O-H

I-O!
People who aren't from Ohio (or the Big 10) may not know this popular cheer, but here in public if someone calls out "O-H" someone (more likely a group of people) will respond with an "I-O." And not even think twice about it.

Yesterday I was asked to "Y'all" for someone. I did.

We have been having quite a special time with our family and friends here. There's too many stories to share and faces to see, but we are gearing up for another busy day.

Max flew well with me on Friday. I couldn't have asked for a better flight, or a better baby.

Friday afternoon Max met his Great Grandma on my side (my mom's mom) and then also met his Aunts Andi and Erin and Cousin Ali, and then later Grammie Music.

On Saturday Max met Auntie Jess (while mommy got her haircut) and also met Uncle Nick and Aunt Kara later in the evening. Daddy and Grandpa got into town that afternoon safe and sound from Texas. Just a little tired from driving 16 hours straight.

Sunday was a ridiculously busy day. I can't believe we made it through without any major meltdowns from Max or me.

We were commissioned during the services at East Side. It was so special to us and hopefully them. Nana came over for lunch and then Grammy and Grandpa had a Buckeye party for little Max. He was such a trooper being passed around from person to person and loved all the attention. He slept so well last night.

Today we will be visiting more family up in Morrow County. More great grandparents and tonight a party at Uncle Nick's house. Max is sleeping right now storing up smiles for today.

Here's a slide show of what showed up on my camera over the past few days.

I can't believe we leave here in three days. So much to do so little time. Here are some pictures of Max. Can't stop to chat long, I've gotta keep packing, organizing, cleaning....

Hanging out with cool Mike T.


Max's First Babysitters Lizzie and Geoff



Great Aunt Candace came to visit from Austin


Joanna our great friend and short term neighbor


Smiley boy! (With Gilbe in the background)


This is what our house looks like.... This is ridiculous.

Four years ago today Adam and I said our "vowels" in front of our family and friends. We then said our "vows" pledging our lives to grow together as one in front of family, friends and most importantly God. Boy we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into then. :)

Marriage has been a challenging but wonderful journey for us. Having dated for 5 years before getting married we wondered how different marriage could really be (besides the obvious things). And we were surprised. But it was a lovely transition (now looking back at it) and we fall more and more in love everyday (and still continue to).

Almost just as importantly- that day we said, "goodbye," to our family and friends and moved 1000 miles from our homes to Dallas to begin seminary training. Even more so, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Seminary was a tougher transition than marriage. The amount of work that was required of both of us for the long haul made the first few years tough (compounded by me teaching school). But realizing that life is too short to just trudge through life made all the difference to me and the last two years have been a great joy and growing experience. Learning to lean on the Lord for everything, and I mean everything in life allowed a lot of the stressors to fade away.

Now as I sit here four years later, feeding a baby and packing up our stuff once again, I wonder what we have in store for the near future. There are still so many unknowns but we are looking forward to it, and as always have to trust in the Lord to provide (and He has over and over and over again!) and trust we are living our lives for Him and that it will not return void.

If someone would have told me that today I would be where I am, and have had all these experiences, I would not have believed it. And yet more has happened (good and bad) than we could have ever imagined. And I definitely like myself more now than I did then.

So while today is the day Adam and I celebrate our marriage, we also celebrate a lot more.

One year ago today we had a wonderful miracle enter our life. Our niece Ella was born to share our big day with us! Happy Birthday Baby Ella! You are such a joy to all those who know you!

He got all worn out making the picture!

Endings and beginnings

We are really feeling pressured by the end of our time here in Dallas. We are trying to cram as much stuff as possible into these last days and are pretty booked until out time here is gone. We've been checking off out "things to do before leaving Dallas list." If you are friends of ours and live here in Dallas, seeing you is probably on the list and you need to call us so we can find time to see you! Please!


Also on our list was going to a Frisco Rough Riders game at Dr. Pepper Park. So yesterday we grabbed our tickets, went up early and stopped by IKEA for some things we'll need once we move, ate dinner at Ritzy's killing time until the sun was a little lower and more comfortable for Max, and made our way over to the Park. As we were walking up to the gate we ran into some friends who were leaving the game early. I stopped to chat and show off Max while Adam was getting out tickets scanned and came to find out that our tickets were actually for next weekend! We had accidently purchased the wrong date! Luckily Andy and Andrea came to our rescue and we got to watch the rest of the game on their tickets (the guy working the gate was really nice and allowed us to go in on their stubs). We had a great time and it was a fun "boy" thing to do for an early Father's Day outing.


Today we went to church and out to lunch to celebrate Adam's first Father's Day. The rest of the day will be spent packing and getting the house together for moving.


Happy Father's Day to all you "Dad"s out there!



Daddy and son at the baseball game


Happy American Family


My baby's a hunk


He's surprised he can hold his head up so high (and so are we)


Sweet, smiling, sleeping baby

One Month

Today is Max's one month birthday. It's almost three am and we are up enjoying the night together. Max normally sleeps from 11-4 every night but woke up tonight around 2am just talking and having fun in the cradle next to the bed. I tried to ignore him and get some more sleep but he was so sweet talking and cooing at the nightlight reflection on the ceiling. We got up to eat and enjoy each other's company. Some Momma and son time was required with him being so cute.

We were at the doctor yesterday for him. He has a clogged tear duct and had a little bit of a fever. He's got some antibiotics that should clear it right up (it already looks better) and it's just a little goopy in the mean time. The highlight of the trip was him getting to be weighed. He weighs 9 pounds 10 ounces. So he's more than gained back his birth weight and almost a pound at a month old. He's getting bigger everyday and is so long and lean still, Adam and I wonder where he gets it from.

