9 Months!

Let me start this post by informing you to keep checking our blog. I am WAY behind in my posts and have high hopes in getting a lot of them out and published before the weekend is through. So be sure to stay tuned!

Maddie turned 9 months old a few weeks ago. 9 months old! I can't believe it. She is growing up so much and every day seems to bring about vast changes. She had her 9-month check-up and came away with the following vital stats:
height: 28 inches (72%)
weight: 19 lbs 8oz (68%)
head circumference: 43.5 cm (43%)

Here are some super fun facts about 9 month old, little Miss Maddie Mae.

Maddie is crawling all over the place. She had been army crawling for a few weeks and we could afford a few moments to turn away and take care of something before returning to her. Those days are long gone. Maddie is a fast crawler. She started to really take off when we returned from our trip to Oregon, just in time for her afternoons with Daddy. :) Needless to say, he is no longer studying while I am at work. Maddie requires constant supervision. Its a good thing she is so cute and lovable, and her father is head-over-heels in love with her, because she sure does take away several hours of his study/work time!

Maddie started pulling herself up onto multiple furniture items the last few weeks. It all started when we found her after her nap, standing up in her crib calling out for us. We had just lowered the mattress the day before, luckily. She looks so proud of herself, doesn't she?
On Monday, she pulled herself up onto the coffee table and before we knew it, we heard loud, painful cries coming from the ground. We were less than 10 feet away, but had our backs turned for just a moment...we found our sweet girl on the floor, tears streaming down her face, and blood coming out of her mouth. Panic? Only slightly. :) She had a little red mark on her chin and had clearly fallen against the table, causing her chin to push up against her upper gums. Her two bottom teeth cut into the gums above, causing the bleeding. :( Poor thing. She was happy and none the wiser once she was in my arms, sucking on a teething ring. Good thing the mouth heals so quickly!

Maddie now has two new words that have been added to her vocabulary of baby talk. The first word occurred an hour before Brant was going to take us to the airport to fly home to Oregon. We were playing with her when she looked up at Brant and said, "Dada!" It was so heartwarming and awesome to hear her say that, while intentionally looking at him! She knows her Daddy and will find him in the house, whenever you ask her, "Where is Daddy?" The second word she said happened earlier this week. Drum roll, please...she said, "Mama!" Can you believe it? I was not expecting that one to come so quickly after her "Dada debut." Brant and I are so charmed to hear her say these words throughout the day.

Maddie's hair is finally starting to grow. This makes me very excited, because I can start doing things with her hair! This is her first ponytail, or "unicorn horn," as Brant likes to refer to it as. I think it is super cute, and we have continued the trend almost daily. :)
Our baby girl has also reached another milestone this month. On Monday, she started clapping with us. She loves to clap! She will clap after every mouthful of food. She will clap when her diaper is being changed. She will clap when she has found a toy. She will clap in the bath tub. She will clap when she has tears in her eyes, which then quickly turn to smiles because the clapping is so much fun! :) It is really neat to see her interacting with us in so many new ways!
Lastly, Maddie is just on the brink of waving to us. She is really good at waving both of her hands wildly, for no particular reason. But this week she is starting to raise one arm while looking at one of us, and wave. Cute!

I told you we had a growing girl on our hands! She is growing up so fast. Sometimes it feels like we blink and she is doing something else brand new. It is such a fun time and so wonderful to watch her little personality blossom.

I think I'm going to miss it here...

I did not think this day would come. Actually, I only assumed it would come after we spent a few years on the east coast and really became acclimated to the culture around here. But I sit here this afternoon, slightly mourning the fact that we will be leaving so soon.
Let me get this out there...I am SOOO excited to be moving to Pasadena. I could list a dozen things I am thrilled about! I know that we are going to have a great time in California.

The weather in Princeton is currently in the high 60s, and it is glorious. We just went for a walk around our neighborhood, talking with several people that we saw along the way. Everyone is outside with their dogs and their kids, some are barbecuing, while others are making chalk drawings on the sidewalk. The birds are singing that spring has arrived! It is picture perfect! I am sad to be leaving the friends I have made out here. I am sad to be leaving the community we live in. I can only hope that in the 10 months we will have lived here, that we really took advantage of as many wonderful opportunities that we could have. I know there will be things that we missed, but I hope there aren't too many.

Although our home is old and falling apart (and they are tearing it down this summer), I'm really going to miss it. I like the way it feels. I like how we've made it "home." I'm going to miss the idea that NYC is only an hour away from me. I'm really going to miss so many wonderful people. I'm going to miss being able to pop in to any one of my friends' houses on a random afternoon to say hello, without having set foot in my car. I am going to miss my husband attending Princeton Theological Seminary. I'm sure there are other things...

