Tonight after dinner Nathan and I were indulging in ice cream cones, and Josh felt a little left out. Since it was almost bath time we decided to give him a little treat of his own to entertain him - a biter biscuit. We set him on his own blanket, gave him his little biscuit, and we all watched America’s Funniest Videos together. Such fun. As you can see in the picture, Josh really enjoyed his snack.

Josh is sitting up on his own really well these days, and while he still hasn’t crawled, he likes to walk with our help (especially when a kitty is in front of him). We thought a push and ride toy might help him out with that, and we found a John Deere Tractor this afternoon that our little guy seems to love. He can push it. He can ride it. He can even sit next to it and play with the farm animals inside. Maybe one day his Pawpaw can take him on a tractor ride.

In other family news, Nathan’s new job has been going well. He works for a printing and mailing outsource company called Data Media Associates, and he’s been enjoying the job so far. He had the 4th off, so we’ve enjoyed a nice long weekend as a family. We are so grateful to God for His faithfulness in providing for our needs!

This morning was especially fun because Cub (our cat) noticed the light. Of course, he loves to chase things, and he proceeded to chase the light that Josh was moving. I attempted to show Josh that if he moved the mirror with Cub watching it, then Cub would chase it. However, Josh was just as happy to watch Cub rather than teasing him. Maybe another day!!

Height = 28in. = 90th percentile

Weight = 16lbs. 10 ounces = 50th percentile

He grew 2 3/4 inches from his 4 month appointment and added 2lbs. 2 ounces. As you can tell from the numbers, he takes after his father and grandfather, tall and skinny.

Life in Georgia has been great! Josh has been able to go to the pool for the first time. Of course, he enjoyed that! Yesterday, we took him to the playground, and he loved his time there as well. His item of choice was the swing. And he was not content to sit there. He wanted to move and he wanted to move fast. A man after my own heart! Our time with the Livingstons has been great as well. If I didn’t know any better, I would have to think that they’ve been enjoying their time with him. I guess that’s what Grandparents do. Speaking of Pop Pop, I think he has enjoyed his time teaching Josh to read. I love the look on Josh’s face! I think he likes the story. Well, that’s all for now. I’ve also uploaded more new pictures to the Gallery. You can check them all out here, CLICK HERE.

]]> http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/20/stats/feed http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/14/now-discover-your-strengths http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/14/now-discover-your-strengths#comments Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:49:37 +0000 Nathan http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/?p=187 Now that I have finished school, I’ve had the opportunity to do something that I haven’t been able to do in a while. That’s read what I want to read. Over the last several years, my book shelves have been filling up with “books to read after seminary.” First on my list was a book entitled Now, Discover Your Strengths. I actually received this book as a gift from Chip Riggs. He’s the Missions Pastor of Hope Baptist Church the church Jenny and I visited in Las Vegas.

Now, Discover Your Strengths has been a fascinating book for me to read. To give you an idea of what the book is about, here is an excerpt from the synopsis:

Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton “have created a revolutionary program to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. At the heart of the book is the Internet-based StrengthsFinder® Profile, the product of a 25-year, multimillion-dollar effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. The program introduces 34 dominant “themes” with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. In developing this program, Gallup has conducted psychological profiles with more than two million individuals to help readers learn how to focus and perfect these themes.”

I highly recommend this book! It’s a wonderful book to teach you how you think and operate in life. Which, in turn, can be used to shape your career and ministry. As I was reading this book, I just had to laugh at myself. At the top of my lists of strengths is Focus. “Where am I heading?” is the predominant question that I always ask myself. Every decision that I make in life surrounds this theme. It even plays into the way that I read a book. If you sit next to me reading a book, you will frequently see me stop and flip through the next few pages. I caught myself doing it, even with this book. I had to stop at one point and laugh because, what was I doing? I was looking to see if this book actually fit into my purpose of reading the book. I’m asking the question “Where am I heading?”

If any of you have ever read this book, I would love to hear about your strengths. It’s alwasy interesting to hear what makes people tick. For those of you interested, here is a link to my strengths profile. This is what makes me tick. CLICK HERE

Second of all, we are greatly indebted to all of you in Raleigh who helped us load the moving truck. We had a lot of help and we probably would still be there loading if it wasn’t for the help we received.

We will miss Raleigh, and the people that we have met, but the Lord is moving us on. We are looking forward to what he will teach us here in Woodstock. For the most part we are unpacked and settled in. I still do not have a job yet, but I’ve been looking around and I have a few prospects. So keep me in your prayers that I would find something soon.

