Settled... For Now

Well, we're in Missouri - in the middle of nowhere. Our road (Bethel Church Rd if you want to GoogleMap it) is a dirt road by which we see dozens of horse drawn buggies travel each day. I'd post pictures, but they're on Josh's computer with is used round the clock by him in hopes of finishing his thesis by July 11. Actually, that's when he defends it. It's due in written form the week prior. So, speaking of which, we will actually be back in Indiana July 10-14ish so Josh can defend his thesis, Olivia can get her 12 month check-up (and shots), and we can apartment hunt in W. Lafayette. So if you want to hook up during that week, let me know!

In the meantime here are some developments. Olivia, I believe, is officially in toddler-hood. It's hard to watch her walk as well as she can and still call her a "baby." Her first birthday is less than 2 weeks away. We've already gone shopping and her goodies are hidden away upstairs. Her gift from us, though, has been out of the box and in use for a few weeks now. It was a big-girl front-facing carseat. We decided that the 5 hr trip to IL and then the 6 hr trip to MO would have been unbearable for her while staring at the upholstry of our back seat. It would have been enough to drive me insane, anyway. We're also getting her a flower girl dress for Ashley and Paul's wedding. By the way, we've been practicing for that already, and if she performs as well as she practices, she's going to be amazing! We had her walk up the aisle at church last week and she went the whole way waving and smiling her big toothy grin. Then at home, we took it a step further and tore up some napkins and put them in a basket. Then we gave the basket to her to see what she would do. She put the basket on one arm and then with the other, proceeded to fling the napkin pieces all over the house! (With a huge toothy grin, of course). When we get her dress, she'll have to practice in that - and that will be even more fun!

This summer has been a busy one for Olivia. She's discovered the trampoline, the pool, and the staircase; and has amazed us all on each of them. She LOVES walking/running/falling on the trampoline. I've never seen a child her age walk as well as she does, let alone on a trampoline! She even plays a game on it with us. When she's walking, we say, "Livi's walking, Livi's walking, Livi falls down!" And at the last part, she actually falls down for us (When she feels like it; when she doesn't, she just looks back, smiles, and keeps going.) We weren't sure what she would think of the pool (I've got pictures of her first experience - remind me to post them when Josh takes a bathroom break). I had heard that babies don't really appreciate the pool until their 2nd year. But we tried anyway, and like everything else in life, she thoroughly enjoys it. She doesn't like being put in her pool toy/floating-seat-thing - but that's congruent with the rest of her preferences. She wants to be out moving like the rest of us. She loves it when we skim her across the water's surface. And she shreaks in delight as she splashes different people. I have to interject here: as I type this, she is squealing as she prances past me - cell phone in hand. Okay, back to the many adventures of Olivia. :) Since being here in Missouri, she has had the opportunity to discover stairs for the first time. She didn't need any climbing lessons - we learned the quickly enough. She smiles and babbles as she crawls for the first time in her life - right up a full flight of stairs. She is constantly wanting to climb them - so that we have to put chairs in front of them 24 hours a day. This morning, we forgot the chairs and there was a breach in security as I thought someone else was watching her and they thought I was. We searched the whole downstairs to no avail when we finally came to the inevitable conclusion. Sure enough, she was upstairs in our room, playing with our laundry. She was so quiet, too. She knew she had done something we hadn't wanted her to do.

There is so much more I could talk about! But I've already written a full novel. Alright then, briefly: Josh submitted a paper in a conference in Utah where the top prize is $10,000 and he recently received news that his is in the top 6. So we will be going to Utah mid-August to see him present and find out if we win any money. It would be an answer to prayer for sure, because I won't be able to teach next year. God will provide as we need it.

Okay, I have to go. Olivia is crouching on the table, playing with the laptop.
Bye!