Happy Birthday Josiah!

Josiah: The Lord heals.
Benjamin: son of my right hand.
Leboffe

Our little man is 3 months old today! Full of hair. Full of life. And most recently, to the delight of his parents, full of giggles! Although big sis gets the most smiles out of him. To the thrill of my heart...he slept. through. the. night last night! Here's to hoping he makes that a habit! As to his "heart problem" the doctors scared us with, everything is good. Josiah is thriving. The human body is an amazing thing. As Josiah is growing, the narrow valves in his heart are growing into the normal range and his heart has figured out pumping blood efficiently and productively even with his extra plumbing. We love this boy!

Spontaneous Comments

Quick and quiet wit abound in my husband. But, to his disappointment, I don't always laugh. Sometimes I just don't think things are funny. Sometimes I simply don't understand the joke. But usually I delay response while I try to figure out if he's serious or not, such is the subtlety of his humor. You would think that after 9 years of friendship, 8 of that being "relationship", and 5 marriage, I would know better. Nope.

Even so, I appreciate that Nate makes me laugh. Don't sit behind us in church. Nate will most likely make a hushed comment that makes me blurt an inappropriate chortle. Not just funny. Hilarious. Rib-splitting, pee-your-pants, painful funny.

I admire that he is witty in the moment and doesn't need hours to formulate "what I should have said" (my route).

Example A:
Nate: "Reading?"
Jenny: "Yeah, but I really want to write something. But I don't know what it is yet. I have this desire to create something spontaneous and new. I feel like there's something in me that I need to let out."
Nate: "Are you sure you don't just need to go to the bathroom?"

Yep. There's my husband. He's not the loud guy at the party, but he can roll in some enjoyable comments if you're quiet enough to listen....and smart enough to understand.

This Week of Summer

This week of summer we haven't done too much. Nate is plugging away at the bathroom remodel. Selah is on a "nakey" campaign during this heat. Josiah is sleeping, smiling lots, and doing his tummy times like the great 2 month old that he is.

Coronado beach!

Finger Painting!

Josiah's a little frightened of his play mat. Selah likes laying there with him and playing together.

Bathroom Remodel

Nate is one of those amazingly talented people who can teach themselves to do anything: speak Spanish, play guitar, play piano, cook, and most recently, carpentry.

We have two bathrooms in our home. Short version of a long story: pipe backed up, overflowed into shower in bathroom we haven't been using, discovered ickyness by finding mold/mildew along baseboard of adjoining guest bedroom.

Nate is becoming a self-taught carpenter. This past week he deep cleaned any mold/mildew area, replacing dry wall, carpeting, carpet padding, baseboards, and paint as needed. He also demoed the bathroom. This is what it looks like now! Soon to be even more bare.

This project has reinforced what we've already known about ourselves; just how different we are. Mainly, how differently we make decisions. Nate wants time to think about it, then choose one and go with it. I want to see, feel, imagine all possibilities; always leaving the door open to new options that we might like better. He wonders aloud how I ever make decisions and move on in life. I wonder aloud how he doesn't have a positive or negative energy in response to shower tile colors and handle shapes.

We do life differently. We know it. We embrace it. And it usually isn't a problem...until home remodeling. We're trying to remember the phrase, "Not wrong, just different."

Not wrong! Just different!

What we do know for sure is that tomorrow we need to take a break from all this and just go enjoy being friends at the beach!

It's Independence Day!

Ours is a freedom to,
not a freedom from,
a freedom to service others,
to live according to Christ’s example to act, in commitment,
not merely a freedom from sin,
or a freedom from the law, the ancient law, the code of the people, God’s given grace, the freedom, the sacrifice of the Christ, is a freedom to do, to be, to act in this world, now
~Raymon Foss




Happy 4th of July! It was a sobering realization for me when we lived abroad that most of the rest of the world truly does not like the United States. For some valid reasons and also many false perceptions they hold their dislikes to us. But America, I like you! I like your humor. I like your loudness. I like your honesty and your infrastructure. I like your value of honor and the fact that I can wear shorts to church, no questions asked. Thanks for being such a great country to us America!

