Getting the hang of it!

Owen is really starting to get the hang of the guitar. He still loves his drum, but I would say that he equally loves his guitar. What he really loves is music! Here is Owen playing the first two verses of a Hymn that we love called "For all the Saints."

For All the Saints

1. For all the saints,
who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith
before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus,
be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Allelu...

2. Thou wast their rock,
their fortress and their might;
Thou, Lord, their captain
in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness
drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Allelu...

How did he get so big?

Look how big our sweet Owen is! We had this out when we watched our friend Jenny's little one - baby Gray - the other day. Owen and Baxter might have enjoyed it more than Gray :)

"Boy Time"

Every Thursday morning (EARLY), I go out to meet one of two girls (each girl every other week) from church for discipleship at a bagel shop. While I am doing that, Matt and the boys have "boy time." I usually come home to some new silly game or song or pictures. Here are a few from yesterday. I guess they both woke up with crazy hair! By the time I got home they were out of their pj's and their hair was combed - thank you Matt! (There is a "clean up" song that Matt made up while playing Owen's guitar that sounds like it is straight out of the Wiggles Show. I will have to record it and put it on here. It's funny and the boys love it!)

Crazy hair at breakfast.

Life as an almost 14 month old

Here are a few pictures of Bax from recently. He is such a joy - hard to believe he used to cry more of the day than he was content. He brings a lot of laughter to our family. He's starting to show that he too is born as a sinner - what a will!! So we will now pray more fervently for BOTH of our boys!

Snuggling mommy and big puppy - Bax will give great "snuggles" - they only last about 6 seconds, but they are very sweet.



Owen and Baxter got a "Cozy Coupe" car for their birthday - Owen is the main driver, but occasionally B will get a turn too. Here he is enjoying it very much.



He has learned how to climb on the dump truck - he can't move forward or anything, but getting on is half the battle!

Tasty Korean Food!

Every month we have the leadership team for the Young Adults ministry over for dinner and a meeting. I have generally done most of the cooking - which I really enjoy - they have offered to help a lot recently though and I am learning to accept the help more and more. This week, our friend Mr. Eman made a DELICIOUS spread of Korean bbq (I forget the exact name for it) and great sides and such. It was so fun to learn about his family and food and to enjoy the yummy food. Thanks Mr. Eman!

The Food.



The Team

The Lord is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

On our way to church yesterday we were trying to teach this to Owen - by the end of the day he was bold enough to do it. What a profound truth! What a great thing that we have a holiday every year to remind us of the life, death and ultimately the resurrection of Jesus! What a great God to teach us more each year of the significance of that day and to teach it to our children too.

Saturday we were invited to attend a BIG Easter egg hunt at our friends the Carroll's. They are some folks at West End that we have asked (and they have agreed!) to love on us as a couple and as a family. They host an egg hunt each year for their kids/grandkids/friends. There were about 100 people there! Lots of eggs! And even a REAL Easter Bunny! After the event, they hosted everyone at a local pizza shop for dinner and fellowship. It was a really great time. The boys really loved it - which surprised me since Owen is such an introvert. Owen loved finding eggs. His favorite was an egg that someone had hidden in our hubcap- smart egg hider! Baxter loved the ONE egg that he fond. His favorite part was standing near the path where all of the kids were walking through and just watching the big kids. Maybe he'll be the lone Purdy extrovert?!

Here are a few pictures from our Easter weekend. We hope and pray that in all of these things, the Lord Christ was lifted up in our hearts and in our home!
(Note: we recently purchased a MacBook, so some of the pictures have been edited in iPhoto - what fun!! We recommend buying a Mac!)

The egg hunt:











Some Easter fun ones - forgot to get a family picture on Easter Sunday - Matt was our photographer :)

Visit with Cousins

Last week (on Matt's birthday) we went to Harrisonburg to visit with my parents and my brother Brett and his family from Connecticut. Brett was on spring break from teaching middle school and they were at my parents for the week. Here are some pictures of cousin fun. Anna and Owen are only days apart and Jake and Baxter are a few weeks apart. They have a great time together and miss each other terribly when the visits are over. We love you guys!

Jake and Baxter with wild hair.



Brett and Carolyn went to Target and came back with these great kites. Owen LOVED his Thomas kite! He did so well with it...



EXCEPT when he let go - look at Matt in full stride chasing down the kite. It didn't get very far, but it was funny to watch!



Serious kite men.



Making spring cookies!

Easter Mountain Update

Here is an encouraging/funny update about the Easter Mountain.

So, on Tuesday, the scripture we read was Mark 14 about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. At one point, Jesus is praying "not my will, but yours Lord" to God. He is submitting His will to the will of His Father in Heaven. I saw this is a great parallel to Owen's need to submit to Matt and I as his parents. We talked all through this and moved on for the day.

Yesterday we were driving in the car and Owen was having a hard time. We got to talking about this story from the Easter Mountain, and Owen was able to apply that this was a chance to say "not my will, but yours mommy." Precious, encouraging, wonderful...

Today we were trying to get ready to go to the library. I asked Owen to come sit down so that I could put his shoes on. He would not and ran away laughing. I was trying to show him how he was disobeying and that his response SHOULD have been "not my will, but yours mommy." Owen replied "No! MY will mommy!" Yikes!

SO, while Owen is learning a lot and processing through a lot, he is still in great need of the work of Jesus in his heart and life. We are thankful for little glimpses into this and we pray and pray and pray for the Lord to be gracious to Owen and to cause him to believe in Him.

It is amazing how night and day those two experiences are. Isn't that what we all experience though? What a GREAT need we have for a GREAT Savior! Here is a song that is a reminder about what a GREAT Savior we do have (There is a Redeemer, Keith Green).

There is a redeemer,
Jesus, gods own son,
Precious lamb of god, messiah,
Holy one,

Jesus my redeemer,
Name above all names,
Precious lamb of god, messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us your son,
And leaving your spirit,
til the work on earth is done.

When I stand in glory,
I will see his face,
And there Ill serve my king forever,
In that holy place.

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us your son,
And leaving your spirit,
til the work on earth is done.

Getting Ready for Easter

One of the ways that we are seeking to get ourselves and the boys ready to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus is through an Easter Mountain. We learned about it through a great book by Noel Piper called "Treasuring God in Our Traditions."

We are excited about it as a real hands on way to help Owen (and ourselves like I said before) really grasp the love that Jesus has for us as seen in his death and resurrection - that He love us and that He died to rescue us from our sins. Pray for us that the Lord would use these humble means to teach us all!

Owen working the dough.



Our first "scene" - the Last Supper (a modified version)



(If you click HERE, you can see more about how to make it/how to use it.)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday (4/7)! So, today Owen and I made Matt a birthday cake. When I asked Owen what kind of cake he thought that Matt would like, Owen replied "a candy cake." So we went with it. We chose one kind of candy - a family favorite - M&M's. It was a hit! (Sidenote: We almost didn't get to enjoy cake as a family because Owen had a very hard time choosing to eat his corn tonight at dinner. One of those battles we wish we hadn't picked, but since we did, we had to follow through on it. BUT, the Lord was gracious and really worked to soften his heart and we enjoyed a great celebration!)


Owen hard at work "pushing" the M&M's in the cake.




I LOVE MY DADDY!



A dad and his boys.



The finished product.

Back Yard fun!

It is such a blessing to have a back yard! Here are some shots that capture a little post nap fun yesterday - spring time is the best!