Joel and Laurie in Texas

Laundry Day

2010-02-20T21:39:00.003-06:00

A couple of Fridays ago, I was sorting laundry while Caleb was crawling around "helping Mommy." :) Joel hadn't left for the gym yet, so he decided to pitch in, too- by corralling Caleb in the laundry basket! It's too bad I didn't think of that sooner! Caleb had a blast.

playing with my dirty sock...good thing it was my sock and not Joel's!

Future Football Star

2010-02-13T10:00:00.003-06:00

Well, you can tell that blogging more regularly was not one of my goals for the new year! Since I'm so behind, I decided to jump in where we are for now rather than trying to play catch-up. Caleb discovered Joel's football the other day and had fun playing with it, which of course thrilled Joel. :) However, with Caleb's weight being in the second percentile for his age, we're trying not to base our retirement plans on his NFL career.

All I want for Christmas is...my first tooth!

2009-12-23T12:56:00.002-06:00

This past Sunday (Dec. 20), Caleb was a little fussy in the afternoon. That's not unusual on a Sunday afternoon after missing his morning nap, but he had been drooling even more than usual lately, so Joel did a little exploration. Lo and behold, Caleb has his first tooth! It is on the bottom left. One of my friends wanted me to get a picture of it, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon. We can barely get his tongue out of the way long enough to get a glimpse of it ourselves. :) But it's there! Our baby boy is growing up so fast! We're enjoying all those gummy grins while we can.

Lots of Animals (a.k.a., I'm really behind!)

2009-12-19T21:02:00.003-06:00

For the past several years, our friends the Hammers have come over to our house for Halloween. They even came last year when we were out of town! They help us set up some little games in our garage, and Joel and Shawn make balloon animals. While the kids are waiting for their balloons, Shawn hands the adults big hundred dollar bill tracts. One mother told me this year that her kids have remembered our house all year and asked repeatedly to come back! We are so grateful to the Hammers for helping us be a blessing to our neighbors. I didn't get any pictures of the actual event, but here are a few of Caleb's first Halloween and three out of the four adorable Hammer children.

two cute puppies!

Joel was a Rogaine model :)

coyote

On the Move

2009-12-15T22:25:00.002-06:00

Well, it's official! Caleb has been crawling for a week now. We've thought for quite a while that he was getting close, and then last Tuesday (the day after he turned 9 months), he finally "got" it and has been moving ever since! We are charging the video camera so that we can capture some of the action, and I plan to post it on here if I can figure out how. :) We haven't been taking many pictures lately, but I do have a few I need to post soon. For now, it's time to sign in to work!

First Food

2009-11-29T21:55:00.003-06:00

We delayed starting Caleb on solid foods until after we returned from our trip to SC, and so he was 7-1/2 months old before he had his first taste of anything from a spoon. It's been quite a battle! He's tried rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, and bananas. So far, the only thing he's eaten more than a spoonful of is applesauce. The first picture is the "Before" pic from the first day. After I uploaded the pictures, I realized that he's wearing a different shirt in the "After" picture, so that must be from the second day! Oh well! It takes so long to upload pics on here that I'm not going to worry about it. You get the idea!

Aw!

2009-11-01T20:36:00.002-06:00

We enjoyed getting to see CJ and his oldest son, Cole. Sugar and the other kids weren't able to come, but Cole seems to be a great big brother! He and Caleb seemed to like each other a lot!

Mmm, that face tastes good!

Caleb and Kiddo

2009-11-01T19:34:00.003-06:00

There were many people we would have liked to see during our visit to South Carolina, and we simply did not have time to see everyone. However, we were fortunate to be able to meet Lindsey for lunch. Joel was a big influence in her life when she was a teenager. He affectionately refers to her as "kiddo," and she calls him "adulto."

Wow...next to Lins, Caleb looks REALLY white! :)

Caleb had a ball playing with Lindsey's bracelets

Family

2009-11-01T18:56:00.003-06:00

Caleb with Uncle David

happy face with Aunt Abigail

Ooh...her hair is fun to play with!

Benjamin gets a ride on Uncle David

Like Caleb, Benjamin likes Joel's furry face!

having fun with great-grandma

impossible to get all the kids looking at the camera...at least no one's eyes were actually closed in this one!

Benjamin and Uncle David like the fish at the zoo!

Cousins

2009-11-01T18:48:00.002-06:00

I am just not good at making sure I take pictures! Sadly, I got very few pictures of Caleb with Linnea and Benjamin while we were visiting. :(

My Little Man

2009-10-29T18:54:00.003-05:00

I was going to start posting some pics from our trip to South Carolina tonight, but I ran out of time. So I'll just post this one for now, taken at Ben and Stephanie's house. Isn't our little man so precious? :)

The Great Outdoors

2009-09-27T15:41:00.005-05:00

My wonderful friend Rachel took Caleb's six-month pictures a couple weeks ago. We decided to try doing them outside this time. It ended up being a muggy, buggy, muddy day after Austin FINALLY got some rain...not very pleasant. Perhaps that's part of the reason why Caleb didn't cooperate very well for the pictures! But Rachel still managed to get some good ones. Enjoy!

Party Animal

2009-09-22T00:14:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday was an exciting day as my friend Amy got married. I have known Amy since we were both around 11 or 12 years old. She attended college at CIU, so Joel has the privilege of knowing her, as well. Amy has battled two types of leukemia in the past six years and is now doing very well after a bone marrow transplant. She is an incredibly strong, godly woman and was a radiantly beautiful bride!

Caleb did not attend the wedding due to his propensity for making loud noises at inappropriate times :), but he did come to the reception with us. He now wants to be part of whatever we are doing and is always reaching for things. (I had him in the Bjorn with me today while I was grocery shopping, and he kept grabbing the list and ended up tearing one of my coupons! He also kept trying to "help" push the cart.) Anyway, he was pretty interested in the "champagne" for the toast. No, he didn't really drink it. :)

I wish I had more pictures to share, as I loved seeing Caleb in big boy clothes rather than the onesies that usually make most sense for him to wear. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! I'll have to dress him up again sometime soon.

Six Month Stats

2009-09-13T19:19:00.002-05:00

I can hardly believe that Caleb is six months old! He went to the doctor a few days ago, and so I wanted to post his latest "stats." He is now 15.44 pounds, which puts him in the 13th percentile for weight. He is 26.5 inches long, which means he is in the 52nd percentile for height. Lastly, his head circumference is 16.5 inches, which is in the 8th percentile. Like both his parents, he evidently has a small head! At six months, this is what Caleb is like:

He is starting to become more aware of the world around him and will reach for objects (like Ranger). He likes it when Ranger licks him, which we think is precious. If we have him in the living room while the TV is on, he is very persistent about wanting to turn his head and watch it!

Everything goes in his mouth, of course. Joel and I have both had the pleasure of having our noses gummed by Caleb. He just opens his mouth wide and leans forward and closes down on whatever happens to be in the path. He almost managed to get a mouthful of Ranger's fur recently. :)

He is obsessed with his feet. I've only seen him actually put his feet in his mouth once, but he loves holding onto them.

I recently bought a Johnny Jumper for him at a garage sale, and he LOVES it! He bounces all over the place. Even when he gets tired and starts crying, it's hard to get him out because he won't stop bouncing! Here is the only picture I could find of him in the jumper. We took a video a few weeks ago, and I need to figure out how to get that on here.

Caleb is a chatterbox! He likes to make noise, and it's not unusual for him to wake up from a nap and just lay in there cooing and talking for a while.

