Mark and Terri Ryan on Family Life

Mark and Terri Ryan on Family Life from Matthew Seilback on Vimeo.

My assistant pastor and his wife discussing their family life.

Reindeer Cookies

Today our friends Maggie and Caroline came over for the morning. One of the things we did was make these cute reindeer cookies. It was really a lot of fun and now that everyone is napping, I can't stop eating them!

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Caden playing...with the camera

Trip to Eckert's Farm

Recent Family Pics

A Few Good Men

So I happened to look out our window the other day and saw Matt and our neighbor Corey walking up the sidewalk and just had to snap a picture of them. . .

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Not only did they stop at Trader Joes on their way home from school to get some things that Janet and I needed but they also asked for balloons for our little ones at home. I know I take Matt for granted a lot of the time, but today I'm very aware of the great blessing and gift he is to me.

Halloween Fun

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Prayer Request

We'd appreciate your prayers today. Hopefully nothing alarming, but still a matter we'd appreciate your prayer in:

Today Kelli was nursing Caden while she and the kids were having a picnic in the park. From underneath Kelli's nursing cover Caden inexplicably started screaming. Kelli could tell that something had happened to his eye. Eventually his screaming settled down but he started up again when he woke up from his nap. Again, he eventually settled down, but his eye was very swollen and red. Kelli took him down to our pediatrician's office. The doctor seems to think that he either scratched his eye (though a cornea test didn't show anything), was stung on the eye or got something in his eye. However, she couldn't tell for sure, so she sent Kelli and Caden down to Children's Hospital to get his eye examined ophthalmologist. Kelli is on her way there now.

Would you please pray that all is okay with Caden's eye? Please also pray that he wouldn't be too uncomfortable while the doctor checks on him. If you'd just shoot up a quick prayer when you get this, that'd be greatly appreciated! We'll keep you updated with the latest.

Caden eating baby cereal

Keep your eye on Kelli at the end of this video... It's hard to feed a baby with a spoon and not move your own mouth!

Apple and Pumpkin Picking

A few of my favorites from our trip to Eckerts Farm!

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An Interesting Snack

So today Maia and I were playing in her room when I suggested we get a snack. Maia ran out of her room and I thought into the kitchen but when I got there, she was nowhere to be found. So I opened the pantry door to get our snack and this is what I found. . .

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As she peeked out, Maia announced "Hi. . .I'm a snack!" Whatever gave her this idea I will never know but she was home alone with her Daddy for the past 4 days. . .now I might be on to something!

Caden's Johnny Jump Up

The Daddy and Maia Show: The Lost Episode! (January 2008)

Laughter!

Handsome Boys

Our great friends Trent and Emily, who also happen to be our neighbors, have a little guy named Hudson, who is just 8 weeks older than Caden. Emily's sister had twins a few years back and sent Emily all kinds of matching outfits, which Emily has so graciously shared with us. Here are a picture of the little guys. Caden is on the right and Hudson on the left.

Do we look alike or what????

The top photo is of Maia and the bottom one is of Caden. Both are around 4 months old in these photos.

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Daddy & Daughter Day

So several weeks ago Maia won two tickets to a Cardinals game through the library's summer reading program. Finally the big day arrived and Daddy picked Maia up from pre-school and they boarded the metro (aka: choo-choo) and rode on down to the stadium. The bonus of the day is that several other folks from our church were sitting right next to them.

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Summer Vacation 2008

In all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness

“In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again…You are sad now, but…your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.” Jn. 16

Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment. There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our life. It seems that there is no such thing as clear-cut pure joy, but that, even in the most happy moments of our existence, we sense a tinge of sadness. In every satisfaction there is an awareness of its limitations. In every success, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness.

Henri Nowen, Out of Solitude p. 53, 54

[Posted by Matt]

Spreading Her Wings

A bit late, but here are some pictures of Maia before heading off for her first day of pre-school. When I picked Maia up after her first day, I expected her to go into great detail as she explained all that she did, but upon questioning, she replied "I played on the playground." But throughout the remainder of the day, I caught little glimpses of her time at school as I heard her singing new songs to herself or doing new little games with her hands. I actually think I enjoy the unexpected glimpses into her days better than a detailed description. According to the teacher, during the free play time, Maia spends much of her time in the play kitchen or at the craft table. . .and that's just great with me who loves to cook and Matt who loves the arts.

