An April Update

Having taken approximately 1000 pictures on Easter yesterday, I figured today was a good a time as ever to update the old blog with some recent pictures of our beautiful and hilarious little boys.

If you get our email updates (which you can by emailing benwhittinghill-at-gmail-dot-com) you know how the Lord has so clearly gone before us and is bringing people into our path to share the gospel with and disciple.  A core team is forming and we are beginning to gather every other Thursday night at our home.  We are using this time to clearly communicate the core values and vision of the church, with hopes of transitioning these gatherings to a Sunday morning church service sometime this summer.   

After praying for a general city for so long, it is amazing to start putting faces to the masses and getting to know some individuals that make up this hurting city.  And that’s really what it is…hurting, broken, and so lost.

I’ve had the opportunity to begin taking a few women through Kay Arthur’s “Lord Teach me to Study the Bible in 28 days.” That’s a super long title for a really concise and thorough book that is perfect for introducing Bible study  to someone who has never done it before.

One of the first passages the book has us examining is Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” And that is exactly what has been happening to this area.  These precious people do not know God, they don’t know His Word…and it is causing terrible destruction.  So many times I have thought to myself I am so rich. I am rich to have grown up in a godly home. I am rich to have come to know Jesus as a child.  I am rich to have been taught how to study the Bible at a young age. I am rich because I know Jesus.  I know what His Word says, and I have His Holy Spirit actively working in my life.  I am so humbled, because I know all of this is just pure grace.  And it is fueling my passion to share the timeless truth of God with the people He has surrounded us with. 

We have been so blessed by the support and encouragement we have received from so many people as we start on this journey.  We feel really lifted by your prayers and we know we are not in this alone.  So thank you. 

In our first month here, we had Ben’s mom visit one week, and my mom and brother, Micah, visit the next week.  We had a wonderful time with both of them, and it was so special to have our mom’s see our new world.  By far the hardest thing about being up here so far is being so far away from all our amazing people.   So having them visit was good for our hearts.

And now, here are a million pictures of our children.  They make us laugh all the time and I have so many moments when I look at them and think, what just happened? How am I already a mom of two kids?  Sometimes I feel like I should still be in college.  But then again I was 5 months pregnant when I graduated so it’s not like that was that long ago. 

Levi is a character.  He is processing and talking faster than we can keep up with. And really he is just hilarious.  He LOVES sports.  I do not love sports.  But I am learning to play “bakkyball” and “fooball” with him with great enthusiasm because it’s his absolute favorite thing.  He turned anything into a “bakkyball goad” (basketball goal). Sometimes it’s the top bunk of his bunkbeds, sometimes it’s Elijah’s crib, and last night it was the drying rack we hang clothes on. He also LOVES clothes.  Which, of course, I never saw coming because like all babies, he used to cry every time I dressed him.  And now the first thing he talks about it what shirt he is going to wear that day and which shoes.  And since we are potty training and having accidents still, he changes pants quite a few times some days, which is great fun for him because he just loves clothes.  And whenever I’m folding laundry he can hardly contain himself when he sees all his favorite shirts nice and clean – Stripes! Yellow fuffy shirt! I wear my Ju-Bullgog shirt??  The excitement is like that of being reunited with an old friend.

I have so many moments when his cuteness is just overwhelming and I literally tear up because I just think that one day I’ll be saying goodbye to him when he’s going to college and I’ll have all these flashbacks of him dancing around the kitchen floor in his most athletic way saying “play fooball with me, Mommy! Come play fooball with Levi!” and it’s like now I’m IN those moments that I know I’ll miss so I’m just trying to stop. Often. And soak it all in.  

And Elijah. Oh our precious sweet, Elijah.  The Lord knew I needed this smiley little sweet heart in my life.  He is such a gift and I am so thankful for the joy he brings our home! We can already tell that this little one is going to be our sensitive little teddy bear.  He lays his head down on our chest to snuggle.  He grips me tight when I am laying him down at night.  He smiles all the time and giggles when you tickle him.   He isn’t pulling up on things, he doesn’t have any teeth in sight, and I don’t mind at all.  He seems so much more like a baby than Levi did at this age, but maybe that’ s cause Levi was my first and when he hit 9 months old I felt like I almost had a full blown toddler on my hands.  Sweet E loves to bounce on all fours when you’re holding him on your lap, and he belly laughs when daddy plays peek-a-boo with him. He has started being really playful with Levi and it’s like they’re developing their own little understanding of each other.  I’ve been especially grateful lately for God’s sovereignty in giving me two boys right in a row.  They are such a gift to me, and such a gift to each other. 

I squealed a little bit when I saw what a perfect picture Ben captured of me and Levi on my birthday.
Never have I ever seen this much snow on my birthday before!

 

 Ben is the sweetest daddy, and is especially good about getting down on the floor with the boys and playing with them on their level.  I love watching him love on our boys!

For how rough-and-tumble Levi is, he has quite a little nurturing heart.  This is him pretending to feed "baby E-lijah," who just happens to be a rolled up blanket.  

We do "spring baskets" somewhere in the general vicinity of Easter Sunday, but not on the actual day.  This is how my family did it growing up and I like how it still allows us to bless the boys with some fun new things without being the main focus of Easter Sunday.  You can tell Elijah was quite pleased with his basket.

I think my plan of indoctrinating Levi with a love of books since the day we brought him home from the hospital is finally working. This guy genuinely loves to read. I'll come in his room at 6 am to nurse Elijah and find him quietly sitting on his bed reading a giant pile of books by the light of the window.  

 It's so nice to have children that love being posed for pictures and never try to sit on each other or crawl away. 

Shwew. We have a winner. 

 

I feel like Elijah is saying dude, don't you think this pose is a dead giveaway that we're trying to escape?  Levi - no way man, I look like a natural.

We were so blessed to have some dear friends from Atlanta, Rodney and Kaye Dill, in town for Easter Lunch. It was such a blessing to get to visit with them and be encouraged by them.  

That dimple and double chin is just too much to handle. 

BAM. He just found a Lindt ball. 

This might be one of my favorite pictures of all time. 

This one is really serious about his football moves.

One of the highlights of the day was FOOTBALL EASTER EGGS. Best 87 cents I've ever spent at Walmart. 

I'll conclude this extremely long post with a picture of Levi nurturing a large rock.  If you've read to the end of this post, YOU WIN!