Haircut!

Hosea’s locks were so sweet with the soft curls touching his neck and ears.  The light blonde glistened and the wisps would fly in the wind.  His ‘do earned him the name “angel boy” at the babysitter.  And his sweet nature helps him live up to it.  But, alas, we had to trim the curls.  At 15 months, the hair had turned into a catch-all for peanut butter, snot and anything sticky.

We took him to a neat little shop that his wonderful big brother, Gibson, loves to go.  Cookie Cutters, is a “salon” for kids only.  A bit overpriced, but I know that when we go, the boy  boys hold still.  I really wish I could just cut their hair myself, but I’m too scared!  They sit in firetrucks, airplanes or, our favorite, trains while they watch a movie of their choice and the stylist works her magic.  There is even a slide to pass the wait time…although we’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes.

The moment was memorable and Hosea held so still like a big boy.  He received the “gentleman’s cut” and even chucked when the clippers went around his little ears.

Lovely little locks!

Excuse the nose crusties...we're battling a cold!

Gibson even got his hair cut! (Complete with grape scented hair gel)

When Gibson Turned Two

Gibson had a special place picked out to celebrate turning two, the Frisco Railroad Museum!  Except this museum is really on an old train.  It has a locomotive, and dining car, a few cars and a caboose.  Since we had the party earlier in the day, he got to have the whole train to himself!  He invited some family and his closest friends to help him celebrate.

He had a Thomas (we lost the Thomas that day.  He had to be replaced with Smudger.) cake that tasted very yummy!

(He was already getting tired from running around the train with his friends.)

 

 

 

 

Gibson was blessed with so many gifts and lots of great memories to make his day very special.  (Thanks, Aunt Ashley,  for taking such good pictures.)

Lamp Redo

Early in the summer, we hit the garage sales pretty hard.  We were able to find so many fun and useful items.  One of our treasures was this lamp we grabbed for $3.

It was a sad, little thing.

Here is the breakdown of our spending

Lamp     $3
Electric Rewire $5
Paint $2
Shade $6
Grand total $16 

Remember our challenge?  I priced some designer lamps at Hobby Lobby the other day.  The cheapest one I found was $29.99.  Here is our finished piece!

4,3,2,1…..

4 Years
3 States
2 Beautiful Children
1 Amazing Adventure

Thursday, I didn’t get to post because I was working then Carl and I went out, but I just wanted to put a little post up about our anniversary.  When I got home that evening, Carl had flowers on the table and our wedding video playing.  He is so romantic.  We enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant and some yummy “froyo”!

Little did I know that when I set out for a 13 week tour with my drama team in 2006, I would meet the man who would make all my dreams come true. These last four years of marriage have been a whirlwind of excitement.  From moving to new jobs to babies, there is never a dull moment with our family.  We have no idea where we will be in five years.  That could be scary to some, for us, we are ready!

I love you, Carl.  Thank you for being the best husband and father.  Better than I could ever hope to have.

The first week we met.

Great Two Weeks and a Major Bummer.

The last two weeks have been very fun-filled!  Carl’s parents came to visit then we went to Memphis to celebrate Susan’s graduation!  It was so great to share some of Missouri with Mom and Dad Fauth and, of course, Gibson and Hosea loved the company!  In Memphis, Susan showed us her home for the last two years.  We are so proud of her and what she has accomplished.  (Sorry we missed Jerry’s, Sue!)

In between, we’ve hit up too many yards sales to count, gathering a great collection of needed items plus items to sell ourselves.  Currently, we are redoing a lamp that I am SO excited about.  We completely took it a part. It is curing with a coat of primer on its parts on our deck right now.  Rubbed off the rust, changed the electric.  You’ll just have to see it later!

Gibson spends most of his time playing with his new trains and tracks (an early birthday present from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim!).  He is quite the master, already putting the tracks together.  Also he surprised us this morning by counting to “9″!  My jaw dropped.  He has been watching “Leap Frog: Numbers Ahoy” and we’ve been reading counting books a lot.   I just hadn’t realized it stuck.

Hosea is WAY into the trains too.  Gibson does a great job sharing, but he’s kind of a destroyer and would rather bring complete annihilation to anything Gibson has created.  Speaking of destroyer, he started emptying one of his dresser drawers today.  Holding on to the kitchen with one hand and pulling out the third drawer up, he had taken out several pairs of pants before I caught him.  Gotta watch that guy…he’s sneaky!  But so full of love!

Here is the sad part.  We have pictures for each of these stories.  BUT… we can’t find our memory card reader at all!  We are waiting for one to go on sale so we can get it.  Unless you think it’s a necessity?  Anyway, we will update all of these stories with blogs as soon as Best Buy has a sale.  OR we cheat to make everyone happy.

Our Six Month “Nifty Thrifty” Challenge

Carl and I have always enjoyed finding good bargains.  Most of our furniture and a few other things were either purchased on super sale, given to us, or craigslist finds.  The last few months we have been discussing how we could really save if we only purchased items at a fraction of their cost.  So starting today and until December 1, we are doing a challenge.  Here are the rules.

1. All non-necessity items must be at bought at 50% off or greater. (Anything that is not food, ie furniture, clothing,toiletries, diapers)

2. Things can be found on clearance, with coupons, craigslist or garage sales.

3. In the event that an items needs a little “fixing up”, the total amount of materials purchased and the item itself still has to be 50% of the retail price.

So for instance, I’ve been scoping out lamps for our living room.  The ones I like are in the $60-$129 price range. YEAH RIGHT!  Two weeks ago, I happened upon a dandy and paid just $3.  But, it needs a fixin’. In theory, I have $27 to play with!  I will do it for much cheaper, though!