In a single Day

A lot of the time, life doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Certain things happen on any given day, a plethora of events take place in a single week. Most of what happens to us appears disjointed and out of sort—detached in any recognizable way from the larger story at play. Each day appears as a single page in the epic script unfolding before us—each taking place without our express permission or direct involvement. But every once in a while, we may take notice of particular overlays, repeats and echoes in the story, pointing to—in a strange but fantastic way—an author behind it all. And on the rarest of occasions, several facets of the story may come together… in a single day.

Just such a day started for me with a simple goodbye to my 3 year old daughter. But unlike most of my days at school and work, it was not me that was leaving the home—it was her… Somehow Maia managed to squeeze past our best attempts to suppress her natural maturing process (at least, so far) and forthwith ran into her first day of preschool. When we arrived there, she immediately busied herself in the toy kitchen with another little girl. Perhaps a new little friend… As we said our goodbyes, I suddenly found my vision was clouded and blurry. Visions of a wedding aisle and a different sort of “goodbye” kiss threatened to pool my eyes over completely. But, as I’m sure my own parents know, this sort of sorrow is a mysterious one, mixed with strange twists of joy and troubled contentment.

Fast-forward a few hours. Late afternoon. I sit at my seat in Christian Ethics. Anthony Bradley makes a throw away comment about Boy Scouts. He blurts out the scout motto verbatim. I was only ever in Cub Scouts. I hadn’t heard the Boy Scout motto in years. The class goes on. We talk of ethics, of life and of the pursuit of holiness in the days and years that we presume to have ahead of us. Dr. Bradley mentions blasting his radio—driving with the windows down—one cool summer night several years ago. I flip through the memory banks to my first encounter with a certain iconic Irish band during my college years. My soul tingled as I remembered that hour-long trip from Lancaster to Baldwin listening to All that you can’t leave Behind in its entirety. I could almost feel the tips of my hair stretching to feel the cool summer wind again…

Now fast-forward a few more hours. This time in the home of a dear friend. It was there that we met up with a dear friend of his. Jim and Sandy—each individually—have been around the sun more times than my wife, my children and I combined. I sat in Jim’s little sitting room and simply soaked in the many stories that they shared. Then Sandy began to explain the program that—since retirement—he had started in the local schools. Because the program was born out of the themes found in the Boy Scout motto, Sandy found fit to recite it to me in its entirety. Now in nearly every school district in MO—and several in Illinois to boot—Sandy’s Character Plus program is ethics in practice. I sat and marveled at this extension of the day’s earlier conversations. The remainder of the evening I watched as two old friends shared their lives with one another, poked fun at each other and laughed together. And my mind raced back to the beginning of the day, marked with the new potential for such relationships in the life of my daughter.

Now I have left my friends house. I begin to chomp and chew over the events of the day. They come colluding and colliding together and I watch as they fit together like a perfect little puzzle. I reflect on the comments from ethics class about the grand story of redemption… how all will fit together one day in the final consummation. I set my iPod on random to see what soundtrack will close it all off. Now resonating over my speakers comes the familiar refrains of U2’s Gloria, belted out as the perfect doxology. And I drive through the cool summer night, my windows open and the tips of my hair reaching for the wind.

Blessings

Fall Retreat

Here are a few pics from our recent fall retreat with our church. It was a great time hanging out with old and new friends and spending time together as a family. Maia was super excited about sleeping in a bunk bed in her new sleeping bag.

Maia and Caroline anxiously awaiting their Smores

The Cache

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, you can now watch the entire short film that Matt and his cousin Josh just completed.
www.cachewithcash.com


The Cache from Matthew Seilback on Vimeo.

Magical Fun

The day before Matt started classes for his very busy fall semester, we decided to spend the day together at the Magic House. For those of you not from St. Louis, this is a hands on children's museum of sorts. Actually, it is a dream come true for most kids. . .kids size grocery store, bank, and restaurant, fishing pond, water toys, slides, arts and crafts, HUGE sandbox with great sand toys, and so much more! Maia's favorite parts were the grocery store, fishing and playing in the sand. Here are some pictures of our fun day together.

poor Caden. . .he fell asleep against me and woke up with my admission sticker plastered on his little face.

