Saturday, June 6, 2009

June Update

So much has happened in the last few months. Claire's grandmother and great-grandmother came to visit us from France for 10 days, and what a good time we had altogether. We visited some sights, but more than anything it was just good family time. While they were here, Claire celebrated her first birthday, or rather WE celebrated her first birthday! She's been taking assisted steps for a while, but now she's starting to walk unassisted, and it is adorable. She walks hesitantly, then starts clapping for herself. I hope to catch it on video soon. Parenting has such priceless moments and we try to enjoy them all.
Jessica is starting to pray and seek God about Claire and raising her to be a godly woman. This seems to come much more naturally to Scott, but for Jessica discipline does not come naturally, so she is learning to be firm - without anger or fear. The issue she is dealing with now is throwing food and drink off the high chair. Claire does not do this when Scott is around, so clearly Jessica needs to learn a thing or two! But praise God, we're not perfect, but we're on our way, and there is no guilt or condemnation for us because we are in Christ Jesus. So we strive to do our best, but perfection is by no means the goal.
We are starting to prepare ourselves for our trip to Spain and France - only 5 weeks away! As daunting as it is to travel with Claire across such a big time difference, we remember that we only have one child, and there are people who travel with many more small children!
The semester has now been over for about 3 weeks, and that has been so good for all of us. We are enjoying our weekends together, not having to fret over any classwork.
Jessica is looking forward to starting mentoring former prisoners at the pre-release center down the street. You can see a link here. Scott has a few things in prospect, including a big grant proposal with the University of Southern California on the charismatic movement around the world, and with a Catholic think tank based out of Catholic University. He is very motivated and excited to start a career as a researcher and fellow. We are declaring this year as the year of God's positioning us in the right places and opening doors no man can close. Check out Revelation 3:7 for Scriptural reference.
Well, we're off to a Lord's Day supper - that a dinner held once a month at the house of someone from our community - Mother of God Community. We are becoming members of the community this June 14. Thank you for your prayers and your updates.