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!