He's ticklish! He smiles when I give him raspberries or pretend to eat his neck, but he laughs hysterically when Joel does it. I think it's Joel's facial hair...at least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't feel bad! Caleb seems to be a Daddy's boy.

That's probably more than anyone wants to know! We are just loving our sweet little boy!

Good News

2009-09-11T16:15:00.002-05:00

We had a follow-up appointment with the neurologist this past Wednesday to discuss the results of Caleb's tests. He told us that the vision test revealed no brain response to visual stimuli. We expressed our surprise at those results, since Caleb is now reaching for objects and seems to track things with his eyes and respond to us. After examining Caleb himself, the neurologist concluded that the test must have been wrong. He said he was pretty concerned about Caleb a few months ago but feels much better now. Yay! Praise God! We will continue to follow up with the neurologist and eye doctor, but it's definitely great to hear good news. :)

Pink and Blue

2009-09-10T19:37:00.004-05:00

Caleb turned six months old this past Monday, September 7 (Labor Day- appropriate enough!). In honor of his half-birthday, I decided it was time we got a few pictures of me with the little guy. And of course, Ranger made his way into some of the pictures, too. :)

Caleb, Daddy, and Ranger

2009-08-30T19:05:00.004-05:00

I've been pretty lax about taking pictures lately. When I went to upload the pics I do have today, I realized that almost all of them were of some combination of Caleb, Joel, and Ranger. Caleb is starting to become more aware of Ranger lately, which is a lot of fun. He sometimes smiles when Ranger licks him, and he will occasionally reach out to touch Ranger. Fortunately, Ranger is pretty gentle with Caleb.

Mohawk Boy

2009-08-13T20:32:00.004-05:00

Caleb is still mostly bald, but he has just a little strip of hair on top. So before his bath the other day, I grabbed the mousse. Here are the results. The pictures didn't turn out very well, but trust me, he was cute!

Who flipped the switch?

2009-08-09T14:18:00.004-05:00

Caleb turned five months old two days ago! It is amazing to us how quickly time is passing. In the last week or so, it is almost as if someone has flipped a switch. Caleb seems much more aware of his surroundings, and his muscle tone even seems to have improved dramatically. He is sitting with less assistance and doing less of the bobble-head thing. When I was reading a book to him yesterday, he reached out and grabbed it! He is also discovering how loudly he can squeal...and believe me, it's loud! It is so much fun to see him grow. Unfortunately, all theses changes have also come with sleep interruption. He hasn't been sleeping well at night or napping well during the day. This could make things interesting, as I rely on him napping well during the mornings so I can get some sleep after working at night. We'll see how it goes this week!

Here are some current pictures taken just yesterday of our little man.

just chillin' with Daddy

We finally got him to smile, but not before he'd drooled on himself. :) The boy is a drool factory these days!

Obsessed

2009-08-08T22:19:00.002-05:00

I'm slightly obsessed with how cute Caleb is in his towel after a bath. If Joel is home, I always take Caleb in to see him because I just have to share the cuteness with someone.

Backyard Bible Clubs

2009-08-08T22:09:00.002-05:00

Several weeks ago, we hosted a Backyard Bible Club at our house. It was not quite as exciting as Backyard Bible Club last year, when we found out we were expecting a baby. :) It was still a lot of fun, though, and we're praying that God will continue to use us in the lives of our neighbors. True to form, I forgot to take many pictures. I think these were taken during the old favorite, "Father Abraham."

Numbers Game

2009-07-24T15:05:00.002-05:00

Caleb had his official 4-month doctor's appointment this week, even though he is actually now 4-1/2 months old. It's hard to believe how quickly he is growing up! We were curious to know how much he has grown, and here it is:

Height: 25 inches (approximately 38th percentile)
Weight: 14 pounds, 6 ounces (approximately 27th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.25 inches (approximately 16th percentile)

He has definitely changed from when he was in the 5th and 10th percentiles shortly after birth! We were kind of surprised about the head circumference, as his head seems so huge to us! But I guess all babies have big heads in proportion to their bodies. :)

He has started to occasionally grab at things, most frequently my hair! He always seems to have a few strands wrapped around his hands. He is spending more time awake now and enjoys his swing and pack 'n' play. He talks to himself and is learning to blow bubbles, which is so adorable. He drools like crazy and is getting the hang of sucking on his thumb, although sometimes he seems to prefer the whole fist. He laughs when we undress him (future nudist on our hands?) and sometimes when we move his limbs to "dance." We think he is the most precious boy on the planet! I will have to take some more pictures to post soon!

Official Three-Month Pictures

2009-07-10T17:32:00.005-05:00

My sweet friend Rachel came over a couple of weeks ago to take Caleb's three-month pictures. Due to busy schedules, the pictures were taken late...a week before he turned four months old, in fact. Oh well! They're still precious! Here are some of our favorites.

Meant for Each Other

2009-07-09T21:29:00.002-05:00

My accountability partner, Carrie, and I were pregnant at the same time. Her precious little daughter, Paige, was born about 7 weeks after Caleb. Aren't they cute together? :)

Happy Father's Day!

2009-07-09T21:11:00.003-05:00

Some Daddy/Caleb time before church on Father's Day

I had a funny new parent moment on Father's Day. We visited a church that morning, and it got out earlier than we expected. We were meeting my parents for lunch, so we decided we would just drive to the restaurant and I would feed Caleb in the car rather than wasting the gas to drive home first. I was holding him in my lap finishing up his feeding when he decided to fill his diaper. Somehow, he was able to poop all over my lap and barely even get any on himself! I had an extra outfit for Caleb, but of course hadn't thought to bring anything to replace my light gray dress pants. So I cleaned up with baby wipes the best I could and tried to hold my purse in such a way as to hide the spots. Of course, while we were waiting for a table, I saw a guy I went to high school with whom I hadn't seen in years! Then we saw half a dozen other people we knew! I just had to laugh.

Drying Off

2009-07-09T21:07:00.002-05:00

I love it when Caleb is all wrapped up in his towel after his bath!

Not a Newborn Anymore!

2009-07-03T22:58:00.004-05:00

On June 7, Caleb turned 3 months old! That marks the "official" transition between being a newborn and an infant. He's growing up so quickly!

Caleb has a funny habit of opening his eyes really wide sometimes. Joel says he takes after me, which may be the case! When I was on a mission trip to Mexico a number of years ago, we were without a translator for a while in the middle of VBS. I improvised by leading the kids in a Spanish song where the song is repeated, faster and faster each time. A few little girls were giggling hysterically by the end, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that they were laughing at me. I was right! I found out later that my eyes got wider and wider as the song got faster and faster, and they thought it was hilarious. :)

this is one of my favorite pictures of Caleb

another favorite...doesn't it look like he really is taking his first sip of sweet tea?

Meeting Laurie's Grandparents

2009-07-03T22:26:00.003-05:00

Almost a month ago, my (Laurie's) grandmother and step-grandfather traveled to Texas for my youngest sister's graduation from high school and were able to meet Caleb! It was so wonderful to be able to see them!

Changing Table

2009-06-13T21:18:00.004-05:00

For some reason, Caleb seems to love being changed! We get a lot of precious smiles while he's on the changing table.

Rub-a-Dub

2009-06-13T20:40:00.002-05:00

I have yet to get any pictures of Caleb actually in the tub...I need to wait for a time when Joel is home. Bathtime is tricky enough without trying to take pictures! But he sure is adorable in his towel afterwards. I wasn't able to get a good angle on these pictures, but hopefully you can get the idea!

notice his cute cloth diaper!

