Big girl

Leah had her 2 month appointment today. 90th percentile for weight. Girlfriend's putting on some pounds. That's ok. It'll be easier to stay warm this winter. Dr. said she's looking good. It's always tricky trying to figure out if they're growing/eating ok when they're exclusively nursing, but now we know! Either way, she's beautiful. People tell us all the time.

The prodigal children

I just finished "Prodigal God" by Tim Keller and it was quite refreshing for my heart. In it, he dissects the two lives of the brothers in Jesus' parable in Luke 15. Both seek and try to find freedom, life, and joy. The younger brother turns to selfishness and debauchery. He turns to "popular" sins like money, sex and rebellion. The older brother's err is not quite as mainstream but probably even more common. He tries to find his joy and significance in his own goodness. He is the good church man. He is the moral one.

Both are base and decrepit and I find both within myself to degrees that frighten me. I am the younger brother in my selfish attitudes and life choices. I am the older brother in my having the audacity to find my fulfillment in the father's tasks rather than the father himself.

I am thrown upon the grace of the gospel once more; and I am very pleased by this. Join me, please, in finding your joy and being in Christ rather than your good deeds or your moral life like us older brothers so often do. Join me in dwelling in Christ alone rather than the flighty joys this world promises to us younger brothers.


-We start staff meetings tonight. I am very excited to reconnect with the team and trust God for big things this year. I'll keep you posted about these times.
-One of the things that is difficult with our job is diving deeply into our church community. The time/travel restraints often just don't allow us to do that. Yesterday we had a great time at our church picnic and Melissa and I both grieved this reality on the way home. We love the people at our church and don't get nearly enough time with them.
-Tonight will be Noah's first of many childcare visits for the next 9 months or so. He normally does great with babysitters but the frequency of them, we fear, will bring a not so pleasant transition. Pray for him if you get the chance please.

Learning to jump

The little man doesn't quite have the hang of jumping quite yet. He does more of a leaning walk thing. Off this stool, at grandma's house, he wouldn't budge until someone stood close enough for him to grab onto for help. It's fun watching him turn less baby-ish and more boy-ish each day.

One of Melissa's big hobbies these days is garage sales. She gets amazing deals on lots of kid stuff and it's way cheaper than some of my hobbies (running for instance). Plus one of the things Melissa loves doing is just being generous and giving what gifts she can and getting cute/good stuff for people with babies is a great way to do that. I love that about her by the way.

I mention this because we're heading to a church garage sale tomorrow morning. I say "we" because the church sales are the only ones that I can really get excited about. We've been to a few churches that have been selling some awfully good books for dirt cheap. You have to know what you're looking for, but we've found some good stuff.

I got a chance to connect with one of the guys I have mentored/discipled for 2 of the last three years and it was really fun. I've missed these guys a lot over the summer. This guy spent a significant part of his summer on a study abroad trip. It was really fun for me to hear him talk about the awesome gospel centered conversations he was having with so many people on the trip. When I think about where he has come from in his freshmen year to now on the verge of his fourth it makes me smile and be in awe at God's work and grace. Just like Noah is learning to jump, this man has learned to live a missional life.

Life update

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. Really just a lack of energy. Praise Jesus for java juice. Melissa is still on the verge; it'd really be great if she could avoid it as this is kind've a busy week. We've got lots of things to plan and order before we start our staff planning stuff on Monday.

I'm continuing to get ready for the year by bathing in the book of Acts, and somewhat less in Luke. I love Luke; and have for the past couple years. I just can't move on. I'm jumping around elsewhere every now and then (besides my regular 4 NT chapters a day to read the NT twice each year) but mainly I'm letting Luke/Acts sweep over me. I've begun work on my first four or five bible studies with the guys and I'm pretty excited about it. I really believe that one of the best things I can pass onto any student I come in contact with is a deep love and adoration for the Bible. If these students can fall into and live in this book I'm confident the kingdom of God will breakthrough in any sphere they enter. When the kingdom comes, so comes healing, so comes life to the fullest, so comes joy and peace and sacrifice and love and compassion. I pray all the time that they would love this book.

Other random Shadle family info:

-We gave Leah her first bottle today. Went really well. Still going to breastfeed but once school starts we'll need the flexibility.

-I finished my 17 mile run on Saturday. Ran the first 13 (a half-marathon!) in 1:45 and needed a bathroom pitstop which ruined the flow of my run. Originally that sentence said "needed a bathroom pitstop that ruined my flow" but I though perhaps that could be misunderstood:) All 17 I ran in 2:24. Running the full marathon in October in Columbus.

-We got out Noah's tricycle yesterday and he didn't quite get it. Maybe he's not there yet. He sat on it but couldn't figure out the steering or the pedaling; both of those are pretty important in riding!

-Staff report August 30th. Lots of community time, prayer, preparation, and connecting with God to ready our hearts for the storm that is Fall quarter at OSU. I hope to blog a bit about this.

Cacth-up day

We've just returned from a trip to Melissa's parents. It was pretty fun. Melissa and I eat like cows when we're there and it was sort've a last hurrah before we buckle down about our diets. She is determined to lose that baby weight and I could stand to lose 10 or 15 lbs as well.

I have a cold right now so that's not a whole lot of fun. Noah does as well. Melissa is bound to be next. I seriously hate being sick. It just saps everything out of me. Most especially it just saps my heart. I don't feel much of anything, and let me tell you, when your job is to be passionate about Jesus and encouraging to everyone around you and you feel dead to the world it's not a very nice combination. I have a feeling today is just going to be one of those days that we try and buckle down and remain faithful despite how we feel. It's drag yourself to work day.

Add and illness to a quasi-significant amount of catching up/procrastinated work (which always happens when we go home) and we could really use your prayers. The schoolyear doesn't start for another month or so, but we both have quite a few things we were hoping to get done this summer that haven't yet been finished.

Noah loves grandma and grandpa Grover. He was more huggy and kissy there than we've ever seen him. It was cute but we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop with him now being back home. They pay him constant attention and he always gets what he wants, but when we're home he doesn't have that luxury and doesn't always transition well.

We started tackling drills! Grandma got him this penguin punching bag thing that bounces up everytime you knock it down. We would run (me on my knees and him prancing, ha!) at it and spear it together and commence with 10 seconds of laughter before we had another go at it. It was seriously fun. I really love that dude.

Melissa and I had some seriously needed connect time as well. I'm afraid I haven't done a very good job at romancing her now that we have two babies. That few hours was precious to me.

This blog thing

Good friends :)

These are from the "touch a truck" carnival thing we went to one weekend.

This blog is so tough to keep up with. Not sure why, it just always gets lost in the shuffle. Here are some pictures of us as I try to limp my way back into making this a discipline of mine.