Stanley's Standing

Stanley's second skill that he's pretty much mastered is pulling himself up to a standing position. He can grab pretty much anything he wants, couch, ottoman, chair, bar stools, Incrediblock, bookshelf, dishwasher, Mom or Dad, window sill, etc. It started off with him pulling himself up to his knees, and then as he became more proficient at it, he went for the full fledged, on my feet , Mommy look I'm standing maneuver. Here are some pictures of him working on this skill.

The first time we caught him standing.

Here's how talented he is, he was able to pull himself up to the window sill that is at his eye level! How'd he do that?

Here are some more pictures of him standing put into a collage.

With this new skill comes another important skill that Stanley hasn't quite mastered yet. Getting down. Watch this fun video to see how that's going so far.

The Wacky Overby's with Cabin Fever

Stuck indoors for these last 10 days, we've done some wacky things. Here are some pictures commemorating some of our antics. You might notice that daddy isn't in very many photos. That's because he's usually the one instigating the craziness! Explanations: (Left to right, top to bottom) Stanley pulled himself up on the laundry basket (with Daddy's promptings), Stanley in Daddy's sweatshirt (guess who helped), Stanley in a box of one of his early presents (the hat and bow tie), family self photo, (taken by Daddy), Stanley in the mixing bowl, Mommy getting ready for work (she had a show with Nana), Stanley making a funny face, oops there goes the mixing bowl with baby, Mommy taking a break in the snow after a walk, Stanley helping Daddy with laundry, Stanley thinking Mommy and Daddy are silly, Stanley sunbathing in bed.

Snow Day 2008

In the northwest, when it snows everything shuts down. This week is no exception. Yesterday (Sunday 12/14) it started snowing in the morning and as the day progressed the temperatures dropped and more snow fell. We ended up with about 4+ inches of snow, and I (Scott) got the day off today. We'll see what happens during the rest of the week. For anyone from the Midwest/Northeast who might be reading this and thinking "those in the northwest are such wimps." My answer is yes and no. Yes, we have a tendency to freak out when anything white falls from the sky or at the hint of something white possibly falling from the sky. No, because snow happens so rarely (unlike other parts of the nation where snow is the norm from December until March) that we don't have the infrastructure to handle it as well. If you don't head up to Mt. Hood regularly, why to you really need studs on your car? Also, it seems as if when we have storms we tend to get more ice which also makes driving more dangerous. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, I don't know what Midwest/Northeast storms are like.

Anyways, we appreciate the break (although it will make it harder on my classes when we come back). Well, today the temperature is hovering around 21 degrees, and we realized last night that we were almost out of diapers! Today, I had the task of making it to the store to get this much needed necessity. Instead of driving (our back tires are starting to go bald), I decided to walk. It's only about a mile and a quarter to Fred Meyer's. I wouldn't call it an horrible task, because I saw it as a fun adventure. It was a great walk, and while I was there I also rented two movies from Hollywood Video (Prince Caspian and Get Smart) with coupons so they were free . It was cold, and I was able to use my nice down jacket Heather got me for Christmas 2 years ago. I haven't really had a chance to use it prior to this. Like I said, storms like this don't happen to often.

So today, we're bundled up inside, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying our time together. I'll try not to think about work too much. It is what it is, and I'll figure out how to catch up when I get back. Besides, temperatures aren't supposed to get above 30 until maybe some time next week, which I'll have off for Christmas break. We might even have more precipitation on Wednesday. Until I go back to work, this is my mini pre-Christmas vacation. For those of you who also have the day off, enjoy it and stay safe and warm. For those of you who had to go to work, be safe on the roads. Here are some pictures of me bundled up for my trek, and also an extra video of our future composer, Stanley Mac Overby. (Aaron Young you'll appreciate a reference in the video).

Merry Christmas.

