woops..

I forgot to mention Halloween! Joel III had his 2nd Halloween and went trick-or-treating for the first time. He was a dragon and he LOVED his costume. He literally did not want to take it off. Here is a pic of all of us on a hayride at Northwest Bible's Harvest celebration.
Joel was quite confused when it came to the actual trick-or-treating. He was very scared to go up to people's houses and also did not want to walk from house to house. We tried to toughen him up - We passed some 1 year olds that were younger than Joel and like half his size and were walking! Eventually, to put him in a better mood we took him in the stroller. (after all, we did say that we were going to go on an exciting 'walk' where we would make lots of stops to get candy.. so why would he think differently?) Here's a video of him attempting to trick-or-treat.

November recap..

Life is great. We have two healthy cute boys and my husband is at home to help me take care of them!


Ministry life is slowing down in the way of traveling and speaking, however, now we have entered into a different kind of busy. Book #1 has hit the shelves (well, some of them) and more importantly - Amazon! Check it out here (we will be mailing copies out to some of our supporters very soon!) -

http://www.amazon.com/Stand-Your-Ground-Joel-Penton/dp/0615403484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291319724&sr=8-1

We are beginning to work on book #2 and would like for it to be complete by March 2011! (this one will be Jesus-centered) We are also working on various marketing and support projects. Also - and this is super exciting - Ryan is working on his debut album as I type this! He has had a CD with select cover songs for a while now, but we all decided that, for the good of the ministry, it was time to take the next step in his musical career and we cannot wait to hear the new material! If you get a chance please pray for him and his prego wife Emily.. they will be apart for a few weeks as he works hard up in Michigan on the new album.

November was pretty busy, beginning with a week long trip to Texas for Joel and Ryan. During that week Joel had 14 speaking engagements in 7 days. Add to that a ton of driving (apparently, everything in Texas is like really far apart!) and very little sleep and you get one very sick and tired Daddy. He had 1 day to recuperate though. ha. I had an awesome week in Cincy.. I got to sleep in every day until 10:30 while my dad took care of Joel III. It was like a vacation. It was great.

We have bad news to report about Joel's First Christmas Tree that I wrote about last Christmas. At some point it died this summer starting from the top down. I guess it's just like everything else that Joel touches.. he either breaks it or it dies. Guess I shouldn't let him touch Judah now that I think about it. Here's a pic of Joel with his rake and the special tree in the background. Sad.


We had an awesome Thanksgiving in Van Wert and Cincy. We had fun stuffing our faces, watching football and the Macy's parade, and catching up with our families. It was so great for Joel III to see his cousins and play with them. He espeically enjoys playing with 'Ray Ray' (Rachel Spath) on the Penton side and "Sis-ee" (Sydney Groskopf) on the Groskopf side. He likes the ladies already I guess. Here's a video of Joel and Sydney playing in Cincy.


We ordered a double running stroller (side note for moms who are interested - after extensive research and even purchasing a different one online and sending it back we settled on the instep safari, we are pleased with it for the most part, especially the price - originally $250 and got it for $150, one of the best features is the independent reclining of the separate seats, which you can see in the pic) and took the boys out for one last jog just recently.. it was freezing. Judah seemed comfortable but occasionally let out a high pitched squeak in response to the cold wind. Joel loved it as always.
Joel and I had a fun time raking leaves and then messing up all the piles one night.. looks like it's midnight but it was really only 6pm.


Joel III is learning at an insane pace. Seriously, every day we are shocked by something new that he knows. Just recently we taught him to count to 5, see the video here:


now he already knows how to count to 10! He is finally speaking in short sentences and has learned how to control adults by grabbing their finger and saying "peese pay" to get them to play with him which is super cute. But also super manipulative. Here is another video of something impressive Joel can do now!



Judah has been a pleasure. He slept through the night at 5 weeks, but then would sleep through 3 nights in a row then be up at 4am the next night, so he wasn't consistently sleeping through the night until around 7 or 8 weeks. However, he tends to wake up more in the middle of the night if he is just a tad bit off schedule, so that is something to keep in mind. He's extremely easy to get smiling and very cuddly (both are different traits than Joel at this age). I have noticed that as long as I stay on top of his zantac schedule (supposed to be 3x/day) he will only cry when he is due to nurse. Wow, go figure! Here is a pic of him in his typical spot in the bassinet and boppy sitting by the window.

Too Fast!

