Girl do I have a story to tell!

Let me introduce you to:


Her name is Emily Dian Belbeck.

After we got checked in, they put in the Epidural, Gege showed up, some of us rested, Abby began pushing, they had to make a few cuts and a suction disk and shazam...baby time.

I'll report more later..right now I have to hold my daughter.

Josh
Father of 2

Checked in

So we pulled into Centennial and they are doing their thing checking in Abby. It looks like this might really happen.

Josh

On the way to the hospital

Already this girl is difficult. We are going to the hospital on the coldest night of the winter with snow/ice on the roads.

Fun eh?

Josh
Driver of preggers

It's almost time.

The progeny is almost done cooking. At any moment now the water will be thrown out followed rather quickly with the baby...but the baby's staying.

So we are going to do what we did last time...use this space to update you with what the happenings are.

We do have names picked out, but you'll have to stay tuned until she shows up to find out what name we have chosen. You can read below on my thoughts about names.

Now for a little update. The Momma has had higher than normal blood pressure, but nothing dangerous to the child. She also had protein in her urine which seems to mean that we may be going sooner than later. I'm (the pops) am doing fine, I'm no worse for wear, but I'm over this pregnancy food pickyness thing. Remember...this is all about me.

Josh
Overseer of pregnancy
Exaggerator of facts (only non essential facts)

We're Back!

I once took a ski trip up to nappa valley. Well, not really.

I did get to spend 160 hours riding a little cart, trailing a 60 inch beast of a lawn mower all over yards in the middle Tennessee area. It was.....well....the best experience of my......meh.

We are having a girl! We have settled on a name.....at least we did five minutes ago.

Finding a name is like a pilgrimage to a strange land that you didn't think you needed to visit or pay homage to. Then one day when you met certain criteria or gone down certain roads, all of a sudden you're there. You're paying homage...a very dark and yelly city. A homage slathered in confrontation and bay leaves...they add flavor.

then you land on the name leaving your sacrifice of emotional torment on the alter of the prickly name city that exists deep in the darkest woods of your soul.

Until your wife suggests..."x"

Thankfully the donkey knows his way at night...and he is used to the yelling.

Josh
Namer of Children
Maker upper of words

A Year and 11 Days Later

Hello,

We are still here.

I'll have more for you soon.

Josh
President of Fatherly Duties
Moderator of all Noah Cuteness
Instigator of all Tickles

Water Water Everywhere

After a week of being a shut in mommy to a teething 10 month old boy with a double ear infection, I was really looking forward to garage sale-ing with my junkie mother in law. Junkie as in sees potential in junk, not other more common meanings of the word.

But the weather had something else in mind... flash floods. It was raining hard when I woke up this morning and has not quit all day. From my perspective in the little house on the hill, it was just a hindrance to my plans. It turns out that there has been some pretty serious flooding and no one can get in or out of our neighborhood.

Josh came home a little early from work due to a tornado warning and in the midst of pulling a car out of the floods took these pictures:

Spring Time

It's that time of year again. The time of year that I love, and despise.

It's time to massacre the onion plants. I love the mowing down part, but it's the acre plot of land that is all hill that gives me bad dreams at night and cold sweats in the morning.

So I'm going to mow it this afternoon.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Josh
JandA Corp
President of Fatherly Duties
Mower of Grass

Spring Cleaning

It is my heart's desire to be fantastic at four things: a servant of God, a wife to my husband, a mother to my son and a keeper of my home - in that order. I long to live out these things intentionally and with joy. But so often I find myself flitting from one random thing to another and ending my days in a grumpy funk.

In fact, I have been treading funk waters for the last couple of years. I have had a feeling of waiting - waiting for this mystical life that I planned to start. I was so set on this plan, that I have let the important things get a little dusty.

In the spirit of spring cleaning I am dusting off my priorities, taking all other things with margin, and praying that I will find joy right where I am. Because the truth is, I have the life I have always wanted - my God is good and full of lovingkindness, I have an amazing husband, a precious baby boy, and a little home of my own. Sure there are things that don't fit in my little dream life box - but I'm not sure that life is ever exactly what we want.

So, this is my re-commitment to my top four. Everything else can take a number - I'll get to them when I can.

Intentional Momma

New Update..and pictures

Hey gang..

here we are....3 months on down the road and we have been completely unfaithful in keeping up with what's going on.

