We're moving!

Hey there friends!
I've had mixed emotions about sitting down and writing this particular post. In some ways I've been sad and dreading it, and in others ways I've been really excited and looking forward to it. (That's also a pretty good description of the way I/we feel about this whole move). Yes, as you may know already, we're moving....to Kansas.

Here's the story:
Back in April, Brother Billy got a phone call from a friend of ours, J, President of an organization in Kansas (Brett knew that J had called Billy, but we didn't find out details of their conversation until later). J was calling to ask for Billy's permission & blessing to talk to Brett and have him turn in a resume. Late May, when Brett was helping at an orientation in KS, J talked to Brett about joining his staff. We decided not to tell anyone for a while and to just pray about it together. (We did talk some more with Brother Billy & Theresa, and we did end up telling our small group...I kinda slipped. But we were so grateful to have their support and encouragement all along the way!)

We love our church and our life here in Waco; we were not seeking anything elsewhere. As you know, we were in the midst of trying to buy a house, and we had really come to the point that we thought we'd be here in Waco for a while. God obviously had other plans. Looking back on how difficult that process was of looking for a house, we really feel like God was protecting us. Actually, looking back on the last few months altogether, LOTS of things seem to make more sense now. Funny how God works sometimes.

Brett has had other job opportunities come along since he's been at Brazos Meadows, but we never felt like they were anything that we were supposed to pursue. On the other hand, from the moment we knew about this possibility in KS, we both felt like we were supposed to check into it a little bit more. And that's what we did....we took little baby steps through this whole process, little by little learning more about the opportunity and praying each step of the way that God would lead us and help us hear from Him. We really feel like this whole thing was God-initiated, and that He has been slowly and gently pulling us in this direction.

We decided that it was time to talk to our families about this possibility. That was extremely difficult, and has continued to be difficult. Brett and I are both very close to our families, and have always lived relatively close to them (especially Brett, he has lived in the Waco/Robinson area his whole life, never more than 30-45 minutes away from family). Moving away will not be easy, but we know that if this is what God asks of us, then we want to do it. A verse we've been clinging to throughout this whole thing is Romans 8:28 "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." If this indeed is what God is calling us to, then we know He'll cause all things to work together for good.....His blessing will not only be on us for our obedience, but it will be on our families as well.

We spent about a week in KS in late July--checking things out, seeing old friends, making new friends, sitting and talking through some details with J face to face. It was a good week, and the possibility became much more of a reality to us. All along, we just wanted to make sure that we truly heard from God on this.....stay or go.....it didn't matter--we just knew we wanted to be obedient.

After we returned from KS, we had 2 weeks to let J know if we were going to accept the job. We knew it was time to tell our close friends and our church. That went so well! God really went before us and prepared lots of people's hearts. There was lots of tears, but everyone was (and is being) so encouraging & supportive. Many prayed with us and are continuing to pray for us and have showed such enthusiasm and excitement for what God has planned for us. Here's 2 of my favorite responses from a couple people from church.....

• "Well, I've thought long and hard about what y'all said this morning. You have my blessing, but you're going to have to leave Emma here with us!" :o)
• (This next response was from a lady that is very special to us. We went to her house to tell her in person because of how important of a role she has had in our lives. She even prayed for us as single-individuals and knew we would be married before we did!!!) First words out of her mouth as we all sat down to talk were....."You're joining J's organization, aren't you?" (our jaws hit the floor, and we said how did you know?!?!?!) "I just knew.....it makes sense. That is your passion....as far as I'm concerned, you're already there. I believe that's what God wants for you, and I think He's going to use y'all in a really cool way!" (She said tons more, but you get the idea!)

God has confirmed this decision in so many ways.....I wish we could share them all, but it'd just be impossible! We officially accepted the job offer last Friday. In 3 little words, I can tell you how we're feeling at any given time: EXCITED, SAD, & NERVOUS!! Excited--because we believe this is what God has asked us to do so we're looking forward to seeing what He's up to. Sad--because we are leaving our family, friends, and church. Nervous--because we're starting a whole new life: new place, new job, new friends, new church, new house, new everything!