8 Month Tribute...

Stanley Mac

December 14th, 2008

8 Months old

My sweet baby Stanley. I love you so much and I just thought I’d take this moment to tell you so. You are such a wonderful baby. You are so fun to be around with your contagious smile (they have your 4 month picture up at GTMC and say that you always make them smile and that you’re their mascot and you make everyone else smile as well, especially Daddy and I), your excited curiosity (you get into everything now and are learning so much), and your good looks, of course (everyone comments on your sweet chin dimple and your bright blue eyes). I enjoy those things about you but those aren’t even the most important things I love about you. It is your heart that I love. I love your sweet spirit, your mild manner, and your soft heart. When someone displays a big show of emotion (crying, laughing, or shouting) you well up with emotion and cry out loud but are easily consoled. You are sensitive and I love that about you. Please remain sensitive throughout the years especially to the Holy Spirit as he guides your way. I also love that you are mine and that you need your mommy and daddy so much right now. You are SO loved.

What are you doing these days? You’re crawling all over the place but mostly using your perfected “army crawl” and occasionally doing the “real crawl” and the “Pyramid” or “triangle” stance. You also like to pull yourself up on things into a standing position. With all your moving around you have been getting hurt quite a bit. You fell out of the pyramid stance on the kitchen floor and landed right on your nose causing a painful first bloody nose. You slipped while holding yourself up on Daddy’s bedside table and bonked your head really hard making Mommy fear that you might have a concussion. The result was a really nasty “goose egg”/bruise and some vomiting but thankfully no trip to the ER. The very next day (yesterday) you were playing on the floor with Daddy and powercrawled right into the wall. It breaks my heart to see you in pain. Fortunately you don’t get hurt like this too often. You really are good at getting where you want to go, especially to cords and anything else we don’t want you to get your hands on. You are also very social and you love to be where the action is. Everyone loves being with you and the child care workers love having you with them. This social personality makes it hard when we put you in your room for naps which is often met with a protest. You say Dada and Daddy quite often and I really can’t wait until you start saying Mama or Mommy that much. You also like to be tickled and play peek-a-boo and it’s then that you show us some of your greatest laughs.

So here’s to the first 8 months of your sweet life and to all the discoveries and adventures ahead.

We love you!

A Conversation Between Mommy and Stanley

For most people this video will probably seem pointless and uninteresting but to us it is absolutely adorable.

Fall Fun...and a little bit of everything...

We have pictures piling up on our computer and I thought it was time for a new post. Stanley is growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a moment.

Here is a stay at home with a cold day for Stanley Mac. Even being sick doesn't faze this little guy.

Stanley loves it when Nana and Grandma Sue come by to visit.

I couldn't resist our sweet boy in his church clothes.

Our wonderful annual trip to Rasmussen Farms in Hood River. What a glorious day it was!

Some Harvest fun...a pumpkin farmer with her two precious most prized pumpkins.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any favorites?

Some More Great Pictures...

We've been taking family outings to the park recently to enjoy these lovely fall days and get some much needed exercise. And Stanley enjoyed playing with his new basketball that Heather got at a garage sale.

We've also really enjoyed the company of friends including, but not limited to Keith and Rachel (Who stayed overnight before leaving for France the next morning. We stayed up until 1:30 in the morning. It was so fun. Thanks guys.), Bethany and her sweet family (including her precious newborn Madeline Joyce and Stanley's new friend sweet Benjamin), and our neighbor from Thailand Wila and her sweet baby Nadia.

And Stanley's newest accomplishment: pushing himself up on to his hands and knees. I wonder if he'll start crawling soon. Time to babyproof the house.

6 Months Already!

That's right, Stanley Mac is already 6 months old! We celebrated his 6 month birthday on Sunday October 12th. On his birthday daddy (Scott) competed in a fun run in which he was 3rd overall and first for his age division. Click here to see the results. Grandpa Steve also competed in the run, and was third in his age division. After the run, we had lunch with Aunt Rosie, Auntie Joyce, Nana and Papa Gene (Cinda and Gene). Auntie Joyce recently had her birthday, so we celebrated her's and Stanley's together. It was a fun day, and we can't believe how big Stanley is getting. He can sit up on his own (although he can't get there by himself). He is much more aware of his surroundings and always watches things carefully. His first two teeth "erupted" as well. The first one on Friday and the second on his 6 month birthday. This past week he has also begun to hold himself up on his hands and knees for short periods of time. Before we know it he'll be cruising around the house. We recently broke down and opened a youtube account. So here is our first video. It's actually a montage of his 6 months photos put to music. We hope you enjoy it.

Sick Baby...

Well, the sad day finally came. Our little baby is battling his first cold. That poor little nose makes mommy sad. We're all under the weather with this one and we are working our way out of this yuck. Happy posts on the way.

I love September...

Hello Everyone,

It's me, Heather with a September update for you. I really do love September and I'll tell you why. I have always lived my life on a school-time schedule and September is the beginning of a new season for us. I like the fact that structure returns to our life and there are things to look forward to accomplishing each day. (Meaning I was lazy this summer and didn't get much done during the day.) I also really enjoy Autumn which will officially begin on September 22nd this year. We're doing great with Scott back at work and Stanley and I get up early each morning ready to accomplish the day's tasks. You may read more about our days here. (I finally learned how to link sites. Yippee!!!) Here are some picture of some fun things we've done recently.

Sjana and Brian came down from Bellingham with their sweet little ones and the cousins had a good time seeing eachother. (As did the parents)

Scott, Stanley, and I went to a Neighboorhood Block Party at a church down the street on a recent Wednesday night and had a great time. They had food, cotton candy (my favorite), and a petting zoo. It was fun to introduce Stanley to a goat, rabbit, ducklings, a miniature horse, a donkey, and more.

We celebrated Stanley's five month birthday on the 12th by introducing him to solid foods aka rice cereal.

And to finish up this post as Stanley is waking up from his nap:

P.S. Check out more pics of Stanley on my other blog.

Scott's Running Endeavors

Recently, Scott has been able to participate in two really fun running events. Last Sunday he did a 5k fun run at Mt Hood Community College, and on Friday he was able to run a leg of the Hood to Coast Relay. Although he didn't run any times close to what he did in college, he had a blast doing both.

The 5k fun run at MHCC was part of the Mt Hood Jazz Festival. Scott just wanted to see what he could do, and was surprised when he ran it in 18min 10sec. Before the race he was just hoping to run it under 21min. He finished fifth overall, and second in his age division. He's hoping to run more 5k's throughout the year, and hopefully improve his time. Heather was a huge support in the whole race. She brought Stanley out to watch daddy run, and she was at several of the spots during the race. Afterwards, she even gave Scott a hug despite him being all wet and sweaty. Scott was even able to talk his dad into running the 5k. The last race they did together was when Scott was in 5th grade.

His participation in the Hood to Coast relay was a surprise when our friends Jeremy and Claudette called asking if Scott would be willing to run with Claudette on one of her late night runs. She was running the leg into Portland and did not feel comfortable running that by herself. The Hood to Coast handbook even suggests that females have someone to run with on some of those late night legs. Heather again was very supportive of this, and drove Scott out to meet Jeremy and Claudette's team at 10:30pm, and picked him up at 11:30 under the Hawthorne bridge. It was a perfect night for a night run, and Scott had fun being part of the Hood to Coast.

The Long Awaited Post

Back in May we said that we would post tomorrow. Well, tomorrow turned into next week, and next week turned into next month, and next month turned into three months. Now, here we are with the long awaited post. We could probably go on for pages after pages about what’s been going on with us. Instead we thought that you’d rather get the cliff’s notes version with some pictures interspersed throughout. So here are our top ten highlights since “Tomorrow”. But before that begins:

Stanley Mac Overby

April 12, 2008

Born at 11:31pm. Weighed 7lb 3oz

And now for our summer countdown...

10. Barlow boys were the 6A Track State Champions. It was Scott’s first year as an assistant track coach, and what a first year it was! Barlow dominated State with wins in the 110 meter hurdles, 300 meter hurdles, 4x100 meter relay, discus and shot put. We were also second in the 100 meter dash, fourth in the 200 and 400 meter dash, and seventh in the 800 meter run and 4x400 meter relay. It was a great season, and the three of us (Scott, Heather and Stanley) were able to attend day 3 of the meet together. BTW: the last state championship won by Barlow was the Track championship in 1999 which Scott was part of as an athlete. (He was 18th in the 1500, but he was there.)

