Merry Christmas!

Greetings from the Purath home! We thank God for walking with us through another year, one of much blessing and much stretching.

We’ve been in Staunton, VA for over four years now and have really grown to love it here. Our initial shock of not having a Target nearby wore off a long time ago! Staunton has a lot of personality and culture for a town its size, and we love the park, the farmers’ market, and small town feel.

By far, the highlight of the year was welcoming Beckett into the world! He’s 6 months old now, finally sleeping through the night (usually), rolling over, and eating baby food. He loves to laugh at his big brother and loves to be around people.

Keaton turned 3 this year. It’s been such a joy to watch him learn and grow. He loves playing guitar and listening to music. (Wonder where he gets that from?) He also loves books, puzzles, and playing with his friends. He took swimming lessons this year and is in one of Jenny’s French classes too.

Kipp continues as the worship and outreach pastor at Staunton Alliance Church. He leads the bands, plans the Sunday services, organizes outreach events for our area, disciples other men, and leads our small group, among other things. But life’s not all work, right? He also likes to play Guitar Hero on the Wii and has gotten back into biking recently.

Jenny spends most of her time chasing Keaton and Beckett around and keeping the house straight. She also continues to teach French classes in our home- 2 preschool classes and 1 elementary class this year. Our local moms’ club has been a fun way to get to know other moms and kids as well.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and look forward to hearing from you too!

Vacation!

We just returned from a wonderful, sun-filled, relaxing vacation in Garden City Beach with Jenny's mom, grandma, and sister. What a blessing to spend the week in a beachfront house with a backyard pool! Keaton loved both the beach and the pool and had a great time. Kipp split his week between Garden City and a conference in Orlando that he really enjoyed as well. On the way home we stopped in Columbus, NC to visit Jenny's grandfather, Pops, and see her dad as well.

Easter 09

We had a really fun Easter this year. About a month ago, I started trying to think of ways that we could make Easter a special time for our family. Christmas is always such a big holiday (and rightly so:), but I wanted to make Easter into a "big deal" for us as well. Jesus' birth is important, but so are His death and resurrection.
So Keaton and I have been telling the Easter story for the past couple weeks. We made a wooden cross and a tomb out of a plastic container with rocks glued on it and had paper cut-outs of different people who play a role in the Easter story. It's been fun to listen to Keaton's 2 year-old version of the story.
The day before Easter we had an Easter party and egg hunt at our house and invited some friends over to celebrate with us. It was a little wet outside, so we ended up hunting eggs in the basement, but no one seemed to mind- especially once they found the M&Ms inside their eggs.
Here are some pictures from Easter this year...

Summer highlights

So I've been a little slack with this blogging stuff... OK, I've been really slack. I thought I'd add some pictures, a sort of photo essay of our summer.

Tears of Joy

Prayer is a curious thing, isn't it?

There are times when I feel like the more I get to know God, the more I realize that there are mysteries about Him and the ways that He works. Prayer is one of those areas. I mean, I know that prayer is important to God and that He chooses to make it a part of the way He works, but exactly when and why and how He answers prayer isn't always so clear-cut.

So even though I don't understand its intricacies, I continue to pray.

Lately I've been reminded of two dimensions that prayer brings out- not only intimacy in our relationship with God , but also closeness and sweetness is our relationships with others.

Several times in the past month or so I've cried tears of joy. Once was just yesterday as I watched a dear friend of mine get married. It wasn't just happiness for her that brought tears to my eyes (though I am definitely excited for her!), but the thought of the years of prayer that I have poured out for her and for her relationship with her husband. Praying for her brought me closer to her relationally and made my joy that much greater in seeing how God has answered those prayers.

Another tears of joy occasion of late has been seeing the Lord at work in the life of another of my sweet friends who has recently committed her life to Him. All those prayers I've prayed on her behalf have linked my heart to hers forever. When I think about all that the Lord is doing in her life, I can't help but cry- it's so exciting! And I'm humbled that God would let me be a part of what He's doing simply by praying for her.

So I guess this is just an encouragement to all of you who pray... It's definitely an investment. We may not always see or understand the returns involved, but in those moments when we do, we understand what a precious gift prayer is.

True community

Over the past couple years, God has really been stirring in both Kipp and me a heart for community- real community. It seems that both Scripture and life experience both affirm the notion that we were not meant to go it alone. God created us with a desire for community, and it's an essential part of loving, learning, and just enjoying life.

I'm reminded of this truth again this week. We had a rough experience over the weekend, and I've been amazed this week at our friends' outpouring of love, concern, and helpfulness. I've had friends from New Mexico to right here in Staunton call to check on me and offer a listening ear. We even had a friend call and offer to watch Keaton tomorrow for us so Kipp and I could have some time together.

Just the thought that there are people out there who care about us and are praying for us is humbling to me. What great friends we have! They inspire me to want to be a better friend. I'm praying that God will help me to be as thoughtful, compassionate, and helpful as they are. Thanks, guys.

Picky, picky!

Befor I had a child, I just knew I'd never have a picky eater. Right from the start, I thought to myself, I will only give him healthy foods, so he'll be raised to like them and gobble them up. Sounds logical, right? Wrong! Though I have made a habit of giving my child healthy options to eat- plenty of veggies and fruits, a balance of protein and carbs, etc, etc, Keaton seems to have a mind of his own when it comes to eating. He has major texture issues. He'll eat chicken that I've cooked and put in the food processor, but he won't eat a Chick-fil-a nugget. Come on- what kid doesn't like Chick-fil-a? We went to a Tex-Mex place for lunch today with some friends and ordered Keaton a cheese quesadilla. Sounds safe, right? He likes cheese. Wouldn't touch it. He had to be starving. It was 1:00, and he hadn't eaten since breakfast. Wouldn't touch it. I decided not to offer him something else- just let him sit there with the quesadilla. Still wouldn't touch it.
So I'm asking my wise mom friends for some advice. How do you keep from creating a picky eater? Help!