Here are the updates:

Abby: She is growing into a fantabulous mother. She loves her son, loves playing with him, watching crawl around the house, watch him laugh at Raleigh dog, watch him as he hangs with the president (me)...and fusses when he does boy things. Like bump his head as he crawls, or scratches himself being the rough and tumble crawler he is.

Josh: I love my boy and he is pure fun to watch. Fathers are different than mothers and I'm good with that. My wife sit down with Noah for hours and just stare at him. I on the other hand thoroughly enjoy watching them together. Talk about warming the cockles of your heart. Plugging away at work. I have built some decent momentum, know it just takes keeping it going, finding new leads, following up on those that I have and really conveying the passion I have for what I do. I'm still working part time at the depot, but that will be ending very soon as my income level rises.

Noah: All boy. Crawling everywhere. If it ends up in his hands.....it's going to his mouth. He chirps, he laughs, he screams a greeting of hello, he grins and is just generally cute.

Raleigh dog: Eats, poops...sleeps and is generally annoying.

Here are pictures.

New Pictures

Pre-Christmas Update

I sometimes forget that I have a son...I also forget that I have a dog, a house and a wife. Those are the moments that catch me off guard and when I snap back to reality I can honestly say how blessed that I really am. I have a beautiful mate who is in full blossom as a wife, a mother and friend. I have a growly boy who is a joy to play with, who is eating real food, rolling around on the floor and doing a great impersonation of an inch worm.

I have a job that I love, a job that I am currently bad at, but God has consistently provided for our basic needs from the get go. I have a new and wonderful appreciation for my own father who has been a commission only salesman for a majority of his life. I understand now where he earned his steadfast trust in our provider.

My boy is lucky. He has his Beka and GiGi, his Tootsi, and his Oma and Opa. He has three sets of of grandparents that love him up. Not to mention his Aunts and Uncles who adore him locally. We are blessed.

I have a new personal goal. It's a BMW GS 1200 Adventure. We were at Oma and Opa's house a couple of weeks ago to hang out and catch up. Opa had bought a new toy and as Opa's are...he was generous and let me throw a leg over his new bike. For example, using the term exhilaration is tame compared to riding the Adventure. Thanks Opa! It's an experience that I won't ever forget!

While I was having fun...Abby and Noah got to spend some quality time with Oma. Oma is my other mother who I've known for years and has been an incredible part of our lives. She fell in love instantly. It was incredible watching her with her little grandson, playing, cooing, cuddling..you know..being the cute baby that he is.

Go to my Facebook page to see Noah crawling. If I'm not your friend..send me a request.

That is all for now.

Josh
President of Wind in the Hair
President of Fatherly Duties

No More Do-Gooding

Since we moved back into our house, I have made a concerted effort to walk Raleigh Dog every morning. This is because she drives me crazy while I am home with her if I don't. I roll straight out of bed, throw on sock and shoes, layer on several jackets, and we are out the door. I look like a cross between the stay-puff marshmallow man and the crazy pajama lady. I think everyone is familiar with what crazy pajama ladies look like, you might even have one in your neighborhood. In my neighborhood, its me. Hey - I'll do whatever it takes for a little extra sanity in my life.

It is usually pretty dark and cold so we don't run across much excitement. Occasionally, we will meet another dog or worse yet, a squirrel, and Raleigh will be off like a shot and take my arm with her. A couple weeks ago, there was this little black dog with a broken chain trailing from his collar wandering around the neighborhood. My maternal hormones kicked in big time (I can't stand to see a stray anything without wanting to find a home for it - not my home though, let me be clear on that point), and we chased that poor dog around for thirty minutes. I never caught it, never even got close.

So this morning, while Raleigh and I were out for our walk, I saw a little black dog with some sort of non-contagious mange issue. I immediately knew it was that same dog. She had a name tag with the owners phone number, so I attached her collar to Raleigh's leash and started my merry way back home on my do-gooder's mission.

I got about three steps before I hear someone yelling "Maggie! Maggie!" and I realize that I have just taken this dog from its own yard. That's right folks, I accidentally almost stole a dog. I immediately let her off the leash, stammer something about thinking her lost and I promise I was going to call you when I got home with her, and practically run away - dragging Raleigh with me.

Once I regained my senses, I realized I could probably have handled that exchange a little better. So, I went home and showered, fed Noah and got regular clothes on the both of us and we made our way to her house with some toffee as a "I'm sorry I inadvertently tried to steal your dog, and by the way Merry Christmas" present. The world's cutest baby and some homemade toffee have got to go a long way in soothing ruffled feathers, right?