I bet you know what I'm going to say next: I'm so glad that I feel this way. As I mentioned above, I didn't expect to feel this way until I had been here for a few years. But here I am, admitting my sadness. The difference between this sadness and the sadness I felt a year ago when we were preparing to leave the NW? Oh, it is a significant difference. I am not scared about our next move. I am at such a wonderful peace about it all. It is going to be exciting and fun! How awesome to live in a warm climate, on the west coast and 35 minutes from Mickey Mouse?! :)

Yeah, I'm going to be just fine.

Atlantic City

As Brant told you in a previous post, we were gifted a night in Atlantic City by some friends of ours! We left last Monday for our overnight excursion to the electric city that some refer to as the "Las Vegas of the East coast".

We stayed at Harrah's Resort and Casino. Let me tell you right off the bat, we did not win any money during our stay, mainly because we did not put any money into the machines...funny how that works. :) We arrived early Monday afternoon, and spent several hours walking from our hotel, to the waterfront, and all up and down the famous boardwalk. We could not have wished for better weather! The temperature stayed in the 60's, with lots of sunshine and clear sky. It was a great opportunity for us to get away, celebrate Brant's Fuller acceptance and explore a famous city neither of us had been to before. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! :)

Harrah's Resort and Casino. Our room was on the 15th floor, behind the white sign, next to the purple sign that reads "Pool."
We walked about 2 1/2 miles to get to the Boardwalk from our hotel. Our destination is on the other side of those tall casinos in the distance! We did not get the luxury of walking along this scenic path for long...we were mainly walking through some pretty sketchy neighborhoods before we reached the Boardwalk.
Maddie was ready to take down anyone who gave us trouble on our walk. As a result, no one messed with us.
One of Donald Trump's many casinos and hotels in Atlantic City. Of course his name could be seen in any direction you looked. This was the Taj Mahal, and it was kind of sleazy...okay, so maybe really sleazy.
The Boardwalk! The weather was spectacular.
We walked through a popular shopping mall on one of the piers that was full of all kinds of neat things. One aspect we really enjoyed were the Adirondack chairs that were placed along the third story windows, overlooking the ocean and the city. The chairs were placed in little sandy coves and were quite relaxing! It was late afternoon by this point, and the view was awesome.
Daddy and his girl.
We're so happy! :)
Everything looked like this, along with lots of lights and noise.
So, I choose to pose like statues I see...why not? :)
The lighting did not work in our favor for this picture, and the giant advertisement that was hanging outside of our window makes the shot look a bit "grainy." Nevertheless, this was our view. We both thought it was pretty amazing!
Yay, for a fun and spontaneous trip to Atlantic City!

A Day With Lady Liberty

There has been a lot of excitement going on in our household lately! So much, that our blog has sort of taken a back seat. For this, I apologize. But I am here to redeem myself and thank my faithful blog readers with a new post, complete with pictures!

This past Saturday, we took a day trip with our friends and neighbors, Kevin, Meredith and Faith, to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Brant has been here before, but I had not. My family came out to NYC about 12 years ago and I saw the Statue out in the distance, but we did not take a ferry out to visit her. I am happy to report I can check this off of my "East Coast Bucket List" now!

We drove the New Jersey Turnpike into Liberty State Park, where we caught our ferry from. We never had to set foot in NYC. As we were taking a closer look at the map driving into the park, we noticed that the state line between NY and NJ runs across the water. But what I'm about to tell you might rock you just a bit. Everything you ever learned in US History 101 is about to flip upside down. Brace yourself: The Statue of Liberty, is actually located in New Jersey. Its true! Even one of our receipts from the day indicated that the statue is in New Jersey, not New York. Man! All this time, we've been talking down New Jersey, and it has been home to Lady Liberty, herself! It appears New York decided to bully New Jersey out of this claim to fame. Sigh. Anyway, back to the excitement of our day!

It was very strange to me to get out of the car and see The Statue of Liberty rising above rooftops in the near distance; anti-climactic? Yes. She looked so much smaller than I anticipated, and much closer to the city than I had imagined. But, I was told to hold out and wait until we got closer to be truly amazed. And I was.

After passing through the airport-like security, we boarded our ferry for the 5 minute ride to Ellis Island. Prior to exploring the history that surrounded us, we enjoyed a nice lunch in the cafe on location. This was a bit odd, to be sitting in such a historical place, knowing thousands of immigrants had passed through here after such a traumatic journey, while we sipped our sodas and enjoyed our sandwiches. We didn't have time to truly research and find out if and what ancestors of ours came through here, but we were still amazed by those who did.

