i knew I was bad at this blogging thing...

ok, so it has only been like, a month and a half since my last post! I knew when I started this new blog, that it would be a challenge to update regularly! I REALLY DO have good intentions... my life just gets in the way, I guess!

Here is a brief update of what has happened since my last post....

• we hit something in the road and blew out 2 tires and a rim on our van
• went to Kansas City to look at houses
• my mom came for a week to help pack, play with kids, etc
• dedicated Silas at church
• church Christmas program where Micah sang and did GREAT!
• my mom and dad came back for Christmas
• went to Wichita for my cousin's wedding and saw great friends while we were there! We also saw my Grandpa and he got to meet Silas for the first time!
• went to OKC for another Christmas
• Went to Kansas City to close on our house!
• Had a sending service at church
  
• went to Kansas City to work on our house
• went to OKC for a church plant meeting
  
• Paul went to KC AGAIN to work on our house (he is on his way home tonight).

Somewhere in there, I have been packing, playing with kids, spending time with family, and my kids seem like they have been sick constantly. CRAZY! but life is good and we are excited about our next journey. We move next weekend- the 31st. I am very excited to see our house! Paul worked SO hard this weekend getting it ready for us to move in. I can't wait to see what he has done!

As we move, get settled and start our new adventure in KC, I really DO want to keep everyone updated! I am praying life slows down... even though it doesn't ever seem to. We have been ordered to take 2 weeks and not do anything once we move though.. just get settled. I am going to hold us to it. We need it!!

Fun with Mirrors

Silas is sitting up now (he's so big! I can hardly believe it) and he LOVES his reflection. I took some pics recently of him, enjoying himself. Enjoy!

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving was a crazy busy weekend-- but it seems like all of our weekends are crazy busy in our lives. We always think- life will slow down, and it never does. We always find something to fill our days! We had 2 dinners on Thanksgiving- one with Paul's dad's side, and one with his mom's side. LOTS of food, as I am sure all of you can relate! We had a late lunch and an early dinner, so we just rolled home after it was all over.

Paul and I love to cook for Thanksgiving- we don't like to make traditional TG foods- we like to come up with unique things to bring. Each year we try to find something new and different to make. This year we made Brussels sprouts (and I just learned this year that it is "Brussels" not "brussel"), sweet potato au gratin, and crossaint and chocolate bread pudding. It was all incredible, if I may compliment ourselves. :-) VERY rich, but really good.

Silas had a festive outfit for the day:

Friday night, we had some excitment that we weren't anticipating and never hope for-- Jay's house (Paul's dad) caught on fire. They aren't exactly sure what caused it (as far as I know), and fortunately, caught it early, but there was a lot of smoke and other damage. Even though there was damage, I know they are thankful that they caught it when they did, and it was controlled quickly. They are working to clean it all up, but I am sure it is a mess.

This weekend made me think again about our past year and a half that we have been in Fairview. It has been a whirlwind of a time- with SO many life changing events that have taken place in such a short time, and I am so thankful that we were here for all of it. I am thankful for our family- I was a little intimidated about moving to a place with SO much family- but it has been more than I anticipated, and I will miss having my family close. Our church family has also been incredible, and I will really miss having that support system surrounding us.

We are excited for our new adventure in KC, but I will miss this place more than I ever thought I would! Today I had a play date and lunch with 2 friends- and I will miss both of them so much! Thanks for loving me!!

Noses

Both of our boys are sick. Micah is on an antibiotic, so he is starting to feel better, but he is still congested, and apparently, his nose is pretty sore from blowing it all the time.

He was eating breakfast this morning and asked me "Mommy, put gasoline on my nose!"

"Put what on your nose?"

"Gasoline."

"You want vaseline on your nose?"

"No, gasoline."

I love that kid. :-)

quiet house

Both boys are sleeping (hooray!!) and Paul is out running, so I have a quiet house this evening. Hopefully, the boys sleep well tonight. Silas still isn't even close to sleeping through the night, and as I remember with Micah, this is the point where it REALLY starts to wear on me. I have never been very good at letting my babies cry it out at all, and so it makes for long nights and a long process of learning to sleep through the night. I am jealous of my friends who have babies who sleep well-- but at the same time, I don't know if I am willing to go through the crying part. Last night we let him cry awhile... 10 minutes before we went in to him! it's a start... but I still don't think I can let him cry for very long. Sleep training is NOT my greatest strength. But it will come, right?? Micah sleeps well now.... it just took a long time. Hopefully it won't take Silas as long, but I have a feeling we are headed down the same road. oh well.... someday when I am old I will sleep all night.

