Updates

Thinking back on this year, it is clear that the prime event for our family was the birth of our third girl: Brooklyn Faith. She is just over two months old as I write and of course we are in love, yet again, with one who is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Lauren and Sydney have also welcomed her with open arms, and sometimes open tackles.

The addition of a third little one has definitely brought on some new challenges. For example, there are now three sources of crying and demands instead of two. There are times when Lauren is asking for something (over and over since that’s what a lot of 3 year olds do), while at the same time Sydney is clinging on a leg asking for something else (over and over since that’s what a lot of 2 year olds do), while at the same time Brooklyn is trying to tell us about some discomfort (by crying since that is what a lot of newborns do). Everything is in stereo yet not quite in tune, and multiple songs are playing different parts at the same time, often with little regard for one another.

I’m really happy to say that these “humorous” moments are the exception rather than the rule. There truly is not a day that goes by that we are not thankful for the family that God has graced us with! Lauren and Sydney have become best friends and often play together extremely well. From dancing around the living room together (with Mom and Dad joining in sometimes), to helping each other turn on the various devices that need turning before a DVD will play correctly, it’s easy to see that they have a blast. We hope that Brooklyn will join in the fun as soon as she is able!

Jamie is adjusting well to being a mother of three children, and wife of an ever-demanding husband. She has started a preschool curriculum at home with Lauren and it’s been a great learning experience as we figure out the schooling options for our children. I (Gruia) am quite outnumbered by the girls in our family, but absolutely love it. And even though there were some potentially rough patches at work, things have worked out and I still have an awesome job that I love.

One of the biggest things that God has been teaching us this year is just how much we still need Him in our day-to-day life. Children tend to bring out the best but also the worst in us at times, and it’s through these times that God shows us how far we still have to go and how we need to be constantly coming to Him if we are to do well in our parenting.

Having children encourages us to reflect on God as our heavenly Father, and how He reacted to our disobedience. From Adam and Eve onward, we have all done things that separate us from God – what we commonly refer to as sin. Even the slightest wrongdoing separates us from God. So, on Christmas day some 2000 years ago, God gave us a gift of grace the likes of which the world had never seen, nor will ever see again. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, become a man but also remained fully God. And through Jesus, God brought us salvation from our sin and life everlasting with Him in Heaven. All that is required of us is to believe in and accept this amazing gift that came into the world – God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.

So, as parents, we try to not only provide for the physical needs of our children, but also for those that will last beyond this lifetime and beyond this Earth. Our strongest desire is that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord, to the point that He is at the center of all their decisions, of all their thoughts - at the center of their hearts. This is something that only God can fully do in their lives and hearts: We can only take them so far.

Christmas is a great time to reflect on Jesus and to teach our children about Him. Countries, economies, jobs, and friends will all come and go, but there is only One who will always be there.

We hope that this Christmas you and yours would look afresh on Christ and think with joy about all that God has done.

We're in the home stretch now with a c-section scheduled for Friday, October 3rd! We have decided to name our little one Brooklyn Faith and we can't wait to meet her. Jamie has been nesting like crazy and thankfully Gruia is willing to take on many of the to-dos as she has been having a difficult time getting around in these final weeks of pregnancy. Gruia has only a couple more days of work and then he plans to take his paternity leave and take care of all four of his girls for a month! It has been so exciting to celebrate and prepare for Brooklyn - adorable, tiny baby clothes; setting up the room; thinking about our first moments with her; etc... life is just a miracle. Due to the addition of our third car seat, we recently moved up in the world (i.e. bought a mini-van) and have been enjoying the benefits of additional space to maneuver in as we venture out.

A couple of months ago we moved to a church that is closer to our home. It has been fun getting involved and meeting our new church family, yet we do miss seeing our friends from our old church on a more regular basis! This church is the smallest that we've ever been a part of but we are enjoying the different dynamics that result from the smaller community.

Another recent change for us is that we started a preschool curriculum with Lauren this fall. It looks like homeschooling may be a part of our future so we thought this would help to get us prepared to teach (and for her to learn) in a more official sort of way. It is very fun and light with tasks such as reading "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" and then baking cookies together for a snack. She still learns the most from just living and playing through these early years of her life.

This summer has been wonderful and we are looking forward to some amazing times (and a slight change in the weather) as autumn is ushered in!

Let's start right off with some very exciting news: Jamie is pregnant! It looks like the little miracle will be joining our team officially at the end of September and we are thrilled! Jamie is nearing the end of her first trimester and is hoping to feel better and be filled with energy on the day she hits 14 weeks. Things have been a bit more challenging around the house since she has been feeling sick for much of the days/evenings, but we know that it is all worth it :)! Lauren became a bit anxious when she first learned about a "baby in mommy's tummy", but we think she realizes for the most part now that we don't need to exchange her in to get this new little one.

It is so sweet to see Lauren and Sydney walking around together these days. It is rare to see Sydney crawl anymore, but she still takes frequent tumbles over her own feet as she walks. The girls play with each other quite a bit in their rooms, generally after Lauren invites Sydney to come with her into one of them. They still need nearly constant guidance in how to play with each other without pushing, pulling, or stealing toys from each other, but the rare moments of peaceful independent play are hopefully a glimpse at things to come?!?