Sleepy Boy

2009-06-06T21:28:00.003-05:00

When I went in to feed him one day, Caleb was SOUND asleep! Joel and I aren't good photographers, unfortunately, so we didn't even come close to capturing the absolute cuteness!

Tummy Time

2009-06-06T21:14:00.003-05:00

Caleb usually doesn't do very well with "tummy time." He just lays there and sucks on his fist, not even trying to pick his head up! So I tried propping him up on the Boppy to see if that would help.

Hmm...now he can reach more of his arm!

finally looking up for a second!

MRI

2009-06-04T19:18:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Caleb had an MRI of his brain last Thursday, and he did wonderfully. We didn't get to be there in Recovery with him when he woke up, so I think we missed the worst of it. When I went back there, he was sucking furiously on a bottle, which gives some indication of how hungry he was! We usually have a lot of trouble getting him to take a bottle. Anyway, I thought he might be sleepy the rest of the day because of the anesthesia. Instead, he cried through almost every nap for the next two days! It had been quite a disruption to his normal schedule, so I guess that's understandable.

I meant to bring the camera with us to the hospital, but I forgot. It's too bad - he looked pretty funny in the huge purple gown he had to wear! And we discovered that he has my sensitive skin. After the MRI, he had big, bright red squares around his eyes for quite a while from where they'd been taped shut. My skin reacts the same way to tape. Poor fella!

We spoke to the nurse at the neurologist's office earlier this week, and she said the MRI looked fine. Praise the Lord! I have to admit to a lingering bit of concern, but we've done all we can do right now. Hopefully, he is just a little bit behind and will catch up eventually.

I need to find time to post some pictures, but that will have to wait until another time. Caleb is hungry now, and hopefully by the time he's finished eating, Joel will be home from work at Dick's Sporting Goods and we can eat dinner before getting ready for our night jobs. :) Whew!

An Exciting Weekend

2009-05-17T19:15:00.006-05:00

Thursday, May 7, was an exciting day for Caleb! Not only did he turn two months old, but he also got to meet his Aunt Julie and Uncle Chris, who were visiting from South Carolina. Then, later that day, he got to meet his grandma and grandpa, who were also visiting from South Carolina! Here are a few pics from the days of their visits.

Chillin' on a Sunday afternoon

2009-05-17T19:05:00.002-05:00

hanging out with Uncle Matt and Aunt Leah several weeks ago

Update...and a few pictures at last!

2009-05-15T17:12:00.003-05:00

The last post was written prior to Caleb's appointment with the ophthalmologist. I'm happy to report that the appointment went very well! The doctor did not find anything structurally wrong with Caleb's eyes. He wants us to return in two months, and hopefully Caleb's eyes will have developed further by that time so he will be making eye contact, etc. We are still waiting for the neurologist's office to contact us regarding the MRI they are scheduling. I have called a couple times to check on it, but to no avail.

I was still feeling unsettled after the appointment. It's good to know that there is nothing wrong with Caleb's eyes, but why doesn't he respond to us? We are not the only ones who have noticed and been concerned about his lack of interaction. But anyway, God did something so sweet for me that night. At 5:30 in the morning, Caleb looked at me and smiled! It was so encouraging.

With all that has been going on, I am very behind on posting pictures! I only have time to post a few right now, but I will try to do more later this weekend.

Caleb is meeting my good friend, Amy. She has had two different types of leukemia, and she had a bone marrow transplant just over a year ago. She calls her donor "Caleb."

We realized how big he was getting when I went in to get him up from his nap and his onesie was halfway down his chest! Notice the pitiful tear tracks. :(

Happy Easter! My brother Matt got to come home on leave for a few weeks, and Caleb met him on Easter Sunday.

I'm Giving You My Dreams

2009-05-13T13:33:00.002-05:00

I love the song "Surrender" by Marc James. This line falls partway through the first verse: "I'm giving you my dreams." I remember the first time that line became intensely personal to me. Joel and I were engaged, and he had been deployed in Cuba for 10 months. As you can imagine, I had been dreaming about and imagining his homecoming. Then there was a hurricane, and I received word that he would be delayed. It would be a brief delay, a few days at most, but I was bitterly disappointed and having a hard time with it emotionally. God reminded me of that line in the song, and He asked me if I was willing to give him my dreams and trust that His plan was best. After all, He was in control of the weather! And so I did. (For those wondering how it turned out, Joel was only delayed by one day. Some of my girlfriends came over on the evening of the day he was originally scheduled to return, and we had a wonderful time! I wouldn't go back and change it if I could.)

"I'm giving you my dreams" has once again become the line upon which surrender hinges. It seems that there's something wrong with my baby boy, and we don't yet know what. Is he blind? Brain damaged? Autistic? God is asking me to give him my dreams about Caleb, and it's quite difficult. If I have to, can I give up the dream of that little boy running to give me a hug? Watching out the back window while Joel teaches him to throw a football? Gathering in the living room on a Sunday afternoon to cheer on the Chicago Bears? I may not have to give up those dreams, but if it becomes necessary, can I do it? Really, there's no choice. Or more accurately, the choice has already been made. Unless I abandon everything I believe, I have to surrender those dreams to the Lord and trust that He is good and wise and sovereign. His plans for Joel and Caleb and me are best, even if I don't understand them. "I'm giving you my dreams."

Six Week Stats

2009-04-19T15:44:00.003-05:00

Caleb turned six weeks old yesterday! Since I didn't post any info at four weeks, I thought I'd give you the scoop on what he's like now at six weeks. I'll have to try to get a picture later, too.

He is growing like a weed! I'll be interested in seeing how much he's grown when we go for his 2-month check-up in two weeks. Four days after birth, he was in the 10th percentile for height and the 5th percentile for weight. But then, he was having difficulty nursing and had lost 13.5% of his birth weight. Yikes!
He is doing a decent job sleeping at night. Some nights are better than others, of course, but he generally settles down to sleep at night fairly well. His days are a different story! Every once in a while, he has a day when he naps well, and I feel like we're getting the hang of things. Then the next day, he screams through every single naptime all day long! Argh! I'm hoping we'll get the hang of it eventually!
He is pretty patient with us while we're learning to diaper and dress and bathe him. He doesn't usually get fussy during those activities, but he sure is a wiggleworm!
He is strong! He doesn't necessarily move a lot during tummy time, but when we try to lay him on our shoulders, he doesn't usually lay down unless he's completely exhausted. He likes to have his head up, looking around.
He is learning to smile. It's still difficult to tell, though, which smiles are social and which have a less pleasant cause. :)
I have been concerned because he likes to look all around, but he rarely looks at our faces. Babies are supposed to be fascinated with faces! But over the last few days, it seems like he's been looking at us more. Hopefully that will continue!
He's bald on top. Poor little guy! He was having some issues with cradle cap, and so last week, I was brushing the top of his head as several articles online had suggested. Later that day, we noticed that he had a bald spot on the top of his head! Who knew that soft little baby brush could do that? I'm maintaining that it's not completely my fault, though, because he has since lost more hair. I know that wasn't my fault! I was relieved to see this weekend that he's starting to grow some fuzz back on top of his head. I think he was just wanting to look like his Daddy! Ha ha. :)
He's a little Houdini! We swaddle him when he sleeps using a combination of methods Joel calls the German hammer. The bottom blanket secures his arms using a method taught to us by our friends, the Hammers. The top one is a general swaddle a nurse at the hospital showed us. She said it's how they swaddle babies in Germany. We think the combination is pretty effective, but he still manages to escape sometimes! We don't know how he does it!