I think pictures will tell the rest of my story better than my own words can. It was a glorious day and we had such a great time! If you have never visited The Statue of Liberty and an opportunity presents itself, I would encourage you to do so. It is well worth it.

Our first glimpse of Lady Liberty. Do you see what I mean about odd?
Kevin, Brant and Meredith in line for the ferry.
The grand Empire State Building! If you look to the left of the Empire Building and find the next tallest building in the picture, that is 30 Rockefeller, home to NBC. 30 Rock is huge ... just goes to show how enormous the Empire State Building is!
The World Trade Centers should be in the skyline here. They were located right around the center, where you see the orange color and the crane.
Maddie is such a good little traveler. She has been so many places in just 8 months of life!
Ellis Island on the right, and Lady Liberty in the distance.
I thought this was appropriate, particularly looking out on the skyline where the World Trade Centers should be (again, look for the orange-colored building near the center).
So much fun!
We really made it to Ellis Island. I wasn't lying. :)
Brant and Maddie inside the Great Hall.
All six of us, including the girls, Maddie and Faith.
Maddie's little sunhat was sure a hit with fellow passengers. I couldn't agree more!
Welcome to America! Yeah...this wasn't anti-climactic! She was beautiful!!
And you thought we were tall!
I thought we were posing like Lady Liberty...guess I was the only one who got the memo!
I thought this angle looked kind of dramatic against the sunlight.
And finally, Lady Liberty walking toward freedom in America.

Sunday afternoon = answers to life's big questions

I was minding my own business this sunny Sunday afternoon, reading a nice article on Bonhoeffer for a paper I'm working on, when I heard my phone give its little email notification blip. For weeks now, I've been rushing to check my email whenever I hear that sound, hoping for some news on our future. I had turned in PhD applications to both Princeton Seminary, here in Princeton, and to Fuller Seminary, in Pasadena, CA in January and it was the season for admission decisions.

Two weeks ago, I did hear back from Princeton. I didn't make it into the one spot that was open in the department that I applied to. I was told that I had an excellent application, and even that had I been a ThM student and applied to the program last year, I would have made it in. But this year, they had to drastically cut their admissions due to funding. Jackie and I were both sad at first that we wouldn't be staying here for my doctoral work - after all, we did just make this huge move. But instead of feeling devastated, we've been feeling a sense of relief and peace that we at least had closure on the process of waiting to hear about Princeton. And so, for two weeks, we've been wondering what we would hear from Fuller...

I've been watching the mail box like a hawk, especially this last week. When there was nothing from Fuller on Saturday, I sighed and knew I would just have to keep waiting.

And then that email blip sounded on my phone. I automatically clicked over to my email, and there was a message from Fuller! What?! On a Sunday afternoon? It was a note of congratulations from the professor who will be my advisor at Fuller! He wrote that the competition was fierce this year, but they were happy to offer me admission to the PhD program in Theology. We are so excited to be moving to Pasadena!!!

For years now, we've been wondering if I could actually do PhD work, and if so, where. Today, those daunting questions were finally answered. Yes, I do have what it takes to earn a doctorate in theology, and I'll be doing that work in sunny southern California!

While there are a lot of things about the move we don't yet know, here's what we do know: Yes, we will be getting season passes to Disneyland (it's only 35 minutes away!). We will move directly from Princeton to Pasadena most likely in mid-June. This summer I will need to take theological German before I start on my course work in September. The PhD program is 2 years of course work in residency (that is, on the Fuller campus). The third year is usually spent taking comprehensive exams and submitting my dissertation proposal. At this point, I would be qualified to teach at a university while I take years 4 and 5 to write the dissertation. So, we'll be in Pasadena for at least the next 2-3 years. And then we'll hope for a university teaching job sometime after that.

And so to celebrate, tomorrow we're going here!

This is Harrah's Atlantic City Resort! And it's actually just a coincidence that we're going to stay here on Monday night... Last night one of our neighbors came by our place and asked us if we wanted to go to Atlantic City for a night. They had gotten a really good deal and booked a room here, but then decided they couldn't go. So, they just gave us their room! And what perfect timing! Now we get to experience all the excitement of Atlantic City and really have something to celebrate! I'm sure Jackie will give you the full story of the trip in a few days when we get back. And just a note, it's reading week for me this week, which means I don't have any classes. So, instead of reading, we're going to the Jersey shore!

It's just incredible to see God's faithfulness in our life. This continues to be a crazy journey across the country, just full of new experiences, new graces, new trials and new opportunities everyday. We are so happy to finally know what's coming next. But we also know that we really have no idea what we're in for. And that's what makes life so fulfilling.