Max loves to be around the action. He loves to watch and be held by different people and doesn't mind being the center of attention. He's laid back and calm and only cries when there is something wrong. He's a very sweet and alert baby.

His facial features change everyday but he is a great mix of both Adam and I. He has Adam's hairline and forehead, my brow and eyes, Adam's nose, my lips, and we assume Adam's chin (it's not mine, but we have no idea what Adam's chin looks like behind that beard of his).

It's already getting harder to remember life before him, but that's an awesome feeling. It's like he's always been here.

In other news, we are in full moving/packing/Cara panicking mode around our house. I've got loads of things to do (on top of the usual loads of laundry and regular stuff I do) and it's not going to get any easier over the next few weeks until we are out of Dallas forever. We've started doing all the things we wanted to do one last time before we left. It sounds cheesy but we Google Mapped all of our favorite things to do and eat to find out how far it was from Washington. We found out just how accustomed we've become to the big city. So tonight we spent two hours in Half Priced Books and had Chipotle for dinner.

Because the moving process could take up to 10 business days for our stuff to arrive in Illinois, we will be spending an undetermined amount of time in Ohio before making our debut in Washington. Max and I are flying in on Friday, June 27 and Adam will be arriving Saturday night/ Sunday morning after us. We could be there until Monday night, we could be there a week, we just won't know until we are there. We are anxious to get to Washington but are so looking forward to a little vacation in Ohio before hitting "the real world" of ministry, house hunting, and our new lives.

Well I'm off to enjoy some time with my son and hopefully a lot of that time for the rest of the night includes sleep.

More updates for you...

We've been super busy around here. But at the request of many of you, here are some pictures of Max and a video too.

He's a sweet sleeper.


Rylee and Max


Tired of tummy time and taking a break


Sweet boy


Naked baby!


Max gave us a preview of what we have to look forward to in the next few weeks.

Checking things off our list

We've got an amazing amount of to do lists - I might need to make a list to keep track of all my lists. Now that's just sad.



I always forget how stressful it is to move. It always seems like a lot of fun until you are in the middle and there's no going back but there's still a lot of foward ground to cover. I've got boxes (filled and yet to be filled) blanketing some of the rooms of our apartment) and every box that needs to be filled has a mental process that goes with it....

-Is this something that really needs moved?

-Is this something that will be needed in the next few weeks?

-Is this the right sized box for this thing to go in?

-Does this really need moved (we have a lot of stuff)?

-Will this be needed immediately when we get to IL?

-If not do we really need it at all?

I'm trying to pare our stuff down as much as possible. I'm feeling like we have a lot of dead weight around here that should go.

I keep motivating myself by thinking of people who live in 500 square feet and everything they own has a purpose. You know IKEA style. I would ideally love to be that person. Until I remember I love buying in bulk, and I love a good sale, and I love having pretty things around me. Then it all goes to pot.



And the most amazing miracle happened while I'm typing this.... My husband (the perpetual packrat, it's hereditary, just ask his mom about his dad) had claimed that today he will go through the binders and binders of seminary notes that have accumuated over the years (really like 25 binders of paper) and will pare them down to what he needs. Whoohoo! I'm going to take pictures of this momentous ocassion.

Per Grandpa Kipp's Request

Here are some updated pictures of Max....


Tummy time is not a favorite but he's really good at it.


Streeeeeeeeeetching


Sweet sleeping baby

Lots of new things

We've been doing a lot of new things in our lives lately. We've said a lot of things we never said, mostly revolving around the baby- But one thing we've been saying a lot is, we are thankful. I can't say that I say, "I am thankful" all that much in my "normal" life, but we've been saying it over and over again lately.

We are thankful for Max and especially thankful he is a good sleeper and eater. We are thankful for our NEW church family and our OLD (current) church family and in general the fellow believers we are in contact with every day. We are thankful for what God is providing for us every day (meals, sleep, support, visits, phone calls, letters and cards, excuses to get out of the house).

In update form, here's the low down on what's going on with us:

Max is getting so big! He loves to try and hold his head up and he's a champ of an eater.

I am actually looking forward to going back to work (although for a limited and short amount of time). I miss having the schedule and need to be somewhere. I'm going to have to make a schedule for myself once we move and settle into Washington.

Adam is working 40 hours a week at the BookCenter trying to support his loafer of a wife (I like the change around of roles as of late).

We went to church today and sat in the foyer where they have televisions and have started home group again in our house tonight. It really is good to be back to a seminormal life.

And now to round off the update- More pictures of the little one to satisfy all of your curiosities in chronological order.


Wrinkly naked baby... What could be cuter?


Max loves it when he can find his thumb.


Baby (or not so baby) Kate came over to show us how she's almost ready to crawl.


Adam wanted to prove that I like to play video games still. Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a really great game full of puzzles and brain teasers. I told him I was just trying to keep my brain sharp.


We love bath time!


We like naked time too.... I think my brother, Nick, sleeps like this... Kara can you confirm this?


Max attended his first party yesterday, a baby shower for Lily Claire, to be born at the end of June. In order to commemorate the big event he wore his first pair of shoes.


Max also had his first bottle yesterday. He will have to be partially bottle fed while I am back to work in the next couple of weeks. Daddy got to feed him and he really didn't seem to mind the change in format.