More updates to come when Jamie is feeling better and we get a bit more on top of things around here :)...

As we are now coming to expect of our time, October and November seemed to just fly by! We took a couple of family trips, the first of which was back up to Washington. It was so great to spend time with our friends there and to see how Lauren and Sydney's friends have grown. We spent quite a bit of time in our old house since our good friends are now living there - it was so surreal to be there as guests! We kept asking Lauren if she remembered people/places/things, and she would say "yes", or "no", but I doubt that she knows what "remember" means, so what can ya do? We also went to Angel's Camp in California with only the four of us: It was so wonderful to just take some time together "away from it all"! We did a lot of relaxing, got lost a couple times trying to find sites, and enjoyed a cold but beautiful trip to a state park there.

Halloween: We had another Family Fun Night in place of Halloween this year, which was great except for the loss of seeing the girls in cute outfits :). Thankfully one of Lauren's friends had a costume party in November, so not only did we get the cute outfits, but we got them at a 70% discount!

Thanksgiving: Filled with Family, Fun, Food, Food, and Food! The party started with Gruia's side of the family on Thanksgiving Day, continued with Jamie's side of the family the day after, and still continues on day after day through delicious leftovers. We are thankful for our family-away-from-family that welcomed us so graciously on Thanksgiving for the past two years, and it is now so wonderful to celebrate and be thankful with our family-family. As a fun side note, Jamie took a huge step in the "family tradition" arena (we normally have high hopes and little follow-through) and put together a thankful turkey craft for the girls that we really enjoyed. The first three things that Lauren said she was thankful for were ladybugs, froggies, and eating eggs. Our nephew Evan took a look at the turkeys on the fridge a couple days later and asked with a perplexed look on his face, "Flower turkeys?". Yep, they do look like flower turkeys :).

Christmas: It seemed like Christmas got started quite early this year, like the day after Halloween, but now we are certainly on board and filled with Christmas cheer as well. This weekend we have been decorating our home and beginning some more new traditions, such as an Advent sticker calendar and Advent candles. I read a great note about Advent: "What Advent is, really, is a discipline: a way of forming anticipation and channeling it toward its goal." Our goal this year is to teach the girls more about (and to focus ourselves on) Jesus Christ. In anticipation of the Christmas celebration we are tasting a bit of what it was like for the Israelites to wait for their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and for us now as Christians to wait for His return.

Lauren and Sydney are both at such fun stages right now. Lauren has begun the infamous "why?", which gives us a lot of chances to teach her about life and how God is intimately a part of every aspect of it, and her sense of humor keeps us smiling and laughing throughout the day. A few days ago she put a torn movie ticket back into Jamie's pant pocket while singing, "Happy Birthday to you Pocket". The excitement and wonder in her eyes as she sees Christmas beauty in the home and community is such a joy to be a part of. Sydney loves to climb, dance, and spit. She is a bit more robust now and learning quite well how to keep Lauren from snagging toys out of her hand (i.e. holding on very tightly, holding them behind her back). She's starting to join in more when we all play by doing things like crawling away when we chase her, laughing and slobbering on us when we cuddle or baby wrestle with her, dancing when we sing or play music, and other adorable things like that. Her smiles and sweet sounds just warm our hearts! We're encouraging her to take some steps, but she'd much rather stand up, crawl to the next location and then stand up again.

In follow-up to our prayer request below from June, Ben just had all of his cancerous tumors removed in surgery a few days ago! For more details on this miracle, check out his blog.

My (Jamie's) grandma (father's mother) died yesterday. I am so grateful to the Lord for bringing our family down to California and for stirring my heart to desire to spend time with her in the nursing home. I believe that she accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior of her soul and that she is now in heaven with Him, and also with her husband, son, and many other old and new loved ones. Just this morning I took a look at my Christmas shopping list and saw that I had planned to give her a large poster filled with beauty that she could see from her bed. What a blessing that she is now face to face with her Creator, in Whom is more beauty than all the wonder of His amazing creation combined.

It is amazing to think that we have been in California for almost five months now. The Lord has provided for us during this transition in so many ways and we are so grateful to Him! We have found a church that honors God's Word and loves Jesus Christ, and we have met some wonderful friends there. Speaking of wonderful friends, we are looking forward to a trip back to Washington soon to visit!

Gruia continues to enjoy his work for our family and I continue to enjoy my work with our family - not much new there :). The girls on the other hand...

Sydney is 27 inches long (25-50th percentile) and 18 lbs 12 oz (50th percentile). She is still just full of smiles but is now a lot more mobile. She crawls pretty quickly and, with the exception of when we put her on a quilt surrounded by grass, she is always in a different spot from where you set her down if you turn away for a moment. As a special treat for Jamie, she is starting to say "Mama", and on occasion you can make out "Dada" as well. She loves to wave, talk with her sister in her room instead of falling right to sleep, pull herself up onto anything she can grab, and eat! Cutest thing of the month that I can now remember: She launched out her pacifier from her mouth after a nap and within two seconds started sucking instead on her toes.

