Happy 9-month birthday, dear Becca-Bear! It’s hard to believe that 9 months ago today our little girl was born weighing only 2 lbs, 0.8 oz. and measuring only 14in. As of today, Becca weighs 15 lbs, 1 oz. and is 24.5in long! She’s come a long way from having a body (shoulders to bottom) that was the length of a teaspoon.

We’re enjoying watching and hearing Becca experiment with new sounds. She’s got the “da-da” sound mastered, knows how to make clicking sounds with her tongue, and loves to talk. I recently taught her how to do a motor boat sound with her tongue, which resulted in her drool being dispersed all about.

Becca is a generally happy baby, as long as she’s fed and rested. She loves to be around us as we work and doesn’t like to let us leave the room for too long. She’s working on sitting up by herself  and we’re trying to get her to roll over from her back to her stomach. I’m not sure if it’s because Becca sees us read all the time, but it seems like Becca really likes books. (This week Josh finished reading me The Return of the King — the third book in The Lord of the Rings!) We plan to get some more baby-friendly books so she can improve her reading repertoire!

This weekend Josh’s friend Lap came from Lubbock for a few days to work with Josh on Jarai research, as well as discuss teaching linguistics. Josh and Lap usually communicate over email and Skype, and it was nice for them both to be able to work together in person. On Saturday, we had Dr. Pat Davis over for lunch. Dr. Davis did research and literacy work in Eritrea and I met with her in July to interview her concerning my dissertation topic. I really enjoyed hearing about Dr. Davis’ world-wide literacy work. Josh’s semester officially starts today and we’re getting ready for a new schedule. I hope to turn my prospectus in by Labor Day and will continue working on it as I wait to hear back from my committee. We’d both appreciate your prayers for our busy semester.

I’ve been a user of Logos Bible Software for a few years now. Logos 4 Mac looks like a good product. Here’s some promo text from their website: Continue reading Logos Bible Software 4 Mac →

It’s always neat to go back and look at pictures of Becca and see how much she’s grown. In the pair fo photos above, the picture on the left was taken on March 31st, when Becca was 18 weeks old, and now here she is 20 weeks later. This week, I took out the giant bear to help Becca practice sitting up. Of course, Becca had other ideas. The picture on the right shows what Becca really loves to do with her animals – yum, yum!

This week we enjoyed some more fellowship with friends. Friday night we went to René and Yani’s home and enjoyed a lovely dinner, while Becca and Amaris played. Saturday evening we had Steve and Kelly Walter over for dinner. Steve is on my dissertation committee and is providing the Eritrean data I’m working with.

We went on a little vacation this weekend from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning. We used our credit card point to stay in a hotel in north Fort Worth. Our vacation “goal” was to relax and enjoy having an unscheduled day. I brought most of our food and we enjoyed a morning swim in the pool. Becca got to wear my old baby bathing suit.

We could also call it our Lord of The Rings vacation. This summer we’ve been reading through The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, so on our vacation we watched the first LOTR movie and made good progress reading The Return of the King. (We started reading LOTR in Greenville in June. It was on the bedstand in Caroline and David’s guest room, and it’s always been one of Josh’s favorites. So that became our new read-together book.)We had a delightful time and it was a good break before Josh’s semester starts next Thursday.

By the way, if you like cute babies, check out the latest pictures of Bella Eliesse Floyd, born to David and Caroline Floyd on August 9 (yeah, 8/9/10!). (Caroline is Josh’s sister.)

This week Becca got a very special present in the mail from her Great Aunt Ruthy: her very own little chair. It’s a great place for Becca to practice sitting up. Aunt Ruthy also sent Becca a frog, which Becca is very interested in eating – frog legs, yummy! This week I washed and packed up all of Becca’s newborn clothes. She still fits in most of her 3-month stuff. I guess that’s an advantage of having a small baby is that her clothes fit her for a long time.

This week we visited with Michael and Erin Lyons. The last time we saw them was a year ago on our trip back from PA. They generously allowed us to spend the night in their apartment in Louisville, KY, as we traveled home. It was good catching up with them and hearing about where God is leading them next. The Lyons are expecting a baby in February.

Due to the generosity of family and friends, this week was the first time we’ve had to buy diapers since the month of April. We found some good deals from diapers.com. If anyone is ever interested in ordering from Diapers.com, you can put in our referral code (JXSH2621) and we’ll get $10.00 off our next order. (Is it wrong for us to advertise for our own benefit?) And there’s something in it for you: the first time you order from Diapers.com you get 15% off, so at least the first order is a nice deal for anyone.

Well that about sums up our week. Sunday night we have a nice visit and meal with the Martins and some of their friends (no pictures, sorry). We’ve both been busy working on our research. Josh starts school on the 26th of this month. He’ll be teaching an undergraduate class on Phonetics and Phonology, working in the Linguistic Department’s computer lab, and taking one class, as well as working on his dissertation research. I will continue to work on my prospectus as well as enjoy being the wife of Josh Jensen and the mommy of Becca Grace.

This past week, Becca had an OT appointment with Mary. Right after Becca’s last OT appointment April, Mary broke her arm riding a horse. We’ve been waiting for Mary’s arm to recover enough so Becca could see her again. Mary is pleased with Becca’s progress. Becca is right on the edge of having 5-month skills. Mary gave us exercises to help Becca work on sitting up and rolling over from her back to her stomach.

We’re kept busy this week with our research and both continue to make progress. I don’t have much time to blog this week, but I wanted to post a few pictures from our weekend adventures. Friday night we played a new version of hide-n-go seek (what else do people do when it’s too hot to go outside and play?). The finder has to keep his or her eyes closed and the hider has to hold Becca. When it was Josh’s turn to hide, he turned up the music really loud, so the first thing I did was find the computer and turn off the music. It was then not Becca who gave away Josh’s hiding spot but Josh laughing at me. After our game we went to River Legacy Park for a walk.

Sunday afternoon we have Lynnelle and her fiancé over for a late lunch. Later that evening we cooled off in a UTA fountain. Monday night, Kim came over for dinner and then we made sugar cookies. I made a butter-free batch – yum, yum! Today we’re looking forward to having Michael and Erin Lyons over for dinner. So that’s a quick look into our week. Sorry this post is rather boring. . . . Hopefully, next week I’ll time to spice things up!

Three years ago today, the man of my dreams asked me to be his wife. It was several days before Josh was going to leave for Texas and he arranged with my boss, and dear friend, Mrs. Eby, to take me out for the afternoon. We packed a lunch and drove up to Table Rock Park. On the drive up, we stopped at a souvenir shop and bought and cracked open a geode (we each kept a half). At Table Rock we ate our lunch and then went on a walk. A little ways up the path, we left the trail and went down by a creek. Josh said he had a couple things to give to me. Each time he pulled out a black ring box and opened it up to give me something different – his key-chain with a quarter on it, a little ceramic dog holding a flag that said amore, a little white Bible (inside joke), and last but not least…he once again opened the ring box and there was our engagement ring…and then and there, the man of my dreams asked me to marry him! I was delighted…so delighted it took me awhile to say “yes!” When we went back to BJU later to pick up my car, we found that Mrs. Eby & Co. had decorated it in celebration of our engagement!

I‘m so glad Joshua Jensen asked me to be his wife. I am blessed everyday in so many ways to be married to my Josh. Thank you, darling for asking me to marry you. Thank you for being a wonderful husband to me and a fantastic daddy to Becca. Thank you for being the man who excedes all my dreams. I love you so much!