Currently Reading Wuthering Heights (Barnes & Noble Classics) By Emily Bronte see related

Yay for houses! We now officially own our first home. We are packing this week and cleaning the new house starting Thursday. Then we move everything on Saturday. So, hopefully, this time next week we will be sleeping in our new home.

We had physicals for the boys are friday and Aiden is 31 lbs and just over 36 inches tall. Vaughn is 12 lbs 2 oz and 24 inches long. Yes, they are both ginormous for their age. 

In other news, this will be my final blog if no one lets me know that they read this. I just don't have the time to write them if no one is actually reading them. I don't mind at all if you are, I enjoy reading those of my friends because it's a good way to know what's going on, but if no one reads mine anymore I'm just not going to keep writing them for no reason. If anyone does read this, I hope your day was wonderful!

This has to be short, I'm sorry, but it is high time I update this thing. In my defense we don't pay for internet access at home so I don't always have the opportunity.

We moved to McPherson and are enjoying ourselves. So much has happened in the past year it is unbelievable. Our second son was born on February 18th at 9:15pm after 36 hours of labor (it's ok, I don't mind). Just a quick aside, I can handle labor but if you have to have pitosin it is not fun. Crazy bad contractions! Luckily that was only for a couple hours, the rest of the time is was natural labor and then the blessed epidural. I really think I could have made it without until I got that pitosin. Anyway, his name is Vaughn Nathaniel and he was a healthy 9 lbs. 14 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long. That's huge, I know. This time wasn't a c-section. I am so glad that everything went smoothly and we didn't have to go through that again.

We have a contract on a house and might actually get this one (third house we've tried to buy since we moved here...long story). We are set to close on or before May 1st and we're hoping for before. The inspector from the government still has to look at the house and pass or fail it, so we'll see from there.

On a bittersweet note, we found out on Thanksgiving that Arletta (Abe's little sister) and Jeff were expecting their first baby (they were married last July). Victoria Elaine was born March 12th at 3:43 am and was 10 1/2 inches long and 15 oz. Unfortunately she only lasted one hour. There were complications and she was very early. Please pray for them and the family as the loss of a child is always hard. They've taken it so well. They have just been praying through it all that God would be glorified and that they would be able to witness and be a good testimony to those around them. The memorial service was on March 18th and was very focused on bringing glory to God and knowing that God has a perfect plan.

Currently Listening The World Of Nat King Cole By Nat King Cole see related

Welcome to McPherson!

So, we are moving this Saturday down to McPherson, KS and we will not have internet access, so I don't know when the next time I'll be able to update or email anyone. We still have our cell phone though, in case anyone needs to get a hold of us.

In other news, guess what?! We're pregnant! We're due February 23rd so it's still pretty early (8 weeks today). If this is the first you've heard, please, please don't be hurt. We are VERY busy with the move and everything else, so we aren't able to call everyone individually, but that doesn't mean we care for any of you any less. If you think of it, please be praying for me especially right now. I get morning sickness BAD. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that I need prayer.

Also, with Abe starting his first teaching job we could use a lot of prayer on that front. He's teaching History, Bible, Geography and maybe Psychology, plus coaching boys and girls varsity soccer. That's all very exciting and we are both thrilled, but he has a lot of work to do. He's been working some to prepare this summer and is looking forward to having time after we move to work on it without having another job as well to take up time. Plus, after we move, we will know better where are on buying a house. We have a couple more we would like to look at once we're down there and our loan is in process. The good news is that we have a place to rent and it's through our realtor so if we find a house, we can break the lease since we would be buying through her (our realtor) without having to pay any fees.

Oh, some more about the move. Some of the guys from Abe's new school are bringing up a stock trailer and a pickup truck to help us move and they plan to be at our house around 11:00 on Saturday. The plan is then to just load up and head out. We have most of our house packed already so we just a few more boxes to take care of this week. We plan to only unpack a couple of boxes (like the bare necessities for the kitchen, bathroom, etc.) and live our of our suitcases while we're in the rental so that when we move again (hopefully within the next couple months) we won't have to repack everything. By the way, the rental is a new duplex with two bedrooms and one and half baths. It has all kitchen appliances and washer/dryer hookup and a garage, so we're pretty excited that we have somewhere nice to be in between. Anyway, you know I could go on and on, but I have to work on the laundry, so hopefully I'll be able to update everyone at some point in the future.

