I jumped onto a chair, pillowcase in hand, while Jonathan used the pole to persuade the snake. At first, the snake turned around and tried to go down between the base cabinets and the refrigerator. At this point I started screaming, "NO, NO, NO, DON'T LET IT GET ON THE FLOOR!" Randy chimed in, "Put the pole in there and catch him!" Jonathan obeyed and was able to force the snake back up the cabinet and off the counter top into the box. He and Randy quickly closed it with their feet and Jonathan bravely carried the box, snake enclosed, outside. He dropped it, stepped back, didn't see any movement, approached it, kicked it, then watched the snake slither off into someone else's yard. Had Randy not been saying, "Poor snake," as it exited the box, I'm sure my husband would have had a "hoe-down" with the thing.

These past couple weeks since the incident have been uneventful. I prayed to not have nightmares about snakes and so far the only snake dream I've had was one where I had a friendly pet snake that protected our bed from other varmints. In fact, I had all but forgotten about the creature until just a few minutes ago when I heard Jonathan reading Ross' Jungle Babies book to him. When he got to the snake part he read, "I'm a baby snake. I like to slip and slide. In the grass and leaves is where I like to hide." Then I distinctly heard him add under his breath, "and in your kitchen."

8 Months!

Well, the time is just flying! Our little 8-month-old is sporting 6 teeth, calling us Mommy and Daddy, and rocking on all fours with occasional scootching in reverse. It is common for us to retrieve him from under the couch, side tables, etc.! More squirmy than ever, Ross is clearly an active little guy and, in turn, we are actively pricing out baby fences.

When Ross turned 8 months last Friday, his cousin, Eloise, turned 6 months to the day. Here they are sharing a little tummy time and smiles. Here are the rest of the cousins, sans Malachi, plus a couple of daddies.

Our Little Croc

Our neighborhood gets a lot of traffic on Halloween. We invited the junior high and senior high youth from church over to play costume bingo and pass out candy. Jonathan and I dressed as the Irwins (Crocodile Hunter and wife), and Ross went as our crocodile. He was uber-cute, per usual. I'd like to add that our town celebrated on the 30th this year because the "powers that be" decided we couldn't have trick-or-treating on Sunday night due to church services. So Anna allowed trick-or-treating from 5-8pm on Saturday. One more thing to add to our "this town's a little bizarre" list.

Pumpkin Patch!

While in St. Louis, we visited the Midwest's oldest and largest pumpkin patch. Ross and his cousin, Layla, were kind enough to let us take advantage of photo opps. There were so many pumpkins and so much to take in! I know Ross will be excited for next year when he can run around the patch with Layla.

Animal lovers should go to the zoo

Since Ross has shown such enthusiasm toward animals, we decided to visit the zoo on a last-minute trip to St. Louis. He had a great time and especially loved the bears, the penguin/puffin house, and a random duck quacking at us through a fence. As fun as the zoo was, it seemed his most favorite animal was Grammie's dog. We've never heard more giggles!

Grandpa's Visit

Grandpa recently came to visit and to help Jonathan work on the exterior of the house. He and Ross have more in common than the blue eye thing: fishing hats!

We packed a lot into the weekend, including Ross' first time in a public highchair. He had fun sitting in his own seat, but it was a challenge keeping him from chewing on the table....

Ross' friend, Drake, celebrated his first birthday and it was exciting to get Ross' first party invitation in the mail and to go wish Drake a happy one.

Drake's house had donkeys and between those and playing outside with our cats while the guys worked on the siding, we realized Ross really likes animals.

First Family Pics

Our friend, Jaime, who has a photography business, recently took our first professional photos with Ross. She specializes in capturing people as they are--just hanging out between poses. Since Jaime shoots on location, we stopped at several places including a ball field, a hay field, a pumpkin patch, a random spot off Hwy 51, and Ross' crib. All of the new scenery left Ross with more "investigative faces" rather than his typically smiles. But we had fun and were pleased with the outcome. Here are a few of our faves.

Mommy Mondays

Since Jonathan currently works at least 3 nights a week this fall, he has decided to come home early on Monday afternoons to spend time with Ross. He calls it "Daddy/Ross Day" and I call it "Mommy Mondays" because it gives me time to work, take a much-needed nap, catch up on laundry, or all of the above. Their various activities so far have included baseball games, football games, grocery shopping, checking out camping gear, and just being silly at home.

More Firsts

This fall, Ross got to experience his first concert and first parade! Christian artist, Danen Kane, came to town and did a concert in the park for us here in Anna. We met Danen in Charlotte when we had him come and lead the music for Oxygen. A few years later now, he's still making good music and working on getting his name out there.






The homecoming parade was another exciting time for Ross. He watched as the bands, floats, firetrucks, and queen contestants went by. We had fun watching his face and seeing him take in all the sights.

First Half-Birthday!

Happy 6 months to Ross today!!! Every day with this little one is such a joy. Our time with him is just flying by, so I'm already trying to prepare myself for the day he introduces us to his future bride and leaves our nest! But for now, we enjoy the six month mark and would like to use this opportunity to share some fun things regarding Ross:

Ross' 6 month stats

~Ross weighs in at a hearty 18 pounds now

~He is wearing size 3 diapers at night (Happy Heinys during the day!)

~Ross can now sit up on his own

~His feet and legs are barely fitting into his 6-9 month jammies

~He has 2 teeth

Ross Talk

We're pretty sure Ross still doesn't know what he's saying when it sounds like real words...so we don't count any of these as his first words--it's just fun to hear them.

~mmmmmmmmmMMMMOOOOMMMMMMM!

~dadadadadadadadadadadadadada

~and the other day on the changing table, he looked deep into my eyes with foot in hand and said, "God." That's it. Just "God." :)

Mommy and Daddy's nicknames for Ross

~Rossy

~Ross-man

~Little One

~Nug

~Baby Bean

~Munchkin

~Baby Ross

~Blue Eyes

~Smiles

~Smiley McLaugherson

~Rotisserie Ross (when Jonathan spins him around while gnawing on his ribs)

~Ross-a-roo (when he's in his Jumperoo)

~Ross-a-walkie (when we take walks)

~Rompified Ross (when he's wearing a Romper)

~Ross-a-munch (when we're eating or he's chewing on something)

~VelociRoss or VelociRosster (when he screeches or screams)

Love love love this boy!

First Family Vacation!

We recently got back from our first vacation with Ross. We were able to take a whole week to escape to a cottage on the Black River in Southeast, MO. The house was located 2 miles in on a gravel road and nestled in a forest of trees... in other words, in the middle of nowhere. It was such a treat for Ross and I to have Jonathan to ourselves for the week, and especially in a location where there was no cell phone service! We had a fantastic time. Here are just a few pics from our adventure:

Johnson Shut-Ins

Elephant Rocks State Park