Life as we know it

 Mark gave Caleb a beef stick that he had (still in the package) to play with as a distraction since he was getting tired and fussy. Pretty soon he had fallen asleep, still clutching the beef stick!

 I love seeing his personality beginning to come out!

I guess I've been busy lately, considering I haven't posted in over 2 months! I've been teaching a class that's a couple days a week this term and working one full day a week as well. Not much flying, but when I look at the face in these pictures I have no regrets at all. Caleb has recently discovered that he can go places rolling, so he's been all over the place. He also likes to scream for fun... not sure that I'm into that one so much, but I sure like it when he makes other noises, such as practicing talking. Finally after 8 months he's sleeping through the night more often than not, it's not every night and he still doesn't like to go to sleep, but I'll take what I can get. Uninterrupted sleep from 11PM 'til 7AM is great! :)

Other things I've been up to besides playing with Caleb, feeding him, moving him away from the areas of our house that still aren't baby-proofed, removing his hearing-aid from his mouth and putting it back in his ear, etc. are preparing to give the message in middle school group this Sunday, and working on a cookbook. I  decided about a month ago to put together a cookbook with our family's favorite recipes along with pictures of the dishes for Christmas gifts... yes, I decided to take on that project with less than 2 months 'til Christmas! It's been a little crazy getting everything together, but it's been fun to work on.

Mark is still busy working both of his "part-time" jobs and then staying home with Caleb while I'm at work. After almost a year leading the middle school group at church he still loves it... just wishes he had more time in the day to prepare for his messages or hang out with students.

Overall we're busy, but incredibly blessed!

He's getting bigger

I keep thinking Caleb's a little baby still, but then I see a newborn and realize how much he's grown. He's 4 months old now and a little over twice his birth weight. We're having a blast with him! He smiles a lot, has started playing with toys, loves playing with his hands and shoving them as far into his mouth as he can, holds his head up while lying on his tummy (although he still doesn't have complete neck support), "talks" and has just started laughing occasionally.
Mark was helping out at high school camp out of town a couple weeks ago, so I had the single-mom experience. Just not having the support when Caleb's tired, crying his eyes out, and there's nothing you can do to calm him down was hard. It's definitely been nice having him back again this last week.
I started flying again a little bit at the beginning of the month, after almost 4 months of being on the ground. It's been hard to get out of the house, but nice to be back up in the air as well.

Happy & sad... still cute!

He looked so cute in his big boy clothes that I had to take a picture... unfortunately he was hungry at the moment and didn't like the delay in getting fed. I still think he's cute, even when he's screaming. :)

Even though I don't get much done when Caleb's asleep on me, I love how snuggly he is and know he won't be like this forever, so I try to enjoy it as often as I can

I haven't necessarily gotten everything done that I'm supposed to (like dishes), but I've finally gotten a few scrapbook pages done. I'll try to post more soon.

Look who's smiling!

First dryer ride... he liked it! :)
He's finally smiling

Caleb is actually sleeping right now, and not in my arms, so I have 2 hands to type with! It's the little things in life! :)

Caleb finally started smiling a few weeks ago! Yay! The smiles are still pretty few and far between, but it's sure nice to see a big smile after a long day and night of crying. He still has a really hard time getting to sleep at night and is often up until 2 or 3 in the morning before finally falling asleep. Once he gets to sleep he usually sleeps 4 to 6 hours at a time, but it's the getting him to sleep that's tough. I've spent quite a few nights on the couch now so that Mark can get some sleep before he has to go to work... alas, it won't last forever... I've never known of a teenager who can't sleep and doesn't like to sleep in. :)

Other news, Mark graduated earlier in the month with a 3.95 GPA and was given a couple other awards! I wasn't able to be in for the entire ceremony due to Caleb getting fussy, but I was able to see him get his awards and diploma... I'm really proud of him!

I've been teaching one class this term and will probably be flying a little again in the summer.

The latest

The whole family

My two favorite guys!

Well, I still don't have time for much of an update. But here is our amazing Caleb... he doesn't like to go to sleep at night, but we still love him. :)

Well, he came 12 days earlier than expected, but he's here and he's perfect!

