It's been a long time now.

The kids painted a fort.

Ian's new "old" truck.

Micaela baked bagel pizzas straight from her Strawberry shortcake cookbook.

The Apple Lovin Gang.

Asher keeps growing and growing.

After taking a little break to have a baby, get out of the Air Force, and move to Tennessee we are going to try to start blogging regularly again. We are still adjusting to life in Tennessee. I am still searching for the right job and Becky is still trying to not lose her mind watching four kids in a very small apartment. The kids really enjoy playing outside when it is not raining. They have five acres to run around to their heart's content. I've got baby duty right now so I have to go. We love you all.

Ian

Nathaniel's Birthday

Nathaniel is finally three. We started out by having hot dogs with homemade buns. We then got out the rolling pins, cookie cutters, aprons and chef hats and made firemen cookies. The kids spent almost two hours rolling dough, eating dough, cutting dough, eating dough, frosting cookies and eating dough. They loved it. If that wasn't enough we then gave Nathaniel a banana cream pie for his birthday cake. It was a very good day.

He's Finally Here!

Asher is finally here. He is a beautiful baby. He and Momma are doing very well. I am just taking enough time to post the promised pictures. I will get Becky to tell the story another day. Thank you all for praying for us. God is always faithful to answer prayer.

Almost There.

Nathaniel takes his role as "the Cat" very seriously.

Still trying to teach her that we don't spit the seeds on the floor.

Gabe can eat his weight in watermelon.

School is just about over. Becky has one more paper to write and I have one more test. The kids can't wait. Maybe now we'll keep up with the blog.

The kids have been showing us some amazing developments. Nathaniel has fallen in love with coloring. He spent nearly three hours today coloring and "reading" from his Tractor coloring book. He told us today that he was teaching Gabriel how to color. The amazing thing is that he really was showing Gabe how to color. He was extremely patient and generous. He took time to read Gabe a story also.

Gabriel has been full of verbal surprises. He repeats almost everything we say and is even expressing original thoughts. He and Nathaniel are becoming "best buds" as long as it does involve sharing legos. They'll share the train set and the crayons, but stealing legos is intolerable.

Micaela had her first grammar lesson yesterday and today she correctly applied it without any help. Becky was nearly jumping out of her seat for joy. I must confess that Micaela had to "refresh" my memory as to what a common noun was. All of her examples were correct. She is also learning to recite poems. She is like a little sponge just waiting for something to soak up.

Becky had a doctor's appointment today and the doc said she "isn't really" dilated. Becky is a little disappointed, but we know that God's timing is better than ours, so we'll wait.

If you don't like "potty" stories then skip this paragraph. Yesterday Micaela was sitting on the potty and complaining to me that her bowel movement was difficult and that she had a tummy ache. Being the "all wise" daddy that I was, I told her to pray and ask God to help "it" come out. A few seconds passed by and her face gradually changed from bewildered to a sheepish grin. Dead serious she exclaimed, "..but he would get his hands dirty!" I did the best I could to conceal my laughter, but could not help it. When I calmed down I kindly explained that God could do things without his hands; that he could tell Micaela's body to feel better and that it would. I love how Micaela believes that God will do exactly what she asks of him.

That reminds me; NATHANIEL IS POTTY-TRAINING!!!! He has done very well these past two weeks. Becky and I prayed a while ago that he would be potty-trained before Asher (a.k.a. baby boy) arrived. He and Micaela are turning out to be very good little helpers and can't wait to help Momma with the new baby.


Thanks for reading,

Ian

The Final Stretch

These next few weeks will bring about many changes. We have less than two weeks of college classes left and will be taking our finals on the 14th and 16th. Please pray for us. Becky will be giving birth to baby "boy" (no name yet) and then we will be moving. Oh, and Ian will be seperating from the Air Force on the 25th. Pray for us. I have been praying that God will lead me to the job that he wants me to work at. Many times I get caught up in searching for a "good" job and then get worried. I know God has a job for me and that I need to trust in him. Lately I've been thinking about being a teacher. It doesn't pay what I would have hoped for, but there are many other benefits, like summer times with my families and the opportunity to influence hundreds of children. I would like prayer for this. The kids are doing well. Tonight at family worship Nathaniel sang so loudly and "uniquely" that Micaela and Becky couldn't help but grin and chuckle. He was very serious and even added hand motions to the song. I think we were singing Holy, Holy, Holy. Becky has taught them a new song called Jehova-Jireh that we all clap to. The kids all get up and start running, clapping and singing during the song. Gabriel just grins like a crocodile and runs laps around the other two. I must stop procrastinating and finish my term papers now. We enjoy all the comments from the grandparents. Becky never did have to eat worms. We love you all.

