goodbye to this old house

We closed on selling our first house today....you know, the adorable old house that we bought just a year and half ago.  We are approaching a very bittersweet time in our life--moving.  I have lived in Cape Girardeau for 2 1/2 years now and Eric is approaching 4 years.  He has seen an entire group of students from start to finish in their time at SEMO.  We've really grown to love living here over the past year and half (or so).  I'll admit, it was hard for me at first and that is why the love has been more recent.  After we got married, I joined Eric down here and it was just hard to make friends (outside of our students).  I think I had this picture painted that we would get to hang out, play games, do whatever with a group of friends, but they were hard to come by.  It seemed like a lot of people were from here and had family here, and that deep community that I so longed for and knew in Columbia and Jeff City wasn't forming the way I had envisioned.  It was a battle for me because I knew our purpose here was for the students, but I selfishly wanted other friends too.  Over time, God has answered our prayers for friends and although we are excited for our move and the next step God has for us, we have formed some friendships that we will definitely miss.  If we had known we would be moving at this point, we probably wouldn't have bought a house when we did.  Let me tell you though, we loved our home.  It will forever hold a special place because it's the first house we owned owed.  It is where we brought Cooper home from the hospital and he spent his first 8 months.  We specifically chose to be located close to campus hoping to make it easier for our students to come over and we enjoyed having them in our home.  We even had someone live with us for a couple of months, while in transition before getting married.  We got to try our hand at some DIY projects and house updates.  And God was able to take a place that had been a psychiatrist's office and then her home (not saying psychiatrists are bad or anything--but we were guessing from the Darwin symbol on her car that she wasn't a believer) and make it into a home used for worship, prayer, discipleship, and family.  All praise goes to Him--for the opportunity to have this home, for selling it quickly, and for the way He has grown us during our time in Cape Girardeau. 

Closing day--Oct 2011

After coming home from the hospital

Cooper's first room

8 months old!

This little guy is 8 months old today...and we are ending our first extended time away from him. We have been in Orlando since Monday and Cooper has been staying with grandma and grandpa Barb.

A few milestones:

Tooth #3 is in...and it wasn't as smooth as #1 and #2. We had 4-5 nights of waking up in the middle of the night for a few hours. And let me tell you, we have been out of that habit and it was a little rough. Not to mention it was during our packing and moving. Have I mentioned that we're moving? Probably not, since blogging is few and far between. Our house in Cape sold in 6 days (Praise the Lord) and it closes on Monday. We are moving to Jefferson City next month and staying with friends during the transition. Back to Cooper though...

I think we are close to crawling--maybe? He lunges for things and will be up in position. He also loves be up on his feet and wants to pull up (even though he's a little guy).

Good news though: our little guy weighs 16 pounds!! He didn't double his birth weight until about 7 1/2 months, but our doctor is proud of his progress. He had his second ear infection last month too (which why we got a weight check).

He loves to babble (ma-ma-ma, da-da-da, ba-ba-ba) and loves to eat! He is doing great with table food...and loves meat. He is still breastfeeding 4-5 times a day--or taking a pumped bottle when I'm away.

Some favorites: swinging outside, going on walks, eating, practicing walking, watching baseball, and being around other kids/babies.

Just a couple pictures this time....and how cute are Cooper and his friend Ella. I'm not sure what I think about him grabbing her leg though!