Have you ever left yourself a sticky note in a very obvious spot and then gotten so used to seeing it that you don't ever look at it or notice what it says anymore? At some point when I was in college I put a cute little sticker in the inside of my Bible with verse in it. I saw it the other day and decided to look it up, and I was so encouraged that God's Word is true to my life even today and that David's cry to God was so identical to mine. It's the first part of Psalm 86 that spoke such ecouragement into my heart when we were so earnestly praying that everything would work out with this renter.

Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

We're Moving!!!!!

We are finally moving! The movers will come on July 28 to pack us up and move us out. We are so excited to be all together as a family finally.


Vince has been getting so big / old. He walks almost all the time now and he's starting to talk and use sign language so much! I can't take credit for hardly any of it, because Jamie and her kids seem to be Vince's biggest influence. One day I started singing the itsy bitsy spider song and he started doing the motions!!! I couldn't believe it! I hardly ever used to sing that to him, so I know he didn't learn it from me. I'm not sure what we'll do without Jamie once we move. I am so glad he was with her for his first year; I know he wouldn't be moving along so quickly without her help (and Natalie and Justin to learn from, of course). Plus I see how much he loves her and Natalie and Justin and I have this overriding feeling that I'm depriving him of a very important relationship.


Dan is in Texas this week at training class for work. We haven't seen him since 4th of July weekend, so Vince gets to talk to him on the phone every day. When he talks on the phone or plays with a phone, he says, "Hi, Dad" or "hello." It cracks me up every time! And he always cocks his head to the side to hold the phone. Such a big boy.


Here are some photos and videos for you.

This is what Vince does if you call him a sweet baby.



Go Cubs!


We had a little photo shoot, and these were the best shots I got:

"Quack Quack"

Bucket Head

Meet Baby Max

Vince, meet Baby Max.

Aww....so sweet.

Happy Independence Day

Happy belated 4th of July...and Happy belated birthdays to Finn and Macaria.

We had a fairly laid back weekend. Friday I did the grocery shopping while Dan and Vince had some daddy/son bonding time and for the rest of the day we stayed home and hung out together. I brought home a surprise for Vince: a little boy baby doll. We named him Baby Max and have started to teach Vince how to hold him and how not to touch his face or to hit him. Vince loves to snuggle Baby Max and pat his back. I think he'll be a great big brother to baby Ripley.

Saturday we went to our nephew's 8th grade graduation party. Jay-bird will be 14 later this month! When I met him he was 7 or 8 and I just can't believe how much he's changed and grown up in that seemingly short time.

Sunday after church we went to the Glenn Oak Zoo with my family. Vince and Aaron were both such good boys. Aaron liked the Koi fish the best, I think....and the car that gramma and grampa got him...the doors open! Vince liked showing off how well he can walk. He showed a little interest in the monkeys, but I think that's because as his mother's son, he is part monkey! Vince wore himself out with all the walking around he did, so he took a nice long nap when we got home. Mommy and Daddy even fell asleep for a little bit while we watched the Cubbies cream the Cardinals! Hope you all had a great weekend as well.

Paci Free Zone (and other updates)

A little update on the Paci issue: Vince is 100% paci-free. It went pretty well. He is slowly starting to take longer naps again and is waking up happy most days. I'm so glad we did it now, so we didn't have more of a struggle with it later.

Still no takers on the house, although we are finally ready/willing to rent it out. It's hard to think of someone else living in the house that Dan has worked so hard on, but I really need to get to our new home and start making it our home. Vince is going to have enough adjustments to worry about in the coming months. If we can make the transitions easier and more spread out, he'll hopefully do much better with them.

Baby #2 and I are doing well. He/she is definitely growing in there and weighing on my bladder as well as my sciatic nerve. All the discomfort in the world doesn't make me enjoy being pregnant any less, though!

Here are some of Vince's 12 month photos: