It's a GIRL!! WHAT??!!??

We didn't find out the gender of Howie and Justice in utero. We went to the traditional 20 week ultrasound, stayed strong in the face of temptation, and waited it out. Although I'll say I was absolutely positive that Howie was a boy so finding out seemed superfluous, thus we really only had one surprise. This time around we were struck with indecision from the outset, for the main reason of "what if this is a girl???" But I was still pretty convinced it was a boy since that's just what we seemed to do, so I was content to not find out and I had Josh satisfied that another surprise would be fun.

Then enter my dear friend Jodi. She is such an amazing woman whom I love dearly. I have watched her walk through very difficult circumstances in her life over the last couple years with more grace than I would have thought possible. She is quite a woman. Anyway, one night Josh, the kids, and I were having dinner at her house and over the course of a couple hours she had us convinced that not only should we find out the gender of this baby but we should also give her the information straight from the ultrasound, which we wouldn't know ourselves, and let her make a cake, the filling of which would either be pink or blue. When we cut into it we would find out if we were having another boy (obviously) or a girl (not possible). She is one persuasive woman! But I think if I'm honest with myself I wanted to know all along anyway and she just gave us the nudge we needed.

So Josh and I went to the hospital to have the ultrasound. We told the tech who did it that we wanted her to look at the gender of the baby and put the info in an envelope without telling us anything. She did it without any clues. We walked out to the car clutching the envelope with the privileged envelope, sorely tempted to look but resolved to not. I delivered the info to Jodi as quickly as possible to get the temptation out of the house. She made a gorgeous cake with the telling filling but covered with both raspberries and blueberries, and we were in suspense for 24 hours.

Here's what happened.

So you can see that we were pretty shocked!! I was for sure that this was another sweet little boy to add to the man clan, which would have been just wonderful. But a girl. We won't know what to do with ourselves.

It was such a special celebration with precious friends. It was a way to share this baby early although we don't have any idea where we'll be when she's born! I'm so grateful to Jodi for all her hard work... isn't her masterpiece gorgeous?

The Times, They Are A-Changin

Well, here I'm returning from my 4 month blog hiatus, which was actually completely unintentional. We lost our camera cord for a long time (which I found in our move after we had already replaced it... why is that always how it works?) and then it felt daunting to do such a comprehensive update.

Josh finished seminary and graduated May 20th! It is wild that he's done! It was such a rich 3 years of our lives. Very trying and stressful on one hand, but also richly rewarding on the other. It's readily apparent how much our lives have changed when we remember that we came to St Louis with only Howie who was just shy of 1 and have now left with an almost 4 year old Howie, Justice who will be 2 in a few months, and #3 BABY GIRL due in September (more on that later!). Wild. God has been so abundantly faithful to us over these 3 years and we're so grateful.

This past Saturday we moved out of our dear apartment that served us so well over those 3 years and have moved to Peoria, where Josh will work with my dad while he continues the job search. We're so grateful to have a place to move where our kids feel like it's one big vacation and everything feels so familiar and normal and we can hang out with my loving family whenever, which is wonderful. Yet we miss our St Louis community desperately and wonder what the Lord has for us during this time of waiting. We know that he will continue to provide for us and will lead us to a job in his timing, so right now we're just remembering his promises and focusing on his goodness!

I do miss our apartment. Though I'm not sorry to leave behind the ridiculously squeaky floors that always prevented me from getting up before the kids lest they wake early too, the ant swarm which decided to take up residence in our apartment shortly before we left, and the stove that either didn't cook your food or burned it instantly since there was no temperature nuance whatsoever, I'm very sorry to have moved away from our seminary family who means so much to all of us. We spent a very happy 3 years with friends who felt like family, and though I know we'll keep up over the distance, it's so hard to not be able to walk out my door and spend time with so many special people instantly.

But in order to keep from sounding like Debbie Downer, we are upbeat about what the future holds and so grateful for how the Lord has provided so much for us during this time of waiting!

Here are some pics of our last few weeks.

The boys playing at Stacy Park, one of our favorites

Justice lounging. He loved these little chairs that belonged to our precious little neighbor Ellie.

Josh's bunch of supporters! We were blessed with many members of my family and also Josh's sister Liz who we so enjoyed spending the weekend with.

Me and my dear friend Sharon. We spent so many wonderful hours together and walked through the 3 years with each other.

Look at these three goofballs! Love it!

Josh with Liz and Em

Us and the Loneys- these two are seriously the funniest people ever. My stomach was always in stitches whenever the 4 of us got together. We miss them so much.

And toss in Bryan Chappell, the seminary president

Bryan, Josh, and John- these 3 spent a lot of time riding back and forth from the seminary to Gulf Drive!! Thanks for all the rides guys!!

Josh being crowned with his stole. The graduation was wonderful, but I'll say putting those stoles gingerly over every graduate's head did take a significant amount of time. But who's complaining? Just sayin.

Our precious friends- we got to go out one last time after baccaleaureate to Pi. The best pizza ever. We had a wonderful time.

Us and the Looneys. They are such a precious couple and we miss them dearly.

Us and the Policows- we loved going to Grace & Peace with them! Such special friends!

This is really going back some time, but here are the boys in their Easter finery! We had a wonderful day celebrating!

Here are the brothers hanging out. At times the best of friends, at times the worst of enemies. In other words, frenemies. We're working to maximize the friend part and minimize the enemy part, with much prayer and shepherding! They're so precious!

OK we have lots of other news to report on, but this will have to do for now. Much more coming!