Little Travels

So, I just celebrated my 33rd birthday. Spring has long passed for this chicken. But life has definitely been good to me so far. I have a beautiful wife and daughter, loving parents and family to enjoy, I'm nearing that point when I can slap that bumper sticker on the car that says "Ph.inally D.one," and I know God has great plans in store for us. What those plans are, I have no idea. But I'm looking forward to see what He does.

In the midst of life's busyness, Kendall and I managed to be able to get out of town for a few days to Key West to celebrate our fourth anniversary. It was our first time down there and we had a great time. We did the Hemingway House, Truman's Little White House, sunset at Mallory Square, a trolley tour around the island, breakfast at Blue Heaven, a nice steak dinner at Michael's, key lime pie, saw mile marker zero for U.S. 1, and got our token photo at the southernmost point of the continental U.S.

It was also the first time that we left Eden with the grandparents for the weekend. It was a little odd being without her for those few days, but when we got back both Kendall's parents and mine said everything went fine. I think they enjoyed having her and it was nice for us to have a little time for just the two of us.

This past weekend we went down to Tampa for Eden's baby dedication at church. For anyone unfamiliar with this tradition, it is basically where parents stand in front of the church with their children and commit to raising them according to Christian principles, pray for them, and try to point them toward Christ. In turn, the congregation commits to support the parents and partner with them to help the children find God's plan for their own lives.

We dedicated Eden at The Crossing church in Tampa where Kendall and I met and where her parents still attend. So, it was a little unusual for us because we don't feel as connected there as we did when we lived down there. However, we also haven't been able to really get connected to a church here in Gainesville. We go regularly to First Assembly of Gainesville when we're in town, but I can't really say that it's our church home.

However, because we wanted to make a public declaration of our commitment to raise Eden according to God's will, we decided The Crossing was the best place to do it. They were very kind and accommodating to let us participate in the dedication service even though we're not regular attenders anymore. It was a nice service and I definitely felt like we were doing what we needed to do as we stood there before the members of the church.

We were also very blessed in that our family members were able to be there and support us in the event. My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and niece, as well as Kendall's mom, dad, and grandpa all made it to the service. After the dedication, Kendall's parents hosted a nice brunch at their home, which everyone was able to attend. My parents also had everyone over the day before, so we were able to spend a lot of good time with family this weekend.

Eden continues to grow like a weed. She is crawling around faster than greased lightning. She's laughing a lot, playing peek-a-boo, giving high fives, waving, and clapping. And-- drumroll--this Sunday she took her first steps! Eden is still a ways from walking, but she's well on her way. Now, if we can just get some of this stuff on video.

That's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.