1st Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my two boys yesterday. It was very surreal for me to experience the day as "my" day. At church, all the mothers were given tulips. That was so sweet. I felt very special. Then we came home so Hunter could take his nap... and he fell asleep on me! He hasn't done that in so long! I loved holding him and watching him sleep.


After his nap, we went to Nadoz Cafe. We enjoyed crepes & coffee and a tiny little Mother's Day Cake.





Then we went to a beautiful park and took a walk. I really enjoyed talking to Josh and Hunter loved being pushed in his stroller.





I am so blessed to be a mom. I love that Josh made this day special for me and that I have the sweetest little baby boy!

Date Night

Thanks to the generosity of our school & the thoughtfulness of new friends, Josh & I were able to go on a date tonight.

We left Hunter at the Log Cabin, as we have done before. This time he was screaming and did not like the fact we were leaving him with strangers. Poor little guy! But on we went...

We started the night at P.F. Changs, Josh's favorite. Then we went to a little coffee shop across the street. The manager-on-duty happened to be one of Josh's friends from the Army Reserves. It was fun to meet him & he gave us a great discount! :)

Then we came back to campus to pick up Hunter and get him ready for bed. The workers said he did calm down, but showed his upset several times throughout the night. He so rarely is upset, I was surprised to hear this report. But they said he did eat his dinner & he did play a little. When I picked him up from the highchair, he grabbed my neck so tight and didn't let go for a long time... it was so sweet!

After we put him to bed, we took our monitor to our neighbors and friends Joe & Karen. They kindly offered to "monitor-sit" so we could go to the movies. Josh & I hadn't been to a movie since we moved here, and we LOVE going to the movies together, so we were soooooo excited for this treat! We saw Iron Man 2. It was fantastic!

This was a great way to burn off some school stress-- the past week has been crazy and we have one more crazy week to go. I have an 8 page paper and two finals left; Josh has TWO 8 page papers, one oral final, and two written finals left. And our goal is to have this all done by next Friday... yikes.

Cheers to date night & to the kindness of friends!

Hymnody

Josh & I took a weekend class this semester called 'The History of Hymnody.' It was taught by Kevin Twit, the director of Indelible Grace Music. We are both huge fans of their work. They take old hymns and re-work the music to make them more modern and add more instruments.

The class was amazing. But this week, we have had to do the work to get the credit for the class.... not so amazing! It has been a lot of work. One of our assignments was to pick a hymn and write an 8-10 page paper on every aspect of the hymn from the author, to the time it was written, to deep exposition of every verse. Here is the hymn I wrote about:

With tearful eyes I look around;
Life seems a dark and stormy sea;
Yet, midst the gloom, I hear a sound,
A heavenly whisper, “Come to Me.”

It tells me of a place of rest;
It tells me where my soul may flee:
O to the weary, faint, oppressed,
How sweet the bidding, “Come to Me.”

When the poor heart with anguish learns
That earthly props resigned must be,
And from each broken cistern turns,
It hears the accents, “Come to Me.”

When against sin I strive in vain,
And cannot from its yoke get free,
Sinking beneath the heavy chain,
The words arrest me, “Come to Me.”

When nature shudders, loath to part
From all I love, enjoy, and see;
When a faint chill steals o’er my heart,
A sweet voice utters, “Come to Me.”

“Come, for all else must fall and die;
Earth is no resting-place for thee;
Heavenward direct thy weeping eye,
I am thy Portion; come to Me.”

O voice of mercy! voice of love!
In conflict, grief, and agony,
Support me, cheer me from above,
And gently whisper, “Come to Me.”

Beautiful hymn, by an inspiring woman. This hymn is a picture of the Gospel. Charlotte Elliott had a wonderful gift of exposing her emotions to the Lord in exemplary verse and then applying the Gospel to her very situation. Elliott shows that the Gospel is necessary for both the unbeliever and the believer. The Gospel is enough. God truly is our portion and gently whispers “Come to Me” to all his children, just as they are, with no need to pretty themselves or hide their true selves. Elliott shows us that it is in honesty and brokenness we are able to receive God and experience His presence.

It's May?

Where did April go?

The month has been a blur and in the blur I have forgotten to blog. SAD! Dear blog, please don't see my absence as me forgetting you... I have missed you!

Unfortunately, the next two weeks are likely going to make the past few weeks seem nice and relaxing. We are entering final season here at Covenant. I cannot believe the semester has already flown past us. I have really enjoyed my classes, yet I am looking forward to summer travels as well as courses I will be taking, so it is difficult to work on these silly papers & tests.

I feel I need to at least document a few highlights of April, so I don't forget!

