Our new website is up and running!!

Hey- We won't be posting here anymore, we've moved! Check us out at:

http://thegravesfamilyonline.com/

Thanks!!!

Michael, Stacey and Kaitlyn

Education

Since I’m having technical difficulty with my photos, I thought I’d blog some thoughts. I haven’t done this in a long time and I was initially hesitant to do so, but I’m doing it. I’m not writing out of some passion nor out of some feeling like I need my voice to be heard. I just am so encouraged by reading other mom blogs about their thoughts that I figured it would be fun to sort out my thoughts online.

I read a lot of parenting books and family books, most of them written by moms who home school their children, so lately I’ve been thinking – what do I want to do for Kaitlyn’s education?

For the last few months, I’ve tried to answer the following question. Do I want to home school my kids? Needless to say, I could not come up with an answer, probably because there are so many pending circumstances that I just kept finding myself going around in a circle. It was really frustrating.

During this time I have taken up a personal study on Islam. I read everything that I can get my hands on regarding the Muslim faith. One of the lectures I was reading was comparing the large differences between Islam and Christianity and the lecturer made a profound statement (at least to me). He said something like ‘The vast difference between Islam and Christianity is that Christians believe in the separation of Church and State and Muslins do not.’*** The lecturer went on to talk about how devout Muslims want their religion to be the center of their lives, both personally and in governance of their country. (This lecture was written prior to the recent events in Egypt.) So in reading this lecture I changed my homeschooling question to this question. Do I believe in the separation of Church of state?

I don’t know. I think it’s a tough question to answer, especially for someone (like me) who considers herself a devout Christian. I’ll try to explain this but my current standing is that I am leaning more towards separation.

My first reason is freedom. I want Kaitlyn to have a choice about her faith. I don’t want her to feel an obligation to take the Christian faith on just because her parents have done so or because her friends have faith. I want her to understand the implications of becoming a Christian, that it doesn’t always just solve things nor is it a self improvement program, but that it is a continual relationship with God through His Son Jesus by ways of unconditional love and that is not always easy. Faith is a choice and she is free to choose as she wishes.

My second reason is democracy. I know, weird answer. I’m not a fan of dictatorship, unless I’m the dictator. Just kidding. Well, I’m not really kidding, but dictatorship seems oppressive and democracy, although not perfect, is something that allows people to choose what they want to do. And historically, when the Church is the dictator, things don’t seem to go so well for the people so I want Kaitlyn to live in democracy. And I don’t know how to have a democratic society without separating church and state.

I think that’s all I’ve got right now. I’m still leaning towards separation as far as where I stand on this topic but it doesn’t answer my initial question of Kait’s education, although it’s starting to direct a path. And I really don't have an answer, I'm just a blogger who is trying to figure out how to be a good mom and who is thinking out loud. My thoughts on this topic could change any moment and any action on this topic could change due to circumstance, but I wanted to share in hopes that it would somehow encourage you.

***I've been reading Father Zakaria's lectures on Islam and Christianity. He is a Catholic Priest who lives in Egypt. Of course, I can't find the quote that I used for this blog so I can't say if that was his or not, but regardless, his study is interesting to me.

time for a change?

Michael and I have been wanting to have a family website for a while now. But a few events over the past few days have pushed us to need to have one. First, I lost 20,000 photos on my macbook. I have an external backup and the photos are on Michael's computer, so they are not totally lost, but I have to now reload them and organize them, something that I thought would be a simple connection of my external hard drive and that has not been the case. I use my macbook to upload our blog and since my photos are in such disarray, my photo time has been spent reorganizing that before I load any new photos to my macbook and hence to our blog! Second, we purchase our site name and now that we are paying for it, I'm super motivated to start using it. It's going to be a LONG time coming, so I'll try to get my photo's together to make a few more publications on this site, but right now that is why I'm stalled with blog entries.

Anyway! We'll probably try to have some sort of launching for our new site, but unofficially, here it is: http://www.thegravesfamilyonline.com/

Kait's First Swing Ride!!

Our neighbors gave us their baby swing and today was the day for Kait to check it out. She LOVED it. She only cried when we took her out and she cried super hard then but her whole time in the swing, she was so happy.

For Michael - Go Huskies!

I dressed Kaitlyn today in Michael's favorite. She can finally fit in her 12 month clothes! She looked great and gave some great poses for the camera. (Michael took these pictures while I was at work.)

She found the camera strap and started munching away.

She is so happy when she is with her daddy.

Such a sweet baby girl.

Dinosaur Parade!!!

Something that Michael and I try to make a real effort at is to have a Family Time together on Friday nights and it is usually really relaxed, but tonight we needed to have a dinosaur parade! Kait got a riding dinosaur for Christmas from Grandma Ann and she loves it. Michael took down the streamers from the baby shower and tied them to her little dino. We drove her all around and she had such a great time!

She turned 8 months yesterday. Best 8 months of my life.

Melissa's Baby Shower

I love to throw a good party and when I found out my friend Melissa was expecting, I knew that it was time to have one.

Michael put up perfect streamers for me.

Baked the cake from scratch. DELICIOUS.

Melissa (left) and Erika (right).

