Jim Hamilton

Jim Hamilton has played a very significant role in our lives. Ryan first met him with the intention of getting counsel on evaluating a call to ministry. Jim later served as one of Ryan's professors at the Houston campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Then when Ryan and I were planning to leave Houston, it was Jim who encouraged Ryan to consider finishing his seminary studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. God sovereignly worked to land the Hamiltons and the Bishops at Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, where Jim and Ryan served as elders together.

Jim preached at Ryan's ordination service at Kenwood and will soon be preaching at Ryan's installation service here at Graham Bible Church. You can click here to read a blog post that Jim recently wrote about Ryan and his farewell to the congregation at Kenwood.

Thank you, Hamilton family, for the many ways that you have impacted our lives and for the ways in which God has used y'all to better equip us for a life of ministry. We love y'all!

21!

The other night, Ryan and I were outside, and I decided to count how many "shooting stars" I saw. In just 2 hours, I saw 21 of them, and Ryan saw many more. Isn't that amazing!?

What a blessing to live in a small town, and what a blessing to be able to more regularly experience this aspect of God's creation. There's no way we would have seen nearly this many near the big city lights. In fact, during the 12 years Ryan and I knew each other before moving to Graham, we had only seen 1 "shooting star".

Thank you, God, for reminding me just how small I am and just how big you are.

11 Months!

Oh, little Caleb, this was another big month for you. You're learning so much and jabbering like crazy. It is so fun to see more and more that you are all boy--you're so active and are ready to climb over anything and everything. You even travelled across the country and went from living in Kentucky to Texas.

I was extremely thankful that you handled driving across the country in a big Penske truck so well. The only time you fussed was as we pulled into Nashville, but that was understandable because it was 4.5 hours past time for you to eat! Other than that, you did great and managed to either sleep or keep yourself entertained. You also learned to hold a bottle by yourself during that trip, which was great timing.

Everyone always comments on what a happy boy you are and they also ask if you ever cry. Well, I know you're not perfect by any means, but I am very thankful for your joyful spirit.

I began the process of weaning you this month, and for the most part, you've handled it like a champ. I had some frozen milk that we gave you for awhile, but when that first formula bottle came at the end of this month, I was devastated to find out that you hated it. You wouldn't take it for anything, and you kept scrunching up your face in disgust every time I tried to give it to you. Praise the Lord for a friend who recommended putting some of a baby yogurt smoothie in your formula bottle. You loved it! It was such a relief, and again, I'm so thankful for this simple but revolutionary tip. We have since weaned you of the yogurt smoothie stuff, and you now like straight formula.

You're eating lots of table food and, thankfully, will eat pretty much anything. The only thing you haven't seemed too enthused about thus far is lettuce. You love everything from spaghetti to tomatoes to black olives to sugar snap peas to cantaloupe, and the list goes on and on.

You still flap your arms when you get excited, and you will often get up on your knees and raise your arms straight above your head. You'll hold them there for a few seconds and then quickly bring them back down.

You went through a phase of saying, "Mamamama". We thought it was your first word because it seemed like you knew that was me, but you haven't said it as much, so I'm not sure now.

Sometimes you'll turn your tongue over in your mouth--like you're trying to put the right side of your tongue at the roof of your mouth and the left side at the bottom of it.

This month you got to go swimming for the first time. You didn't know what to think at first and clung to me as the cool water started rising up your legs, but you came to love it. You especially enjoyed splashing the water as you sat on a shallow step. It's so much fun watching you experience new things.

We discovered that you love to swing, though going down a slide doesn't seem to be as much fun for you. You certainly don't mind it, but you don't seem to enjoy it as much.

You also experienced your first baths in a real bath tub this month. You don't seem to be a huge fan because it's so slippery when you try and stand up. (Thankfully, I've been right there to catch you each time you've slipped.) It's so much easier to keep you contained in your baby bath tub, so it's possible that we might go back to that for a bit longer once we get it out of storage and get settled into our new home.

Your top 2 teeth came in this month, and they make you look so much more grown up!

You continue to prove to be a little monkey and climb on top of anything you can--dishwasher doors, boxes, coffee tables, chairs and stairs. Pretty much anything that is either low enough for you to get on or anything that has something else nearby that you can stand on momentarily to raise you up so you can climb on something taller. You have had virtually no experience with stairs prior to this month, but I learned right away that you can crawl up an entire flight of stairs very quickly. (Again, thankfully I was right behind you in case you fell.)

I was sitting at a kitchen table while you crawled around at my feet one day. Before I knew it, you were grunting. I looked down to see that you had managed to crawl up onto a kitchen chair that was pushed under the table. You were completely hunched over and once you realized you couldn't sit up straight, you started grunting.

You've begun to stand for a few seconds without holding onto anything. So far, though, you've only done it by letting go of something when you're already standing, as opposed to standing up from a seated position.

You're still not a big fan of grass. You'll tolerate it, but it's obvious that you're uncomfortable when sitting in it.

Your favorite toy this month is a round squishy ball with holes in it for you to grab onto. You LOVE this thing and have held it pretty much constantly since you discovered it.

We're so thankful for you, sweet Caleb. I can't believe it's almost been a year since we first met you. The time has flown by and each day with you keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. We love you, little one!!