A Busy 2009 Already!

Just keeping you up to speed with what we've been up to since the new year began!
Elsie's new favorite bathtub toy!

Little Elsie has just been the happiest baby lately! She has just been talking and walking (along and between furniture) more and more! Her new favorite thing is to smack her tongue against the roof of her mouth sort of "mocking" the sound of a kiss. It is too funny! She has been adding "mama" "baba" and "duhduh" to her vocabulary :-). Isn't it funny how you get excited about those little sounds? haha. We are having so much fun watching her grow- it seems like everyday she does something new! She has also been able to stand on her own for about 10-15 seconds before falling which is an improvement from 2 seconds :-) She has been doing wonderful though and we thank God everyday for our active, healthy, beautiful little girl! Here are some recent photos I took for her "7 month" pictures.













I started back to school last week. I have a feeling it won't be my favorite semester- at least compared to an awesome semester this last fall! In a way it is my own fault since I put off a few gen. ed. requirements until the last semester. I am taking "Africa" and "Environment and Technology." I am sure I will learn a lot, but I just feel sort of like an outsider since I've been so used to having teaching classes full of familiar faces and friends. I am also taking two literacy classes, one being a language development class which is actually kind of interesting because I am able to apply it at home with Elsie and her own oral language development. The other class is an Assessment and Evaluation of Literacy class where I will be doing a field experience with struggling readers and write a lot of lesson plans to assess their reading and writing abilities. It seems like it will be tough and a lot of work, but again I think it will be a good learning experience. All of my college friends are student teaching right now, so I do feel a little alone in all of my classes! I am just hoping that all will go well and I will get through it!


Lyle is of course keeping busy on the farm and at work. It is nice because we've been able to see him more this week. Deere's hasn't been making him work as much overtime now, so he is able to come home shortly after I come home from school. He is waiting patiently for a nice litter of pigs. Over break Alex and him built a farrowing building that looks really great- they put a lot of late nights in! Pat and Lyle worked on putting insulation in the farrowing building the other night until about 3:30 in the morning just getting ready to keep those piglets warm. I just keep hoping that all his hard work will pay off and one of these days we will have a nice litter for him! The sheep are doing well and we've got a lot of cute little lambs up there jumpin around!


Also, Lyle and I are sort of in the midst of trying to find a family church for us to belong to. For the past few months we've been kind of "on hold" so-to-speak in the church department. We just feel like we don't really belong anywhere right now. We haven't found that place to call home yet where we can raise our children to trust and know God, and continue our own journeys in faith. Recently though, we have been visiting Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls again. We have gone the past few Sundays and have enjoyed it. Elsie even enjoyed being in nursery- she didn't even crawl over to me when I went to go pick her up today which is VERY odd ;-). It is not a for sure thing that we will become members there yet since we have just begun visiting, but we are starting to really get our focus back to where it needs to be. Lyle's sister Jess and her family go there as well and she gave me some information on many bible study and fellowship opportunities as well. We just have to keep praying and relying on God to lead us in the right direction, which he will.


As Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."


We hope that everyone has been having a wonderful 2009 so far! We will keep you all posted on what is going on in our lives :-)


Here is another verse I came across. I'm not trying to be a preacher or anything, but just incase your facing a hard time in your life right now (which I know of a few of you are right now :-) ) , here are some encouraging words from the One above :-) :

"So do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10