Mother's Day in the Park(s)

To celebrate Mother's Day this year, we went to McDonald's for coffee and took a picnic lunch to Jensen Park, the big long park on the south edge of Willows. Naomi sat on the grass while we ate, loving the feel of it and trying to pick as much of it as she could (not much). After lunch, we played at Jensen, Central, then Sycamore Parks in town.



We hadn't taken her to any playground yet, so we wanted to get some pictures of her first impressions. Mostly they were un-impressed-sions. But she shows signs of loving swings in the near future.

We had fun on the dinosaur, too.

First time on a slide was more surprising than wonderful.

Basically, Mom and Dad enjoyed the time a lot!

The thing Naomi liked best was this wall of spinning "beads" with animal parts painted on for kids to match up. Here she is between the bunny and monkey feet.

Miscellaneous Videos

Here are a few miscellaneous video clips that we've taken over the last month or so.

Cousin Nathan really entertained Naomi with this dancing monkey stuffed animal during our trip to Florida.

It's been a crazy winter in Portland this year so it was only appropriate that we got some snow (as well as other types of precipitation) during our visit in March.

Almost anything can become an exciting toy for Naomi these days. As illustrated by her enthusiasm when she discovered the luggage tag still hanging from the handle of her car seat.

Naomi is learning to lunge for objects and getting closer to standing on her own all the time. Here she shows off some of her progress during our time in Portland.

Naomi usually really enjoys her bath times. She loves to kick and splash, she's becoming quite an expert.

Hope you enjoyed the videos.

More to come

Just wanted to let you all know that we are taking pictures and video of Naomi. Right now we only have dial up Internet access at the home we're staying at so we have to come to Starbucks or the local library to use the Internet for almost anything. We will be posting more pictures and video as we can.

We are doing well. We're busy getting settled in and trying to establish routines while getting to know people. Naomi is doing well. We're making her put herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the night. Some nights are better than others but things seem to be moving in the right direction. She's growing up fast. She just turned 6 months and is already eating large amounts of solid foods. She's sitting up unsupported for long stretches which has increased her ability to play by herself. Just yesterday she started imitating our head movements and she seems to be making new discoveries every day.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Keep us posted on what is going on with you.

Learning to sit

Part 1 March 3rd

Part 2 March 6th

Part 3 March 8th

Part 4 March 17th

Portland Pictures!

Here are some scenes and videos from our trip to Portland the first weekend in March:





Melissa holding Naomi. The Paces came over for game night. :-) We stayed with Erin and Jayelle (and Dave).



One of the Thomas' mugs Naomi had been enjoying. She felt how much everyone else there missed Virginia's cookies!



Asleep on one of the chairs in the Seminary lounge. Naomi was a real trooper - she took naps where we let her, and let us pack her around and meet hundreds of people happily.

Smooth Move

Sorry, hubby, I couldn't resist.

Pretty much everything went better than expected this weekend. The truck was loaded in less than two hours, we enjoyed one more lunch with our helpers, then came up and had everything unloaded again in less than an hour! Not only that, several folks from church brought food and supplies to help us survive until we have time to make a trip to Chico to stock up.

I'm sitting at the Starbucks right now enjoying free wifi. Our favorite location in Roseville didn't participate in the plan here (as far as I know). As long as you have an active gift card, you have free access 2 hours a day. Woo hoo! With dial-up in our home for the next couple months, no internet at the church office, and our favorite independent cafe out of business, we're appreciative.

In Naomi's world, life is not very different. Same car seat, same pack-n-play. BUT, some things are new. We got out some new toys and feeding supplies. She can now sit up like a champ. And we've started making her fall asleep on her own when she wakes up at night - the crying lasts less than 5 minutes already! (Why didn't we do this before?) So she's back to being a champion sleeper.

Matthew and I are both working on establishing good routines in our new place and situation. And lots of logistics are coming together: Naomi has a doctor, prescriptions are transferred, I have spring clothes again, we're signed up for Netflix, etc.

Thanks for your prayers for us! God is showing himself powerful to provide again, and Matthew and I are wondering how we still worry how he's going to take care of the next thing.

Pics and a new video of Naomi coming soon!

Moving Day

Tomorrow is moving day. We'll be loading up the U-Haul and heading North to Willows. Matthew starts work on Monday. We've been enjoying our final days in Roseville and also had a great trip to Portland. Sorry, we haven't been updating the blog. We've been busy but we are taking pictures and video of Naomi and hope to post some of the highlights soon.

Our 971 area cell phones are no longer valid. Our new contact information is as follows:

Home (until around May 1st)
857 N. Plumas St.
Willows, CA 95988
Phone # 530-934-8264

Matthew's work
Faith Bible Church
403 Vine St.
Willows, CA 95988
530-934-3259

Matthew also has a new e-mail address: FBCWillowsPastor@gmail.com

Look for highlights of our trip to Portland, our move and of our transition to Willows in the coming weeks.