A Handful of Trip Pics (Posted by Em)
Last month we went on a family trip to Oregon! It was Mic’s first time in the Pacific Northwest. Micah and Callie got to meet some of our friends and family from out there for the first time! Tessa had her 2nd birthday on the 22nd. The whole trip was such a wonderful experience!!! I have wanted to post some pictures on here. It has been SO hard to pick just a handful. I could post hundreds!! So, I did my best to narrow it down, but it’s a sporadic sampling. Enjoy!
The Portland Rose Gardens were gorgeous!
Sisters!
Heidi took some beautiful pics of Callie!
Callie with Heidi and Gramma!
Tessa's Birthday at Cousin Kathy's House!
Hanging out at my Aunt Shirley's property on Sauvie Island. With Lauren, Joy, Chels and the kiddos!
Avery, Callie, Caden, Ani and Tessa!
Sauvie Island Sunset on the Columbia River with Mt. St. Helens... Twas quite romantic! 
Hiking at Wildwood along the Salmon River with Marc, Jenn and Caden!
Treasured Times
The Willamette River, Micah, Sugar(on the left) and Spice(on the right)
Mic's Birthday Party up at Fort Lewis with Michael, Heather, Jason and Jonathan. Woohoo!
Pikes Place Market in Seattle with Michael, Heather and Jakob!
Eating lunch at Turkish Delight... I just love Callie's smile!
GAP ad
The Space Needle
Callie had Michael completely wrapped around her finger... he seriously had it BAD!
Yay for reading with Heather and Jakob!
Callie's first time at the beach! Sleeping on Jason's shoulder.
Newport Beach - Yaquina Head Lighhouse in the Background
There's nothing quite like playing on the beach!
Looking across the surf and tidepools at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Yay!
Awesome Family Time and the Sun Setting Over the Pacific Ocean!
Playtime with Caden!
- Marie and Lo babysat for us, bless them! Mic and I went on an adventure – several places along the Columbia River Gorge!
Our hike to Wahclella Falls
We had a wonderful dinner at Tad's - a family fav from my childhood along the Sandy River. Micah liked it.
Thankful to be able to show Mic the sun setting over the gorge from Crown Point!
The view up towards Portland - also from Crown Point. The lamppost reminds me of Narnia.
THE END
How He Sees Me (posted by Mic)
I would like to share a conversation that I had with God the other day. This conversation was one of those random times where God chooses, for His own reasons, to reveal something grand to me when I’m not even looking for it. I was driving home from work around 11pm – I have about a 30 minute drive home – and was just thinking about all of the ways that I feel that I am failing God. Nothing really brought it on. It was a very typical day at work, I hadn’t argued with my wife or comitted some horrible sin. I was just thinking about how I so often fail to make time for Him, about my propensity to choose my own way over His, and how I believe that He has such wonderful things to give someone who is wholeheartedly devoted to him. I know that we all mess up. I was just feeling it acutely. And as I was thinking about these things, my heart cried “Lord, please heal me!” My heart was desiring an intimacy with its Creator that was being prevented by sin. And as clearly as if He had been sitting in the passenger seat of the car with me, He spoke to my heart with a beauty and love that completely overwhelmed me. “Child, you are healed! You just haven’t accepted it yet!”
I must confess, at first I scoffed at the thought! I spoke out loud, “but I’m not healed!” I thought about all of the times that I’ve failed Him, that I’ve made the wrong choice, that I’ve chosen me above Him. How could He say that I’ve been healed when I’m still so prone to sin? But as the weight of his words began to sink into my heart, I realized something. He was not saying that I was immune to sin. I most certainly wasn’t. But I realized that I was living as if I was still bound by the power of sin. I saw myself as a failure, tainted, lost. But, through Jesus, I’m not any of those things! I was choosing to believe a lie of condemnation which led to more sin. What God was saying to me was that all of those things no longer stick to me. How He washed me is not like taking a shower, in which the dirt washes off, and as soon as you step from the shower more begins to accumulate. No – rather, to put it crudely, God washes you and applies a holy teflon coat (really, I’m sorry for this analogy and I know that Teflon is a trademark) which prevents the dirt from ever sticking again. Therefore, even though we all should be layered in grime, we are not! When God sees me, he sees me through the perfection of His Son, Jesus – bright, pure, holy in His sight! He does not condemn me, although he would be quite within His right to! So if He does not call me a failure, then why do I choose to believe that I am? If he does not call me broken, why do I act as if I still am? I AM healed! I just hadn’t accepted it yet! It had not worked its way into the framework of my decision-making. I was believing a lie!