9. After taking financial peace university back in March, we’ve both been saying we need to pare down on some of our stuff. Last weekend we finally did with a garage sale. Matt and Elizabeth helped with it and provided some of their stuff too. It was great to see old things go, and to have less clutter. Now we are still trying to regain our garage with some of the leftover things that didn’t sell.

8. Scott took a week long class in July to help improve his teaching. The class went from 8am to 6pm Monday through Saturday. It was definitely a stretch for us having him being gone all day. Fortunately, he was able to carpool with Paul from work. They were also workout buddies for the week, running in the mornings and playing tennis, golf, or some other activity in the afternoon. The class allotted time in which we were required to do a wellness activities. From the class, Scott has some great ideas for the classroom, and it also helped him get back to running more regularly. He’s actually going to be doing a fun run this upcoming Sunday!

7. Our friends Matt and Holly Smucker visited us from Taiwan. They have been in Taiwan for 2 years now and are going to spend at least another two there. They hadn’t seen Stanley yet, so it was fun for them to meet him, and great to catch up with them. It is awesome to see how friends our age are serving God overseas, and how He is using them. We hung out at our house and got to play some Frisbee golf with them afterwards.

6. Every summer we like to go camping at least once. This year we ended up going to Timothy lake which is just east of Mt. Hood. We went with Matt and Elizabeth Reese, and it was tons of fun. Scott, on a whim, ran the 13 miles around the lake. We enjoyed some calm moments on the lake while Matt and Elizabeth watched Stanley. And Stanley got his first taste of the outdoors (not literally, we didn’t let him eat the dirt—maybe next year).

5. This summer there were lots of additions to our families. Heather’s sister Beth had her third child Kade on May 25th, and Scott’s sister Sjana had her second child Makenna on June 24th. It was fun following our sister’s along the process and comparing where they were to where Heather was during the pregnancies.

4. Speaking of cousins, Beth and her family came up to Oregon in the beginning of July. It was fun hanging out with them for a week and to see how they’ve grown, and to see Kade for the first time. During their stay we had “Camp Nanapa” at Gene and Cinda’s (Cinda is called Nana and Gene is Papa Gene thus the name “Nanapa”). We spent one day at the Alpine slides, which was Scott’s first time going down the slides, and we spent a day at Trillium Lake. Cinda rented some kayaks for us. We also had a meet the baby party for Beth and Kade. Overall, it was a great time with family and we look forward to seeing them again. Maybe we’ll go down to Arizona after Christmas again.

3. For Stanley’s four month birthday (yes he is already that old) we decided to go to the zoo on two dollar Tuesday. It was a great idea, unfortunately everyone else and their mother had the same idea. Traffic was great until we got through the tunnel and the right lane suddenly came to a stop about a mile from the zoo. We waited, and waited, and soon realized that it was stopped because of the zoo. We waited for about 30 minutes and then had to get off because Stanley was starting to wake up from his nap and he wanted to eat. During those 30 minutes we moved MAYBE a quarter mile. People kept zipping forward in “the line.” After we fed Stanley we decided to check out a zoo shuttle that ran from the Nazarene church at the Sylvan exit (that’s where we got off to feed him). Unfortunately that was also crazy busy. I guess the zoo parking lot just filled up. At that point we thought we’d just go find a park to rest at and enjoy our picnic lunch. After lunch we had Stanley’s four month photos taken at Portrait Innovations. When we finished there it was about 2:30, and we knew traffic getting home could be horrendous, and Scott had a great idea, why don’t we try to the zoo again! This time it was easy to get to the zoo, but it was still crazy the number of people still arriving. We had to wait in line for 20 minutes to get our tickets. But it was worth the money. For $6, we got to spend 3 ½ hours at the zoo which was plenty of time. On our way home we heard I-84 East was backed up so we stopped at Lloyd Center for dinner. It was a great four month birthday for Stanley. He seemed to enjoy it, although he’ll enjoy anything as long as he stays well fed.

