Watch out!

Another week of our blessed existence has passed. Faith keeps a' crawlin'. Just this past weekend, we purchased two additional "baby gates" so that we can protect our baby girl. Well, while we were still debating whether to physically mount them to the wall or not, Faith was crawlin' around and her daddy (that's me) had the baby watch. She crawled right on over to the baby gate, which was leaned up against the wall. I don't know how she did it, but after a *bing* *bang* *boom* *crunch*, she was hollerin' out loud.

It was one of those moments first filled with horror, but once I knew she was fine, I wish I had a camera. Because words can't describe the sight. there she was, laying on her side, the baby gate fallen over ontop of her, with one end of it laying on top of her left cheek. I immediately dove to the rescue (though, it was a bit too late to try to rescue her). I picked up my precious darling baby girl, and held her close to my chest and let her cry it out. :-(

After mommy and daddy both spent some time soothing her, she was back to her normal self. Within an hour, we had that baby gate mounted. No longer an issue now. :-)

Here you will find some more photos.

Faith was with us a few weeks ago when we went up to Buffalo for Great Grandpa Sammarco's Memorial Service. What a blessed time of celebrating his extended stay here with us. Faith rejoiced with us as we thanked the Lord for the time that He gave us with Great Grandpa.

Man she has gotten big! And she'll just keep on growin'. We don't quite realize it, until we see an infant.

Well, just a few weeks ago, Bethany, Faith and I all welcomed a new addition into the family of our dear friends Dan and Sarah. They had a baby boy, Carter, on April 2nd. And he's a hoot. Check it out, he's even got the homeboy stance already. It's so fun to see Faith interact with all of her friends. Atleast, we anticipate that they would be her friends. Though we are in the Navy, we hope and anticipate being here in Maryland for a good 6 to 8 years. Hard to say what God will do in us in the years to come.

The way it stands now, my orders are up at the Naval Academy in July '09. My intentions are to go overseas for a year without Bee and Faith. Not exactly the most ideal situation, but one of the better options available to us (believe it or not). Where would I go? Well... to quote a great movie of the 80's, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." :-)

So here I am, trying to make plans for my family's future, and God keeps challenging me to keep my head on my shoulders, and not to get too far ahead of myself. I like what James said:

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13 - 15)

So with that, I must say... "if the Lord wills... we will be here for six to eight years." One thing is most certain; God has called our family to pursue vocational ministry full-time. But where that begins is a mystery to us. The assurance of God's provision to get us there is solid. Our knowledge of the way between here and there... not so clear. But God is faithful, who has called, and who will direct us in His ways as we seek to do His will in joyful obedience.

In the meantime, we press on. The last few weeks were a bit rough. Not only did I get slammed with a gazillion things at work, but I had a quiz, then a test, then a quiz and a paper, then one assignment, then another assignment. Sounds like school or something! Wait a minute, I am in school! In any case, I've got a few moments to come up for air before I hit the books hard in preparation for my final exams mid-May.

One such breath of fresh air happens on Friday nights. I joined our church softball team. We had a scrimmage this past Friday, and I thought I was all that. Flying across the outfield to catch fly balls, zooming around the infield after hitting the ball... but I assure you, Saturday morning... I did not think I was "all that" anymore. The term "old" comes to mind. My aching knees and shoulder got the best of me. Of course, I'll beat my body into submission again this Friday because the game is just that much fun. Our first official game is this Friday. We'll be sure to keep you posted on it all.

Anyhow, I'm off to class. We're about half way through the book of Revelation now. Very interesting stuff. Let me know if you have any questions. Because I'm running out of questions. :-) Just kiddin'... about running out of questions. One thing I find for certain, the more I learn... truly... the more questions I have. It's funny how that happens. God bless you all, and stay tuned for more to come.

Let the blogging begin

Well, this is the beginning of our blog! Things are going well for the Duarte clan as the Lord continues to bless us in more ways than we can count. Faith is nearly NINE MONTHS OLD! Just this past week, I was getting ready to go out the door for work in the morning and Bethany put Faith down on the dining room floor. She was so close to crawling, and I just didn't want to miss it. Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to be there on Friday afternoon when she just went NUTS crawling.

We were on the web cam via skype with my mother and step-father (Grandma and Grandpa Stanfield) and Faith was on a roll. Of course, she has taken an interest in anything electronic, so she was after my laptop, and I had to keep moving it away from her to prevent her from pounding on the keys while on the web cam. But Grandma and Grandpa got to see their Grand-daughter crawl, even though they were on the other side of the country.

Bethany is doing very well. She is such an awesome mother to Faith as the two of them have great routines each day. Throughout the week, Bethany will work in the Nursery at the church (Riva Trace Baptist Church) to allow other moms an opportunity to be involved in weekday ministries or Bible studies. As you can see, Faith has begun to enjoy cooking with her mommy as well. Aren't they just precious?

As for me, life is so full of blessings. Many times over the past month, the Lord has turned my eyes to my family and helped me to realize how blessed we are. I know that the days will come when we will face many struggles, and I view these days as a time to prepare ourselves for that as we continue to seek the Lord each day. Every night, as we lay Faith down to sleep, we thank God for His blessings, His Spirit, His Son, and His hand being in our lives... and we cry out to God, that He would do His work in us and that we might bring glory and honor to His name. Just as Jesus would say, may the world see our good works and praise our Father in Heaven.

Life is a stretch at times, for me, being a husband, father, Naval Officer and Seminary student. But that being said, the Lord is providing. My studies are going well and I'm learning more each day. I am half way through my second semester at Capital Bible Seminary. This semester I am taking 2 classes (6 credit hours). Both classes are New Testament classes (covering everything but the Gospel). I plan on taking two more classes in June before having the remainder of the Summer off. It's tough at times. Two days a week, I leave at 7:00 am and get home after 10:00 pm. But then, the remaining three week days, I get to come home to this precious little girl and her wonderful mom. How could anyone in their right mind possibly complain about that?

This summer, my big brother David, will be getting married to his beloved, Leticia. Bethany and I haven't even had a chance to meet this blessing of a woman yet! But she's gotta be somethin'! We are so excited to be there for their celebration and to finally meet the woman that hath wooed my big bro. It wasn't even two years ago that we had the entire family together in Florida for Bee's and my wedding. It's amazing how fast things happen.

Anyhow, I think I will end this for now. If you haven't had a chance to see our video from when Faith was born, check it out below!

Faith Arrives