A little less than a year ago, Zac and I were getting over a very disheartening rejection letter that completely changed our plans and pointed us in a new direction...to Portland. God had a much better plan in mind, and we have witnessed His faithfulness all along - from Zac getting an interview at George Fox seminary within 24 hours of reading the rejection letter and finding a wonderful apartment home (on Craigslist!), to providing jobs that fit us perfectly (I.T. work for Zac and Children's Ministry/Children's Choir for me), to being in the right place at the right time for a family emergency, to bringing wonderful friends into our lives who just happen to live across the parking lot. God is so good! For the first time in nearly six years of marriage, we both have jobs that continue through the summer and on into the next year. What?! No job searching or dealing with the stress of unemployment for 2 years? Woot! And, to top it off, we are within 2 hours of the ocean and Mt. Hood. Faaan-tastic!
We thank God for leading us here and giving us the gift of this time in Portland. We are grateful for new friendships for us and for Zoë (she finally had a little girl over for a playdate last week!) and especially for this special season to be close to my family. It is delightful to watch my brothers be loving uncles and my mom be a wonderful grandma (sometimes I think she has more energy than I do!), and for Zoë to get to know her Aunt Mary, great aunts and uncles and cousins and great grandparents. I am soaking up every moment of this season of life.
Earlier this week, Zoë and I had a fun adventure with my mom, all three brothers, sister-in-law Mary and Aunt Nancy. We spent a day-and-a-half along the Oregon Coast at Fort Stevens, and were blessed with the only beautiful, sunny day this week to enjoy the warm sand, blue skies and gorgeous sunlit waves. We camped in a yurt which was perfect - it kept us dry and warm during the cool, rainy night. And there were beds. (Not gonna lie - I love tent camping, but this was pretty nice. :)
Playing on the Iredale Shipwreck with Uncle Judah
Zoë loves the beach. I mean, she really LOVES it. We spent a good portion of the day there, and she just had a blast. She was squealing and running around on the beach, chasing the waves and jumping over them, and rolling in the sand. Even after getting completely soaked (from face planting and rolling around in the waves...on purpose) and getting into a whole new outfit, she still wanted to play for a couple more hours. I love to see my girl so happy. :)
Following Uncle Kenny to the waves
Sandcastle fun with her new sand bucket kit
Beach Princess sitting on her throne
Jumping waves - a favorite activity of hers
After deciding to go swimming...
We found a really cool little Zoë-sized fort!
She enjoyed climbing around on the logs.
Check out the sand goatee!
Our lovely yurt
Rolling in the sand
Getting washed up with Uncle Corby
Sibling pic!
Uncle Kenny made a special trip from Montana to be there with all of us :)
Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with a wonderful year. Here's to another year to enjoy our Oregon home, ministry and learning, family and friends!
I love parties, especially birthday parties. When I was young, I used to plan my own birthday parties and make my own cakes. On my 12th birthday, I had all my friends come dressed as old ladies and we had a tea party out on the lawn with a hat-shaped chocolate cake. So fun! However, it is even better planning a party for someone else - especially when that someone else happens to be my own precious little girl.
My beautiful butterfly
Needless to say, I had an absolute blast dreaming up ideas and creating this party - and it was so fun for me to put it all together and see Zoë and our family and friends have a delightful time!
Birthday girl with her special friend, Celicia
The dream for this party: to be filled with all the things that Zoë loves - the great outdoors, our neighborhood playground, lots of people, little friends to play with, yummy treats, and of course, butterflies.
Butterfly shaped P.b.& J's for the little ones :)
The spread - waiting for everyone to arrive
Zoë's toddler buddy, Timothy with his butterfly straw
Cupcakes!
Timothy really liked those "caterpillars" (Good n' Plenty, used for the butterfly bodies on the cupcakes :)
Butterfly Craft Table: butterfly masks and coffee filter butterflies
Rachel and Aunt Heidi with the Birthday Girl
Celicia's lovely mask
Where is Zoë??
Peek-a-boo!
Cousin Adon's coffee filter butterfly in progress
Zoë enjoyed coloring with Margaret, Danae and Gail (friends from church)
Toddler Butterfly Hunt!
It was adorable watching these three search for the butterfly goodie bags we hid around the trees with their butterfly nets :)
"I found the last butterfly!"
Playground fun
Since moving to Portland nearly a year ago, the most difficult part has been finding playmates for Zoë, and we really haven't had any luck with that outside of nursery at church on Sunday mornings. So, we invited her nursery friends, and it brought so much joy to my heart to see my little social butterfly giggling with glee as she pulled Celicia around the playground and had so much fun with her other young friends that came to the party. We are definitely looking forward to creating more opportunities for these friendships to blossom!
