wordless wednesday

Last Thursday, my aunt and uncle came to town on business and we grabbed dinner at Mi Cocina. Here are a couple of shots Aunt Peggy took as we were leaving. I love having some family close by!

back from the dead

I feel that way somewhat. It's been a super crazy, busy, tiresome, sometimes overwhelming last 3 weeks, but we succesfully moved this past weekend. And let's just say that moving is a pain in the ass. Well, it is. But, thankfully, we had some friends come out and help us make the move easier and more enjoyable. We LOVE Wil and Misty and Brad and Tammy! Pictures of their lovely selves coming soon. Then, Monday morning we arrived at the title company at 9am and signed all the papers to close on the sale of our house. Our friends Erin and Christian are on vacation on the East Coast and have graciously let us stay in their house (many thanks!!). Tomorrow we get the keys to the apartment and will start to move a few things over and do the final move on Saturday, where a few more amazing friends are coming out to move us from storage to apartment.

God's been so faithful these past few weeks, it's hard to believe we are on this side of things. I don't think everything has settled in. Maggie and I leave this Friday for 2 weeks in California. My parents are flying into Dallas, and we will all catch a plane to OC together. Upon arrival, we will drive straight to Bishop, to stay with Steve and Shannon and meet our newest family member, Jacob! Aron has to be in OC on business the last few days of this month, so he took vacation days the following week and we will have a week long family vacation together. I'm thrilled!

Pregnancy-wise, I'm doing pretty good. I have noticed that in the past week or so I get very nauseous at night and get a round of chills, like I'm getting sick. I don't remember feeling this way with Mags. Maybe I'm having a little boy!? :) We had our first appointment June 9 and got a picture of our sweet little peanut...due date is January 15, putting me at almost 10 weeks pregnant today.

Random thoughts: Disappointed the Lakers lost the finals, looking forward to reading our next book club book (Janet Evanovich's One for the Money; to my MIL: I know you love Stephanie Plum!), needing to finish Larry Crabbe's From the Inside Out (it's outstanding) and currently enjoying an episode of Bones while waiting for my hubby to come home from a Death Cab for Cutie concert.

18 months

Our little girl is officially 1 1/2 years old! This is hard to believe, and yet it also feels very right. We are loving life with her and she makes it more joy-filled each day. Currently, she loves to wander around the house while Aron is at working asking repeatedly, "Dada? Dada?" It's so sweet. She said her name for the first time on Monday...for the past few months it has sounded like "Mommy," but this week she finally made the "g" sound. Now she points to herself and says, "Maggie!" She is starting to put simple phrases together and has recently dropped her morning nap. In it's place we have 45 minutes or so of room time, which she loves. Today, we went swimming and she took a nasty fall at the pool and has a bruise across the bridge of her nose. Poor thing!

We sold our house!!

While many of you know that we have sold our home (within 48 hours of putting it on the market! How good is God?!), many do not, so here's a quick update. Basically, we realized in January that our goal of pursuing a job in full-time ministry (specifically, worship arts for Aron if possible) seems to be alluding us. And while Aron's current job (in the building products industry; he's been there almost 5 years) has always been a means to this end, we were feeling like the end was no where in sight. Therefore, we began to pray and talk to those trusted advisers in our life, and made a move to sell our home, so we can be ready to move out of state if need be, or be ready to take a job in the area. It's been pretty exciting as we take steps to make our passions a reality.

I don't think I ever posted pics of our house, so you can click here and see our virtual home tour. We close on Monday, the 16th, so after that time, you might be out of luck, so look now. This has been an awesome home. For now, we are headed to an apartment in Plano, about 10 minutes from where we live now. We'd love your prayers as we are in the beginning stages of launching into ministry.

Meet Jacob Steven Stutler!

My beautiful sister and her wonderful hubby gave birth to their first baby on Saturday, May 31 (which also happens to be Shannon's 28th birthday! His actual due date was June 10). Jacob Steven was born after a DREAMY (seriously!) 5 hour labor. Shannon was able to go all natural with no epidural. Jacob weighed in at 6 lbs., 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well! Thanks for all your prayers and love. They will post more pics and details on their blog in the forthcoming weeks. Jacob looks just like his dad here! His future as a musician is off to a rockin' start.

P.S. For those of you who participated in Shannon's "Shower-in-a-Box," she will be blogging about it in the next few weeks. The plan was for them to open gifts and take pictures this past Saturday, and well, plans changed! :)