Here are a few special memories:
1. Easter. We had a busy day full of celebrating our Risen Lord. We started with a breakfast at our church, then went to a lunch at my friend Courtney's house, then had dinner and fun adult time with the families from our building. Wonderful day.
2. Josh's mom came to visit! It was so fun to spend time together & for Hunter to have some "grandma time!" She took care of Hunter while Josh & I took a class together. It was so kind of her to drive all the way here... I think she really enjoyed the time, too!
3. Josh had his first weekend duty with the United States Army Reserve. He was shocked by how different it felt to be an officer as opposed to an enlisted man. Although most of the unit was on leave, he had a great time and really bonded with a few of the other chaplain candidates.
4. We went to a Cardinals game! :) It was a fun date, and although I felt a little like a traitor (I kept saying under my breath, "I am a Cubbies fan! I am a Cubbies fan!), I really enjoyed being in the stadium. I love the atmosphere of a ball game.
5. Hunter learned to crawl so fast and to pull himself up to standing. Whew! Everything is a little harder now. We spent $180 at Babies R Us the other night on items to Hunter-proof our apartment. We are having to be extra careful about where we set EVERYTHING and to make sure anything within 2 feet of the floor is baby-appropriate. But I am so excited for the little guy. He gets so proud of himself when he makes it where he wants to go or pulls himself up to standing. So cute.

Those are the highlights... I will post pictures soon.

Embrace

There is a park across the street from our beautiful campus. It has a mile long track that goes around a pond with a fountain and flowering trees surrounding it. This evening, we walked to the park and Josh went for a run around the track. Hunter and I walked around and enjoyed the beautiful trees.

I carried Hunter in the bjorn, which he still loves. As Josh ran, Hunter and I found a park bench to sit on. And that is where I had the best moment of my week.

Hunter has been showing a new level of independence the last few weeks. From only eating what he can put into his mouth himself to turning over and squirming anytime his diaper is changed, the baby has morphed into more of a squirt lately. His new-found ability to army crawl has enabled him to get into things he shouldn't and that means mommy's job has just gotten harder.

But today, on the park bench, he put both of his arms around my neck and pressed his cheek to mine and he just wanted to hug. I sang to him, rocked him, and loved on him all while he clung tightly to me.

There is nothing like holding a newborn, and I have missed those days lately. But today I discovered there is nothing like holding an almost 10-month-old who clings himself to you because he wants to. Talk about making my heart melt. I love this little boy more and more everyday-- and I don't even see how that is possible.

Baylee

At the beginning of Spring Break, we took a 24-hour trip to Iowa. We were in the car slightly longer than we were actually at Josh's parents house, but it was so fun to see the Hammans and spend time with Baylee. Baylee is my little dog. We are not allowed to have her here on campus, so Josh's parents are keeping her for us. They have been so kind to take such great care of her. We recently found out that her liver is failing. The vet said she could live a few more days or a few more months. It is very sad.




I rescued Baylee 5 years ago from a shelter in Dallas, Texas. I got her just a few short weeks after my dad died, and she was such a great little companion through not only my grief, but also my adventures in Colorado and Virginia. She has been the best little dog I have ever had!


So when we found out she was sick we knew we had to go visit her, even if was just for a few hours.

Spring Break

Spring Break?!?! How cool is it to be in a world where Spring Break exists again?!?!

The other night as we were just getting started on a game of Catan with our friends, we noticed a giant pool of water growing in our kitchen. Our dishwasher decided to fill so full it was bursting out of all the edges. Josh opened the door and it was STILL filling with water... water EVERYWHERE! Maintenance came and showed us how to turn off the water valve. The next day, I went into the kitchen to get dinner started and the floor was soaked again. Even with the water off, the dishwasher had filled and was leaking AGAIN. Maintenance came again & we were given a wet/dry vacuum and told to clear out the water at least every 12 hours. This morning, they came again and analyzed everything. They decided we are going to get a new dishwasher! Hooray! This one hasn't been bad to us the past 2 months. But how cool is it to get a new one?!? Right now Josh is in the kitchen doing our dishes by hand. And I'm in on the computer. What a good husband!

So far, this has been the most productive "break" I have had in a long time. Check out how productive we have been so far, (even beyond cleaning the water from our kitchen floor!):

1. driven to Winterset, Iowa and back.
2. quality time with Baylee, as well as dinner & breakfast with the Hammans.
3. emptying our off-campus storage unit and closing our contract.
4. cleaning out the office (3rd bedroom).
5. round of Catan with our neighbors.
6. church Sunday morning.
7. grocery shopping.
8. cleaning out our on-campus storage area.
9. sorting Hunter's clothes and boxing up the ones he has grown out of.
10. starting our taxes... I think we are about 1/2 way through.
11. cleaning out file cabinets and filing the 5 months worth of paperwork that had accumulated in our bedroom.
12. watching 24 on TV-- we never get to do that! (usually we get caught up sometime during the week on Hulu.)

Yea, it is only Monday of Spring Break and we have knocked out lots of things on our "to do" list. Tomorrow, we are going to have fun!