Congratulations Melissa!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas with a baby is so awesome. We loved it!! Kaitlyn completely understand the gift part. She knew that if it was wrapped, it was for her. Here she is opening her first gift.

She got a Noah's Ark set, the boat, animals, the whole deal.

She was so cute in her MY FIRST CHRISTMAS outfit.

So cute.

2010 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

You are holding in your hands our very first family Christmas letter! Many people write letters but this is a first time for us. We are excited to share with you everything that is going on in our lives. We have been so blessed this year that we decided to make a quick bullet point list to share with you.

Kaitlyn Taylor was born on May 13th, at 11:44 pm weighing 7 pounds and 14 ounces. By far, she is the biggest blessing in our lives! Stacey was exhausted after 44 hours of labor but our sweet Kait stole our hearts immediately. She bonded with us quickly and we came home from the hospital a family of 3. Over the next few months we were on a fast paced learning curve. Many parents complain about getting up in the night but honestly (and I'm not kidding here) that was Stacey's favorite part of the day! It was a time when Stacey could cuddle her baby, rock her, sooth her, and pray over her. We feel like we're going to blink and she is going to be grown up, so anytime that she wants us to hold her, we're all hands on deck!

Michael participated in a short term medical mission trip to help Haiti after the earthquake in January. Here is an excerpt taken from our blog, written by Michael about the trip: "I cannot even begin to tell you what it is like to watch a 25 year old man be told that he is going to lose his leg below the knee and then to have him genuinely thank us for being there and helping him. Over and over, everyday that I was there, patients would receive the devastating news that their leg, arm, hand, thumb or toe would have to be amputated. I never heard anyone ask 'why me.'" Back at home, Stacey assisted with this trip as well and was assigned the task of finding landing time slots for the plane to land at Port Au Prince. The airport was landing 12 flights a day prior to the earthquake and 400 flights a day afterwards with a demolished tower. By the time Stacey started calling, the US military had taken over the control of the landing slots and once Stacey got through she had to justify the reason of the landing with the controller. Both of us LOVE short term service trips. Michael enjoys helping with the medical aspect and Stacey with the logistics aspect. This experience brought us closer together as a couple and helped us remember to never take anything for granted.

This summer also marked something significant in Michael's life; he became a Clark County Firefighter! Currently, he is volunteering with District 6 and loves it. He does weekly training with the volunteer team and then serves one day a week at the station along with other various community involvements (last weekend he served pancakes at Applebee’s as a fundraiser for a local school).

We have been really lucky to receive many amazing gifts for Kaitlyn's arrival. One gift really stands out; a beautiful Magnolia tree to plant in our backyard! We took several pictures of Kaitlyn by the tree after we planted it and we plan to do so every year to watch the tree and her grow together over time. This was such a special gift!

Throughout this year, we have really seen God's hand in our lives, working and molding us to be who He has created us to be. Even though the most difficult thing for me (Stacey) this year was the physical pain of pregnancy, in some backwards way the pain gave me humility and gratitude. We are truly blessed!

Love,

Michael, Stacey, and Kaitlyn

Christmas Tree Hunt

Michael and I have started a tradition to go to Thornton's Christmas Tree farm in Vancouver each year to cut down our own tree. It is super exciting this year because we get to bring our baby girl! They have an animal farm and tons of exciting things for kids. Kaitlyn was happy even in the car. It seemed like she couldn't wait to get there.

Kait sure loves the outdoors. She laughed and smiled the entire time.

Searching for the perfect tree.

This one daddy!!!

Mommy and baby at the tree before dad cut it down.

We decorated the tree when we got home!

Thankful 2010

It's Thanksgiving and there are so many things that I am thankful for this year. The first is obvious, my precious Kaitlyn. She has blessed me more than anything else in my life. Watching Michael with her honestly gives me tremendous joy! I'm also so thankful for Michael. He is a great husband who has won over my heart and whom I continually respect. I am also thankful this year for the peace that I have in my life. It's been a really difficult year for me professionally but through all the difficulties God has given me a peace that even I don't understand but it's there. I am currently reading Elizabeth Elliott's classic book Though Gates of Splendor and am studying Searching for Significance. Both of these books have led me to a closer relationship with God and have given me a lot to think about when it comes to the topic of forgiveness. I'm at a place in life where I feel really blessed and am genuinely thankful to God for the good and the bad.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving at my moms house.

Kyle and Jenny worked hard at making all of the food. It was super good.

Kaitlyn with her Grammy.

I snuck this picture while Michael was kissing her.

Family of 3.

Kaitlyn and her monkey. She was happy all day long and we were all gaga over her.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Halloween 2 of 2

First we had to start with a halloween party. Ethan, Kaitlyn, and Abby all ready for the big day.

Then we had to come home and get ready for the trick or treaters. Our little bee is ready to answer the door!

Snickers break.

Happy bee with dad.

Halloween 1 of 2

Our first Halloween as parents and we had a blast! Kaitlyn had a Halloween party outfit as well as a costume. She was so happy!

Grandma, Harley and Kaitlyn.

Daddy and happy baby.

Such a sweet little pumpkin.