Merry-Go-Round

2009-04-16T19:22:00.008-05:00

Since Caleb was born almost six weeks ago, I've been feeling somewhat like I'm riding a merry-go-round - constantly moving, but never getting anywhere. I'm a task-oriented person. For years, I avoided admitting that, because it's not the way I want to be. But it's the way I am. I don't like reaching the end of a day and feeling like I haven't accomplished anything. Over the last six weeks, I've felt that way a lot. Caleb had a lot of difficulty nursing at first, and we still don't have it completely down. It takes him between 45 minutes and an hour to nurse, sometimes even longer. Multiple that by at least eight, and I have a full-time job just feeding the little guy! Add in the other baby care activities, and I'm having a hard time getting anything else done. The house is a mess, I don't remember when I last scrubbed the kitchen floor, the bushes have needed trimming for weeks, etc. What I have begun praying every day is that God will help me remember that feeding and caring for Caleb IS accomplishing something, and something very significant, at that. God has loaned us this little life to care for, and that is way more important than the piles on the kitchen counter! Maybe that's one of the reasons God was gracious enough to give us a child, so that I would have opportunities to learn proper priorities! Meanwhile, if you come over to our house, please try to ignore the dirty floor!

Here are a few more pictures of our precious gift. I don't have any within the last week, so you'll have to wait to see his poor bald little head. But that's another post...

He is growing so quickly! I took this picture a couple weeks ago because I was so excited that some of his onesies were finally starting to fit him. Now some of them are a little tight, especially when he's wearing a cloth diaper. I'll have to take some pictures of his big cloth diaper butt!

he has this funny thing about raising his arms!

we happened to catch a rare smile!

chillin' in his pack 'n' play

when we got to church on Sunday, Caleb was fast asleep in his car seat just like this!

First "Official" Pictures

2009-04-13T20:16:00.004-05:00

My good friend Rachel came over when Caleb was 2-1/2 years old and took some wonderful pictures for us. I was going to put up just a couple of our favorites, but I couldn't decide! So here are more than just a couple. :)

The Boy and His Dog

2009-03-30T21:34:00.002-05:00

getting closer...

and closer...

Yikes! What is this wet thing in my face?

Fun with Daddy's Sweatshirt

2009-03-30T21:21:00.002-05:00

Heading Home

2009-03-21T20:39:00.006-05:00

first time checking out the car seat

settling Caleb in the new (to us) Pilot

More Hospital Pics

2009-03-21T20:22:00.008-05:00

hearing test (he finally passed it on his third try!)

Laurie's family hanging out with Caleb

Family of three!

His little Newborn size outfit is way too big for him!

First Day

2009-03-13T20:55:00.007-05:00

Caleb cuddling up with Mommy minutes after birth

getting to know Daddy

Welcome, Caleb!

2009-03-08T20:23:00.005-05:00

Caleb is pretty fussy right now and my laptop battery is almost dead, but I wanted to post just a few pictures. The stats: He was born on March 7, 2009, at 3:32 p.m. He weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and was 18-3/4 inches long. We are very grateful that he seems healthy, but right now, we are praying that he learns to eat! We've had quite a difficult time thus far with that.

I think his nose in this picture looks a lot like Joel's!

He makes the greatest pouty faces!

getting acquainted with Mommy

Playing the Waiting Game

2009-03-03T16:26:00.018-06:00

Caleb's due date is two weeks from today, so now we are just playing the waiting game! The doctor told us she expects that he will be early, but we're realizing that the doctors don't really know much about predicting when a baby will arrive! In the meantime, here are some pictures from the pregnancy and the baby shower this past weekend.

12 weeks

21 weeks

23 weeks, on our 5-year anniversary

25 weeks

30 weeks

35-1/2 weeks, at the special Valentine's Day dinner a friend and I planned for the senior high girls. That night, my friend's 4-year-old boy made a comment about "that lump"!

BABY SHOWER PICTURES

37-1/2 weeks, at my baby shower with two friends I've known since junior high :)

The shower was for my accountability partner Carrie and me. She's due 5 weeks after I am with a little girl. And yes, I am a lot bigger than she is!

Some members of our families...my mother and youngest sister, Leah, were able to come to the shower, which was very nice!

Our sweet friends from church who did a wonderful job organizing the shower!

Take Two!

2009-02-16T21:22:00.002-06:00

I guess you could say we haven't done a very good job keeping this blog updated! With Caleb's impending birth, we are going to try to do a little bit better! I (Laurie) tend to post things on Facebook, but since not everyone has access to that, we're going to try to post pictures, etc., on here also. Joel was always the one who did this in the past, so I am tentatively feeling my way and trying to figure out the basics!

Joel is currently staying busy with his personal training course. He will be going to a conference this weekend, which should be an interesting experience. I am staying busy eating! :) I've been spending time working on planning a special night for the high school girls at church. It's over now, so I'm redirecting my attention to getting ready for Caleb! Only about 4 weeks left!

What a week!

2007-12-31T17:06:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody! It has been quite a week for me (Joel). This Sunday I preached my first sermon in front of the church (my first time in any church). I had the opportunity to challenge our congregation to set their priorities in 2008 in light of an eternal perspective. I think it went well, and I know that God used my words to challenge at least one man in the church to make some changes this year. If you are interested in hearing the sermon it should be posted on our website sometime later this week (not sure when with the holidays and all). The site is http://www.hcbchutto.com/.

There is a lot more to the week that I have yet to tell. On Friday morning I decided to leave the house and find a quite place outside somewhere where I could get away from all of my normal distractions so that I could spend a few hours in prayer and preparation for my sermon. At first I drove around some of the back roads of my little town and just prayed for the people of Hutto. Then I drove to a low water crossing that I know about that is away from much of anything. I parked on the side of the road and hiked in a little ways to get away from the road to a place where I could just focus on my sermon and prayer. It was a great time, and I really got some good prep work done for Sunday. At a little after 11:00am I headed back towards home because I knew that I needed to stop by Wally world to get a DVD-R so I could burn a video that I was using for the sermon. After I left Wal-Mart I headed toward home. I decided that I would go by McDonald's and grab a quick bite to eat as I headed home in time for Laurie to call during her lunch break (I left my cell phone at home). I didn't make it to McD's, however. As I approached the biggest intersection in Hutto a woman made a left turn in front of me and in a split second tires squealed, and airbags deployed. I had about a half second to hit my breaks before my 6000 pound Suburban plowed into the passenger side of a Chevy Tahoe at 50+ miles per hour. The lady in the other SUV thought that she had a green light (the intersection has just undergone some major expansion so it can be a bit confusing), but it was red for the turn and green to go straight. It took a few seconds to regain my bearings and realize that, by God's grace, I wasn't injured. I quickly hoped out and went to make sure that the other driver was ok (there were no passengers in either vehicle). Despite the force of the collision neither of us were injured. I have been pretty sore, and I am sure that she is too, but nothing serious. The impact was so strong that one of my headlights was stuck in the side of her SUV. There was extensive damage to the front of my vehicle and I found out today that it is totaled (I have had it for only 3 months). I did end up going to an urgent care facility on Saturday to get something for the pain that I was having, and for some muscle spasms that resulted. My insurance company is handling the details for now, but it will still be a couple of days before we can get a copy of the police report (I'm not sure why it takes so long but maybe that's just the way that do it in a small town). Laurie and I just went to get some things out of the Suburban, but we forgot to take the camera so I had to take pictures with my cell phone, so they probably aren't that good. Please pray for a fair settlement and a quick resolution to all this mess. Also pray that I will be able to find another replacement vehicle soon. Thanks! Here are some pictures, God bless you all!

