Birthday pics...i'm way behind!

Jackson's now one and we had the best birthday party with our cousin Emma Kate (since they're just one week apart!) I cant believe Jack is one! Not much has changed except we are now bottle and formula free (YAY!) and he took his first two steps toward Josh yesterday! (YAY YAY!) We are excited, but of course, he hasn't done it since. I need to get pics to prove it now!:)

For Dad

I promised my dad recent pictures of Jackson especially since i haven't posted anything on here since APRIL!! i've been way out of the loop in blogger world! Jackson is doing great- we had an amazing, busy summer and I start back to school tomorrow!! Jackson is spending life getting adjusted to being at lindas again, but he just bounces right back. Besides a runny nose for the past few days ( which i think is a result from his horrible swollen gums where two MORE teeth are about to break through- which will make 9 and 10!), he's handled the transition quite well!! He's now crawling (not just ARMY crawling anymore!), eating table food, taking "bottles" from sippy cups,learning to LOVE to read and growing up on us WAY too fast! Needless to say, the few pictures i took this summer do not even begin to express the fun and joy i had with him while i was at home!!

Counting Down...

It's really sad that I don't update my blog like I should! Life is so busy for us, I barely have time to sit down!! We're slowly finishing up the school year. I have 6 more weeks of school (June 2nd!) before the summer and Josh has 2, I believe. What's next? It seems like we already have our summer planned out for us! We've got several weddings, VBS @ church, Josh's trip to Ireland (will expand in a sec.), me and Jackson's trip to Virginia, and a beach "vacation" with seminary friends. by the time that is done- there won't be any summer left:( But I'm planning on thoroughly enjoying myself and not worrying about when summer ends.
Jackson is doing great- it's hard to believe I updated almost a MONTH ago! Believe it or not- he's still got that "crud" from the ear infections that he had three weeks ago. The doctor said it could take up to 4 weeks to totally clear up. It's just a cough that really minor anyway, but I , being the worrier that I am, have called the doctor twice about it! This month has been a rough month- teething wise. His top two teeth finally broke through last week, so this week has been better. His temp. for a solid 3 weeks was 99.4-100.3!Last week Jackson also went through a separation anxiety phase. He wouldn't let us leave the room and would not go to anyone except me, Josh, and his babysitter, Linda (thank goodness he went to her!) We went to Georgia and I really think Josh's mom was crushed when he started crying the second she picked him up. I think he's over it because this weekend we left him in the nursery @ church and had friends holding him all day Saturday and he was back to his normal self! Phew! Other than that, Jackson's being Jackson-sweet as can be! He's sitting up all by himself now and loves to play with any kind of ball around! basketball, football....whatever. Josh isn't hiding his excitement about this at all...:) Jackson has always loved bath time too, but ever since he's been sitting up independently we've let him sit in his tub for a little while longer to play. He loves to splash and splash and splash some more! I cannot believe that he's going to be 8 month old in a week! I already scheduled his 9 mo. checkup for next month- and then after that it's his 12 month check-up...it hasn't quite hit me yet that it's a year.
We also had Josh's birthday this month- 26! It's so hard to believe. It seems like we celebrated all week, but had a quiet day at home on his actual birthday and then had some friends over for cake and icecream on the day after.
Josh is planning on going to Belfast this summer to do his CCMI (Cross-cultural immersion...). I'm not thrilled with him being gone from me and Jackson for two weeks, but every summer before now has been full and since he graduates in December, there's not a lot of time left. Please pray for us as we are separated, even though it's a short amount of time. I'm afraid Jackson's going to start walking during the time he's gone and Josh is going to miss it:( Also pray for his ministry over there, he will be staying with a pastor of a PCI (Presbyterian Church of Ireland), learning how they do ministry, as well as preach and lead some bible studies. If he enjoys his work/feels God calling him over there, we are looking into going as a family over there for three years because they are in desperate need of pastors. They are looking to the United States for many of their pastors. We would have to raise our own support- unless i worked, which is really not even on the table @ this point- and we would live in downtown Belfast, so it would not be easy or as glorious as it sounds, by any means, but God doesn't call us to go for the easy does He? Josh has been wanting to do some kind of ministry work overseas and I lived half my life in Europe (7 years) so I would love to go back. Nothing is set in stone, obviously, and this is just one of the many options that we are considering over the course of the next few months leading up to Josh's graduation! We could end up here with Josh having a youth pastor job- WHO KNOWS! Please pray for us as we start this journey of seeking employment for Josh after graduation!
I don't have time now- but I want to post pictures of Jackson this past month- we've got some cute playtime/bathtime pics!:) Check back later!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Jackson!!

(and the poor little guy has a double ear infection today too, of all days! but the good news is mommy got to stay home with him today!)

Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can say!!

The joy of my heart!

My son seems to get sweeter and sweeter every day ( if that's possible!) We went over to the Medley's last night (our good friends Sarah and Trey) and the Ellis's joined us for dinner with the most beloved prof. of the guys, Dr. Bray! We had such a good time visiting and just hanging out. Sarah and Trey are waiting to hear from several schools where Trey wants to go off and leave us to get his PHD. (We secretly hope- even though we pray for God's will in this situation- that they end up staying here & have babies!!! :) ) Our friends, Bekah and Daniel Ellis, just had the sweetest baby girl named Lydia on Feb. 2nd. She is so sweet and tiny and she reminds me so much of Jackson when he was first born! Last night was Jackson and Lydia's first real "interaction" with each other. Lydia, of course, was oblivious to all, and Jackson had NO clue what to think. Thank goodness for Sarah and Bekah, who had cameras to capture the sweet moment.

They were laying there on the bed just staring @ each other...we say it was love @ first sight. Bekah is a teacher as well and will go back to school @ the end of this month and will send Lydia to Mrs. Linda's (Nanny, as she's requested to be called! :) ). Jackson and Lydia will have SO much fun growing up ( or the first few years anyway) together! What made my heart melt was the way Jackson was reaching over to touch her face or her hand, the way he would do with anyone- just out of curiousity! Seeing the two of them together was the sweetest thing i've ever seen! (Lydia, I think, was scared to death. I think she thought she was being attacked!!) Anyway, it made me realize how precious and sweet these friends we've made here really are and hate the fact that seminary is coming to an end soon. Just thought i'd share these totally sweet pix of them. These are from Bekah's camera, Sarah took more that i will upload, i'm sure!

Sittin' Pretty

Just a little update: Jackson is sitting up by himself!!:) yay! not for very long...but he's doing it, that's what counts:)

So long!!

I can't BELIEVE it's been so long since i've posted on here. I must confess, I've gotten addicted to the Twlight books and, sad to say,...my every spare moment when Josh wasn't home yet and Jackson was asleep- i would read! Blogging was the last thing on my mind!!

Jackson has done SO much growing up just in the past two weeks in seems! last wednesday, my mom's b-day, we noticed his first tooth coming! it's the bottom front left one!:) then...3 days later, on Valentine's day, we noticed the second one coming in right next to it! and because Jackson is the sweetest little boy on the planet- we've had no problems with teething -YET! he hasn't fussed or cried or seemed like he's been in any kind of pain! I just hope it continues like this! :) He also is sitting up by himself, or trying to anyway. He will sit on his own for about 5 seconds, then support his weight on his hands in front of him! we're still working on it! we go to the doctor next Friday for his 6 mo. check up! it's amazing to me that he's almost 6 months old. We are VERY excited to start baby food pretty soon. My plan- and biggest ambition- right now is to make his baby food (maybe not ALL, but most!) Being a working mom- I don't know if this will happen, but it's so important to me that i'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen! We'll keep you posted!:)