As far as the time line of when we'll be going....the target date is November 1st, but it really just depends on our support raising. We will have to have a "livable amount" raised before going. At times, we're a little scared about the support raising part of this job, but then we remember all the cool stories that people have told us and that we find in scripture about God's provision and faithfulness. 1 Kings 17:1-16 has the coolest story about how God provides the giver and the gift. This will definitely be a faith-building time in our lives. We are looking forward to having a deeper understanding of our utter dependence on Jesus!

I think I'm going to end here for now.....I know that was a lot for you to read. Thank you for loving us and taking interest in what's going on in our lives. Please pray for us, if the Lord brings us to mind. This is new ground for us; we want to be sure to keep our eyes on Him!

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And now, the part you probably are most interested in....pictures!!

Here's Emma having fun with her "tuh-tle" sprinkler. She LOVES baths, sprinklers, swimming, water fountains.....ANYTHING that has to do with water and getting wet!

She also likes shoes, as you may recall from previous blogs. She likes to walk around the house wearing either mine or Brett's shoes. (She is pointing at the camera because I've started showing her pictures that I take of her, so now she is always interested in seeing what's on the screen.....makes it hard to take pictures of her sometimes).

I took Emma to the Mayborn Museum for the first time recently. That place is awesome!! She had so much fun (and so did I!) I didn't even remember to pull my camera out much....only got a couple pics (and they weren't all that great either). Here's Emma walking on the giant floor piano like they have in the movie "Big." It's so cool!


Lots of piano time lately....We spent this past weekend in the Woodlands seeing family and celebrating my mom's birthday. Here's Emma playing a little birthday song for my mom on Aunt Leslie's piano.



Here's Brett and Uncle Jack working as a team to feed a super tired, fussy, & hungry baby. I forgot to bring a bib with us, so Emma has a big, cloth napkin draped over her.....looks more like she's getting a hair cut than eating.


We're so thankful for our little travel DVD screen (you can't see it in the picture, but that's what her eyes are fixed on). Cars, planes, coffee shops....wherever! It's nice to be able to bring "Praise Baby" videos wherever we go. No matter where we are or what's going on, she always loves to watch her videos....and it's fun to see her interact with them too!


Funny Story!
So, yeah....we had to get a new trash can last week. Our TV remote disappeared. We turned the house upside down...we just couldn't think of where else to look. Then it dawned on us...."You know, Emma has been pretty interested in the trash can lately." (She notices when there's a banana or something familiar on top. She has even tried to grab something off the top a time or two). We decided she must have thrown the TV remote in the trash when we weren't looking (It was just an oval trash can with a flip lid.) So we invested in one of those trash cans that you have to step on the little pedal to make the lid go up. Unfortunately, she is still pretty interested. She watches us use it and then goes to try to step on the pedal. I guess that's why so many people put their trash under the sink or in the pantry. hmmm.....

July 10, 2007

hi! Hi! HI!!!!
I'm sooooo excited about getting to sit down and blog right now.....I always look forward to this time. I really enjoy this whole "blog thing." When asked what I like to do in my free time, blogging is one of the first things to come to mind. Yeah, I know....then why has it been 2 months since our last post? All I can say is TIME FLIES!! And somehow, we always seem to stay so BUSY! ugh!

Lots has changed in 2 months...
** We're NOT planning on buying and remodeling the house we live in now (as I told you in the last post). All the bids were outrageously high! That was clearly no longer even an option. The house hunt is on hold for the time being.

** I did not end up taking summer classes at MCC, as I told you about previously. Lots to that story, but bottom line is my time and energy needed to be spent in other areas this summer (instead of studying, in class, stressed, etc.) Not real sure what the plan is in this area either, for the time being.

** As many of you may already know, Brett's grandfather passed away about a week ago (on July 2nd). He was such a sweet, wonderful man. Brett and him were very close and had a very special relationship. The last few months have been very difficult as he grew sicker and sicker. Then several weeks ago, he seemed to suddenly get worse, and we were told it wouldn't be much longer. We spent every minute there that we could. The night he died, the whole family was there, except for our brother-in-law. In Papa's last few minutes of life, Brett's mom asked us to gather around him and hold hands. Then she asked Brett to pray. It was really special. God is good and answered our prayer immediately. Brett said, "Amen" and we all watched Papa take his last breath. It happened within 45 seconds to a minute after we prayed. Then it was over. He wasn't suffering or in pain any more. Words cannot express how amazing and special that time was. There's sooooo much more to this story, but the most important thing is that God is faithful--He heard and answered our prayer (in more ways than one), He brought comfort like only He can do, and He brought everyone even closer together through this whole thing. Praise Him! The funeral was last Thursday. Brett and his great Uncle, Fred did the service together. It was great--a beautiful celebration of Papa's life!