Glad I decided to leave Ranger at home!

I think it's broken

Driver side

Passenger side

God loves details

2007-12-13T09:57:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody, I just wanted to share with you all something that happened to me about a week ago. It was God working in amazing ways. I already typed the story out in a concise manner so that Bo (our pastor) could use it as a sermon illustration so I am going to just paste the text from that in for you all to read. You'll have to imagine all my quirks like I am telling the story. Hope you enjoy! Remember that you are God's beloved and He is in tune with even the smallest details of your life. He has a plan for you. Praise Him!!

God Planned my Day
Events took place on December 5th 2007

On Wednesday morning I woke up early as usual to get ready for Journey Men [this is a Bible study at our mother church on Biblical manhood]. After having been sick for the past 4 days though I was very tired and seriously considered just going back to bed. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to miss one Journey Men session, besides I could listen to the pod cast later. Still I decided that it would be best to go even though I didn’t feel like it. After the meeting, Cody Pope [youth pastor at HCBC Pflugerville (our mother church)] had an appointment canceled so we were able to get together to talk about our upcoming high school retreat. Because of this unexpected meeting I got home about 2 hours later than normal. When I did get home I decided to take my puppy for a short walk. We have a normal routine; we walk to the end of our street, and then turn right for 3 blocks, take another right, walk 1 block and then head back home. That morning for some reason though I decided that we should walk to the end of the street, another block down. In between my normal turning point and the end of the street I met a man who wanted to pet my dog. The man began telling me about how he always feeds biscuits to dogs when they are walked by his house. Talking to my dog he said that if he came by 223 on the next street he could get a treat. My planned walking pattern, however, would never take us by that man’s house. He also told me a story about how he and a neighbor found a little lost dog and were caring for it. The dog was deaf, and although they had called the phone number on the tag many times were unable to reach the owner. With that he drove home, and we continued on. At the next street, where I had intended to turn and head home I felt compelled for some unknown reason to continue on a little further. This time I walked past the man’s house and onto the next street where I finally turned toward home. It was then that I noticed a little community bulletin board that until then I didn’t know existed. Out of curiosity I turned to check it out. It was there that I saw a posting for a lost dog that matched the description the man I just met gave me, including that the dog was deaf. At the bottom of the paper it said, “new to this neighborhood.” They weren’t able to reach the owner because the number had changed. With a little excitement I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number. “Hello?” “Is this Cheryl”, I asked? “I think I know where your dog is.” Just hearing the excitement in the woman’s voice as I explained what had happened that morning was such a joy. Within a minute or two I knocked on the door of house # 223, the biscuit man. He answered the door and I put him on the phone. The woman would soon be reunited with her lost friend, whom she thought she would never see again. As I turned to walk home with my little buddy I just praised God that when I woke up that morning he had a plan for that day. He loves that woman so much that he orchestrated the events of my day to help reunite her with a beloved pet and friend. I couldn’t help but smile for the next 4 blocks as I thought about how loving our God is that even the smallest details of our lives don’t escape His notice.

Have a blessed Day!

Sad Saturday

2007-12-06T09:52:00.000-06:00

Well, last Saturday was a sad day for us as we had to say goodbye to one of our family members. Let me explain, nobody died. We had always been told that if you get one dog you should get two so that they aren't so lonely when you have to leave them at home. Apparently that advice isn't good for litter mates. As we were adjusting to having two new puppies everything seemed great, until we tried to train them. The were so close to each other that we couldn't keep their attention for any period of time. We enrolled them in a puppy training class at a school in Hutto that is very well known for their training. After two weeks, our head trainer told us that the puppies were too bonded to each other and so we should isolate them from one another for a month. If we didn't, then they wouldn't bond with us, and would be very difficult to train. We agonized over what to do because we had already grown to love them so much, but in our little house, there was just no way for us to be able to separate them completely from each other. We finally decided that the best thing for both of them would be to find one of them a good home. Little did we know that God had been orchestrating these circumstances. I was talking to one of the ladies that works in the office about our situation, and she suggested the I let a family in our church know. The Spencers (Greg is one of our elders) had a German Shepherd for a long time (11 years), that had recently died. With hope I sent an e-mail. The long story short is that they came to meet the puppies and adopted our Sydney. We had never seen Sydney warm up to anybody as quickly as she did to Christina, the Spencer's 9 year old daughter. They were delighted, and this is about the best possible situation that we could have imagined for having to re-home one of our puppies. We know she is in a loving home and we will be able to see her sometimes and find out how she is doing. Lisa Spencer said several times that this was an answer to prayer for them as well. Even in situations where we least expect it, God is already working. All praises to Him!!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-06T09:22:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. It was a little sad for Laurie and me as all of our family was on the East Coast this year. As many of you know, Thanksgiving this year was also our 4th anniversary. Praise God that he provided a "foster family" for the holiday. Our Pastor and his family had us over for most of the day and it was a great time (especially watching football on Bo's 53" HDTV; that was Laurie's favorite part =). We ate a lot of good food, and we passed on an tradition to a new generation. One thing that I (Joel) was sad about it not getting any of Grandma's world famous (well at least family famous) gingerbread man cookies. Growing up that is one thing that always made Thanksgiving seem right to me. We would gather at Grandma's house and she would make gingerbread men and icing for us to decorate them. Oh the great times we had around that table decorating those cookies! Thanks GRANDma! That is one of my favorite growing up memories. Laurie and I decided that we would try to carry on the tradition so we got Grandma's recipe and tried our best (of course we couldn't make them as good as G'ma, but they were still pretty good!). The fun part was that we took them too the Thompson's house with us and I was able to pass my tradition on. The Thompson's have 3 girls (8,10, and 13 I think). Bo's best friend Bobby and his family were also there and their 11 y/o daughter Emma also got to participate. It was a little different with me and a table full of girls, but it was fun, and the girls absolutely loved it! The sad part is that during the night their dog snuck (is that a word? Sneaked? whatever) downstairs and pulled all the cookies off the table and bit all the legs off and licked the frosting and the got sick and threw up on the floor...Ah memories...

We are very thankful to our Lord for ALL the things that He has done this past year. He never ceases to amaze us! We miss and love you all!!!

Here are some pictures from our Day:

The Taylor Thompson

Abbie Thompson

Dani Thompson

The girls and their cookies

New additions

2007-11-19T11:23:00.001-06:00

Well, I guess it is that time again. I have been meaning to update the blog for awhile now, but once again have let it slip by for too long. The last month has been very busy with youth responsibilities, and all that. The last two weeks have been extremely busy because...

That's right, we added two new additions to our family. Joel and Laurie received a very generous gift, and decided to use it to buy some new decorations for their house. They got some curtains, and some picture frames, and two German Shepherds....

It took me forever to get them to pose for this picture, but on the left is Ranger (male) and right is Sydney (female). They are litter mates and are a little over 4 months old now. They certainly are a handful. We are working on training them, but they are so competitive that they always want to be right in the middle of what the other is doing.

