Elton, Easter, & Elvis

Not loving the background of our "formal" Easter portrait, but you do what you can with two sugared up and silly kids in an effort to not get those white outfits dirty before church! If he looks like trouble to you, you would be right. He is trying to contain himself after posing with his new sunglasses and now without! Said sunglasses are hilarious on him. The moment he put them on Jason commented that he looked like Elton John, and now that's all I can think of when he puts those things on! I think Linc gets the joke too, because he always poses so funny with them on!(see pic below) And Ruby looks gorgeous as ever, she is quite the poser these days!

We enjoyed Easter "alone" as we had been traveling a lot..... for job interviews. Though it has been months ago now and those few "followers" I have already know- Jason accepted a solo pastorate at a small church near the birthplace of Elvis- who knows where this would be? Yes, Mississippi (I still have to sing-song that in my head to get the spelling right!). Tupelo, to be exact. The church is actually in Saltillo, like four miles outside of Tupelo. We traveled here twice, the second time for the church vote and found a house in one day and within a matter of weeks got a loan, packed up our stuff in WV, closed on said house, and have moved in!

God is so good! He has proven His faithfulness again and again. We feel His leading here and are enjoying the peace that brings to our weary spirits. Though the past months have been difficult, we have always known He was at work. We were blessed through that time, truly. I praise God for what He has shown me of who He is and how He cares for me and for my family.

Two, really?

I remember finding out your were going to be you- a boy! I remember the relief, because I really wanted a boy, just to know I get to have an experience of "one of each." And it's not until now that I get to see what it is to have a boy. Up until recently you have been so much like your big sis. I mean, there is no denying who you belong to when we are in line to pick her up at preschool! It's truly uncanny! And you still are like her in so many ways- full of personality, sweet, always up for a good cuddle, lover of your bedtime. Bless your heart, you even have your mommy and sis's cowlick and space between your front teeth. At least you got our blue eyes too, though surrounded by longer lashes (how fair is that?).
(can you even stand how he has that hand in his pocket!)

For all that you love to mimic your sister, there is no denying you are making your own way. From early on, you have been absolutely OBSESSED with balls. Basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, and, dare I say, a princess ball. You may not believe me, but your dad didn't even push them on you. Seriously, you identified with them before he even had a chance to make introductions! You spot them from your backseat ride as we are headed anywhere, if we are at some one's house you have an uncanny ability to scout them out- like a moth to a flame.

(Patch, a gift from the sister that knows you so well)

And then..... you discovered the dog. Specifically, the dalmatian, or "mashon." (put hard emphasis on the first syllable and spit it out and you will get it right!) We could be completely focused on some other activity and a dog will bark in the far streets of Huntington and your ear perks up and you give a bark in return looking around as if this dog is going to show up here. Not that you'd pet it, because you are a little, um.... scared. This is so sad to me. Not only because I can't imagine loving something so much that only intimidates me, but because our precious Boone-dog was not a familiarity to you. You usually warm up to dogs if you have the pleasure to be around them long enough, so there is hope.

For all the things that make you, my boy, I am so thankful. You could look like the odd one out on Sesame Street's "which one of these things doesn't belong" or act like someone I've never met and I would be so taken with you. I am loving this two-year-old, rough and tumble, car-noise-making, throw-everything-in-sight, tantrum-throwing, squeeze-giving, I-can't-believe-I-have-a-boy....boy!

A Birthday to Remember

On January 22, 2011 Ruby turned FIVE!!! She has been talking about this birthday since she turned four, as if that one didn't even matter she just jumped right ahead. None of my guilt-laden comments about growing up too fast or enjoying this year could keep her from talking about it- a lot! So I decided this was the year to start the business of a real party. We started off the day with the new (and copied) tradition of a number pancake and lots of presents.

The clinic I work for was given a large, open kitchen space to use for healthy cooking classes and such. It was donated to them after ABC used it to film the show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, chronicling his efforts to make Huntington healthy after it was found to be the most obese city. It is such a cool space.

Given Ruby's love of cooking, limited options, and snowy weather- I thought a cooking party would be a hoot! And boy was it! We started by decorating chef's caps and donning aprons. Then they moved to making pizza's (biscuit dough they rolled out then put on their own toppings). They then assembled fruit kabobs and mixed toppings of their choice into cookie dough (sprinkles, by far, were the favorite). They ate their pizza and fruit while the cookies baked, enjoyed cake, opened presents, and just ran around with each other, literally. The moms stayed to be the "sous chef" for their child and it was so much fun getting to know both the kids and the moms from Ruby's preschool class. Their were 11 kids & 11 parents with me, Jason, Linc, and Ruby!

