SO MUCH GOING ONNNNN!!!

So, John is totally done with law school. Holy moly. Today was our last Sunday at New Covenant Pres. There are a lot of people there that we will sorely miss! This was not the only good-bye we've gone through lately. Here are some of them (and some other things that have been happening)...

Brody has been eating up any possible moment with the Garner boys. He goes CRAZY when he sees either of them outside and so I am trying to give him as much play time with them as possible.

I did have to say goodbye to my sweet friend, Hope. She and her husband had just finished their first year at Regent Law and so were off to his summer intership before graduation. We'll miss you, Eiferts!! :)

Here is the last painting that I completed in Virginia. It is for one of my closest friends here, Kari McDonnell.

Kari, a local artist named Sarah Hanson and I have an art group together about once a month. We shared our artwork for our last meeting this past week. If you would like to see more of Sarah's artwork feel free to visit http://sarahpaints.com/index.html. Kari and I don't have websites ... yet! :)

It was hard to say good-bye to that part of life, but hopefully I'll find some other artsy friends in Columbia to carry on the tradition with!

Congratulations are in order for the Monnettes who had their beautiful daughter, Eve Margariette (I hope I spelled that right!) last Monday. She is so sweet. It will be hard to say goodbye to the Monnettes, but fortunately we have a little bit more time with them.

Isn't she sooo sweet??

Another sad farewell was made in the form of a baseball game. Our neighbors from the townhouse, Nick and Brenda were such good friends that we've wanted to go by and have a last dinner or something for a while. Fortunately, Nick had a baseball game we were able to go watch. Brody had a BLAST. He went through all the fans on the bleachers and was literally forcing them to give him high fives. It was awesome. I suppose someone had to take on the role of mascot.

Here is Brody getting some love from Brenda at the game.

And then there was this guy. John and I were watching TV in our bedroom the other night and low and behold a muppet shadow came to life in the corner of our room. Do you see the old man??

Well, there are tons of things to take care of, but God has been faithful to bless us with opportunities to take care of it all. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep 'em coming while we make the move in 1 week from today!

a little over a week... wow

So, i am sorry that there will be no pictures this time. I just wanted to get on a post a quick note on what's going on with us. We are packing like crazy. John will be moving all of our stuff down on Wednesday of next week (loading the van on Tuesday) and then returning to get his wife and child as well as attend all of the graduation celebrations. I cannot believe it. My friend Kari and I were discussing how it feels like we're watching someone else go through it (we're both in denial). Again, I must say how excited I am to enter into this new phase of life, but my heart is sad to leave all of my sweet friends and our wonderful community at our church and our apartment complex. I think I am trying to desperately snatch up every possible moment of play time we have left at the Village playground! At least Brody doesn't fully understand. I think he would be heart-broken if he did. Every time he sees our neighbors who have two little boys his age he jumps up and begs to go outside to be with them. They will be missed! Yet, we will rejoice in what the Lord has done. Please pray that sufficient closer is made for all of us. Also, please pray that we get connected quickly in Columbia. I know God will provide. Just 1 1/2 weeks left. Unbelievable.

Savouring the end...

So, our time here is quickly coming to an end. I am really torn about how I feel. I am super excited to start anew in Columbia and yet have some friends already established and of course the HUGE blessing of family around. But, I am really sad to be leaving my friends, our church and our apartment Commune... uh... I mean complex! :) It has been so nice to be here. God has definitely worked in our lives. a little over 2 weeks left now. Wow. So, we took our (probably) last trip into Norfolk and walked on the big Naval Ship with Brody. Here are some pics:







My sweet friend, Natali, is about to have her baby girl (in like a week or so). The rest of us from Bible study meant to have a baby blanket done for her by her shower that was a while ago, but at long last we finally finished it! Here is the end result:

Hope did the duckies, Elizabeth and Erica did a side of stripes each and I did the "bubbles" (that's in quotes because I'm not so sure it turned out to be bubbles!) We hope baby Monnette likes it!

So, along with going places that we may not visit for a long time... we're also trying to have dinner and hang-out times with all of our close friends. We've been soooo blessed with amazing neighbors across the hall. Erica and I hang out during the day (both stay at home mommas) and also at Bible study. They have a 5 year old son, Gabe. However, Brody is especially fond of James. He loves to push the buttons on his chair... which can be good and VERY bad too (he once knocked himself over with the chair while James was distracted, but that's another story!). So, this is the first time we let him sit next to Mr. James at the table. He was quite excited, but very disappointed that we wouldn't let him use the controller during dinner... oh well.
At one point during all this excitement over the weekend, Brody had had enough. He went into his room by himself and got his blanket... after John and I were like, "where is Brody??", we looked in the hallway outside Brody's room and this is what he was doing.... So, we let him get in his crib for a nap... funny boy.
Again, I have to say God is so good to us. We are excited about this transitional period, but please pray for us. There will be a lot of folks that we'll miss from around here!

