well, i guess my thing must be it taking me 6 months to re-visit a site. :) sorry guys! i've been putting any
spare time i have into my online scrapbook--totspot. lots is new. i quit my job. long story short, it was
becoming painfully obvious that it was time to go. unfortunately it ended poorly and it was an emotional
day, but at last it is behind me. greg is my hero! he is allowing me to stay home for a few months to
focus on the kiddies and home. i'm so relieved but will be testing my true dependence on God to provide
through my husband. i'm going to fill out an application to substitute teach but i will only be able to do
it once or twice a week on Greg's days off. i'm so thankful that God gave me a husband that is so
supportive of me and my taking care of the kids. we are having a mild fall so far. many days have been
in the 50's and we have yet to see a snow day---hooray! we have been asked to join our good friends
Kim and Eric for Thanksgiving so we will be blessed to share that day with them. tomorrow we are going
to have family portraits done. we have never done this so I'm really hoping they come out amazing.
guess i just spoiled your Christmas gift surprise. :) we love you all and miss you bunches. it was so
great to see philip and becca in seattle. we hope it's not too long before we can get back to visit va.
hey all, it's been a little while since i've posted anything new on here. sorry about there being no new pictures. it's hard because the majority of time i have on the computer is at work, and obviously, i can't be downloading pictures while i'm working. Malachi is doing so great! he's getting huge. He can sit up all by himself for long periods of time now, and totally loves it! What a happy baby we have, and I'm soooo thankful! He's still not quite crawling yet. I'm sure it will come...I'm thinking he might be a scooter though, and i'm wondering if once he starts to be able to pull himself up on things, if he'll just go ahead and walk! I'm sure as soon as he does, he's gonna be running around like a crazy man! ahhh!
Mark is doing well. still really liking his new job. He's been making pretty good and steady commission every month, so that's been encouraging and helpful! He's been golfing a bit more lately, as his dad now works at a golf course(he's loving it because he can golf for free when he's with his dad!) and his game i think has been improving. He shot one of his best front nines the other day(they usually only get to play nine because he doesn't go until he gets off work around 5). but he's loving playing golf, and playing softball on the church league.
church is going well. been super busy with preparations to take the students to camp. This year it's in Pennsylvania, so the drive shouldn't be quite as long, which will be nice for ME! yay! I'm still trying to decide whether or not to take Malachi with us. I would miss him terribly!!! but i just don't know how much i would really get to see him while i'm there. mom has volunteered to go, but i'm still trying to figure it all out. we will see what happens, i guess. it's crazy trying to keep straight all of the money for something like this. all the scholarship, down payments, regular payments, "rent an RCer" money, etc! In some ways, I wish i had experience as a book keeper, just to help me keep track of this, but it's not too hard, other than the fact that the lady who does the finances for the church also works full time on her own, so can only get back to me when she has time to devote soley to the church, and then also, her numbers don't always match up with mine, and i know for sure her system is different! ahh! but oh well, God knows and as long as we get everybody there all squared up, i know it will turn out okay!
Well, i'm glad to hear from everyone on here. miss all of my family. it's so nice when we get to all be together. Philip, hang in there, i know God's working out his plan in you, and i'm SUPER excited to hear that you're seeking God about doing/arranging more missions trips! that's the cry of my heart for you, because i see how passionate you are about it! Nicole, yay for you and making good decisions! I'm very proud of you, and i just hope that this new guy really does treat you right! you deserve the best! you're an amazing person, and God has someone picked out who is perfect for you who is going to treat you as the daughter of the King that you are! Mom and Dad, love you guys ! thanks so much for all you do to help me with Malachi, especially momma! you're the best Mimi EVER!!!!! Sara, I just emailed you back again. miss you tons!
love you all! have an awesome week! God's Best for each of you!
hi to all! sorry it's been almost 6 months (can that be right?!) since i've written on here. things have been so crazy busy! good, but busy!
i have 2 weeks left in my 4th masters class, and then i am taking 9 weeks off! hooray! greg is making me take a break, and as much as i may think i shouldn't, i know i need to. i love the topic of my study but i am tired of being in school, writing papers and reading assignments. i am in the process of trying to renew my teaching license. i would love to find a part time teaching position for the fall, but also am considering maybe substituting. the hard thing is what to do with my babies. hmmm....if only some family would move out here. :)
just 4 weeks until heather's wedding, which i'm psyched that God has provided for me and caleb to come. i will feel a bit outta sorts with only half my family there, but i am thankful for the chance to get any time with you guys. it will be the longest i have been away from tay. :(
caleb is doing great! he's 16 lbs already, which is less than we anticipated at the rate he was growing. doc says we probably have about a month or two before he's out of his carrier! thankfully my boss gave us a toddler carseat so we can switch tay to that and use the convertible for caleb. he's starting laughing a little bit and has a smile that just melts my heart. he's such a blessing...so mellow, easy going, and a bundle of joy. i can't wait to introduce him to his cousin malachi and aunt cole and wendy. (we're hoping to go to seattle this summer (?!) to see uncle philip and aunt becca).