Caleb Brian arrived on March 16 at 4:27PM, weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 in. long

Growing baby = Growing Jill

Well, it's been a long time since I posted last, but wanted to let you know what's been going on over the last couple months. I know the baby's not here yet, but I've started a photo-journaling baby album anyway. So far it's been a place to record how the pregnancy's been going, milestones along the way, and at least a picture each month to track baby and tummy growth. I'm really looking forward to the pages that will be added in a few months when the baby arrives, but in the meantime Mark & I are enjoying each day and making sure that when the baby does arrive he or she knows that they've been loved even before they were born.

Other big news is that Mark finished college in December and within a couple weeks had a job as the Jr. High leader at the church we've been attending and helping out in for the last 3 years! God is good!

There are lots of unknowns still ahead, but we're looking forward to what God has planned and seeing what He does through it all.

Finally, a new post and new news!

At long last, here is a somewhat new picture of us (it's actually from August).
Mark started his last and paid for semester of college last month! Yay! We're both excited about him being done in December and whatever is next after that.
I'm still instructing and teaching a ground school class again this term, while also trying to continue with the Creative Memories business.
Other news is that Mark & I will be joined by a third family member somewhere around the end of March or early April, hopefully. No, we're not getting a dog, we're having a baby! :) Needless to say, we're pretty excited!

What's new...

Last night the middle school group Mark & I help out with at church had an "Oscar Night" where we played videos that the kids had done last month along with giving out awards. It was hilarious and a lot of fun! These are a couple of the movie posters I designed for the event. If you'd like to see the videos they're posted on the youth group's site at www.eugenefaithcentermiddleschool.blogspot.com

Other news... I teach my last class of the term tomorrow morning, then there's finals and we're done... yay for summer. We're hoping that the weather will remember what it's supposed to do in the summer and that the sun will actually come out. Mark's finishing up his last assignments for the term and then has the fall left to go before graduating! Almost there!

Old News and Burning Cars

For those of you who didn't see the newspaper last month, here it is. One of the local papers did an artical on women pilots and intervied myself and three others out at our flight school... we had fun. :)

Other news: On Monday night, our car decided it didn't like being a car anymore and wanted to be a BBQ instead, so after Mark and the firemen put the fire out (I was hoping if it was going to be toast anyway that we would at least get a show with a good explosion, but no, Mark had to go and put the fire out... no fun at all) and declared it dead we got to walk home wondering what God had planned next. Well the next day Mark bought a new clunker from one of the guys at his school for what he would have gotten at the junk yard he was planning on taking it to. So after getting it jump started, bailing all the water out of it and using almost a whole can of lysol on it to get rid of all the mold, we now have a running car. Now the entertaining part is me trying to learn how to drive it... you would think that since I can fly a plane I'd know how to drive a stick shift, but not yet.

So that has been our last few day. Definately exciting, crazy busy, and still incredibly blessed by God!

Almost There

Just a short update... This week's finals week! Yay!!! Just a few more days to go until a week break. Mark has really been feeling the need for a break this last month and I have as well, especially this last week, so we're both looking forward to being done with this term. I hope you're enjoying the nice weather and longer days... I will be until I have a night flight to do (getting home from work after midnight is never my favorite)! :)

That's all for now.

My weekend

This weekend Mark was gone at a conference, so I was home alone, :( but I had time to get some new pages done. My current goal is to get our wedding album done... sometime before I die... and hopefully a lot sooner than that. I'm also working on a digital book of Mark's cycling trip overseas. He has some amazing pictures that I've enjoyed looking at on the computer and there are some great stories from the trip as well, I just don't want them to be forgotten, so that's my other project.

In addition to all that, Mark and I are staying busy with work and school... 4 weeks and counting until the end of the term! Then we're taking an early anniversary trip before starting another term in which I'll be teaching 2 classes... busy, busy, busy... but good. God continues to provide all we need and bless us! :)

Back to busy

Well, here we go again. I started back at work today for the winter term and Mark starts classes tomorrow. Here are some of the things that have been going on with us.

Back from CA

No, this is not me, it's my sister.

Mark's mom gave us some chocolate eyeballs which Mark really enjoyed! :)

This is Mark's dad's leaf art... I liked it.

Ducky's all grown up now.

Dad & Mark on tractors.

