We Made It!

Well, we made it to Alaska! It is BEAUTIFUL!
Nate and I are still looking at each other every day saying, "I can't believe we live in Alaska!" It hasn't hit us yet that this isn't a vacation, and we will be staying here for quite a while. The mountains are beautiful though, and it has already been snowing some, nothing major thankfully.
Nate and his dad arrived last Sunday night, and Austin, my mom and I arrived late Tuesday night. All of our travels went smoothly, without any major hiccups, which we are praising the Lord for. It was a long 9 hour flight from Dallas, but Austin was a trooper, and did pretty good for an 11 month old.
We don't have internet access in our room and probably won't until we move into a house, so for now we have to trek over to the community center to get online. So, no pictures for now, but I will post some as soon as I can!
Pray for us as we look for a house, we have been looking the past two days and will look again this afternoon and tomorrow. Lots of fun but scary when you think about what a big purchase it is!
Thank you all for your prayers, lots of love!

This is not what I should be looking at!

Check out this blog to see pictures of Martha Stewart's new community of homes!  I would have to say, I was pretty amazed as I looked at these pictures.  Wow, can you imagine living in one of these?  We are in the house hunting mode right now.  Looking at tons of homes online, just waiting to see them in person next week.  So, looking at these new Martha Stewart homes isn't such a good idea when we compare them to what we can afford in Alaska.  Yikes...not even close.   Oh well...they are fun to look at and dream! : )

Family Pictures

Here are some pictures of my family, that are on my Dad's Website.  We all got together a few weekends ago, when Rachel came down for her high school reunion.  Of course we couldn't go the whole weekend with out taking pictures, so we headed out side and took a few shots on Sunday afternoon.  You'll just have to imagine Michael in them, as he couldn't make it that weekend...he was off climbing some mountain! :) Love you all!

5 Things I am Thankful For...

Since Michelle and Grace posted on faithfulness, I thought I would chime in. :)
1. My husband is my number one blessing. He faithfully serves, leads, and demonstrates to me how to be a Godly parent and husband.
2. Austin now sleeps through the night, and even when he doesn't I don't get up and nurse him. A full night's sleep, after waking up every night for 8 months, is a HUGE blessing to me.
3. My husband has a steady job, we never have to worry if he will have a job next week, month, or year. (But in 4 years we will!)
4. We get to move to a brand new state, where we know almost no one. The Lord will stretch our faith and character in a way that is pleasing to Him, and that, I believe, is a blessing.
5. We got to spend the last three months with my family. Their generosity in housing Austin and I was a huge blessing to us, and it was wonderful to make some new memories we can look back on when we are so far away. We love you all! Great is the Lord's faithfulness to us!

**We are now back in Kansas, here to stay for another week. We are staying in the basement of a family from our church, another blessing of hospitality shown to us! We will leave next Friday and Nate will be off with his dad to drive 10 days to our new home. Austin and I will fly out some time after that to meet him up there.

Austin is Ten Months...

Last week, Austin hit the ten month mark. It is hard to believe only two more months and we will be celebrating his first birthday! Anyone want to come to Alaska for a party? :)
Here's an update for the family...
Austin is growing more into a little toddler and less like a baby every day. He loves to jabber away, I think he will be a talker like his dad. :) His favorite snack is goldfish right now and he likes to eat those in church, stuffing as many as he can into his mouth at one time. He also loves fruit, cooked veggies, chicken, cheese, and pretty much anything I give him to eat. We have been so lucky that he is a good eater, hopefully it will continue!
Austin still doesn't "crawl". :( He scoots around on his bottom and is actually getting pretty good at it. He is also standing better, and maybe will walk before he actually does the crawling.
Otherwise he is just a typical baby...taking two naps a day and playing the rest!

Pictures of my home state....

On Monday morning Nate and I went around town and took some pictures of some of the sites around the area. We thought we might want to look at them when we are burried in snow in a few months! (Pictured is Lake Hefner and the OKC bombing memorial.)

A Weekend Away...