He was pretty excited to be a great-grandfather!!

And now, we're getting back to "normal life." Still trying to figure out what that means exactly....
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Baby girl is NOT a baby anymore! She's such a BIG GIRL!!! Wow!! She amazes us daily with all the "big girl" things she can do. We truly can't keep up with all the words she can say now. She seems to be literally absorbing the environment around her. She is learning new things constantly. Sometimes you can just watch her, and it's as if you can SEE the wheels turning inside her little head. She'll watch us do something, then she'll try to mimic us. She repeats words after us. She understands things that we say and then responds. Just a few examples.....She'll look for Brett sometimes during the day, walking around saying "da-da." I'll tell her, "da-da left for work. He went bye-bye." Then she'll walk down the hall and go to the front door, wave and say "bye-bye." When you ask her if she's hungry, she'll go to her high-chair, hold on to the legs and look up as she does this chewing motion with her mouth. You can hold open a book and ask her questions and she points. "Emma, where is the dog? Ball? Shoe? Flowers? Cat?" She points to her body parts when you ask her, "Where is your belly? Ears? Nose? Eyes? etc. It is SO FUN to watch her grow!! Wow! I'm LOVING being a mommy and getting to be with her so much. Brett is the best dad too! Watching them play together is the best!

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PICTURE TIME!! :o)

Here's some family pics, first.



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The proud grandparents.....



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YOUTH CAMP!

Emma went with us to youth camp in Marathon, TX (out west near Big Bend). She did great and loved being around all the action. She was tuckered out when the week was over and slept a good part of the 7-8 hour drive home (below).


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Yeah, we're still working on learning how to use a spoon.
Fun times! :o)



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Messy eating leads to lots of baths, which this girl has always loved! Scares us sometimes how comfortable she is around water, though; we have to watch her closely. As you can see below, her love of baths and love of reading was joined together when Nana bought her a book for the bathtub. That ought to win the $10,000 on AFV, eh? Also, bubble baths have become a favorite. She loves to say "buh-bulls." Too cute! However, we've had to put a stop to the bubble baths for now, because she thinks it's funny to drink the water. She bends down and laps it up like a dog, then comes up laughing. I have to say, it's pretty funny (& cute), but I worry about her taking in too much soapy water and getting sick to her stomach.


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Loves carrying purses, bags, lunch boxes....whatever she can get her arm through. So if you're ever at our house and your purse ends up missing, go look in Emma's room. Another new thing, she wants to wear bracelets and necklaces. She'll put her stacking rings around her wrist and walk around to show them off. She has a couple other toys that she insists on trying to "wear" around her neck or wrist. She loves jewelry. I think the grandmas are rubbing off on her, cause we all know it's not from her mama. :o)

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Another thing she loves....SHOES!! (she might have, maybe, possibly, sorta have gotten this from her mama a little bit.... but Nana could be to blame too! :o) Whenever she sees someone's shoes laying around (including her own), she says "shoooooose" and then proceeds to try to put them on. I caught her in my closet one day (pic. below); she had pulled out different shoes and was just having a good ol' time. Looks so innocent, doesn't she?

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Brett said that Emma and I sleep a lot alike....spread out, bury our face, hug a pillow, that sort of thing. I think he may have a point.


