Naomi 4 months

Here are a few more baby pics. Naomi is officially 4 months old as of this past Monday. She loves going on walks, or hanging around the house, in the Baby Bjorn front carrier. She can watch her mobile for as long as we're willing to wind it up for her (but we're absolutely sick of the song!). She's just starting to think about maybe working on rolling over, but sitting and standing (with help) are great fun. And she's making noises more and more of the time.

Grandma Kathy and Naomi get along great. Grandma knows how to please Naomi - let her stand up! Naomi is staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight while Matthew takes me away to some surprise location for an overnight.
Here she is showing off her ladybug hat (Thanks Hilary!) and her cool onesie (Thanks Tanjocos!) She's getting bigger - Monday for her 4 month check-up she weighed in at 13 lbs., 13 ozs. (That's about the 50%ile for us baby non-experts)

Great-Grandma Brooks saw Naomi at her house last week, and they got along very well!

This is Naomi's newest cousin, Nathanael Lewis. We finally saw him when he was 2 weeks old.

His mommy, Matthew's sister Christy, is recovering much better from her 2nd pregnancy than the first, and has really enjoyed Nathanael's newborn stage.

Below, we couldn't resist putting up a couple videos - one is her learning how to use the jumper. The grunting she does here is her new favorite form of communication - imagine a constant stream of gutteral noises for 30 min! It makes Aunt Miriam afraid she's going to permanently damage her vocal cords. :-)

This captures my all-time favorite moment with Naomi so far in her short life. Since she was born, I have been longing for the day I could actually do something that would regularly cause her to laugh like this.

Waiting Game

For those that may have been wondering our second visit to Faith Bible Church in Willows went very well. We got to know some more of the church members and Matthew's preaching was again well we received. We continue to be optimistic about this opportunity and barring some major unforeseen revelation are confident that we would accept the position if offered.

For now we are waiting. The congregation votes 2 weeks from tonight and we expect to hear something by the next day. It is hard to not start planning our lives in Willows but we are trying to be patient and continue to pray that God will close this door if this is not the right place for us to enter into ministry. Thank you for some continued prayers.

In other news Naomi has entered a new growth spurt and has been eating like crazy the past couple of days. She has also figured out how to make loud happy squealing noises (very high pitched) whenever she wants to. For now it is still very cute. We hope to get some more recent pictures of her up in the next week or so.

Willows Update

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on our visit to Willows, CA this past weekend. It went really well!

We drove up Saturday morning and Matthew spent more than two hours having brunch with about 15 men from the church, telling his story and answering all manner of questions. Emily got to know some of the ladies in the church at a tea hosted that afternoon while Matthew sat down with the outgoing pastor to get his perspective on the church and vision for the future transition of leadership. This was truly encouraging!

Saturday night the head of the pulpit committee and his wife took us out to dinner along with the retiring pastor and his wife. We had a great time!

On Sunday Matthew preached (at both preaching services) and was well received then we enjoyed an all church potluck where we got to visit informally with more of the people in the congregation. We got a little rest back at the house we were staying at (the home of a wonderful retired missionary named Prudence) then we drove around and explored the town (which didn't take long) before heading home.

At this point we are feeling very positive about this opportunity. The church seems fundamentally healthy and ready to be challenged to grow and change. The people are friendly and really seem to love the Lord, and the leadership seems capable and excited about what God wants to do in their church. We also found out that they are able to offer a salary that would be livable as a single income and got to know what seems like a really neat little town a little better. There would be a lot of adjustments if we went but we are excited about the possibilities.

We will be returning this weekend. Perhaps for part of Saturday but at least for the bulk of the day on Sunday. Matthew will speak again and we will try to get to give more people a chance to get to know us a little better. The congregation will vote on whether or not to extend the call to us on February 4th (their by-laws require a two week interval).

We appreciate all of your prayers and will update you when we hear in February. Please continue to pray for God's guidance for us and the people of Faith Bible Church and that we would guard our hearts and trust Him to know what is best for us.

Willows from the air.

A Willows Weekend

Tomorrow morning we're getting up early (well, for Matthew it's still sleeping in compared to starting work at 5:30) and heading up I-5 to Willows, CA for a candidating trip. Faith Bible Church is there, and their current pastor is retiring. We'll be doing the usual eat and talk routine, with a men's brunch, women's afternoon tea, dinner out with church leaders, and a potluck after church on Sunday.

Thus far we feel positive about the situation: There is a good generational mix in the church, there are children in the nursery, the leaders have a fairly good understanding of where the church is strong and what they want to change, and the outgoing pastor has been there for several years. Matthew was able to set up a meeting with the current pastor to discuss his perspective on the church, his vision, and his perspective on what his role would be as a continuing member of the church if Matthew were to be the new pastor. In terms of location, it's a little less than 2 hours from family, in a community of 6,000 (within the city limits). Willows is the county seat, so there are more amenities there (like a WalMart), and Chico is about 30min away.

Some of the things we're praying about include:
-Peace about whatever decision is reached, whether they decide against us or we have to choose. Clarity in the decision-making process for all.
-Emotional energy for the weekend, especially for Matthew as he's an introvert and will be preaching twice in addition to all the social activities.

For those who are interested: a map of Willows.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

We'll let you know how it goes!

Happy New Year!

Greetings! We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. The tree below is from Christmas Eve, the Brooks celebration. The tree usually ends up half buried as we unwrap together after the service at our church.

The three older cousins (Naomi is #5, and another was born last week!).

