"Dainty or messy?"

Everyone who voted "Dainty" won :)

Happy Birthday Corrie...

Corrie woke up one year older this morning! They say the first birthday is mainly for the parents and that has been the case for me. I find myself remembering what I was doing one year ago..smile. I remember thinking how strange and small she was and if I would ever be able to figure out what she needed.

Skip to one year later... what a blessing and a privilege to watch someone grow from zero to bigger, everyday. We'll probably post more pictures later (she's getting the cake tonight) but here are some from the last few days.

Opening birthday fun with Grandpa... and playing some "Heart and Soul" with Lewis.

And in conclusion... (smile) it has always been in the back of our mind to dedicate Corrie. When we decided on a name, her middle, Elise, from her great-grandma Elsie, means "consecrated to God" we meant it. We want to do that... she came as an unexpected blessing to us so we couldn't take any credit for her. It's been difficult though because our families are a ways away to dedicate her in church on a Sunday so... both grandparents secretly got together and wrote a dedication, a prayer, for her which she opened this morning. I think it one of the best gifts that she will ever get. It says,

"Dear Cora,
On this, the first time we celebrate the joy of your birth,
We pray the God who knew you before you were born
becomes the God you will know.

We pray you make your parent's courage your own.

And we pray the faith of your family be yours ever stronger.

We covenant to pray for you daily, to lift your precious life before Him.
To thank Him for the laughter and love that already has been
and the laughter and love that yet will be."

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Peterson and Grandma and Grandpa Powell. We love you dearly. (p.s.- Brian asked me to post something... he didn't know I would probably write the longest post since she was born! Oh well, that seems fitting for today, smile.)

unthawing the blog, or "It's getting hot in here!"

Corrie's getting ready for her first birthday this Tuesday (woohoo); Her and Lewis were dancing funky just the other night to practice. Click here to check it out.

Here is a shot of Corrie poolside this week:

Corrie snores

Corrie olympics

The hurdle? The low jump? The even bar? The pommel horse?

video of corrie

Happy Mother's day :)

May 15th gas-out

You may have heard that there is a 'gas-out' planned for May 15th. You may also hear people debating or posting as to whether or not it would even be a blip in the charts for oil corporations.

Well, if everyone drives the normal amount between May 13 and May 17 or so, then no - it won't matter except for the sales numbers on that one day.

Aside from not buying gas on the 15th, try actually driving less this next week. Stay at home, walk or bike, or if you don't think you can do that, try carpooling or consolidating your driving trips around town (might actually have to think about that one). You could even roll down the windows instead of running your A/C the whole time :)

So instead of just filling up the day before and driving as normal, attempt to do something nice for "Mother Earth" this Mother's Day...

new newlyweds

Congrats to Heidi and David, who are back from a week in San Fransisco :) Here are links to the photos:

Web-sized: brianpowell.info/houghton
Prints (and a slideshow view): my Shutterfly gallery

Corrie on the farm

Outside a greenhouse/nursery between Bowling Green and Chaney's Dairy Farm (ice cream spot), last Saturday:

We took her for a ride in the little green wagon, and she had a death-grip on the daisy.

PJs from PT and Cass-E

Here are some pics from today: Helping unload the dryer (she's really good at putting things on the floor), playing piano with Grandpa Peterson, and showing off her flying-pigs pajamas from Petey and Cassie.

we own Corrie?

This comment was so good, it had to post it up here :) (Allie is one of the little girls at church and Adriane works with the kids a lot.)

I was in children's church the other day and Allie and I had a conversation that went like this:
Allie:"Do you know sign language?"
me: "no I do not"
Allie: "That girl that owns Corrie knows sign language. She's teaching it to Corrie."
me: "Miss Carrie you mean?"
Allie: "Does she own Corrie? It's the lady that owns Corrie."

:) adriane