Playtime!

Playtime with Noah has been so fun lately. Basically anything you say he thinks is just the funniest thing in the world! Noah laughing:

Smiling at Tobi our cat

This face I call "curious Noah" its when he's really concentrating on something... here its the writing on my shirt

Our church camp was this weekend at Hope Valley....so pretty!
The camp speaker was Ian Duguid who preached on the book of Ezekiel....one I've never studied
The church playing one clap...we also played mafia with the enitre church!

We mostly just enjoyed hanging out with the body of Christ
The kids had fun in the mud!

AND they finally laid foundations on our house this week!!!! Clint is standing on our front door :)

And Noah discovered he has hands!

And he learned how to sit with daddy

Good Morning Tobi!

Tobi playing with her favorite toy: Spurgeon's tail.

Typical day in the Archer household from 6:00am-7:00am. Its not as impressive as an hour in the life of Jack Bower, but I realized this morning the humour in it. Tobi is on what Clint and I nicknamed..... ODF "Owner Directed Feeding" because she had a weight problem for a while. :) So now her feed times are 7am and 7pm. But an hour before her feed time she tries any lengths possible to get you to feed her early.....especially in the morning.

6:00am - Tobi starts purring loudly to wake us up

6:10 - Tobi crawls towards Clints face...reaches though the covers and pillows and bats it with a big "whap"

6:15 - Tobi bats Clints face again, Tobi gets shoved off bed by Clint

6:16 - Tobi finds anything that can be batted around our room....and bats it with great fierceness and noise in her 3rd attempt to get us out of bed.

6:18 Tobi bats Clints face again...this time with claws

6:30 - Tobi climbs on my bedside table, and with one fowl swoop knocks off my lamp, my Bible, my Nalgene, and my photo frame with a great "clerclap plunk plunk"

6:32 - Tobi rolls around my Nalgene...good thing its indestructible...and runs it into anything that makes noise

6:40 Tobi knocks the key to our door off my nightstand (clever girl!)

6:42- In her last attempt she starts chasing her tail...over our feet, our legs, and even our heads.

6:45 Noah wakes up

6:46 I scrounge around looking for the key....sleepwalk toward our door (Tobi is going ballistic at this point) feed Tobi.

7:00am Feed Noah....Tobi purrs on my lap in full contentment while I'm feeding Noah.

You'd think it'd be easier to just feed Tobi at 6am....but we do this every morning.

All to God's glory....

Noah's little hoodie!

"So whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" I Cor 10:31

I've been thinking about this verse alot lately because I have just realized how much of my day consists with eating and drinking. Noah gets fed every 3 hours, and naps for about an hour and a half inbetween. And I feed Noah 6 times a day. So I get 5 increments of an hour and a half where I need to use the time very wisely....otherwise I realize its time to feed Noah all over again! :) 3-4 of those increments of time are usually spent preparing/eating/ and cleaning up after breakfast lunch or dinner, or shopping for food. I love preparing meals for my family...and nursing Noah...don't get me wrong! But I just realized that a majority of our day revolves around food and drink....so how do we give glory to God in what seems so simple as putting food on the table, or feeding a newborn?? I've realized that I've viewed this time spent not as time that COULD give glory to God....but just as a part of life. But Paul says we CAN give glory to God while we eat and drink....and WHATEVER I do! It's not time waisted for the kingdom, but rather a time where I can praise Him for providing for us, and give Him glory by lifting my thoughts from the necessity of eating, to His tender mercies towards us in blessing us with the enjoyment of food! Like Noah I should long for the pure milk of the word....its a daily (well, almost hourly!) reminder.

Home Executive

Noah loving his swing

It seems like every day he is learning something new. The last two days he's figured out how to grasp the little starfish on his swing to make the chair "sing" and make the lights flash. I was getting ready for church and all of sudden I heard his chair start to sing...and I thought Clint had pulled on the fish to make it go...but it was Noah!

Noah staring at his next aspiration...the higher goldfish!
So yesterday I was filling out an application to get a card to save money at my local pharmacy DisChem. On the form you have to fill out it asks you to circle what your current employment status is. As a mom I always dread these cause it never gives an option for "mom" :) But this form gave 4 options. #1 Employed. #2 Student. #3 Pensioner. #4 Home Executive.

HOME EXECUTIVE? I laughed outloud thinking....thats me! So now I make Clint call me the Home Executive...and he's the Home CEO.

Noah and Daddy

Clint and Noah laughing at each other!

Noah's personality has really come alive this week as he laughs at you when you talk to him and make him jump up and down. Noah is also chatting alot this week..his favorite word is "A---gggooooO!" which he repeats over and over when you change him or bath him!

Noah waking up!

Video of how Noah wakes up at 7am every morning laughing at his mobile. He sometimes coos and laughs at it for like 20 min! I tried to sneak up on him to catch him...I usually just stay in bed and enjoy the laughter through the monitor before getting up to nurse him :) Make sure you turn your speakers on!

3 Months Old Today

Noah turned 3 months today! He is starting to grasp things (like his rattle) and loves to stand on our tummies while we hold him from falling :) He is such a tremendous joy to us and we thank the Lord everyday for him!

The VanStraatens

Anton and Marietjie came to visit us in Durban this weekend. They are our South African friends....but we became friends in LA in our last 2 years at seminary. It was so awesome to have them in our home & church for the weekend! Our God is sooo good in sending friends to us all the way across the globe!

Hanging out at Umhlanga beach...the water was super blue!

You can't visit South Africa without going to Wimpy to get a burger!

We had a great time of fellowship with them...and they got to meet little Noah! Maybe he will be a mate for their daughter Olivia (who is one year!) If he likes older girls :)

Daddy & Noah at Wimpy

Hanging out at our place...

We also showed them the house we are building...this is in the model home inside the kitchen. They are laying the foundations of our house this week! So exciting.

Oh, and Noah is now sleeping through the night from 10:30pm now to around 7ish. So no more late night feeds....yipee!