Micaela showing off the butterfly that she caught all by herself.

If you look closely you'll see that they are playing with dried beans, not sand.

Gabey is helping Momma with her homework.

It's been a long time

The past two weeks have been busy. God sold our house for us to a newly married couple. They are letting us lease it until two weeks after the baby is born. The baby has dropped and is now making Becky very uncomfortable. (She has started to waddle. It's cute.) Normally when approaching her due date Becky would be experiencing "nesting" syndrome, but lately she has been "un-nesting". We have packed up a good part of the house and stacked the boxes in the garage. We are both excited about moving soon. Only two more weeks of school!!!! Micaela went to VBS this week. She is definately a little social bug. All the interaction has made her very pleasent to be with. Becky says she can relate completely. Nathaniel has stepped up in Micaela's absence and has been exercising his vocal cords nonstop. I never knew he could talk so much. The past two evenings we have gone for a scooter ride to see the tractors. He is fascinated by them. Gabriel has been a handful lately. I think he is feeling left out and is showing it by being very tempermental. Becky would like me to inform all those reading that the maid and the chef have gone on hiatus with no signs of return. I have started running five miles five times a week. I was feeling left out and wanted a ticker of my own at the top of the blog, but Becky couldn't find one due to the uncooperative ticker website. We love you all and if Becky doesn't see any responses on this blog from family she is going to go eat worms.

Module 4

This semester my classes are divided into four modules. This week I enter module four in both classes, and I have four weeks left of actual class! Week five is for finals, and I'm convinced week five and a half is for baby! I turned in a major paper last night at 1:30 which was a major relief. I just wish I felt better about it, but I'm sure I would have if I hadn't started writing it after dinner last night. Oh well, I just don't have time for everything :) I only have two major papers left in addition to the weekly papers for each class. At least the weekly ones are easy to write.

In other news-
Micaela and Nathaniel went to the dentist yesterday. Our pediatric dentist quit accepting our insurance, so their last visit out here was with a stranger. I called several friends for recommendations, and this guy was great! He doesn't usually see such little kids, but they behaved excellently for him- so they both got a full cleaning! Their teeth both look great; although he's concerned that Micaela may need braces for (what I understand from Ian's explanation) a low frenulum that may keep her front teeth spread apart.

I stayed home with Gabriel while they were at their appointment. Gabriel has become a momma's boy. He likes to cling to my legs as I attempt to walk around, but all the extra kisses and hugs are encouraging.

Ian mentioned our family worship time in a previous post. This has been great. It has really helped focus our attention on our purpose as parents and as a family. We're using the basic format found in The Family Worship Book and reading a nightly story from The Child's Story Bible. I think the kids really enjoy this time too. Even Nathaniel has learned to sing a couple of songs with the right words (if not the right tune)!

Becky's Birthday- she's gettin old!

Ian's garden is starting to bear fruit.

Nathaniel is proud of his hat.

Momma's little helpers make pizza.

Micaela convinced Momma that she needed this bathing suite. Her reasoning- "Momma it's so very modest."

Today was Becky's birthday! We all sang Happy Birthday to her several times this week. Nathaniel is very sweet and sings it at the top of his lungs and off key until he forgets the words. Becky spent most of the day working on her college assignments while the kids and I played (and took naps). We took her out to dinner and then went for a walk along the beautiful Concho river. Everything is going smoothly with the house. We had a little bump with the termite inspector who didn't find any termites but tried extremely hard to get himself a job by telling us that we had "condusive conditions" for termites. I agreed to give the house a termite treatment for the buyer's sake, but the inspector will not be doing the work. As I called around I found out that this guy has had a record of fishing for jobs like that. No matter, God blessed us with more than enough profit on this sale and I do feel good about giving the buyer (newly married and first time home-owner) a good house. Micaela is taking very well to our family worship times every evening. She is learning the ten commandments, two hyms and is very interested in the Bible story reading. Both Becky and I agree that this time that we spend every evening is wonderful. The boys are still getting used to sitting in one place for longer than two minutes. Well it's bed time. We love you all.