Well, Laurie is working a temp job at the Texas Association of School Boards, and they recently told her that her assignment is going to last longer that she had originally been told. I had an interview for a part-time supervisor position with UPS (which would be ideal), but they decided to hire someone else, but told me that there will probably be more openings at the beginning of 08. I have arranged some temp work of sorts next month to help make a little extra until then. Other than that, it is life as usual. We are more in awe of God every day as He continues to surprise us with His goodness and faithfulness. Just yesterday he provide a family for us to share Thanksgiving with, which is so nice since all of our family will be over 1000 miles away this year. We sure do miss you all back East, but we know that the Lord has brought us here, and there is nowhere else that we would rather be. God is good! We are so thankful for all of you, and wish you the best Thanksgiving holiday possible. Well, here are some more pictures of the puppies =) Enjoy.

Ranger

Sydney

Ranger naping

Sydney following her brother's lead

Earning their new last name- doing what Merritt's do best!

Sibling rivalry-Sydney sitting on Ranger's head =)

Hope you like the pictures. Come visist us sometime! We love and miss you all!

P.S. Ben eat some pie and gingerbread men for me... ;)~

Back from another adventure

2007-10-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Well we just got back from a jr. high retreat at our church. This is my first event as the student pastor at our church. It is becoming apparent that I have trouble going on youth events without sustaining injuries. This trip was no different. On Saturday while playing the camp game I once again decided that it would only be right that I expose the camp's safety hazards by demonstrating how dangerous it could be. Of course being the dramatist that I am I wanted to make sure it was convincing so I just went ahead and made it real (aren't I a good youth pastor). Ok ok so what really happened? As usual I was too caught up in the game and tried a last second heroic effort to save my team from loosing the game and was so focused on the goal that I didn't notice a dip in the road and so I tripped fell right into the middle of a rock road. I always say if you're going to go, go all out. So in just a fraction of a second I managed to mess up both hands and both legs. I got cuts on the insides of both my hands pretty bad, and I got about a dozen cuts on the outside of my left leg and hit my right knee straight on the rocks. You might remember that on my Mexico trip I had a construction accident and cut just below my right knee pretty severely and had to have the first stitches of my life. So when I fell, I hit the knee pretty hard and got one bad cut and a lot of little ones, but I think I must have bruised it pretty good as it swell some, and is pretty stiff. Thank the good Lord for a fairly high pain tolerance. I am getting quite a reputation among the students for being accident prone, but also for being very tough which is good as it makes the more likely to obey my instructions since they think I am really tough (maybe I'll write a book on how to get your youth group to listen, a few injuries handled properly and they'll think you're really tough. Haha I have them all fooled). Anyway, that was exciting. The trip went pretty well, but I do have one "special" child that I know is going to be a challenge. All in all the trip was very good. Laurie has been kind of sick for the last week, but really wanted to attend the trip so she wasn't feeling well today. If she doesn't make some improvement soon, then it will be a trip to the doc to see what's up. And before any of you ask, no she isn't pregnant.
Yesterday after church one of the older ladies was leaving and fell going down the steps outside of the middle school where we meet and shattered her femur. I am told that it was pretty bad, and she is going to have surgery today I believe. She is old and has been having other health problems as well, so if anyone would pray for her, her name is Gail.
There is a lot of things going on. I am still looking for another part-time job. Also car troubles recently have been causing a little bit of financial strain, but we know that God is faithful to take care of all our needs. One thing that is really exciting is that God has provided a discipler for me. Bobby Pruitt who was Laurie's youth pastor when she was a teenager has agreed to meet with and disciple me. I praise God for providing such a wise man to help not only train me to be a better youth pastor, but also a better man of God. Thanks for your prayers. We love an miss you all! If anybody wants to come visit just let us know =)

Pictures continued

2007-09-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

Artemis-our baby Colombian red-tail boa is about to shed again

Joel's new pet

Entry way

More Livingroom

Some More Pics

2007-09-11T11:26:00.001-05:00

Another angle of the living room.

Yep it's big and I like it that way.

One angle of the living room

Laurie's kitchen

Our dining room

Sorry, no pictures from the outside, it is raining today, plus the outside pretty much looks the same anyway.

A picture or two

2007-09-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

Here is a street view of our new house!

Honestly we haven't taken and recently so I will need to take some pics and then will post some more. Hopefully soon!

If anyone is still reading this...

2007-09-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

Hello all! If you are still checking this thing for updates, then I guess it means that you really love us. I know I have done a terrible job of keeping this thing up to date, but it just doesn't seem to come naturally to me. I am home right now with at least my 4th or 5th outbreak of shingles so I figured it is about time I just did it. I keep getting e-mails and comments about needing to do it so here it goes. Laurie and I moved into our first house in the beginning of June. God has really been leading us on a great adventure of faith and trust. During the Summer Laurie and I went to Mexico to help lead a mission trip. While on the trip Laurie's temp job ran out of work and so she came back to no job. Shortly thereafter my Summer job ended and real estate has been really slow. We decided that I needed to look for a real job that would pay money immediately instead of 2 months after selling a home...
Anyway the most recent news is good, in fact it is great! Laurie found another temp job that will keep here at least through the end of the year. For me things have gone a little differently, and the Lord has fulfilled a dream for me. About a week and a half ago, the senior pastor and the elder over student ministries at our church asked me to meet them for lunch, where they asked me to come on staff part-time as the Student Ministries Pastor. The church was not expecting to be able to hire a SM pastor this soon, so it was kind of unexpected. After much consideration and prayer Laurie and I accepted the position and I started last week. This is something that I have been waiting for for a long time, and although only part-time, there is nothing else I would rather be doing. The sad part is that it was announced this past Sunday that I had been hired, and I missed the announcements, because I was at home with shingles which we discovered Saturday evening. So now I am looking for another part-time job that will have insurance benefits. If you guys would pray for God to provide that for us it would be awesome. You all are awesome too! We really miss all of you back in South Carolina and surrounding areas. If anybody is planning a trip to Texas, just let us know we would love to see any of you. If you don't know how to get in contact with us I will put it in this post. I lost a lot of your phone numbers because my cell phone died while on the Mexico trip and they weren't able to retrieve the contacts. Our home number is 512-538-1888; (Joel's cell) 512-417-6357; (Laurie's cell) 512-417-7041.
An our new address is: 131 Flinn Street, Hutto TX 78634
We love you guys! Let us know how things are going.
Joel and Laurie

House news.

2007-04-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I know that the postings are few and far between at this point, but we have been very busy of late. I have taken and passed the State and National real estate exams and am now a licensed Realtor. I started work a little over a week ago, and have been doing a lot of training. It is tough getting started, but the Lord is taking care of us. I wanted to post quickly to let everyone know that Laurie and I have decided to put a bid in on a HUD owned foreclosure. We will meet with my training manager tomorrow who will help us through the bidding process, as it is pretty complicated and I am just learning it (although I have learned a lot already). We would love it if you would pray with us about this big step. If we win the bid then we should know by Monday evening or Tuesday. The house would need some work but nothing major. The best part is that after a little research I found out that the home is listed for $30,000 less then it sells for brand new, and it was built in 2005. The house is only a couple of miles from out church, and about a mile from the church office so that would be nice. We have to drive 40 minutes each way as it stands right now. Anyway, we would definitely love to have your prayers with us if you read this soon. Thanks! We miss you all. At least I will be back in Columbia probably on May 8th for a week. Laurie may be able to come too. See some of you then.