So, I have now chosen to believe Him when He says that I am healed. How silly for the healed to sit and beg to be healed again! Get up! Take up your mat and walk! Live in the light of who He says you are, let that reality sink in deep and change the way you live. Stop trying to be better – accept that by His sacrifice, you are now Holy, and live it!
Child, you are healed! Have you accepted it yet?
Genesis (posted by Mic)
Hi, all!
I wanted to take a moment to share the last couple of sermons from our church here in Cville. Chris has begun teaching through Genesis, and it is SO good! He has really done the legwork on this one, and it is worth the time to listen. There are a couple of links below. You can also download the podcasts fron this site and listen on the go. Enjoy!
Oh yeah – the last few months of sermons can be found here - http://www.porticocville.org/podcast/ .
-Micah
Callie Joy Puffer (posted by Mic)
May 10th 2010 will now be a date we remember for the rest of our lives. It is the day that our hearts grew larger to accomodate the precious life we chose to name Callie Joy Puffer. I’ve heard people say that they worried before the birth of a second child about whether they could love another child the same way that they love their first. I can’t say that I had that worry, but I did find a very curious thing happened the moment that I first held this beautiful little girl. I could feel my heart growing inside my chest – it was not painful or even uncomfortable – in fact, it was one of the most beautiful feelings I have ever experienced. I can only liken it to the feeling I had on my wedding day when I first saw my radiant bride standing at the end of the aisle looking back at me. It is in these moments that our hearts grow, when we know that there is no turning back, even if we wanted to. We are forever captured; deeply, madly in love.
The day started out like many others. Em had awoken several times in the night because of contractions, but she’d had strong contractions before during this pregnancy, and had learned to not take them too seriously. But these felt different, and she described them to me. We spoke with a friend who is an OB nurse and knows our history, and she recommended that we at least head into town in case things began to pick up. Lynn came home to watch Tessa for us, and we headed into Charlottesville. We got a latte to share at Starbucks, and headed to Christians Pizza to grab some lunch. But the contractions were strong enought to keep Em from eating, and were getting more uncomfortable, so we headed toward the hospital. We pulled into the parking lot, and decided to walk a little bit. We took a beautiful stroll through a very old cemetary nearby, enjoying the sunshine, the cool breeze, and the tranquility of that place. After speaking with our OB nurse friend again, we felt it prudent to stop by the OB office to just see if these contractions were causing any changes – boy were we surprised when the OB announced that Em was dilated to a 4, and transitioning into active labor!
After texting our family and friends to inform them of the news, we checked into the hospital and met our nurse. Her name was Erin, and we grew to love her. She was very attentive, but at the same time gave us the space we needed for this time to feel very personal. Em spent some time in the jaccuzi tub and sitting on an exercise ball (which she LOVED), and the contractions became more frequent and intense. The doctor checked her again, and found that she was now easily 5cm, and broke her water. After that, the contractions picked up in frequency and intensity, and soon Em was very uncomfortable. However, she was AMAZING, and after a while, she was dilated to a 9, and beginning to feel the urge to push. It was a flurry of activity at that point, and before our heads stopped spinning, there was a screaming pink bundle laid on Em’s chest. Our long-awaited little girl was finally here!
We spent some quality time together, and I gave our as-yet-to-be-named little girl her first bath. Then John, Lynn, and Tessa arrived. The look on Tessa’s face when she first saw her sister was priceless! ”Baby!”, she said, and ran to her momma and baby sister. We enjoyed spending some time together as a family, since we hadn’t seen Tessa since that morning. Soon, she headed home for the night, and Em and I crashed. Callie was born to nurse, and was up every hour and a half that night feeding, but Em was very patient and loving – she didn’t even wake me up in the night for diaper duty! The next day we were up at 5:30, and enjoyed continuing to get to know our little girl. Both the OB and pediatrician were fine with discharging us from the hospital that evening, a fact which was quite exciting to us. Barb, Bethany, and the girls showed up around lunchtime, and we enjoyed spending the day together. We got home at 8:00 that evening, SO glad to be home.
Thanks so much to everyone who prayed through this pregnancy with us! We have been so blessed to have a perfect little girl at home with us, and Tessa is learning to love being a big sister. We are looking forward to introducing this little girl to all of the people that will mean so much to her over the course of her lifetime. We are also thrilled to consider all of the plans that the Lord has for her – it is a privilege and an honor to be entrusted with this little life, and we will raise her to love Jesus with all of her heart. We will be continuing to update the blog with the latest stories and pictures, so stay tuned!