Simple Saturday Fun

Radio Static and Thunderstorms

Sometimes when dealing hour to hour and day to day with a very independent and strong-willed three-year old little girl, I find myself forgetting that she is just that - a little girl. Rather, I often find myself thinking that I'm dealing with what I imagine it is like parenting a teenager. . .the attitudes, the demanding, the blatant acts of disobedience. But enter radio static and thunderstorms and I'm quickly reminded that my little Maia is still a little girl. Last night, Maia accidently hit the "tuner" button on her CD player with the volume turned up loud and the tuner not tuned into a station at all and you guessed it, Maia got blasted with radio static. This scared her so much that she tore out of her room with sheer terror on her face, trying to utter some words about whatever was happening in her room, but was so scared that she could only half mumble and half scream. I scooped her up in my arms where she just clung to me and sobbed for a good couple minutes (which is a long, long time for this little girl). Later that night, after Maia had been asleep, a big thunderstorm rolled through and with the first crash of loud thunder Maia was calling out for us. I went over to her room to find her hiding under her blankets and crying. So I crawled into bed with her and she snuggled up as close as she could, and there we slept until the storm passed. Although I'm not happy to see my daughter frightened, these moments, for some reason, do stir up compassion in my heart and desire to be patient with her in the midst of her sinfulness. I'm thankful that these occasions remind me that my Maia is just a little girl, and yes, she is a sinner just like me, in need of an abundance of patience and grace.

Growing Boy

Our lil' buddy is growing up fast! At his 2 month check-up he weighed 14lbs 9 oz. A 2 lb weight gain in the past month and a 5 lb weight gain since birth. He is a much more content babe since starting on Zantac for reflux several weeks ago. He loves to go for walks outside, look at books and lie under his activity mat. Matt, Maia and I love having him as part of our family and after just 2 months we can't imagine life without him.



Caden (R) and his friend Asher McGuire (L)

The Dreaded 24 hour bug

Yes, Maia has again had the 24 hour stomach flu, for the SECOND time in two months. For the past 24 hours we have set up camp on the living room floor with blankets, buckets, movies and books. What is up with the stomach flu going around in the summer????? Apparently it is, according to our MD. My hunch is that Maia picked it up at our doctor's office where she accompained me 2 days ago for Caden's 2 month check-up. It is amazing that almost excatly 24 hours after she started feeling yucky in her stomach, it abruptly stopped and she asked for something to eat for the first time in over 24 hours. So she had a yummy dinner of popsicles, toast and crackers. The doctor thinks Maia may just be more prone to the stomach flu as other kids are more prone to colds. . .not an encouraging statement for this Mom who has a fear of the stomach flu that borders on the line of a phobia.

Corn on the Cob Film

Kelli's recent post inspired me to finish this video about Maia's first corn on the cob. The footage was recorded on May 4, 2008 (pre-Caden).

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Corn on the Cob

One of our favorite things about summer is corn on the cob. What a great excuse to indulge in lots of buttery goodness! If Maia had her say, it would be called "butter on the cob." She takes after her Pop-Pop in her love for butter and would eat spoonfuls of it straight if we let her.
Maia husking the corn
Spreading on the butter
Big bite!
Yes, Matt is eating corn on the cob with Caden in the Baby Bjorn

Now I Understand

When I (Kelli) was young, my family would go skiing many weekends throughout the winter. My Mom would spend all evening on the beginners slope by herself while the rest of us explored the rest of the slopes on the mountain. Occasionally we (my brother, sister, and Dad) would ski over to her slopes and check in with her before speeding off again. I remember asking her if she was bored skiing by herself and she would always say something to the effect that she was just happy knowing we were having a good time. When we went to amusement parks, Mom didn't like to get on most of the rides and would spend much of the day waiting for us as we waited in line for the rides. Again, she said it brought her such joy to see us kids having such fun. I never understood this until recently and now I understand. It hit me a few weeks ago when we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens and Maia was playing in a fountain. She was just bursting with excitement as she splashed around in the water with the other kids. I found myself almost crying as I watched her having so much fun and I remembered what my Mom said years ago. I experienced the joy it does bring to watch your kids having fun. It hit me again on the 4th of July as we watched a parade and Maia began jumping up and down as she saw the parade approaching. I just couldn't take my eyes off her because it brought me such joy to see her excitement. So here are a few pictures to share with you of what brings me such joy.