Winter 2013-Winter 2014

Winter 2013

Summer 2013 Jersey Shore

Summer 2013 Boston Children's Museum

Summer 2013 Mya and her friend Lexi

Late summer 2013 Hynes Field Park

Late Summer 2013 Plymouth, NH

Fall 2013 First Day of Second Grade

Fall 2013 Morgan on Mya's First Day of Second Grade

Fall 2013 First Pet

Fall 2013 Lookout Farm, Natick, MA

Halloween 2013 Mya is Supergirl and Morgan is a little green dragon

Winter 2013 Boston Common

Winter 2014 outside Mya's school on her 8th birthday

Winter 2014 Morgan hesitantly trying on Mya's birthday hat

Valentine's Day 2014 cupcakes for friends (but had to eat them ourselves because we came down with a virus that evening.)

May 2014 Public Garden (Make way for ducklings!)

Summer 2014 Jersey Shore (Hammock)

Summer 2014 Seaside Park, NJ

Beach-bound (she chose to wear this)

Summer 2014 Train-ride to Aquarium (Morgan looked like such a big girl to me here)

Summer 2014 Walden Pond, Concord, MA, (checking out Henry Thoreau's cabin)

Summer 2014 Dad and Morgan with the guitar

Big girl in Daddy's guitar case

Mya experimenting with Dad's guitar


                                              
                                     

August 3, 2014, Celebrating 12 years of marital bliss at the top floor of the Prudential


                                                 
Fall 2014 First Day of 3rd Grade

Halloween 2014 Mya is a Leopard

Morgan is Minnie Mouse

Fall 2014 (sitting in winter coat bin)

Thanksgiving 2014, preparing dessert with Mom and Mya

December 2014 Happy New Year!

The Loneys continue to settle into life in Boston.  We are in year 3 of church-planting with Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, MA.  Living in the neighborhood of Roslindale has been good for us.  It's somewhat residential and suburban compared to other Boston neighborhoods.  Mya is loving her 3rd year at Park Street School and has completely transitioned since she started as a 1st grader.  February 3rd, 2015 will mark her 9th year of life complete!  She has really grown up this past year, losing more and more of her little girl personality and growing into an independant girl.  She's still so sweet, sensitive, compassionate and gentle but she's also learning that the world is not all fun and games.  Most days, she's out the door by 7AM, home by 4PM and has an hour and a half of homework to complete before bedtime.  She loves her friends, her books, and her family.  Morgan will be 3 on January 24th 2015 and we can hardly believe how fast she's changing.  No more baby, though we still call her 'our baby' from time to time.  She loves her tricycle, the ipad, and her family.  She still takes a nice long nap most days, prefers her crib to her toddler bed, and is 90% potty trained.  Morgan would LOVE to be in school with her big sister, but I may keep her home a few more years.  I'm glad for the extra time with her.  Bryan continues to perservere in church-planting.  Our sweet congregation is about 50 people, including children.  We daily trust the Lord to provide for the future of this church. Bryan still teaches part-time at Northeastern University.  I love being home with Morgan, carpooling Mya and her friends home from school, being Bryan's unofficial church-planter's assistant, and managing this wonderfully crazy life. My new hobby is spinning at the YMCA.  A friend invited me to Soul Cycle one day, and I fell in love with cycling.  

The past several years have been years of intense trust and God has faithfully brought us to this point.  We are acutely aware of our need of Him.  There is so much risk and so much joy in this journey.

Grateful for you all, 

Bryan, Lisa, Mya, and Morgan  

Morgan's words at 18 months

I thought it high time I record these words before she's graduating from college and I've completely forgotten what she was like at a year and a half.  Time certainly is flying by.  Strangers on the street remind me of that as they pass, 'Just yesterday my kids were this small and now they're all married and moved away'.  Having a 7 year old, I can kind of understand what they mean.  It does seem like yesterday Mya was toddling around in her crocs, exploring the world full-steam ahead.  She was such a delight and so is little Mo.  She has an uncanny way of easing tension in any situation.  Sometimes when I'm frustrated with her for not eating her food, she'll blow a really big raspberry and I'll start laughing hysterically.  Then she'll do it again and try not to laugh herself.  I love that she doesn't take herself too seriously.  She's knows how to have fun and enjoy every day.  If she falls down, she gets right back up and keeps running.  She's also very social.  She loves people and animals. She loves cats and dogs and birds, imitating the noises they make, including the cat's 'screeching' when Morgan yanks her tail.  Thanks for making life way more fun, Momo.  I love to hear you talk.


