The Countdown Begins: 5 Days to Shepherd's Birthday

On October 15th, Shepherd will turn a year old. It is impossible to describe just how hard that is to believe.

A year ago from today, I looked something like this:



Now, I look a more normal size, but definitely also more unkempt.

As for Shepherd, he is looking more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby. For the past few weeks (and I'm sure for the next forever), I burst out with proclamations of shock and amazement at what a little man he is becoming every time I see him. Since we spend every moment of every day together, I'm sure this is getting old for him. But seriously, besides the little dark spot where his diaper had a little leak), could he look more like a little boy?


This past Saturday, Shepherd got his first two birthday presents ever. They were from Uncle Bro and Stephanie. This is Shepherd unwrapping books from Stephanie.

This is Shepherd unwrapping a stuffed monkey from Uncle Bro. Notice this gift is wrapped in layers of plastic bags.

Lastly, here is a video of Shepherd doing one of the tricks he's picked up over his first year of life. While in Menard, my parents exuberantly cooed every time Shepherd sweetly tilted his head to the side. It didn't take Shepherd long to figure out he could control people with his head movements. Here he is doing what we call the "oh-sweet-baby".

Pictures of Shep (because that's what I do)

Due to traveling and being generally unsettled, it has been a while since I posted pictures of my sweet baby boy. Here are a few from the past month, just in case you were missing them.

First, I have a picture of Shepherd playing in the laundry room one of the last days we were in Kentucky. I just like his cute little face in this picture.

The last two nights in Kentucky, BJ and I slept on an air mattress. During one of the following days, Shepherd collapsed in exhaustion on the mattress. Moving is hard work.

After we left Kentucky, we headed to Marietta, Ohio, to spend time with BJ's sister, Alison, and her husband, Breandan. While there, we went to a park where Alison works, and we let Shepherd play. Shepherd went down his first slide.

We then put him on a rocking horse. At first, he was hesitant.

But after tasting it...
...he decided it was awesomesauce.

Then we tried out the swing. At first, he was simply curious about what new crazy thing we were strapping him into...

...but then he realized he could fly. He likes to fly.

This is him with the Gensics.

And this is him with his Great Grandma Gensic. It was a wonderful week.

Now with this next picture, you're probably saying to yourself, "I know all white babies look almost alike, but I'm pretty sure that isn't Shepherd." You would be correct. This is Emily Belisle. Near the end of the month, we made our way to Lubbock to spend time with BJ's best friends, Josh and Allison. Emily is their beautiful and wonderful daughter. Shepherd thought she was so beautiful and wonderful that he kissed her. Three times.

This is a picture of Shepherd being silly this morning. If you look really closely, you can see the tooth Shepherd just sprouted last week. We worked really hard for that tooth. In fact, I still feel a little resentment towards that tooth.
And this is my sweet almost-a-year-old son being funny with the camera this morning.

It's been a wild ride the past month. This post barely even scrapes the surface. All I know is, despite the fact that Shepherd makes regular chaos into crazy, over-the-top, apocalyptic chaos, I'm glad I got to do the last month with him.

A New Home

It is 8:00 in the evening after our first Sunday at the First Christian Church in Ardmore. It has been a beautiful, warm day full of rich examples of hospitality.

There are many things to complain about with the whole preacher's-wife life. In fact, I've devoted a good bit of this blog to that endeavor. Let me take a moment to tell you some things that are awesome about being the minister's wife here in Ardmore.

1. When I came to town last Sunday evening to start the process of setting up home, all of my belongings had already been moved into our rental home and our new place had been scrubbed clean by a crew of wonderful church ladies.

2. There were also cookies here.

3. I don't have to worry too much about Shepherd's habit of crawling anywhere and everywhere. There is always some one eager and willing to pick him up.

4. Along with number three, when Shepherd had an EXPLOSIVE diaper tonight (I'm talking up the back and out the sides), one of the women offered to help. I accepted the offer. Talk about sacrificial love.

5. I've already been invited to a plethora of activities where I can get to know people and build community.

6. People were really, really excited to have us here this morning. Church was basically one giant hug.

We have gotten mostly settled into our house, and we are now embarking on building a life and a community here. Normally, when I move to a new place, I feel out of sorts for a long time. I'm actually feeling very comfortable and at home here. Perhaps it is because I'm finally accepting that my husband is a preacher and that makes me a preacher's wife. I'm sure that is part of it. But I also think it is because the Kingdom of God is at work in this church in a big way, and it makes it a very nice place to be. Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to my years as an Okie.

We're in Ardmore!

After traveling and more traveling and more traveling, we are officially in Ardmore. This is the first time I've had a chance to post in a long time, but I am unfortunately tired beyond comprehension. We have spent the entire day unpacking at our house. Over the next week, I'll try to do a few post to catch everyone up on our life. But for now, I'm going to go pass out in bed.

I am currently sitting in the very cozy living room of Alison's (BJ's sister's) house in Marietta, Ohio, stealing a few moments on her lap top to write an update. As of last Saturday, our house in Farmington is totally empty and all of our stuff is on an 18 wheeler heading to Ardmore, OK. We are doing well, although the last week at Farmington was extremely emotional and trying. I miss all the people there, and I miss my house, but I am extremely hopeful about the future. Also, I'm just really content to be with family. After the emotional roller coaster of last week, it is comforting to simply watch our family enjoy Shepherd and see how much they enrich his life. And Alison is okay with letting me cook out all of my hyped-up emotions and stress in her kitchen. That's how I deal.