taylor is growing up so fast. she is so independent and mature i have to remind myself that she's only 2. we're very excited because she is starting to retain what she's learning in sunday school. this past week i asked her what she learned in class and she said "jesus loves me!" :) it blesses me to know that my daughter is already receiving from the Lord. she loves prayer and praise. and she never seems to tire of going to church. we took her to the park last weekend and it was neat to see her do some things she couldn't do last summer. my girl is growing up. she really took an interest in a friends' kite so we are going to try to fly kites with her soon.
greg will start his new position with the nampa police force on monday! ahhh! it's so exciting and yet so crazy! i know that God has prepared him for this job at this time. he's psyched and ready to go. he'll be in the classroom for the first several weeks, so i'll have peace for a little while. :) then he'll go to academy (like boot camp) august thru october. he'll be able to come home on weekends. this will be tough on tay. she's a daddy's girl.
things have been trying at work for me. some issues with co workers and the children. but i can honestly say that i am blessed to work there. i have never before had the experience of building relationships with the leadership of a church, and it is a blessing. our church has amazing pastors and leaders. our senior pastor came into the childcare room today to see taylor. he loves her and she loves him! she always prays for pastor ken and asks to see him (and often runs off to visit with him) when we go to service. he eats it up! :) i thank God that she feels connected to her pastor.
well, i think that's enough for now. i need to get some sleep. i love you all and miss you terribly! i truly love our life here in boise, expect that my family is all so far away. you're always welcome in our home and we are always thinking about each of you. XOXOXOXO
So, Malachi turns 6 months in just a few weeks and i can't believe it! He's growing so fast. He now can giggle and laugh and it's the sweetest thing! He loves to be a "flying baby!" as we call it, and he's very ticklish! I'm loving and trying to take in every new thing. He's still not really attempting to crawl yet, but i'm okay with that! He does roll ALL OVER THE PLACE! the other day i was switching laundry from the washer to the dryer and i came out into the living room and was like, "where's Malachi?"...he was UNDER the coffee table! ha! He's so funny! He'll roll over to something he wants to see or he's familiar with. I often find him rolling toward his carseat that has his Pull and Rattle toys on it. He's almost sitting up by himself...just for a few seconds, and he'll wave his arms when he gets really excited!
Mark is still doing really great at his job. He's making pretty good commission and really impressing his boss(i think). He's surpassed all of the goals he's made for himself so far, and i believe has made more each month despite sales sometimes seeming to never come! I'm very proud of him!
Things outside of home are going well too. Church is still transitioning a bit with having new pastors, but it has been a really good experience and mark and i are learning a lot despite some hard times of disagreeing with ministry philosophy. Nothing actually against the doctrine we believe, just in the way it's implemented. We are really learning to support regardless of how we feel and to seek God for wisdom in many situations that we haven't faced before.
Youth Church is going. Sometimes it's really hard and the kids just don't seem to get it, but other times i really see progress and them meeting with God and it makes it all worthwhile. It's often hard to get the kids really involved because such a high percentage of them don't attend our church, and their parents don't attend church at all! It's a very different dynamic than williamsburg was, and i'm learning a lot! Mark and I are learning how to budget for youth church and really have to follow it! This is the first time we've had to do this, and that's definately a learning experience, but it really makes us appreciate the money we are able to spend, and to make more wise and long-term decisions. I can't believe it's already more than halfway through April! We'll be taking the kids to camp at the end of July, and I know it's going to creep up on me really fast! I still haven't even made information packets for the kids to give to their parents! ahh!!!!
The weather here has been amazing for the past few days! yesterday was 82 and today it's supposed to get up to 85! i'm loving it! spring and summer always make me happy...even when it's really hot, i still want to be outside! mark and i were working on our front flower bed last weekend, and are trying to figure out what to do with the back yard as we'd really like to utilize it other than just storing our grill out there and grilling out once a week. we're thinking about buying a cheap set of outdoor furniture to use out there...we're wondering though if we really will use it!?
Anyways, life is good here, and happy. As always there never seem to be enough hours in the day, but we're making what we can of the time that we have. we love you all and miss you tons!
Becca, i still haven't heard much about your trip, but what i have seems like it was really great, and God spoke to you in some really awesome ways! Philip, I can't wait to hear back about your interview. Greg, Congratulations on your job that you start at the end of this month(right?!) and Sara, I CAN'T WAIT! to see you and Caleb in about 1 month! yay!
hey all...i can't believe how fast time flies now. i mean, i feel like the older i get, the faster time goes...
things here are going great! staying busy with work, ministry, and the baby, but God's doing some great things! We are transitioning still a few different things with our youth church, and the response from the kids isn't what we'd hoped it would be...but i also know that it's hard for them to adjust so many different times, and i feel bad for how much they've had to go through in the past several months. but we're raising up some pretty great kids to be student leaders... and no matter what transition they go through, they never stop inviting their friends, which is great!
mark's really starting to love his new job, and he wouldn't tell you this, but he oversold the person who trained him with this past month's commission...he's topped his goals every week so far, and i'm very proud of him! he's learning a lot about sales, and doing a great job with it!
