Rebekah Pringle came to visit with us at the end of last week (Wednesday to Sunday). I picked Rebekah up from the airport Wednesday night and took Emily to the airport early Thursday morning. It was the “changing of the guard” while Josh was away. We had a lovely visit with Rebekah and it was a special treat for me to get to spend so much time with her. She was the perfect house guest, especially since we had been roommates in grad school. Becca enjoyed playing with her Auntie Bekah.

Josh had a successful week at Breath of Life. All his teaching sessions went well and we survived the week without him. Becca enjoyed our extra company and all the extra activities: parks, mall (including a lot of escalator riding), ice cream, sprayground, late nights, etc. We were very happy to have Josh home Friday night.

I found out on Tuesday that my doctor was unable to schedule my c-section for next week, so Little Brother’s c-section is scheduled for tomorrow at 7:30AM. It’s a bit jolting to find out that you’re having surgery 3 days earlier than you were planning.  We’ve been praying for a regular delivery and are resting in the Lord’s sovereign will in this situation. My time is running out . . . here comes the knife! I’ve been trying to spend a lot of time with Becca, as I know our lives are about to drastically change with the addition of Little Brother. It won’t just be Becca and Mommy playtime any more. We’re excited to meet Little Brother tomorrow morning.

Happy 47 month marriage anniversary to my wonderful husband!! It’s been an amazing 47 months, and daily I’m reminded that you are God’s sweet gift to me. Thank you leading us to Christ, for loving me, and for choosing me to be your wife. Thanks for keeping me priority and not becoming too busy with other things for me. Thanks for being so much fun!

Right now you’re taking a nap with Becca in “mama’s pink chair” – so I could keep napping myself. You are a terrific Daddy and I can’t wait to see you with Little Brother! I adore you. Next month we celebrate 4 years!

This week Josh is in Oklahoma participating in a week long workshop, The Oklahoma Breath of Life, Silent No More Workshop. The workshop is especially designed for indigenous people from communities who no longer have any fluent, first language speakers. Josh has been teaching a session on a computer database program. I, not wanting to be alone for a whole week being so close to our due date, invited my sister to spend some time with us.

We’ve had a great time with Emily. Becca enjoys playing with her aunt. Friday we went to the Fort Worth Science Museum. Karen is a member and treated us to a day at the museum. We all enjoyed it. Becca especially enjoyed the children’s section and going to an IMAX movie with popcorn! It was Emily’s birthday, so for dinner we enjoyed a fabulous Chinese buffet.

Little Brother is now 38 weeks and less than two weeks from being in our arms. At the museum, Becca practiced driving me to the hospital. Presently, my doctor has June 4th scheduled for a c-section, but we’re praying that Little Brother shows up before then. On Monday I went to the hospital for monitoring. It was the same place I went when I noticed Becca’s decreased movement. Little Brother got at A++ for heart rate! My grandma found some onesies that say Little Brother on them – I was delighted!

Friday evening Josh and I attended Chamber Music International’s Concert Six. We received free tickets from a man we met when attending one of these concerts last year (using tickets Josh won from the Classical radio station). The concert included Beethoven’s Piano Trio in Eb Major, Opus 1 #1, Harbison’s Violin Sonata, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60. Micah and Anna watched Becca for us and she had a blast. Josh and I were able to go out for dinner before the concert. We had a lovely evening.

For Mother’s Day weekend we got together with the Rodriguez family Saturday night for Josh and René to cook the ladies a lovely dinner of ribs, twice-baked potatoes, green beans, and rolls. The men did a wonderful job, and we all enjoyed the meal and fellowship. Josh made sure that I didn’t do any cooking on Mother’s Day Sunday – he took care of all the meals. We stopped for sandwiches for lunch and the sandwich shop had some live music – a girl playing the guitar and singing in a folk style. I told Becca she could dance. I wish I could have captured that moment – our little girl twirling in front of the guitar player. It was precious.

We found out this week that Josh has been awarded a Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship. This provides summer funding for doctoral students in their last year of dissertation writing. The purpose is to provide funding so students can focus on their dissertation without having to look for summer employment. For Josh it will be like having almost 40 hours a week devoted to dissertation progress. Not much of a “summer break,” but it works out well, since with Little Brother’s arrival we are not planning to travel this summer.

I’m now officially full-term at 37.5 weeks. Little Brother is a very busy boy and we’re getting ready for his arrival. I had an ultrasound yesterday: Little Brother weighs 5.9lbs and is 18.2 inch long. That makes him in the 50th percentile. My doctor is recommending a c-section, but we’re praying that Little Brother comes early, quickly, and naturally to avoid the c-section.  So we now wait, pray, and trust in God’s sovereignty in this situation. Come on Little Brother – we’re ready!

