Hi!

Well Friends,
All the pictures from the past week are on my wonderful Adam's computer and not mine. Which computer am I currently blogging from? Mine. That means? No current pictures. It does, however, mean a newsy update on our lives. =)

We have been here 12ish days. It has been good!

1. We have continued to be humbled. We accidentally got our car stuck in the slushy snow of our very own driveway last week. Newbs! Mhm! We worked together, as Team Howard, to try and move the car but we could not do it. So we humbly called our pastor and asked for advice. Our friends, Neil and Natalie came over to help move the car. It was quick! I was putting a casserole into the oven and looked out the front window and the car was there! So I looked out the front window more closely, and saw our friends standing there talking to Adam. So kind.

We invited Neil and Natalie to stay for dinner. It was a thrown-together casserole and this was the first time I had used the oven in the house. It started to reek of cleaner. Whew! Stinky! I promised them that was not dinner smells and they then told me that the house they moved into after they were married had mouse poop in the oven somewhere that burned up when they first were using their oven. They said it stank sooooooo bad and that the cleaner was no biggie.

2. Last Sunday night we attended our second church gathering. Such an encouraging time. Titus napped in his moby wrap like a rockstar so I got to stay in the service the entire time. Then we had potluck spaghetti and salad and bread for dinner. There is a gal in the church here named Ashley. Weekly, she coordinates/plans what the meal will be for Sunday and then assigns everyone an item to make/bring. It keeps it all equal and ensures that there will be a good amount of food and not all of one thing. What an amazing blessing and talent to our church body she is!

It also snowed during the entire evening and when Adam and I walked outside, our car was covered in snow. We could see fellow friends using brushes to swipe the snow off their windshields etc. I turned to Adam and said, "Well.... We have that ice scraper." So I got Titus in his carseat while Adam slowly scooped away the snow. Next thing I know our car is being swiftly brushed off by 2 men. It was so quickly done! Again, humbling. Newbs! We bought a brush at Kmart the next day.

3. Our house is awesome! I had to warm up to it a little bit. Having all the boxes mostly unpacked has been super helpful.
- We still need to hang up our art to make the walls more personalized.
- We have no garbage disposal.
- We have conquered and been conquered by our woodstove. But daily, we have a fire in it.
- There is a main hiking/biking trail-ish road thing right across the street from our house. Leslie came over yesterday and we went on a walk. It was pretty.
- Our tub/shower is abnormally high off the ground.
- We have a blue tile floor in our bathroom.
- We have florescent lighting in our living room. I hated it til last night.
- Our carpet is very interesting. I will take pics and show you.
- Our dryer didn't work. Today a repairman came out and fixed it and I just dried a load of laundry and did a happy dance. I prayed that the Lord would, if it was His will, let us have a place with a washer and dryer. He totally answered my prayer. I am a happy housewife and a thankful child of God.

4. Titus has grown a lot since we got here. He is outgrowing onesies and jammies. He is also beginning to take naps in his crib in his own room. He looks sooo little in his crib. But he is such a big boy being out of the cradle.

He sat up and played some this afternoon - all by himself. Adam and I sat at the table to eat some lunch so I propped pillows all behind Titus so that if he fell backwards he would not whack his head. He did good. Folded forward then moved his legs out so he was on his tummy. Then he bit his blanket - then he tried to grab his Yoshi - then he cried. I love Titus.

I'm still only giving him rice cereal. And I am not giving it to him everyday. It seems that everytime I give it to him he spits up a lot more. He pretty much doesn't spit up from nursing anymore and so I don't really like giving him the rice at this point even though he LOVES it. So most days we nurse but then maybe every other day or every three days I will give him some rice. He did eat a little bit of banana today. He liked it. He's so interested in what Mom and Dad are eating and drinking.

5. Homemade chicken potpie for dinner tomorrow night.
6. I need a haircut.
7. Bye!