Opryland

A few weekends ago we took Sophie to the Opryland Hotel to look around for awhile. In the spring we loved taking her for walks when it was nice out, but the summer has been too warm for that, so we improvised and took her on an indoor nature walk. She loved looking at everything - especially the waterfalls.

3 Blissful Years

Yesterday was our 3rd Anniversary so I just wanted to take a time-out from Sophie blogging to tell my wonderful husband how much I love him. He came home with 3 roses (for 3 years) and a note with our wedding vows written on it and I just realized once again how grateful I am for a husband who truly loves the Lord and is seeking to glorify Him by leading our family. Erik, thanks for 3 wonderful years. Love you!

To celebrate our anniversary we had a nice weekend "away" (here in Nashville) while Sophie stayed with her adoptive Nashville grandparents, Chris and Jan. Saturday we went golfing and let's just say it will be a little while before I go pro. The weather was gorgeous, though, and we had a great time.

The following is a section of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis that we had read at our wedding. It is such a wonderful picture of biblical love and the love we are to have for Christ, which then flows into our love for one another:

"Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good; Love alone lightens every burden, and makes the rough places smooth. It bears every hardship as though it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet and acceptable.

Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God,( I John 4:7)and can rest only in God, above all created things.

Love flies, runs, and leaps for joy; it is free and unrestrained. Love gives all for all, resting in One who is highest above all things, from whom every good flows and proceeds. Love knows no limits, but ardently transcends all bounds. Love feels no burden, takes no account of toil, attempts things beyond its strength; love sees nothing as impossible, for it feels able to achieve all things.

Love is watchful, and while resting, never sleeps; weary, it is never exhausted; imprisoned, it is never in bonds; alarmed, it is never afraid; like a living flame and a burning torch, it surges upward and surely surmounts every obstacle.

Love is swift, pure, tender, joyful, and pleasant. Love is strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, vigorous, and never self-seeking.(I Cor.13:4) For when a man is self-seeking he abandons love. Love is watchful, humble, and upright; Love is not fickle and sentimental, nor is it intent on vanities. It is sober, pure, steadfast, quiet, and guarded in all the senses.

Whoever is not prepared to endure everything, and to stand firmly by the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must willingly accept every hardship and bitterness for the sake of his Beloved, and must never desert Him because of adversity. "

Our Little Olympian

Sophie is loving her first Olympics and is dutifully cheering on her fellow Americans. We're not quite sure yet what sport she will compete in during the 2024 Games, but if they add a gold medal for biting I'm pretty sure she has a leg up on most of the competition (still teething...#2 popped through over the weekend).

Videos

Here are a few videos of Sophie's latest talents - crawling, talking and reading. She just started crawling last week and is busy getting into all kinds of trouble now. It has drastically changed my life. The other day she was in the kitchen with me just banging on the floor and I looked down a few seconds later and she was eating something she found under the cabinets. Needless to say our home is about to get a lot cleaner. As far as speaking goes, she babbles all the time and is getting better at words like "bye-bye" and "dada." And she loves to read. As you can see from the last video, she strongly prefers John Piper, but Corduroy is a close second.

Our Little Scoocher

Sophie is still not crawling, and seems less interested in it these days as she has found various methods of getting where she wants to go. She excels at going backwards, but still has some work to do on the forward motion (as evidenced by the following photos).