Update just for you Cheryl

Well I promised my friend Cheryl that I would blog soon so here I am. We just moved houses and the internet isn't working so I'm at McAllister's doing this so there won't be any pictures, sorry. We just moved around the corner from the church, but boy was it tiring!! The house is sooo much bigger and we love it! BUT it seems to have a problem with waterbugs. For those of you who don't know what those are, they're these huge flying cockroaches. Yes, I said flying. And I have a major phobia of them and Jay is currently in San Fransico so he's of no help! Last night I was spraying one with bug spray and it looked like it was about to fly at me so I took off running only for the rug to come out from underneath my feet and I landed flat on my bottom! It was quite hilarious, and I would have laughed except that I was still in the same room with the monster bug, so I was too busy being terrified! Thankfully the bug man came yesterday and sprayed so maybe they'll start dying.
Jay took the kids to San Fran on a mission trip and he says all is going well. They're coming home on Sunday and it can't come quick enough. This the fourth week this summer that he's been gone and I'm ready to have him home. Our 9th anniversary was Thursday and of course he was gone so it was quite the bummer. Hopefully he'll make up for it with some amazing surprise when he gets home.
Well, that's it for now. When the internet gets back up I'll post this cute picture of Andrew showing me his muscles...it's quite cute!

The Wedding

Well, I didn't get very many pictures because my son decided to be AWFUL at the rehearsal and right before the wedding. But the good news is, he was pretty good during the actual service and for the pictures afterward. He walked down the isle wonderfully and then stood at the front for a few seconds before putting the pillow on the floor and standing on it. Then he started throwing the rose petals that were scattered on the floor up in the air, but it was that cute kind of misbehaving, so it was ok. I did have to get him down from the stage when he got right in front of the bride and groom and started throwing the rose petals at them, but he just came quietly with me and sat with me during the service. Overall he really did pretty well. Oh and Jay did too! :)

I guess tuxedos are out for the wedding party these days, but he was still cute!

My handsome boys! Andrew is saying "cheese"....too funny!

This is Kory, one of our youth who went to the wedding with us. Matt (the groom) was his disciple now leader this year.

Summer update

Our summer is off and running. It's a crazy time of year for youth ministers. Jay will be gone a total of 4 weeks in two months! I think this picture summarizes how Jay will feel when it's all said and done.

This next week is VBS and then this coming weekend Jay is doing a wedding for one of our Eastland kids. Oh and Andrew will be the ringbearer in this wedding...hopefully cute cute pictures will be forthcoming. I say hopefully because there is always the chance that he'll turn into the devil and not cooperate. I plan on having some great new toy as an incentive to not do this....great parenting, I know.

Uncle Jerrys' Wedding

My (Christi's) brother got married in May so Andrew and I headed to Carthage. (Jay had to go to a graduation). We got to see Andrew's favorite cousin, Alyson there.

They had cameras on the tables at the reception and Andrew thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures. It was sooo funny...Alyson would pose and Andrew would take her picture. Too cute!

Andrew's last day of school

Andrew did so great in school this year! So great, in fact, that he will be going all day and be in a regular preschool classroom starting next year! I'm fairly anxious about this, but I really believe that he's ready for it. He's speaking so much clearer and has really never really struggled socially...as you can see in the picture below with his friend Jayton.

We will miss Ms. Becky though. She has been so wonderful! Even after being out of school for a few weeks now, he still asks about her several times a week.

Andrew's 4!!!

He actually turned four on the 12th....I haven't posted until now because we didn't have our camera nor did we have a real party because we had just gotten back from SeaWorld. We got our camera back yesterday (Jay left it at a restaurant in Austin!!) so I thought I would post some pictures of our big boy. I took these today at the park.

Wrapping up vacation

Well, we had quite the vacation. Lots of driving. Summer temperatures. Today was traveling and getting to see our good friend Anna as well as my sister, Mindi. So those were nice opportunities. Tomorrow we leave for Wake Village. I love our times of refreshing but it's always nice to get back to serving where God has placed us. He does know best. Blessings to you if you happen to read this. Thank you for probably loving our family at some point or another. May you seek first the Kingdom of God and let him take care of the rest.

Family Vacation- Sea World Day 2 (or autism awareness day)

Ok, well, today we went back to Sea World, but not for too long before Andrew's autistic tendencies kicked in. He wanted to go swimming about 1 hr. 45 minutes in. And that's all she wrote. So, here are the pics and videos.



This was by far Andrew's favorite thing...



He didn't quite get the concept of what was proper behavior at the dolphin tank



So after we left (and went to the most horrible McDonalds parking lot visit ever) it was swimming time!




And we decided to end our day with something Andrew has been very much looking forward to since he found the toy in Wal-Mart...



Actually a pretty good movie. So far, that's 2 for 2 on summer movies (I enjoyed Iron Man also.)

Ok, phew, that's enough blogging for tonight. We leave San Antonio tomorrow for Dallas. We'll write later.

Family Vacation- Sea World Day 1

Wow. While overall the park is not that big and the stupid waterpark part was not open AND we didn't get to ride any roller coasters...wow. All of the animal exhibits and shows were quite worshipful. God is amazing. I love seeing the works of his hands everywhere. And they were everywhere.
And maybe most evident was in the reaction of our wonderful little boy. I feel like his awe is what we are like when we encounter even the smallest amounts of our savior. And now, some pictures and videos for your enjoyment (or your time waste).





















These last two are of Andrew after a long, hot day.

Family Vacation- Day 3

Mostly traveling today. Some rain. One really cool thing was we got to eat lunch with a former youth. I told Christi to remind me to take a picture. We didn't take a picture. Oh well. We love you, Amy!

