Growing Roots est. 2013

Welcome to our new family blog....Growing Roots.  It's good to be back to blogging after to taking some time off to create a new blog site.  Running out of space on Lots of Little Lovies prompted this change. A new year always means a new chapter in life to me, so it felt like the perfect timing to start a new site....especially in light of the fact that we have a new baby, even though that "new baby" is already over 3 months old! Hard to believe I know...and what a joy he is.

So "what's with the new blog name?" you might ask. Well, after thinking of a name that would suit our family and have meaning, Growing Roots was born. As many of you know Jared and I were born and raised in Pennsylvania and lived there until we moved to New England in 2006 where Jared was a post-doctorate fellow at Dartmouth college. (We lived there until moving to Indiana in the summer of 2011.) I had always envisioned growing roots in PA near all of our family, maybe building a home in the neighborhood that I grew up in. Obviously God had different plans for us. 

Although moving away from our family was very difficult at first, even being homesick the first year, God was doing a mighty work in our hearts. As the years went along God blessed us with more children. Moving 4 times in a matter of 5 years, I longed to be settled...I longed to grow roots somewhere. As we looked forward to Jared getting a job, we couldn't wait to find out where we would be. Through a series of hardships and blessings in the midst of those hardships God opened a door for our family to move right where we are. 

So here we are, and very thankful that God has been gracious in providing a family away from family for us. The biggest reason why we love it here so much is because of our church family. 

So the question is.....are we here to stay....are we going to be growing roots?  Only God knows the answer to that question, (but we sure hope so!) What I do know is that God has caused Jared and I to surrender to His will, spending many a days in fervent prayer, praying that we would trust in Him. Through this journey we have been "Growing Roots" in our faith, on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the good news of the Gospel.....and we hope and pray for God to continue in His mercies that we may keep "Growing Roots" deep in our faith....only by His grace. 

The following photos are just some random shots I've taken recently.  I hope you will enjoy watching our kiddos grow, while putting a smile on your face. As always, I look forward in staying connected with you as we share our life here in Indiana.

There just may happen to be a certain little gal who absolutely adores her Daddy....and a certain Daddy who loves his litte girl. 

           

Surprisingly only a couple of glass bulbs were broken this year. I am personally not a big fan of carpet, however, I found myself being thankful for a soft landing for many of our special ornaments. Luke loved laying under the tree looking up at the lights. 

As I went through my photos, a common theme in the midst of the many I have taken of Noah are of  him acting rather colorful to say the least. He always try to get me to laugh when I am taking photos...he succeeds most of the time.

This photo kind of speaks for itself. It's alot of what goes on around here these days.

And just in case you were wondering about the photo at the top of the blog....it was taken a few years ago when Jared and I and the kids took our yearly drive through the White Mountains in NH, not too far from where we lived. This was taken as we stood along the side of the road.  There are many things that we miss about New England and the mountains are definitely one of them.