Unfortunately, no one was home in the house I though they lived in and I didn't want to knock on random doors looking for them, thereby adding to my crazy pajama wearing, dog stealing image - so we just went home.

All in all, I failed in my attempt to rescue a dog and in my attempt to make friends with a neighbor. No more do-gooding for me, at least until I quit blushing for this one.

The Momma

Thanksgiving Update

Hello.

I bet you have missed us so much, that you went out, bought me an Ipod touch, and are in the process of mailing it to me as we speak. Well, go ahead and send it on already!

Life is interesting. I have a job that I love, however, recently I have been going through stages of denial about certain aspects of what I do. There is a certain grind associated with being a salesman. A grind that I have never experienced before, and one that I am learning to deal with on a daily basis....more on that in another post.

Family Update!

Noah is 6 months old tomorrow. Six months of little grins, hidden smiles, funny cries, and just all around cuteness.

We are waiting on our laptop to be fixed so that we can more conveniently update the blog. So, in the mean time...if you have an old laptop gathering dust...I might be game to taking that bad boy off your hands if the price is right.

Josh
President of the Grind
Janda Corp

Long Time No Blog

Oh, my friends. Life has happened in the more than a month it has taken for me to finally give you an update. Here's the rundown:

1. We are back in our house! O Sweet Mystery of Life, at last we're home.

2. Mostly everything is fixed. Hey, we have a wall and heat and air - and that's all a girl needs, besides coffee and the occasional ice cream fix.

3. Noah is rolling over. Today I found him in his crib on his back and facing the wrong direction.

4. My child is sleeping in a crib and his own room and through the night - none of these things were facts when we moved out.

5. Raleigh dog is about to drive me to the brink of insanity. Today Noah, I, and a very nice workman named Isaiah chased her around the neighborhood because the door was open to let the paint fumes dissipate and she took that opportunity to bolt. My elderly, chain smoking neighbors quite enjoyed the show.

6. I have discovered that Crocs are magnets for baby spit up and given that they are about as water tight as swiss cheese I end up walking around in my own private puke puddle.

7. My brother Samuel is an incredibly talented man and re-finished our entire basement floor by himself. It looks incredible - pictures coming soon.

8. I am a working mother. Well, sort of. I don't really count it work if I get paid to bring my baby along and hang out with my husband all day.

9. I tried to cook dried beans and came out with pruney, raisin looking things that were about as edible as sawdust.

10. I am currently foraying into the world my sister so aptly named Kitchen Chemistry, which is basically "I haven't been to the store in ages and it doesn't look like I'm going anytime soon so I'm gonna scrounge in my cabinets for food that possibly might could go together, mix it up, throw it in the oven and cross my fingers". Tonight's fare is a concoction of rice, chicken bullion, cheese and tortillas. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ahh, its good to be back.

The Momma

Catch You Up

Its been a while since we have posted about the house. Partly because there has not been much going on but mostly because I forget.


They have built a new set of stairs and given us what is perhaps the ugliest railing known to man. They had to install a railing to pass codes but because there wasn't one there before all that was in the budget was a couple two by fours which they nailed diagonally down the side. We also have the workings of a new fuse box.

Gluttons for punishment that we are - we decided that while everything was out of our basement it would be a perfect time to refinish the floors. Both Josh and I have always wanted stained concrete floors. Part of the reason we bought this house was because of that possibility with the basement which will eventually be finished out into living space.

My fabulous brother owns a painting and repair business: http://www.streetsidepaint.com/ and is helping us. I use the word help very loosely because really he has done all the work. As it turns out, the basement was not empty. My brother and his son spent an entire afternoon emptying the basement into the storage pod. We are working to get the old linoleum glue off the floor and then its onto refinish-ville!

There is a moisture treatment on the outside of the wall and the trench is filled in. They are waiting until the torrential rains stop to level out the ground properly, finish up the electric, and start on the ac.


Up until this point a lot of progress was made very quickly, so this is a little hard for me. Oh, weather why won't you clear up?

The Momma

E-Camp Peru

My Sister and Brother-in-Law are headed to Peru with a team of folks from Fellowship Bible Church to teach kids on another continent how to worship God. They held E-Camp this summer for our church and it was one of the most amazing and profound things that I have ever witnessed in my life. Watching kids learn to worship God in such a profound manner, then leading the church in that worship brought tears to my eyes.

