What-Chu Talkin' 'Bout, Nolan?

Oh, how I wish I knew! Nolan is at that stage where he thinks I understand everything he says, when in reality I can decipher very little of his achingly sweet toddler gibberish. Adorable as his attempts at communication are, much of what comes from his little mouth are grunts. He has a few intelligible words...mama, dada, bampa (Grandpa), ba (ball or bath), baba (bye bye), ba buck (trash truck) and bagoom (vacuum.) Rabbit trail--He's obsessed with the vacuum and we can't wait til he can use it! Fortunately, I understand his ONE baby sign. I have attempted to teach him a few others, but only one has stuck. (Sigh!) In Nolan's world clapping his hands together means "more," "please," or "again"--dependent on the context. Of course it could simply mean "Yeah!" Who really knows? Regardless of what it means, be assured that it's very very cute! He nods yes and shakes his head no and seems to understand what we say to him, but he hasn't made much progress in verbally communicating to us. One of these days it will all come spilling out and we'll be amazed.

Cracker Kid

The fact that Nolan has no teeth doesn't stop him from thoroughly enjoying his food! Silly chipmunk!

Go Chargers!

Dear LT,

I think you're the best! I love the way you jump over all those guys to get a touchdown even though your wife said on an interview that Mommy and Daddy watched that it's too dangerous. Daddy wanted to name me after you, but Mommy said no. She says LaDainian Liedahl doesn't sound so good. Keep on doing what you do best and put those Colts in their place next week.

Your Friend and Fan, Nolan

A "Normal" Sunday At Last!

Since illness has been an unwelcome visitor in our home for what's felt like forever we hadn't been to church since Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Christmas, but Thanksgiving weekend. I can't recall a time in my life when I've ever been absent that long! Today we were able to participate in service (til we were paged to come for Nolan--no surprise there!) and it was so wonderful to be back! I felt truly rejuvenated as we left the sanctuary...and I definitely was in need of spiritual rejuvenation. I confess that when I'm not in constant fellowship, corporate worship, and learning from a gifted Bible teacher my spiritual life becomes stale rather quickly.

I've never been able to understand people who claim that they are Christians but don't feel the need to go to church. Fellowship is integral to growth--the Bible makes that clear. Yes, we can (and should!) study God's Word on our own, but when we make a conscious decision that no one else will be granted the opportunity to expound upon God's Word in our lives I believe that we are robbing ourselves of an amazing God-given gift. I learn just as much (if not more) from my pastors as I do in my own quiet, personal time with the Lord. Granted, there are countless people throughout the world who can't go to church for a variety of reasons. However, I know that God knows their personal circumstances and meets them where they're at. But when a person can go to church and benefit from an anointed pastor's teaching but chooses not to? I suppose I'll never understand.

Before we were married Todd and I never even had to have the discussion whether or not weekly church attendance would be a part of our lives. We both knew that we both prioritized it "at the top." After all, we met serving at church! We pray that, in time, Nolan comes to love being at church as much as we do. Now if we could just get through an entire service without having to come "rescue" Nolan from the nursery sometime in the semi-near future we'd be golden!

Out With The Old And In With The New

The holiday season is officially over. As much as I love the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season I must admit that I'm thrilled to be headed back to our day to day routine and a general sense of normalcy. Christmas for the Liedahl family was "ho hum" this year. Not "bah humbug," just "ho hum." Nolan was sick for two weeks straight, I had an ugly sinus infection that had me in an antibiotic fog, and Todd's been "on the verge" for about a week. We have spent days on end in our jammies, consumed lots of soup and have watched many many many Baby Einstein DVDs. Cabin fever has officially hit our home!

But Todd goes back to work tomorrow, Nolan and I will resume our daily routine, and if all goes as planned we'll even make it out to the park for awhile. The poor kid has probably forgotten that life exists outside our walls!

We have great hope that 2008 will be a year of God's blessings for us all and look forward to the adventure that He has in store for us! Happy New Year!