P.S. – click on any of the photos above (or anywhere in the blog) for a larger version. 
Fudgesicles and Baby Dreams (posted by Em)
Hi everyone! I am sitting here on this warm Virginia day in May eating a fudgesicle(yummy!) and trying to think of a way in which I can put in words what’s on my heart. I have been thinking about Tessa so much lately! About all the ways that she has changed my life and my heart. And about this new little one who is on her way to us! Our due date is two weeks from today and I couldn’t be more excited to meet her face to face!
Our most recent OB appointment… 38 weeks! 
Before God brought Mic and subsequently Tessa into my life, I had not planned on ever getting married and having children. Now, I can’t imagine not having Mic and Tessa in my life. Obviously God’s plans for me are SO FAR superior to what I would have planned for myself if it had been up to me. If it had been up to me I would be living in Bangkok right now, on the complete opposite side of the world. Never would I have thought I would be living in Virginia, married to my best friend, with a toddler and another little one about to join us . But it is so GOOD. God’s plans for me have been GOOD (and complicated and at times extremely HARD, but still good). Six months ago I sat through a worship service where they sang both “It Is Well With My Soul” AND “Blessed Be Your Name”- one right after the other. I just sat there through both songs and sobbed, ashamed-with my heart wrenching that I could not truthfully utter even one word of either of the praise songs. And I have struggled so much with fear. Yesterday at church we sang “It Is Well With My Soul” again. I was singing it joyfully to the Lord. It got me to thinking about how thankful I am to be able to sing it and how much I hope that someday I will be able to sing that song even in the midst of HARD experiences. I know that God is changing me and I know I still have a long way to go. Sometimes He seems so far away, and sometimes He is SO close. More than anything right now I am hoping that He will change me completely in the deepest part of my heart. Just these past few days I have really yielded to Him and have finally gotten to the point of saying, “Lord, Your will be done, whatever that looks like, I trust You completely.”
So, what does all this have to do with Tessa? Well, a lot of my fear over the past couple of years has centered around being afraid of something happening to her(or Mic). But God is helping me with that and He has been showing me how much He is using her in my life to teach me and change me. And she has! I am such a “Momma” now! I never thought I would be a mom and then God gave me Tessa! What a joy she is to me! What an overwhelming LOVE I have for this sweet, stubborn and spunky little one. My heart is filled with thankfulness to God for her every day. Now He is giving us another little girl and I am SO ready to get to know her, love her and experience life with her! It seems as though Tessa has opened up the maternal part of my heart so fully and I can’t wait to meet this new little one and love her the same way! I think about her all the time. What will she be like? Who is this unique, precious little girl who God created so specifically and purposefully? Getting to know Tessa has been such a blessing, I can’t wait to do the same with Baby!
Well, I know I’ve said this in the past, but I’m not nearly as good a writer as Micah! I tend to have such jumbled thoughts and trying to express them can be interesting, but I try, mainly because we are far away from most of you and I want to share our lives with you all. So, I hope you can decipher what I am clumsily trying to share with you!
Here are the words to Blessed Be Your Name… God has brought this song up with me over and over in the past 3 years and I need to hear it!
Blessed Be Your Name
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
by Matt Redman
and here is It Is Well…
It Is Well With My Soul
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
by Horatio Spafford
New Neighbors (posted by Mic)
Hi again,
I’m not sure if Em or I shared about this or not, so here it goes. Our wonderful, sweet neighbors, Isaiah, Michelle, and Aleyah moved into their new home a few weeks ago. They were able to find a lovely home about 12 minutes south of here that met their needs better than where they were, and we helped them to pack up their belongings and move. We were sad to see them go, as we enjoyed having them right next-door, but were happy that they moved somewhere close by.
Anyway, we found out last week that we were getting new neighbors and were excited to hear that it was a young family with a little boy around Tessa’s age. They moved in late Friday night (past midnight), and we resolved to introduce ourselves on Sunday after church. We stopped over and invited them to join us for hamburgers on the grill for dinner. We soon found out that their little guy was born on Aug 19th (3 days before Tessa)! Aleyah was born on Aug 18th (I think). How crazy to get another set of neighbors with a child born within days of Tessa! Their names are Dave, Ashley, and little Isaac. We enjoyed getting to meet Dave and Ashley over dinner, which we also shared with John, Lynn, and Rebeccah. Isaac was with his grandma for the night, so they could concentrate on moving in.
So anyway, we are so thankful for new neighbors and new friendships. We hope that Tessa and Isaac can be good friends. How fun!