"HI! HI! HI! HI! HI! HI! HI! HI!" to any living, breathing thing that walks into view.  She will brighten the darkest mood of any stranger on the busy streets as we walk past.  No one has ever been able to resist smiling and responding 'hi' to a Morgan-greeting. She's also usually shouting these words:

"Bah-bye!"

"See ya!"

"HEY!" (what you'll hear if you take anything from her)

"Pease!"

"Hep!" (help)

"Maw!" (more)

"Ishie" (fish)

"Yeesie" (Jesus) ("Morgan, who loves you?" "Yeesie!")

"Gah" (God) ("Morgan, who made you?" "Gah!")

"Hot!"

"Daddy, Mommy"

"Ya-ya!" (Mya) (Ironically,"yaya"means "big sister" in "Lingala", which is a language spoken in the northern part of the Congo.  We learned this when, at a playground, a man from the Congo heard Morgan calling after Mya saying, 'Ya-ya!')

"Bampie" (Grampie)

"Babbie" (Grammie)

"Maw-maw" (Memaw)

"Paw-paw" (Pepaw)

"He go!" (Here you go)

"Mine!"

"No!"

"Ya!" (Yes)

"Ow" (this one's a whisper, for some reason)

"kitty-meow"

"doggie-woof"

"birdie-teet-teet" (tweet tweet)

"Ba ba" (bottle/sippy cup)

"Kees!" (Keys-heading to front door-desiring to leave the house)

This pic is actually a few months old, but it captures her personality well.

Welcome back!

Its been a long time!  13 months, to be exact, since I last posted anything.  The last post was asking for prayer for my friends Ryan and Julie and their son, Jethro.  He stayed in the hospital for 3 months and it has been a difficult and amazing year for them, and difficult for their friends to watch them go through it, but their son is home, and going to be ok.  For updates, you can visit http://happyhomefairy.com/.  Thank you for your prayers for them last year.

For us, life is non-stop, and honestly, to catch up on this blog meant two days of neglecting my work.  But it has been worth it.  I will love looking back on this time.  I have missed documenting our adventures.  If there are any readers still out there, checking in to see what the Loney girls look like these days, enjoy!  This is for you!

Love,

Lisa

May 18th, 2013

Happy birthday to me!  These are the only pictures I took of this special day.  "Special" because my brother Tim joined us for a family day in Rockport, Mass., to savor fresh-caught lobster and homemade dark chocolate covered goodness.  I love spending time with my family.  And so that is what I got for my birthday.  I am so very happy and blessed, indeed.  

February 3rd, 2013

Mya chose a Veterinarian themed birthday party this year.  We invited her first grade class.  There were 15 kids in our humble abode!  We had a blast.  Everyone brought along their favorite stuffed animal.  Mya dressed in a white lab coat and greeted her guests at the door with name tages that read "Dr._____" and their name.  She handed them charts with a paper inside for filling out all kinds of personal information about their pet.  We had 'stations' set up around the room for the doctors to weigh their pet, bandage them up, and make pretty collars for them.   

We played some fun games, including diving into teams and seeing who could wrap up their teammates in toilet paper the fastest!  

I think the highlight of the party was the scavenger hunt.  I pretended that the local humane society called me during the party and said they needed help finding a missing puppy.  We had clues all over the house and the kids really got into solving riddles and locating the lost pup.  A reward followed.  

A Carvel ice cream cake.  Mmm.

We concluded the party with ice cream and the movie "BOLT".  

Happy 7th birthday, big girl!!  We couldn't love you more and we will not love you less.  You have been through so much transition in your seventh year of life, moving from St. Louis to Greenville, Greenville to Boston, making lots of new friends, and becoming a big sister.  God has been so good to give us you.  We adore you!!!  xoxo

M&D

January 24th, 2013

Morgan turns one.  

What an unbelievable first year it has been.  Little Mo is certainly one who brings so much joy.  We love you so much baby girl.  We are thankful for you.  xoxo  M&D