I cannot believe Judah's already a month old! Here are some updates on the family -

Joel III: Joel has been doing well with his brother. However, sometimes Joel forgets about him because like a typical 1 month old baby, he sleeps a lot. When I hold and nurse him Joel has a tough transition at times. Usually we need to have a long involved chat about how Mommy is going to have to nurse the baby and wont be able to play with him. He is slowly figuring it out.
Mommy decided to purchase a new toy for Joel to burn off some energy -


He likes it a little better in this video -


Joel is learning and speaking a ton and its fun to watch. He is finally putting 2 words together. He loves to pick up two of the same thing and say "Two Balls!" or "Two cups" or whatever it is for the day. He loves to go new places and 'help' with chores and learn how things work. His new obsessions are batteries, pumpkins and fire hydrants.

Here's a video of Joel holding Judah


Here's a video of Joel opening one of Judah's gifts



Judah: Judah is doing well. At his 1 month appointment he weighed 9 lb 3 oz! He is finally needing 0-3 month clothes! I think he has a bit of reflux and so I started to prop him up on the Boppy after feeds and that has cut down on his crying during the day. He still spits up quite a bit but doesn't seem bothered by it. The reflux also (if he has it) doesn't affect him at night at all. He has been consistently waking up at 3 or 4am the past 2 weeks (he's 5 weeks old now) and just three nights ago slept from 10:30 (last feeding was at 9:45pm) to 6:45am!!! Two nights ago he was up again at his usual 3:30 and last night he slept through again! I have high hopes that the sleeping through the night will become more consistent over the next few weeks.


These past few days he has started smiling and that is super fun! After we put Joel III to bed, we have some fun Judah moments where we get him to smile.


Judah does something funny.


Daddy: Joel is very busy traveling. He seems to be waking up at insane hours (5am) every day, so that makes for two very sleep deprived parents. He is drinking a lot of coke zero and mountain dew to make up for the lack of sleep and I think so far it has worked. However, he is getting sick so maybe not.


Two things account for his business this year compared to last: speaking engagements further away, and involvement in our local church discipleship program. Both things are awesome and are enabling us to serve the Lord in even bigger and better ways! However, of course, both make life a little more complicated -

This week Joel will be in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Next week he has a full 5 days in Texas. Because our outreach involves an evening concert, we need all of our sound, light and A/V equipment. That means lots of hours driving. Please pray for safety while driving and effective outreach concerts.

The discipleship ministry at our church (Northwest Bible) is taking huge steps forward. Joel and I are both super excited about the progress. Discipleship is a one-on-one relationship meant to enhance our relationship with the Lord. We both had awesome relationships in college with our disciplers and that spawned our passion for discipleship. Joel has been working with our teaching pastor at the church to work through the logistics of this program. Please pray for the discipleship relationships at our church, pray for them to start, continue, and grow in their knowledge of the Lord through his Word.


Me: I am doing well. I am enjoying the feeling of my body slowly going back to normal. I am also enjoying the short time that my baby is a little bundle. I know it will be over so soon and he will be crawling and walking before I know it. Joel III's activity level has required me to seek out other moms for play dates. I have found these relationships have helped me a ton.. who knew having friends is a good thing! ha. Thank goodness Joel III has my best interest in mind. just kidding. I am still at the point where I feel like I need a short nap during the day to make it through. This cuts down my ability to get anything done tremendously. So I am adjusting to that. Joel is adjusting to more dirty laundry, a messier house, and my inability to complete ministry tasks in a timely matter. ohwell.

Judah Thomas Penton!!

oh man! Judah is here. We are so excited and thankful to have 2 healthy beautiful boys. I have been putting off this post bc I feel like it will be so massive.. we have so much to say!

Here are some highlights of the past 2 weeks -

cutest moment: When we arrived home from the hospital and introduced Joel to Judah, He kept saying 'baby' and tried to pick up Judah by the legs as he had been holding the other baby doll. see the full video HERE.


scariest moment: The Dr. broke my water and found tons of meconium. This could be a life-threatening situation for the baby, if the baby swallows it. (he didn't, and was fine)

most surprising challenge: Adjusting Joel III to his new brother. He still hasn't fully learned but I think now he knows that Judah is a person (he will now frequently hand Judah footballs and guns and offer Judah a drink from his sippy cup) and that Judah isn't going away. However, he still does not like it when Mommy is nursing Judah and attempts to climb on top of both of us... causing lots of stress for Mommy.