On the 26th Matthew went back to work while my dad, brother Peter, Naomi and I traveled to Turlock to visit with my Great-grandma. She's still a speed walker, and plays Phase 10 with us whenever we give her the chance. We don't play her favorite game, Scrabble, because she always wins!

Thank you, Melissa! She loves bragging with the shirt you got her.

New Years meant a huge family gathering (both sides and lots of extended family members as well). Here's some of the huge spread of turkey soup, fresh homemade rolls, cold cuts, and lkeftover desserts we enjoyed. Yum!

Elizabeth is two months older than Naomi. She's a little extra-miracle baby. And she's happy an amazingly high percentage of the time.

One of MANY games of Settlers played on New Years Day.

For Christmas, Matthew and I got Naomi a Johnny Jump-up. It says it's for 4 months and up, but she's so stiff it's her new favorite toy! This is the first time she got in it. The toys aren't even attached yet, but within 2 minutes she'd already christened it with her spit-up. Hooray for machine-washable!

Merry Christmas!

We are getting excited for Christmas, and are again reminded of how incredible it is to have a Savior who came to live with us and experience every temptation of our lives - the same Jesus who now reigns victorious over all of creation! We hope your Christmas is filled with hope and joy as a result of God's gift to you of his son.

We are still staying with Matthew's Aunt Miriam in Roseville. She has been very gracious with us as lots of Naomi's stuff (stroller, Pack N Play, swing, ...) invades her living room. We have a candidating trip scheduled for Jan 10-11 for Faith Bible Church in Willows, CA, less than 2 hours from our families. Thus far we feel positive about the situation. Please praise God with us and pray for discernment for both us and the church, and also for God's workings in all the circumstances of the trip and the potential job. Meanwhile Matthew continues to work at Health Net and I am mostly enjoying raising Naomi. She just woke up happy, which is wonderful!

Below are some pictures from the past month.

Just in the past week or two Naomi doesn't have to be swaddled in order to sleep more than 10 minutes at a stretch. We enjoy watching her be peaceful (her bed is in the living room). She sleeps 9-10 hours a night now! She makes up for it by taking very short naps during the day and is often fussy - but the happy stretches are progressively increasing.

When other methods fail, Naomi ofter calms down and gets curious again when Dad makes her Superbaby.

I love how she folds her hands and curls her legs up under her for a little nap after many of her feedings.

Hooray for naked-time!

On Thanksgiving Day we stopped by Turlock to see G'G'G'ma Jessie before heading up to Stockton for my first Brooks Thanksgiving. My Great-Grandma is 96 years old, and was very excited to meet the next generation of her family.
Great-Grandma Hallsten came to Roseville the day after Thanksgiving, and she and Naomi got properly introduced.

Grandpa Keith loves his new role, and frequently takes Naomi outside for walks when she's protesting, or holds her so that Matthew and I can eat when we're over there.

The whole gang.

Naomi and I went with my parents, Peter and his girlfriend Stephanie, and Krista to get their Christmas Tree. I took Naomi on the same tree swing I went on every year as a child at Snowy Peaks Tree Farm.

Sorry the video below is a little longer than I intended - 92 seconds of Naomi cooing and kicking. Call me an obsessive first-time mom. ;-) There's no amazing finish, so feel free to stop it whenever you've had your fill. Meanwhile we'll be working on figuring out how to use our video editing software so we can give you 20 seconds next time....

Wow! Has it really been more than a month?

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. :-) And today Naomi is officially 2 months old.

I posted new pictures on Facebook in a public album, so you can all see them at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50486&l=2f173&id=692971443

This past month has been eventful! Naomi is learning how to nap - she's awake more during the day than we hear is typical for her age - she almost never sleeps more than an hour at a stretch. BUT more important, she sleeps well at night consistently! It's usually 6-7 hours, and the start time for that is getting more consistent as well, and then she goes right back down and sleeps another 3 hours or so.

Matthew started permanent status at Health Net last week, so we'll have benefits provided through his work in another month, and it was just in time to have paid holidays for Nov and Dec! Hooray. :-)

In the search for a ministry job, overall we are both encouraged - things are still happening, even as we look at December. He is preaching at a church in Willows this weekend and is turning in an app for an Assoc. position in Massachusetts by Sunday as well. Then next week there is another app due and the accreditation (towards ordination) interview for the Alliance.

Emily, meanwhile, is enjoying being able to stay caught up with chores, and to make a little progress towards moving ahead with paperwork and preparations for Christmas. This is possible in part because Matthew's Aunt Miriam returned home last week, and she has taken over care of her kitties. For now we are staying here with her and she is being very gracious in sharing her car, her kitchen, and her TV with us.

The last month we've really enjoyed watching Naomi learn. She's really started to smile at us, and will laugh when she's well-rested. Just in the past few days she's started cooing. As Grandpa Keith puts it, Naomi is very stiff - she holds up her head, and sometimes even her body, when we hold her up on one shoulder. She has a definite preference for being upright and able to use her legs. Forget rolling over or sitting up - she wishes she could stand! She's also learning about her hands, sucking on her knuckles and grasping Daddy's arm hair - but still nothing intentional. Last week she went in for her 2-month check, and she's at 10 lbs 10 oz (60th %ile) and 23 in long (75th %ile).

For Thanksgiving, we're heading down to Turlock in the morning to visit Emily's Great-grandma and let Naomi's Great-Great G'ma meet her, then we'll celebrate with the Brookses in Stockton for the first time as a couple.

God bless your travels and family time as you celebrate as well. We truly have an amazing God who has met our most pressing needs abundantly.