The Week in Review

Peter arrived home safely on Friday night! We have enjoyed so much spending the last two days together, and Joshua is eating up every minute! I had grand pictures in my head of Joshua's reunion with his Daddy, but it was just too late for Joshua. We arrived at the airport at about 9:15 and Joshua had fallen asleep on the way to the airport. He was completely out and did not wake up at all for the reunion...but it was a sweet reunion on Saturday morning.

I will do a post of pictures and stories from Peter's trip soon, but for now, here are some pictures from our week in Dallas...Joshua, Mommy and Grandma. My mom came in town on Monday to keep me company and watch Joshua during the day. He had a great time hanging out with Grandma. On Tuesday, they met my cousin James and his parents at the Dallas Arboretum.

Joshua in the pumpkin patch...


Joshua and Grandma...







A house made of pumpkins...



Joshua enjoying the pumpkin house...


Friday night was Irving High School's homecoming, so my mom brought Joshua to see me at work on Thursday afternoon and then we went to the parade.

Here we are waiting with anticipation...



Joshua loved the flags and the band...


Ashley and Morgan were a part of the float dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Ashley was the tornado and Morgan was the Tin Man.


On Thursday night, I hosted pumpkin decorating at our apartment complex. I decided carving would be way too much trouble, so we just decorated the outside of the pumpkins. Janelle & Ella and Kristin & Laney came to decorate pumpkins...it was a lot of fun! Here we are with our completed pumpkins.






Joshua was much more interested in throwing his pumpkin than decorating it.

Kristin & Laney being creative...

Janelle was the brave mom because she let Ella hold the paintbrush herself...it got a little messy but she did a great job.

Friday made 25 weeks of pregnancy for me and this is my first prego pic. I am feeling pretty big, but not too much different than when I was pregnant with Joshua.

St. Laurent Fun

The last weekend in September, Joshua was invited to a birthday party of some new, sweet friends of ours. We met Matthew and his parents through events we host at our apartment complex, and Joshua and Matthew hit it off! Matthew is all boy and very active. It gives me insight into what Joshua will be like in about seven months! Matthew turned two and had a great Shrek birthday party. Here are a few pics from the party...

Joshua with his very own Shrek ears...

Matthew and Joshua

Matthew and his mom, Maria...

Joshua enjoying the purple-iced cupcake! He was really only interested in smearing the icing all over his face. He never actually took a bite of the cake.

Every-other month we host Breakfast at the Gate for the residents at our apartments. We decided that we should document this with pictures of Joshua. He is such a part of our ministry at the apartments. He is involved in every event we host, and is always such a sweet boy. However, since he is obviously mobile now and has his own ideas of what he wants to do, it is sometimes challenging to keep up with him!

I think we should sell this picture to Minute Maid!

He spent a lot of time fishing drinks out of the bucket!

Missing Peter!

I think this was the title of a post this summer when Peter was on mission trip with our high schoolers, but it is appropriate once again. Peter left Friday morning bright and early (met at the airport at 4am), along with seven other men, to spread the Name of Jesus in Nicaragua. He has been so excited about this opportunity, and I can't wait to hear all of the stories they will come home with. The team is going to be ministering to the Miskito Indians that live along the Coco River in Nicaragua. From my understanding, there are villages all along the river with boats being the easiest transportation to get from village to village. The team Peter is on, will be helping rebuild a pastor's home that was destroyed in Hurricane Felix. They will also take every opportunity to share the gift of salvation to the Miskito people. Please be praying for receptive hearts for each person they share with, and strength for the team. They will return on Friday evening.

I have to be honest with you, that I have been fighting Satan since Friday to keep thoughts of fear out of my mind, in regard to Peter being gone. I attended our church's women's retreat this weekend and thoughts of fear seemed to consume me. I felt so defeated because I know that God has ordained this trip, and Peter was obedient to go. The speaker, V. Beth Durham, spoke Scripture over each lady that attended. There were so many that spoke to me, but I wanted to share a few...God is so good give words of life and hope to us in our time of need:

1 Peter 3:12-14 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Salvation Safari Team: Philip Moore, Daniel Savage, Peter, John Durham, Hayden Piano, Greg Whaley, Andy Wetherell & Jared Billups

79% sure...what?!

Peter and I went to the doctor on Tuesday for the 22 week check up. If you read my blog, you may remember the post about our last doctor's appointment when Dr. Clark said he was 80% sure that we will be having a boy. He wasn't able to tell for sure because the umbilical cord was running through his crossed legs. In conversation on Tuesday, Dr. Clark asked us if we are having a boy or girl, and I reminded him of the percentage he gave us. I also told him that I was past the denial that there was a 20% chance that it could really be a girl. At that comment, he said that we could take a look again and did a sonogram for us. I was very surprised because previously he said that we wouldn't be able to have another sonogram for a while. So far, we have had 4 doctors visits and 4 sonograms...I am loving seeing our sweet baby so much!

As he was looking at the screen, he seemed even more perplexed than last time. He said that the baby was in such a bad position and it was impossible to tell either way...boy or girl. I just kind of laughed because a month ago that answer was not good enough for me. For some reason, I was okay with that answer on Tuesday. But Dr. Clark was determined to make the baby change positions so he could tell for sure...it was a challenge for him. He spent what seemed like a minute pushing on my stomach to try to get him to spread his legs open wide. He thought that he saw something, so he declared that he was 79% sure that it is indeed a boy....but then again, the umbilical cord was in the way of any boy parts.