biggest answer to prayer: The entire labor and delivery process. Wow. It was truly a great experience! I labored at home for 8 hours (even went to church!) then we headed to the hospital at 4pm. Got an epidural at 6pm, was so comfortable that we joked around and watched some of "Meet the Parents" on TV. Pushed twice, Judah arrived at 839pm. Easy. I guess next time I should try it without the epidural to make it more challenging. ;) Watch the entire Labor and Delivery process (G-rated) HERE.



most precious moment: Praying with Judah on my chest immediately after delivery. We did this with Joel and it was such an intimate time with Our Lord, each other, and our newest gift from Him.


are the two boys different? Yes! We can tell already. Judah has darker, thicker skin, and darker hair. He is also of course way smaller than Joel was. Judah is naturally pretty laid back, but more difficult to 'mold' i.e. conforming him to my preferred schedule is not as easy as it was for Joel. Fortunately the schedule he 'prefers' is pretty easy to deal with.

Joel III after first bath:

Judah after first bath:

was it easier the 2nd time around? Surprisingly, most of the pregnancy was! I think I can attribute most of this to his weight. Also as you just read the Labor and Delivery was no comparison. Knowing what to expect afterward also made things easier. So, all in all, yes!



most surprising moment: Finding out that Tiny Judah was only 6 lb 11 oz! (Joel was 8 lb 4 oz.) Our Dr. did say that the placenta was huge for his size (about half his weight which isn't normal) the cord was very long, and there was a lot of fluid. His size was very surprising to me, however, Joel kept predicting he would be 'small and feisty'



saddest moment: Joel III crying "up, up!" when I nursed Judah and then crying even more when I told him I wasn't able to hold him right now.

moment that makes me laugh: Thinking about Joel (husband)'s face when we were getting ready to go to the hospital. He had a huge smile on his face, he kept making me laugh, and he was running around the house like a crazy person trying to get things ready. My contractions hadn't progressed for 6-7 hours (they were still 10 mins apart and not any more painful than when they started) so we weren't sure it was the real thing until around 3pm. He didn't think I would ever go into labor so the whole thing was pretty exciting for him. You can catch a glimpse of his excitement HERE.

More to come later!

The waiting game..

Ugh! call me crazy but this has GOT TO BE the worst part of pregnancy. Will I ever go into actual labor? Will I go past my due date again and have to deal with all the "When are you due?" questions and looks!? (ps how do you answer that one.. "um 3 days ago, but thanks for reminding me, bc I'm not thinking of it constantly") I should be more thankful. I know this. I am praying for patience and a better attitude this time. I think, so far, I have been doing a little better. But not great.

Thankfully, I have other big distractions at this point that I did not have last pregnancy.

We are closing the deal on our big "Stand Your Ground" book project. ..which has taken forever to get this far! We found an awesome friend to use and abuse as our writer and since then it finally took off running. (ok maybe sprinting, but we had a lot of time to make up!)

Also, Joel III has decided to cut his 2nd year molars just in time for the last few weeks of my pregnancy (and hopefully delivery at some point!) He has had 1 of them for about 1 month.. but it seems like maybe the next 3 are all coming in at once or something. He will be eating just fine then bam! all of a sudden crying hysterically, wont finish his food, wont stop crying unless being held and walked by mommy. (yeah, when he only wants Mommy you know it's bad.. bc 90% of the time he prefers Daddy to throw him around and wrestle with him).. so that's been tough on the back and belly. But good for the purposes of distraction from the waiting game.

Another good thing is that Joel has been around quite a bit to play with Joel III, bring me milk for heartburn, do the dishes.. ya know all that good stuff that an awesome hubby does when his wife is the size of a cow. This week is an easy one (only 1 speaking engagement) but next week (week 39!) will be rough.. very rough.. 5 engagements.. Which means I gotta suck it up and get up off the couch, play with the boy, get my own milk, do my own dishes, etc. Poor me! But after that is another good week. I am secretly hoping to go into labor next week so I dont have to deal with him being gone so much and a needy 19 month old! (ok it's not a secret)

one cool thing that could happen (but probably won't).. Joel III was born on my brother Mike's B-day. My future SIL (his fiance)'s B-day is Sept 9th at which point I will be 39 weeks exactly. How cool would that be if he was born on Lindsey's B-day?!? See their engagement pic at the bottom of this Christmas blog post - Here

Ok, bedtime.