Lauren amazes us daily. She has started to sing many more songs from memory that we have been singing to her for over two years and her vocabulary is expanding like crazy. She has a great sense of humor and loves to be chased and tickled. Also, I'm not sure when a child can officially hold the title of "potty-trained", but I think she's pretty much there. Cutest thing of the month that I can now remember: For the word rhinoceros, she says rhi-nos-i-mas.

We are now living in our new home! We are feeling quite settled although we still have a handful of boxes to unpack; you know, the ones that are filled with things that you don't know quite where it put. We'll get around to those sometime :). We are also longing for a new church home, have tried out about five so far, and believe that we are coming very close to choosing one.

Lauren and Sydney are doing great and most of the difficulties that they were having due to the transition have completely subsided. They are now working on sharing the same bedroom. This process started off with a rough night for everyone, but they are doing such a great job now. It takes them longer to fall asleep but they are happy in their beds during the wind-down time. Yesterday I caught Lauren in Sydney's crib for the first time and hopefully the last. It was very sweet but quite unsafe and I thanked God for protecting them both. Next stop, potty training!

As you can see in the video and photo updates, Sydney has starting crawling (kind of) and has been introduced to some "solid" food. So far she has enjoyed rice cereal, oatmeal, mixed grain cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, and applesauce. She loves it all! She's not quite as thrilled about prunes, but who can blame her. She is just happy almost all of the time and we've heard several people mention that "Joy" as a middle name fits her quite well. Lauren can now ride her tricycle without much difficulty, is starting to read short books from memory (so cute), and has surprised us recently with the few songs that she has under her belt (ABC's, Pat-a-cake, and the chorus of Be-bop-a-looga She's My Baby). Inspired by our friend Emily we are going to get started on some Scripture memory as it is quite clear that she is capable... probably has been for a while. For July, Gruia taught her to respond with "Let There Be Light!" when asked "What did God say on the first day?"; hence the verse highlight on our homepage. Both girls are growing and changing so much and we are so proud of them. They are continuing to thoroughly enjoy spending time with their extended family and some new friends.

Gruia has a longer commute to work than he did when we were in temp housing (and certainly than he did in Washington!), but he is leaving about an hour earlier from home in the morning and from work in the evening so he still gets home at a decent time. Jamie's commute continues to be quite short :). We just celebrated our SIXTH wedding anniversary and are more in love than ever. We had our first overnight date night since having children (thank you Grandma and Uncle JoJo!) and enjoyed some focused time together in San Francisco, including a very nice dinner/dance cruise.

We hope that you enjoy this update and we hope to begin posting more regularly now that we are here.

First of all, please join us in prayer for our friend Ben and his wife Lisa. Ben was recently diagnosed with cancer. For more details as to how to pray for them, take a look at his blog: http://802heaven.analogcafe.net/index.html

Hmmm... I just noticed that the last update wasn't complete before I published the page... sorry about that. I'll leave it on the page just to remind us what a wild ride we've been on the last couple of months - we have had a lot on our minds lately with our move to California! Back to California, can you believe it? I'm sure all the Californians reading this can; but we were quite surprised! We never expected to leave Washington although we always knew that God could lead us somewhere else at any time. We love it here, but we do miss our friends and are looking forward to future visits! Also, the wire that we need in order to move our pictures from our camera to the computer is in storage, which means that we won't have a photo update until we move into our new house (mid-July, Lord-willing), and also that I have had to limit picture-taking due to only having a limited amount of space on the camera.

We have been in temporary housing for over a month now and have been searching like crazy for a house. We are in the process of purchasing one now and are so excited at the very high probability that it will be our new home in a couple of weeks! Although our apartment is starting to feel quite comfortable (and has complimentary maid service :)), we are all looking forward to our more permanent home. Jamie is thankful to get back to a semi-regular schedule with the girls now that the house hunting is done, and we all cherish the increased amount of free time on the weekends. Gruia has been working hard at his new job even during the hustle and bustle of the move, and he is enjoying it! He is at the same company and is in the same position as before, but is working with a different product and group.

It has been truly wonderful to live closer to family and we are so grateful to God for calling us here. God has been so faithful to provide for us in so many ways throughout this whole process! And although Gruia and I have absolutely loved spending more time with our family, I think that Lauren and Sydney are even more blessed than we are. Lauren asks for everyone in the family by name, hoping to see them as often as possible.

Speaking of those two beautiful girls: They are doing great! Sydney is now 6 months old - WOW! - and is such a happy little girl. She loves to chew on things, smile, laugh when tickled, and roll all around the floor. She is growing well (15 lbs, 25.75 in) and is starting to sleep long hours at night. Lauren is getting more confident in her language skills but is often not understood by other adults without non-verbal cues. Her little voice is so adorable! She is quick to shout out her alphabet or count to thirty, starting off with, "none, two, bee, bore, bive, six, nana, eight, nine, ten!" She's quite a mama's girl with all of the uncertainty looming due to this move, but Mama doesn't mind at all :). She still brightens up when she hears Dada come in the door after work, which is just priceless.

