Vacation is awesome. For the last three weeks, we've been on the road, taking Lydia to see friends and family we don't get to see as often as we used to. First, we spent a week in Colorado visiting Audrey's grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then, we went to Walburg for a week to see my family, and as many of you know, to have a family reunion. I also got a chance to preach in Walburg. Here's the sermon if you haven't heard it yet:

Lastly, we got to see Audrey's parents, staying a night in San Antonio, a couple of nights in Boerne, and a few nights in Lubbock, from where I am currently writing you. It's been a great break from the stress of classes and packing.

However, it's also put a bit of a strain on poor little Lydia. Her routine has been interrupted almost the entire time, so she's been a little more fussy and tired than usual. But in a couple of days, we'll be back to the instant sweat-drenching humidity of good ol' STL. Then after a day or two of packing, it's off to Fredericksburg. We get in our house on Aug. 4th, and for those of you who don't have our address up there, it's 5120 Harrison Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22408. Send us some mail!

Probably the next time we'll be writing you, it'll be from the dreamy landscapes of Virginia. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Andrew-

Catching Up

Wow... It's been almost a month since our last post. Sorry to leave y'all hanging. I know you've just been biting your nails to know what we've been up to. Well, rest assured, it hasn't been much. Let me rephrase. It hasn't been much of anything interesting. We've been steeped in tedium.

Moving is a pain. Essentially, we have to be packed up and ready to move by July 8th because of all the time we'll be away from home in July. And Audrey will be gone the 1st through 4th for a wedding. It's a little stressful. And between dealing with Lydia, laundry, dishes, summer class, work, meals, and standard cleaning duties, there's not much time left to stuff boxes. Not to mention the fact that all the boxes lying around somewhat prohibit the aforementioned menial tasks.

I keep telling Lydia she needs to start pulling her weight, but she just retorts she doesn't have much to pull. She's only 12 pounds.

Other than that, the only things of interest are a few new projects. For instance, we've really been getting into Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace. And I thought a new baby took discipline. Sheesh.

Also, I've given a couple of sermons. I've preached twice at a small church in almost non-existent Elk Prairie, MO. It's literally a blip on Google maps, surrounded by a sea of uncharted gray. It's a congregation of 4 people. No fake. So leading worship is interesting when no one sings except me and my melodious wife, and all four congregants sit in the pew farthest back. Awkward.

Also, I've been working on a new blog. Diverge. Feel free to check it out, comment, etc.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure... The Lydia Segment.

-Andrew-

She Rocks, She Rolls

This last week has been huge for Lydia. She's been "talking" more, she's been reaching and grasping objects, she's started hugging her stuffed animals when she naps, she's been holding her hands together, and she even started rolling over! Like I said, big week. Here's a video for your entertainment. The first part is her rocking out with me, and she even sings a solo at one point, and the second part is her rolling.

Lydia Rocks & Rolls

It's been a big week for Audrey and me too. Two years ago, when we first married, we vowed to start doing Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" because someone had gotten it for us as a wedding present, and we had heard such great things about it. Well, we started, fell off the wagon, and now we're getting back on. He goes over everything from budgeting to haggling to charitable giving to retirement to saving and more, so it's been really helpful in getting us to start shaping our future.

It's kind of rough actually sticking to a budget. We had sort of written one before, but I'd call it more of a polite suggestion than a budget. Anyway, we are now the people you see in the canned food aisle with a can in each hand, deliberating whether to get the store brand baked beans or splurge the extra 5¢ and get the good stuff. It's definitely a process but we need some discipline. Someday, maybe Lydia will appreciate the sacrifice we made and she might even do better financially than we did. (Please marry a doctor, please marry a doctor....)

If you ever get a chance to do "Financial Peace," I would definitely take it. I know a lot of churches offer the course for free or at a very discounted rate, so if you can talk to some of your higher upper holy rollers and convince them that this would be a good investment for your church, you won't regret it. And next time you see us, we'll be rollin' on dubs, sippin' Cristal. Not at the same time of course. Buzzed driving IS drunk driving.

-Andrew-

Hot Air's Blowin'

Tornadoes. Every other day this last week, we've had a tornado warning. It's getting obnoxious. I'm at the point that I'm content staying upstairs until I see a cow fly past our window, but Audrey's good at getting us downstairs every time. Better safe than sorry. Lydia doesn't care one way or the other. Although, she does seem a bit more bored in the basement.

