Circa 2001

One thing about living with your parents is you find all kinds of old stuff from years gone by. Here is one such item, from the vice-versa dance my senior year of high school. I hadn't seen this pic for many years and after this I hope to not see it again for many more years. Yup, that is my hair. Gotta love those high school days.

Justice Gets A Serious Haircut, and Other News

Since Justice was beginning to look like a toddler Justin Bieber, Mama decided it was time to get him his first Haircut. Now mind you he's had haircuts before, but not a Haircut. We had been to Great Clips in St Louis a few times for trims, but never for a total hair overhaul. He was getting very hot and sweaty with his head of luscious blonde hair and I was getting weary of swooping it over out of his eyes (in true Bieber fashion) every 2 minutes. You can imagine that an almost 2 year old is not fond of having his hair adjusted frequently. Especially one who has earned himself the nickname "Dennis the Menace"- but that's for another post. So one morning I decided it was time for Justice to encounter the scissors in a transformative way. Mom and Howie accompanied us to Great Clips. In the past Justice hasn't ever been that bad for a haircut- give him a lollypop and put him on my lap and snip away, for the most part. Not this time. I think he definitely would have won the award for loudest, squirmiest, most complaining patron of the day. His behavior, in true Dennis fashion, was awful. Not even my lap and his lollypop with his paci thrown in out of desperation were enough to satisfy him. Thankfully his stylist had kids almost exactly his and Howie's ages, so she was well-armed to cut his hair despite his antics. She asked me what we wanted for his hair, and I said "we just want a summer cut. Surprise us." Then she pulled out the clippers. I got cold feet momentarily, thinking of all of his silky baby hair falling to the floor, but when I remembered the sweaty hair and swooping requirements, I strengthened my resolve and helped pin him down as needed. He emerged from the chair looking quite handsome but was almost unrecognizable at first. I initially panicked as I saw how different he looked, but now I love it. He looks like a very handsome big boy, and I haven't had to touch his hair once since he got the cut!! Makes for a happy mama and a happy Dennis!

Here he is, fresh from the salon. Please notice the pacis (one in his hand as a security blanket) and lollypop stickiness on his romper. The pic doesn't show you all the hair covering him all over, but if you look closely you can still see evidence of tears. But how handsome???!!!!

Josh in the blow-up pool with the boys!! This has been wonderful!! They love wading around and goofing off. The water from the hose is too cold to be submerged for very long, but refreshing!!

Howie and Justice have soooo much enjoyed spending time with aunts and uncles!! And cousin Pax!! Here they are enjoying a story read by Aunt Marnie, a world class reader.

Cruising around in their junky old car on Grandma's driveway!! Fun!!

Grocery shopping with Mama. They will both be toothless by age 5, I promise. Justice bites his lollypops instantly. Good mothering moment? I think not. I am trying to teach him the difference between licking a lollypop and biting it. Usually feels like an exercise in futility.

ugh

Here is a good indication of our stress level this spring. I've been waking up scratching. I'm sorry for the gross pic... just thought it was kind of amusing in a sick way. We ran out of bandaids- they don't sell a box big enough when you use like a million a day, so I was forced to use Woody and Buzz Lightyear this morning. Welcome to the freak show.

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!

Pathetic Silence

I can't find my camera cord. The camera is dead. I thought that it was somewhere in our room but now I have no idea. It's depressing. I've been waiting to post, hoping that the cord would mysteriously appear so we could have pics galore. But no such luck. So here are some pics from my phone (which aren't great) to give you an idea of what we've been up to.

Entertaining ourselves in the basement. The winter is beginning to wear on all of us. Howie is repeatedly asking for summer and can we go on a picnic despite the snow and ice on the ground. Since we are desperately missing playing outside, we're playing with outside toys down in the basement.

Here is Howie looking like a million bucks, doing the aforementioned basement entertainment. He was dressed to the nines for church and we squeezed in a quick bike ride before we left. Howie actually has an amazing turn radius, which I never would have discovered had he not found it fun to veer so sharply between poles in our basement. Who knew??

A Close-Up of the Outfit... Josh said he looked like a therapist. I could see it.

Bundling up for quick walks- we got out for a while on a bit of a warmer day to get some fresh air and reacquaint ourselves with our neighborhood!

This pic needs no explanation.

Grocery shopping- the boys thought this was pretty awesome. Especially when I busted out the lollypops.

Watching the Colts be completely un-clutch and dissolve in the playoffs yet again- I have nothing more to say on that topic.

Well, I'm hoping to find our cord and get some more pics up! But that's something for now!

Thanksgiving in Peoria

We had a delightful trip to Peoria for Thanksgiving last week! Howie and I baked a vanilla cream pie for our contribution. This was my first attempt at a pie with a real pastry crust, and it was hard. I can't say that I was very proud of the crust- it was pretty tough and crunchy, but the filling was delightful. Howie was a good little helper. We cubed butter together for the crust- he tried to convince me to let go of the knife and let him cut by himself, and that gave me a good laugh. I had a very difficult time getting the crust rolled evenly and smoothly and then fitting it into the pie pan. Oh well- I'll hope for a better result next time but at least the inside was good. We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Martha and Uncle Glenn's house, and it was delightful as ever. The boys always so enjoy being with family!

The newlyweds! Carrie and Brent!

Grandma and Grandpa eating with the crazy 3-year olds

Marnie and Carrie

Aunt Marnie reading to John, Howie, and Pax

This is just because I thought my nephew John looks hilarious. Here he is, playing in Grandma's basement with Howie, saying "cheese" as enthusiastically as he can for the camera