You can follow their progress here: http://e-camp-fellowship.blogspot.com/ They will post as they can and will tell their story as they progress through the next 10 days.

Josh
President of Fatherly Duties
JandA Corp

Witness

As time rolls on and I am daily more entrenched in my new life - the life of a stay at home mom, I tend to feel frustrated. Not to say that I am not happy, I LOVE being at home. No, my frustration is more at myself. I feel the weight of the to-do list and yet most days it is a minor miracle that I get into the shower before 5pm. Somehow I just can't accomplish in a week half of what I used to in a single day.

And then I come across moments where I am reminded of what it is that I do all day. I had one of those this afternoon. I laid Noah down on the floor so I could do something really quickly and as I glanced back over my shoulder, there he lay.

Head up, resting on his elbows, eyes alert. A picture made even more perfect by that little bit of drool dripping from his lip. I could not help but turn back and revel in how big he is getting, how strong he is becoming, and how fast he is growing. And then he puked all over the place....

So what is it that I do all day?

I am a witness.

A witness to the growth and development of this precious, amazing little boy. To his smiles, his coos, his burps, his cries, his dirty diapers, and yes being a witness also means cleaning up his puke. I have the honor of seeing him every minute of every day - except for the few times El Presidente and I get a movie night.

I am also a witness to my husband. I get to see Josh sacrifice his time to support his family, I see him wrestle with the how to become the man he wants to be, I see him adore his son, and I get to see how much he loves me.

Most importantly, I am a witness for God and how immeasurable He is. There are no perfect words to describe His faithfulness, His love for me, His unfathomable plan for my life. He has this unstoppable way of bringing me to my knees in praise - by force in allowing a truck to hit my house, in awe as I watch the son He made and gave to me, and in joy as I see how He is growing and softening the heart of my husband.

Today I was reminded of what I do and Who I work for. It was Him who gave me Josh and Noah to love and to lift up. This phase of my life wont last forever and I bet there will be a time when I long for quiet days like today. So what if all the little things fall by the wayside, I am doing my job.

The Momma

Meet Melvin Cornknuckle.

He's me....or rather the name I've given to my sin nature. I was having a conversation the other day with The Momma, and I was relaying to her how some days I won, and how some days my sin nature won whilst dealing with work matters. Some days I feel lazy and let my sin nature take over and I am not productive. Some days I win..and I still feel unproductive.

So while ironing my shirt for my part time job at the de-pot, I relayed that I was going to name my sin nature Melvin. It's a name that doesn't conjure up anything scary or threatening. It's a name apt to my sin nature because it/he sneaks in smooth like, whispers innocent things in my ear...and whala...day goes to crap.

It's amazing to me that although I know Christ has beaten sin....I still feel trapped by it daily. I feel set in stupid routines that go counter to everything I could be if I just let go of those things that I shackle myself in everyday. How foolish is it to get out of bed...and gladly hop into shackles that you don't need? Honestly? Yet every morning I get up...look down at the dirty dingy things like they are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn...slip them on, and walk out the door.

So from here on out I will be writing down in my day planner who won that day. Me or melvin. Here's the sad part....melvin has lost already...I just give him the field to play on. So on the days that he win's..it's my stubborn born-in sin nature that didn't trust God that day for the work He has already done.

Josh
President of Fatherly Duties
Assistant Slayer of Melvin
JandA Corp

Episodes 3-5: Trenches, Scaffolding, Rubble & Dirt

Episode 3:

They began excavation on the house last Saturday (I know, I know I need to update more often) and there is giant trench around the entire side and curving around both edges.


The view from the back of the house...


Standing at the top of the trench....


Episode 4: No progress was made on the house Monday and Tuesday. When I went by on Wednesday morning the entire cinder block portion of the wall had been removed leaving my basement open to the air. I had to grab something really quickly from the house so I didn't take any pictures.

Episode 5: By the time I drove by later that evening it was already bricked up. Its amazing how fast they work. I guess when they are paying for the repairs its a little more motivating. These pictures are from today when we went to pick out brick to fill in where they wont be able to use the ones they removed from the house.


It is so wonderful to see progress being made. Soon we will be home - sleeping in our own beds, with our things in their rightful places. Maybe, just maybe we will be able to settle down into some sort of rhythm for our new life.

I can't wait for the day.

The Momma

The Momma