Peter and I left that appointment agreeing that Dr. Clark seemed even more unsure about the sex of the baby than last time. Luckily, he is allowing us to do another sono next month. He did say that it will get harder to tell as time goes on because the baby won't be able to move around if he's not in a good position. I will try not to obsess about this over the next month, but I am not one to want a surprise at birth! Just thought I would update you about the 1% change :)

Updates

I couldn't even think of a creative title for this post...I have been so bad about not posting lately, that I just wanted to get some cute pictures of our sweet boy on the blog. Here is what he has been up to:

We went to the tennis match of some of our students at church. Joshua had a great time borrowing Ashley's racket and ball. These pictures are of Christian and Ashley with our little tennis player.




Joshua has had an obsession with the lunch kit that he received from his Great Uncle Tim and Aunt Diane for his birthday. He insists on carrying it from the time I am done putting food in it until we make it to the car...and then from the car to the office...then the office to his room in the nursery...and then reverse that process in the afternoon. At first, if I tried to carry the lunch kit for him, a terrrible fit would ensue. It has slowly gotten better, but he definitely loves carrying his lunch kit! It is usually too heavy for him, so he drags it behind him as he walks.

He even tries to carry it while maneuvering the stairs...

One day in Kid's Care the teachers gave each child their very own blow up letter to play with...it was very sweet! Here is Joshua with his "J"!


Last Friday during Kid's Day Out, Joshua took an unusually long 3 hour nap. His teacher knew that I would want this moment captured so she took the picture of him falling halfway off his cot and staying asleep!


Last Thursday we had an Apartment Life event...we all watched the season premiere of Survivor: China and we ordered in great Chinese food. It was lots of fun and Joshua enjoyed wearing one of the Chinese hats that were used as decoration.


His new friend, Molly, helped him put his hat back on when he took it off.

Loving Life with Our Big Boy!

Just in the last couple of weeks Joshua has been seeming like he's no longer a baby...he has been saying lots of words, following some directions, going to sleep without a fight, and entering into the stage where he throws fits. I'm sure that with every knew stage I will think that he is getting so much bigger and older, and this is one of those times for me. Here are some cutie pie pictures of him in the last week, just enjoying life.


He painted last week with the help of his Kid's Care teacher, Kendra. Peter and I laughed at his sumo wrestler cover up that they put on him so he wouldn't get paint on his clothes.




The finished product was a beautiful rainbow!

One of the fun things about Peter's job is getting to go to the students' sports games, band and choir concerts, and plays. Last Thursday night was the opening game for one of the Irving high schools. Joshua had fun looking at all of the action, and playing with some of the students and families that we know.

Mrs. Margie, a sweet church member that gave us some of her extra tickets, let Joshua borrow her cowbell to ring. He didn't quite know when the correct times were to ring it, but he sure enjoyed it!




Joshua has been carrying Peter's belt around any chance he gets. It is really funny...he'll put it around his neck and walk around with it or he will just drag it and let the belt buckle make noise on the tile. When Peter was hunting last weekend, for about 30 minutes on Friday and Saturday, Joshua carried around his belt saying "dada".






The Murrells came up on Sunday to spend some time with us for Labor Day weekend. On Monday we took Joshua to get his first professional haircut. It went much smoother than our other attempts and he was completely entertained the entire time. This is the before shot with Joshua's long hair in back and over his ears.





He sat in a cute fire car for the haircut...





Before she cut the top, the hairdresser put his hair in a mohawk...if you look really close, there were several pieces that were about 4 inches tall...definitely time for a cut!




Here is the after picture. He got his first gel/spike look after his haircut. This picture was taken at REI, a sporting good store. We were checking out things that Peter might need for his mission trip to Nicaragua. While there, Joshua sat in a kayak, played in the tents, rode a tricycle, and almost fell asleep on one of the camping cots.


Speaking of Peter's trip to Nicaragua...they leave on October 5th. I'm sure I will post more information about it as the time grows closer, but please be praying for that region as Hurricane Felix has caused a lot of damage and most likely loss of life. Right now, I haven't heard too many reports, but the ones I have seen have talked specifically about the Miskito people, the people group they will be ministering to in Puerto Cabezas. John Durham spoke with the missionaries they will be serving with yesterday before the storm hit. They were going to be weathering the storm in their concrete home, along with a visiting team from Florida. They were anticipating loss of electricity (possibly even for a few months), mudslides, and flooding that would be horrible for that region. A few months ago, the trip that was originally supposed to go to Guatemala, was changed to Nicaragua. Each of the team members felt that was the direction God was leading them. Helping in rebuilding, encouraging the missionaries, and possible medical help will be much needed after today's storm. God is good and I'm so glad that they team was obedient.

It's A...

BOY!!! We have been so anxious to know whether Joshua was going to have a brother or a sister, and we found out on Tuesday that he is going to have a great playmate! It is such a relief to finally know and now we can start planning for this little guy.


Dr. Clark had a hard time telling the sex because of the position the baby was in. His legs were crossed and the umbilical cord was going through his legs. After about 30 minutes of poking around on my stomach to try to get the baby to change positions, he told us that he was 80% sure that it is a boy. 80%? I really needed to hear 100%, and when I left the doctor's office I was still thinking that there was a chance that he didn't see things correctly and it might be a girl (can you tell I was hoping it would be a girl?!). Now that my denial has worn off, I am very excited about having two boys, and of course Peter is very excited also!


Here are the sonogram pictures...he looks pretty much like he looked six weeks ago, except he now weighs 10.5 ounces.