Our Little Apple: Getting Settled

Our Family

Thought I'd start out with some amazing family photos that our friend Joyce took for us. I hope I'm not breaking copyright by showing these, but, Joyce, if I am, sorry, but your pictures rock and I wanted to share them!!!!!! If anyone in the Carbondale area needs photos taken, I'll get her your info!

We went out to the Carbondale Arboretum where Chris proposed to me and laid out a blanket. It was a bit nostalgic because the mosquitoes were as bad as the day he proposed:) But it was an incredible blessing to have these taken. This is the first time we've ever had family photos done and we are extremely thankful for them.

So we're going to pretend that Chris is singing a song to Abe called 'The Lament of the Blogspot Update' because I'm about fed up with trying to get my pictures to upload in any semblance of order. I have been working on this blog for the last hour and the only thing I have is a bunch of pictures uploaded in the wrong order when really I'd just like to be sharing with all of you about the adventure our family has been on these last few weeks. So, since I'd rather be sharing with you than trying to fix this stupid order and since the whole reason for keeping this blog is so that we can share with you, here you go -- in no apparent order -- our last few months!

We again live very close to a park. A few weekends ago there was a big carnival for the kids with bouncy rides and little games. Jed got to go on a few things. I think the favorite was the bouncy slide! He needed help getting up there, but once he got to the top, he let loose. He got going to fast and it was such a hot day that when the slide caught his sweaty leg towards the bottom, it flipped him right onto his face. He, of course, got up laughing and tried to crawl up the slide from the bottom. The workers were really nice and there wasn't a long line, so he got to go down 3 times instead of only 2.

The other favorite part of the carnival was a lollipop pull where you get to pick a little dumdum sucker and then look at the end of the stick to see what prize you won. Jed thought he was picking which sucker he wanted and was pretty excited about that. But then, Jed looked up to see the lady pull a big, circular, rainbow sucker out from behind the tree -- his prize! I wish I had the camera out to catch his face when he saw that sucker!

Several weeks ago we went to visit our friends Dan and Nancy who also work through WMPL. They just got back from the Philippines and are living with their daughter, son-in-law, and 2 granddaughters until they move to Tennessee. Jed loved visiting them and getting to know Naomi, 3 and Phoebe, 1. Abe, of course, just loved having more people to smile at him and hold him. Chris and I loved being able to talk with this amazing couple who have 'been there and done that'. I think the very best part of our time here in Minnesota is being surrounded by people who know what we are going through and what we will go through. We are seeing such amazing well-rounded families with healthy ties back home and strong faith. It's really more encouragement than I can explain.

Here is Jed telling Dan a story -- probably about trains.

The new buddies playing a duet

Somehow they fit in Phoebe's bouncer!

Jed getting some loving before we went to church.

"It's raining Mama," Jed said every time he picked up this play umbrella.

Anna and I with the kiddos.

Naomi had a pool -- what a treat on the hot weekend!

After getting all grimy and grassy in the pool, they headed in for a bubble bath! They did this twice. Jed still asks for bubbles:)

So here's a random picture: Abe is starting to sit up well and is enjoying playing with things. Here he is with some post-its -- one of Jed's favorite toys, too.

Another outing we took with the family was to the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. Jed just loves trains still and so this was such a treat. This is a restored streetcar from back in the day and you get on and a driver tells all about the streetcars while you ride up and down the track. Another hot day, but worth the trip for Jed's smiles. Because we got a free pass from the library to ride it, Daddy decided we could get Jed a treat from the gift shop -- a Thomas Pez dispenser!

After that, we went over to the park nearby and listened to a few songs from the Pops Orchestra. Very good! There is free live music in a park around town every night of the week! There are things we're enjoying about the city.

Jed is still transitioning to our new place. Though he loves his new friends and seems to like the outings we take, there are some times when he just needs a hug. I know there are days when he misses his Carbondale friends or is confused about our new schedule or new home. We're trying to figure out the best ways to encourage him and teach him. If you're praying for Jed, please pray with us for these times!

Then there are the times when life in the big city couldn't be cooler. Like when Daddy takes him to the park and they play with the sand!

Or go for a ride!