The butterfly wings I made for Zoë using fabric scraps from newborn outfits, quilts and diaper covers that had been ruined one way or another. She refused to wear it on her birthday on Tuesday, but today enjoyed running around "flying" and sharing her wings with Celicia.
Presents!
Enjoying her gifts with Margaret
Celebrating with us today were my family, the Farner clan (above), and a few families from church. Thank you all for coming to celebrate Zoë's life with us, and lovin' on her! She certainly is one special little girl!
We continued the festivities day with a delicious dinner at Outback to treat the moms (Didi, Lola, Oma and me!), and concluded with a dance party in our living room in which Zoë demanded EVERYONE to get up and dance with her! What a perfect way to end the day - Zoë style :)
Precious butterfly, you have transformed overnight from my little baby to a big girl! You are so loved!
Two years ago, Zoë Anastasia came into the world, and the world was forever changed. :)
We celebrated Zoë's life today with all sorts of things that Zoë loves: a special butterfly themed birthday breakfast (with favorites banana and chocolate), a trip to the zoo with mommy and daddy, presents, ice cream, a shopping "spree," fun at the park, and painting in the bathtub.
All decorated and ready for the birthday girl to wake up!
Zoë loves butterflies. And it is perfect that she loves them,
because her middle name, Anastasia, means "resurrection" and butterflies are a
Christian symbol for resurrection. Cool, huh?
Butterfly Breakfast!
Delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Baked Donuts
(made with Greek yogurt too, so basically healthy ;)
Blowing out the candles
Zoë truly is full of "life," and brings joy and delight wherever she goes. She has a tender heart and shows great empathy for her age - giving hugs to anyone who is sad (including characters in her books). Her hugs and kisses are precious.
Hanging out with the "penguins" at the zoo. :)
Chillin' by the elephants with her new "Hello Kitty" water bottle
Zoë's intelligence is almost frightening. Every day we are blown away by her comprehension, her memory, problem solving and the connections she makes between words and between people and experiences.
Zoë is a super independent and self-motivated. She basically potty trained herself last week and has been accident free for 6 days! (At barely 24 months - what?!). She is also very spirited (a.k.a. strong willed), and stubborn as a mule (I don't know where she got that...) and has given us a run for our money trying to figure out the best and most godly way to guide/shape that spiritedness into a gift rather than a curse (for her and for us!).
Presents! Regrettably, we let her open her gift from Auntie Judy first -
a VTec digital camera. She didn't really care about any
of the other presents after that... :p
The words are really starting to come out now. Some of her recent favorites: "dress"(which she asks to wear EVERY day), "shoes", "gackgack" (a.k.a backpack), "hand,""stop" and "go", "ba-bye", "butterfly" and "mingo" (flamingo).
She loves books. Zoë will sit in her room or on the potty and read, read, read. Any kind of book - children's books, our camping book (her current favorite), songbooks, road maps, and checkbooks. Lately, she has been asking be to read some of the longer books, like Seuss's "Horton Hears a Who!," and sits (mostly) and listens to the whole thing!
Zoë loves this camera!
(And now we can start to avoid the tantrums
when I want to take pictures but won't let her touch mine! Yay!)
My present to Zoë: Butterfly wings made from fabric taken from old stained baby clothes, ruined quilts, worthless velcro diaper covers, and scraps from things I made for her in the last two years. She can wear the elastic straps around her shoulders and hook her hands into elastic handles on the wing tips.
Unfortunately, Zoë was not thrilled about the wings today and wouldn't even put them on long enough for me to get a picture. *Sigh.* Even though I told her it was making mommy VERY sad! Oh well. Hopefully she will want to wear them on Saturday for her "official" birthday party.
Ice cream is one of Zoë's most favorite things.
We knew we would have to include a trip to our
neighborhood Baskin-Robins for her birthday. :)
The funniest part is that she decided she didn't want her ice cream cone,
and wanted daddy's milkshake instead. Crazy girl!
The grocery store across the street gave Zoë a $5 gift certificate for her birthday.
She picked out this blue bunny. :)
(Thanks Auntie Gloria for the new dress too!)
Zoë is full of adventure. She's a thrill seeker and likes a challenge. The playground is one of her favorite places to "monkey around," and do all sorts of things that make mommy a little anxious. :s If the big kids are doing it, well, so can she! She has mastered the somersault and is working on the cartwheel. :) Zoë loves to dance. LOVES to dance. She requests that we turn on some music at least once every day so that she can show off her moves. And if she hears music outside or in a store, she'll immediately start groovin'.
Enjoy a little glimpse into the everyday life of the now-two-year-old Zozo:
We love you, Zoë Anastasia! We thank God for sending you into our lives,