Until later – Micah
Our wonderful day, Micah’s frugal corner, and other stuff. (posted by Mic)
Hello all!
Boy, it’s been a while, huh? Sorry about that. Things have just been a little crazy around here, what with baby’s due date just 16 days away, projects at the hospital, projects at ANM, and so on. But I’m glad to have the time now to post a little update about what’s going on in Afton, VA.
Em’s pregnancy continues well, and we are thankful that all seems to be as it should be. It is funny to prepare yourself for a preemie and get a full-term pregnancy! Funny, and wonderful. We went through a similar process with Tessa, with the doctors unconvinced that she would make it to full term, but she did! I think that Em and I must produce naturally strong-willed children – they want to come out when they should be in, and they want to stay in when we would like them to come out! Really, though, we are thankful for every day that she has to develop. We are just so very anxious to finally meet her!
Em and I continue to do well also. Today, we went to a nearby farmers’ marker (and bought nothing but a lovely head of lettuce). It was fun to browse the stalls, in which one could purchase anything from potted plants to furniture to rabbit meat (no kidding). On the way home, Tess wanted to try the lettuce, so I have her a piece. She chewed it for a moment… then spit it out, saying “yuck”. It’s OK, it was kinda bitter. She’s cute.
After the Farmers’ Market, we took some very back-roads home (think dirt and gravel), but we saw a bit of the countryside that we hadn’t before. It was actually quite breathtaking, and only 10 minutes from our home! We daydreamed together about what kind of home we’d love to have someday. The home itself doesn’t have to be anything posh or fancy, but we want our home to be relaxing and full of love – the kind of place where our children will feel utterly secure, and guests won’t want to leave. We also would love to have some property so that our kids could learn to love being outdoors and exploring, rather than being glued to a TV screen. There is so much to do and explore with just a little imagination! The woods become an Amazon adventure, and the grassy plain the African savannah! A tree-fort can be a fighter jet, and a creek the wide ocean! Just dreams, really. Dreams for our children, and the legacy we leave.
We went home and packed up a picnic lunch, and drove to the Rockfish River (again, about 10-12 minutes away). There, we walked down a short trail, and found a lovely little picnic spot where we could sit on the rocks and dangle our toes in the surprisingly cold water while we ate our tuna fish. Tessa and I even found a caterpillar, but she wasn’t too fond of it!
After lunch, we visited Isaiah and Aleyah. Actually, Isaiah and I replaced the brakes on his car while Tessa and Em listened for Aleyah to wake up from her nap. The brakes took longer than we expected (due to the complete unavailability of the 9mm allen wrench needed to remove the calipers. We ended up “modifying” a 10mm wrench with a file – ingenious! Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it worked just fine, and now the car stops much better.
So I’m sitting here, writing this update with a wonderful warm breeze blowing in my window, the moon glowing brightly in the sky behind me, all my girls sound asleep in their beds (or uteruses), and the soothing sound of a tractor-pull just down the road floating in on the breeze. They’ve been at it four hours now. What a weird, noisy competition. And this from a guy that grew up just outside of the city which hosts the National Tractor-Pulling Championship every year! We can hear the tractors from Haskins when they’re pulling in BG, and these tractors are much closer than that. Hooray.
Actually, one of the reasons that I wanted to write this post, is I wanted to let you in on a little secret I discovered when shopping online. I don’t do a ton of online shopping, but Em and I will occasionally order from Diapers.com or Babies-r-us or something like that. If you’ve ever placed an order online, you’ve probably noticed that many retailers have a spot at the bottom of their “shopping cart” page that says something like “enter coupon code here”. You’ve probably just ignored it, right? Well, next time, take a moment to visit http://www.retailmenot.com . It’s a site where people put coupon codes for 50,000 different online stores. Put the address or name of the site you’re ordering from (e.g. babiesrus.com), and take a look at the coupon codes posted there. You may find 10-20% off coupons, free shipping, or something even better. It’s definately worth two minutes to check. I’ve saved a substantial amount using this method, and figure it could be helpful to lots of other people. Oh yeah, many times retailers that sell both in store and online will also have printable coupons on retailmenot.com. Check it out.
Oh yeah, also check out http://www.grahamgardens.com. It’s a family business based in Pennsylvania that makes natural skin-care and beauty products. Em ordered from them recently, and we were very impressed both by the product they delivered and by the fact that they sent some free candy with it (I liked that a lot). They also sent samples of 5 other products which we were not expecting. All this, and free shipping too. We believe that it is a Christian business, since they sponsor Passionate Homemaking (http://www.passionatehomemaking.com), one of Em’s FAVORITE Christian blogs. Anyways, check it out.
