We’re awfully proud of our girl’s FIRST word!  (MAMA!)  Just had to share it with you!

Turn up your speakers!…

Click here to hear Siena say her FIRST word!

Despite the loss of Ryan’s job in the last month, I gotta say that the summer has been fun!  I thought I would share a few of our ’summer fun’ photos of Siena!

Enjoying the big neighborhood pool with Daddy! She loves watching the other kids!

Helping Mama in the garden…

Cruising all around in our walker!

Swinging in the swing given to us by her Great-Auntie Marge in Wisconsin! (Thank you, Aunt Marge!  This has been a hit!!)

And today, we went out in the kiddie pool her Gigi (Grandma Hirst) gave her and she just loved splashing around!  Great way to cool off in 88 degree heat!  (Love how she’s showing off her two teeth!)

Our Siena turns 7 months old tomorrow. What a weird, yet good, month this has been for us. I haven’t wanted to necessarily blog about our month until now, as it has been a difficult one. However, I would be remiss if I did not share with you how faithful God has been in our lives. This is my longest blog yet…but worth sharing with you.

Ryan was laid off from his job a month ago - he had only worked there for 6 months. We were so sure that God had brought us this job as a way for him to spend more time at home and with Siena, as he wouldn’t have to work the long hours he worked at his previous job. We still believe God brought him this job, but we’re not sure why it was so short-lived. We may never know the answers to all of our questions, but we do know what a learning and growing experience this has been.

That first day, we were in shock. You can never fully prepare for something like this and financially, we weren’t even close to being ready. We had spent most of our savings on medical bills for Siena and myself as well as three months of Cobra insurance while we were waiting for our new health insurance to kick in. Let’s just say, we didn’t have a chance to build that back up in six months time. We panicked a bit and have basically not spent a dime since the day he was laid off. We wanted to make sure we had enough to cover our mortgage and other bills, just in case he didn’t find another job in time. We worried about what we would do to cover regular expenses like groceries and supplies. We immediately went to God together in prayer.

The second day, I decided to clean out and reorganize our pantry. I unloaded everything all over our kitchen counters and floor, and once I had it all emptied out, I surveyed everything. Ryan stood there with me and we both got completely blessed standing in the middle of our kitchen. We were amazed at how much food we had and how we didn’t need to go grocery shopping for awhile! We had no idea how much food we had been stockpiling! We stood there in awe of an awesome God who meets us at our point of need…and that day, it was the worry of food. As the old hymn says, ‘Great is thy Faithfulness, O God my Father…all I have needed thy hand hath provided!”

On the third day, I was organizing again, and came across a whole stack of gift cards I had forgotten about. Some of them were back from when we were getting married…and still good! Starbucks, Whole Foods, Target…and others! We were completely blessed again! We could go “splurge” on a coffee drink if we wanted to…go get groceries at Whole Foods if needed…get supplies at Target…THANK YOU, FATHER! Again, “Great is thy Faithfulness” came to mind. I began singing this to Siena before I laid her down for her naps.

The blessings just kept coming…Ryan started applying for jobs, and interviews were beginning to line up! This really encouraged him! We suddenly had time to spend together that we really hadn’t had before. We have started every day in this past month doing devotions together and having breakfast. What wonderful prayer times we have had! We feel so much closer to each other! We both have commented how dependent on God we feel right now too. Not just because we are in need of a job, but because we are aware of how “independent” we were living in our comfort zone. We have asked God to not let us come through this unchanged people…CHANGE US, LORD!

One day I cleaned out our upstairs supply closet…we had more shampoo, toothpaste, and everything we would need than we could even imagine! We had stocked up on supplies, and didn’t even know it! Yup…got blessed again while cleaning! Who knew that cleaning could be such a spiritual experience?!

Our fifth anniversary was the week Ry was laid off. We had thought about taking a trip to Santa Fe…that was now out of the picture. We thought we’d just make dinner at home that night and watch something on TV. That morning, a friend of mine from my bible study stopped by our house with a gift card to a coffee shop and two little mice pastries, just like the ones we had at our Cinderella wedding. What an unexpected, humbling treat! My family paid for us to go out to dinner and took care of Siena for us. It ended up being a fun night out - and a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate our love and commitment to one another!