The girls are both scheduled for their next doctor appointments within the month, so we'll have some more stats soon, but they seem to be healthy and growing as they should in our opinion :).

As mentioned in the Photo Gallery update, Gruia was gone for a whole week recently and this was a big first for us. We haven't been apart more than four nights for the 5 1/2 years we have been married, and those nights were not consecutive. Add two young children to the "missing Gruia" blues and you have quite a challenging week for Jamie! Thankfully we have a God who graciously provides all that we need, including some great friends who are happy to help however they can. So, Gruia is now home and we definitely prefer it that way!

The girls are doing well - Lauren has increased her interest in experimenting with new words (she added dance, bus, jump, and cheese just this morning!) and also with the using the potty (Pull-Ups here we come!), and Sydney is full of adorable smiles and precious little vocalizations. At Sydney's doctor check up a few days ago she weighed 9lb 3.5oz (10th-25th percentile) and was 22.25 inches (50th percentile). She is sleeping longer at night and is awake longer during the day; these changes are both quite welcome. Lauren is happy to play with her little sister but has a hard time when Sydney is upset, and also when she needs to be quiet temporarily while Sydney is being rocked to sleep. We're working on helping her cope with these challenging toddler moments.

We just came home from our church Small Group where we were studying Psalm 127. It has been wonderful to reflect on the following verse with real-life rewards in our hearts and in our arms:

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward." - Psalm 127:3

We looked forward to the added blessing of Sydney Joy before her birth (see the 7/11/06 update), and it is unmistakably clear that our two little girls are truly gifts from our good God. May we be good stewards of His children. I am prompted now, albeit a bit random, to quote a line in The Chronicles of Narnia film that Gruia particularly enjoyed in reference to Jesus Christ:

Mr. Tumnus: "After all, he's not a tame lion."
Lucy: "No... but he is good."

We'd like to start out by expressing our excitement for the recent arrival of our third nephew, Wesley Radu Pitigoi, and our congratulations to the proud parents of three boys, Cosmin and Ally!

Sisters - Sydney is already over a month old, wow! At her doctor check up she weighed in at 7lb 10oz (25th percentile) and was 21.5 inches (50th percentile). She's more interactive now (in a baby kind of way) when you talk to her and we think that she blesses us with a sweet little smile every now and again. You just want to melt when she makes eye contact with you. She loves to cuddle and sleeps "long" hours at night if she's in Mommy's arms. Lauren loves her little sis and enjoys holding her for brief moments at a time on her lap. Lauren brings her toys and attempts to put a pacifier in her mouth whenever she finds one lying around. We are finding ways for Lauren to help us as we take care of Sydney and she is happy to do them! Lauren is such a big girl now and can quite clearly express her desires although she's not quite ready to talk yet. One of her favorite new gestures is hitting her chest with one or both hands when she wants to do (insert activity) all by herself. Her desire for being more independent is quite clear :). She has been particularly enjoying typing in Word, Play Doh, coloring, singing, dancing to Dora, and last but not least extended time with her dada.

Snow - This winter in Washington has had more than its fair share of snow days! For the most part we were able to enjoy its beauty and not be too inconvenienced by it. Our city is not exactly prepared when the snow hits, so it basically shuts down. As long as we have heat (our area had a huge power outage last month after a storm and we were without power for four days), we are happy to snuggle up at home. Make sure to check out the pictures and video of Gruia and Lauren sledding down our court!

Sickness - Sydney has her first little sickness, which we pray will not get any worse, along with her big sister. They have been coughing in harmony. With all of the cold and flu bugs that our family has been hit with month, we are really looking forward to having all four of us be healthy at the same time!

Side Note from Jamie - Gruia went back to work this week and I was on my own with the girls. I would like to note that the next time you come across a mother in public with all of her children in tears, please cut her some slack :). Let's just say that I have a lot of practicing to do to figure out all of the "toddler and a newborn" logistics!

Caution: The following update has been written by a sleep-deprived mother of two and proofed by sleep-deprived father of two. Read at your own risk!

With our new little blessing joining us at the tail end of 2006, 2007 is bound to be filled with amazing and memorable moments. We are now home and getting settled into life as a family of four, with the added bonus of having Gruia home on paternity leave to help out through the end of January. Time is sure going by quickly! Gruia's parents and Jamie's mother took great care of all of us (with an emphasis on Lauren's needs) during our time in the hospital and right after. We had a very nice Christmas, although a bit different from normal.

At Sydney's newborn check-up on 12/29 she weighed 6 lb 2 oz (10th percentile) and was 19.5 inches long (50th percentile). We had a couple of scares before that point with some weight loss and borderline jaundice, but both of these issues made a positive turn just at the right time (and pretty much on the same day)! She now seems to be gaining weight at a healthy rate, praise the Lord! She is still quite a sleeper, so it is nice when we get the opportunity to interact with her during her short wake times. Lots of pictures are taken during these wakeful moments :).