2. We celebrated our four year anniversary this summer. For our anniversary Heather was surprised with a trip out to Club Sports in Tualatin and dinner at Stanford’s. Sue watched Stanley so we got a day to ourselves. That in and of itself would have made a great anniversary. At club sports we rock climbed, lifted weights, and used the hot tub, elliptical, saunas and steam rooms. When you walk into Club Sports, it feels as if you’re walking into a hotel. It is super nice. Scott received a free week family membership during the class he took in July. Unfortunately, we were only able to use that week membership that one day. After our time at the gym we headed up to Portland for dinner. We had an incredible dinner at Stanford’s. If you haven’t been there, you need to go. The food is incredible, but the company was much better. It was a great four year anniversary for us, and we are looking forward to the years ahead.

1. Our highlight of the summer was that Scott didn’t have to work and that we didn’t have to move. We were able to just relax and enjoy our time together and with Stanley. We’ve spent the majority of our summer around home, watching movies, cleaning, organizing, and just being together as a family. During the school year, teaching is a really demanding job. Without summers, teachers couldn’t maintain the level of intensity that they need to do their job. We also decided that we need to have all our babies in the spring so that Scott can be around during the summer to help with those first couple of months. However, we know that we can plan, but ultimately that is in God’s hands. It has also been fun to be around and see the changes in Stanley. He is growing bigger and bigger every day. He can now hold his head up easily. He is vocalizing a lot, but it’s still mostly “ahhs” and “oohs”. By just being home we have been able to cherish and enjoy every moment. The summer has been a true blessing.

So there’s a little recap of our summer. It has been a great time. We also want to give a shout out and congratulations to a few of our friends who have accomplished great things this summer.

James Furlo and Jessi Christian, friends from Willamette, got married this summer.

Dave completed basic academy to join the Portland Police force.

Matt Reese earned his private pilot’s license, and instrument license and is on his way to be a commercial pilot.

PS. If you've made it all the way through this post please let us know leaving a comment.

Tomorrow...

Thank you all for your patience as we have not posted in a while. We'll share the exciting news and pictures ASAP. We plan on going private tomorrow so please email us if you have not done so already. (You must email me so I can send you the information to gain access)

A little overdue Overby...

So, Overby babies are notorious for being late and I (Heather) thought for sure that my babies would not be late because I was not born an Overby. But apparently I was mistaken. I don't think it is about genetics as much as this: "babies don't know due dates". That much is true and inconvenient as we wait for the arrival of Stanley who isn't in a hurry to make his appearance. The encouragement of friends and family has been a blessing as we wait. Rachel even made this great poster for the little man.

We agree completely with Rachel's sign. So give us your ideas (practical or hilarious) on how we can get this little guy to come out. Just keep it family friendly.

Here are a few more recent belly photos.

Going Private

We wanted to give all of our faithful readers a heads up that our blog will be going private. After talking to some friends and family we've realized with the upcoming arrival of Stanley and some of the personal information posted here it would be wise to make our blog private. But don't worry, it won't be hard to view our blog once we go private, there will just be some things you'll have to do one time and then you'll be good. Just email us letting us know that you'll want to still have access to our blog, and then we'll grant you access, and you'll be done. What this does mean is that those of you who like to look at our blog in secret will need to come forward so you can continue to look at our blog and see what's going on in our lives. So, please email us at scott.heather.overby@gmail.com and let us know you want to have access to our blog. We'll probably go private with details of Stanley's birth so that's about how long you will have until you'll have to sign in. All of you are welcome here so just email us ASAP.

Still Waiting...

For those of you who have been wondering, Stanley still hasn't arrived. We are in the waiting game of when will it happen. He dropped about 3 1/2 weeks ago, and at that point we had read that when the baby drops he usually comes within 7-10 days. Since then we've read 2-3 weeks, and later about a baby dropping 4 weeks before the due date and being 2 weeks late. So, who knows when Stanley will make his arrival. (well, God knows)

In all this waiting we've been enjoying Spring Break. It has been nice to watch movies, hangout, and just relax. Scott has been putting in some running which he's been longing to do but just hasn't had time for. Over the course of the week we've both been sort of just waiting for the baby's arrival, and we've been able to with the break, but now as we are nearing the end of the week we are going to try to get back into the swing of normal life instead of just waiting for Stanley. Once he arrives though, "normal" will never be the same. Then we can make the leap into parenthood, which we are both excited for.

