ooooh my nerves!! I need to rant....

Ok, first of all, lets remember to praise God that we got a contract on our house at all...and for that we are thankful....a few weeks ago the buyer asked that we bump up the closing a week, meaning that we had to move in a BIG hurry and cancel vacation plans etc, but we did it, trying to be accommodating...now...we got word 1 day before our scheduled closing that there has been a "hiccup" with the lady buying our house...actually a problem with the people who are buying HER house and thus preventing her from buying OUR house...apparently they went through some sort of online lender like you hear about on TV and those are never good news (according to our realtor) but we were told it would only delay our closing by a few days...not a HUGE big deal...and then we just got word that now they are going through the mortgage process again with a legit bank....HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE? SHEESH! Whatever lesson the Lord is trying to teach us through all this, I just hope we are learning it...so as to not need to be taught again! Open the Eyes of our Heart Lord.....I want to see You (in this MADNESS)
Friends and Family, please pray for us. Believe it or not, aside from being frustrated, and a bit impatient, I'm feeling a peace about this. I'm not freaking out that this is all going to fall apart, just wanting it to be over with.

Wake up Daddy!

This almost reminds me of pictures of my 2 boys just after Jack was born, and Josh was still driving back and forth from Bellevue to Livingston EVERY DAY. Most of the pictures taken during that time were of Jack laying on top of Josh sleeping, since he was always so worn out.
Daddy hadn't driven that much yet on this occasion, he had just had a particularly hard day at work. It was time for us to get started on our trek to Nashville to start packing a moving (a decidedly NOT relaxing weekend!) Honestly, I was tired too just at the thought of it. Daddy was so tired, that even though I plopped Jack down on his back and he was even pulling his hair a little, Daddy just slept right through it. I can't even remember what it took to wake him up!

Moving weekend (again)

Many thanks to all our friends and family who helped this weekend! Granny Ruthie and Mzee for keeping Jack friday night and Saturday...NO separation issues!! YAY!!! Uncle Daniel for being such a great helper Friday night and ALL day Saturday! I know you were worn out from School...we REALLY appreciate you! Thanks also to our dear friends from our Beloved Clearview Class-Chuck, the Gabhart Family, Daniel, Jeremy and Allison and to our long-time friend ("uncle") Kyle-ya'll were awesome. Your energy, cheerful faces and amazing spatial skills surely made this task more pleasant! There is NO way we could've done this without you!! Please also give hugs to your spouses and children who could spare you for the morning, I am certainly realizing now what a sacrifice that can be!
Please pray for us as we are unpacking and digging out from under all this STUFF! Also please pray as we start to make decisions about what our next step will be after the house has officially sold...whether to stay put, or look to buy a house, and when all that should happen. I'm just too tired to even think about that right now!
THANKS AGAIN everyone who helped and prayed for us.

CBS and my spiritual identity

no, not the tv network..."Community Bible Study" which meets here in town. It was suggested to me by my sister, and then by other acquaintences here in town (one new friend even made a special trip to our house at the beginning of the summer to bring me the registration cards...how sweet!)
We are studying Romans this year. I have to confess that at first I was a bit concerned/annoyed by all the rules that they were laying out...RULES at a Bible study???? Because this is open to the community, it is "interdenominational" even though it meets at the Baptist Church. I really like the idea of learning about the Word and the One who wrote it from a nondenominational view...and I am eager to learn from others who may not have the same background I do.
One of the main rules they have is to discourage any talk about where you go to church, your denomination, your pastor, specific books you've read or tv evangelists you admire, etc. This is to prevent any divisive attitudes about doctrinal/personal issues that others may not agree about and wish to debate and be distracting. (They also "ban" any political talk...for the same kinds of reasons...) I can completely understand that....but at one point it made me pause and think..."well, if I can't talk about or refer to any of these things, will I have much to talk about?" I mainly hang around in 2 circles of people 1) those whom I've grown up around so I kinda know their slants on spiritual issues and we know what to say/not to say or 2) around people who are a part of my same denomination, so we pretty much agree...I think this study in this kind of format will really encourage me to "branch out" and discover/explore my spiritual identity apart from all these things...who am I as a Christian...not as a member of this denomination or church or a student at this school.... I think it should be interesting. I've not been challenged like this in a long time. Growing up we visited/experienced several different denominations, so I have not problem accepting and relating to Christians who aren't Baptist...
I've been in similar situations before...when I was in middle/high school I went to a school that was no affilliated with the Baptist Church...and I was kind of prepared for the "hot button" divisive issues .When something came up that I didn't think sounded like what I was used to, I was encouraged by my parents to search the scriptures and ask "experts" and glean what I believe is correct. This only helped cement my faith and encourage it to grow.
I hope this will be true in this new CBS experience too. Not that I will be on the hunt for things I don't agree with, but to keep my heart open and alert to learning new things and seeing how they fit in with what I believe and/or expand it. Pray for me (and for my attention span... hanging out with an infant all day has shortened my attention span GREATLY! I found I was very easily distracted this morning.) ps-Today Jack did GREAT in childcare for the 2 hours!!

Fun with Auntie Hannah

Surprise! Auntie Hannah got to come back to TN for a little while before her school year starts up! We got to spend the weekend with her. Just look at all the fun Jack had hanging out with her and the rest of the Cooper family. She and Jack and I went over to the townhome for a little while on Saturday to work on packing (and really not getting much done...trying not to panic since the moving truck comes on Saturday and we're not getting back into town until Friday night...stay calm...) and Hannah got to peruse through some of my teaching materials that I actually kept, to use in her classroom this fall. How exciting that these things won't just be collecting dust until I get them out to use with Jack. Friends of Pops and Bertie, the Mills family let us borrow their Wii for the weekend...it's the first time I've ever been any good at bowling! yipee! Daddy has already put in a request for Jack's Christmas present....although I'm sure Daddy would keep it from collecting dust until Jack could use it... I think it's funny in the video how Jack was getting into the boxing action with Daddy and Hannah.