If we’ve learned anything through all of this, it is to ask God to meet our needs just for the day and praise Him for who He is and His providence thus far. We start each day not asking about tomorrow, but asking that He guide our steps for just today. Please help Ry with that interview, be with our anxieties, bless His resume as it goes out into the world, and help us to stop and hear you when you show us which way you are leading us.

Two weeks after Ryan was laid off, he was blessed with a contract (hourly) job doing some Javascript development for a company. He can keep this job for extra cash even after attaining full-time employment. Thank you, God, for the unexpected income when we needed it most!

He has had multiple interviews and was even approached by a company that had heard good things about him, but didn’t even know he was currently looking for a job! That is too much of a coincidence to be anything but our Faithful Father looking out for us! Thank you, Lord!

Ryan has a job now! He accepted a position in Boulder that he starts on Monday, but we are hoping for something even better to come up as this position would be a significant pay cut and an hour and a half drive each way, if not two hours in traffic. Yet, we are trusting God…if he calls us to Boulder, then we will go. We are so thankful for a job!

Ryan is interviewing with companies in Missouri and Arizona as well. The thought of a move is scary, yet also exciting! Since getting married, we’ve often talked about how a move would be a fun adventure, despite it being hard to leave our families. We are not opposed to moving and are trusting God on this too…praying that He will make His Will abundantly clear to us.

Thank you to those of you who have been so supportive and prayerful for us during this time. Thank you to our families too…for your prayers and words of encouragement, for the countless groceries, supplies, and gift cards from my folks, meals out from Ry’s parents, offers to help out financially, and monetary gifts from our grandparents. You didn’t need to do all of this, but we thank you. We feel so loved, so supported…so undeserving. We love you so very much…please know this.

My mom shared a devotional with me and it’s words have stuck with me through this…

“An amazing adventure begins the moment we step into the future with God. Obedience puts us in motion. Faith drives away our fears. His presence gives us confidence. His direction will lead us home.”

O God, don’t let us come through this unchanged people. Thank you for your providence!

So proud of our girl!  She’s slowly learning to sit up on her own…even if it’s only for about 20 seconds at a time, we’re awfully proud!  (6/30/09)

Ryan took her 6 month photos here at our house…just had to share this one…

Just over a week ago, Siena met her cousins for the first time!  My sister, Heather, and her family came out for a visit and each day was packed full of fun!  Mady, Logan, and Laurell really enjoyed Siena and she enjoyed them too!  She was completely entertained by them and Laurell was especially good at playing with Siena and handing her toys.  Whenever Siena would cry, Mady would put her finger over her lips and say “Shhhh!”  We have a video monitor where we can see Siena while she’s napping.  Anytime we put her down to sleep, Mady could see her on the monitor and insistently told the rest of us to “SHHH!”  Cracked us up!

We went to the zoo and went swimming too - all firsts for Siena!  She donned her darling swimsuit ensemble (Thanks, Ropers!) and looked all the part of a diva!  :o)  She loved the water too!

Siena was fascinated with the monkeys and the fish at the zoo!

In the family photo at the top, the girls were all wearing matching ladybug dresses!  Too cute!  Thanks for coming for a visit, Batchelder’s!  Come again soon!

Siena turned 6 mos. old on Tuesday of last week.  I’m not sure where 6 months have gone.  She has developed quite the personality even in these last couple of weeks.  She has to take everything and everyone in - very curious and interested!  She’s started on bananas and butternut squash and loves them both.  She’s learned that when you throw toys, Mommy and Daddy scramble to go get them and it is beyond entertaining!  Our big girl weighed in at 16 lbs 9 oz and is in the 90th percentile for her height.  Growing fast!

Ryan and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday.   I’m so blessed to have him in my life…I thank God for these 5 years and look forward to many, many more.  It seems like only yesterday we were planning our Cinderella wedding…how time flies!

