Time flies . . .

Wow - so June 2009, and Micah is already 10 months old - Abby is 2 1/2, and we're already talking about number 3 - NO, we're not pregnant, just "thinking" about it. We are in the midst of a life journey, as all of you are as well - and we're learning so much about the Lord and how He wants to grow us - perhaps in ways we didn't think we needed to grow - but nonetheless - growing us.  

Chris and I have spent a lot of mornings perusing through our faith-lives and realized last year that we needed to be challenged - NOT like my brother and his family, mind you - we're not moving to India anytime soon - however, we have asked the Lord in the last year to challenge our faith.  

Chris' father, Kenneth Corwin Reiter, died May 11 after driving home to Modesto, CA from being with us at Chris' graduation in Nampa, ID (Chris received his MA in Missional Leadership from NNU). His father's sudden death caused us to reframe some of our thinking and some of our theology.  We began asking ourselves not how we wanted to be remember, but how we WILL be remembered. So with that reality, in this day, we continue to ask God for His challenge on our lives - Some people say, 'be careful what you pray for', and I say, why? Life isn't meant to be lived timidly - No! God of the Angel Armies, challenge me - challenge us.  And He has!   

We have watched Him allow our lives to be pruned, and molded in tough and deep ways - some painful, some exciting.  However, our little family, or little "church", is growing deeper, wider, and truer.  Thanks God for moving and transforming my stubborn and prideful heart - may I be, may we be a sweet taste in your mouth, and a pleasant descant in your ears.

No Sleeping until I'm 40 . . . and then I'll be waking up at 4am.

I'm laughing tonight because tonight must be the night for excuses.  Abby is convinced that she is "all done sleeping" and she just went to bed 30 minutes ago.  She is also continually determined to convince us that she is "very still hungry", and we just ate at 5:30pm. So what's a mom to do, but realize that this time shall pass as well, and then I'll be so old that I'll be waking up way too early because my body hurts instead of waking up all night long with the kids.  What a great deal! So I'm pretty sure God claims heaven to be a place of rest - so I'm banking on that!  Yep!

The New Year and the Reiters

So it's February 2, 2009 and I can't believe I keep writing 2008 on every check I write!!!! Agh! Anyway, our family is doing well and Micah is already 6 months old! Abby is 2 in every way possible and we love it - at least most of the time. She is very smart and creative, so she keeps us on our feet! Micah slobbers everywhere and laughs at almost anything Abby does - we love that! We love being a family and watching our kids grow up. We hope you all are doing well. Blessings to you!

Christmas in America

Chris and I have had so many conversations about Christmas in America - perhaps you have recently as well. You know the conversation that goes something like this:
"Oooh, I saw ______ in the store today, and I know exactly where I would put it, . . . if I got it!"
"Oh, yeah, and just how much was ___________?
"Well, the price was kinda high, but it was definately worth it . . . . plus, it's Christmas!"
"Oh, so Christmas is about the presents?"
"Well, no. And yes!"
"Um, maybe you should go back to Sunday school."
"Okay, no, it's not about the presents, but it's nice to know I have something under the tree that you got me besides new socks and some slippers."
"What about what we've been praying about lately? The poor, the needy, those who can't afford any of this stuff, and not to mention most of the rest of the world - Christmas to them is hardly about presents!"
"Fine. But if all we do is read the Christmas story on Christmas morning . . . then I'm not making pancakes & bacon! Just oatmeal!"
"Well, at least we have something to eat!"
"Aghhh!"

I don't know if you've had a conversation like this or not, but both my husband and I have been on both sides of this one this year. We're trying not to buy into the American Christmas - which honestly is hard to do - we've bought some gifts! So, how's your view of Christmas this year? Jesus is really why we celebrate. So let's celebrate Him!

Merry CHRISTmas! Blessings to you.

Oh, yeah, and mom, I found one of Abby's gifts in our dumpster - seriously, I did - it's one of those fold up fabric playhouses (almost fills up the floor of our kitchen) - nothing wrong with it - someone just got tired of it. Don't worry, I sanitized it - Go Lysol and stuff people throw away!

I can't believe she's 2

wow . . . doesn't time just seem to fly. If it keeps getting faster every year, as "they" say it does, then by the time I'm 65, I'll sneeze, and it'll be the next year. Regardless, these 2 years with our little Abby have been amazing! She is a blessing and we have loved watching her grow. All day today we celebrated Abigail and her life. We even managed to get 2 naps in for her, since I knew her party would go past bedtime. So it was a day of 2's. She had about 15 people/kids show up for her party at Starbucks, and she was given some great gifts (even though we requested no gifts). She loved it. The kids got to color and play with the toys, and the adults stood around and talked over coffee and the noisy children. It was great! I wish you could have been there. Here's a video and some pictures of our happy birthday party to Abby. Enjoy!

The Reiter fort

Well we decided that the mini forts we had put together for Abby using Micah's play arch weren't going to teach her anything about how the Reiter family really plays! So we built a fort in our living room tonight out of 3 chairs and 2 blankets, just the way we remember doing it when we were kids. So we thought we'd share it with you. Plus, since Micah was there too, we put in a couple pics of him so as not to leave him out of post. Love you all!

Prayer Retreat

Chris and I were able to be a part of dreaming up and setting up a prayer room at a Ministers and Mates Retreat for the pastors/staff on our district. We loved how God was a part of the whole process. Anyway, I set up a section on silence with a prayer that I have come to love. I wanted to share it with you:
Be in my mind and my thinking
Be in my eyes and in my seeing
Be in my ears and in my hearing
Be in my mouth and in my speaking
Be in my heart and in my feeling
Be in my life and in my living

Blessings to you.