One Week Old

Owen Andrew is one week old today. Right now Abigail and Josiah are enjoying some time with Mama and Papa for a few days. This is a special treat for them. My mother has been staying with us to help out.

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician for Owen. I was concerned since Owen had lost 9% of his birth weight before leaving the hospital and the doctors do not like it when they make it to 10%. However, the pediatrician said she was impressed at how much weight he had gained back. He was back up to 7lbs 13oz. He is nearly back to his birth weight after 6 days and she says it usually takes 14. So I was encouraged. The doctor thought that I must have been supplementing with formula, which I had not done. I thought about it though. I’m glad I did not do it now.

Time with Family

While I was in the hospital, my sister watched my children and took them to many fun places.  They had so much fun with their cousins!

Chuck E. Cheese

 

City Museum

Swimming at the hotel

Owen Andrew is Here

He was born August 31st at 12:56pm weighing in at 7lbs 15oz. and 20.5 inches long.  The hospital was great.  We have had interesting experiences with the birth of our children since they were all born in different places.  This last experience was by far the best.

Abigail got to be a big sister and help out immediately.

Maternity Photos

 

My friend Christina, who I did craft fairs with last year, is now doing photography.  She took these pictures for me.  We had a great time taking them with her.  She does this to raise money toward their international adoption they are hoping to do soon.  I was 36 weeks in these photos.

 Adelfia Photography

 

Life for us now

 

We have lived here now for almost two months.  We are enjoying Travis’ time off as we figure out what God has in store for us and preparing for our new son to arrive.  The best part about being here has definitely been being apart of First Baptist Church of Columbia.  We have been so blessed by the people there.  Many people have said encouraging things and the ladies even threw me a baby shower a weeks ago.  God has definitely provided for our needs.  He has shown us His love and care for us thru this season so that we may endure with joy.

Here are a few pictures of our apartment.  This two room apartment is inside our friends house.  Travis has been calling it “the Ark.”   He will often leave the ark though so really it is not fair to call it that since no one on the ark could leave, but it is funny.  We do have to live with one another in a smaller space but we are doing well.

God’s Plan

Our lives have changed a lot in the last month.  About a month ago we discovered that God had different plans for us than we expected.  God loves to surprise us and He definitely keeps us on our toes!  It was made clear that God intended for us to move so in ten short days we sold most of our furniture, packed up our belongings and moved.  AND I was 7 and half months pregnant!  Loving friends came and helped me pack, otherwise I would not have been able to do it.  God is good even in the midst of difficulty and we saw His faithfulness every step of the way.  It was hard to leave some wonderful people behind but we know that God will also take care of them as well.

Now we are living in a space that our friends have graciously provided in their home until we know where God would have us to serve.  We know God will continue to provide and in His timing we will be given the opportunity to serve in full time ministry once again.  Until then, we are in a very loving environment and excited to meet our new baby who will come next month.  We are thankful to all who have prayed for us and encouraged us thru cards and phone calls.  God’s goodness has been seen thru you!

Father’s Day

For Father’s Day Josiah picked out this batman t-shirt for his dad.  He thinks when we gets older he’ll get to wear it.  At Super Summer, which is a youth camp, Josiah and Travis wore their shirts together and Josiah was Super Happy.

Abigail was proud to give her daddy Cardinal ware.

Our Friends Come to Visit

Here are Jaylyn, Adley, and Leighton with our children.  They are daughters to our wonderful friends Amy and T.J.  We had so much fun having them over to our home.  Amber, who happens to be Amy’s cousin and my friend since college, also came to visit us.  So we had a full house of laughter and fun.  Since they were coming I asked them to help me with the wonderful task of painting rooms, among other things : )  I know not very nice, but they are good to me and they happily helped me out.  We painted Abigail’s room since Josiah is moving in with her temporarily for a few years.  Once our baby is old enough to be out of a crib we will move Abigail or Josiah with them.  We do not know if the baby is a boy or girl, hence not knowing who will move in with them.

The girls desperately wanted to help.

It’s great to have children who get along so well.

We walked to our local custard shop one afternoon and it was an adventure.  Josiah scraped his knee on the way there. Thankfully, Amy had a bandade in her diaper bag or the world would have ended for Josiah.  He decided he could not walk the rest of the way so we took Leighton out of the stroller. Leighton weighs half of what Josiah does so it made it easier for Travis’ back!  I don’t think Leighton minded.  

 

The older girls just enjoyed being together.

While we were out we even saw what Olney is famous for, a white squirrel.

Go Fly A Kite

Last Sunday after church, our church had a family kite flying day.  We had a picnic first and then flew kites.  Thankfully it was windy enough and many were able to get the kites up, including our kids!  We also had the joy of having our out of town friends join us during this event.  I was glad too since Amy had her camera with her!

This is Adley above and Leighton below.

Travis had a Yoda kite.

Abigail and Jaylyn’s kites tangled together.

Josiah did really well flying his kite on his own.  Doesn’t he make it look easy?

Trip to Springfield IL

We went to Springfield in mid-April. Travis spoke for three evenings at FBC Rochester. The pastor there asked him to speak on three difficult questions that Christians face. Travis spoke on the problem of evil, if hell really exists, and is Jesus really the only way. He did a great job.

We were glad to get to take the whole family. We had a great stay at the Hampton, and ate great food. We also had wonderful field trips during the day. We went to New Salem Village which is north of Springfield. It was great timing since Abigail and Travis have been listening thru the Little House series. They are on the 4th book. We also talked about President Lincoln before we went so she understood some of what she saw.

Josiah got into learning about President Lincoln. Everytime we saw something he said that Abraham Lincoln used that or did that. Even the use of an outhouse! It was funny.

We also were able to enjoy time at the Illinois State Museum. Admission is free so we thought we should go check it out. It was a nice museum. In the basement they had a special area called the Play Museum where it was more hands on. The kids really enjoyed that.

Abigail and Josiah got to be archeologists and dig for bones. They also got to crawl in a small cave, look at bugs, and play with a miniature farm.

Here Josiah is walking on some water that looks wet but it really isn't.