Diapers, Daisies and Delight: february in our home and malachi

wow! i can't believe March is already upon us! it seems like the first of the year was just yesterday!

this month has been an interesting one in the Mixon house. we have battled some sickness off and on between all of us. i think this has been related to the extremely mild winter we have been having. just yesterday it was in the low 60's during the day! on the last day of february! in ohio! can you believe?!?! i think that has contributed to a lot of the sickness going around. our bodies have a hard time adjusting to extreme jumps in temperature.

at the church, ministry has been hard this month. we have been extremely busy and situations have popped up one after the other that demand immediate attention. it's tough walking through people's sin with them and it is draining. but i am consistently reminded of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 (one of my all-time favorite chapters in scripture) and i wanted to share the entire thing because it is so rich.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ²But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practicecunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servantsfor Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹²So death is at work in us, but life in you.¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer selfis wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

i have been encouraged again and again this month by this passage. the purpose for which we live and work is so that the grace of God will extend to more and more people to increase thanksgiving, which is to the glory of God! and on the basis of this truth, we do not lose heart! what an encouragement to me when i feel like situations are hopeless - this is all for HIS glory, whatever may come! i know this is sort of a detour from my normal update but this has been on my heart all month and so i felt like it was as much a part of my month as things that we did or experienced. we covet your prayers as we seek to serve and minister here in west liberty. the need for the hope of the gospel is great in this place but our God and his redeeming work through Jesus is so much greater - it is in this reality we stand!

on a lighter note, we did reach some milestones with malachi this month and it has been such a joy to watch him develop and grow. i can't believe he will be 9 months old in about a week! these 9 months have gone so much faster than the 9 months he was in me, but i guess that's the way it is right? :)

- he started using a sippy cup and has kind of figured out finger foods

i have been working with him on these 2 things for a month or two and it's been slow going but i think this month it has clicked. i think it was partially due to the new sippy cups my mom sent him. now he can grasp he handles and pick it up himself. before he wouldn't be able to hold the cup because he couldn't get his hands around it. he still can't quite figure out how to tip back the cup to get liquid all of the time but he can get some - progress!
and his pincher grasp hasn't quite developed yet but there is definite progress in the finger foods department! he can get peices of banana from his tray to his mouth! before he would pick them up and just squish them in his fist then open his fist to inspect then shake out the banana on the floor. it was kind of funny to watch but i didn't particularly like cleaning it up all the time. so it's fun to watch now as he gets excited when the banana goes on the tray and he digs in! there is still plenty that doesn't make it in the mouth but some does, which is fun!

- he can sign "more" - he does it inconsistently and usually when i ask him to he won't but he will do it on his own sometimes. this is another thing i have been working on with him since he was about 6 months old and this month seemed to click. he is a stubborn little guy and i think we have already seen that he doesn't like to "perform" so it's interesting that he most times won't do things when you want him to. but when he wants to he will do it. this will be interesting to see how this plays out as he gets older!

- he has started to scoot around on his belly

the first steps toward crawling from what i have heard. it's not quite an army crawl yet but he is definetly starting to get himself around. it's been super fun to watch and see his excitement when he knows he has accomplished something :) (i know the picture is on linoleum but he can also do this on carpet)

- he pulled himself up for the first time this month!

he has been pulling himself up by holding onto our hands for a while but this month was the first time he pulled himself up on something other than our hands. it's fun and he looked so accomplished when he did it! :) maybe walking isn't far off! (although, truthfully i am in NO hurry! because i know when he starts to go he is not going to stop and i will be the one having to keep up with him all day. so i can wait! ha!) and because of this developing skill we have also had to move his crib down from the highest level to the lowest level. we don't want any accidents when he figures out how to pull himself up in his crib! ;)

- everything still goes in the mouth but no more teeth yet, still just the bottom two.

we are so blessed by this little boy and we thank the Lord for him daily. he has such a sweet and happy demeanor and we are constantly blessed with smiles and laughs. we get comments from people at church all the time about how happy he is and how much he smiles. both of these things are true and we are so thankful! we pray daily that the Lord will use him mightly for his Kingdom and he will truly be what his name means - "God's messenger."