A Well-Loved Little Girl

Lydia kept bringing admirers to our house this week. Many have heard about and now have seen her cute little self and blossoming personality. Today she turns 2 weeks old. Some milestones this week...she is back up to her birth weight and had a healthy check-up. Her belly button is healing nicely for all who are concerned. She ventured out to Mommy's covenant group Bible study and had a great time with the gals.

We took her on her first stroller ride. She wasn't too pleased with the initial departure (see picture on the right), but eventually settled down once we got things moving. Her mom particularly enjoyed the time getting out of the house to stretch her legs!

She also enjoyed some time with other Stock family members including her Grandma and Grandpa and her Uncle David. Grandma stayed this whole past week to help Mommy cook, clean and take care of Lydia. She even gave Lydia extra-special treatments such as warmed wipes for diaper changes and lots of extra holding!

We are feeling very blessed to have this little girl in our lives. She is showing us how to care for her (mostly by crying when we need to do something differently). We are showing her (we hope and pray) what it is to be in a family centered around not her (although it may seem like that at times) but Jesus Christ. This is the way we can show our little Lydia that she is certainly well-loved.

Lydia: week 2

I think when I read all those baby books I didn't really understand what it meant that a newborn needs to be feed about every 2-3 hours. I thought, "Well, that seems pretty easy. I mean, I have a snack about every 2-3 hours." Little did I know (although I'm sure many moms told me) that nursing a newborn is really a full-time job. Every 2-3 hours means I feed little Lydia 8-10 times a day...and this is a little harder than cutting up some fruit or opening a pack of goldfish crackers. Each time she eats it's about a 45 minute to an hour ordeal. Let me say, nursing my little girl is wonderful and worth it. She is so precious and of course, it is worth 8-10 hours (or many more!) to care for her in this way.

On that note, here are some more pictures. She is growing each day and getting used to life at the Stock Household. Brian and I are also learning a lot about this little gift from the Father. We are very appreciative of all the visitors this past week. Her "Nana" (Mandy's mom) came for the first week to help us take care of her...and really to help me take care of myself. This picture (right) is of her and Nana bonding after Lydia's kitchen sink bath.

Yesterday Lydia had some peaceful time with her god-mother, Sarah. Sarah couldn't help but comb all Lydia's hair into a fuzzy little mohawk! I have to admit, even that was cute.

Brian's mom (Grandma) is on her way for the second week's shift. We look forward to her getting to know all her different family members and members of our church family.

"RTS is finished"

After five years, I am finished with all my course work to receive a Masters of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary. My graduation is May 22, 2010. I leave my seminary career with more passion for Christ, more love for people, and more desire to serve in ministry. I am thankful for all my professors who taught me the Word of God. I want to thank my co-worker, Marc Garduque, who labored over almost all my grammatically-challenged papers. I want to thank my wife who was gracious when I was think more about school assignments than her. Finally, I want to thank my God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has given the grace to think over His Word and awakens my heart and mind to precious, life-giving truth.

On an ironic note, as this is my last day of school work, five years ago today it was the first meeting of Mandy and I. It was Dr. Fesko's systematic two course. An all day Saturday class. We sat next to each other and talked about guitars, Piper, missions, and theology. Along with the class, we went out to lunch at Willy's and I sat next to her. What a day! Who would have ever known that that meeting would lead to marriage and now parenthood! God has amazing plans for his children!

Fishes and Ducks :-)

Fresh out from Lydia's first bath.

I'm a curious fishy!


Hello world!

I'm a little shy duckling.

Second day in the hospital

Chris and Sarah Heilman, who are Lydia's godparents, came by join us in this celebration!


Here is our pretty in pink little girl!

A happy Daddy!

More Pictures...

three generations together!

Nana and the baby! She drove from Florida last night to see her new granddaughter.

Pictures of Lydia Anne Stock!

Here are the Grandpa and Grandma!


Here is the new mommy! She is doing fine!


Here are the new joyful parents! "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say, Rejoice!"

She's HERE!!!

she's here... Lydia Anne Stock... 01/16/2010... 12:28 a.m... 6 lb. 4 oz... 18 inch. She is so cutie and a blessing from our heavenly Father. "Every perfect gift is from above!"

It's TIME!!!

We are at the Cartersville hospital! Our little girl wants to early! Mandy is 36 weeks and 6 days. The labor is good great. Mandy is a trooper. She is dilating rapidly so its looking be a short labor, Lord willing. Mandy's mom is on her way from Florida. My parents just arrived.