While we were downstairs, we decided to go through our stuff we'd be moving to figure out what would stay and what would go. Audrey found some interesting stuff.... So Lydia's bored, I'm bored, and my wife clearly has cabin fever as you'll see in this never-before-seen footage:

I'm writing this now, in our basement, where we've been sitting for the last two hours. So far, the only hot air blowing has been from the weather man. But all of seminary community has moved downstairs. I attribute this to two causes. One, Joplin just lost 118 people to a tornado at the beginning of the week, so everyone's a little paranoid. Two, classes are over, so no one has devoted their soul to writing papers.

Last Thursday, I finally finished my spring quarter with over 100 pages written, thousands of pages of reading, and over 20 tests and quizzes. Now, Lydia and I get to have some father/daughter bonding time for the next couple of weeks while Audrey's at work. Then in June, I have one more summer class before we move to Fredericksburg. Still. Good for me to be free for a while, and as much as Audrey misses us, for the most part, she's liking being back at work and out of the house. More updates to come.

-Andrew-

Shots Day

Well, it was one of the saddest days of my life thus far.

Lydia had to go in today for her 2 month immunizations. She was a little fussy already because she was hungry, so she was kind of whimpering. Then the doctor came in with TWO needles. When they had her laid on her back ready to give her the injections, I made the mistake of looking into her eyes. Suddenly, they got very wide, and she just screamed bloody murder. I wanted to bawl with her.

A few minutes later, when we finally got her calmed down, she just stared at me with huge crocodile tears gathering the corners of her eyes, as if to say, "Why would you ever let them harm me?" It was awful. But I know it's ultimately for her benefit.

I thought of all those times I ever asked God, "Why would you ever let this happen?" If I hurt that much out of finite love for our daughter, I can't imagine how much God must hurt in his infinite love, when he sees us hurting. However, the need for our daughter's health made the pain necessary to endure. As long as we are loved by our Father (which is forever, because of Christ), we can trust that whatever happens, no matter how bad, he will ultimately turn around for our good.

On a brighter note, however, it's Audrey's birthday today, so we're going out to dinner with some friends, and we're gonna party like its 1999! Actually, we're going to make 2011 the NEW 1999. That's how hard we're going to party. Or something like that. We might pass out around 8:30 watching Office reruns. Wish us luck.

-Andrew-

Something New

Wednesday, on Call Day at seminary, we found out we would be living in a new location for a year, while I'm on vicarage. For those of you who don't know what vicarage is, think of it like an internship. The way seminary is organized, I take 2 years of classes, 1 year of internship anywhere in the country, then another year of classes. So for the next year, we'll be moving to Fredericksburg, VA, while I learn under a pastor in the field up there. Here we are on Call Day:

Lydia doesn't look that happy, but she told me later that she actually is.

Needless to say, we're incredibly excited! I actually think Audrey's even more excited than I am. She often makes high pitch squeals and shakes her little balled fists in excitement. It looks like a great area with plenty of stuff to do. I think by the time we leave, our biggest "regret" is that we won't have time to do everything. It's a huge Civil War historical area, an hour away from Washington, DC, and a few hours away from NYC. I know we'll have a blast. More importantly, though, the congregation where I'll be working, Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, looks like a fantastic congregation with lots of ministries to their community. And in talking with the pastor, I think I'll get some great experience from him as a mentor.

Please pray for us as we start this new chapter in our lives, and we will also be praying for all of you. We're really looking forward to growing as a family as well as growing together in Christ. And I'll be keeping you updated throughout the year, as well!

-Andrew-

Peanut Talks! ...Kind of.

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to give you the latest. Audrey's getting better and better everyday. She goes back to work in a little less than 2 weeks. On Wednesday, I get my vicarage call, so we'll find out where we'll be living for the next year of our lives.

And as for Peanut... well, she's doing magnificently. She found a new pastime--talking with her dangling toys on her bouncer. Strangely enough, though, she only monologues with the dragonfly. I guess the snail and caterpillar haven't yet earned that privilege. If you're interested, here's a video: Peanut Talks! She's done it a few more times since I recorded that video, and every time, she's only facing the dragon fly. Kind of a weirdo, I know. But what did you expect? She fits right in with our family.

-Andrew-