new home, fun times

I got a gift this weekend - a surprise gift. My globe-trotting brother stopped by for a quick weekend visit. Awesome!!! It was just what I needed, being so far from family.

I'm so proud of my brother (actually, all of my brothers), and he can make me laugh like none other. Thanks for driving those 8 or so extra hours, Jesse! We loved having you here.
The latest and greatest of Elijah's therapy adventures, playing with soggy rice and oatmeal. :)
We had the privilege of watching one of our friend's daughters for the day. Elijah is a little social bug and loves, loves, loves having another kid around the house.

Elijah's learning that he can play the piano if he kicks his legs so he rolls forward on the ball.

"Here, Elijah, play it like this"

We are all moved into "our" new house, which we will rent until it sells or we buy another house...or whatever else the Lord has planned! God has blessed us beyond explanation with this beautiful house to rent, and we are so thankful! It has already provided us numerous opportunities to give God glory in our conversations with friends and neighbors. Praise Him!

bedtime snuggles with our buddy

Here are a few pictures from last night. Apparently Elijah had a little goober on his face, but since I haven't figured out our photoshop program yet, you'll just have to forgive us. :)


The cutest little face in the world!

Elijah's Daddy likes to get wild...it's off to bed with you, Elijah!

Today is moving day for us, so I will probably sign off for a few days. Blessings!

movin' on again

This week is moving week! We need to let you know that God has provided another AMAZING place for us to live (rent). This time it's a brand-new house with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. We will be paying the same in rent as for our 600 sq foot house. Isn't that pretty cool of the Lord?

I don't really understand it, but we're just gonna thank the Lord for this blessing and enjoy it. Note: our new house is also on the market. Some friends have jokingly suggested that I keep everything messy and definitely don't bake any cookies during showings. (I actually did bake cookies when the buyers of our current house came through - but not because I was trying to impress them. I just needed some cookies in the house!)

We have lots of room for you all to come visit now, ok? Hint, hint!!

All praise to You, Jesus! May we use this blessing for Your glory.

pray with us?

Dear friends, near and far;

Maybe you know us well, or maybe you've just met us a few times - or maybe not at all. We've decided it's time to share something with all of you...a little hope, a little unfulfilled dream we carry around. Up until now, this has been kept very private - only our families and some close friends have known. So are you ready?

Here it is: we'd like you to pray with us that God blesses our family with another baby.

We've been praying about this for what feels like forever...

I remember a good cry/conversation I had with God in the shower when Elijah was about three weeks old, asking God for another baby later on. I think that was my heart aching to feel the things I thought I would experience when I had my first child...instead of the grief that threatened to choke the life out of me then. I wouldn't have been able to handle another child then, as God wisely knew!

Sometimes I think, 'Lord, You've already given me a lot of pain. Do I have to deal with this, too??? Will Elijah be our only child?' Then I am reminded of God's goodness, and that He doesn't see things the way I do! What seems to be painful and hard may be the very thing the Father is using to show me His tender love and care. I just can't see it right now, this side of heaven.

We know that lots of you have experienced the pain of wanting but not having children. Some of you have longed for them your entire lives, but God hasn't answered your prayers in the way you thought He would. We know that so many people have felt this pain and have struggled for much longer than we have. We don't have any answers for the "why's", but we do want to trust God, whether he gives us another child or not.

There. You know our secret. Will you pray with us?

"God gives. God takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21b)

I should memorize Uhaul's number...

Here are my two handsome men! I wanted you to see how TALL Elijah is getting. I am a very blessed wife and mom!

Big news: we are moving again, for the second time in less than two months! God blessed us with the opportunity to move to a bigger rental (the house we're in now) a few weeks back. Two days after we moved in, while the boxes were still unpacked, we showed our house to the people who would end up buying it. This house has been on the market for nearly two years, so we find the timing of it all very intriguing, to say the least!

I was so sad when we found out we were moving. I have loved this house and moving here was like a big breath of fresh air - so many things about it are ideal for taking care of Elijah. So, yeah, I'm disappointed. And a little anxious, knowing that we need to be outta' here in less than two weeks and we don't know yet where we're moving TO. But we have seen the Lord work on our behalf too many times to think He's forgotten about us. It does create some anxiety in our hearts, but we know God's going to come through!

Something interesting: I talked to the tenant who just moved into our previous teeny tiny house. She said she had been talking with our "old" landlord about how amazingly coincidental everything was for her to move in. Our "old" landlord, who is also our realtor, told her that 'Todd and Julie have been praying a lot'. So the new tenant asked me to keep her in my prayers about other things, because I 'seemed to have a good connection'. (I told her it was really just that we had a good God.)

When I told Todd about the above conversation, he replied, "Suddenly I don't feel quite so anxious - God's running this show".

So, friends, feel free to watch the show! We'll keep you posted on God's provision for our next house, ok?