Heath Edward Redeker

Team Worth is proud to announce the arrival of a new Nephew/Cousin: Heath Edward Redeker.  He is the third child of Jess and Steve Redeker, he was 9lbs 1oz, and he has dark hair.  Mark was a third child, he has dark hair, and he was 9lbs 1oz at birth!!!  Coincidence? I think not!

We are thrilled to get to meet the little guy in 2 weeks.

Doing his best Clay Matthews impersonation!

The Feb 5 for '14

With 8.3% of the year already complete, Team Worth already can use a refocusing on our goals.  Here's a short update of how they are going so far:

EPC = Estimated Percent Complete

• Deny ourselves one thing each month
• Mark gave up secular music and Katie gave up chocolate in January.  We did surprisingly well.  Mark actually didn't put on any secular music this month, and Katie (who had the steeper mountain to climb) only accidentally ate chocolate twice all month!  We are chalking this month up as a success!
• This month, we both are denying ourselves pop.  
• EPC = 8.3%
• Blog twice a month
• This is pretty straight forward:  Since you are on our blog right now reading this, just look at the left hand side of the screen and see where it says we have 4 blog posts in January of 2014.
• EPC = 8.3%
• Lose 15 and 10 Lbs
• Katie is well on her way towards losing the 10 lbs, Mark on the other hand has yet to even weigh himself once...  He hasn't started exercising yet either, so even if he weighed in there isn't much optimism.
• EPC = 8%
• Timely
• Our word for the year is dependable, and being on time is a huge part of that.  We aimed to be on time to everything but one thing each week.  We have been bad about keeping an exact tally when we are late, but we believe we are averaging around 2 to 3 times late a week January.  It is a big improvement over being late to virtually everything, so we are encouraged!
• EPC = 8.3%
• Devotion
• We aim to spend at least 120 minutes a week (each) getting to know God's word better.  Again this is a goal we haven't been precisely measuring our times, but we have done well.  Katie is in a discipleship group which gets her into the word often and Mark has been studying Acts and Galatians for Youth Group.
• EPC = 8.3%

Since it was only the first month, we won't celebrate as if we have accomplished something great... but the goals are going fairly well so far.

4 Months and Many Changes

Titus William is already 4 months; time is flying right by us!  He has so much more personality, so many different expressions, and a whole new bag of tricks.  Also, as a consequence of having a photographer mother, Titus has a whole new set of pictures as well, enjoy:

 Rolling over is one of those new tricks!

 He really is such a smiley little man!

I am a huge fan of all his smiles!

Ok Mom, I'm all done!

4 Months and we couldn't love him more!  We could, however, wish for him to not wake up 4 times a night... :)

Looking forward to his continuing development, especially to see how he and Eden interact more and more as they grow!

Snowed In

Between 48 hours of work a week at the hospital, prepping for youth group (teaching, activities, Sunday School...), leading worship biweekly, running a photography business, fighting sleep deprivation (Thanks Titus ;), and spending time with other family/friends, Team Worth has realized we take very little time to just enjoy our small family.  Today, however, God intervened.  The snow fell, and halted our busy life as we know it; so we stayed in, got creative, and made a night of it!

Here are a few pictures to give you a window into our impromptu family night:

Mommy and Eden made a brand new dessert tailored to Katie's "No Chocolate" Month

Daddy and Eden played Candyland for the first time, Eden won twice

Titus was a cheerful onlooker!  He rolled over for the first time today!
Also today he is 4 months old.

And what family night is complete without a fort?!?!

This is simply one of those days that God blessed us with.  It wasn't planned or prepared, but we had fun, we ate delicious dessert, and we spent time together!  Praise God!

Poured Out

I wrote this a few months ago, but thought it was still worth posting...Be encouraged!

