childhood memories relived...

mike & kea relived their childhood by wading in a creek while we were in mountain grove that they used to wade in as kids. i got my toes wet on the cement overflow, but the moss was pretty slippery so i photographed instead of wading in too deep...

they found rock treasures--mike said they were heavy!

coming back in off the gravel bar with their treasures...











this picture makes me giggle...mike looks like a little boy who's labored and toiled to bring his mom a love gift--told you he said those rocks were heavy...see him wiping his brow after he layed them down for sara (and rest of fam) to look at?

3 years...

HAPPY 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO MIKEY & I! THANKS FOR THE FLOWERS, MR. HUSBAND...I LOVE YOU.

refreshing drive south

this weekend we headed down south to mike's mom's family reunion in mountain grove. we left friday around noon & met mike's mom, dad & sister (& other extended family) in mountain grove. i was prepared for a horrendous drive but when we got there we really didn't think it was that bad. we stopped in columbia for an hour or more so that i could find some maternity clothes--found a few things at target & a couple of cute pair of capris at motherhood maternity. that helped break up the trip & when we got back in the car we only had 3 1/2 - 4 hours left. of course, we stopped for potty breaks but other than that we pretty much just drove south on highway 63...we went through lots of little country towns which i enjoy gawking at so that made the trip enjoyable. it was also nice to be alone with my husband for 6 whole hours--we caught up on so much and just visited...i don't know how long its been since we've had that much uninterrupted time to just talk.

more about this weekend later & pictures of mike & kea wading in the creek...

o, the rain...

rain, rain, rain...our poor farmers. my dad hasn't even gotten a first cutting of hay mowed, little alone raked or baled...ho, hum, when will this rain give us (them) a break?
mike and I spent the afternoon with his folks & sister--had a delicious father's day lunch complete with mashed potatoes (my favorite 'pregnancy' food). yummy! my tummy is still feeling full but i'm going to eat a little bit of supper in awhile just so i'm not growling later.
after lunch we went out to I-MO camp to do registration--something i've been helping with every sunday for the last 3 years. i'm kind of disappointed that we only registered 13 kids for this week...mike and i talked all the way home and feel like God is pointing us in a direction to help the camp grow. we feel like that's perhaps why we are going to start having our summers off together...we're brainstorming and praying that whatever need we're supposed to fill will be shown to us & that we'll be able to step up to the plate and take it on. i'm feeling like one of the biggest needs is advertisement, which is something i can definitely help with...we'll see where we're taken!
our families are supposed to be home from north dakota early this week, but mike and i are heading down to mountain grove on friday for sara's family reunion so we'll have to wait for the next weekend to catch up on life and each other. talked to mom today & found out that vance & his partner got first in the prairie dog hunt. my dad & his partner, my uncle brad, didn't come in last & we're going to leave it at that!
because of the river rising in ottumwa i don't have to go to class tomorrow night, which means ONLY 3 MORE TIMES DO I HAVE TO DRIVE UP THERE FOR NIGHT CLASSES...not that i'm counting or anything, just looking forward to being done!
off to have supper with my hubby...HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU DADDIES OUT THERE (and to you, Big Daddy).

hello maternity clothes

15 weeks & growing!!

well, i finally had to break down this week and really shop for maternity clothes. i didn't have the greatest luck & was kind of bummed with what i found. i didn't find a single pair of pants, capris or shorts & discovered that target is pretty much the only place in ottumwa to look. mike & i are going to head to kirksville soon as we're told that wal-mart actually has a decent selection & next weekend we are heading to mountain grove for mike's family reunion & i think i can talk him into stopping me off at a bigger target & maybe motherhood maternity in the mall. i haven't gotten comfortable enough to buy the clothes online yet, although i'm told old navy has a good selection (their in store selection in columbia stinks!). i haven't felt any movement yet, but i'm not worried--that will come with time.

This week my baby can grasp, squint, frown, grimace and maybe suck her thumb! He/She is also kicking, twisting & turning...
The baby's legs have grown longer than the arms and the body is now longer than the head.
Fingernails & toenails are also growing. This week our baby is 4 inches long & weighs 2.5 ounces!!!

and I quote...

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE GOD!!

and I quote...