BJ is currently laying on the floor drumming an old drum-line cadence on his belly while Shepherd happily bounces to the rhythm. Although we are currently in the middle of a huge transition, there is still a lot of normal to life. That is a good thing.

I'll write more as soon as I have regular access to the internet again. Until then, blessings.

When words fail, there are always pictures of Shepherd

After a weekend with a lot of tears and goodbyes, I'm not going to say a lot on here. Instead, I'm going to put up a cute picture of Shepherd. I'll write more when I have words to express the past few days of goodbyes.

And for good measure, here is one more cute picture. I feel better now.

The past week has been a week of goodbyes, and the coming week will be no different. August 31st will be BJ's last day as the minister for Farmington Church of Christ, and we will leave town September 3rd.

Last Tuesday, we had the youth group over for a last get together at our house. The other nights of the past week were filled with dinners and parties with friends who have been deeply gracious in their goodbyes. Shepherd and I, who frequently go with BJ when he visits shut-ins, made a final trip with him Friday afternoon. All of these times of fellowship have been blessings, simply blessings.

Of course, this month has not been only pleasant goodbyes. With the time spent dwelling on good memories, it is only natural that some of the rougher memories creep in on me and BJ. I can't help but wonder why this didn't work, why us and Farmington didn't work. There is obviously a lot of love in this relationship, and BJ and I really wanted this to be home. But I've spent the past two weeks packing up boxes.

I am a person who has always taken constructive criticism very seriously. It is why I succeeded in school in the fields of writing and studio arts, because I valued the opinions of others and acted upon those opinions. The most difficult part of being a preacher's wife these past three years was that I didn't know how to filter the constructive criticism from the plain old criticism, and believe me, preachers are a constant recipient of both. Perhaps what complicates this situation for the spouse of any minister is that he or she is powerless to do much of anything in the face of the criticism and yet feels it's sting so acutely because it is directed at someone you have specifically learned to love and appreciate both despite and because of their flaws.

On the first Sunday of this year, BJ was told that it was the general consensus of the congregation that he wasn't meeting their expectations in the areas of preaching and people skills. We chose to put in a resignation because we felt these particular things were too fundamental to who he was for him to change them. I was sitting at home with my brother who was up for a visit when BJ first called after this meeting. I remember very well what I said to my brother after I got off the phone: "I actually like him the way he is." (Since then, a significant portion of the congregation has voiced similar sentiments.) Despite being shocked and very emotional, it was a moment of clarity I will not soon forget. After two and a half years of trying to decipher what BJ and I needed to change to make us work, I remembered that if BJ changed a lot, he might not be the same guy I've been in love with for the past seven years.

I say all that to say that the goodbyes are really hard, but I am proud of the man I'll be driving out of town with. I pray that Farmington finds a preacher who fits them really well. Despite being blue over leaving this home, I am insanely excited and very hopeful about our future in Oklahoma. BJ and I are constantly talking about our ideas and hopes for the First Christian Church of Ardmore, and we are ready to get down there and start working. As is always the case, God is working in this situation in a big way. I can't wait to see what he does.

10 months

Today, Shepherd is 10 months old. I can't say how wonderful the past 10 months have been, so instead I'm going to post some photos we had taken a couple of weeks ago. We had never had professional photos done of Shepherd, so we were really excited when a friend of BJ's mother offered to do pictures for us. The photographer is Amber Keller, and she did a wonderful job with Shepherd. Here is a sampling:

A Very Important Announcement

In less than two months, BJ, Shepherd, Gus, and I will be Okies. BJ has accepted an offer for the pulpit minister position at a church in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Our trip to OK two weeks ago was wonderful. We got to know some magnificently kind and loving people who we are looking forward to getting to know better. Of course, we only got the job because of Shepherd's cuteness, but we aren't above riding on our son's coat tails.

In other news, we had a delightful visit from my brother and his girl-friend, Stephanie. Shepherd is being a little difficult this week after basking in non-stop attention from his uncle and Stephanie. We took a whole slew of pictures their last day here to document their visit, but between BJ hating pictures, Bro somehow never looking in the correct place, Shepherd moving non-stop, and Stephanie and I distracted by the chaos, very few our presentable. But you know me. I'll put them up anyways.

This was supposed to be a picture of us. Instead, it was a picture of Uncle Bro's shoulder.

This is our first attempt at a picture of the five of us in which you can see more than one person's shoulder.

This is our second attempt. I call it: "Where's BJ?"

This is the picture after which we gave up.

Thankfully, I got one good picture of Shepherd with Bro and Stephanie. Cute, isn't it?

Where I've Been

I am running late on this blog post. I week and a half ago, Shepherd and I went up to Alton to spend some time with my in-laws. Wednesday, BJ joined me, and we headed to Ardmore, Oklahoma for BJ to interview at a church. Monday, my brother and his girlfriend, Stephanie, flew into St. Louis where we picked them up and brought them back to Farmington. Since then, we've been having a wonderful week just hanging out. Unfortunately, in the midst of all this busy-ness, I haven't had time to sit at a computer.

Ardmore turned out to be a beautiful place. The people were wonderful, and the town just felt home-like. As things develop there, I will keep you all posted. Suffice it to say, I might be an Okie by the end of this year, and I'm definitely fine with that possibility.