Easter and the beach

We have had a lot going on in the last week! Last Friday was a beautiful morning, so the three of us decided to go to the beach and take some fun photos. Brody really enjoyed the sand and walking around, but he probably enjoyed the dogs on the beach the most.

He wasn't as big of a fan of the waves, however. I am guessing that is because the water here is still FREEZING! Hopefully, by the time we go on our family beach trips he will have warmed up to the whole swimming in the ocean idea. I'm sure he'll at least love cousin time on the sand.
Here's our family photo!
Brody was checking out some kites flying in the distance in this picture.
So, what you have all been waiting for..... EASTER OUTFITS! :) Brody totally stole the show when we got to church. John and I quickly became chump change to everyone we saw... and can you blame them? Look at that sweet hat!
Brody played it cool with some sunglasses to boot. He of course removed them upon promptly entering the Sanctuary. He's so funny.
John and Brody matched perfectly. Their suits were the exact same seer-sucker and they both had pink ties on. I wish we could post some fun family picture of all of us, but sadly all three of those photos turned out blurry. We'll have to get all dressed up and try it again.
Here is the man trying to ride his very own tractor... he sometimes gets frustraited that it won't seem to pull him the way he wants... I don't know why.
This year I have been blessed with some awesome friends who have gotten together once a week for Bible study. We studied the book, "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" by Jeremiah Burroughs. It was pretty humbling to say the least. But, sadly we finished it and here is a picture from our end of the Bible study party. Sarah had already left-we'll have to photo-shop her in later. :)

So, that's what's been going on! We officially have three weeks left until Graduation Weekend begins! It is really hard to believe, but it is true. I am about to step up the packing into high gear. Please pray for us to finish the semester strong and to be able to tie up any loose ends here. Please pray for a smooth transition for all of us and that we have some wonderful farewell fellowship with those we've come to know and love here. God has been so good to us.
"Oh magnify the Lord with me. Let us exult His name together!" Psalm 34:3

Easter Eggstravaganza!

We have been so blessed to have such a fun and caring Church while we are in Virginia Beach. Last weekend the church held an Easter Egg hunt and puppet show for the kids in the church (and whomever else wanted to come)! Brody had a great time.

The first egg had to be pointed out to him, but after much encouragement he finally grabbed it and started off looking for more.Brody then only wanted to run around shaking his eggs like little maracas. But we quickly pried them out of his hands and into his Easter bag (we forgot to bring a basket...) so that he could hunt some more.

Brody's good friend Cullen was there. He not only found the round colorful eggs, but a ton of brown prickly ones. He was the Easter Egg hunter of the day for sure.

So, like all good parents try to do-we tried to get the two of them to pose for a picture.... that was not happening! They were much too into the game at hand to sit still for photos!
Here is a picture of the kids all watching the puppet show.

Of course, there was singing involved!
Then, I just thought you would all like to see our son's most recent exciting discovery... wearing Moma and Daddy's shoes around the apartment. I think it is hilarious that he can actually go relatively far in my high-heals. I think he knows he's being funny. :)

That's all for now! We'll be sure to post some good Easter photos soon!

Brody just saw a firetruck go by. See him tell the story:

New Graduation/Mother's Day/Birthday Present!!

So, John is the most awesome husband ever and got us a joined gift for graduation/mother's day/birthday. We got a NEW CAMERA!! It is similar to the kind John's dad has and it is really awesome!

Of course I had to take Brody to the park and snap some pictures. So, please enjoy! Here is a typical warm day in the life of the Brodster...

First, we're off to the park!

Just need a little snack before the play-time begins!

Tube numero uno.

Tube numero Dos.

Of course there needs to be a little peaking through those interesting little holes.

He has actually learned how to say "cheese". He'll only say it when I have a camera pointed at him and I tell him to, "say cheeeessseee"... but he'll do it and I think that's holarious.

Tube numero tres.

And what, might you ask, is the result of all those tubes???

Time to go down the slide.

Brody wasn't so sure about the whole slide thing, so while he was trying to back out... the slide decided he must go for a ride.

Next he pilotted a space shuttle...What's a good park trip without some swings involved?? I'm not sure what he's contimplating here, but i know it's deep.

Here he is introspective due to whatever he had been thinking of earlier.

So, that about sums it up! I hope you enjoyed going to the park with Brody! Soon, you grandparents out there will be able to take him to the park whenever your hearts desire! :)