Progress

Well, you can never be too thankful to God for His work in your life. It is again time to express some of that thanks! So, today I would like to give some examples of the progress He has given our family.

Hannah Grace is on the left and Benjamin Martin is on the right. Both photos are taken within minutes of their respective births. Hannah looks much like her great grandma Fader while Ben looks much like his grandma Wentling!


Now we always expect our children to grow up normal. Hannah's life has been pretty normal to date.
I believe this is Hannah's first trip to Idaho. We were telling great grandpa Fader how Hannah was always so serious and didn't responded too much to people. Well, the first day Bek and Hannah were there Hannah was crying because she did not want to take her nap. Great grandpa Fader went in and brought her out to be with everyone. From that point on she was a new Hannah! As you can see, she had a great time with great grandpa!


The Lord has enabled Hannah to grow and mature over the last two and a half years.

As you can see, mama picked out a very nice dress for Hannah's trip home from the hospital. If we would have been pulled over by a law enforcement officer, he would have been very impressed!

Here is my little angel sleeping peacefully with her hands under her cheek! What a cutie!


Within her first year, Hannah and daddy went to see Derek Webb live in concert in the metropolis that is Marysville! As you can see, as long as she has her bottle, Hannah is content!

Here is Hannah Grace at her first birthday party! Boy she loved that cake! Ironically, this is one of her messier moments. She is quite clean to her daddy's delight!

The Lord has blessed us with this little one! She can already count to twenty ten (thirty). She is able to identify her numbers and letters. Also, she is learning to use the potty, though she is quite reluctant at this point.

Thank you, Lord, for Hannah Grace!


Then there is my son, Benjamin! His life started out a wee bit different to say the least!

When he was born, his lungs were underdeveloped. Below you can see his breathing tube and the IVs they inserted into his belly button. OUCH! He was on morphine during most of this. I imagine he was resting pretty well!





We have to thank God for His gracious gift of technology. I am convinced that thirty to fifty years ago Ben would have died. A few hours after his birth he was only getting fifty percent of the oxygen he needed and was not able to eat.

I imagine this is kind of a cool picture! No that is not some kind of revolutionary photo lens on my wife's camera. He needed to be under the blue light because of jaundice. Can you see the cool shades? If I remember correctly, Ben was actually shaking during this time. I think it was in response to coming off of the morphine.

As I pointed out, technology is an amazing gift from God! On the right is Ben somewhere around a week after his birth. All that is left is the feeding tube! He still had not learned to nurse. I think the bottle came first for him.

These picture are actually the first time mommy is able to hold Ben after his birth! Both picture are truly worth 1000 words and are priceless. Somewhere I have a video of that event. I hope to post it someday, after I figure out how to post videos.

Here is a picture of Ben at home!



He is doing great these days! He likes to wrestle and dive off the couch! He loves his sister and his mommy! Most of the ladies at church say he looks like a little man! Maybe I should call him 'mini-me'. Maybe not.



It is difficult to express appropriate thanks to Christ for His gracious gift of life! Nevertheless, this post is a tribute to His power and a shout of praise and thanksgiving for His kindness! It would be wrong of me to end this post without giving proper tribute to the one who actually feels most of the responsibility for raising these two blessings! To my beautiful and wonder wife: Thank you, my love!