Today we had a family picture taken at church for the directory-- this was photo shoot #3 in less than a week. We took pics last week at JCP of our family and the boys, a pastoral staff pic last week also, and then today. I am pretty sure Micah is pictured out, and I am tired of trying to find matching clothes for all of us! I can't imagine families with lots of kids, how they ever get everyone to look good at once, let alone look in the same direction at the same time. We only have 2 kids, and pictures are hard work! Today, both boys were sleeping right before we had to go, and we tried to wake them up. Both of them woke up, then fell back asleep! Our kids, who don't like to sleep at night, won't wake up in the middle of the afternoon! ARG! Micah cried and whined all the way up to the picture, then did great. Silas is always all smiles.

Here's a pic of our family from last week:


We are headed back to KC this weekend to look at more houses. We went a few weekends ago, and found one we like, but we aren't sure we can afford it. I am praying that we find one this weekend that we like just as well, but cheaper. What a process, looking at/buying a house! It has been a lot of fun so far, but pretty overwhelming. We are learning a lot. I am excited to find a house and settle!! We have about 16 we want to look at this weekend-- a lot to sort through. It should be fun!

Busy Sundays

Today was a busy day, as all Sunday's are. Paul preached at Saron Mennonite Church this morning. It is a little church in Orienta-- a "town" that is nearby. I don't consider Orienta a town. It is this place on the highway that has a gas station and a grain elevator, and one farm house, I think. People here think it is a town-- seriously, I have yet to figure out where the "town" is. Really, this is just a little country church.
Anyway..
Paul was filling the pulpit at the last minute, and I wanted to go with him. At 9:45 this morning, I remembered that we were supposed to be in the 2 year old class at FMB that morning. Good thing I remembered at 9:45 and not later! So I went to church with the boys, and Paul preached alone.

This afternoon, we just played. Silas loves his feet lately, and is always trying to get them in his mouth. Micah and Paul tried to do it too....

After they tried it, Micah said "that's not too easy!" Paul agreed. He's not quite as flexible as Silas! Ha! I love that they all tried it!! Paul is a great dad. He is always getting down, having fun with the boys.

Tonight at church we had an important meeting- at least for Paul and I. Our church voted on and approved a proposal to become the mother church for the church plant Paul and I are starting next year. This was HUGE for us for many reasons- they are committing to prayer, financial, and physical support over the next 3-5 years. We are so thankful for that. But ultimately, we are SO THANKFUL for the encouragement, love and support that the people of this church have poured over us during our time here. We are excited that we will continue to be under that blanket of love for several years to come.

Here is the funniest part of the day-- tonight we were getting kiddos ready for bed, and Micah ran over to Silas and was laying on top of him. He has trouble with boundries sometimes. :-) Paul put him in timeout for smashing his brother. While Micah was in timeout, we hear him singing "Deep and Wide.... Deep and Wide... there's a fountain flowing deep and wide..." We were laughing in the living room (where he couldn't see us) thinking--- here he is, in timeout (and obviously not upset about it) singing Bible songs. Is this a punishment? So he comes out of timeout, apologizes to Silas, and promptly smashes Silas' face with his fists. So back to timeout he goes, and is upset for a second or two about being in time out. Then we hear "The wiseman built his house upon the rock...." He had so much passion as he was singing-- it was fantastic and we couldn't help laughing at our child, in timeout, singing to Jesus, and thinking... maybe we need to revisit our discipline method. :-)


Here's a couple fall pics- Silas is getting big and starting to sit up, and Micah loves the leaves!

Pumpkins

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to a pumpkin patch- we had a blast! The day was beautiful- a great sunny, fall day. The pumpkin patch was at a farm that had all kinds of things to do- a "petting zoo" with farm animals- goats, pigs, a llama, rabbits, and ponies. Micah got to feed some of the animals- it was a little intimidating for him to reach out with food, but he had fun watching the animals try to get it.

I think he wanted to get in the pen with the pig!!!

Silas had fun watching all the animals- his eyes were pretty big all day, taking it all in.

There was also this train that Micah got to ride-- he was the only one riding this HUGE train- Paul could have gone with him, but he tried to get in the little car, and it almost tipped over backwards-- very funny. So Micah went on his own- it was a long ride! I was proud of him, being so brave riding all by himself. He had a lot of fun, though.

After the train ride, we took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. Micah wanted to look at EVERY pumpkin-- and of course, the rotten, mushy ones were the most intriguing.
He finally picked one-- I think the best part of his whole day was pushing it in a dump truck. Dump trucks make everything fun, right?

When we got home, of course we had to take a lot of pictures with our pumpkins! Silas is so happy right now-- always smiling! and Micah is too goofy to smile "right"-- I don't know how families take good pictures of everyone! But this captures his spirit, I suppose... I have 2 SWEET BOYS!!


the finished product....