Potty Time Day #3

Morning: accidents 1 successes 0

hm.. by now something should be clicking. However, we sat on the potty for 15 mins twice this morning. he held his pee a solid 2.5 hours before his morning nap and I'm sure once his diaper was put on he peed in it. We are thinking that perhaps putting on loose underwear that will get all wet with accidents might motivate him a little more. Sadly though, I don't think the problem is motivation, he is clearly learning to hold it, the problem is the connection being made that pee goes in the potty. Since it hasn't happened, he has no idea why he is sitting on the potty.

afternoon: accidents 4 successes 0

ok so he's definitely holding the pee longer, but there is absolutely no connection at all of where it is supposed to go. He now enjoys 'potty time,' after we say "Joel it's time to sit on the potty." he says excitedly "Bot-tee Bot-tee!" and runs to his little potty where we show him youtube kid videos with songs, he never gets this anywhere else so of course he loves potty time! We got him to sit about 15-20 mins each time today so that is an improvement as well.. I guess. By 5pm we had officially given up and put a diaper on him to go on an outing to the park. If I really want to make myself feel better I could count that poop 'success' from yesterday and also today one of Joel's accidents went 100% into Daddy's shoe so that should count for something right?

The following article outlines Julie Fellom's Book and the 'Potty Training in 3 days or less' method which we attempted. At one point she says "if your child is having less than a 75% success rate or worse, or doesn't seem to notice the pee running down her leg, stop and try again later." I think that a 0% success rate would qualify. However, he did notice the pee running down his legs he would whine and look over at us, but he never did anything right before it. It was like the pee just came out to his complete shock every time! ha.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc?page=1

She also says "It's pretty much guaranteed to work for children who try it before 28 months."

LOL.

Potty Time Day #2

Morning: Accidents 5 Successes 1!

Not sure why the frequency of poop & pee is going up rather than down, however we had a minor success this morning! The day started off with the plan to sit him on the potty every hour for at least 2.5 minutes.. so he 'gets it' and so maybe one of those times intersects with actual poop and pee, because he just isn't getting it. Mommy woke up late this morning and so by the time I got downstairs at 9:30am the Joels had gone through 4 accidents and 0 successes. Joel said he was whining and making a face and looking at him during the accident so maybe that is progress? Still I am shocked by how small the streams are. I had this vision of whisking him off to the potty midstream to complete the pee stream in the potty, then a connection would be made in his brain. Little did I know the pee stream would be less than 2 seconds. There is absolutely no chance of doing this in most cases, even with a 'larger' pee, which is like 5-7 seconds by the time I notice he is peeing it's over. I guess that's why we need to keep a closer eye on his face and other cues. This specifically is why I was able to catch his only 'success' this morning and get him to the potty in time: it was poop. I am very familiar with his poop face, and so I was able to scoop him up and get him to the potty in time for it to drop in. Afterwards we made him sit even longer (probably 4-5 mins total on the potty) and nothing more came out. We rejoiced, showered him with praise and kisses and showed him his poop and told him he did a great job 'putting it where it belongs.' oh yeah, then we gave him a cookie. oh we also had him sit on the potty about 4 times this morning for about 3-4 mins each, so that is minor progress too (he didn't refuse it, and he sat longer than we even anticipated!)

afternoon: accidents 2 successes 0

hm... someone is figuring out how to hold it I think. Accomplishments for the afternoon included 2x15 minute sessions of sitting on the potty.. yeay! Sadly, when he went down for his morning nap he let out probably enough poop & pee in his diaper for the entire rest of the day. Also sad, we are going to have another nap today which means another diaper, and I think somehow he knows that.

encouraging note: we went on a walk this evening and ran an errand and Joel stayed dry for all of it! in fact, in the evening, he held his pee for 3 hours! we continued to sit on the potty for long periods of time (10-15 mins) but Joel never let it out.. that is until dinner time. He ate like crazy and peed himself like crazy and was very happy.

Potty Time!

Before I go into our "Potty Time" I feel I must justify why I'm being so insane by even attempting to train an 18 mo. old boy (and first born!), there are 3 main reasons why we are attempting to train Joel.
1. Our Dr. recommended it - seriously. He said "if you don't do it now, he will for sure be in diapers another year or more because of the new baby" I said.. hm you are probably right, might as well try.
2. I feel he could be 'ready' - ok I know everyone's definition of 'readiness' is different, however Joel was telling me 'potty' before he would poop about 3 months ago, has an interest in the potty, poops at regular times each day, listens and follows commands pretty well, and likes to 'put things where they belong.' oh and he can fart on command.. seriously. if you say to him "Joel, Fart." he will make this cute little strained face, fart, and then laugh hysterically about it.
3. The best time is now - Joel my husband is home more often in the Summer than any other time of year, and we only have 1 child that is running around currently.. so that makes the ratio easier than in the future.