YEAH

God is watching out for us! We got two offers on our house Saturday, and we're waiting to see the paperwork on Monday. From what we understand, the offers were made Friday- only one week from the day the sign went into the yard! One of the offers sounds really good. They'd like to close this month and they'll allow us to rent as long as we need, i.e. till after the new baby is born! It's wonderful to see God's faithful provision for us.

By the way...

Micaela and Nathaniel enjoy playing dress up. She had already confiscated his sash and bracelets. Maybe for his birthday some of you grandparents might consider a cowboy outfit or a fireman outfit or some other more masculine attire.

updates

Yesterday the we all went to the base pool to play in the afternoon. Ian had to take Nathaniel to an orthopedic specialist about his collar bone. The new PA in our clinic had been very concerned that Nathaniel wasn't healing enough. The orthopedic specialist laughed and said 'He's healing like gangbusters!' He said Nathaniel doesn't need the sling anymore, and that he should be fine. He's really doing better than expected. After his appointment, they brought us lunch at the pool, and Nathaniel got to swim. Micaela used a life jacket to swim in the big pool while the boys played in the kiddie pool. She jumped in by herself several times, but she wouldn't go down the slide. I got to visit with my friend De'Etta, and Micaela got to talk to her children a little. I actually thought Micaela was being shy yesterday. That may be a first!
While we were gone, the realtors showed our house again. This time it was a repeat visitor. The realtor said he would be talking to his bank yesterday and today, and that we may get an offer this week. Wouldn't that be nice?
I turned in one paper yesterday morning. One paper is postponed for an entire week!!!! So now I'm working on the other two and feeling like two is much more manageable. I took a final yesterday for the library science class every one is required to take. I'm glad it's at least over; although, it was an easy grade. The other two will end August 20. Nathaniel's birthday. 14 days before this baby's due date. My water broke with Gabe 16 days early. Someone please be praying that my water won't break till after my finals.....

Here are the promised pictures of my short-haired boys...Micaela is a camera hog! This would have been a great picture of Gabe!

Well, we've been too busy to update regularly since we've been home. We put the house up on the market, and we've had a couple of people come and look. Both sets gave positive feedback- both are looking to buy in our subdivision and can't afford the more expensive newer homes. Good news for us! We plan to schedule an open house this weekend as part of our commitment to Assist2Sell. We're not in the MLS (it's cheaper for us not to be), so that is how they advertise.

In other news- I have four papers due this week, but I only have to read one new play- Julius Ceasar. I've read it before- like 10 years ago. Any encouraging words are appreciated. Ian says his classes seem a lot easier than those he's taken in the past. How is that possible? He's almost done though, and we're thankful. His midterms are this week (I think). I don't have midterms. I never have tests or quizes- just papers papers papers. AGGGGHHHH

The kids enjoyed daddy being home for the long weekend; although, we didn't do anything special on the fourth. We did grill out, eat watermelon, and make a 'cookie monster.' Gabriel lost his hamburger to Mocha (really I think he handed it to Mocha) and only ate three slices of watermelon and a plateful of cookie and ice cream. Very healthy!

Trip to Tennessee

Nana and Gabey smelling the flowers.

Aunt Jessica and Micaela making a splash.

Micaela, posing.

Bubba driving Grandad around on "My Tractor!"

Donna meets Daisy.

Bubba drives Papa around on "My Tractor!"

Our trip to Tennessee went well. Ian spent the first week in Augusta "working" while the kids and Becky went on to TN. We visited many family members and had a good time. I'm not gonna write anymore, but I will post a bunch of pictures and comment on them. I'm too tired to write.

YEAH! It took me a thousand times, but I got it. The funny blob on his head is placenta. He would not be still for five seconds together, so all the pictures are fuzzy. The ultrasound measures me at 28wks 4 days, so now Ian is really hoping I'll be early. By the way, it's still a boy. I was almost hoping it had changed... hehe