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.