Happy Five Months

Can you believe Lars is already 5 months old? Last night we took him to his first play, and he did great! We stayed for the first three acts and then left at intermission (past bedtime, needed to eat, getting fidgety...Lars, that is. Of course ;) The whole first part of the play (a good hour and a half), just captured him. He was content to watch everything that was going on (and several of Steve's students were the performers), and didn't make hardly a peep.
Tomorrow is another big day -- Lars is going to be baptized! Please pray with us that Lars will someday confirm the faith that he is being baptized into, and come to a saving relationship with Jesus. We will probably post a video or some pictures soon of the baptism.

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks or so. What a happy boy we have!

5 months old. Loves to have a long sleeve or a burp cloth or a blanket over his hand when he sucks his thumb.

Smiling at Steve.

Has not been too interested in his pacifier lately.

Working on liking his bumbo. He doesn't love it yet.

Loves to chat, squeal, laugh, etc.

Pretending he is sitting on the edge of the couch.

Modeling some new shoes (momma was too busy trying to make him smile to notice where the camera was pointed).

Wants to sit on his own more and more these days (not quite able to do it without support yet, but soon).

Sunset

Friends, the sun is setting on our time here at Geneva. This will be our last semester here. There's a longer story to it, but the main parts of it are that we feel that God is leading us to another adventure, though we don't know what or where or how or any other details about it yet. God does, though, and we feel at peace about it.
Don't get me wrong. We love it here, and have been blessed to have found great community and friendships during our second time around in Western PA. We are thankful for our time here.
Please pray for us as Steve is starting to look for and apply for jobs in higher education. We have our eyes on getting closer to the midwest/family if possible, though we will go wherever The Lord wants us to go.

Let us know if you want to hear more of the details of our leaving, or if you know of any jobs Steve would be perfect for (thanks to those who have already done just that!). We take comfort in knowing that God already has a place and a job in mind, we pray that it would become apparent to us soon.

For the Grandkids

On January 25th, Steve and four friends formed a team and started a weight loss challenge. Over the course of the next 12 weeks, whichever team loses the most weight wins $10,000! They are doing the challenge through Healthy Wage (which can be found here: http://www.healthywage.com/matchup-faq I still don't know how to do links when blogging from my phone. But hey! I can blog from my phone now!).
Their team name is "For the Grandkids," because they want to make healthy choices now, so they'll be around to play with their future grandchildren.
So for ten grand, and ten+ Grandkids, they embark on this journey together, encouraging and supporting one another, working out together, and holding each other accountable.
So far, Steve has lost about ten pounds! If they win first place, Steve'll have to use his share of the money to buy some new clothes ;)
If you're on Facebook, you can like their team and vote weekly for their team picture and name. You can find it on Steve's Facebook page, I believe.
Here is a picture of the team on day one. In April we'll have to post an after picture.

4 months

On January 23rd, Lars turned 4 months old! Yesterday we had his 4 month appointment, and he has grown a bit! He is 24 and 3/4 inches tall/long, and 13 lbs, 11 ounces.  He's just a little peanut compared to other babies his age, but growing and developing and healthy nonetheless. He is fairly happy, and is getting the hang of taking a nap in the afternoon and going to bed before midnight (honestly, you'd think he was one of the college students!). He no longer dreads tummy time, and is able to roll over both ways. Still loves to kick, and has been grabbing at and putting everything into his mouth lately (feet, hands, blankets, toys, everything). He has been exercising his voice as much as possible, and talking/yelling/squealing/babbling a lot. We LOVE his cute voice! No words or anything like that yet (or, that we've been able to interpret ;). Also loves to sit on our lap and be read to. Steve can make him belly laugh, and it's too cute. Perhaps I will have to get a video of it.  He is so fun, and growing up so fast. We are thankful.

4 months old

Sweetheart

Milestones

Was just sitting here, reading a book with one eye, and with the other eye, watching Lars play on the floor (to say it any other way makes it sound like Lars was playing with my eye). Before we both knew it, he had gone from laying on his back and playing on his feet, to laying on his stomach (suddenly forgetting that he already knows how to go from tummy to back)! Woohoo for Lars! Before we know it, he will be rolling all over the apartment.

I am getting ready to give up Facebook for a while here, so I decided to post about Lars here rather than on Facebook (the actual fast won't start until Ash Wednesday, February 13th...but I am trying to ease myself into it :)

Just in case you were wondering, yep: he's still adorable.