This past weekend Nate and I had the privilege of getting to see 14 of our very close friends. We all met up in Tulsa for a weekend of fun and fellowship. You can see a picture of most of us (minus Brooke and little Elisa) on Jenica's blog. I have only two pictures from the weekend, both are of the kiddos. So, if anyone has any good ones please send them my way!
We love you all so much and are thankful that you all came down to spend the weekend with us. Thanks for those who drove, those who hosted, those who babysat, etc., you all made our weekend so special.
The Lord has blessed us immensely with all of your friendships, and we pray that we make friends in Anchorage just half as special as each one of you guys are to us. Much love to you all.

Nate and I...

My dad took these pictures last Saturday, when Austin was napping. We had gotten all dressed up for professional pictures to be taken at 9am Saturday morning. We arrived at the studio 15 minutes early and waited 45 minutes, no one ever showed up! So we went back home, put Austin down for his nap, and called the studio. By then someone had come in, and informed us that our appointment was at 9pm! Bummer...who schedules appointments that late anyways? Oh well, at least we got some shots of Nate and I!

Anna had her baby!

Bryson Rivers Trent was born today at around 5:25pm. He is 7lbs 3oz, and both mom and baby are healthy. Pat says, "he looks like a Trent". So, I am guessing he doesn't look much like Austin. :) We are praising the Lord for bringing a new life into this family. That is all I know for now, hopefully Caleb can get some pics soon.

Park Pics

Saturday Nate and I took Austin to the park. We had a fun time walking through the trails and swinging. Here are some pictures of our time together...


Nate trying out the rock climbing wall, of course not in the way it was intended to be used. He had to prove to me that he could do the "human flag" on it, after I said he probably couldn't!

Just Between Friends...

Today Nate, Austin, and I headed down to the fair grounds. We thought we would check out the "Just Between Friends" sale. Any one else ever heard of it? It is a huge consignment of about everything you could need for your child. Clothes, toys, books, bedding, swings, furniture, car seats, I could go on and on. There was SO much stuff. It is a franchise so they have them all over the country, I would definitely recommend it! I wore Nate and Austin out shopping today getting more clothes and toys for Austin.
Check out this site...www.jbfsale.com...to see if there is a sale in your area!

Jesus, the One and Only

"He is Jesus
The One and Only.
Transcendent over all else.
To know Him is to love Him.
To long for Him is to finally
reach souls hands into the
One true thing we need
never get enough of.

Jesus.
Take all you want.
Take all you need.
Till soul is fed.
And spirit is freed.
Till dust is dust.
And Face you see.
Jesus Christ.
He's all you need."
--Beth Moore

Little A

My little A is growing up! I tried to do a photo shoot yesterday and this is the best I could come up with. I guess I will have to pay someone to get a better shot. Austin moves way too much and my camera isn't fast enough to capture the things I want to. BUT...that is what Grandpa Renes is for, right? :) Hopefully we can have him takes some good shots sometime soon.

Austin is doing really well. He has slept through the night all week long. From 8 to about 6:30. Yeah! Hopefully we can keep this up! He cut his first tooth this week and is working on the second one. He won't eat any "baby" food any more and only wants table food. Anyone have suggestions on what to do with the leftover baby food I have? I was thinking maybe I could make popsicles out of them? Mostly I just have fruit, which I thought would be good frozen for him, especially since he is teething. Any other suggestions?

Another Playdate...

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High." Psalm 92:1


Last Friday, Grace and Elisa came to visit for the day. We had lots of fun hosting them for the day. Elisa is such a cutie, and we were able to see her crawl/scoot on her tummy for the first time. (Apparently Austin had a toy that she just HAD to get her hands on!) I am sure she will be a pro at crawling in no time at all.
We have been so blessed to be able to spend time with friends and family during the past couple of months. Hopefully we can see some more of you before we head off to Alaska! :)

Here are a couple of pictures of Elisa...

Alaska...so I have been doing some research

Fun Facts about Alaska...
* Purchased from Russia in 1867 for under 2 cents an acre.
* 586,400 Square Miles
* We are 2 times the size of Texas
* We have 29 volcanoes
* 33,000 miles of coastline!
* 1,400 miles North to South
* 2,700 miles East to West
* Over 1/2 the world's Glaciers
* 55 miles east of Russia
* We are the only state to have coastlines on three different seas.
Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea.

