Go-Go-Gadget Arms

It is hard to believe that our sweet baby girl is already crawling, pulling up on things to stand, and getting into anything and everything she can reach or grab. Wow, do babies grow up fast! Madelynn Joy is the fastest crawler I have ever seen. You can blink and she is already across the room. She also has what I call a "Go-Go-Gadget reach". This little girl can reach just about anything if she twists her body a certain way. Kelli and I are really gonna have to child-proof the house soon. For example, Kelli found Madelynn behind the TV a couple days ago! It seems like she stays under our coffee table, or most recently, stands holding the side of it grabbing everything she can reach. How do you help but smile when you see her sweet expression as she has accomplished reaching everything on the coffee table?
Last night, I took Kelli out to dinner for Mother's Day. We took the first available seating and were blessed after a few minutes to be seated in a booth. The only problem was that they do not allow high chairs beside the booth for traffic reasons, so Maddie Joy had to sit in her first booster seat. We barely secured her little body, but we successfully made it through dinner with no major spills or catastrophes. Until...I was holding her in the booth as Kelli was getting her things ready to leave...and then...it happened...Madelynn's Go-Go-gadget arms reached past me and grabbed my 3/4 full cup of coffee and spilled it all over us! It was not scolding hot, but it was pretty warm as it soaked my left leg, the bottom of my shirt, the table, and of course, Madelynn's left leg and tennis shoe. Thankfully, we were not burned! It was a little embarrassing walking out of a nice restaurant soaked with coffee, but I was still a proud Daddy carrying my baby girl with the same leg also soaked with the same coffee.

Oh brother, can I still get most of the attention???

It's true! Sweet Madelynn Joy is going to have to share some of her attention with her little Brother, Nehemiah Taylor. We found out that we are officially having a boy this past Thursday. Praise God! I do think that Madelynn is going to have a difficult time sharing her spotlight. She loves attention and gets it wherever she goes. If it is not her sweet contagious smile, it is her loud boisterous voice. She never meets a stranger! I cannot believe how blessed I am! Now, I have a "little Miah" who will be here in September.
Kelli and I have talked about names for a boy now for a couple of years, and we decided against having a Jeremiah Taylor Oliver II or a Jeremiah Taylor Oliver Jr. So, we opted for Nehemiah Taylor! Our sweet boy has a strong Bible name and still carries his dad's middle and last name. I still can't believe it...a girl and a boy 13 months apart in age. The love that Kelli and I have for our children is already overflowing! God is good.

"Fix It Again Tony"

I always said that I would never own a Fiat Spider simply because of its high maintenance factor. They have actually been nicknamed, "Fix It Again Tony", or as I call them, "Fix It Again Tomorrow". Either way, Fiats are known for their little electrical problems and reoccurring mechanical issues. I guess you can say that they can be a bit temperamental. Above is a picture of Betsy, my 1979 Fiat Spider 2000. I have owned Betsy now for almost 8 years, and surprisingly, she has been a good and dependable daily driver. There is just something about how these little Italian sports cars drive. They are quite peppy, good looking, and just plain fun to work on.
Fiats have been a large contributor to my learning patience, dealing with people or things that require high maintenance, and my ability to manage the many things in life that are temperamental. If you are impatient and need help in that area, maybe you should consider buying a Fiat. They are a blast to drive and a pretty cool way of learning how to deal with the challenges of life that require patience and perserverance.
By the way, I am grieved to say that Betsy will go up for sale in May. She has taught me a lot over the past 8 years, but it is time to pass the baton to someone else who needs to learn these lessons.

From Sitting Up to Saying, "Dadda"

Isn't it amazing how quickly babies learn and grow? I am truly wowed by Madelynn's continual advancements. She just turned 7 months old on March 18th, and she already sits-up, rolls over, and can say, "Momma and Dadda". I have to humbly admit that she did say "Momma" first, but as of this past Monday she has added "Dadda" to her sweet little vocabulary. I think that it is safe to say that our little girl just might be a surgeon or maybe a lawyer someday. Her dexterity is very above average and her speech is ever improving! Did I mention she is only 7 months old? How did I ever deserve the privilege of raising this sweet little blessing?

The Blessing of the Pacifier

What is it about a pacifier that is soo tasty to a baby? Madelynn Joy loves her gucky! (AKA passie, wubby, or a please stop crying and put this in your mouth-ifier) There is no denying that a baby looks cute with a pacifier, but what is it's real purpose? To get technical, the root word of pacifier is pacify, which means "to soothe, calm, or make peaceful". I must admit that this little piece of plastic and rubber has the ability to do just that! The only problem is when the baby looses it, or you take it out for a minute to once again see your sweet baby's smile, it then turns into a "see how loud I can scream, or an upset the baby by taking it out-ifier".
Isn't it amazing that we can become dependent on things at such a young age! When I was little, my very best friend was the thumb on my right hand. Not only would my thumb calm me, but I remember it being a tasty recreation when I was bored! I will never forget my mom promising me a whole pack of chewing gum if I stopped sucking my thumb. Knowing that my second best friend was chewing gum, I remember willingly taking my thumb out of my mouth the night my mom made this promise. Besides a couple relapses, that was the end to my close friendship with my right thumb. I do occasionally still look down at my thumb and wonder if the pack of gum was really worth it, but I guess all good things must come to an end! Maybe Madelynn will stop using her pacifier when her mommy offers her a little something as a reward for stopping. Until then, I guess Kelli and I will enjoy the blessing of the little piece of plastic and rubber that soothes and calms our sweet baby girl.

The NEW High School Worship Service

For a couple years now, I have juggled the idea of starting a high school worship service on Sunday nights. Last night I was reminded that God's timing is perfect! It was very exciting to see the looks on many student's faces as they walked into the youth room for the first time in several months. You could feel the fellowship swelling as students began to trickle in. Some were playing pool and others were sitting and talking. Across the room you could hear the voices of competitive girls playing fuseball. I felt that the Lord wanted me to allow them some "fellowship" time before we began our worship time. At a little after 6 we began singing praises and lifting the name of Jesus. It was beautiful to see our high school students raising their hands in praise to our Lord. After our praise time and a short video, we divided the guys and girls and had small group prayer time. God is truly working to strengthen and grow our high school youth spiritually and numerically! Praise God for His faithfulness! There were almost 50 of us last night at our new high school worship service and I believe God to go "above and beyond all that we can ask or imagine". Will you believe with me? My God is always faithful!

I'm a Fiat Junkie!

If you have not already heard...I have a serious addiction! I love working on my little Italian sports cars, Fiat Spiders. My very first car was a candy apple red Fiat Spider convertible. I actually made weekly payments on the '75 Fiat for about a month before I actually bought and owned my first car. I paid $650.00 dollars for it, and was proud to have paid for it in full before I drove it home. I never thought my job at Hardee's would afford me the ability to purchase my first car...but I guess $4.50 an hour was a pretty good pay rate! Not really, but $650.00 for a cool little sports car was a pretty good deal.
Who would have known that 14 years later I would still have a fondness for little Italian sports cars? I sold my red 1975 and black 1976 in college to help pay for tuition, and I am currently finishing my white 1979 spider to help pay for Madelynn and Kelli's hospital bills. Isn't it amazing that God will use even our hobbies to provide for our needs? I look forward to sharing more about my Fiats in the near future!
One more thing, this is a picture of a 1981 Fiat that I saw on Ebay, but I plan to restore my white '81 to look very similar.