"Mr. Robert Elder announced his resignation as Superintendent of Schools for the Schuyler County R-1 School District effective June 30, 2008. The Board of Education and Mr. Elder have concluded that it is in the best interests of the District and Mr. Elder to permit Mr. Elder to pursue other interests and to permit the Board to pursue hiring another superintendent. The Board extends its best wishes to Mr. Elder in his future endeavors. On its part, the Board will soon begin its search for a Superintendent and may appoint an Acting Superintendent as not to disrupt the District's operations."

I personally want to extend my deepest thanks and admiration to the teachers of Schuyler R-1 who dared to stand up for what they believe in and who stood together in the face of adversity. They put in many long hours, sat on pins and needles for weeks, and cried & prayed together as a family to make a positive change for the faculty and students of Schuyler. It's because you all dared to take a stand that this potentially dangerous man is leaving our district. Some of you made yourselves physically ill, emotionally distraught, and mentally off-kelter, fighting for what you believe and I now pray that you can put your energies into the students you love so dearly and put this situation into your stock of 'memories'--not to be forgotten, but remembered as a life lesson that we never want to live again.
It is only with the deepest regret that I realize what a wonderful group I am leaving behind and I hope you all know that my heart will always belong with you in Schuyler County and with those I've been so privileged to work with the last 3 years.
All my love to you, dear friends...

new purchase

tonight i stayed home from class because of the weather. i was enjoying a nice, quiet evening at home catching up on some homework, laundry & cleaning when someone knocked on the door. thinking it was my landlord checking up on me to make sure i was safe i opened it. wrong! salespeople...but actually someone i was kind of interested in talking to. it was the kirby vaccum people & i'd always wondered about the difference in kirby's & rainbow's so i agreed to sit through a demo. long story short, my house was disgusting & i'd just vaccumed a few days ago. worse yet, he vaccumed my mattress with a black filter--yuck. i asked comparison questions about the kirby vs. rainbow--my salesman was a young man who'd only been on the job 3 days, so he was still refreshingly honest (as honest as any of them are). for the money i decided the kirby was the better deal...another reason i'm glad we're buying a less expensive house--so when things like this come up, we can afford to do them. the only decision i've ever made without mike, i think, of this caliber...but when i talked to him he was cool with it (shocked that i'd done it, but cool). anyhow, i'll be enjoying my new purchase (complete with shampooer & attachments) for many weeks to come--especially in the new house. it even does hardwood floors which is what makes up our whole downstairs in the new house. yay!


one of about 75 filters he sucked out of my carpet, bed, & chairs. this one was in a spot that had already had several filters worth of yuck sucked out of it.


my new kirby--they aren't the most attractive sweeper on the market but i'm in love!

my husband

Mikey started a blog today, www.mbeeler.wordpress.com...
It's a little more on the political/news side of life so far--it's bound to get geeky at times, just like him--& you have to excuse his grammar, spelling and punctuation, but kudos to him for giving it a shot. Check it out & enjoy...I'm guessing when his baby comes he'll be less interested in posting about the news and more interested in posting about our news!!!

and the journey continues...

wow! i know, i start a lot of blogs with either the word 'wow' or 'whew', but i never cease to be amazed by how things work out & how my mindset changes day by day...
as you know, mike and i took jobs in memphis and have been looking for a house in lancaster. yes, lancaster, even though we're working in memphis--our families are there, are lives are there, it is HOME & no, you won't talk us out of it. anyways, we've spent many an afternoon driving around looking at houses--it seemed like at one time everything was for sale in lancaster & now? not so much...
anyways--i was talking to a co-worker the other day & she mentioned a house to me that i hadn't thought about yet. it's a little smaller than we were looking for & to be honest i initially rejected it, but it kept coming back to my mind so after a week i asked mike to go look at it (i've been in it before). yes, it's smaller than planned, but after a lot of thought and reflection and talking we think we're going to go for it. we've decided that we'd rather live below our means for a few years than toe the line of our budget & not feel like we are living comfortably. are we making a mistake? who knows...maybe so, but it's ours to make. we're both feeling very excited about the possibility of owning our own home & the house is actually very cute. it has a 2 year old roof, brand new furnace, hard wood floors....those are positive things for 1st time homeowners!
will we grow out of it? sure we will--it's our starter house--one that we intend on living in for 5 or 10 years, not forever. is it perfect? nope, sure not...the laundry is still in the basement (a battle i've been fighting and hating for the last 3 years), the garage isn't perfect, the basement is damp, the yard is small, the kitchen's a little funky, and it is not a mansion. however, in the long run, when we think about the debt we would have purchasing this house & the debt we would acquire purchasing other homes in lancaster, we still feel like we're making the right decision for us. when we take that leap and spend 'real' money on a house (way more than we're spending now) we want it to be our dream house--not a house that we spent too much on in the first place and are then stuck with.
this house gives us the opportunity to try out being homeowners--make small repairs and improvements (and mistakes), while at the same time squirrling away money into savings so that when we're ready we can buy or build our desired home. this is a move that makes us feel safe, because quite frankly we're not ready to be extreme risktakers and buy a house that's going to press our budget month in and month out. we have to also consider other factors--like we're bringing a baby into this world & we want to make sure that we can comfortably provide for that child (and future children) no matter what. if that means a small house, than so be it...this house can pretty comfortably shelter 2-3 kiddos, and by that time we'll be ready to make a bigger leap in life...

