Testing the Waters...

Yesterday after church, we packed up a LOAD of gear and took Grady for his first swim! Grana had a new float waiting for him to try out in the pool! He didn't act at ALL like we thought he would. Grady LOVES taking a bath in the bathtub and splashing/playing with all of his toys. We thought he'd have a ball in the "big bathtub"... but he was surprisingly quiet and motionless! ha! He had this odd look on his face the whole time and seemed as if he were at peace enough to fall asleep. Probably because we went straight from church, to lunch, to the pool and he didn't get a nap except for the car ride... Anyway though, he has been introduced to the pool. Maybe next time he'll have more fun splashing! Thanks to Grana for the float and Aunt Jen for the cute swimsuit! They were both perfect! Here are a few pictures...

"Pops, what are we doing in this cold water? This does not feel like my bathtub at home!!!"

"I'm not so sure about all of this..."

"Maybe if I give them a half-smile, they'll let me out of this frog cage and let me get warm again!"

"Still not sure why Mom and Dad are smiling so much! My toes are getting wrinkled!"

FINALLY!

YEAAAA!!!! We finally turned Grady's car seat around this weekend! He was excited to see the world from a new perspective! :)

Spring Photo Shoot

We recently had Grady's first photo shoot. I know most people do this with their kids a lot earlier than 11 months, but...
1. We were saving money.
2. Grady was a spitter-upper for so long...doesn't make great pics! ha!
3. I guess I'm just a bad mom!
Anyway, we finally got around to having his pictures made. My friend Monique did them and she did a fantastic job! She took pictures of Grady for a solid hour and he was so well behaved! I was so proud of him! Here are some of my favorites...

We had to bring along the cowbell to keep him occupied! He LOVES ringing it! (I am not kidding! He is a true little bulldog fan!)

A "YES-answered" Prayer!

Great news from the Hammer family! This past Friday, Josh was offered a job as a program analyst with a company called Enterprise Corporation of the Delta! YEA! He will start on Monday, May 17th! He's been going through the interview process with them for the past month or so and has been through several rounds of interviews and completed a case study for them as well. Every meeting he had went really well and he always kind of felt like this might be the one! HE is so excited, I am so excited, and Grady is excited because the stress-level at our house will decrease hopefully now! ha!
Josh and I were talking about all of this the other night and Josh made the comment that this past year has been quite a year for us! That is so true! Josh's company closed their doors in March of 2009. Having a baby on the way and losing your job is a scary thing. I know that I have handled it more like a roller-coaster than Josh has. There have been periods of time when I've totally trusted God to take care of us and give me patience and peace. But to be honest, there have also been times that my patience and faith have been tested and I haven't been so faithful to trust, but instead have worried and stressed over the situation. It can be so hard when you can't look into the future and see what's ahead, but have to just trust that it is going to be okay. JOSH, on the other hand, has handled this whole thing so great! He has truly been a picture of patience! He's been so calm about it and has totally trusted that God was going to provide the job that He wanted him to have. For that, I am so thankful! Imagine two of us being stressed and worried! ha!
Through everything that's happened this past year, God has been so good to us and blessed us in so many BIG ways, but also the little, unexpected ones, too! The other day after Josh got the job offer, I was thinking about all of that and how God is so faithful to us...even to worrisome people like me. A good friend of mine once told me that he hated the Garth Brooks song, "Unanswered Prayers." He said that it was all wrong because the words in the song and the title make it seem as if God ignores our prayers. "Unanswered" isn't the right word. God either answers our prayers with a YES or a NO...the no may mean NO, or it may mean "no, for right now." We have had SO many people praying for us this past year during the job search process! Every time an interview didn't work out, it was easy to get frustrated and down, but it was just God's "NO for right now" answer. There was something else for Josh and we just didn't know what it was. This job with ECD/Hope is so perfect for him and I just know in my heart that God had it picked out a long time ago. That's why all of the other "doors" were closed. So this is the "YES-answered" prayer! I know that there have been so many prayers offered up by our friends and family and for that, we are truly grateful. They were not "ignored," but rather answered with a "not right now" answer! Now, God has given a "YES" and we are so excited and thankful for this answer to prayer! THANK YOU for your prayers for our family!
Love,
Julie