I've been inspired by numerous blogs, websites and nannies or childcare workers who have said it is possible to train 'early' Here is one that really got me thinking positively
http://www.chateaukaufman.com/2009/11/everyone-poops.html

So, with all that said, we blocked off Wednesday the 28th - Friday the 30th for full-time potty training. We have committed to 3 full days assuming he doesn't take MAJOR strides backward in other areas (I've heard of this happening) i.e. not sleeping, not able to play by himself or extremely clingy, sick, or being very disobedient without explanation. Given these things don't happen, we will proceed on our 3 day venture.


Day 1 of Potty training attempt:
first morning = 4 accidents 0 successes
The poop accident was fortunately outside on the deck. Joel didn't like the idea of letting little Joel run around naked on the deck for potty training (something about appearing trashy to the neighbors) but after a few pee accidents inside the house he quickly warmed up to the idea. After the first 2 pee accidents, Joel held his pee much longer for the 3rd one. Each time he had a pee accident he cried. So I guess that is good. After the poop accident we had him sit on the potty for a couple of minutes to see if anything else would come out, it didn't. But since he sat well (watching blip videos of himself of course) we gave him 1/2 an M & M as a reward.
He is confused about not being allowed into certain areas of the house and that is upsetting him. I would like it if we could spend all day outside on the deck but the humidity is 84% so it's not that enjoyable for us. We might get desperate enough though. He keeps saying "daa pur" .. like "where is my diaper?" but doesn't seem to be bothered that it's not on. He is enjoying getting all the juice he wants and getting more attention from mommy and daddy.
afternoon = accidents 8 successes 0 Discipline 3 (spankings or time outs)
It is hot out. Joel is enjoying lots of juice and skyline crackers (to make him pee more)
side note: we just got the summer infant 'best view' video monitor delivered and we are really excited about it! see video of the video monitor HERE
Joel is not liking being confined to the kitchen area, he is also cranky from only having one nap today, we have broken many rules today to just get through it for instance: Joel was allowed to walk around and eat chips or whatever we wanted to give him, Joel was allowed to drink as much juice as he wanted, and at the end of the evening just to calm him down we allowed Joel to watch a veggie tales video. So, all in all, we took a few steps backward today and 0 steps forward. Hopefully something will click on either day 2 or day 3. We had to discipline Joel more often today bc he was either 1. bored 2. confused as to what was going on or 3. tired or 4. all of the above.. Joel my husband suggested at the end of the day that we reward ourselves with chipotle, wine coolers and cookie dough ice cream. It was rough for all of us but there were three good things about today I could find: 1. we saved about 4 diapers (what does that add up to.. $2.00?) 2. we got some great organizing in the kitchen cabinets done and 3. we realized that the whole 'no diaper' thing conveniently allows for easy spanking access so even though Joel was being extra disobedient, we don't feel like we moved backwards in this area bc we were able to remain firm.
video of the morning click HERE
oh ps - we are not sure of the whole cookie or M & M reward, it seems to make him even more demanding and whiny as he thinks he should be getting them all day long. oh, we only gave him two rewards - 1 M&M and 1 small cookie, the first one is mentioned above, the second one was for him actually telling me 'potty' going to the potty and sitting there for over a minute - a huge accomplishment even though nothing came out. that was in the afternoon sometime.. it all went downhill after that.

Ohh man..

Long time no post! June ended up being busier than expected. We took 2 'working getaways' to attempt to write a book, aimed at HS and MS students titled 'Stand Your Ground.' Which is based off of Joel's school assembly presentation. The trips went well but the time away from Joel was difficult for us both!
Both getaways were at Indian Lake, in NW Ohio. A generous friend of ours and ministry donor encouraged us to use her huge lake house whenever we needed it.. we took major advantage of her offer! Joel writes about our book writing endeavor HERE in one of our latest Pentons' Progress issues. We made good progress, however, we still have a LONG way to go.. please pray for this huge undertaking as we would love to get it to the editing stages come September.

We also did some major house projects in June which were fun and much needed. The biggest one (in amount of hours) was moving Joel's former office into the loft so that we could set up and make room for Little Joel's new big boy room.. which will eventually be the room for both boys. (Hopefully the Lord will continue to bless us with more children!) sounds so easy.. right? Yeah, why are these projects always more difficult and time-consuming than expected? After we finally got Joel's new room mostly done we moved him in there and thought he would sleep just as well on a mattress on the floor as he did in his old crib. Ha. We sleep deprived him for a week (he would only sleep 1 hour for his nap but usually sleeps 3 hours) and then got horribly sick for a week straight after that. (See Below) So.. we moved him back to a pack n play inside his new room and will try again here soon. I attribute most of the problem to him not being adjusted to the room as 'his' room. So. ...we will see if time has helped or hurt the situation. Here is a pic of Joel enjoying his new table and chair set from IKEA, he is also enjoying a wrench of Daddy's.
We attended a couple of friends weddings, here is a pic of us at our friend Tim Rader's wedding.. I'm about 28 weeks in this pic, that would explain why I still look 'cute.'
We then had a lazy B-day celebration for Joel Jr. with some cake.
Then attended another wedding - a fancy wedding of Joel's good friend David Patterson, who was #97 on the D-Line.
With each wedding I get hotter (like, temperature wise) and huge-r. We are going to another wedding of a friend of mine in mid-August. I don't think I will be posting that picture!
We recently took a much needed 'Spiritual Retreat' where we watch and listened to 6 talks on 'The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in the Post Modern World." Click HERE for details. Again, we shipped our boy off to the grandparents.. It was refreshing and as I said above - much needed. We are considering doing this annually and possibly as a ministry.. because seriously, what is more important than Jesus? Honestly though, I think we were challenged to ask ourselves that question over and over during the trip itself as our dear son came down with high fevers for 4 days (like above 103) and then a rash and extreme irritability. (it was Roseola) Finally, he recovered and we were all reunited just last week - it was a relief!

Right now I am focused on making it through each day without passing out and trying not to become a whale. The new baby seems to move much more than Joel did and does seem to be bigger, however its easy to forget. Right now I'm almost 32 weeks and I feel like I did at around 37 weeks with Joel.. I am not sure how I will make it through August!

VIDEO UPDATES
Joel sitting in lawn chair : http://blip.tv/file/3895131
Joel lifts weights: http://blip.tv/file/3895226
Joel and Daddy sword fighting: http://blip.tv/file/3897975
Joel does his 'funny walk' : http://blip.tv/file/3900266

Finally!

We are so excited for this time in our lives! The ministry has slowed down significantly and we made it through an exhausting May. Little Joel is a huge joy lately as he is repeating everything we say and doing what we do. It is very cute. Some exciting new words are "Bi-bull" for Bible, "Pees" for Please, and "Daa-pur" for Diaper. He has also learned the word "No" which is not so cute, but I guess we have to take it all of the good and the bad that comes. We are gradually preparing for the new baby or as many family members lovingly call him "Joel the 4th." Here's a recent pic of Joel, does he look like he's ready to be a big brother?

Ministry went well in May, Joel traveled to many different states as I mentioned in my last blog. Joel discovered on a 5 hour flight to Casper, WY that snacks are no longer handed out on flights now, of course he could buy a $5 2 inch x 2 inch bag of peanuts but we want to be better stewards of the ministry's money than that! He admitted that he should have brought numerous protein bars with him on the trip when he came home (something I do for every trip now, 'just in case') He also visited the mormon temple in Utah and shared the gospel with 2 Mormon teenagers who were working at the temple. They weren't interested in Jesus, go figure. Other than those two slight disappointments, the trips went well but we were both extremely happy to have him back home. We had a small bet going (what do you bet when you share everything?) about the number of words that little Joel would learn when Joel was gone.. I said at least 7, Joel said 2, at that point he had about 15 words total. Needless to say, Mommy was right and you can view some of the videos HERE. Also here is another video of Joel attempting to use a spoon to eat an italian ice from a cup, you can see that HERE.

Ok so you want to know about actual ministry? Oh! Well in that case, in some ways May was a struggle, concerts performed for assemblies that were more than 4 months previous tend to be difficult. Plus, well, I guess around April something happens to most HS and MS kids and they cannot concentrate on anything else other than Summer. However, we did have 5 successful concerts in Huber Heights, Cincinnati, Bellefontaine, Muhlenberg, KY and New Lisbon, WI. Here is a quote from one of the students from Bellefontaine HS, "I thought this was cool. It made me realize I should reconnect with God and Jesus."
Awesome.