why'd i share all of this on a public blog?...partly so i could sort it all out in my own head, but also partly because i know you'll all have questions and opinions. not that you certainly can't ask, but some questions are hard to ask like, 'why on earth would they buy that small house?'...and now you know! we are certain that many of you that love us will have opinions & suggestions about what we should do and how we should do it...we welcome them all because maybe you'll have thought of something that we haven't...however, as in your own lives sometimes we'll listen & sometimes we won't. we'll make mistakes--we know that. we'll also grow together and be better people and a better couple (soon to be family) for it. love to you all for your prayers and encouragement as we embark on this journey...we invite you over to our new home soon (that is, after the loan goes through, we repaint & recarpet a couple rooms, we pack up this rental house & unpack at the new house....)
yuck...i just remembered...i hate moving! oh, well...we invite you all on painting, cleaning & moving days then!

love and hugs, jenn

wow! yesterday was a long day...i went with the 1st & 2nd graders on their summer school field trip. we started at 1000 hillls lake in the a.m. and then after a sack lunch hit the aquatic center. i was there with one specific special needs child and after about 2 minutes had to jump in after her and play lifeguard. she swam so well (which i didn't think she'd be able to do) & accidentally swam under the deep end guide rope. when she came up she couldn't get her footing because it was too deep and she panicked. needless to say, i couldn't get the lifeguard to understand she was special needs quickly enough (& the lifeguard seemed afraid of water--she threw the girl her red flotation device & wouldn't get in after her). after about 10 seconds of no further response from the lifeguard & jumped in, fully clothed. good news is i had thought ahead enough to bring a full set of spare clothes--yay me! that was only the beginning of a long 2 1/2 hours with 80 kids in the pool, though & by the end of the day i was wiped.
after school, i stopped at a yard sale in lancaster & then another in bloomfield & then mike & i decided to head back down to colby's little league game in lancaster. i think little league is possibly the cutest thing i've ever seen--those kids are just so stinking, well--cute. colby played first base & did a pretty good job. he also got a couple really good hits in! i'm really proud of how good he is. all of the kids did well & the coaches have the patience of job! the cutest was when colby was batting and he'd tried at 2-3 hits & got nothing. bronson was on 1st and he get hollering, "come on, colby! you're my buddy! you can do it!" nothing like a friend's cheering to get you fired up & sure enough he got a hit. after the game, mike went up to move furniture at the church--they got new carpet. i wanted to help but had nothing left to give. my body ached from helping the kids in the pool & on the playground & my head was so full (allergies) from being outside all day. i had mike drop me off at his folks' house & was out cold on their couch within probably 10 minutes. mike said the furniture moving went well, so that's a positive!
this morning i got up a went yard saling at 7. i found a few cute baby bargains--mostly essentials, like onesies & also quite a few pairs of shorts & capris for miss emma, who finally outgrew her 3T's. my biggest buy was an alpha omega carseat for $25!!! i'm always leary about buying carseats at garage sales, but the family i bought it from i've bought from before. its super clean--almost brand new--the lady said she bought it for her granddaughter & used it for about a year. the carseat accommodates 5-100 lbs, so it can be transformed into a booster seat later. it has 3 position recline, a pillow, folding armrests, 5 point harness...the whole works. its a seat mike & i toyed with buying when the baby outgrew the infant carrier & i feel very lucky to have gotten it so cheaply, especially since one day we'll probably need 2 for each of our cars. in store, its $150 seat (you can buy it cheaper online, but then you pay out the rear in shipping). yay, bargain shopping!!!