Week 36

Well, we're in the home-stretch...or so I'm told. Baby Stock had quite a weekend. Two showers were thrown in her honor and she collected a massive pile of new outfits, baby gear, and blankies! We are so very thankful for our friends throwing such encouraging and fun showers to celebrate our little girl.

We had a check-up today which let us know that Mandy is dilated 1 cm....don't know if this is too much information to put on a blog, but it seems I'm getting used to talking about breast feeding, labor, and all that sort of stuff. Anyways, this is normal for this stage of the pregnancy, and Baby Stock is ready to meet the world within the next few weeks. Contractions are a daily occurrence now, which is also normal...preparing us for the "real thing".

The nursery is slowly coming together. We hope to have her clothes laundered, pictures hung and bed made before we even leave for the hospital! We figure anything we can do now is less stuff to worry about when there is a newborn around. We truly cannot wait to meet our little girl and see her face to face.

Passion 2010: reflections (part two)

By: Mandy
I was waiting for the final results to share this on the blog. While we were at the Passion conference this week, Brian and I were able to see 12 ministries set up in the "Do Something NOW" campaign. These causes had goals such as stopping sex-trafficking in Nepal, digging wells in South America, reaching children affected with AIDS in Africa, and translating the Bible for an unreached people group. Each was set up as an "experience" allowing the students (and us privileged volunteers) to see videos, hear testimonies, and even see tangible evidence of impoverished situations around the world. It was very moving!

Brian and I just wished we were wealthy enough to meet every goal of every cause. Over the whole conference the 22,000 students gave $668,000! A couple at the conference also committed to match this to make the total money raised 1.3 million dollars.

This total does not include all the meals packed for the hungry (over 100,000) and towels and socks students were asked to bring for the local homeless shelters in Atlanta. [see the picture here of the pile of goods!]

Passion 2010: reflections (part one)

By:Mandy
Exhausted, but refreshed! That is how I would describe myself right now after serving as a volunteer at the Passion 2010 conference. This was a 4-day conference for 18-25 year olds in Atlanta. More than 22,000 students gathered together to praise God, learn His truth, and see how the Lord would use their lives for Him.

Brian and I both have been impacted by the Passion ministry in years past. I went to a gathering called "One Day" in 2000 where thousands of college students joined together to praise God outside Memphis. What I heard there from John Piper, Beth Moore and Louie Giglio changed my life. Being with that many Christians my age also had a phenomenal impact on me. It was the start of God waking me up to what it means to really live for Him.

Because of the way Passion has "given" to us, we decided to give a little of our time and energy to help the movement. At first, to be honest, I was more excited about a free pass to see Piper, hear David Crowder lead worship live, and see all these students come together in one place. Soon after we got there, though, God really woke me up (thankfully). I saw not just a cool conference and amazing speakers and worship leaders around me, but the Body of Christ coming together. I was privileged to serve in some small way. I was also concerned with what I would be able to do being over 8 months pregnant. My feet swelled up in no time and I had to take many sit-down breaks, but I kept thinking "where else would I rather be?!"

One girl from our "community group" (a break-out of about 1000 students) put her faith in Christ for the first time this weekend. She shared with us how before this conference she had nearly taken her life and lived in deep depression. What a joy to see a new sister in Christ! Many other students came up and hugged me, thanking me for volunteering. They spoke of how God had showed them something "mind-blowing" during the last session or how they were encouraged just to be around other Believers.

For us personally, I think we both came away with more of a passion for Jesus Christ...to serve Him in our local church and community. We brainstormed about ways to serve others and about our future in missions. The calling I had worried that was waning is still there! We both are more confident that the Lord is using us here to prepare us for serving Him internationally to preach Christ where He is not known.

There is much more to tell...of towels, socks, worship music, and art...of money raised and good coffee. It will all make sense soon, but I'm already losing my way with words as I try to express something so amazing!

My life is a little more "baby-fide"

Running is my passion and my discipline. I love running. It has been a part of my life for 15 years. And Lord willing, I will be able to run for years and years to come. Now that I have a little daughter coming into this world, I can't wait to run with her. Since she will not be able to even walk for a year or so, some provisions have been made. With the help of my parents (thanks, Dad and Mom!!!), I am the owner of a brand new Jeep Overland Limited X running stroller! The Cadillac of all running strollers (at least from Babies-R-Us). With its Alumina lightweight frame, three 16" tires, and Smart Handle handle bar, I will be able run up and down Pikes Peak without even breaking a sweat. Joy in front of all dads who love to run.

This morning, I assembled the Jeep Overland Limited X running stroller. I want to thank the people who make this stroller for its easy assembly. This afternoon I might even take it out for a trial run.