My apologies if I belabored the point a bit on the lion, I was trying to get J2’s signature fist pump which usually accompanies his roar (perhaps later). Hope you enjoy the video!

Justus

Our appointment went well.  We really like the surgeon we met wiht and it’s nice to be in an actual Children’s Hospital.  Everything is set up to make kids feel comfortable.  There were toys in the waiting room, toys in the actual exam room…

Our surgeon said he thought the spot on his neck was probably fine and just to keep our eyes on it.  No rush to surgery unless something else changes.  We go back in 3 months (once Justus’s job, school, and insurance start).  Then he’ll do a scan and see what’s going on.  He’s hopeful we make just get to do the sclerosing treatment again.  (Surgery #2)  It’s where they inject the cysts and allow them to scar down.  It’s much less invasive, but it can only be done on larger cysts.  So far most of J2’s cysts have been too small.

So that’s the news.  Thanks for all the continued prayers and support.

J1 and J2 got a fun video yesterday of J2’s animal sounds.  I’ll try to put it up some time soon.

We’ve been in Dayton almost a month now.  We’re finally starting to figure out how to get around without having to GoogleMap everything!

J2 is doing well. He’s almost 16 months old. He walks/runs everywhere! He’s has about 20 words and quite a few animal sounds. He’s hilarious and keeps us laughing all the time. Hiss eating seems to be almost normal…he’s a toddler, so we’re not really sure what “normal” eating is.  He does have a cyst that has grown right under his chin, so we have an appointment tomorrow with the surgeons here. Pray we can put off surgery until he is a little older and understands a little better what’s going on. Surgery #3 with a one year old was not fun!  We think he finally feels pretty settled as well.  He’s had a growth spurt and a cold in the past month, but we think we’re finally back to normal.

I’ve been doing well with my Mary Kay business.  My good friend from college and director, Jessica actually lives in Dayton too.  It’s been amazing to work with her in the same town!  She has moved 3 times and had a NICU baby also (6 months older than J2)- all while doing MK.  In spite of everything, she earned her first Pink Cadillac last year!  So, I’ve been learning all kinds of things from her about moving to a new place and keeping your business going too!

We’ve enjoyed exploring Dayton’s parks.  J2 loves to be outside and in the water!

Even though he’s never seen any kind of Ninja before, he wanted to wear the material around his head, and of course daddy had to join in.

His latest antic is Ring around the Rosie.  One night, I thought it would be fun to teach him the song.  So we all three “fell down.”  Since that night, J2 frequently takes both our hands pulls us until we stand up.  Then when we ask him what next, he smiles, point to the ground, and pats his chest (our sign language version of “please”).  How can we resist?  So we all “fall down.”   He also loves to sing and dance with The Wiggles!

My friend Sarah, came to visit and then we all went down to our 5 year college reunion…I have a few pictures from my friend, Erin.

Coloring with Sarah

Riding in the back seat with Erin & Sarah!

Sliding with Erin!

1st Attempt

Much Better!

Ironically, Justus actually had way more friends here than I did, but boys will be boys and I don’t think we have any pictures of his friends

These are the pics from our trip to Knoxville and some more moving pictures.  Thanks Grandma!

He drove all the way!

Go Lily! (my parents dog, and one of Justus’s top 10 words)

2 Brothers (my dad, Pete, and my uncle, John) and their grandchildren (J2 is 2 weeks older than his cousin Abigail)

What it would be like if J2 had been twins…AAAAAAAHHHH!

not so good at sharing his bus

First Sailing Trip

The camera was located!  These pictures are mostly for Meme, but everyone else can enjoy them as well!  Grandma, Grandpa, and Pops look what we’ve unpacked!

The back- we park and enter from the back usually

left side flowers

right side flowers

Kitchen

Dining room (thanks Meme and Pops for our new dining room furniture)

Front room

Stairs

Master Bedroom (thanks Meme and Pops for our new bedroom furniture!)

Office

Hallway

J2’s Room

His window where he likes to read and watch the cars go by

Bathroom

Side of the house

Front of the house

J2 has also been helping out with his new tools and grille

That’s our new house!

So since our last post on May 22 a lot has happened!  Our 5-year anniversary was on May 22.  The next day, May 23, Justus graduated Asbury Theological Seminary with his Master of Divinity!  (Pops, Meme, and John-Seth came.  Meme took almost all the pictures.  They’re amazing!)

