Little Ella, live His light

I started this blog because family and friends wanted to see pictures of Ella. So far, it's mostly been all about Ella. And that's ok.

BUT sometimes it's easy right now to talk about Ella and parenting in terms of feeding, sleeping, development, etc. Those are real and important parts of my life right now, but our real desire for Ella is that she would belong to the Lord. A few months before she was born, my dear friend Rachel wrote this poem at my request, and it's wonderful. Johnny was singing it to Ella the other day, and I've been remembering it and thinking on it since then. How we pray these things will be true of her!

Enchanting glory of the sun—
a picture, dear, of the radiant One
Life is brilliant, if spent on Him—
the Risen One, who bore your sin
Little Ella, O live His light!
Adorn the King; adore the Christ!
A little flame lights up great dark,
so take His mantle; bear His mark.

-R.E.V. 4/5/08


***in case you're wondering, the "light" theme is because in those baby name books, "light" was one of the meanings given for the name Ella. But even without that, I think it's perfect for the poem!***

Ella and Mama singing together...the first minute is really boring, but I promise she starts singing at the end!!!

Ella and Johnny chatting

3 months old, first road trip, and milestones

Ella's 3 month birthday is a national holiday!

No, really...

She turns three months old tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day. :) She's getting so big!

Last week a very dear friend and sister in the Lord passed away, and Johnny, Ella and I went up for the funeral. It's the first time since I've been a Christian that I've really known a believer that died, and Johnny and I were talking on the way up about how encouraging it is to know of someone who has finished the race. All of God's promises held true for her, He enabled her to persevere to the end (through much suffering), and she has entered into the joy of her Master. How glorious!

Before last week, I was always nervous about the thought of traveling with Ella, but since we found out Monday night and left Wednesday morning, I didn't have too much time to worry over it. She actually did really well! The hardest part was driving up for the visitation Wednesday night...a long drive after she'd already been in the car for 7 hours. But the trip went smoothly, she napped well in the car but didn't sleep the whole way, which was great. She met her future husband, Jonas Thompson (haha), and she particularly liked our friend Mandi. She even slept well in Chad and Angela's house and didn't seem too worried about their gigantic dog (of course, he's actually calmer than Coda!).

I'm planning on posting some videos today in a separate post. I'm still learning the art of video with Ella...as in, how to catch the really fun stuff without all the boring dead time in between. :) Mostly we have little 30 second intervals that are video-worthy, with a lot of blank stares and silence in between, but we're getting better. These days her favorite thing is to sit in her bouncer seat next to the keyboard while I play and sing. She's started "singing" along, which is really fun, but again, hard to catch on video. I think I managed to get some good ones today though and will get those up later today.

Today was an exciting day in the Vogt household. Why, you may ask? Well, it's a lame game, but...if you want to find out, you have to look at all my pictures first!!! So, keep scrolling, and I'll fill in the blank: Today was a fun day because Ella.... _________





These are with Aunt Amanda when we got together for Grandma Vogt's birthday.




Chad, Angela, and Jonas at John and Virginia's house...good looking family, huh? ;)


(keep scrolling...)
Told you she was friends with Mandi!! :)
(and scrolling...)



Love that bunny towel!


.....


......ROLLED OVER!!!!!

Yep, she was in her pack n play on her belly, with a toy she really likes (a borrowed one that has many uses...thanks Angela!) lighting up and playing music, just in front of her and slightly above her eye level...and she turned over on her back. The first time she got stuck on her arm, but then I put her back on her belly and she did it two more times in a row! We'll see if she remembers that she can do it. I haven't caught it on video yet, but hopefully I will soon!!!

Technical issues...video coming...and thoughts

For days now, I've been trying to upload a particular video on this blog. It's a great video of Ella cooing, jabbering and wiggling...but it's ridiculously long--4 minutes--and I think our internet upstream speed is just too slow. It never stopped or timed out or anything, but each time I gave up after seeing the "uploading" message for 2 hours or more. Soooo I hope either to clip that video (only the first minute is really that entertaining anyway) or to get another one that's equally good but SHORTER.