On another note, Josh had the opportunity to go to the pool for the first time, and he had a blast. I never imagined he would love it as much as he did.

Well that’s all for now. I hope that all of you are doing well. I’ll update you all soon!

The second set of photos are from Jenny and Josh’s trip to Georgia. They had a wonderful time spending time with Grams and Gramps. I’ll let her update you on the trip, but in the meantime here are the photos. Enjoy!

Remember you can access all of my galleries at any time by clicking the Photos link at the top of the page.

I’ve been amazed at the city in general. There are 1.1 million people here, yet the city has a small town type of feel. The city is spread out over almost 200 square miles. There are no major freeways with the exception of I10. However, this is strange considering most cities have some sort of freeway system. This does make it difficult to get around the city in any speedy fashion. For those of you in Raleigh, it’s like trying to take Capital Blvd or Glenwood everywhere you go. Yes, it’s that big of a nightmare. Putting that aside, the city is beautiful. Nestled in the valley with massive mountains all around. It’s the mountain biker/hikers dream. The climate has been relatively mild making it pleasant to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.

The city of Tucson is 93% unchurched making it a daunting task for church planting. However, there are some amazing people that are here trying to change that. The first is Sean Benesh who is the Church Planting Strategist for this area. He has an amazing vision for church planting in this area, and he is a wonderful asset to the church planters in the area. Check out his site www.tucsonchurchplanting.com for more info on church planting in Tucson. Along with Sean there are a number of great church planters. I have had the opportunity to meet many of them, as well as, attend worship at two of the church plants. I encourage you to check out the planters and their church’s websites. You can find a link here.

I’m still not sure if Tucson is the place for me. Even though Sean is trying hard to recruit me. I do know that there is a great need. If I end up not coming to Tucson, I will keep it in mind for places for my church to plant. I encourage you all to pray for the church planters in this area, as they have a great task ahead of them for reaching Tucson with the Gospel of Christ. That’s all for now. I’ll update you all later.

I am looking forward to the opportunity, but I am also dreading it in other ways. This will be the first time that I have had an extended absence from not only Josh but Jenny as well. I will miss them both desperately. I will give you all updates on the trip later, but this is an incredible opportunity that I have to be able to work with some church planters in that region and see what they face on a daily basis. Thank you all for your prayers. I’ll update you soon.

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I’m sure all moms have days that test their patience more than others. On Saturday afternoon, there was a series of catastrophes around the Miller house that had this mom feeling a little frazzled. I thought I’d share the story for a little comic relief. Nathan was running sound for a wedding, and his parents had just recently left after a short visit. Josh had been taking a nap in his bouncy seat, and I was taking a little time to relax. He awoke from his nap quite fussy. As soon as I walked into the living room to get him, I smelled an unpleasant aroma. I figured one of the cats was responsible and went to inspect the litter box in the corner. No, it was not the litter box. What could it be? You guessed it! Our little man had taken care of business, and it was all over him and his bouncy seat. (Not really a shocker after all the green beans and peas he had eaten earlier in the day.) I started working away to remove the clothing without spreading the you-know-what all over him (with little success). He kept wanting to put his hands in his mouth, but his hands were not clean, so I kept telling him “no” and wiping them off. I finally resorted to the paci, which he promptly pulled out and swung around in his hand, almost getting it in the mess that I was attempting to clean. This process of diaper changing took at least 8 minutes from start to finish. In the meantime, one of the cats decided to do his business. His litter box just happens to be next to one of my favorite houseplants. We always put gravel on top of the soil on the houseplants to keep the cats from digging. Well, I guess because it was next to his litter box, once he was finished, he started scraping gravel into the box and onto the floor as he covered things up. I just watched this unfold as I finished cleaning Josh up. I went to lay Josh down on his play mat while I got his clothes in the laundry when I discovered that Cub had gotten gravel, litter, and you-know-what on Josh’s mat. Plan B - I decided to lay Josh in the crib while I got laundry started. I cleaned up the gravel off the floor, put the play mat and the clothes in the washer, and scooped out the litter box. By this time, I was warm and wanted to put my hair up. I grabbed a pony-tail holder, and just as I got it wrapped around my hair - you guessed it - the rubber band snapped. At this moment, I started to realize the humor in the situation. I grabbed another one and put my hair up. Finally, I went to pick Josh up from the crib and noticed - yep - he’d spit up green beans on his white sheet. Thankfully the laundry was still on the wash cycle and I was able to toss it in with the other things. Whew! The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, but those thirty minutes or so gave us quite a good laugh. I hope this censored version of the story didn’t offend or gross anyone out. And if it did, just wait until you have children.