After a few rough days for Lauren, whose world got turned upside down as far as she knew, she now seems quite happy to welcome her little sister into the home. She loves to provide hugs and kisses many times throughout the day to the "bay-bee", "bee-bee", or "babe" and often asks to see her when she's asleep. Sometimes she just barges into the room slamming the door against the wall as she enters. Thankfully Sydney seems to be getting used to the random noises caused by her big sister while she sleeps. We are excited to see how their relationship grows as they both grow as well!

Happy New Year! Praise the Lord for how he faithfully provides for all of us in so many ways year after year...

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
   "therefore I will hope in him."

Sydney Joy Pitigoi-Aron was born yesterday at 8:37 AM!! She was 6 lb 5 oz and 19 inches long. It was quite a different experience than when Lauren was born. Instead of going through labor, and then having a C-section, this time around we skipped right to the C-section. As a result, Jamie is recovering much faster and, God willing, we will be home tomorrow as a new and improved family!

As usual, God's providence came through during this time. From providing us with electricity just in the nick of time, to a really smooth operation for Jamie and Sydney, to a healthy baby - things have been going perfectly. We thank Him for everything.

If you haven't yet noticed or heard, we recently found out that we are going to be blessed with another baby girl! For a sneak peak of Lauren's little sister, check out her new page. Baby Girl is developing healthily and is kicking and moving around quite a bit as God prepares her for her grand debut before Christmas.

"Big sister" Lauren is now 16 months old. She is transitioning from 2 naps to 1 each day and has at least 3 new teeth coming in. She is finding a lot of joy in activities such as hide-and-go-seek, reading, playing with Mom or Dad on the computer, and spinning around (normally 2-3 spins and then looks at her feet while getting her bearings). She continues to get climbing practice during our frequent park visits and is starting to limit the amount of times that the nature she is admiring gets put into her mouth (e.g. pinecones, rocks, dirt). A couple fun new Mom & Me activities that have happened within the last couple weeks have been her first dance class and a trip to a nearby farm where she interacted with ducks and goats, dug for potatoes (breakfast for the family!), rang the cowbell, and went on a hay ride. Interesting to note, during Lauren's dance class she was the only little one to venture all around the room while the other children were sitting on their mother's laps. When the kids each had scarves to dance with she decided to instead go around and collect scarves from willing (for the most part) children. When the teacher read a book to the class, she ended up sitting herself right down on the teacher's lap. She loves interacting with people and she loves to explore!

As far as summer activities are concerned, the pictures from the current and previous updates are worth a thousand words. The PA summer fiesta (post the last update recorded below) has taken on many forms in many places, from watching Gruia's beloved David Beckham play soccer in Seattle to spending some time touring Vancouver B.C. We've had a nice balance of work and play lately. Now that I think about it, it seems that "play" with a toddler is a lot of "work" as well. Although we love to play, we are trying to find creative ways to also relax! The rewards of our work are great though :).

First of all... we just celebrated our 5th anniversary! Praise the Lord for filling these past years with His grace! He has taught us so much about His design for marriage and has poured out his mercy on us as we have sought to follow His beautiful plan. With Christ as our foundation, and His Word and Spirit as our guide, we have grown both toward Him and toward each other in immeasurable ways! It has been truly amazing. To a lifetime of anniversaries and grace!

Let us move next to an excuse for why it took so long for Jamie to update the website this time around... the Lord has blessed us with another child! Yep, she is pregnant! The first trimester proved to be a bit more challenging with this pregnancy than the last, so time and energy for both Gruia and Jamie have been hard to come by. With Jamie taking an undesired but necessary break from home-making in many ways, Gruia found little time to rest when he came home from work (what a loving husband and father he is!) and a lot of tasks around the house had to be left undone. Now that she's feeling better, things are slowly getting back to normal. It looks like the baby's due date will be set for December 18, 19, or 20, which will result in him/her and Lauren being about 19 1/2 months apart. As the following verse has been shown in ways that are too amazing for words with our little Lauren Grace, we can only look forward with joy to the addition of another child to our family:

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward." - Psalm 127:3

With summer upon us and an air conditioning not upon us, we have been finding some ways to keep cool. Some favorites have been playing in fountains, taking a dip in our little baby pool, and eating out at restaurants that do have air conditioning :). Although our recent trip to California was not exactly the best way to keep cool, it was a great time nonetheless! As the pictures show in the recent trips update, there were 3 phases of this trip. Phase 1: We spent several days camping at East Park Reservoir with Jamie's side of the family. It was hot, dirty, and quite relaxing! We especially enjoyed time in the lake, time on the lake (Sea-Dos), and time around the campfire (eating s'mores of course). Phase 2: Off to Chico for a wedding for Jamie's cousin Amber and her new husband Jason! It was nice to be clean and to get all dressed up. The wedding was beautiful and it was so nice to be a part of it. Lauren even showed us her moves on the dance floor a little bit before heading off to bed :). Phase 3: It worked out for Gruia's side of the family to all be in Chico the day after the wedding, so we enjoyed spending some time with them before flying back home!

