Home for two weeks!

My 12 week old has now been to Minnesota,Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois! In Iowa, he's been to Sully, Urbandale, Ft Madison, and Dubuque. Joel turned to me on our car ride home from Chicago and said, "Would you mind sitting in the back seat? I kind of feel like we could be charged with child abuse if we put him back there by himself one more time!"

Benjamin has been a great traveler; he's almost done better than mom. Last week when we were traveling to one of our 5 destinations. He filled his pants, which he does about 6 times a day, and of course there was no good place to change him. I stretched my legs out and made a make shift bed so I could change Benjamin's stinky pants. We didn't have pampers, and he had a pretty massive blow out, and to make a long story short, I ended up with poo all over. YUCK!

On our way home from CO we stopped at a gas station to feed Benjamin and change him. The bathrooms were itty bitty without a changing station so I used the car. That time, I ended up with poo everywhere right before he sprayed us both all over. Thankfully there is always a suit case in the trunk and spare clothes are never far away!

God has showed us in so many ways, His power, provision, and His love. Many of you know the first story of God providing us with several unexpected gifts equaling $450 right before our car needed fixed, costing us $450. Our second story of God showing us His character was just the other day at the store. I swallowed my pride and went to Aldi to grocery shop. I have it in my head that inexpensive is low class, and that cool people shop at Hy-Vee. I thought I was doing good by shopping at Fareway to save money, but the day has come for me to check out Aldis. (I can now say that the food is really just as good, and I plan to shop there in the future. I now believe super cool people shop affordably :) So I got to the check out counter and realized that my cash had run out, and I was going to have to use my card. I try very hard not to use my debit card. Especially now that we don't currently have an income, I figure its best if only one person uses the card and knows whats in our account and what's coming out. But we needed food so I was going to have to break my rule! (Joel's never told me not to use it, I just make silly rules for myself. I really like rules!) So I opened my wallet and found $58. I forgot about money Joel had given me the day before, and I was so excited. I thought this money would cover some of the groceries and I would just use my card for the rest. Well, the bill was $57.30. I had the exact right amt of cash. I dont know that God doesn't want me using my debit card, or that He only wants me to shop at Aldis, but I do know that I don't need to stress about our provision during this time of not having an income. He's a pretty big God, and He seems to handle taking care of us pretty great...and pretty exactly!

Last week was a week of first for Benjamin. He laughed for the first time, and has duplicated it often. A sure way to get him to giggle (a very low giggle) is to hold a pillow over his tummy and wiggle it. He cracks up! The second first, was sleeping through the night. This hasn't been duplicated, but it was appreciated none the less. I haven't exactly figured out a schedule for Benjamin yet, and I'm ok with that. We have a pretty regular time to go to bed at night,8:30ish and get up usually around 7:00. On average he gets up once in the night, takes one morning nap and two afternoon naps. Nursing is going well, but I think I might be done in October. We'll see how long it takes him to hold his head up, and if I feel like being done then.

I hope your summers are full of sunshine, grilling and more. Its been great getting to see so many of you and catch up! Great friends and family are pretty priceless!

Love you all!