Ellen Rosenberger

Here are the pictures from Emily's "One Year Photo Shoot", many thanks to my friend, Bethany.  I love how she captured the different expressions of our sweet and spunky little girl!   She loves her bear blanket! Smiley girl!   Not so sure about this grass... Hi! I'm ready for my "quinceañera", mom! Enough already!

In preparation for taking communion last Sunday, one of the elders of our church posed this question: "Are the best things in life earned or received ?" Immediately I thought of the best things in my life: my husband, my kids, God's overwhelming love, and Christ's salvation. And then I thought: There is no way I earned (or deserve) my husband's love.  He loves me for who I am, flaws and all.  He loves me no matter what kind of day I've had, the way I have treated him, or if I have failed in some area. And then my kids.  They are pure gifts!  Yes, they are definitely received....received with much gratitude, awe, and trepidation at the weight of the responsibility to raise them. And finally, God's amazing love and grace displayed through His gift of His Son.  Not earned, but received.  Because a gift, a true gift, is received, not earned.   I've lived much of my life trying to attain some degree of perfection or acceptance from o...

I guess one thing definitely changed when my second baby was born: gone were the blog posts. Hmm...last one was on February 20, 2013.  Ironically, I was musing in that blog how long we would be waiting on this little girl, whose due date was 2 1/2 weeks away.  Little did we know that she would choose to make her appearance a mere 2 days after that last blog post. Since my kiddos were born 19 months apart, it honestly felt like I had two babies on my hands during the first few months.  I actually even had several people say to me "It's really like you have two babies." Although I'm fairly certain I did not go completely crazy, it was a challenge to say the least.  And yet it was a fun and fulfilling challenge. Now that David is 2 1/2 years old as opposed to 1 1/2 years old when Emily was born, I'm enjoying that he is quite a bit more independent.  And Emily also has entered some stages of independence such as not needing to be nursed every few hours and be...