Ryan also celebrated his FIRST Father’s Day this weekend!  He’s one proud daddy and Siena thinks the world of him.  He enters the room, and she can no longer focus on eating, playing, or whatever she is doing.  Daddy’s here!  She can’t help herself!  :o)

I just had to share these latest photos Ry took of our beautiful girl.  She is such an amazing blessing and we are so grateful for her sweet life…

Yet another adventurous weekend at the Roper house…I think I’m getting ready to block out some time in our calendar for a whole lotta NOTHING! :o)

It sure was a fun weekend, though. We headed to Portland (actually, just outside Portland in Woodland, WA) where our good friends Chad Stoltzfus and Sydney Roth were getting married! Ryan was in the wedding and had so much fun seeing his good buddy, Chad, tie the knot!

Shoe-shinin’…  :o)

This was Siena’s first trip on an airplane and it was quite the, shall we say, “experience”. She got pretty fussy on the flight out there and Ryan decided to walk around with her a bit. Right about that time the beverage cart came up the aisle (and stopped for an insane amount of time!) and Ryan got stuck at the back of the plane for about 25 minutes with a screaming, hysterical Siena. Ahhh…good times. He was a wreck (and so was she!) by the time they got back to our seats. Siena had worked herself into such a tizzy, though, that she ended up sleeping for a good chunk of time after this! YEAH! On the flight back, Ryan and I didn’t get to sit together and I had to manage a screaming Siena all by myself. Fun stuff. As I was rearranging Siena’s position on my lap, I felt something wet and realized she had pooped out her diaper and it was all over my capris, up Siena’s shirt, and all over the back of her shorts. We headed back to the airplane bathroom and thankfully I had a clean onesie for her in the bag, but I had to sit in my poopy capris for the rest of the flight. Needless to say, I honestly felt sorry for the poor passengers that sat near us. Good times, good times…! :o)

Warming Siena’s bottle on the plane!…

Sleep AT LAST…

The wedding was gorgeous, however, and it was such fun getting to see all of my college buddies again! The six of us have been inseparable friends since 1997 and I thank God for them! As we’ve married, our spouses have easily transitioned into the group and have all become great friends as well! Now we’re all adding kids too - getting to be one big group when we get together! A BIG thank you to Doug and Elaine Phillips for letting us stay at their house…AND cooking so many meals for us! You have endless patience, generosity, and grace!!

Mr. and Mrs. Chad Stoltzfus!…

The college gang…minus Chad and Sydney who were already honeymooning…

When we returned on Sunday, (besides being incredibly exhausted from the whirlwind weekend and flying with a crabby baby!) we started Siena on her first solid foods! We’re going slow and just starting with rice cereal for right now, but she did okay with it! She wasn’t sure she was a big fan at first, but as we’ve fed her cereal each day, she’s warmed up to it. I couldn’t get her to open her mouth for the spoon, so I pulled a yogurt from the fridge and showed her how mommy opens her mouth big for the spoon. She watched intently and then opened her mouth big for me the next time I gave her a bite of cereal! Made me SMILE!  Siena also sprouted her first tooth on Tuesday (6/2)!!  Our girl is getting so big!

About to take off! We’re a little nervous about our first flight with Siena, so wish us good luck!

Ryan’s sister, Ramie, was married this weekend to Don Hoff!  It was a fun and exciting time!  I think we’re all pretty exhausted now, though!  Siena and I went to the church on Friday to help decorate the sanctuary - the more tulle and flowers, the better!  My mom (Pam) arranged five silk flower bouquets for the wedding and we used them on the candleabras, the arch, and one at the back of the sanctuary.  Ramie picked lavender and yellow as her wedding colors and it truly turned out beautiful!  I think Siena was more of a distraction than a help on Friday, but how we can help ourselves?!  :o)  

Saturday was the wedding and it was fun seeing all of the family and many friends too!  Siena met her Great Uncle George (Jan’s brother) for the first time too!  

Our family photo!