News

2007-04-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

I know that it has been an incredibly long time since an update, but things have been very busy and I wasn't sure that anybody was still reading this thing. I have been assured that at least my Mom and grandmother are reading it still so here is new info at least for them. I started my real estate career yesterday with orientation at my new firm, and will be doing a lot of training in the coming weeks. I would love your prayers, as it is a lot to learn, and of course I don't make money until I sell something. This Sunday will be the first official service at our new church. We are very excited. Please pray though as the youth ministry definitely needs some work. With it being new there is no youth staff, and most of the volunteers are very busy as is typical. It looks as if Laurie and I will be taking on some additional responsibilities and I will like be assuming the point person role shortly to try and help bring some better structure to the ministry. This is very exciting, but very challenging as well.
We no longer have South Carolina numbers as my mobile will be the primary way that my clients can get a hold of me. Our new cell phone numbers are as follows:
Joel= 512-417-6357
Laurie= 512-417-7041

Feel free to call us! For some reason I can't think of much else to say right now, but I love and miss you all. We (or at least I) will be back sometime during the beginning of May. I would like to be home for 2 Sundays if possible, but don't know if I can practically afford to miss that much work. We'll see.
Thanks for your prayers!!! Keep them coming

Update

2007-03-01T08:22:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. A lot has happened. Last Saturday Laurie and Joel attended the very first membership seminar for Hill Country Bible Church Hutto, and became members of the church. Also on Saturday we went to a work day at our new church office. It is so exciting to see how the Lord is providing for everything. We have a early 1900's house (I think around 1940 or something like that is when it was built) and it is awesome. We have fixed it up and it is a cool place. There are a couple of offices as well as a kitchen and living area. The living area is going to be open for people to come and just sit when they want and it will have free wireless internet so people can even work from there. It is a great location and easy to find. On top of that most of the furnishings for the house we free! It's awesome when God works the way he does. This coming Sunday night we will have our charter service where we will sign the charter and vote for the elders and officially become a church. It is very exciting to be a part of all this. I (Joel) am especially excited because right now Hutto only has 1 high school and 1 middle school (and we are meeting in the middle school) so we will have easy access to the students in Hutto since there isn't really any happening youth programs in Hutto (only one youth group in the whole town!) This will provide lots of opportunities.

Other than that, we decided yesterday that I am going to start classes to get my real estate license and work for a broker here in Austin. I will actually start my first class today, and hope to have all my classes finished by this time next week (I am taking them by correspondence). Your prayers would be much appreciated during this time, as it is uncertain when I will be able to start making money. For the past week Laurie and I have been praying and talking to people and doing research, thanks Mom, and feel that this is what the Lord has for me next so we know He will provide. I hope people are still reading this, I know it has been a while since I updated it. Thanks for being part of our lives! We love and miss you all very much!

More surprises

2007-02-13T21:37:00.000-06:00

Laurie said that we needed some pictures to make the blog more interesting so here is a picture of me in my warrior pose. Well in another turn of events, we once again need your prayers (as if we didn't already anyway). Tonight I (Joel) quit my job. I have never quit a job after less than three weeks before, but I couldn't continue to do the job. Sales is always a tough job, but in order to do the job the way they wanted me to, I would have to lie to people, which is not something I am willing to do. I have tried to get around this and do the job without lying, and I have actually been able to do well, better than any of the new people on my team in fact. However, I know that I cannot do what they want me to do without knowingly deceiving people, and that is just not something I am willing to do. My integrity is not worth any paycheck. My supervisor was quite surprised, but I think it will end up being a good testimony to him. So like you can imagine we are back in the trusting God to take care of our needs (I mean we always are, but you know...). We are uncertain about what will happen financially, but we trust that God will reward us for our obedience to Him. After all you can't serve God and money. So all that to say please pray that I will find another job soon. Thanks everybody. We love and miss you all.

Some news

2007-02-07T12:26:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody, sorry there haven't been any updates for awhile. There hasn't been a lot of news to report, and Joel (me) has been sick since Saturday. I am starting to get over it today it feels like. Wanted to let everyone know that Laurie got a temp job doing data entry, and she started this morning. It doesn't pay great, but it is better than $0, and we can get benefits through the temp agency right away. The big thing is that now Laurie is working days, and I work in the evenings and so we don't have much time to see each other. There have been some other things also that have come up at Joel's job and he has a lot of decisions to make, so please pray for him about that situation. We have also had some other unexpected expenses come up this week. So far this has definitely been an adventure in trusting God as he stretches and shapes us for the future things He has for us. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We do miss you all very much.

New Phone

2007-01-31T19:04:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody, thanks a lot for all the prayers, we really appreciate them! Just wanted to let everyone know that we finally got our home phone working. The number we will be using is 512-538-1888. We still have our cell phones with the 803 area codes so you can call us on those with no long distance charges for the time being. We can call you back from our home phone as we have unlimited local and long distance with the digital phone. If anyone wants to know how to get your home and family protected for about $1 per day let me (Joel) know. I have an amazing offer for ya (really I do). Hope that everything is well.

Good News

2007-01-24T19:51:00.000-06:00

Well there is finally some good news to tell. Yesterday, on his birthday, Joel paid for some very costly repairs to his car only to find out it still isn't passing the Texas inspections standards so he has to take his car back tomorrow so that the guys he paid a lot of money to can fix whatever isn't fixed. They offered to provide Joel with a rental car while they fix his car. Anyway, onto the good news. Joel was offered a job today by Wal-Mart, but neither he or Laurie liked the offer very much as the pay is not really what they need, and the schedule is so crazy it seems like they let a toddler on massive quantities of energy drinks go wild with a pack of crayons on the time sheets. On top of that no one who was there during Joel's 2 interviews this morning could explain the benefits to him. Still, Joel and Laurie didn't feel like they had many options, and not much has been working out. It was a rough afternoon as Joel and Laurie tried to remind themselves and each other that God led them here and would provide for their needs. At about three in the afternoon Joel made a last minute phone call in response to an ad that he saw in Sunday's classified ads. He had to leave a message for the guy. At about 4:00 Joel received a call back from that guy who said that today was the last day that they were doing interviews and training started tomorrow. Joel got ready right away, and left for an interview. Joel was offered a position and he accepted it. That's right, Joel got a Job!!! Praise Jesus!!!!
It isn't exactly what they wanted, as Joel will have to start out working in the evenings [2:30-9:00pm] and working on Saturdays as well. It isn't a great schedule, but it is at least the same every week, and if Joel does well he will be able to move to a day shift which will be better. Joel will be working in a call center for a company called Protect America Inc. as a sales rep. It will be a big challenge for Joel, but it has a guaranteed hourly base that is better than what Wal-mart was offering, plus commission and monthly bonus opportunities. Joel will be selling home security systems. If anybody need a quality home security system to protect your family and home, then let me know =)
If anybody wants to know, Joel did have a good birthday, Laurie made him a delicious breakfast and in the afternoon took him to a movie that he has been wanting to see (Rocky Balboa). Laurie's parents took them out to dinner at a very nice restaurant where Joel got some great food! Joel finished off the night by playing some games with William Stewart which was very cool. We miss you all, thanx for reading this. I have to go as I have a long day of training tomorrow.