Other than the late night XBox 360 challenges, he has enjoyed some long-awaited 2-man grass volleyball tournaments with our friend Ryan, as well as trying his hand at fly fishing with our friend Jim as his guide. He has also been co-leading a new Sunday School class at our church called Cross Walk, which has primarily involved teaching Systematic Theology for several weeks, so as you can imagine this takes some time but reaps huge rewards!

Our fourteen month old: finally says "mama"; knows better what she wants to do and is becoming more able to do what she wants to do... unless she finds out that what she wants to do is a "no-no", and then she is learning quickly to find something else to do; can kick and throw items; can color at restaurants with their crayons; has 6 teeth; can eat almost anything besides peanuts; can understand more words than we realize; is becoming quite the dancer; and so much more! It is so remarkable to see how she changes from day to day.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations."

As per the note on Lauren's Eleventh Month page, here are some exciting and nauseating recent happenings:

Exciting: Lauren started walking last week! Five steps in a row is her record so far, but progress on this new journey has been halted by the next piece of news. We hope to display some sweet steps in the Video section as part of our next website update.

Nauseating: Lauren caught her first major flu this week :(. She is still healing now and sleeping a lot during the day and night, but she is keeping food down much better now, praise the Lord! She gave the flu to Jamie as well, so Gruia was home from work for two days making sure that they were both taken care of. Now that one of her top teeth is starting to push through, she deals with that soreness during some of her waking hours. Poor little girl!

As you may have seen in our Trips section, we spent some time with family in California in March. We missed seeing Aunt Kristen but look forward to spending more time with her in July.

It has been so nice to see all of the life return to our little piece of Earth recently - the flowers are blooming, the bugs are bugging, and the spiders that were so graciously unseen all winter are beginning to make their presence known. Okay, so Jamie is not so thrilled about the spiders, but it is still amazing to see a new season take its shape.

We are excited about the upcoming Easter celebration and hope to be healthy for the church services on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, so that we can prepare our hearts alongside our church family to remember and celebrate the goodness and grace of our Lord; both in offering Himself as a sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and in His triumph over death in His resurrection from the dead. We have a living Savior who sits at the right hand of God and advocates on behalf of all who put their faith in Him. What an amazing and undeserved truth!

Let's play pseudo-Jeopardy: I can pull myself up to a stand, cruise along furniture, crawl up and down a single step, and desire to crawl (or walk holding onto someone's hands) from room to room... I have two teeth, can say "dadadadadada", and can eat quite a variety of things off of Mommy's plate. Who am I?

I'm Lauren Grace! Yep, it's true. She is into everything and loving it! We love it too but certainly need to be more cautious about what we leave down at her level. At her 9 month well-baby appointment, she was either 19.8 pounds or 19 pounds, 8 oz (Jamie assumed one and therefore didn't clarify). Either way she is certainly heavier and continues to be healthy!

As for the proud parents, God has really been working in our hearts lately to do a major assessment of our relationship to Him and to each other. There are always many ways to grow in every area of our lives and it is so easy to just be comfortable in the joy-filled daily-happenings and to not actively seek to serve Him and one another. Areas of need become even more apparent when you stop comparing yourself to others and start comparing yourself to Christ. Thank God for His patient work in us! "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ." - Phil 1:6

Now that the holiday season is over we are just about back to our normal schedule. The sun is out today after a long stretch of nearly record-breaking rain. When someone mentioned that it had been raining for many days in a row, we were actually a bit surprised. We have had such wonderful non-rainy weather ever since we have moved up here that the wetness is actually a welcomed change so far.

Things are going very well other than the weather also, praise the Lord! Gruia and I continue to have so much fun with our little girl. She can now stand up quite well while holding onto something and is almost able to pull herself up. Her bottom middle two teeth are working their way out and the first one has just pushed through. We're not as quick to let her chew on our fingers anymore :). She loves food; *especially* food that does not come from a baby jar. She also loves to wrestle, cuddle, and give high-fives. She isn't saying any words yet, but we do believe that her sweet gibberish is becoming a bit more intelligible. Oh, and the not so fun part... discipline. For some reason she chooses to crawl directly over to the things that she shouldn't have. It is obvious that she understands "no" at this point, but we would rather not have any "no" to enforce. As we are in the beginning stages of discipline, it helps to be reminded that God has placed us in her life to provide lessons about boundaries and obedience (in addition to many other things) that can be applied to many relationships and situations that she will have throughout her life. Our job as parents is about to become quite a bit more complex.

Jamie is starting to desire some decor changes inside the house. She has no experience but thankfully has some family and friends who can give her good advice. We are beginning by painting our bedroom walls red (they used to be white). As all three of us are a little sick, we have stopped in our tracks after the primer and first coat, but there will be some photo documentary of our first home project once it is complete!

A word about exercise: Gruia continues to play in a volleyball league once a week and enjoys slamming the ball down as much as possible. Jamie started a kickboxing aerobics class at her church which starts at 5:30am - ouch! She gets home just as Gruia and Lauren are waking up, so it works out perfectly as long as she can roll out of bed on time. As Lauren is now down to two naps a day, we have a bit more flexibility with our time. After the painting is done we hope to get out a bit more on the weekends for some exercise and fresh air. Perhaps a road trip is in the making as well... there is so much to explore!