Mark & I got to spend a little over a week in CA with my parents and alas, now are back in Oregon. I do like it here, but I don't like being so far away from my family.

School started back up for Mark last week and I'm starting another term at work starting Tuesday, so the crazyness has begun. Here are a few pictures from our trip down south.

Long Time No Post

I didn't think I'd been that busy lately, but aparently I have considering it's been a couple months since I last gave an update. Summer has consisted of moving into a new apartment, working, going to Jr. High camp in Idaho for a week, photographing a wedding, working some more, house sitting for a week, baking while enjoying having a full size oven again and playing with our neighbor's kitten.
Today's the last day of summer term at the flight school, so now we get our summer vacation for a couple weeks before starting another busy term... I think Mark & I are both ready for a break.

3 Years!

Last week was our 3rd anniversary!

I am so blessed!

Life as we know it...

Life is crazy, and by crazy I mean crazy busy. I know people say, "Just wait until..." you fill in the blank, but I'm trying not to think about it possibly being even busier someday because it seems busy enough now. There is only one week left in the term plus finals week and then we get a week break... maybe. On top of my regular work I'm trying to piece together the class I'm going to be teaching next term... it's coming along, but pretty slowly. Mark spends almost every spare moment studying trying to finish up his external studies classes at the same time as his other classes and get good grades in them all (which he's been doing really well with so far). I wish I had gotten a picture of him the other evening when he fell asleep face down on his books while studying. I've been pretty bad at taking picture of what's been going on with us lately, although it's pretty much the same thing every day... pry ourselves out of bed, inhale breakfast, rush to work and school, sit in my office, get in a plane, get out of a plane, sit in my office some more, come home, eat dinner, study, go to bed. I haven't had much time to do much creative stuff, but here's what I have done in the last month.

midterm madness

The winter term is now officially half over... unless you count finals week which I probably should, but I'm trying to think positivly. Mark & I are both pretty well swamped in work & studying.
I've been working long hours, six days a week still as the weather's been good and that's the school's schedule, so it's been busy. Only really having a half day off (since we spend half the day Sunday at church and with the Jr. High) it means a lot of the time is spent playing catch up... laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, cleaning, taking a shower... just kidding, I try to do that more than once a week! I guess I can't really complain though since work means a paycheck which is good.
Mark's taking a heavier load this term than he has since he was in school several years ago, so he's been busy with homework. The nice thing is that his work has been really slow and he hasn't gotten many hours at all, so he has more time to study. And he's enjoying his classes, so that's really good.
In general we're doing good, just busy. I had the crazy nerve to except teaching a ground school class next term, so I guess I'll officially be a college teacher... what was I thinking?! Pray for me! :)

A New Year

Well, work and school are back in progress, so we're getting busy once again. Last week, before everything started back up, Mark & I were blessed to have a few days off to go down to California to see my family. It was really nice to see everyone again. Adam & Meca and Mark's parents and younger brother even made a special drive out just to see us while we where there... don't we feel important! :) Unfortunately I forgot to get out my camera while Mark's family was there.

The first week back at work was really slow with not many students, but hopefully that will be improving soon. Mark is excited to be taking a full load at school this term and I'm hoping the excitement will last the next 9 weeks as homework and class projects increase. One nice thing is that his job has slowed down so he'll be able to focus on school more... even though an extra paycheck would be nice, I think it's better for him, and God has still been providing everything we need.

As I write this I'm listening to frogs outside and it reminds me of growing up going to sleep to the sound of them and crickets... it's a comfort sound I still enjoy hearing. It's so easy to get caught up in all the busyness and crazyness and then to stress out wondering what we should do and how everything's going to turn out and are we going to make it? Sometimes it's good to just stop and listen.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." -Jesus (John 14:27)

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Well, despite me being sick, we still had a good Christmas. Mark & I just hung out at home, ate way too much and watched a couple movies... it was fun. Since we have a really small oven I couldn't do a turkey, so I decided to try stuffing a chicken and cooking it in the crock-pot. It turned out really well, along with the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and jell-o. Mark didn't want me to over do it since I wasn't feeling good, but I couldn't help myself... it was Christmas! Incase you haven't actually seen this, I attatched the greatest Chrarlie Brown show ever, so I hope you enjoy it.