Today we celebrated our Fourth with our Flood family at church, our good friends Kellen and Becca Hiroto who are visiting from Malawi, and our family. BBQ hamburgers, strawberry pie, and a homemade ladder golf set!

Kellen, Becca, Selah Grace squirming off the couch, me, Nate and Josiah.

Selah played in the dirt while the boys played ladder golf.

Josiah slept through most of the 4th, but he did look darn cute in his denim overalls!

Happy Father's Day

Daddy is the inexhaustible fun. Always there to go "walkin' 'round!" and when things get hard it's okay because "Daddy do it!"(Great phrase that gets Mama off the hook for many things: opening jars,taking out trash,changing diapers,fixing things..she knows who takes care of us!)

Selah LOVES playing with her Daddy. She adores him. Josiah does too in his own little newborn, snuggly, "thanks for cleaning my 4am poops, Pops" kind of way.

Parenting is such a large part of marriage together if you have kids. Nate and I decided it is a good thing that we picked eachother well because there was no preview for how the other person was going to do as a parent. We just had to rely on the integrity of character to trust how parenting was going to go.

Nate is the best husband. Best Dad. Couldn't do this without him. Wouldn't want to anyway.

We LOVE you Daddy! Happy Father's Day!

Five Years!

What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and South and East and West of your life?
I have only one request of your life.
That you spend it all with me.

Nate and I are celebrating five years of marriage this week! It's been insanely hard and extraordinarily wonderful. We made a list during our anniversary dinner of "You Know It's Your 5th Anniversary When...". Here they are.

"You Know It's Your 5th Anniversary When..."

...you both order onions with dinner.

...you have a 3rd wheel in the form of your second child.

...you have to remind yourself to not talk about kids or home improvements while on a date.

Car Wanted. Non Smoker. Non Ugly.

We did it! We bought a car! Or at least bought 1/3rd of a car and are financing the rest. It is SHOCKING how easy it is to get a car these days. Great car. Great deal.

She is a beauty. 2007 Honda Pilot. Barely any miles and plenty of space for our family to grow and friends to ride along. Pilots are the Dodge caravans of our generation. But more stylish.


We are so thankful!

She Was a Good Car...

but it's time to say goodbye.

(I feel like my left side is my "good side" too.)

The '93 Camry served her masters well. Hers was a legacy of generosity. She began her life with the Hibbs family in Northern California. When one Hibbs daughter grew into an adult and became a married woman, the Camry traveled with her into the Hiroto family as part of that dowry. When the newly married Hiroto family flew off to their new unknown lives in Malawi, the Camry was bequeathed to us, the Leboffes, just as we returned bedraggled and penniless from our own married lives in Africa. It served all families well. The odometer is proof. We'd like to pay it forward to honor the legacy of the Camry by donating our vehicle to charity (which isn't as selfless as it seems b/c we will be reaping the tax return benefits of that decision come next spring).

You were a good car Cam. Thank you for those years. But now our family needs something not quite so high maintenance.

Farewell!

Confessions of a Tired Mom

1. Night Parenting is the Worst!
Let's start a communication of honesty. Too many parents are lying about it. Too many moms feel like they have to say what a "special time" it is to just sit with their baby from 2-4am while their little one voices intense displeasure with life. The truth is I don't like night parenting. Really, who enjoys waking up multiple times a night, forever hovering in shallow sleep? Not I! But the wonderful thing is that even though night parenting is hard all the time and frustrating sometimes, we do not love our kids any less. There is still so much love for them that our hearts can't keep it all in.

2. Good Food is Best, but Sometimes ANY Dinner is a Victory!
I love watching my 2yr old eat a rainbow of vegetables with gusto. But sometimes dinner can't be a production. Last night Selah Grace ate neon orange mac and cheese...and an oreo. She loved every bite.