Facts about Anchorage...
Population: 261,283 (42% of the state population)

Alaska has about one registered pilot for every 58 residents, six times as many pilots per capita and 14 times as many airplanes per capita as the rest of the United States.

You can see the Chugach, Kenai, Talkeetna, Tordrillo, Aleutian and Alaska mountain ranges from Anchorage. Mount McKinley, 130 miles (208 km) north of downtown, can be seen on clear days. This 20,320-foot peak is the tallest mountain in North America.

Anchorage sits at the base of the Chugach Mountains along the coast of Cook Inlet in Southcentral Alaska.

Alaska is actually the northern, western and easternmost point in the United States. The Aleutian Chain extends into the Eastern Hemisphere.

Guthrie VBS

My parent's church is having VBS this week. Austin and I have gone to join in on the fun for the past couple of nights. My dad took this shot of the kids on Tuesday night. They are doing a western theme inspired by the Oklahoma Centennial this year, hence everyones attire in the picture below. Grady Dollar is speaking and giving a clear gospel message each night. Pray for the salvation of these kids as tonight is the last night of VBS.

Job Hazzard...

My dad sent me these pictures yesterday. Our local Energy and Gas company had a big surprise when they went out to this job site. Scary!

Busy Weekend...

We had another busy weekend, lots to do and too little time to fit it in. Our time with Nate just flies by, things are always so exciting with him. Here is a rundown of our weekend...
We went to the park and had lots of fun swinging.

Austin finally started getting his bath in the "big" tub. He LOVES it!

Austin sitting on daddies shoulders...

Austin eating his first icecream cone, he LOVES icecream, but who doesn't?

We went to Melissa's welcome home from Africa party. It was great to see her again and see some pictures from Africa. She also made us an authentic African meal. I was very impressed!
We also spent a couple of hours stripping wallpaper in my parent's half bath. WOW, what a project! It is taking SO long. Anyone have any advice? We have the paper and glue all off the walls, but have another layer that is stuck to the drywall. It is starting to take off the drywall with it. Yikes!
This was Nate's idea..."Lets just take off all the drywall and gut the whole bathroom"...!

Update

Austin and I went down to visit Nate for a few days. We left last Thursday morning and just came home today. We had so much fun taking walks, going to the park, and spending time at the pool. Austin officially likes the pool now, he spent lots of time in the wading pool but even more time in the big pool. Nate even took him down a couple of the water slides.
Austin had his 4-month shots today. (Yes, I know we are a little behind) He is also cutting teeth and between those two things he is a bit cranky. Poor little guy...sleep has been hard to come by recently. Last night he woke up about every hour and a half because his teeth were hurting so bad, I felt like I had a newborn again, nursing ALL night long. It is times likes these that I wonder how in the world people ever have more than one child...
On a lighter note...here are some pictures of Austin, he is going through his toy basket trying to find the best toy to play with!

Visit to Tulsa...

On Tuesday my mom, Austin, and I went up to Tulsa for the day. We met up with Grace, Elisa, and Marti, and had a wonderful day together. Just like Michelle said in her blog recently, it is so nice to hang out with people who are in the same stage of life as you are. Elisa was born just two weeks after Austin, so that is pretty much as close as you can get! It was great to share tips with each other and share some of what we have learned in this new parenting phase. We took lots of pictures of the little ones...they were the highlight of the day! Since Grace doesn't update pictures of Elisa too much I thought I would...enjoy the cuties!

Elisa eating prunes...that girl just downed them...! She is a great eater and didn't get a single thing on her bib!

Elisa grabbing Austin's ear, she is already keepin him in line!

This picture cracks me up, it looks like we told them to close their eyes and act asleep. Actually though, they were just closing their eyes from the flashes.

Austin eating Elisa's book...

Austin showing Elisa how to sit up and elevate your legs at the same time. He actually really does sit like that...he already has good balance!