I love how kids at this age crowd the person opening presents, they are just so excited to share what everyone got that special friend! Aren't those girls the cutest!

The apron birthday cake. Frankly, I was doing a lil bit of squealing the night before as I was able to smooth the frosting. But, then I copped out of writing the words and used the licorice to put a big 5 on the front instead, the kids didn't seem to care. It made me feel so close to my mom, even though she was 3 states away as I stayed up late at night preparing and then making a cake. She does such a great job making our birthdays special, and I have memories of late night noises the nights before my own birthdays! She also used to decorate cakes for extra money, and hers were by far better than mine, but I felt like the pro that she is nonetheless! And I never understood how she thought it was fun or worthwhile to stay up late or sacrifice your sanity, but I get it now. I know I came away from those birthdays feeling truly special, and now that is what gives me such pleasure, Ruby's obvious delight!

Our attempts at a group shot at the end of the festivities- so precious I can't even stand it! And thanks to my friend, Jessi, for thinking to grab my camera so I had some pictures of the actual event as I ran around like a crazy restaurateur! And she even remembered to make me get a picture with me in it, something that never happens! Ruby was too busy eating cake (or should I say frosting) to care about keeping her eyes open, but for some reason she did give a thumbs up. I cannot believe my little girl is a big girl. Kindergarten is looming, and with that I know that time will move even faster, though I can't imagine it being faster than the past 5 years! There is not a day that goes by that I don't marvel that I have this girl in my life. Even on the bad days, she has a joy that comes from deep within. She is kind, even when not treated with kindness. She is patient, even when being tried by a certain little man. She takes great pleasure in the enjoyment of others and wants everyone to join in on hers! I am watching her develop into quite the friend, the sister, and the daughter I never dreamed I would have. Sista- I couldn't love you more! Happy 5th Birthday!

Good bye RUF

So it's the first week of the new year and I normally feel exhilarated to start afresh. Yet, this year I found myself hesitant, to say the least. There are a lot of unknowns, a lot of realities to face with this change of the calender. You see, as of January 1, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Marshall is no more. A couple of months ago, the decision had to be made to close the doors, the money has run out. And with that, my husband is out of a job. This reality is more than enough to come to grips with, but of course, the many other realities that accompany it are hitting me this New Year's week. Hitting me the hardest this week is the reality that we are no longer a part of RUF. It truly was a dream come true when we became part of this community. We have loved ministering to college students. The opportunity for Jason to go to training with some of the best pastors in the world made me jealous twice a year, but I got to go to Wives' retreat and to conferences with students where I got to sit under these same pastors' teaching, become good friends with their better halves (the men would all say this is true), and be ministered to by them all. We thought we would be doing this part of ministry for many more years. God has different plans for us, we just don't know what those plans are yet. The other reality is that in another 10 days I go back to work full time. Please don't hear me wrong, it is a true provision of God that I have been working part time at a clinic that is willing to give me more hours and that God guided me into a career that enables us to not have to work numerous minimum wage paying jobs to make ends meet. Jason will be at home with the kids, sending out resumes, praying for a new call. For this, God has made me grateful, truly, though at first I was just flat out frustrated that I was having to be breadwinner again. But the reality is, I am not sure I can keep this perspective every day when I come home exhausted and burdened by the needs of my patients. Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough left to give my family when I come home. I hate that this is true of me, and therein presents another struggle. The reality of my limitations. There are going to be a lot of things I just won't be able to do, at least for now. The reality of the unknowns is already getting to me. Then, to top it all of, the reality of my need for Jesus. This is, at least, a really good reality, but it also means seeing the depth of my need. My need to learn what it means to hope only in Him, not the job, the new house, the new call even. My need to really cling to Him when all I want to do is find a way myself. My need to pray more, really pray. My need to stop looking at the people and things around me to tell me all will be well. My need to believe that His plans for me do give me a future and a hope. What looks bad is intended for good to me, to my family, to the students that attended RUF and are now struggling with this loss in their own rite. I want to learn to rejoice IN the sufferings, not despite them- "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame" Romans 5:3-4 What peace that gives me, knowing He will accomplish it and no matter how well or how poorly I "handle" this His love and His plan for me cannot be altered, it does not depend on me. We covet your prayers and are so thankful for the encouragement so many of you have given.