I am convinced that one of the hardest jobs on earth is being a parent to a Newborn. No, this is not my first time around the block as a parent. I have walked this familiar road only 2 years ago with Eden. But just 2 years later it's hard to remember all the specifics of those early weeks with a newborn. There is no way to describe the struggles that you can face on top of sleep deprivation. You may try to explain it to someone who has never been a parent, but it's almost like trying to explain a contraction to someone who has never been in labor. It just seems like there is no way to accurately express all that you are feeling and facing in those early weeks. It's amazing how much a Newborn teaches you about being selfless. You pour yourself  out, day in and day out to this little person who can absolutely do nothing for themselves. Their life depends on you! What a sobering thought. At 3 am when they need to eat or be changed you must act. You must respond. What beautiful love you pour out on them. When you're at the end of your rope, you press on for their sake. You wake up just 1 more time in the middle of the night. You give up time for yourself to look after them. When you're at a restaurant and your child wakes up and needs to nurse, you nurse. The baby comes first. No matter how inconvenient it may seem to your schedule. You love them so much, and you sacrifice everything for them.
What a wonderful picture of what Christ has done for us. When we were dead in our sins, and could do absolutely NOTHING for ourselves, HE saved us.
I am reminded that with a Newborn you start at the bottom. You start in the trenches, and hope and pray that with each passing day it gets just a little easier. Our sin causes us to be in the trenches. Far from God. Far from the one who desires a perfect relationship with us. So just as with a Newborn, we figure them out and grow to love them more and more, God desires that with us. He gave us EVERYTHING when we had NOTHING. We need His love and care day in and day out. Most importantly we need the salvation He gives us!

I will tell you there is something beautiful about having a Newborn. In those sleep deprived moments it's important to breathe, and just take a moment to take in that newborn smell. To gaze upon that beauty laying in your arms. To stare in wonder at his or her ten fingers and toes. This little person leaves you speechless and hopefully with a heart full of thankfulness to God.

But if you find yourself only focusing on the hardships, remember it does get easier. I blinked, and my 1st child is 2 years old now. Yes we had long days and nights with her too, but we made it.
God is with you, and I know that He is with me. He is with me at 3 am when I've hit my breaking point. He is with me when I am short with my daughter. He is with me ALWAYS!

5 for '14

As the sun dawns on a new year, it is a sobering time in the Worth household.  We again must look up our previous year's goals, and face up the the fact that we fell on our faces in meeting them.  Last year's 5 were to read 4 books (we started at least 4), Exercise 120 minutes a week (there were months we may not have exercised 120 minutes), To have 12 paid photo shoots (We did get close, something like 10), Deny ourselves one thing each month (probably didn't even follow through with this in January), Do a new family excursion each month (although we had many excursions, it is unlikely we had one a month).

But in the words of Winston Churchill:

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm"

So with great enthusiasm we will make 5 for '14:

• Deny ourselves one thing each month
• If insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results, then call us insane.  Katie and I will pick a new thing to give up each month for the entirety of the month. (I'm giving up secular music for January, and Katie is giving up chocolate)
• Blog twice a month
• Two years ago we did this as a goal.  Not only have we missed blogging, but we also believe doing this will help us stay on pace with our other goals since we would like to do a goals update on the first of each month.
• Lose 15 and 10 Lbs
• Katie will aim to lose, and keep off, 10 Lbs.  I will aim to lose 15 and keep it off.  We will do this by healthier eating and intentional exercise at least twice a week.  We hope to lose the weight by the fall, and then for the rest of the year prove we can stay at those given weights.
• Timely
• We acknowledge that we are "that family", and so we now will set a goal to be on time to all but one thing each week.  It may sound strange to set a goal to be late once a week, but believe me when I say that this would be a vast improvement!
• Devotion
• We desire a deeper knowledge of the Word.  Katie and I must spend at least 120 minutes of time devoted to knowing God's Word better each week.

 We are excited and hopeful about our goals for 2014! We appreciate your prayers and encouragement as we strive to become a more focused, healthier, timely, and devoted family.

  Happy New Year to you all!

TEAM WORTH