At the end of May we spent some time in Joel's hometown of Van Wert, Ohio to visit with family and get some much needed R & R while we had ample family members to look after our boy. Joel tried to take little Joel swimming one morning while Mommy was getting a massage (what a life!) and here's the progression of events:


"My skin may be extremely pale, but I've got my swim trunks on and I'm ready to go!"









"Wow this is terrible! The water is cold, and I have to use my legs! How do other kids even like this? Get me out of here immediately Daddy!"







"Please don't put me in there ever again Daddy."







I guess it might take a while for him to enjoy swimming, oh well. One last thing: this Summer Joel and I (with the help of the Hollidays) will be attempting to write a book! Crazy I know. We are convinced this would be appealing to administrators and help to expand Joel's platform. Our goal is to have it complete and sent to the publisher by early September (around the time 'Joel the 4th' will be arriving). Please pray for us if you think of it, we really have no idea what we are getting ourselves into!
Here is the completed (missing a few cushions and a fire pit) outdoor sanctuary project! We love it!

Endurance...

Well, we finally got Joel's first Christmas tree in the ground! Here is a pic of him checking it out. We didn't mean to dress him like a clown. Speaking of trees, Joel and I have been doing some major landscaping the past few weeks. I finished my tasks in 2 days (with the help of my mom), but I won't bore you with pictures of flowers... Joel's task however is taking numerous weeks. We are creating a courtyard/patio in the back corner of our yard. I am excited to see how another one of Joel's creative design ideas turns out. The kitchen and our master bath were creative ideas of his and we absolutely love both! However, due to Joel's lack of time at home, I believe it might not be completely finished until mid-June.. this May is a strange one. The ministry typically has 6 busy months, and 6 months that are 'lighter' (wow! better than a teacher!) the busy months are: September, October, November, February, March and April. However this year May has filled up significantly (see Joel's calendar if you are wondering - www.joelpenton.com/calendar.html) also August is a little booked up as well.. however I don't mind that one as I would rather have him be gone in August than September (baby due date Sept 16th)! Anyway back to May, Joel will be traveling to Kentucky, Wyoming, Utah, and Wisconsin! Just yesterday, Joel traveled 6 hours to an assembly in PA, then presented, packed up, and turned around for 6 more hours to travel home. He said he found me in the same position as when he left: in bed. Joel is not one to admit he has any limits but I believe he is approaching them. Please pray for his endurance - mentally, physically and especially spiritually. Little Joel misses him as well, whenever he sees a tall man with a white shirt on he says "Daddy!" also yesterday when I was running the washing machine he kept thinking that the sound was the garage door opening so he would constantly go to the laundry room and say "Daddy!" and then cry when I said no. :( It will be nice for him to have a companion to play with - along those lines we just found out that his new sibling will be a brother! We are so pumped and hope and pray they get along well and bring out the best in each other. I am excited because I get to pass them off to Daddy when they turn like 5 - right? The pic to the left clearly shows it's a boy! I know I am in for it as Boys naturally love to cause trouble - here is a pic of Joel's favorite place to cause trouble - the garage!

on a different note, we had an awesome Central Ohio FCA Legends event on April 29th. Joel was honored to present the Outstanding Christian Leadership awards to numerous HS seniors throughout Central Ohio. We were reminded of how difficult it really is to be a Christian in High School and how awesome these students are for 'Standing their Ground.' We hope and pray that the ministry we are doing encourages Christian students all over the nation to 'Stand their Ground,' we also pray perhaps even more so that thousands more students are able to "Stand their Ground" on Jesus if they haven't been doing that in the past. Please pray for the ministry and our family, thank you so much for reading our blog!

Joel finally gets a haircut!

Joel III is 15 months old and has not had any hair for most of his life - well finally around 12 months his hair started filling in, and so mommy finally gave in and got him his first haircut at Cookie Cutters today! Here is a pic of Joel at the start of the cut - he had no idea what was coming. He started off pretty well but quickly lost it when the clippers came out, he did not like that feeling one bit! Check out the video and the before and after pics!
Joel's first haircut

We love April!