Meeting Great Uncle George…

Great Grammy and Siena…

Photo time with all of the Roper and Madsen families…

It was a great day!  Ryan did all of the wedding photography and read a prayer his late Papa Madsen had written and read for our wedding.  It was a precious moment.  Siena didn’t do too well at the end though…she skipped her afternoon nap completely and was pretty tired and cranky for the rest of the day.  It’s so hard taking a baby off their routine!  She was passed around and loved quite a bit, though!  We came home and gave her a bath and it was off to bed!  

Ryan reading his Papa Madsen’s prayer…

Don and Ramie are off to San Diego for their honeymoon today!  They have only begun this great new adventure together and we pray that God truly blesses them with happy memories and a lifetime of love!

To see more of Don and Ramie’s wedding photos, click here:  Hoff Wedding Photos

Siena turned 5 months on Saturday!

We had such a fun weekend visiting with our really good friends, Brett and Hillary Lane.  Their baby, McKenna, is 3 weeks older than Siena and it was so fun getting the girls together!  Hillary and I have been friends since she was 3 and I was 4, so it’s extra special to see our girls together too!  Siena did pretty well on our two hour drive to Florissant, CO to see them - but, so wish we lived closer to each other!

Ever since we learned we were pregnant, we wanted to plant a tree for our Siena.  We thought it would be fun for her and for us to watch it grow alongside her!  We picked out a dogwood this weekend and planted it in the backyard.  It has the prettiest pink blossoms for our little girl!  I understand they ultimately turn a deep pink/red.  Should be fun to watch it grow!

Our neighbors also have a little girl (named Emanuela, nicknamed Emmy) and she and Siena are becoming fast friends!  We got to visit with them after we planted the tree.  This picture cracked me up…reminded me of Tim Taylor on Home Improvement saying ‘hi’ to his neighbor!  :o)

It was my first Mother’s Day this past weekend and it was simply wonderful!  Ryan started Saturday out by surprising me with a Jamaican style breakfast!  We honeymooned in Jamaica, so this was extra sweet!  We spent all day Saturday running errands and working in the yard - pretty exhausting.  I’m attempting a garden this summer.  Not sure if it’s gonna be a big success or a big flop, but I’ll keep ya posted!  :o)  Ryan has been working really hard to dig out part of the yard for my new project and I’m sure he’s hoping something comes out of it too!  I’m hoping it saves us a little money, but it sure has cost quite a bit already.  I started my little seed cups back in March and they are growing bigger every day - planted a couple of zucchinis, cucumbers, and snap peas already.  

…One hard-workin’ guy…

…My seed cups…

So, while he tilled soil on Saturday, I weeded the yard, and Siena hung out in her exersaucer that she just loves.  After a tiring day, we came inside and Ryan gave me my Mother’s Day gift early - bath salts, lotions, and a gerbera daisy plant.  He told me to head straight upstairs to take a bath and enjoy my gift!  It was wonderful!  

…Such a good yardwork helper!…

Sunday we went to church and had lunch with my parents at the Rio Grande - my favorite!  I don’t even need a menu there anymore - just order up the De Espinaca!  (spinach burritos - yum!)  We had intially planned a picnic, but we’ve had 8 straight weekends of rain in Colorado.  When we woke up to rain again on Sunday morning, we knew we were off to a restaurant instead.  Bummer.  We came home afterwards and Siena took a great nap in the afternoon - and so did I!  

…Siena and her Gigi…

My greatest gift truly is the gift of our sweet angel.  I am just loving being her mom and look at her each day and wonder how I came to be this blessed.  I wasn’t sure how much I would like being a mom.  Ryan and I always said we would try one child and see what we thought of the whole thing.  I’ve never been a huge kid person and wondered at how I would handle all of this.  Little did I know just how much joy and fulfillment a sweet baby could bring.  I never tire of holding Siena, making her giggle, cuddling her close, or kissing the fuzzy hairs on top of her head.  Children are truly a blessing from God and one that I will never take for granted.  Thank you, Lord, for our tiny girl.   Please help us to be good parents to her and I pray that she grows up to love and serve you all the days of her life.