Weird Weather

This morning we got a nice treat, SNOW!!! There was actually a thin layer of snow on the ground on March 28th! The weather in Oregon recently has been going back and forth. One minute it's sunny and beautiful, and next thing you know it's cloudy and raining. But give us Oregon sunshine (rain) any day over Arizona summer heat, Midwest Thunderstorms and Tornadoes, and Florida hurricanes. We know that those who live in Arizona, Florida, or the Midwest love it where they are and couldn't imagine living in a place where it rains over half the year. That's the beauty of America and all the different climate zones for different people.

When it rains, it pours...

Hi everyone,

This is Heather reporting to you live from the Overby home. It's been a busy last few days here with a lot going on. We have finally purchased all the things we need to have before the baby arrives. This weekend we used return money/store credit to buy a crib mattress, carseat/infant carrier, and jogging stroller (great Craigslist find, Thank You Lord), and this week I bought the mattress pad, changing table pad and cover, and more. The big and little things have been taken care of with baby money to spare. There's more, too like the blessing of free bottles from Amy and a breast pump from my aunt. Exactly what we needed. We're very thankful that this baby is going to be well equipped for life outside the womb.

Speaking of Stanley Mac, I had a prenatal appointment yesterday and baby has completely dropped into the pelvis. So much so that all my midwife could feel was head down there. (I don't want to go into detail here with graphic descriptions and words but I'll tell you we're well on the way. If you want to know more, I would love to share, you just need to call or email me.) So, he actually dropped over a week ago when I was in Welches. Talk about breathing room and less pain in the rib cage. My midwife was very pleased with his size and position and said she thought he was already 6 1/2 or 7 lbs. at 37 weeks. That's good news because I am definitely ready for him to make his entrance into the world.

In preparation for his impending arrival we spent a long time last night packing the hospital bag, finishing some laundry, and putting things away. When we come home from the hospital we would like to be able to walk into a clean home. I know people say at this point you need to be getting all the sleep you can, but with Scott's work, my growing belly, and getting ready for a new baby, we haven't gotten the sleep we need.

Some other stresses we've had are that our garbage can step pedal broke recently, and we had a bloody mess with a package of meat in the fridge. Added to this, our hot water heater stopped working last night. We didn't realize it until this morning when Scott went to take his shower, because last night when there was no hot water for the dishes or hand washing we didn't put 2 and 2 together. Due to the stress of these little things, lack of sleep, hormones, and the plain busyness of life we had a little blow up this morning. Fortunately, we both feel we're growing and were able to say we're sorry and come back together. What we are learning is that what matters, and what reveals our true character, is how we respond in stressful situations. A couple of years ago it might have taken longer to resolve these issues. We know that in the upcoming months there will just be more stresses, less sleep, and life is not going to slow down. God doesn't refine us through the easy times, but the stressful. We hope and pray that we are becoming the couple (and soon family) that He wants us to be. Please pray for us.

Happy Pi Day

Today 3/14 is Pi day, in honor of the wonderful number pi (3.14159265...). For those of you who are mathaphobes, Pi is just a ratio of the Circumference of a circle to the Diameter (the distance around a circle divided by the distance across). Euler popularized the number, and it comes from the greek work for perimeter. I won't bore you with too many details, but I will give you some fun Pi sites to look at and enjoy. Happy Pi Day!!!