Bug-a-boo

One year and four months ago we brought home this sweet baby boy. His official name is Lincoln Matthew, but we are those kind of annoying parents that actually end up calling their children some weird pet name. I don't know how we got to be those parents! Ruby is used to all of her pet names, so I wanted to give some aforethought to baby brother's even before he was born. Most of Ruby's names stem from "pook-a-loo" (I am so embarrassed just writing that out, looks and sounds ridiculous!). So, I wanted something kinda rhym-y, match-y! Bug-a-boo fit the bill. Well bugs/buggy and many other names I won't mention as I am already thinking of retracting this whole post- turned ONE YEAR OLD! I promise we really did celebrate on his birthday.... I miss a lot of things already, like the angelic sweetness that I could gaze at anytime, because he slept in a cradle right next to the bed. Now I have to sneak into his room, which doesn't happen much because his old door sticks and creeks so badly.

He was a finger, fist, wrist sucker for a few months. He never took to a pacifier, but it was so cute how he would try to stuff any and all of the above into his mouth.

Ruby still overwhelms him with attention, but he was so innocently unaware at first and never protested! Even with toys layered up to his chin!

I already miss some of the cute little clothes. Sure, boys clothes are not as fun as girls, we all know that. But, it is fun to have difference in our home! (grammy made the cute number shown above)

His personality is so strong, so sweet, so playful, so mischievous in a good way- and it was such fun to see it develop. It still is actually. As I said above, he never took to a pacifier, but he is known to carry any number of things around in his mouth- animals, balls, Ruby's tube of lip gloss- and inevitably leaves a trail of drool behind him! lovely

He got the celebratory number pancake and got a big kick out of it- look at how he's pointing to it!

A fabulous first cake complete with a birthday crown! He devoured it and made really cute "um-yum-num-num" boy noises too.

We love you so much Linc! We can't gush enough about our delight at being blessed with you in our family! Though I miss the days that have passed, I eagerly expect to be thrilled with each new day I get to spend with you. P.S. your sister would like to tell you that she is so glad to have a little brother and loves you so much (she really does, it is amazing how much she does)

We Are Adopting

For those of you who don't already know-

WE ARE ADOPTING!

We are in the paperwork, home study, fundraising phase of bringing home our daughter from Ethiopia! I wanted to interrupt the "regularly scheduled" posts to point you to our adoption blog at www.minusoneorphan.blogspot.com

- the link is also in the right margin from here on out. And if you head over this week, I've actually got a giveaway- like I'm foreal blogger or something! Oh, and I'll just be honest, I'd love it if you'd "follow" by hitting that button in the margin of the minus one orphan blog, it's weird how encouraging it is to see that people are actually following our journey, and the encouragement gives me renewed vigor when those days of "I must be crazy" hit! We covet your prayers and so my blog will be updated more frequently than this one to give specific ways you can be praying and if you feel so led, donating or participating in our fundraisers. We are beyond excited and just like any other parents expecting a child, just love sharing it all!

Ruby's White Dress

Now these pictures are really hard for me to post unedited! But, true to my word, I am trying to just catch up to the current date and activities! This one is actually out of order, because on New Year's Weekend some student's with RUF got married. Ruby was the flower girl and Jason conducted the ceremony. Can't believe I didn't get any with Jason, but, clearly, my attention was on Ruby. I knew Jason wouldn't muss his clothes, make weird faces, or generally make a spectacle of himself. Now, Ruby, that's another story. She is a very good girl, you just don't know what you're gonna get when you put a four year old in a white dress, with a basket full of her favorite thing-flowers, in front of a room full of people and ask her to walk down a long aisle at a certain pace then stand there even for a short period of time.

She did it all wonderfully! I think she was in awe of the whole thing, she'd only seen weddings on her Disney princess movies! Oh, the marvel on her face, and the good it did to remind of the wonder of this whole thing called marriage that starts with one special day. Ruby thought her dress was pretty great, but when the bride put on her dress, Ruby exclaimed, "mommy, she gets to wear the BIG white dress and be the bride!" I think I better start saving now!

It was a gorgeous day, with soft fluffy snowflakes coming down all day. The toughest part was her hair. We should've practiced more! We ended up curling it like three times and it still didn't maintain the curl! She got tired of pictures so the smile is forced and the body language says enough is enough! I still think she was the most gorgeous girl ever....

...and managed to maintain her sense of humor! She is one crazy lady in a white dress!