Some graduation picnic pictures:

Graduating!

Daddy spots his son on the way back to his seat

Pops and J2 (these two are always together!)

Post-graduation pics

Our attempt at a family picture:and again:

Justus and I got to go on a date the next day.  Here’s what J2 did while we were gone:

He’s too cute!

So a week later, on May 30th, Pops, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Seth came to help us move.  Uncle Seth turned 13 while we were moving.  Poor guy…had to help his sister pack up on his birthday.  We loaded up a 26-foot U-Haul on Saturday, cleaned our place on Sunday, and drove to Dayton on Monday.  Grandpa and Pops helped us unload the truck on Monday and then drove home that night.  Grandma and Uncle Seth were gong to stay until Wednesday to help us unpack and get settled.

On Tuesday morning (Pops birthday), Pops called and said Papa (his dad) had passed away that morning.  So we quickly unpacked as much as we could and then re-packed.  J2 and I decided to go back down to Knoxville with Grandma and Uncle Seth while Justus went to Birmingham for the funeral.  J2 was in a pretty good funk after an infection and a move and we didn’t think a funeral was the best place for a cranky baby.

So Wednesday morning, Justus left about 7am for Birmingham.  He called us around 8:30am when we left and said he was still sitting on the interstate about 45 min. south of us.  We decided to take an alternate route.  Ironically, we ended up in front of Justus.  I was riding in the back seat and looked out the window and saw my husband passing us!  Poor Justus ended up sitting on the interstate 2 more times before finally reaching Birmingham later that night.

Friday, Justus drove up to Knoxville and joined us.  That night we had a Cummins’ get together with my dad’s side of the family.  They met J2 for the first time!  Finally!

My dad, his brother John, Abigail (2 weeks younger than Justus, my cousin Esther’s daughter, John’s grandaughter), and J2

Cousins-Precious

On Saturday, we took J2 on his first sailboat ride.  He loved the waves and wind.  On Sunday, we drove back to Dayton.

So, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  I have more pictures of moving, but our camera is still unaccounted for since the move.  When Grandma and Grandpa send pictures, I’ll also post our Knoxville trip and sailing!

We got married 5 years ago today!  Justus graduates with his Master’s of Divinity tomorrow.  My last day of work was yesterday.  We move in 10 days! Aaah! Lots to do!

Yesterday there was another fatal accident on Harrodsburg Road. 2 Seminary students (from India) died in the accident. You can read more about it here:

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/797246.html

Hanakh is the wife of Esther, who works in student development with Ellen at Asbury. They are also our neighbors. They were married for just over a year. Charles is a fellow student I’ve known through class and had a couple lunches with. He and his wife were married last summer. Please pray for their families, particularly Esther and Liz, but also relatives overseas.

Justus

This first video is an older one of clapping we hadn’t put up yet.

Justus has been “walking” for a quite a while now, by holding on to our hand(s).  He finally let go and did his own thing though!

Here’s the fun walking:

Yes, we lure our son with keys.  As you can see he is recovering well from last week’s procedure.  Our speech therapist was quite impressed with his progress yesterday.  He is eating an almost regular toddler diet.  Justus still has a weak chew and needs to improve his tongue coordination.  She couldn’t believe his “words”.  He says dada (of course), duck, bye-bye, uh-oh, done, shh, Justus (jzzuz), and an occasional mama.

Saturday, we drove up to Dayton to look for places to rent.  We fell in love with one place, but it was out of price range.  When I called them later to tell them we loved, but couldn’t afford it, they lowered the rent!  They’re are sending us pictures soon and we’ll post then.  We’re very excited…It’s 3 bedrooms, which means Justus will have an office and we will have a bedroom again!  It also has a Living room, dining room, kitchen, and unfinished basement.  The best part is that it is only 1/2 mile from the school so Justus can walk to work and come home for lunch.  The scary part is we move June 1st!  Aah!  So much to do before then!

Pray for us as we round out this chapter in Wilmore.  I work until May 21, Justus graduates with his MDiv May 23 (YEAH!), our 5 year anniversary is May 22…and we have a very precocious 13 month old to keep up with.  Also pray for our friends Mark & Jess.  The doctors think he is having bad reflux, so they have installed a tube/pump into his intestine for the next couple of weeks to see if that helps.  Pray that Michael will have patience with this…he’s 5 or 6 months older than Justus, so I can imagine he’s not going to enjoy it very much.