Wikipedia on Pi

Find your phone number or birthday in Pi

Pi Land

The first million digits of Pi

Still Waiting and other News of Note

The days are counting down. The wait is on for little Stanley's arrival. Heather is past the cute and wonderful stage and is now feeling awkward and ready to be done being pregnant. It has been a wonderful pregnancy, and now it is coming to a close. We have less than a month left!!! (a little more if he's late) We have definitely been blessed with baby showers from friends and family. Now, from the money we received from the showers and a few returns (we got two Diaper Champs!) we have started to shop around for some of those bigger items (car seat, stroller and crib mattress) as well as some smaller ones (mattress pad, changing table pad, Bumbo tray, and Boppie cover). It is such a blessing how little we need to buy at this point. I do have to say that Stanley will be the best dressed little man! We have so many cute outfits from 0 to 12 months. We might post photos of some of the outfits, but most likely you'll have to wait until his arrival and then we we'll have to rename this blog "The Stanley Show" because a lot of the posts will be about him!

But to keep that from happening too soon, here are some things that have been going on outside of the pregnancy (is there such a thing?). Scott started Track just after President's Day. He is only coaching part time, so he's only out 3 days a week. Yes 3 out of 5 is more than half, but he loves it. Their first meet is this Thursday at Tualatin High School, and then again next Thursday at Sunset High School.

Scott has also picked up some math tutoring. Since Heather has paused her music therapy contracts and is officially on maternity leave, it was nice for Scott to pick up a few hours tutoring. It is neat how God provides what you need when you need it. Also with track, we didn't know this would be an option, but Scott is able to receive part of his stipend for that work in each monthly paycheck rather than a lump sum at the end. This provides us with the little extra we need each month. It has been neat working through Financial Peace University and learning how to live on a budget and sticking to it. Most of the stuff as far as "tightening the belt" goes we were already good at. This has given us a formalized system to live within. It also helps us with the mindset "no we are not going to use the credit card." We finished paying that off, and next month will be the first month with no credit card payment!!! Now we just need to get the car loan and student loans paid off.

No this will not go on forever, but one last amazing blessing! Over a year ago our laptop computer crashed. On it were our Europe photos, wedding photos (we did have copies of these), our huge address database, and other important files. It was a major bummer. Last fall, Matt Reese told us he had a similar problem, but his friend was able to retrieve the information by getting a device that the hard-drive plugs into. Since his laptop is identical to ours, he tried using that with our hard-drive, but with no success. Well, a couple weeks ago, someone from church told us we should go to the computer store that is just down the street from us. We went there and for $30 plus a $5 cable they were able get everything off the hard-drive!!! Not one picture was lost!!! We were excited to find other pictures that we didn't even know we lost such as our Mexico trip for Heather's sister Beth's wedding.This is a huge answered prayer. Now Heather can scrapbook the last three and a half years of our marriage. We were sort of waiting to retrieve those pictures before trying to sell the laptop to work towards our $1000 emergency fund (baby step number one in Financial Peace University). A lot of cool things happening for us. Thank you to all of you who are praying for us.

We'll try to keep you updated on what is happening in our life. Please keep us up to date as well through phone, email or blog.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is from St. Valentine who, during the Roman Empire officiated weddings even when Claudius II banned marriages, and aiding persecuted Christians. Valentine was later beheaded when he did not renounce Christ. One legend says that before his death he restored sight to the jailer's daughter (by the power of God), and he wrote her a note and signed it "From your Valentine." He was beheaded February 14th. (Source for this was Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey episode on St. Valentine, and Wikipedia states that this idea of St. Valentine was from the book Golden Legend although Claudius banning marriage is not stated. The website roman-emporers.org does say that Claudius was very strict towards his soldiers. Catholic.org mentions the letter and the jailer's daughter). It was Chaucer who is believed to popularize the romantic love associated with Valentine's day. Anyways, the purpose of this little history lesson (and it was really neat to research it), is that Valentine's day has become so hyped up by our culture it is rediculous. It is said to be the "Black Friday" for the floral business, with sales reaching $80,000. Some of my friends from Willamette use to deliver flowers and they can attest to how busy and crazy Valentine's day can be. When I went to pick up the freezer on Valentine's day (see previous posts) there were many Valentine's vendors along the street trying to make a quick buck. This year, Heather and I decided to not celebrate Valentine's day on Valentine's day but the day after. So on Friday morning, February 15th, I went to Fred Meyer before work to pick up some roses and chocolates for Heather. The roses were 75% off, and the chocolates were 50% off! After work, we had reservations at McCormick and Schmick's Harborside. We had received a $25 gift certificate from Alaska Airlines, and by splitting an appetizer and a meal we were able to only spend $10 plus $3.50 for parking. Afterwards were were going to rent a movie from Red Box (for free with coupon), but unfortunately it did not have Becoming Jane or No Reservations. We had a wonderful Valentine's day on February 15th and are really enjoying dates on a budget.