So that does it for this update. I’m sure that one of us will update again soon. Perhaps with baby news!
-Micah
Our Baby, a Song and a Trillium (posted by Em)
So, it has been over a month since we have posted on here, and I figure an update is overdue! I don’t have time to write as much as I’d like to, but I figure a short update is better than nothing! (Maybe I’ll get Micah to post sometime in the next few days- his posts are more entertaining anyways!)
So, things have been going really well in the last month with our pregnancy. I was on a “limited activity” schedule(some days I did better than others) and continued with the progesterone shots and a medication which stops contractions(as needed). I am now in my 35th week, and I’m starting to let myself do a lot more physically and not worry about it, because we’ve really gotten to a good point with being a full 34 weeks prego. I am moving into the nesting stage(Mic is too!) And we are getting more and more excited to meet this little girl who will be here in just a few short weeks! I am frequently wondering if, after all the focus on keeping baby inside, I will actually go to 41 or 42 weeks! Hahaha! Wouldn’t that be funny?
We are continually thanking God for giving us to eachother. I can’t imagine my life without Micah and Tessa and this new little one. I am SO blessed!
This song has been on my heart today…
Thank You for the cross, Thank You Lord for drawing me
Out of millions lost, Thank You Lord for saving me
Haven’t You been good, Haven’t You been so good?
Glory to Your Name, Glory to Your Holy Name
Thankfulness and praise, for grace and mercy never changing
Haven’t You been good, Haven’t You been so good to me
Favor on my life, always watching over me
My darkness turned to light, and heaven’s arms enfolding me
Haven’t You been good, Haven’t You been so good
We had a wonderful Easter weekend! One of the highlights was our adventure to Crabtree Falls- the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi. It was beautiful and refreshing and there were a bunch of trillium… my favorite!
(This pic is my favorite!)
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Momma!!! <3
Here we go again… (posted by Mic)
Well, here we go again. As some of you know, Em went into preterm labor with Tessa around 27.5 weeks, and was hospitalized for a total of 14 days for this issue. She was on bedrest and medication to prevent Tessa from coming too early. Well guess what… here we go again.
Yesterday, Em began feeling her braxton-hicks contractions more intensely around 2:00PM (when I left for work). She called me around dinnertime, and updated me that they were continuing to get more intense and frequent, until at about 8:00PM, she called and told me they were now 3 minutes apart and pretty intense. I came home from work early and we prayed and waited about an hour, at which point we decided that these needed to be evaluated medically. So at about 9:45, we headed in to the hospital. While there, they checked several things, and found that there were no cervical changes, baby seemed to be doing well, and a test called a fetal fibronectin (which can fairly accurately predict whether you will deliver in the next 2 weeks) came back negative. They never really figured out why she was contracting, but gave her some medicine to help lessen the contractions. As a pleasant little side effect of that medicine, Em’s blood pressure dropped several times, causing her to feel as if she was going to pass out. It also gave her a severe headache.
Em did well overnight, and I came home to a care for Tessa early in the morning. We were able to pick Em up from the hospital a little while ago, and just got back home. So Em is in bed and back on medicine to lessen these contractions, but we’re anticipating the same type of 6-8 week bedrest fun as we had with Tessa.
Please pray that the medicine would continue to help lessen these contractions, and that we can carry this pregnancy to term. We’re about halfway though our 29th week right now, and we’d love another 6-8 weeks or more if we can get them.
In him,
Micah (for Em, Tess, and Baby)
Afghani Food and Randy Alcorn
So, yesterday Micah took me and Tessa to an Afghani restaurant for lunch… INCREDIBLE!!! Quite possibly the best food ever! Now Afghani food is a front runner for my fav- quickly approaching my love for Indian and Thai! I love food…
It was cheaper than going to Bob Evans or Applebees etc, even KFC! We got SO much food for so cheap! Wow! In a way, I’m glad we don’t live close enough to take advantage of their free delivery. I think I’d be in trouble!!!
We had doogh, bolanee kachalow, aushak, must khiar soup, yummy salad, chicken tandoori with the most amazing rice and chickpeas and afghani bread(not sure what it was called), lamb, and firnee! YUM!
Here is a quote that pretty much sums up what I have been thinking about a lot lately…
“When we see Him with our resurrected eyes, we will realize that all our lives, as we went down every dead end street pursuing what we thought we wanted, it was really Him we were searching for, longing for. And Him alone that could ever satisfy us.” ~Randy Alcorn