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Some of you may get a kick out of this, and some of you may think it's bad/gross, but here goes.....Emma has one other "new trick" that I wanted to tell. She has started patting her diaper to let us know when she has gone to the bathroom (not liking dirty diapers and letting someone know when you've gone is one sign that the child is ready to begin potty training.....we're kinda excited about that part). Anyway, we've discovered that she likes to notify others when they've "had an uh-oh" too. If you toot around her (or just make a tooting noise), she comes over to you and gives you a little pat. :o) Pretty funny, huh? We think so, anyway! :o)

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Here's a picture of my dad and my brother, Chris taken over Father's Day weekend. I know many of you have heard what's going on with him. He has some kind of mass or inflammation in his head (brain). For months, doctors have been trying to figure out what it is. It has some characteristics of a tumor, but not enough for them to confidently say that that's what it is. He's undergone a lot of testing, and seen lots of doctors....and still nobody knows or has even seen anything like it before. His headaches have gotten better, but he's been taking some very strong steroids. Obviously, this has affected his daily life a great deal. He has been living in San Antonio with family since this was first discovered (Nov/Dec??), but is likely moving to Wyoming soon with my other brother, Michael. If God brings him to your mind, please pray for him and his healing. Thanks!

Finally!!

Hey everyone! Is your world as crazy as ours? I'm sure it is. Why is that? I've been so frustrated for the last couple weeks because I've REALLY been wanting to blog. How is it that finding a free hour (or 2 or 3) is so stinkin' difficult. Something's not right....

Anyway, lots going on.... LOTS has changed since our last post. I'll give you a few updates, then I'll get to the Emma pics which is, I know, what most of you check our blog for anyway! :o)


HOUSE UPDATE:
Yeah, so house shopping really is not so fun! Overall, it's pretty discouraging. Out of all the houses (and we saw A LOT!), we never really found what we were looking for. Or actually, a better way to say it is...we never really found what we were looking for that was within our price range.
I think we've decided to buy the house we live in now and just do some remodeling and additions. We're pretty excited. It's going to be a long process, I'm sure! And probably a huge headache to live with all the construction for months and months. We're talking with different contractors and getting bids and stuff right now. Hopefully, the ball will be rolling by the next time I have a chance to blog. :o)

SCHOOL UPDATE:
I only have 11 more days of teaching! I'm actually starting to get a little sad. I really do enjoy it, and it's been a really, really great year! I'm dreading packing up my room! Yuck! Actually, it won't be quite as bad as my move from Connally because I'm not taking all of my teaching stuff, but I do have a lot of personal things that have ended up at school over the years (and I will take certain teaching things that are mine that I will want to keep for our own kids).

As far as my MCC class, I've been done for nearly 2 weeks now with my Biology class. I loved it and hope that my future classes are as enjoyable! I'm taking Anatomy & Physiology 1 and Psychology during the first summer semester. I'm super excited because the way my classes worked out, I have a break for Summer 2. Then in the Fall, I'll take 3 classes: Anatomy & Physiology 2, Microbiology, and Human Growth & Development. I'm really excited about my schedule in the Fall...I got all 3 of my classes on MWF and I'll have T/Th from 9-2 while Emma is at Parent's Day Out to do my studying. (Unless I end up having to get a job to help with finances, then that schedule will be stressful and pretty much stink!) Then I'll apply to nursing school and hopefully start Jan. '08.

GENERAL UPDATE:
Brett and I are doing great! Brett is pretty busy with church stuff lately. With all this crazy rain we've been having, leaks at the church have been out of control. Seems like either him or I have some kind of meeting or commitment several nights a week. We love our weekends together; they give us a chance to recoup, rest, and focus on each other! He's got all kinds of work-related trips coming up. I'm thinking Emma and I will be visiting family and friends during those times! :o)

EMMA JOY UPDATE:
WOW! This sweet baby girl is growing up right before our eyes. We're amazed at what a big girl she is now! She is so much fun! I've probably said this before, but every stage of her life becomes my new favorite age. I remember thinking when she was a newborn, "wow, I love how sweet and dependent she is now....this is my favorite age!" Then, she'd grow and change a little and I'd think, "wow, can she be any cuter?!?! It can't get any better than this....this is my favorite age!" And it continued...3 months, 4 months, 5, 6, 7.....and now she is 14 months!! I REALLY, REALLY think THIS is my favorite age!! I feel like I'm really getting to know her now....her little personality is becoming so evident. She is so much fun!! I look forward to getting off of work each day so that I can go pick her up and play with her and take her outside and watch her learn new things and read books to her and laugh with her. Not to sound too cheesy, but I wish there was some way to "bottle her up" and save all of these sweet memories....video and pictures just aren't the same!! And my memory stinks!! I find myself already forgetting what she was like just months ago (how will I remember years from now?) And I'm sad because I can't remember when exactly she started crawling and when she said her first word, etc. Everything seems to be a blur! I had such good intentions of writing everything down and keeping up with it all (I even have a journal that I'm writing TO Emma telling her all about herself), but it has literally been MONTHS since I've written anything down. And now I'm so far behind that I've gotten discouraged and think "well, what's the point now?" Anyway, enough rambling....I'll start with the pictures of our little cutie! ENJOY! :o)