Papa and Nana

Been meaning to post these for a while...Bertie has been so busy and hasn't had a chance to send them to me, so I just had to shanghai her computer and get them for myself! :)

A few weeks ago Josh's Howell grandparents came to Tennessee from TX. They got here in time to help out when Bertie had to go back to work. We got to visit with them for 2 weekends and it was so much fun! We just love to visit with them and it was so special to get to share Jack with them too! Thanks for coming to visit and love on your newest great-grandson!!

our home(s)

as per my brothers suggestion...another update on our house...we got an offer and countered it...and it was accepted!! We are closing on our place on the 29th of august and moving the weekend before (on the 23rd) (anyone wanting to help out that morning/afternoon...come on over!) We can't begin to tell you how thankful we are for how the Lord has brought this about, and the intense timeliness of it all is amazing. Thank you to all who have faithfully prayed about this and keep us in your prayers, both about this (at least until the 29th has come and gone) and just life in general.
We are looking forward to this step very much, although for me it seems quite bittersweet. I'm very much a "homebody" and I KNOW we've not lived in Nashville for many months now (although as much as we've been back, it surely doesn't seem like we've left!) but to realize that once our place sells, this lifelong proud Nashvillian will no longer be a Nashvillian is a strange thought for me.
We are enjoying Cooke-vegas. (At least I will say I am enjoying it...Josh pretty much knows how to get to work, how to get home and how to get to Nashville...)I've made some nice friends who I would like to hang out with more often. I joined a MOPs group (Mothers of Preschoolers) and have been invited to be in a leadership role in the group. I'm excited about accepting this role, because it will be an interesting way to make friends and minister to others at the same time. I just hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew when it comes to extra responsibilities. After having to be responsible for SO much (classrooms of 20+ kids!) for so long, it's been nice for my responsibilites to be more focused and limited. I really felt the Lord telling me that it is ok now to take on a little something more...we'll see.
We're still searching for a church, although we've not had a chance lately since we've been back in Nashville so much. We're still looking for the right balance between worship styles/preaching styles/sunday school or fellowship arrangements. I think that when things settle down and we have a chance to look around a visit somemore we can get a better feel for "what's out there."
Please continue to pray for us as we transition to our new (ish) home and community. Pray that we are led to the right church to meet our needs and that we can get involved in the work the Lord is doing in that place. Pray that we open our hearts and minds to making new friends and being in new situations and as we broaden our horizons. And please continue to pray for our family that we will continue to change and adapt to our new roles in life and continue to grow together and seek to serve the Lord wherever he places us. Wow, this is a much longer entry that I initially anticipated. Here you go John, be careful what you ask for... :)

time to babyproof

I know I've been spoiled so far that I can sit him down and he stays there. Now that he's learned how to (gracefully) go from sitting to tummy and then move himself around, he's getting interested in so much more than his toys. Why is it that the off-limits things (like the keys in this video, or Daniel's glasses this weekend) are so much more of a motivator than the safe baby things? Just yesterday I was putting together his new fan in his room and within a minutes time he got his hands on a plastic bag, a power cord, a screwdriver and the box the fan came in and the dog. AUGH! Thank goodness I was close by. I'm going to have to be much more diligent about picking up after myself and closing doors and watching him more closely. This is very exciting too. I guess all that practice at the beach paid off.

The Beachfront photo session

Josh and Rachel saw a family having a photo session on the beach and decided we should try the same. I know this is a gazillion pictures, but believe it or not, this is pared down from probably about 200. I'm just so pleased, since Josh and I are not the most photogenic people, and we got some great family pictures. Thanks to Rachel and Jeff for taking them, and to Daniel for helping with all the "props".

The Beach Trip

We had so much fun at the beach. Jack did GREAT on the 9 hour drive down, better than some of us at some points. We went to the beach almost as soon as we got there, and Jack really wasn't sure about the beach. The sand felt wierd, the water was moving and loud, and he just didn't want to be there. He warmed up to the pool later on in his floatie and once Daddy got to the beach, Jack did better. He actually splashed in the ocean and played in the sand. We did really well with cooking in the condo and only ate out a few times. Our days were great, but no so much the nights. I don't know if it was the herd of elephants that were staying above us, or all the extra stimulation, or teething, or what, but he only slept through the night 3 nights out of 8! AUGH! I've goten used to letting him cry for a while, but NOT in the same room! We are 99% sure he is teething, but no signs of them yet. Thank goodness I remembered the tylenol and the frozen chewy things. Because there wasn't much carpet in the place, Jack got some good practice with scooting/creeping/crawling on the tile floor. The weather was gorgeous most of the time, except on the trip back (which did make it easier to leave) it rained almost the entire time, so I'm blaming the weather for his stressful carride back. He just got sick of the car, sick of me, sick of his toys, sick of his songs, sick of everything. He was ready to be HOME! By that time, so were we. Thanks Granny Ruthie and Mzee for letting us go, and thanks to Auntie Raychie and Uncle Jeff and Uncle Daniel for going. We had so much fun hanging out with you guys and you made the trip more fun and less stressful for us. Thanks for all your help!

beach pic outtakes

I'm learning what I'm sure every parent has learned, that for every good picture of your child, there are 2 or 3 not so good ones, and that ratio goes up for posed pictures! Here are some of the sillier ones.