Some items we are putting in this category could be considered necessity (toiletries…hello, deoderant!?)  But we still want to only purchase them for the fraction of the cost.

We’d love to hear your comments or ideas on this.  We’ll be posting our finds and our projects.  Right now we will just keep this the same blog as our family one, but we might make a new one in the future!

 

You’ve waited for it

(Not really.  You didn’t even know the thought existed.)

It’s finally here….

(You still have no idea, do you?)

From the people who bring you “Leaving Ur”

(Yep, that’s us)

A brand new blog unlike anything they’ve ever done

(I know what you’re thinking. An additional blog?  They can’t even keep up with this one.  Trust us.)

A blog of EPIC proportions
(The word “EPIC” is just cool.  Kinda overdone.  But still keen!)

Get Ready.

 

LAUNCH DATE 6/1/11
(cue ridiculous sound effects here)

Resurrection Day

We got to spend Resurrection Day with my family this year.  This was the first time I’d been with family on Easter in five years! My grandparents and my mom’s brothers and their families all came to my parents’ house for lunch.

This was our first year to do Easter baskets!  Last year I didn’t think about putting other things besides candy in a basket and, since Gibson was only 9 months old, didn’t think he needed one!  BUT this year we put in puffs and yogurt melts instead!  Then we also added things like a sippy cup for Hosea and crayons for Gibson!

It was so great to spend such a special day with family!

New Blog Name

Faith. The author of Hebrews states that it is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NASB)  This chapter has played a major part in our lives lately.  Actually, it has played a major part in our whole marriage.  Our faith in God has brought us through so many struggles and times of uncertainty.  I’m 100% sure that this is the same for almost every believer.  After all, it is the very foundation of our relationship.  As The Message version states the same verse (and verse 2), “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.”  So many who have gone before us have had unwavering faith.  Do we have that same tenacity to trust God even when we don’t understand what He is doing at the time?

For the last few months, Carl and I have thought of, read about, and discussed the choice of Abraham.  I had planned on making this our blog name and writing about it, but I just hadn’t found the time.  Then today, a pastor in our church shared that God was calling him and his wife.  And he shared the same passage we had be meditating on.  So I decided to be obedient and share what God is doing in Carl and me.  In Genesis 12, God called Abraham to pack up his family and possessions and leave everything he’d ever known, any status that he’d held.  There was no map.  No “you’re going here”.  He just said come.  Ur seemed like such promising place.  But he couldn’t stay there any longer.  He chose to follow God.  With his faith, he relied on Jehovah to take care of him and his family.  And you know what?  God did just that.  He made him father of nations!  He became more than just a dweller of Ur.  He was blessed by the Most High. God had his back.

Five months ago, we left our Ur.  The story is long, but when it comes down to it, God wanted us to leave the place we were to go somewhere with Him.We don’t know what the future holds.  Our lives are basically lived one day at a time.  God has given us great direction though.  He has provided for us in so many ways.  Our faith is being tested and strengthened.  And in the middle of it all, we have never been happier.  We know that, like Abraham, wherever God takes us is going to be far better than we could ever do for ourselves.  We have our joy because we put our faith in Him. We can’t wait to see what is next for our family!  God has our back!

God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. – Ephesians 3:20 (MSG)

Things You Missed While We Were Too Busy To Blog! :)

…Or  also known as “I’m A Slacker”.  The last few days, I haven’t been able to upload pictures on here! And…I had 1,600 pictures to sort through!

November

Hosea turned 1 month!…Taught my friend Kinsor how to sew…Gibson ate a granola bar wrapper. I only knew after I found it in his diaper the next day…Uncle Aaron came for a fun visit…Explored Frankenmuth, downtown Lansing, Grand Rapids, and lots of places with Uncle Aaron…Gibson turned 16 months!…Resigned at JLC…Threw huge wing party for our worship team…Celebrated Thanksgiving with the Friedkins…Said goodbye to many close, close friends in Lansing.

One Month

Sleepy Heads

Yes, Gibson is wearing a Super Man costume!

Thanksgiving!

 

December

Arrived in Missouri…Settled in to my parents’ house…Headed to Montana for Christmas…Got snowed in in Salt Lake City…Finally arrived in Montana…Gibson got Strep Throat…Merry Christmas! Enjoyed our time with Carl’s family…Gibson and Hosea had fun with cousins…Came home to Missouri…Celebrated Christmas with my family…Played too many games of Settlers of Catan, Aaron’s game, and Eukre to keep track.

Two Months

Aunt Brittany "babysitting"

Gran, Grandma Nancy, and the boys

Christmas Day

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!

New kitchen from mommy and daddy

January

Happy New Year!…Sister Brittany had a masquerade Sweet Sixteen Party (her birthday was in December)…Gibson made himself at home at Nana and Papa’s.  Toys begin to fill every space…Hosea started laughing…It snowed…and it snowed again.  BIG TIME.  Sister and Mom out 10 days of school…Gibson likes “choo-choos”, “manny manny”, and “buh and woohy”

Three months!

Masquerade!

February

Gibson got the stomach flu…Stayed at my grandparents house for a few days.  An extra day because we all got the stomach flu!…Hosea rolled over…Carl got a job…We got to go on a date night and the boys stayed at Nana and Papa’s…Nana, Papa, Brooke, Ashley and Brittany ALL got the stomach flu!…We said we would help my mom out and take over the worship leading at church for 3 months (it started March 1)…Hosea can sit up

Four months!

Snow!

Great Grandpa

March

The first day of March was beautiful and 75 degrees!..Moved into our own apartment…Gibson can say more words than I can think up right now…Hosea loves Gibson so much.  He’s so into anything his big brother does…Hosea is also eating rice cereal now!…The boys share a room now and are doing great!…Still trying to unpack our place.

Five months!

Run!!!