Lots of Love!

Currently Watching A Good Year (Widescreen Edition) By Freddie Highmore, Albert Finney, Abbie Cornish, Russell Crowe, Rafe Spall see related

The Beach

Here are Andrew and Aiden at the beach. They had a blast playing together.

By the way, the movie was really good. Abe and I were pleasantly surprised.

Currently Reading Prince Caspian (Narnia) By C. S. Lewis see related

We're Moving!

So we drove to Charleston, SC for Abe's interview. We had been praying that God would make His will obvious to us, and He did. We had already begun to feel a peace about Elyria Christian School (near McPherson, KS) and thought that was where God wanted us to be for now, so on the way to Charleston we were beginning to wonder if we should even be going. We had already told them we would give them an interview and had been encouraged but some older and wiser men that we should go ahead with the interview, so went ahead. That and the fact that we would actually get a vacation and get to see people I have seen and forever, some Abe hadn't even met yet.

Well, we went to the school's chapel service before the interview, as had been planned, and it became clear that this was not the place for us. The purpose of the service was to scare your pants off and make you think you'll go to hell if you ever mess up. After that, Abe went in for the interview. When he came out the decision was made. We discussed it in the car on the way back to our friends' house and agreed that it was just not right for us. I won't go into the rest of the issues, but believe me it was not the school for us. So, as soon as the interview was over we called Elyria and told them we would take the job they had offered us and send them the signed contract this week. So, anyway, all of that to say that we took a job in Elyria and will be moving in the end of July.

Now, about the trip. It was awesome! It was so nice to get away, for one thing. But also great because we were able to catch up with a lot of people. We stayed with Jacob and Dassah Hitefield in Charleston and met Andrew (their son) for the first time. He's adorable, by the way. We had a good time and I am so glad we were able to see them. We went to the beach (Aiden's first time) and it was beautiful, as expected. I love the beach in case any of you didn't know that. Aiden ate sand by the handful and enjoyed crawling/walking on it. We only had him put his feet in the water that day because it was a little windy and while that just made it a great day at the beach I didn't want him to get too cold. Abe got to boogy board for the first time and enjoyed himself. I laughed. We also got to do some site-seeing in Charleston which was a lot of fun because it's a very historical city. The architecture is beautiful and there are even still some cobblestone streets. We ate at this Italian restaurant downtown that was really great-we had a lot of fun. All this was Thursday after the interview.

On Friday we went and toured the C-17 that Jacob flies on. That was pretty cool. I've been to air shows before (like a million and one times!) but it is way better when it's not a crowded hundred plus degree day. Plus we got to see how it works more in depth and I got to close the tail thing (I know, that's very descriptive. Just be glad I'm not the one flying it!). Then I heard from an old family friend (She's about ten years older and I've known her since I was five. She used to babysit me) I had been trying to get in touch with. She and her husband came down and met us for coffee and that was great. It was so good to see her again after like ten years and meet her husband. It was actually their five year anniversary, so it was extra special. We caught up and they have three children and the fourth is due any time (She was tiny! But that's an entirely different story...). I really don't think I can express in words how amazing it was to see her again and be able catch up. It was so good. We also watched "Night at the Museum," which I enjoyed and even laughed out loud at some parts, but Abe thought was stupid. Oh well.

We left Saturday morning to drive up to Wake Forest, NC to see my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. That was also very cool. I hadn't seen them in years either. I was glad that it went well and they liked Abe. I would have kept him either way, but that was a plus . It was really good to see them, especially my cousin because it seems like forever since I've seen him. We couldn't stay as long as we would have liked because we have to get back for work and finals, so we left this morning. As we speak (you know what I mean) I am typing at a hotel in Nashville, TN. We leave tomorrow morning to drive back to Kansas City and will hopefully see Allan in St. Louis. I'm really glad we were able to take this trip and I think it went especially well, but I will be glad to get home and get Aiden back into his routine. His sleep/eat/nap schedule has been chaotic for the past week.