Merry Christmas!

We had a great first Christmas with Luke. We had a chance to be with both families and especially my grandfather who is in poor health. This was a special time for us as we are preparing to leave for Central Asia on January 8.
Luke is 3 1/2 months now and is so much fun! His smile and little laugh warm our hearts. He's growing so fast!

Pray that he will do well with all our travel to Central Asia. Hopefully he will sleep and not scream too much on the flights !

Here are some of our Christmas photos.

Meeting Santa Claus

Today we took Luke to get his picture made with Santa Claus. Luckily he didn't cry at all. He loves being strolled around the mall so he can look at all the lights and colors.

December 5

Luke has recently become very interested in watching TV, even though we try our best not to let him see it yet. Maybe it's the lights flashing, but I don't know. He tries to position himself on the floor so he can see it! This is Luke with his cousin Jacob.

November Fun

Luke is growing and changing so much! At his 2 month checkup he was 12 lbs 4 oz and 22 1/4 in long. He's doing great and is learning how to hold his toys. He loves muscial toys especially and he loves to smile and coo. Too fun!

We put him in the jumper toy and of course his feet don't touch the ground but he likes to swing in it. I was cooking dinner one day while he was in it and before long he had fallen asleep in it! Guess we have a while before he will get really excited about this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures from Luke's first Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for this little blessing from the Lord in our life. It seems like we've had him forever already and I don't know what we would do without him. The past 2 months have been challenging of course but so rewarding as we see Luke growing and developing each day. We're thankful for what we went through at the beginning of 2006...having to leave our dear home and friends in Central Asia. We are thankful because we know the Lord has used this for His good in our lives and taught us to trust Him even more with our future. We've missed the last 3 Thanksgivings with our families so we enjoyed the time with them. This is a picture of Forrest using his beloved turkey fryer and of Luke with his cousins Ben and Sam. Also Luke with his Aunt Julie. Happy Thanksgiving!

Our family photo

Here's our latest family photo. Also here's a picture of Luke in the hat that Forrest came home with one day. He 's too funny in it!

More October pictures

We are enjoying Luke more and more each day. His little smile and now all his "baby" noises are so much fun. Of course his grandparents are trying to get as much time with him as they can before we leave to go back overseas in January. Enjoy the pictures!

Halloween photos

Here is Luke in his Tigger costume with his cousins Hannah and Jacob. Obviously he wasn't too interested in the Boo Bash at M & M Mars but we were just happy he was sleeping!

What a smile!

Luke starting smiling last week and he just melts our hearts! He even smiles when we get him up in the morning. He definitely didn't get that from his mother or his father! He has become so much more aware of everything around him and is getting more and more fun each day.

One month old!

Luke is already one month old and yesterday he weighed 9lbs 12 oz at the doctor! It seems like every day he changes and becomes more alert and more fun. He seems to stare at his daddy a lot and now loves to look at the mobile on his swing. He's trying to hold his head up when he's on his tummy too. He's such a joy!

Luke's new friends

Our dear friends came to visit us and brought their babies...so Luke got to make some new friends - Beau Mihalek and Olivia Crenshaw.

2nd week pictures

We made it over the 2nd week hump and we are doing really well. Luke is sleeping about 5 hours at a time at night and is eating tons! Last week he was up to 8lbs already so he's starting to pack on the pounds. He met his cousins Hannah and Jacob for the first time and little Jacob immediately wanted to be his friend. He even offered to share his giraffe toy with Luke if he wanted it. Hannah gave him about 1000 kisses and said she wanted to take him home to her house. Luke is lucky to have so many people who love him so much!

Luke's first bath

We finally were able to give Luke his first bath but he didn't really enjoy it all that much. Maybe he was cold or maybe he wanted to just be left alone! Hopefully one day he will enjoy his baths more!

Luke's first week at home

Except for the first few days of a sleepy baby, tears, and trying to learn how to feed him, our first week at home with Luke was great! He finally settled into sleeping and eating well and of course had lots and lots of visitors. Everyone keeps saying how much he looks like Forrest so I'm hoping for his hair to turn black. After 9 months I deserve something, don't I? :)
As I write this he is only 10 days old but it seems like he's been with us forever. What a complete joy and blessing he is in our life!
His first day at home was the UT/Florida game so of course he had to be dressed in orange. Here are some other fun pictures from his first week.

It's a BOY!

Luke Forrest Renner has finally arrived! On Wednesday September 13 during the night I began to feel contractions. I really didn't believe it was "for real" because my doctor had told me my chance of actually going into labor was slim. Around 3:30 AM on Thursday September 14 I began to keep track of my contractions as they were getting closer and closer. As we were leaving to go to the hospital around 7:30 AM I still didn't believe that would be the day we would hold our little baby in our arms, but thankfully it was! It was a very very long day but it ended in the best way possible, with the birth of Luke Forrest at 11:08 pm. He weighed 7lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long. When the doctor laid him on my chest I was so overwhelmed with emotion. I couldn't believe this little guy was inside of me and now in my arms. Also I was overwhelmed with this beautiful picture of God's Goodness in our lives, after we had prayed and prayed for him. Forrest was of course immediately glowing too. What an amazing day !