A Blessed October

I apologize for being a terrible blogger. Before Anika was born I thought, "No problem! I will be able to blog at least once a week to keep everyone updated!" I was wrong, but mostly for the good reason that we were kept busy with family and friends visiting often, along with me taking a trip to Minnesota as well. I will now attempt to catch you up with the wonderful goings-on we experienced in October.





The first weekend of October Garry's mom Diane was able to fly out as a surprise and see Anika. We had a great visit and she had fun bonding with her new granddaughter. She was also an amazing help around the house with all the things that get passed over when you have a newborn, like doing dishes and sweeping the floor. My mom also joined us that first week of October to hang out with me and help out with everything. I appreciated being able to leave Anika with someone I trusted to be able to get at least an hour nap in.

My parents took a trip to Florida the middle of October, and since they flew out of Omaha they stayed with us for a few days at the beginning and end of their trip. Again I had wonderful help cleaning the house and mowing the leaf-covered lawn to get ready for more relatives to visit around Anika's baptism.





The rest of Garry's family flew in on the 21st to meet Anika for the first time. I was really excited to have them here. We had fun hanging out, but mostly everyone spent their time taking turns holding Anika. Although an added bonus was that Garry's dad helped him finish (finally) the crib, and my dad helped with the final coat of paint, so now Anika is sleeping in a "real" bed in her own room.






October 24th was Anika's baptism. We were blessed with more family coming out for this wonderful occasion. My ocusin Amy drove up from the Lincoln area, and my Grandma and Grandpa Van Gorp came from Pella. God has been a faithful Father to our family over the generations, so I was humbled to be able to share the moment of Anika's baptism with all those believing family members with whom God has blessed us. I was reminded again that baptism is covenanting with our Heavenly Father, promising to give Anika back to Him, recognizing that she is His child first and our child second. My continued prayer is that God will use the Holy Spirit early in Anika's life to open her heart and mind to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to accept Him alone as the way of her salvation, and carry forth the love of Christ in her daily life to all she meets. I pray God will use Garry and I, our families, as well as her church family to bring about His will for her in her walk with Him.






After having family around, I was not looking forward to being by myself. Garry needed to travel to Iowa City for work again, so I decided to take my first road trip with Anika up to Luverne to have my family keep me company while Garry was away. I was excited to be able to watch Nicole's choir and band concert and to be away from home and daily housework for a little while. Anika did really well on the trip up and the trip back making me more confident to try the trip again in the future.

Now it is November and I can hardly believe it. Anika is six weeks old already! That number makes her sound really young, but here are some progresses we've made.
*she now wears size 1 diapers instead of newborn
*she is smiling
*she is starting to talk and coo more and more every day
*she has now outgrown her newborn sleepers