OUTSIDE PICS:
Emma LOVES to be outside!! We play in the front yard with her wagon, ball, and bubbles. We play in the backyard with her swing and with Jeb. We go to the park and play on all the cool stuff there. We take walks daily on the sidewalk in our neighborhood. We went to the zoo again a couple weekends ago. She loved looking at all the animals and watching all the other kids.

Viking Hills Park
By the way, months ago I promised to post a good "teeth picture" to show you. Way back then, she was our little "snaggle-tooth" (she was so cute when she just had 1 and 2 teeth in the front) Anyway, I never could get a good picture showing her teeth. Now, she had 9 teeth (I think). Honestly, I haven't been brave enough to stick my finger in there to count in the last few weeks...she bites down REALLY HARD! Seems like she is constantly working on more teeth, so biting down on stuff really feels good to her.
ANYWAY, back to the point...the picture on the right of her swinging shows several of her teeth really good. You have to click on the picture to enlarge it, and then click the back arrow to get back to the blog. (P.S. There's several cute pics below that you might want to enlarge too! :o)



This is the neighbor's little car, but Emma likes to "borrow" it whenever they leave it outside. The neighbor boy is 2 weeks older than Emma; they like to play together. His mom and I found out we were pregnant within weeks of each other. It was fun to go thru pregnancy with her and now to watch our kids play together.
Emma is so content to just SIT in the car...you don't have to roll it around for her...she just wants to SIT in it! She honks the little horn and holds the steering wheel. But her favorite part about the car is to play with the door....open, closed, open, closed, open...You wouldn't believe how long she can stand there and do that! She gets such a kick out of it, and you can tell she is SOOO proud of herself. I secretly hope everytime we go outside that the neighbors put the toy car in their garage because no matter how long she plays with it (5 minutes or 30) she always cries when it's time to go inside.


Here's Emma walking her dog on our sidewalk (dog is one of her new words, by the way. She calls all animals "dog" though...cats, birds, etc)
The second picture is one of the neighbor girls. She had fun pulling Emma in her wagon one day.


zoo pics

WHY BUY TOYS???
This is a mesh bag that Brett's mom uses to store all of Emma's toys in at her house. Emma usually just dumps all the toys out and climbs into the bag! It's hilarious!





Our house is officially "BABY-PROOF."
Cabinets are now a pain to get into because they have a lock on them from the inside so that she can't pull everything out anymore. Fun stuff!




A CUTE "SICK" PIC:
Baby Girl had Scarlet Fever recently (which just means she had strep throat and a rash all over her body). She never even had a fever, and she acted fine the whole time. Our only clue that something was wrong was the rash. The doctor looked at the rash and said "it's probably nothing, but let's do a throat swab just to be sure." Well, it came back positive. After a week on antibiotics, the rash was gone. Here she is drinking her medicine. She LOVED it! She'd stick her tongue up into the little hole trying to get every last drop. Then she'd cry when we had to take it away. What a stinker! :o)




MISC. PICS OF OUR LITTLE CUTIE!


Bedtime! (yeah, right!)


Easter candy from Grammie


Look at this big girl in a FRONT-FACING carseat!!
(actually, she is STILL not quite 20 pounds, but we figured she was close enough)


What a ham!


CRAZY WEATHER PICS:
Just thought I'd throw these in...


SNOW!! Can't remember (of course) when this was exactly...I think sometime around Easter. Anyway, it was really late in the year to get snow....especially for TX!!

After the monsoons we've been having in Central TX, our back yard was like a lake. You can't even see things that good in this pic. but the rain is pouring under to back fence so fast. It was like this for days afterwards.

'TIL NEXT TIME!!! :o)