Pre-Spring Clean-up

If you read the next post, you will learn the story behind our new freezer. Today, I (Scott) was faced with the issue of making room for the freezer in the garage. I had organized the garage fairly well last fall. However, once we started to put together the nursery, everything that was in that room went out to the garage and the garage was messy again. Here are some before and after pictures of the garage.

Blessings

Recently God has blessed us in a huge way! We have been wanting an upright freezer for the garage for a while now, although we haven't had the money to buy one. Well, a few weeks ago we were going to Goodwill to find Scott a pair of jeans. As we were pulling up we saw a pickup with 2 upright freezers heading towards the donation center. We quickly pulled over and ran to the pickup as the donation person at Goodwill was telling them they don't take freezers. Unfortunately, they were trying to donate a yellow refrigerator, not a freezer, and they were keeping the upright freezer. We talked a little, and found that they go to Easthill Church (another great church similar to Good Shepherd in Gresham). We talked about FPU (they also had gone through Financial Peace University), our baby Stanely, their kids, and we gave them our number incase they ended up not needing the freezer.

Well, a couple weeks later Heather got a phone call from the lady simply stating, "Call me about a freezer." We called, and they wanted to GIVE us the freezer! Turns out, they were hoping to use it as a second refrigerator but it was too cold (it was built to freeze things which it did). What a huge blessing, God knew what we needed, and He provided. This was a big answered prayer.

That was blessing number one. Blessing number two was getting the freezer. We have a Toyota Camry, and a VW Jetta. Both are not made for transporting freezers. Once we found that we had a freezer, we had to find a way to transport it. Heather first called her dad, who was more than willing to help us, but he is up in Welches, and the freezer was out past 181st. Then we thought of our friends from Bible study. Matt works in construction and has a pick-up. The problem was that he has night classes most weekdays. Scott called him, and he was more than willing to come out and help!

He was working that day out in SW Portland, so he met Scott and the family with the freezer's house, and Matt was the right person to ask. He had all the equipment and know how. We got it into his truck, he had the straps to tie it down, and we got it back to our house no problem. When we got it home, Scott was going to plug it in, but Matt wanted to look at the wiring. The lady had mentioned that there was a problem with the wire, but she used some electrical tape, and it was working fine. Matt took one look at it and told Scott not to plug it in until it was fixed. The hot, cold, and ground wires were all cut and while some electricity could make it through when held together it was the type of problem that starts those "electrical fires" you hear about on the news. Again, what a blessing that Matt was the one we called, because we would have had no idea that the wires needed to be fixed to avoid a house fire. God is good.

Our three blessings.

1. The refrigerator

2. Matt helping and seeing the electrical problem

3. The day we met the people at Goodwill we also found Scott a $9 pair of brand new Levi Jeans that would cost $50 retail.

Wow.

Still growing...

Hey Everyone, It's been really busy around here lately with work, preparing for Stanley's arrival, more work, trying to stay on top of housework, juggling finances (bills), different Bible studies and classes, rehearsals and concerts, spending time with friends, and more work. I guess this is what life is like after graduation. We're so thankful for this new leg of our journey together and we are learning more every day. We're also growing in another area (mostly Heather) and that is around the middle. Stanley is often very active in his growth and development and it's fun to feel (and see) it. It is so exciting! We have less than eight weeks until his due date and we are getting more eager for his arrival every day. We hope and pray that all of you are doing well. Please drop us a line and tell us how things are going for you. P.S. What fun things are you all doing for Valentine's Day? Any ideas?