Rufus

"Rufus is the BIG puppy. (this is for you Joy. :)) Rufus was a birthday gift from Uncle Hans and Aunt Angela.

We're home! Jeremy and I spent Thursday evening through this afternoon with our leadership team (part of it). We stayed at a very nice lodge in the Belleville, PA area. Friday we had a guy come speak to just our team and then Friday night and Saturday we were at Locust Grove Mennonite for a conference on prayer. Everything we heard was great, but I must admit we're a bit overloaded right now! Very good teaching though.

We left Isaiah with Jeremy's parents. This was the first we have left him overnight. It was hard to leave him, but after we were gone it wasn't too bad. Thankfully, he did great. Jeremy's parents were very impressed with how well he slept how well he listening to them. I just had to put that in there because Jeremy and I felt just a bit proud of him. :) I think he had a blast. He was very excited to see us when we got there today. For some reason he didn't get a very good nap today though so till we got him home he was a wreck. We weren't in the door 10 minutes when he tripped and banged his head against the piano. Needless to say he cried and cried. Then I gave him his bath and every little thing set him off. He is an emotional little guy when he's tired. It was so good to be with him again that it didn't even bother me. Now he's sleeping soundly in his crib with his puppy and Rufus.

A big highlight of the weekend was that I felt pretty good the whole time. I was a little worried. I know it helped a lot that I didn't have any responsibilities and there was plenty of good food to keep me filled up. It's a wonderful thing to sit down to a full course meal that I didn't have to cook!

I think Jeremy and I are going to unwind while watching some Andy Griffith DVD's. I hope you are all having a great weekend

News

I wanted to post a picture of our newest news, but for some reason it isn't working so I'm just going to tell you. We're going to be parents again! I'm due on August 23. I apologize for not contacting some of you personally. I haven't been feeling very good and even though I'd love to talk to you all I just didn't have the energy to make a lot of calls. Plus, this way I know who all checks out my blog. :) Hope you're all doing well.

Just what I needed

Isaiah is not one to give hugs. Once in awhile when I get him out of his crib in the morning and give him a hug he'll squeeze his little arms around me, but not often. Today has been a bit of a downer. Nothing major, just a dreary, rainy day and Jeremy worked. Anyway, I told Isaiah I could use a hug and amazingly he reached his little arms out and walked up to me and gave me a hug! I didn't even know if he knew what the word meant. Nothing major, but something I'll treasure in my heart.

Grandma with her grandchildren

First of all an apology for the lack of posts lately (assuming you care!). I simply have not been on the computer much lately. We had a wonderful time in Thunder Bay with my family. Everyone arrived safely and also arrived home safely. Praise the Lord! Jeremy and I have decided that driving straight though is a very long trip. We made it home in a little over 19 hours (don't ask how fast we were driving). We had very good roads and because we drove straight through we were on the PA turnpike very early in the morning which meant we didn't have to deal with traffic. Anyone that has driven the PA turnpike before will understand what I'm talking about. Two years ago to the day we totaled our car in an accident on the turnpike. Needless to say we were very happy to be home even though it was hard to say goodbye to family. The big new of our trip was Brandon and Cindy's announcement that they are going to be parents this July!! We're very excited for them!

I think we're slowly getting back into the swing of "normal" (?) life. We've had a busy week and Jeremy is preaching tomorrow so life is busy. Isaiah seems be growing up in front of our eyes. He's ability to communicate has greatly increased in the last weeks. He still doesn't say much other than ball, mama, and something like adada for daddy, but he grunts and "talks" to try to tell us what he wants. He's favorite past time it eating dry, cold cereal. He regularly goes to the cupboard and pulls out which kind he wants and then carries it to wherever we are in the house until we give him a few. He's favorite toy recently is a set of nesting blocks he got for his birthday. He understands that they should be stacked, but hasn't quite figured out the different sizes. Today he was trying to put one block inside of the other. He thinks it's great to do it, but he gets pretty frustrated when he can't get it to work out right. Oh boy. :) He adds a lot of joy to our lives for sure!

Well, I don't have much more to say. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I hope you are all having a great New Year!