For now, I wanted to share a few thoughts. Today I picked up the book My King by Frances Ridley Havergal. I guess you would call it a "devotional" book, for lack of a better word; it's written in 31 segments or "days." Here are just some pieces from the first "day" which I found encouraging:

"Before the world began, God, that cannot lie, gave the promise of eternal life to Him for us, and made with Him for us 'a covenant ordered in all things, and sure.' The leading provisions of that covenant were, a Lamb for our atonement, and a King for our government--a dying and a living Saviour. This God the Father did for us, and His own divine interest is strongly indicated in the typical words, 'God will provide Himself a Lamb,' and 'I have provided me a King.' So the Source of the Kingship of Christ is God Himself, in the eternal counsels of His love. It is one of the grand 'thoughts of God.'

...
...

Why has God made Jesus King? Who would have guessed the right answer? 'Because the Lord loved His people.' So the very thought of the Kingship of Christ sprang from the everlasting love of God to His people. Bring that wonderful statement down to personal reality,--'His people,' that is, you and me. God made Jesus King over you, because He loved you, and that with nothing less than the love wherewith He loved Him. Which is the more wonderful--the love that devised such a gift, or the gift that was devised by such love! Oh, to realize the glorious value of it! May we, who by His grace know something of God's gift of His Son as our Saviour, learn day by day more of the magnificent preciousness of His gift of His Anointed One as our King!"

Songs and Hymns for little Ella

I don't know any kids' songs. I should, really...I mean, I've participated in every kind of event where you learn those kinds of songs. But I don't remember a single one. I think there was one about a frog...anyway. I don't really know any of the traditional lullabies either. The only one I remember is "Rockabye baby" and, well, I'm not a huge fan, to be honest. And then there's the bathtime songs. My mom says that she always sang "Splish splash I was takin a bath" to us at bathtime. Trouble is, I only know the first line.


So, Ella gets to hear a lot of hymns and the kinds of songs that Johnny and I like. Any number of them can be used just for calming her, or singing to her just because. We have several favorites. But we have kind of established a pattern. For example, her naptime/bedtime song is " 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.'" Before digging out my hymnal a few weeks ago, I could only ever remember the first verse and the chorus, but it's really the last three verses that make the song. It's wonderful. So, every time she goes down for a nap, I'm encouraged by the words to the song. Now when I start singing that song, she calms right down and she knows it's time to go to sleep. We also have a bathtime song now, and at first I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of it (haha): "I've Got a River of Life." Once I was giving her a bath and trying to think of what to sing, and that was the first thing that came to mind because it had to do with water...haha. Of course, when I got to the chorus I remembered the ole youth group add-ins of "gush gush gush gush" and "splish splash," which made it even more bath-appropriate. She LOVES that song, and she loves bathtime, so we have a lot of fun.

In the early weeks, one of her favorite calm-down songs was "To Christ the Lord" (if you don't know that song, it's the hymn "Majestic Sweetness sits enthroned" with some new words and a new melody, done by Indelible Grace). I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I sang that in a wedding just 2 months before she was born--I think she must have heard all that practicing in the womb. ;) Anyway, I'm hoping that as Ella grows, she'll develop a love for hymns.

Here are the words to three of our favorites:

"To Christ the Lord"

To Christ the Lord, let every tongue
Its noblest tribute bring
When He's the subject of the song
Who can refuse to sing?
Survey the beauties of His face
And on His glories dwell
Think of the wonders of His grace
And all His triumphs tell

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
Upon His awful brow
His head with radiant glories crowned
His lips with grace o'erflow
No mortal can with Him compare
Among the sons of man
And fairer He than all the fair
That fill the heavenly train!

He saw me plunged in deep distress
He fled to my relief
For me He bore the shameful cross
And carried all my grief
His hand a thousand blessings pours
Upon my guilty head
His presence gilds my darkest hours
And guards my sleeping bed

To Him I owe my life and breath
And all the joys I have
He makes me triumph over death
And saves me from the grave
To heaven the place of His abode
He brings my weary feet
Shows me the glories of my God
And makes my joy complete

Since from His bounty I received
Such proofs of love divine
Had I a thousand hearts to give
Lord they should all be Thine
A thousand men could not compose
A worthy song to bring
Yet Your love is a melody
Our hearts can't help but sing!



"Tis so sweet" (naptime/bedtime song)

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know "thus saith the Lord!"

