Fabulously Fast Fall

As I write, it is almost Christmas Eve. Where did the Fall go? Megan quickly pointed out that her birthday was in the fall. That birthday celebration was quite an event. It was her first time to invite a group of people from school over to the house. It also marked a fun time for church friends to meet school friends. 

The girls also finished the Fall soccer season, and I finished my first season coaching two teams. I enjoyed it tremendously, and had a great group of parents and kids. Hopefully we were able to encourage some of those we met through soccer. One thing all of us enjoyed about Soccer was getting to know people from all different walks of life. 

Megan continued to flourish at school, as did Jacob and Jenna. School has become another place that our family can encourage other people. Most notably, Rachel works in a local elementary school. So, we try to be a part of all the school events that we can so that our children and family are known by the other teachers and the administrators - hopefully known for the right reasons. We also attend those events to build relationships with other families, as well as to get to know the families of our kids' friends. 

Finally, a new place for our family to influence others arose this fall. Justin accepted a new church staff position as Pastor of Discipleship and Small Groups. This will give our family a great platform for encouraging others to grow in their faith. The position will allow our family to stay in the same location, and allow Justin to teach as an adjunct professor in the future. Justin also presented a paper at a national academic meeting this Fall. He will be submitting that paper as a chapter of his dissertation. The whole dissertation will be submitted in January. 

We are blessed to have all of these opportunities to encourage others in the gospel, as well as other smaller ones. We ask that you will pray for us in the coming year, in all of these places that God allows us to serve him.

Summertime! 2014 style

I write this post as the summer draws to a close. My Megan will start Kindergarten in the morning... It is hard for me to believe that she is already there!

Thankfully we were able to pack in a good bit of fun this summer. The fun began with VBS at church, which is the source of many of our summer songs such as Agency D3... Then Megan went to Museum School for a week, while Jacob, Jenna and Rachel played at the Museum. Next Rachel presented at a professional meeting in Grapevine so we took a little weekend vacation over there. Nana and Papa accompanied us on the trip and we went to LegoLand for the first time!!



Also at LegoLand:





One of the highlights was watching 4d movies there too:






After LegoLand we went to the Aquarium the next day!!





After all of that, I taught a quick OT 2 course at SWBTS during July while Rachel did some of her continuing education for her teaching certification. Oh, and I preached at church one week too. Schedules were busy, in part because the girls took Gymnastics all summer, and learned a ton!!




Summer was fast and fun!! The kids had several friends come over, and went to play at their houses too. The little man moved from 3 to 4 months and started giggling, smiling, standing, sitting, putting everything in his mouth, and even pulling on sister's hair.




Edit: Megan will want me to mention that Roxy got another bird, and chased lots of squirrels and a possum.

Spring Part Deux

The first part of this Spring was covered in the post "a factor of 3". So here we will talk about events after that post. Let us begin with the smallest member - Jacob (for now the smallest - give it a few months). Jacob is smiling now and responds to all of us. He's doing all the things we expect a 2 month old to do...



Roxy is a tad bigger than Jacob still, so her update is next. She reached a new milestone this week with her first confirmed kill. I'll refrain from giving details lest PETA come knocking.

Jenna finished her 2yr old class at Pre-School. She's signed up for Soccer in the fall, and started Gymnastics this week!



Megan finished Pre-K at Happy Day this year! She too began Gymnastics and will play a second year of Soccer in the fall.



Rachel worked her 3 days between maternity leave and summer break. So at least someone went to work!! :) She has also been enjoying the extra time with the kids!



Then there's me - the biggest. Not a lot has changed for me. I've got the dissertation thing going in overdrive... and that about covers it... Plus I get time with family - but I take the pictures so there are none of me! So, the last picture is a good one from the spring-time visit of our friends the Gibsons. Here are 2 of the 5 kids:

a factor of 3

We added a 3rd kid to the mix on April 10th. He was a week and a half late... He's a big boy and appears to take after his dad, though admittedly the sample size is small. Here he is on day 3:




We have had a blast adjusting to life with him!!

Jenna had a birthday and turned 3 this month too! She is getting big enough to have real conversations, and ask good questions.




Megan's soccer team has been doing great too. They have a really good coach this year who is passionate about the game. Megan said he's her favorite coach... me. She registered for kindergarten, became the biggest sister, is learning to read. She is growing up too fast!



In between all of that fun was Easter. It was a little different this year because R and Jacob had to stay home from church. The girls and I went to the worship service and the egg hunt. Then we brought some lunch home for the family, and took some family pics. Here is my favorite:

Mid-February 2013 update

At this point, I forgot to post about Christmas and family trips for Thanksgiving. But, I won't do that now because it would take too much space for one post. As of today, Rachel is teaching with about 6 weeks left until Jacob arrives. At that point she'll take time off work. As for me, I'm teaching a class at SWBTS, and grading for another. I'm also working on my dissertation and doing a few other part-time jobs. Between the two of us we are worn out.

Megan and Jenna are great. Their sing-along sessions, smiles, and hugs really brighten my day! Megan still loves her Lego friends. Jenna bounces between Doc McStuffins and other things. Jenna has really grown up as of late, and will be 3 soon - I can't believe it. Jenna is a little more strong-willed than Megan - but certainly not a problem. Megan is more focused of the two (right now, but she's older!). Both of them are amazing kids. We share our "glad things" around the dinner table at night and the girls "glad things" are usually doing something with Rachel and I. We are blessed.

God has been very good to us this first month and a half of the year.

Megan singing along to the theme song from Disney's Frozen:

Megan and Jenna ready to go to the Fort Worth Stock Show with Nana: