"Can You Even Picture Yourself with a Daughter??"

"Nope. I can't. But I'm willing to try!"

This was the conversation my sister Kaye and I had a few days ago.

Well...no trying necessary! We found out today that Jude's getting a little BROTHER!!

YEA!!!!!

I must say I was neutral. I really could have cheered either way. No preference. Really.

But about a week ago Jon started saying at random moments throughout the day, "I hope it's a boy."

Can I tell you that after our appointment I caught Jon dancing in the grocery store???

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

This is the man that doesn't even like to ask what aisle the canned tomatoes are on!!!

Stay in line.

Don't laugh too loud.

Don't ask too many questions.

Don't be too friendly with the cashier.

And this man was DANCING!!

I love it!!! I love that he's thrilled!!!

And I'm thrilled too.

And I'm sure one day Jude will be thrilled as well. ...maybe when he's like 8 and he's glad he doesn't have to play dress up or "be gentle" with his kid sister.

We'll see.

Now...the name hunt begins!!! We only had a girl name, so any help would be delightful!!

Glory Glory!

Since I last wrote, we've been busy busy busy. Between a stomach virus and a visa reset trip, things have been crazy around here!

Here's a few quick pics of a pretty, pretty place called Malta! It's nestled away on the Mediterranean between Europe and N. Africa. I'm sure you recognize the name...it's where Paul was shipwrecked! And I must say, he picked a great place to be stranded!!

We spent 3 days in Malta and finally got to see some GRASS after living for almost 4 months without it!! Jude also experienced his very first Happy Meal from (you guessed it) McDonald's! I must say he didn't really enjoy the confinement of the play gym! He preferred running around (seemingly) chasing the wind!

This trip was built into the program here in a sense, but we were sure thankful to have break from the culture and language studies! It was so nice to speak English!! (Malta was a British colony or something like that.)

Talk about a family picture! It's ones like this that don't matter what the people look like or if their eyes are closed, etc...it still gets framed!! All that matters is that the three of us are in front of such a beautiful site! We accidentally stumbled upon this view at the Dingli Cliffs. I seriously think they should change the name!! How unfitting!

Somewhere along the way, my husband, Mr. "I Have no Creative Talent", turned into quite the amateur photographer!! This is a pic Jon snapped of Jude and I. It's definitely my favorite! I know it's foggy, but that's the Mediterranean behind us!! My hair is crazy from the wind!

This is a lovely lean-back-and-snap-it photo! It's taken right next to the famous Blue Grotto (see below).
Sweet Love!! Here's another jewel Jon took. Only I would know this, but Jude is giving me sweet kisses in this picture!! He's looking right into my eyes! I love that Jon captured such a precious moment!

Again, Jon's skill at work! Another shot of the Mediterranean! That's an island way out there!

This is the famous Blue Grotto! You may recognize it from movies like "Count of Monte Cristo", "Troy", and "Alexander". Interesting note: There are two smudges toward the top right of the picture (don't worry you won't be able to see them)...but those are PEOPLE. How's that for a lesson in HUGE!? I just wish this picture did justice!

Delightful eh? He makes us look so serene. This pic reminds me of the photos that come in the frame when you buy it! ...except of course much more beautiful!!!Glory!!! Look at these beautiful colors! What a gift from Heaven! I love what my friend Joanna says, "Can you believe we're all under the same BIG sky??" Our God is so BIG!!

Ok. So I just HAD to add this one. We should be all cute and smiley. We should be taking the family photo of a life time. And Jon gets this call...on an island far, far away from who knows who!! Ha! You could just add so many hilarious captions below this picture!! Like... something about the lottery or becoming president. Something funny.

So two items of note:
Mr. Trombley! I hope our picture taking was satisfactory!! We didn't JUST take pictures of the scenery!! People too!!
Kaye/ Aunt Tay-Tay! Thanks for encouraging me/ manipulating me into posting these pics! Enjoy! We love you!

A Video of Jude

It takes a little bit of work to get this lil' boy to interact with the camera. But this time I caught him! Playing trains, making animal (and people) impersonations, talking on the phone, and even getting into a little mischief! Enjoy the video! Sorry it's long!

Two Stories to Share

Story #1
I want to be a great mom. I really do. But sometimes you just have to cave...for relationship, for practicality, for fun. Nothing has made me more aware of this than being in this country!! Some of the things I allow Jude to do, I assured myself I wouldn't let happen until AT LEAST my THIRD child!
The other day we were at my neighbor's house and I was turned around playing with her two boys. While I wasn't looking, my neighbor passed Jude a great big HUNK of chocolate. I turned around and...well...I forced myself to bite my tongue. Here's a picture of the specimen in his hand. And this was after he'd eaten a portion of it!

So I laughed to myself, and OF COURSE I took him back to our house to take some cute pictures!! He LOVED that chocolate! This face says, "I'm trying not to act too happy. Mom might notice and take my chocolate away!"

Jude's sad face after I took the chocolate away... I'm such a mean momma!

Story #2
This morning I was making pancakes while Jon did the dishes and our delightful little child was content enough to play in his room by himself! This is a recent development that we appreciate very much!

But every once in awhile when things are a little "too" quite, we go check on him. And this time I was a little too late! Here is what I found...At first glance this doesn't look all that bad. Thanks to the white comforter, you can't see ALL the BABY POWDER he poured out on it! Needless to say, the room smelled VERY fresh!Our brown boy was suddenly VERY white!!

We are glad to share our little one with you! Hope you enjoyed the pics!

The Details...

At this stage it’s so hard to capture Jude in a picture. He’s always going, talking, reading , riding, running, and BLINKING. He TOTALLY takes after me! If I had a dollar for every picture I caught with his eyes closed I could BUY the country we live in!!
He's totally into playing pretend, helping us cook, reading books to himself, riding his tricycle (...well sitting on it at least!), playing in the SUNshine, and tickles!
Jude is running hard and fast to the terrible twos. He’s giving us a LOT of opportunities to learn about parenting THIS child. Over the past few months we’ve learned…

-that Jude needs bunches of hugs and kisses
-that he needs EYE CONTACT
-that he wants us to get on his level…in play and in discipline
-that strong, harsh words are NOT successful in convincing him of what’s good for him...he needs gentleness and patience! Who knew that the fruits of the Spirit applied to parenting!!!???
-that reading a book ALWAYS calms him down and puts him in a good mood
-music in the morning makes for a good day
-that he WANTS to make us laugh…and when he succeeds in this venture he is VERY pleased!!

Cutie J and my new Tun Haircut
(I was so nervous!!! But I'd say it turned out ok!)

We are immersed in language learning at this point. We’re in an Arabic class 5 days/week, 2 ½ hrs per day and both studying individually with a tutor 2-4hrs a week. Not to mention all the time we spend in personal study and of course time out with our local friends!! We have AMPLE opportunity to practice our Arabic and PTL! It’s coming along quickly for us!

Our little HAM!!

For Jude this means that a 20-something local girl comes to watch him almost 4 hrs a day while we’re in language learning (travel time included). At first he seemed to not be adjusting very well…but after talking to my friend Jenn with a lil’ Treston the same age, I found that Jude is QUITE normal! Jude LOVES our new nanny Hoodea!!! His little eyes get bright when she walks into the room! From the moment he met her they’ve had a connection…which is such a blessing to me! She speaks a little more English than I do Arabic, which means we can communicate well enough to tell her what we need her to do for Jude. We’re hoping that during this time we get to bless her and love her!!

My neighbor downstairs, Emen, has become a WONDERFUL friend!! She is always welcoming me in for coffee and a treat and bringing me yummy local delights! We have been able to share together about our “rough spots” in life as well as our joys. When we look back and wonder how we ever ended up in this apartment (it didn’t meet ONE of our top 3 criteria!!), we know for CERTAIN that there was something stronger leading us here! And amazingly enough…she speaks ENGLISH! This meant that I had a friend from the moment we moved in! And Lord knows I needed one!

As most of you have heard…WE’RE EXPECTING!!! Things are coming along very well, it seems. I’ve not had much morning sickness (PTL!), and I feel like I’m gaining more energy every day. I’ve tried to be disciplined about getting at least 8 hrs of sleep every night and exercising regularly, and this has improved my life DRASTICALLY! I don’t even need naps! During Jude’s pregnancy I was VERY sick and napped EVERY day! Of course that meant that I hardly exercised…who wants to when they’re sick every 5 min?? Anyway, we have our first appt on Friday and can’t wait to hear the heartbeat! We should find out the gender sometime in March. We’re due at the end of July…which puts us at 14 weeks today!!

Jon has been working terribly hard at acquiring internet these past few days (which also means LOTS of practice in Arabic!). He’s such a hero for me!! And Jon’s hardwork has been matched by favor from the Almighty One in the eyes of the internet company! So…we’re now on a temporary dial-up connection until our wireless is set and ready to go. Woohoo!! PTL!!!

He’s also reading a book called Tender Warrior which seems to be having a powerful impact on him. He’s also started his seminary courses this semester as well! But I am thankful to say that he’s 3 weeks ahead and STILL excelling in language learning!!

Funny story…
We were on a way to school one day in a taxi (now we take the metro-rail), and we were trying to direct the taxi driver in Arabic. We wanted to tell him to go the big stone archway near our school. Well…the words for arch and diaper are apparently VERY similar! You guessed it!! We told the taxi driver to go to the Big Diaper!! …leave it to us…haha!

I’m sorry you’ve waited SO long for pictures…I hope it was worth it!!

We’ll load some cute videos of our Jude-bug when we have a faster connection!!

We love you!!!!