New small group

2007-01-19T08:51:00.000-06:00

Well good morning everyone (unless it's not morning when you are reading this). Laurie and I met with our new pastor last night and had a very good time. Bo and Stacie have 3 daughters who are full of energy. We had a lovely time of fellowship (for any Baptists out there you know that means that we were eating) and learning about the area and the new church. We will be volunteering our time with Hill Country Bible Church of Hutto, which launches on Easter Sunday. Bo told us about the couple that will be leading the youth ministry at the launch, and we are going to try to meet them this Sunday to talk about things. Hutto is a small town, or it was. The last census of Hutto revealed a population of 1,250 people. That was in 2000. In less than 7 years the city has grown to over 17,000 people and there are plans to build around 25,000 homes in the near future. Hutto is growing very fast, and Bo estimates that around 75% of the Hutto population are unchurched. The Hutto church plant will be very well poised to reach a number of people who have little or no Christian influence, which is very exciting. We are excited to be a part of the launch team. Please pray that our church will be a light in Hutto, and will impact the whole town with the lafe changing reality of Jesus Christ.
Last night we also met with our first small group. We had a great time, but whatever new small group we become a part of will have really big shoes to fill. We loved our home group at Riverbend, and it is hard to imagine finding another one that great. We met last night with the group that Bo and Stacie lead, and we had a good time. One of the main things we loved in our home group was that there were people in all stages of life. This small group has the same dynamic, and they were very welcoming. We will see if this is the small group the Lord has for us or if we should try others. Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to read this and keep up with all the crazy stuff going on with us. And most especially thanks for all your prayers. Please continue to pray especially for finances, as both our cars needed some expensive repairs to pass Texas inspection requirements, and we don't have any job leads yet. By the way you can leave comments and little messages for us if you want to by clicking the little comment link at the bottom of each post. We would love to hear from you!

Joel and Laurie meet their new pastor

2007-01-18T13:56:00.000-06:00

It is Thursday January 18th and Joel and Laurie have an invitation to have dinner with our new pastor and his family (he will be the pastor of the Hutto church plant where Joel and Laurie will be volunteering). We are also going to meet with a small group for the first time, which is lead by the pastor, Bo, and his wife.

2007-01-18T13:28:00.000-06:00

Well Joel's conference ended at about 3:30 pm on Sunday January 14. He left to come home at shortly there after. While on the way home Joel got a wonderful phone call from his dear friend Artie Brickle who wanted to make sure that Joel knew that the Bears had won their game. Joel and Artie had a great conversation as Joel was driving the tedious 19 hours home. Joel also got to talk to Zach who shot his first deer ever last week. Joel was very happy to have had the opportunity to talk to Zach and Artie. Joel decided to stop for the night at about 1:30 EST. However, when the lady wanted $55 so that Joel could sleep for 5 or 6 hours in a cheap room probably with a horrible continental breakfast the next morning he decided to keep driving. He decided that he would just save the money and drive through the night to get home and surprise Laurie who wasn't expecting him until the next evening. Joel should have known better than to try and drive 19 hours straight, but he thought it might be fun. Besides he had 4 XS energy drinks with him that helped him through the night. About 4 or 4:30 in the morning Joel got another surprise as the freezing rain started. Within a short time Joel's windshield wipers were starting to get completely covered in ice, as was everything else including the roads. This made for an interesting trip. The freezing rain continued, with no sign of letting up. It got really exciting when one smart fellow decided that since Joel was gaining on him that he would hit his brakes and see if he could make Joel hit him before he could change lanes. Joel managed to change lanes successfully in plenty of time to avoid hitting the smart man. The man was so thankful that Joel avoided hitting him, although he slammed his brakes for no apparent reason, that he communicated it by flashing his lights and honking his horn and telling Joel in sign language that he was number 1. Despite all these things Joel made it home safely at a little past 8:00 in the morning. Laurie was very surprised when she got out of the shower and saw Joel sitting on the bed waiting for her.
The freezing rain and sleet/snow continued throughout Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Now things are starting to melt and people are back out and things are running again. Laurie's parents say that this has been the worst ice storm in the 16+ years that they have lived here. I guess God wanted to welcome us to Texas. Here are some picture we took when it started snowing.

Ain't she cute!

It's thicker than it looks!

So that's why they call them ice sickle lights.

This is how it started

Joel's feet get sweaty so Laurie made him go outside so that his feet won't stink so much.

Joel's adventure part 1

2007-01-18T12:46:00.000-06:00

Only one week after arriving in Texas, Joel left to drive to Greenville, South Carolina for a business conference. Joel is involved with a marketing business on the side to try and help generate some extra income so that someday when he is a youth pastor they won't have to worry about how to pay the bills so that Laurie can stay home when they have children (which is not yet in case some of you are wondering). Joel wanted to go back for the conference, and got a really good excuse to go when his brother and sister-in-law had their first baby (that's right Joel is an uncle!) on January 3rd. Ben, Stephane and Linnea live in Rock Hill which is about 2 hours from Greenville. Joel was able to spend some time with them on January 11th and 12th before his conference. Here are some pictures of the proud uncle.

Ain't she precious!? Just 9 days old.

I wish I could sleep like that.

Linnea and her uncle Joel talk about the upcoming Bears playoff game where they expect the Bears to advance to the NFC championship.

Joel had a fabulos weekend at the conference although he missed Laurie greatly and wished that she could have been with him. The weekend was simply amazing as Joel learned a lot about the business that he is now apart of. The best part was hearing many of the leaders share the love of Christ and how it motivates them to excell. On Sunday morning there was a worship service that everyone was invited to attend (there were around 11,000 people at the conference and most of them came to the Sunday morning worship service). The Main speaker for the weekend, Larry Winter, shared his testimony and a very powerful and clear presentation of the gospel. Hundreds of people commited their lives to Christ, including 3 members of the team that I am on. It was truly awesome! It was especially cool to see a video from Josh McDowell talking about how great the leaders in our business are. He works with one of the leaders in a ministry called Outreach America which shares Christ with kids through sports camps with top atheletes like Shaun Alexander (NFL MVP 2005). [Stay tuned for part 2]

Car alarm

2007-01-18T12:43:00.000-06:00

Well, Joel and Laurie got a nice Texas welcome when the first week we were here someone tried to steal Joel's car while they were sleeping. Fortunately a good car alarm and a neighborhood watch frightened the would be thief away. I guess he didn't see the picture of Joel sellting in in Texas.

Settling In

2007-01-18T09:06:00.000-06:00

Nice and tidy

Joel hard at work while Laurie snaps pictures and eats bon bons.

Joel is settling right in with the neighbors in Texas.

Well, Joel and Laurie are settling into their REAL new house. The boxes are mostly put away and things are starting to look normal. This is a temporary situation as we're doing Laurie's parents a favor by living in the house until they sell it. We are making such a sacrifice. We are kidding of course, Laurie's parents have been a real blessing by providing this nice place for us to live while we are settling in here in Texas. It is especially nice since we don't have jobs yet and can't pay rent. The Lord provides. Please continue to pray as we look for jobs.

We're Here!

2007-01-05T08:25:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody! Please be patient as we build our first blog to help keep all of our friends back in South Carolina updated on what's going on with us. We arrived in Texas and have been working like wildebeests (ha you thought I was going to say dogs didn't you =) ever since moving us into Laurie's parent's old house, and moving them into their new house. We will try to have some pictures and stuff posted soon, but we have to find where we packed the camera. :) We will post more stuff as we have time, but we wanted to just let you all know that we got here safely. We love and miss you all.

P.S. here are some pictures of our new house. Come and visit!

P.P.S Joel is now an Uncle for the first time and he is VERY excited about it! Linnea Marie Merritt was born on January 3rd at 9:58 pm. He is still waiting for pictures of her due to technical difficulties.

YEAH RIGHT WE WISH!! Ok maybe not, but you can still come visit.