Another new favorite thing is the zoo! Grandma Lee got Jed a zoo membership for his birthday (well, she got me one so I could take him because he's free). This zoo has a Dr. Seuss theme and I don't know if Jed was more excited about seeing the zoo animals or his favorite characters from Green Eggs and Ham and the Lorax.

Notice how he's holding the Lorax' hand:)

Yes, we were this close to that Grizzly. They have an exhibit where you can stand right at the water tank and see the bear swimming underwater. He was just swimming back and forth and saying hi to all the people. Jed still talks about the big bear.

As you can see, Abe is thrilled with his first zoo experience. If you want to compare, he is actually a little more interested than Jed was at his first zoo experience in St. Louis when he was about the same age. You can go back and see that pic in some of our first blogs. They are wearing the same hat:)

This is the way Daddy carried Jed the whole trip. He is a real trooper! It was another blistering hot day. He sure loves his son:)

And here's Jed at the zoo playground. If there's a slide withing 100 miles, Jed will find it.

And here are Mommy and Abe just resting and relaxing. These random pictures remind me of commercials or something . . .

We finished with our briefing course, but in the meantime, Jed made a great friend. This is Eman. He is 4 and his grandparents are going into the mission field. They were pretty much inseparable during the days. Sometimes I wondered if Eman could have separated himself from Jed even if he wanted to . . .

Okay, some more random pictures. Here's just some cute Abe.

And here Abe is taking after his Daddy. He was practicing sitting up and found Popular Mechanics to be great reading material:)

Jed has discovered the joy of hanging out with Abe in the pack and play. I have to be right there, though. He still hasn't figured out that it's not okay to lay on, smother, squeeze, or poke the eyes of his brother. He thinks those would be loving things to do. We're working on that:)

And here is another common sight. Jed and Daddy are playing trains. I think Sir Toppam Hatt (or Topit Hat, as Jed likes to say) was having some stern words for the engines just then. Check out Abe's face. He's totally into it:)

Jed is finding some other fun ways to entertain himself. Like taking the shelf out of the pantry and putting on Daddy's helmet.

When he wears it like this he calls it 'Spiderman' or sometimes he breathes like Darth Vader.

He has also found a new ball 'glove'. The ball is a plastic golf ball. Still, Jed can play baseball with these for quite a while.

Check out the form! Pretty good for 2.

Now here are some more pictures of our friends from briefing course. This is 'Grandpa Simon' and 'Grandma Sandy'. We met them last year at the mission camp and they have been so great with our kids! Sometimes in a session when Abe would start fussing, one of them would come and pick him up so I could concentrate on the lesson. What a blessing. I think that spot on Simon's shirt is spit-up from Abe:)

And here are the famous Lackey Girls (3 of the 4) They live downstairs and Jed and Abe love them. They are 'Grandma Carol's daughters that I met when I was in Ecuador. They were all home for the summer so we've gotten to see a lot of them.

During briefing course, we ate together outside like this a lot. Here is Jed with Eman and his aunt, Sarah. Also, one of his teachers, Kristen, and our friend Shelly is the one you can't quite see.

These are some of our new favorite people. Darcy and Laura are candidates, too, but sadly they are from Canada so we won't get to see much of them. We really hit it off, though, especially when Darcy and Chris found out they both love pasta sandwiches:)

Here's our friend Judy. She went with us to the Somali mall that day we talked about in our newsletter. By the way, if you want to get our newsletter and don't yet, just let me know.

And here's Charlotte. She is a retired engineer who now teaches kids in Bangladesh. Crazy how God uses people, huh?

On the last day of briefing course, there was a commissioning service for the kids. WMPL realizes that kids are as much missionaries as their parents are and so they really value equipping the kids to live and love Jesus overseas. It was set up like a birthday party and they talked about each child and prayed for him/her and they sang a song and we had treats. It was a neat time.

And now on to more of our family outings. We took a walk to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It's just a few blocks from our house and it is neat to walk through. This sculpture is the most famous one in the park. As soon as Jed saw it, he said 'I eat that, Mama?' He's pretty optimistic!

And here is Chris breaking the only rule I saw posted at the park 'Don't climb on the statues.' I guess to be fair, Jed didn't climb it. Chris put him up there and then he slid down:)