Giada's Dedication

We dedicated our sweet Giada Esther, who is seven months old, at our church on Sunday, September 13. Our church considers Dedication an opportunity to publicly commit that we will raise our children in a Christian home and share with them opportunities to learn about God and one day make their own decision about their faith. Our Children's Director Debi Lusk was there and our Lead Pastor Scott Hansen shared about our family and prayed over Giada.

Meilani also joined us on stage since she has the "big sister" responsibilities of helping care for her sister and teach her along the way. She takes this part very seriously.

We had many close friends and family, including Grandma Chris, Grandpa Larry, Nana Maria and Papa Doug, who stood up to join us in prayer and commitment to help raise Giada. We were so blessed to look out over our church and realize how many people have really become our family and join us on the journey of parenting.

Scott was especially excited to share with the church that Giada had already been a missionary to Haiti this summer even before we had a chance to dedicate her.

After the church service, we had a rockin' Italian feast at Nana and Papa's house. Our small group and some other friends joined us and the house was teeming with kids.

As the saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child..."

Giada's Growing: Baby girl crawls, eats first solid food

On August 16, 2009, our sweet Giada turned 6 months. It's hard to believe how fast the time flies. Now our little bear is making new strides in her growing. She has moved on from the infant stages and is becoming mobile!
A few weeks ago Giada ventured out for her first crawl. It's more of a "bear crawl launch." She takes a few steps on her feet and hands and then launches herself forward on her belly. Sometimes she lets her knees down but we think our hardwood floors discourage her from the "regular" crawling technique.
Not only is she buzzing across the floor - she's also pulling herself up on furniture to a standing position. We have exactly two stairs in our entire house and one can often find her climbing up and then down, up and then down again on this short flight of stairs.
We also decided to start out our little girl on some solid food besides breast milk. (Yes, she'll still be a breastfed baby for a while longer!) Our first "meal" was bites of an organic avocado.
And the verdict? Avocadoes are a winner! (Actually, so are organic bananas, carrots and apples.)

Ericlee's first day of school

We know it's that time of year when everyone is posting "first day of school" photos. Since Ericlee has just started a new school year at a new job we couldn't resist the opportunity to share some photos.

Ericlee is a bonified college professor now. He teaches in the Kinesiology department at Fresno Pacific University. What a blessing to have a job using his skills and passions. This semester he is teaching four classes, including "Analysis of Outdoor Activities," "Nutrition," "Theory of P.E." and "Analysis of Fitness" Ericlee attended FPU for 2 years of college so it is fun to be back on campus teaching. He also has at least four Fresno Christian High School grads in his classes. He still gets to hang out with some of his faves!

We took the girls to visit FPU for a day and check out Daddy's new office. We even ate in the cafeteria. I am also teaching one class at FPU this fall. This will be my fifth time teaching "Reading & Writing Journalism" on Monday nights. I'm looking forward to being back in the classroom. I'm especially excited because I only have nine in my class so there's more time for personal attention for my students and less time grading.

We are grateful for all the prayers and support from friends and family. Although this job pays less than working at Fresno Christian, God has provided an incredible opportunity and health benefits are included for our family. We hope this will be the next step in moving Ericlee's career to the college level. We also consider it a gift to be in Fresno for another year living in our community of friends with our parents so close by. Daddy's job is so cool that he gets to ride his bike to school and teach about cycling. (Ok, and he's saving money on gas while he's at it.)