He's crawling at 6 months!-by Beth

I can't believe how rapidly Stephen has passed out of infant to baby. He is always practicing all his newly acquired skills. He just last week learned to sit up from the floor. I had been thinking on the weekend that we had better move his crib mattress down since he was getting more mobile. Jon had Monday off, but we did not have time to do that before we left for the boys' basketball game (which they won--Joel was high scorer with 17 points). When we put him to bed that night he pulled himself to standing in the crib and was crying because he was stuck!! We were so surprised. The next day, today, I was out with two girls to the dentist and a couple errands. I came home and Katie had Stephen on the floor and said "Look Mom, he can crawl!" I couldn't believe it! Three big milestones in less than one week. I have never had a baby crawl at 6.5 months. I wonder when he will walk. We only started using the walker about a month ago and he has figured out how to get around in it. Well, time to take the boys to basketball practice. Stephen turns 7 months next week so I will take his picture then.

Christmas memories~by Beth

Why is it that you spend many weeks and months planning special celebrations for Christmas and they seem to pass by with the speed of a freight train? We were so blessed to have Nathan home for over 5 weeks while he was on furlough from the ALERT Academy. It went by too fast, but we so enjoyed the time together. As you can see, Nathan has a very close relationship with his sister Katie. They love to spend time together, call each other, e-mail or just hang out when they can. Nathan just melds into the family routine. He always helps out with whatever is needed and pays a lot of attention to all the little people of the family. He truly is a family guy. I think God is blessing him because his heart is right toward God. Nathan was able to again work for his old boss here in Cape Coral during the weeks he was home. The economy has been hard on all businesses and Nathan's boss Jerry has had a hard year. In fact, Jerry has even been contemplating running his business out of his home and save on lease cost. But, God blesses his business whenever Nathan is working for him. Right away the first day and the following days, business picked up significantly. Jerry wanted Nathan to stay, but Nathan is committed to ALERT right now. Please pray for Jerry and PC Solutions that they may prosper.
Nathan also told us when he got home that he had been promoted to Sargeant. What can we say except that we are so proud of him. He is such a good example to the younger children of loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. I hope that Stephen will get the opportunity to know Nathan as the older children do. They all adore him and love to talk to him on the phone.