The trees have turned from colorful to barren; the weather from mild to chilly. We now end our official celebration of all that we are thankful for and get ready for the joy-filled splendor of the Christmas season. We are prepared to recover today from over-stuffed bellies with a self-controlled stroll from store to store amid some major shopping frenzy. What an amazing time of year!

We have always enjoyed this holiday season and are blessed more abundantly this year by the thoughts of new family traditions and memories with the addition of our sweet little bundle. Lauren is on the brink of some amazing transitions... most significantly those from eating only milk to savoring a vast array of "solid" food, and from being relatively immobile to having increased freedom as she continues to master the skills of her body. Gruia is now enjoying a much-deserved Thanksgiving vacation, allowing his mind to rest from the (good) daily challenges of his career. Jamie is thoroughly enjoying more time with him at home - as he is sharing in the work and enhancing the play.

It was nice to spend some time yesterday putting into words all that we are thankful for. Although we so deeply cherish our marriage and our child, our hearts and minds continue to lean toward the grace given to us by God through Jesus Christ as the most significant reason for thankfulness of them all! We do not merely say this... we truly feel this. It is impossible to write down the incomprehensible love and gratitude we have for the Lord God, so we will use a couple verses that were penned by man and inspired by God Himself. Since the Bible is so incredibly rich with Truth, there are so many to choose from.

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:28-29

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." Jude 24-25

Things have sure been busy around here lately! We hear that life gets busier as you get older - this fact is hard to imagine, but it came from trustworthy sources :). Gruia continues to work hard, and is learning more and more about how to balance and prioritize all of his different roles. Jamie has spent a lot of time over the past couple of months helping our church to organize and host a Love & Respect marriage conference which took place this past weekend. Apparently it went very well! She is happy to have the conference over with now, since the work was taking away too much time from her family and home. It's so easy to make ourselves too busy for what is really important, and we will think more deeply through future opportunities before committing to them. This was a good and timely lesson for us.

We didn't get to experience the actual conference because we were given the opportunity to go to our old stomping grounds, Los Angeles (see Trips). This was our first time traveling by plane with Lauren, and we learned quickly that it is much more difficult to travel with a child. Regardless, it was very nice to have her with us :). She did well on the flights, except for a short period of time each way that she was upset because she was just way too tired and not able to sleep. We are still making up for lost sleep now! The trip was a good practice-run for us, and we now know more about what to expect for our longer vacation to visit family after Christmas.

It was so wonderful to spend some time with our friends in LA catching up. This was the first time that most of them have seen Lauren, as we left LA soon before she was born. We were able to go to our old church and hear God's Word preached through John MacArthur, which is always an amazing time for us. We were also blessed by spending some time with Mama and Tata who drove down to see us and some other friends.

Life is good :)! Lauren is becoming more curious about things and reaches out for items (or people) that she would like to touch (or taste!). She is also beginning to experiment more with her voice. She is now able to fall asleep without her pacifier pretty easily when we're at home, so she has no need to wake up looking for it, which is good for everyone!

We recently spent a few days with our good friend Courtney who came up from Los Angeles to visit. It was so nice to introduce Lauren to her and to have a lot of time to catch up! Soon after, Lauren's Maia and Taia came to spend some more time with their granddaughter. Lauren has sure been getting a lot of love and attention lately :)!

On September 18th we had Lauren dedicated at our church. This was not a baptism and has nothing to do with her salvation. Although truly we had dedicated her to the Lord before she was born, this was a way for us to publicly declare our intention to raise Lauren in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and for our congregation to affirm their commitment to help us raise godly children - starting with Lauren :). By God's grace we will have the strength to follow through on our commitment for the rest of our lives. Our biggest prayer for her is that she will one day choose for herself to love and live for the Lord. Until then, we plan to diligently teach her about God and His truth, and how to live in a way that pleases Him. There is nothing more important. A group of women from our church made Lauren a quilt with a patch on it that includes the following verse for her:

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Our little four month old did great at her doctor appointment today. She is now weighing 14 pounds, 4.5 ounces and measuring 25.5 inches long. She's right on track developmentally with her smiles, baby talk, laughter, and increased body control. She has moved on from grabbing her feet to putting her feet into her mouth - I caught her doing this yesterday, sock and all :). Just within the past few days we have noticed a change in her interaction - she seems more curious and excited about who we are and what we are doing, which is both fun and cute! Now when we laugh face to face with her, she often will laugh right back! She's also able to roll quite well now, so we need to make sure that we don't put her down anywhere that she can roll into trouble if we step away for a moment. It's been nice to have Lauren sleeping through the night consistently, as we get time together after she goes to sleep and we're generally more well-rested :).

We are still loving our new home and state. We recently bought a Weber BBQ and Gruia has been having fun grilling for us while the weather is still very nice. It's getting darker a little bit earlier and we had a little bit of rain recently, so Autumn is definitely knocking at our door!

I think it's about time for an update! Before I get started, I've got to express our excitement for our friends Gregg and Julie who gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Taylor on July 8th!!!

