Nicknames

The last couple of months Judah has been occasionally calling me "Teri" instead of "Mommy." The first time he did it, he said it several times before I realized he was calling me by my first name. I even had to ask Steve if that was what he thought Judah was saying. What a crack up! A lot of times I'll call Judah "Punkin" or "Punkies." The other day, Steve and Judah were going out for a bike ride. As they pulled out of the driveway, Judah called to me from his bike trailer, "Bye Punkin!" I was laughing out loud as they rode away.

Coram Deo Is Meeting On Sunday Mornings!

After more than a year of meeting in our small but free facility on Sunday evenings, our church, Coram Deo, has finally begun meeting in Double Diamond Elementary on Sunday mornings! We had our first official Sunday morning service this past Sunday and it was great. Steve and I were both back in the Kids' Church area the entire time since it was a new set-up and we wanted to make sure everything went smoothly so we didn't get to experience the actual worship service but we hear it went really well. There was a buzz and energy in the air and it just felt "official and real" for the first time for me, for some reason. Not that what we've been doing so far hasn't been amazing--it was just different. Judah and I rode our bike (Judah in the pull-buggy behind my bike) there, which was fun. The school is a 5 minute ride from our house! :) We had 105 people, including kids, which is our highest yet!! Praise God for what He is doing!

Valentine's Day

Around the Meek house, we're not too big on celebrating "Hallmark Holidays." We do typically do something special for Valentine's Day though but, like everything else that we do, it's not your "usual" type of celebration that most couples think of on such a historically romantic day. Instead of going out to eat at a pricey restaurant, Steve made a nice dinner and we had some wine (Judah also joined us for dinner but not the wine) and just relaxed at home. It was really wonderful and special. We actually celebrated Valentine's Day on the 15th though because Steve had a meeting for the Reno AIDS Walk planning committee on the 14th.

Judah received several really thoughtful and sweet V-Day cards from family. The above picture is of him holding his cards from his cousins, Katie and Alex.

Starbucks/Boys Date Day

Once a week, Steve takes Judah on a "boys date" where they do fun stuff together. They're typically out for about 3 hours. During that time, I usually go to Starbucks to read, write birthday/thank you cards, do some design work on the computer, etc. I look so forward to my Starbucks day every week because it gives me some much-needed, uninterrupted time to work on those things I don't manage to get done when Judah is around. It's nice to feel like a "normal" personal out in the real world without a busy toddler sometimes too. Last week, Steve took Judah to Cabela's sporting goods store. They have lots of wildlife scenes with real (stuffed) wild animals, which Judah loves to look at. The first time he saw this scene of the lion and the zebra, he said, "Oh no, zebra fall!" Daddy loves boys date day too! It's a day we all look forward to every week.

Being Fed

Although we love the Sunday teaching of our Teaching Pastor, Dawson Lange, we often times miss the service because we're serving in the Kid's Ministry or doing miscellaneous work behind the scenes. So, we'll listen to Dawson's sermon online later in the week. We also try to listen to other Bible teachings online as we have time during the week. Our latest interest is listening to the two Mars Hill church pastors' teachings. Their preaching styles contrast a great deal but we really learn a lot from both of them. We also laugh a lot when we listen! Many of you have been fans of Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll for a long time so forgive our slowness in jumping on the Mars Hill bandwagon, so to speak :). For those of you who like to listen to teachings online and haven't already checked out Mars Hill (Grand Rapids, MI) or Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA), I highly recommend giving it a try. Rob Bell (MI) and Mark Driscoll (WA) also have some books out on the market if you like their teachings and delivery.

Judah's 2 Year Pics

Judah and I did a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago to commemorate his turning 2 at the end of December. Here is a collage of a few of those pics. I included a few of his current favorite things in the large photo. Enjoy!