Almost six months old already...in some ways it seems longer. I can barely remember not having her around. Those first couple of months were pretty rough, until the smiles and giggles began, and her quirky little personality made its appearance. I'm not going to lie, she can be a royal pain, and a huge handful at times. But I love her, and having her here has taught me so much about how God loves me. Marie is completely dependent on us in every way, although she doesn't realize that quite yet. And so it is with God. What can we do for him, or give him, that he loves us like he does? Nada. But when Marie is content and delights in having me around, and spending time wrapped up in my arms, it reminds me that that's what God wants from us, too. To delight in our relationship with him, and to desire to spend time getting to know him. I think most of us are aware of this, but having a child has really made it more of a reality for me.

I'm (not really) looking forward to another aspect of parenting that will teach me more about God - discipline and obedience. Any helpful advice is welcome at this point. She's beginning to be defiant at the whopping age of 6 months :-)

We changed the format of this site so that people without a blog of their own can leave comments (anonymously or with their name). A couple of people have mentioned that they have tried in the past, but were unsuccessful because they weren't registered on this site. Anyway, have at it.

Aww...I love you, too, little stinker.

Marie the butterball. She's roughly the same size as a Thanksgiving turkey.