The weather is getting nice, Joel is still on the road speaking but not too much, I am feeling great in the 2nd trimester and little Joel is having a blast learning to say things and running around outside! Yes, life is great at the Penton home. Joel's favorite words are "This?" "Da Da" "Duck" "Car" and occasionally "Mom" He loves to go outside and run into the street, fall on his face on the driveway, or eat sidewalk chalk. Joel takes him outside much more often than I do because it makes me tired, so sometimes little Joel will walk over to the door and grab the handle (he cannot open doors just yet) and say "Da Da?" He also says "Da Da!" every time he sees a white car drive by (the "Moose" is our large white van that Joel drives). Here is a recent video taken in Cincy of the Joels: The Joels on the bench swing
We had an awesome Easter with the Groskopf family this past weekend. Cousin Sydney had a great time playing with Joel as she showed him how to bang up Gamma's kitchen floor with pots and pans. (I stood by not thinking it was a problem.. ohwell!) She also tried to show him how to go to the potty like a big kid (she's 2 1/2) but he didn't understand that one as well. Joel and I enjoyed spending quality time with the family and of course the awesome food! However, one of the best aspects of the weekend for me was my daily nap time! I have always needed a LOT of sleep and pregnancy is no exception.. I was really hoping that this time around would be just like my pregnancy with Joel and I wouldn't need any naps after week 12 or so. Not so much.. I can make it until around 4pm and then I just need to lay down.. not every day, but almost. Other than that the pregnancy is going great! I am 17 weeks along and we will get to find out the gender in 3 short weeks. I have been feeling little kicks here and there for about a week or so now and I heard the heartbeat in the 150's this morning.
The ministry is constantly changing, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to update Joel and Ryan's presentation. We have 6 more weeks of traveling and then things slow down for the Summer. We are encouraged by the strides we have made this school year and hope there are more and more improvements and thousands more students to reach for the Gospel!

5 Years...

Joel and I just celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary. Joel surprised me by taking me to the restaurant where we had our first 'real' date - The Melting Pot. The actual Melting Pot where we had our first date closed a few years ago.. wow, we are old! However, it does not seem like it was that long ago! In 5 short years we both managed to graduate from college, begin working a real jobs, buy a house, begin an ever-expanding ministry, and create two babies! We cannot help but think of how incredibly blessed we are! I am able to stay at home (for the most part) but also work for our FCA ministry and help my husband while attempting to cultivate godliness in our children (pretty easy for the littlest one - he/she is very obedient!). And of course my husband gets to do what he loves, for an amazing purpose, and also earn a living while doing it! We are so incredibly thankful and we pray that during the wonderful times but also during the tough times we will continue to praise God for who he is!


Here is a pic of us the day we found out we were expecting #2, and a pic of Joel III waking up from a nap with 2 legs and 1 arm stuck in the slats. He is laughing about it because I was laughing hard enough to go get the camera. Also here is a video of Joel III laughing/crying when observing a toy doggy http://blip.tv/file/3363007

So much to report...

Hey all! It's been too long! Joel III is 13.5 months old and the new baby is 12.5 weeks along! We had a very busy February and one highlight was our trip to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which I briefly blogged on earlier, (click here) Each year Joel is graciously invited back to the Wuerffel Trophy Banquet and festivities. Recently Joel, Ryan, and a Wuerffel Trophy committee member, John Watts, have been scheming to turn this visit into a ministry trip as well by adding area assemblies and Comeback Concerts. The evening Concerts went very well and we have huge plans to continue ministry in the FWB area with even more events next year. The pic above is of former Wuerffel Trophy winner, Rudy Niswanger, Joel, Ryan and a student from Crestview HS at an FCA breakfast in FWB. Here is a quote from a FWB HS Student who attended the concert.

"Thanks for coming and speaking, my little brother has been struggling a lot and I am praying for him and have been for the past 3 years. He rededicated (his life to Jesus) tonight"

After the assemblies and Concerts, we had an awesome time getting to know Rudy and his wife Patricia a little bit better. Patricia is pregnant with twins and is due in early April.

Here are some more pics from Florida - Joel and Rudy acting important by signing some items, Joel with his favorite dirt-bike-riding friend, Jon Wuerrfel, and of course, us.







Joel III has been challenging lately, we have had to up our discipline efforts, and we are hoping (for his own sake) that he learns to obey quickly! Here is a video of Joel going down the stairs, a new accomplishment (Joel going down the stairs). Here is another video of Joel III and Mommy having a pretend phone conversation (phone conversation). I know looking at this sweet face below its hard to imagine that he has been whining and throwing fits, but sadly it's true. Please pray for wisdom as we learn to parent him and teach him to honor and obey so that one day he can honor and obey God.