(chorus) Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood! (chorus)

Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace (chorus)

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend!
And I know that He is with me
Will be with me to the end. (chorus)



"I've Got a River of Life" (bathtime song...with goofy youth group add-ins)

I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free
I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Spring up, o well (gush gush gush gush)
Within my soul
Spring up, o well (splish splash)
And make me whole
Spring up, o well (whooooosh)
And give to me
That life abundantly!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It seems like fall is full of birthdays...an aunt and a cousin in September (I think??), soon after Ella was born. Then in October, it was my Dad, Johnny, Elayna, my friend Rachel, my cousin Tera, my cousin Sammy, and then Tera's little boy came into the world this October as well!

And today is my Mom's 47th birthday. I know I'm only just beginning to understand a fraction of what motherhood is all about, and I appreciate her now more than ever before!





Here's Ella fast asleep after coming home from Mom's birthday dinner at Applebee's last night...as you can tell, celebrating Grandma's birthday really wore her out. ;)

The Blog Venture Begins...and the story of Ella

I'm not very web-savvy. I don't really know how to do this whole blog thing. But recently I've heard a lot of remarks like, "Now, I sure haven't seen any pictures of Ella in awhile!" Well, the original solution was to send emails...but with all our family and friends, that's about a billion (give or take) email addresses, and we only seem able to send about 3 pictures at a time, out of the thousands (give or take) that we have...so, the Vogt family blog was born. I'm sure it will be great fun eventually, but right now it's rather daunting. How do I begin? Perhaps with a story...

Really it begins long ago, when the Lord had written my days in His book before I had lived one of them (Psalm 139). Those ordained days included a moment when He took away my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36), wiping clean my record of sin (Colossians 2) and justifying me by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3). Those ordained days also included a wonderful wedding: May 13, 2006, I married my amazing husband Johnny.

...and now, of course, we know that those ordained days included bringing another life into the world. The day after Christmas 2007, I had a positive pregnancy test, confirmed 2 days later by my doctor, and my whole world was happily turned upside-down. I'll never forget hearing that little heartbeat for the first time! Well, the doctor said September 4, and the sonographer said August 22, but my little sister Elayna said, with absolute confidence, that my little girl would be born August 27--a Wednesday, the same day of the week that Elayna was born 14 years ago. I laughed at her prediction and joked with her about it, but never thought much of it. Tuesday, August 26, very pregnant and uncomfortable and hot, I drove to JGI to pick Johnny up from work (one of our cars was being worked on), and we stopped to pick up 2-for-$1 tacos for dinner. I think I ate four or five...a decision I would come to regret. About 10pm, I started having contractions--not very strong yet, about 10 minutes apart. About 12:15am, I was in a heap in the floor, with contractions every 2-3 minutes. About 1am, I started vomiting and I told Johnny I didn't care how long the doctor said to wait; we were going to the hospital. We checked in about 2am on Wednesday, August 27, and Ella Christine Vogt was born at 9:13. My sister is so smart. ;)

The first 2 weeks, Ella slept nonstop. I usually had to wake her up to feed her. The waking up process usually took about an hour...haha, she's a heavy sleeper. Then at about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks, the crying started. I've never experienced anything like those evenings of pacing the floor while she sobbed, fussed, even screamed, for reasons entirely unknown to us. It was a crazy time...but there were still so many fun and wonderful moments. I'm not even really sure when the crying stopped...but at 10 1/2 weeks, she's much happier and calmer, smiling and cooing a lot, and absolutely adorable. She used to cry if she wasn't being held; now she cries if you try to pick her up during what we like to call "wiggle time." She kicks those feet so high, I've often joked that she's going to learn to do backwards somersaults before she learns to roll over!!

Well, most of you probably knew all of that already, so I'll skip to the part you're really interested in: pictures!
We took this one when Ella was about 1 week old. Pretty, isn't she?

Here she is at about three weeks, sleeping soundly:



The middle two were taken between 5-6 weeks; the bottom four are recent--about 10 weeks. In these last two, she's stretching--Johnny took a whole bunch of shots while she was waking up. As you can see, she's quite animated when she first wakes up. ;)

And, just for fun, because he's adorable and because we haven't forgotten about him: Coda at bathtime!