Last Monday through Thursday we had a visit from Josh’s sister’s family the Erkens – Steve, Charity, Caleb, Luke, and Jacob. They live in China but are in the States for a few months due to housing issues in China. Steve, Charity, and the boys graciously drove all the way from SC to TX to spend some time with us (and then on to Houston, where some of Steve’s siblings live). Our activities for the week included swimming in their hotel pool (Josh and Becca), visiting the Fort Worth Stock Yards, a show at UTA’s Planetarium, a morning at a small science center and then large park for the men and kids while Charity did a curtain project for me, kite flying, eating, and lots of chatting for the adults and playing in Becca’s room for the kids.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with the Erkens and wished we lived in China so we could spend more time with them. The last time we saw them was summer 2010. They drove out to visit us and then we saw them in SC. However, I hardly remember their visit at all, since I was back teaching, trying to manage having Becca home from the hospital, and keep up with my teaching load. I’m finding that the months from Becca’s birth until about September 2010 are a blur for me – I was in survival/recovery mode. This visit I really enjoyed getting to know Charity and chatting with her.

Becca enjoyed her “cousins” – as she refers to them now. (She also calls them “the boys.”) I have two funny Becca stories from the visit.

While the boys were playing in Becca’s room, Becca came into the room where Charity and I were talking with her arms crossed and a big scowl on her face (the picture on the left is a good reenactment). When I asked Becca if she was making a happy face or a grumpy face she continued scowling and said “grumpy face.” I asked her what was wrong and she said, “My room is a mess!” I realized that she was copying Mama Berenstain Bear’s face from The Messy Room story. It was hilarious!

This next story shows how “attached” Becca becomes to people. The Erkens were able to take back two items to SC for us – Josh’s guitar and Becca’s small wooden chair. The chair has been in the closet for some time, but when Becca saw it again she decided she needed it! After the Erkens left for their next destination, I explained to Becca that they were going home and we would not see them for a long time. Our little girl burst into big tears and sobbed – “I want my chair!!” It took awhile to comfort her and explain that her chair would be at G&G Jensens’ and that she could see it again.

Our garden is doing well. We continue to enjoy fresh lettuce each week. Our tomatoes are starting to ripen and the peppers and cucumbers are doing well. Josh does a great job managing the garden, and Becca enjoys playing in the dirt. They usually spend extra time in the garden when I’m away teaching music lessons or at my doctor’s appointment. One fun activity they do afterwards is walking across the street and “jumping on the man’s head” – i.e. jumping on man-hole covers.

These last two pictures are also from the week. The picture on the left is during our supper time Bible reading. We’re currently reading through Judges and Josh had Becca lap up water like the men in Gideon’s army. [As I kept reading the story, I realized that what I had Becca doing wasn’t quite right — Gideon’s army actually used their hands to bring the water to their mouths — but it was close. -JJ] The picture on the right is an experimental hairstyle for Becca – a twist. I never thought I would be able to do little girls’ hair, but so far it’s been fun.

This week we got our 4th fridge since moving into this apartment 1 year ago. The joys of cheap housing. We’ve been having freezer trouble with this last one for some time now. One funny story . . . at one point the fridge part stopped working as well (we had already moved our frozen food to a neighbor’s chest freezer). Josh decided to put the milk and eggs in the freezer, which was at least cooler than the fridge. Sunday morning the freezer decided to work and I had an interesting time pealing frozen eggs for our scrambled eggs that morning!

This past Sunday evening we attended and greatly enjoyed Park Cities Presbyterian Church’s Remember Concert. A large choir with full orchestra accompaniment performed Duruflé’s Requiem and several other songs related to life after death (Be Still My Soul, For All the Saints, I Was Glad, Shall We Gather that the River, Down to the River to Pray, and Amazing Grace). The congregation was able to participate in singing and reciting some liturgy. Josh said singing For All the Saints with full orchestra, choir, and a large congregation was worth the whole evening. (And it was free!) We knew about it because one of Josh’s dissertation committee members is a member of the choir.

The church had free child care during the concert. Becca was excited about going to the “special place” and had a great time playing. It was nice for Josh and me to attend something without having to worry about finding a babysitter.

Tomorrow marks one month until Little Brother’s due date. All is going well. People keep asking me if I’m ready…I guess we’ll find out when the time comes. (Special thanks to R. Pringle for the new outfit – it was nice to get dressy for the concert.)