Malachi's talking and wiggling more than ever! he's rolling over now all by himself, which is super sweet, but totally crazy....it was kinda nice when he couldn't, b/c i could leave him on the bed and walk away without the fear of him getting hurt...now i definately have to keep a closer eye on him every second! and i just know he's going to start crawling soon! it's going to be CRAZY! our little man...he's looking more like his daddy everyday, but he's definately a happy baby and very easy going...i'm so thankful!
i can't wait to go and visit sara, and wish i knew more specifically when it's going to be! i have a feeling it'll be next month, but with mark's job not letting him know when his training is going to be, i'm getting nervous, as i have to ask for time off for that. I'm waiting to go out there at the same time that mark would be out of town...i think he'll have to train for 2 whole weeks! blah!
hope everyone is doing well...i know there's a lot of stress with everyone with job situations and such. God always proves himself to be faithful! never forget that! love you guys!
hey everyone. haven't updated or really used this site in awhile. things here are going pretty well. Malachi is getting huge already! He's atleast 16 lbs and 26 inches long! He's wearing 3-6 month clothes, and he just turned 3 months yesterday! He's cooing, smiling, and getting really close to rolling over. He tries for a minute, and then kinda just gives up, and scoots on his bottom by pushing with his feet, until he's turned almost all the way around! it's crazy! He's definately responding a lot more in general, which is so fun!
Mark and I are doing well. We are both pretty busy with working and church things. We have recently been set over the middle and high school students as the youth pastors, which is really exciting. The other couple we were working with is now focusing only on college students and young professionals. Things are changing with Revolution Student Ministries...we were meeting in an awesome building, but with where the church is right now, we are not able to afford the rent there, so now we are going back to house parties, which are essentially home church services. I'm really excited about this because it was really effective to reach the students in Newport News. Most of the kids that come to youth church are not churched at all and just want a place to go to hang out with their friends, and what better to do than have a "service" in your friends house! It has been super effective for us, and I know some of the students are kinda apprehensive about going from a regular service with a full rock band and a gym to play dodgeball to a house with very little extra room, but we really feel like this is what God has in mind for our students. Our goal is to have mulitple house parties happening all over newport news and surrounding areas...so that we can reach different dynamics of students in their own neighborhoods...we already have one up and running next week, and from there we have two other prospects! Please pray for us to have more leaders. Right now we have one really dedicated leader and the rest of our potential leaders are going to focus on the college and young professionals. We did have one other middle school leader who just stepped down, so we are really praying for God to bring people to us who have a heart for young people and the time to devote to "igniting this generation daily with the truth and hope of a God worth living for."(our vision for Revolution Student Ministries) We have a lot of students that we are pouring into who will be our next tier of leaders, but a lot of them are only in 8th grade, and are therefore too young to drive students around and to lead small groups. I have 2 high school girls that i think will be able to start discipling the middle school girls soon, and a few middle school and high school students who are working hard at learning instruments so that we can start a worship team-all of this takes time, I know, so we are praying for special favor from God for these students to be really dedicated and committed to us!
Mark has recently started a new job and is really enjoying it a lot more than his previous one. I see that there is more room for him to make commission, which is good for us right now. He is on an overnight trip today, his first with this job, and although it's not his favorite thing, i don't think it was as bad as he was expecting. We were discussing yesterday how we like our jobs, but they are not our lives...they aren't really our "careers", they're just our day jobs. i mean, i like working for the bank, and in some ways it's really rewarding, but it's a job-not my life or passion. Our real passion is working with young people-I know that God is going to make the way for atleast Mark to be on staff with the church so that he can focus on this primarily at some point, because it's really his heart's desire. My dream is to be able to stay home with Malachi and support Mark as a youth pastor by helping with administration and pastoring young girls to live lives that stand out, and not fall into the image the world is portraying today.
We have done a lot of work on our townhouse, and i think we are nearing the end of the fixing up and now just trying to simplify our style :) it's a lot of fun, a lot of work, but worth it to have our own home. We have now lived there for a little over a year, and it's been really cool to see how we've developed it into our home, not just our house. Malachi's stuff is always everywhere, which is fun but crazy! You'd never think a baby would need so much! I joke with Mark all of the time that i feel like i'm moving out of the house everytime i leave because i have his diaper bag, my purse, the stroller, the carseat, my lunchbox(if i'm going to work) and my bible bag(if i'm going to church)! so much stuff, but it's all worth it! i love being a mom and watching my son grow and develop. it's the most amazing experience. i never really understood unconditional love until now. I thought that i might know, but really there is nothing i wouldn't do to make sure Malachi is healthy and happy and safe.
Well that's probably long enough of a blog for now.
You may not be able to tell, but the picture at the top of the page is our backyard. It was taken last year in the spring during one of those freak snow storms. It seems so quiet with only Nicole here. We are preparing to go see our next grandchild in Boise. We will be leaving the 29th. Daddy comes back on February 5Th and Mommy comes back on the 12Th. Here is some music that I have recordedd for your listening pleasure.
WOW, I can't believe that it's been 7 weeks since adding to this blog. But I'm happy to say that Malachi is growing strong and quickly. He's so sweet, except when he's hungary. Sort of like me! Whines till he gets fed.