So, we got to the hotel. Some pictures follow.















Hotel TV's have improved, no?















Ok, we're finally off to Sea World! Hopefully great pics and videos to follow.

Family Vacation- Day 2

Last day at Nana's for awhile. Tomorrow we leave for San Antonio and Sea World on Thursday. This evening we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I will say that it was probably the most pleasant experience we've had there maybe ever. Andrew enjoyed himself more than usual with the games. And for mommy and daddy they had a new Deal or No Deal game for tickets. Very addicting!!! I got the highest ticket amount for the day with 63 in one game! And to think that Christi is the one more addicted to the show.
Anyway, we forgot the camera for there, so we'll show you last night's fun times with cake and presents. Of course, Andrew didn't eat any cake. We'll get there soon, hopefully.











Mommy does a great job with the shark, no?

Family Vacation- Day 1

Well, hopefully there will be some pictures to go with our journey tomorrow. I always enjoy keeping people up to date on our journeys. In reflection, it seems like a pretty narcissistic thing to do, but oh well.
We traveled safely today and had a mini birthday party for Andrew with his Nana. She'll be working the rest of the time. It was nice. I'll share some pics tomorrow. We have a day of relaxation tomorrow and then we head to San Antonio on Wednesday. Fun times!

Life

So life around here has been fairly crazy lately. My dad (Christi) passed away last Tuesday and then his funeral was last Friday. It was fairly unexpected...he has had some heart problems, but was living on his own and seemingly doing fair. But he went to sleep one night in his chair and passed away in his sleep. My relationship with him was strained so I have all of these emotions that I didn't have with my mom's death. And most of them are fairly surprising to me given our relationship. I guess it's true what they say that death is never easy. It is quite strange to be only 29 and for both of my parents to be gone. But ultimately this world is not our home...our time here is short. So I have this new passion to make the most of the days I have. I am enjoying my family so much right now. Jay is such a wonderful support to me and Andrew becomes more of a blessing everyday. I guess essentially I'm just trying to love people more because you never know when your last encounter with them might be.
On a lighter note, Jay sold his XBox. For those of you who know him, you're probably going to have to re-read that last sentence. He just decided that it was taking up too much of his time, so he got rid of it. I never once asked him to, he just did it on his own. I am so proud of him...I know it was tough to actually go through with it. So with all of this free time now, he's decided to become mechanical and take on some projects with our brown car, that is on it's last leg. A few weeks ago he flushed and fixed a hole in the radiator and then today he replaced the spark plugs! What a great man I'm married to!

Pictures of our Monday

Andrew was all about the picture taking tonight. Among the various poses, we took one of him on the potty, one of the bathtub, one of him in the bathtub, one of the fish tank...and on and on and on. Don't worry, I'm not posting them all. These are are few of the worthy ones though.

The top two are of Andrew's first time playing the X-Box. He got a surprise tonight for his wonderful pottying abilities and he chose Legos Star Wars. He didn't quite get the concept of watching and playing so he finally gave up and just watched Daddy play.

Easter

Andrew's Nana bought him a suit to wear on Easter and I must say he's the most handsome little boy in the world in it!!!! But you can judge for yourself.

I was really worried that he wasn't going to keep the tie on, but this morning I put it on him and he said "Andrew's tie" and started walking around with this proud look on his face. He's really getting to be such a big boy!

We were taking these pictures and he made me take one of him and the duck...he loves for you to take pictures of his toys!

Potty Training Boot Camp

Some of you may call it spring break, but it's been potty training boot camp for us. We started Monday and Andrew has done amazing!!! I even took him to Dallas and he did great there too. He and I (Christi) went to visit Jay's family and had a great time. I took him to get his hair trimmed while we were there. He's definitely improved when it comes to the haircuts, but he still hates when they use the trimmer above his ears and the back of his neck. Anyway, this is a picture of the beginning of the week...that chart you see is now covered in stars, which means we owe him a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

Dinosaur song

Andrew was sitting in the floor playing the other day and I heard him singing this song he made up. Thought you might enjoy it.

D-NOW

Disciple Now was this weekend...very tiring, but great. Some of our former youth came to help out...it was really great seeing them and their significant others...one of them is married and the other is getting married this summer. Jay is actually doing their wedding and Andrew is the ring bearer...should be fun. :)



The boys playing XBOX

They love Andrew...and vice versa.


This was at the the putt-putt place...needless to say Andrew wasn't lacking in the attention arena this weekend.
After some very late nights and very long days (and then add the time change in there), we are all worn out.

FINALLY!!!!

ANDREW FINALLY WENT POTTY TODAY!!!!! AFTER MONTHS OF JUST SITTING THERE, HE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!!!! MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT THIS HAPPENED AT SCHOOL AND NOT AT HOME, BUT WE'LL TAKE IT!!!! YAY ANDREW!!!

Updates from the Patriarch

Well, it's been a long time since I, Jay, have written on this thing. At one time it was my doing, but I turned Christi into blog junkie.
Anyway, quick Andrew allergy update...
The results from his blood test put him at HIGHLY allergic to cats, as well as a high result for peanuts. With the peanuts thing, we of course had to enter the world of the EpiPen. A magic marker looking syringe filled with adrenaline that kills allergic reactions to things. Very interesting. Hopefully, we'll never have to use it. But the school has one and we have to carry one and all that jazz. But Andrew doesn't really eat anything, so whatever.
Ministry is good. Family is good. God is great! We are amazed at how God has led us on our journey to where we are now.
Well, that's all for me. I'm tired of typing. Blessings to you who have touched our family in some way. May we continue to glorify our Father in heaven!