COLORADO

Elijah and I survived...rather thrived actually...an airplane ride to Colorado today. Major thanks to our aunt Laura! We are escaping it all and visiting family. I've turned off my cell phone. I"ll be back to the world on Monday afternoon. We miss our daddy already.

Philippians and Africa

I'm asking a lot of questions because I feel like life is just happening to me each day at a fast pace. There are very few slow, family moments. There is a lot of anxiousness and fretting, less sleep resulting in low capacities for patience and grace. Not excuses...just reality and yes, it, I need to change. I'm learning lots from Philippians:

"Rejoice in the Lord always....Let your GENTLENESS be evident to all" (Phil 4:5)
I am gentle with Eli but am I gentle with Drew? YL kids? HyVee employees? Other Drivers?

"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God..and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"
The anxiety and thanksgiving parts stick out to me. I don't want to spend Elijah's infancy being axious. I don't want to constantly feel frustrated about lack of time or difficult situations, I need to be thankful. I made a list the other day...it was only one page...what I have to be thankful for should stretch a list much longer.

And on an unrelated note- Our DVD player broke which means we are not able to watch Grey's Anatomy season 2 as our wind down thing- (which is a scandalous show I know...a conversation for another day). We discussed getting cable TV for the Tevo and a phone line for our house...an extra $60/month. Then, I got an e-mail about starving babies in Africa. There are mom's with nothing to feed their babies...And I want a new DVD player or a $60/month commitment to my own entertainment? I'm challenged in this tension. I want to be involved in meeting human hurts and needs but don't know directly how. This is a conviction and question I hope I don't forget about but rather take action on soon.

Resolve, Running, Raggedy

Resolve
I have been given a strong willed child. This begs the question, how strong am I? When Elijah cries, he cries hard. When Elijah wants to be awake, he does NOT go to sleep easily. He is friendly, personable, and opinionated. We're having sleeping problems. He's too friendly and social to sleep. When I know he needs to sleep, he often cries loudly. We are on day 2 of trying to make get the sleep he needs. We're on day 2 of listening to a lot of crying. Are we strong enough?

Running
I ran the KC 1/2 marathon on Saturday with my sister Laura. It was great! I felt so good and enjoyed myself immensely. I felt my c-section muscles a bit but overall felt "back" from pregnancy lack of running-ness. The course is great, taking you through fun parts of KC. The trees are turning and the weather was perfect. Oh, and the Commerce Bank sponsored water stop gave small cups of Mike and Ike's and gummy bears! The pefect pic me up! Yeah! Thanks to Drew, Eli and Lauren for cheering us on.

Raggedy
My attempt to have an R title for the excitement of my night. I'm going to The Fray (get it?) concert. I know Ben the drummer. Really I am best friends from high school with his sister. But he e-mailed me and said we could be on the "magic list" since the concert was sold out! Wow! I'm very excited and honored. I baked them cookies. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for The Fray. I hope they like them.

Linds

Starting Over

Here we are! The Osborne family. Drew and I were a family obviously before Elijah came but we've grown and changed. Since July 17th I feel like I've been starting over. Learning a new way of doing life in almost every way...in marriage, in school, with Young Life, with running, doing home life...everything has changed! I feel like I'm overwhelmed and out of control most of the time, giving a little bit of myself to a lot of things and sometimes like I'm doing nothing well. I want this to change. I want to start over in the sense of being transformed...into someone less selfish, more loving, more disciplined, one who clings to Christ and lives like Him. So change me Lord, help me start over in all of these roles to be who you're calling me to be in this new stage of life. This is the new reality...forever different from before. But could you help Eli sleep all night so I could learn these lessons on more sleep?

Family shot...Elijah 9 days old...we went on a date and left him with Grandma Sustad!
Elijah Mark Osborne....6lbs 10oz 20 inches long. July 17 11:19 amHe has sooooo many expressions!

No he's not a boxer....he just had a bath! 11 weeks old Sustad sisters with Elijah in overalls!

We're back

We were lost...very lost in the web world. We created this site and then forgot even what our name was. Thanks to the help from our friends we now know who we are and can share life again.
Lots of life has occurred...the big stuff: bought house. moved. had baby. traveled to CO for YL camp and family. started new ministry. linds to seminary. drew got new job as part time tennis coach. been busy. love fall. training for a 1/2 marathon race. love our baby. he grows, smiles, talks, uses hands, holds our hearts!

Do you feel caught up? :)

We want to add pics. Still need help with that part!