Okay, back to business :). Lauren is now three months old and growing and learning so much, so quickly! She is gaining more control of her body and she enjoys every new skill. She just took a 3 hour nap after rolling onto her stomach today, so I'm guessing that is how she prefers to sleep! She is still treating us very well and we just love being with her. Her schedule is becoming more predictable now, so that is nice for Gruia and I. She sleeps through the night as long as she eats well during the day, and that is good for everyone! We've tried to stay active and bring her with us to different places and events, and so far that works well for the most part.

This past week we had our Napa family come and stay with us (see Third Month) and it was such a wonderful time. There are some hard things about living away from family, one of which is that Lauren doesn't get the chance to see them very often. We'll do all that we can to have her spend time with them and know how important they are to us! She has yet to meet her Uncle Cosmin, Aunt Ally, and Cousins Andrew and Evan ... but she's looking forward to getting that opportunity in a few months :).

Gruia is still working hard to provide for our family, and thankfully he is enjoying it while he does :)! I am trying to pull things together as a full-time wife and mother, but I must admit that I've only been to the grocery store once alone with Lauren since she's been born! One step at a time I guess!

Thank the Lord that Lauren is healthy! She had her 1 month check-up a few days ago (even though she will be 6 weeks old tomorrow) and the doctor said that she is right on track physically and developmentally. She weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 22 inches long! A friend commented at our Bible study last night that Lauren is really starting to look like a little person now.

We seem to have this parenting thing all figured out now - just kidding! Apparently it is a lifelong learning process :). We have definitely been graced with a relatively easy baby and she is teaching us day by day (and night!) how to interpret her different cries and noises.

We have made some great friends through our church who have been such a blessing to us in so many ways! Not only do they uplift us with their fellowship and hold us accountable to God's Word, but they have tangibly supported us as we have been adjusting to parenthood in a new state! Praise God for His gracious provision!

Gruia and I are both enjoying our new careers and look forward to all that God has planned for us. Gruia's first Father's Day is coming up soon :)!

Babies all around! Our good friends from Los Angeles have just had their baby boy: Kaiden Stephen Hill. What a huge blessing - you can see his pictures on Owen and Emily's website from our Resources page.

In other news, I (Gruia) have gone back to work after a two week break. All is great! Jamie gets to hang out with Lauren and just have fun and play all day. Right... I actually feel that it's easier to be at work a lot of the times than to be home. The pressure is just different - handling a crying baby that you want to pacify, or wondering about some random issue that she is having. These add up.

But - let's not forget we serve an awesome God, who has a great plan for her life as well as ours. Of course, it's hard to remember those promises in the heat of a long cry. But, we are (hopefully) learning! And for sure, God through His grace will get us through it.

Don't get me wrong - it's a joy to have Lauren. Amazing. But, as parents, there are ups and downs. I'm pretty sure most parents out there will agree!

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

Today was our first pediatrician appointment after Lauren's birth. Everything is looking great - thank and praise God! She is now 8 pounds 2 ounces, and (perhaps) 21 inches.

After they marveled at how quiet and alert she was, they proceeded to take blood from her little foot and stick a needle into her thigh (also known as a vaccine); she cried for a while and even now, hours later, she is unhappy. We are confident she will bounce back though!

It's interesting, and funny... The Doctor said she is doing great and congratulated us. However, we have done nothing. Really, it's only by God's grace that Lauren is well, by His grace that she will continue to gain weight as she should and "be well" - by His grace is everything. Having her has once again helped us to realize this.

From seeing her in the ultrasound, the size of a rice grain (see the before birth photos), to having her now and seeing how intricate and "wonderfully made" (see the Bible :-) ) she is, all of this further points us in God's direction.

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." James 1:16-18.

Today is our first day back home from the hospital - it's great to be back! Of course, we didn't come back by ourselves but with our beautiful baby girl. It's pretty unbelievable, yet so amazing.

Lauren is starting to eat every two hours or so, and seems to be a very happy baby. Excellent! Jamie is now walking around more easily, which is a big relief for us.

Praise the Lord! Our beautiful baby girl was born at around 8:54PM on 5/7/05, measured 20.5 inches and weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces.

Jamie started labor at around 4:30 AM, received an epidural at about 3:30PM and started pushing at around 6:30 PM. However, she had her tailbone in the way, so Lauren could not come out, no matter how much she wanted to - unless she broke mommy's tailbone. At that point, a C-section was done, and in one of the most intense, emotional moments of our lives we met our baby.

We have finally received our DSL line, pretty much finished unpacking and are now expecting the baby. The Lord has been extremely good and faithful - as always!

We started going to a new church - Crossroads Bible Church in Bellevue. The doctrine looks great, the people very friendly; ministry here we come :)

The baby is doing well - Jamie will be 38 weeks along tomorrow. This means that any day can be the big day. It also means that Jamie is having a harder and harder time moving around. It looks more and more likely that the "the day" will be around May 8th or later.

Gruia started work - really enjoying it. There is so much to learn and so little time :)! But, by God's grace it will all work out.

We miss our friends and family; and we are very much looking forward to having you visit us in the very near future!!!

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