Today is Becca’s 32-week birthday! We’ve had an exciting week with many new experiences for Becca. Saturday morning, Becca attended her first parade. The Arlington 4th of July parade was just a few blocks from our apartment. We enjoyed seeing the floats and marching bands participating in the parade. Later that evening we went downtown (about 1 mile away from our apartment) and saw an excellent fireworks show. Becca wasn’t too interested in the fireworks, and the noise — we were pretty close to them — didn’t seem to bother her at all.

Becca tried her johnny jump-up this week. She’s still a little too small for it, but enjoys bouncing and swinging in it. She’ll enjoy it more once she’ s a little taller. Becca also started rolling over this week. Becca uses to roll over a lot, but that was because her head was too big for her neck strength. As soon as Becca could keep her balance, she stopped rolling over. We’ve been practicing with her, and this past weekend she “got it”!

As promised last week, I have some more pictures from the Becca Tour to post. We spent three days in Charleston, SC, for the wedding of Steffanie Horak to Chris Arnold. Steff and I grew up together in NJ and have lots of memories and stories to share. It was a beautiful wedding held at the Magnolia Gardens and we’re delighted that the Lord has brought Chris and Steff together.

While in Charleston, we stayed with James and Deb (Kwan) Flower. Deb and I met at BJU and she spent a few Christmases with our family. Due to the early arrival of Becca, I missed Deb’s wedding in December. I was so happy we got a chance see her and meet her husband, James, on our trip. Deb is expecting a little girl in September and we’re looking forward to Becca’s new “cousin.”

While on our trip, Becca got to meet all her grandparents, one great grandfather, all four great-grandmothers, and (most special of all) Becca got to meet her 101 year-old great-great-grandmother. Great-great-grandma Hanyen is my father’s mother’s mother. We were able to get a five-generation picture, while up in NJ. We’re very thankful for the godly heritage God has given our little Becca. Next week, I’ll post picture of the PA/NJ part of our trip.

Today is Becca’s 31-week birthday! It’s hard to believe that it’s been 31 weeks since Becca’s unexpected arrival on Thanksgiving day. This week I took a picture of Becca in one of my baby dresses to match a picture taken of me when I was about 5 months. Josh and I are enjoying our play times with Becca. During the day, we have different times each of us takes turns playing with Becca . . . it’s much more fun than working on our research.

We’re had an exciting weekend and enjoyed spending time with some of our friends. On Friday, we had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Olson (photo to left). They met Becca for the first time and she enjoyed being with them as well. Friday evening, we had René and Yani Rodriguez and their daughter Amaris over for dinner (photo right). Amaris is about 5 months old and it was neat to see our two babies interact. When we put them on the floor together, Becca took Amaris’ toy away from her. I don’t think either girl had any idea what was going on, but we all enjoyed watching them. (Photo of the two at the bottom of the post.)

Sunday night, we attended a Concert in the Garden by the Fort Worth Symphony. We were able to bring chairs and sit on the lawn of Fort Worth’s Botanical Garden and enjoy a night of music by Russian composers. They ended the evening with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, using fireworks instead of cannon fire. I wondered how the fireworks would affect Becca, but I didn’t have to worry . . . she slept peacefully through the entire fireworks show.

This past Monday, Josh and I celebrated our 2nd year wedding anniversary. Josh made me a beautiful poster with photos surrounding our wedding program. I am so thankful for my husband and the 2 years of marriage the Lord has given us. I am blessed to be married to my best friend and look forward to many exciting years ahead.

As promised, I’m including more pictures from our trip. We visited some of our friends at Bob Jones University while in Greenville (on the left you can see Becca with Mrs. Eby, Mrs. Johnson, Dr. Guthrie, and Dr. Eby). It was good to see them for a few minutes. We saw both Dr. Jaeggli and Dr. Bell (photo right). We’re hoping Becca can take Hebrew from them someday. We also spent some time with Rebekah Pringle — both Becca and I enjoyed the delicious lunch she made us! (See photo at bottom.) Next week, we’ll post pictures from our time in Charleston.

Today is also my parents’ wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary, Dad & Mom! Thanks for being a wonderful example of marriage and parenting to us.

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary, RuthAmy! Thanks for two wonderful years of love, friendship, help, encouragement, and faithfulness. Thanks for being a great wife and a great mom. And, especially, thanks for continuing to be a great wife after becoming a mom!

I love you, and I’m still committed to the promises that I made 2 years ago (and I think I understand them a little better now):

Declaration of Intent

Joshua, wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness, and in health? And forsaking all other, keep thee only to her, so long as you both shall live?

Covenant of Marriage

I Joshua take thee RuthAmy to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, to love and to cherish as Christ doth the Church, till death us depart, according to God’s holy ordinance; I will live with thee according to knowledge, I will esteem thee better than myself, I will sanctify thee for the Great Day of Judgment: And to this end I pledge thee my faithfulness.

Exchange of Rings

With this ring I thee wed: with my being I thee honor: and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Today is Becca’s 30-week birthday, on Tuesday her adjusted age reaches 4 months, and this Saturday Becca will celebrate her 7-month birthday! But our biggest celebration this week was Father’s Day! For Father’s Day, Becca made her daddy a card, soft tacos, and a three-layer strawberry cake. She wanted her daddy to know in just a small way how much she loves him and appreciates all that he does for her.

Becca had a doctor’s appointment yesterday. She now weighs 12lbs & 15oz. and is 23 1/4 in. long. Dr. Raine is pleased with her progress. Becca is making lots of sounds and has mastered the “geeeee” sound. On our recent trip (more below) she did a wonderful job traveling and was pretty happy on the plane flights. After sleeping in 6 different beds, she was very happy to come home and sleep in her own bed.

This past Saturday night, we flew home from our two-week trip to the east coast. We’re calling our trip “The Becca Tour”, since most of our trip was spent introducing Becca to family and friends. We spent the first few days in Greenville, SC, then we headed to Charleston, SC, for a wedding; from there we went to Atlanta, GA, and then flew to PA and drove to NJ. I’ve decided to spread out the pictures and stories from our tour over the next several blog posts.

The first part of our trip consisted of flying from Dallas, TX, to Greenville, SC, and spending Sunday through Thursday morning with Josh’s family. After we arrived at the Greenville airport, we drove to Spartanburg to say hello to our friends from Cleveland Park Bible Church. We were able to have dinner with Mrs. Burch and her family, and then stop by to visit Mr. Leo West. It was a busy afternoon. That evening we had dinner at Dad and Mom Jensen’s with the family and Grandpa and Grandma Hess. Becca enjoyed meeting everyone.

Becca met her Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Jensen and other family members. She also spent time with her cousin, Baby Girl Floyd. We hope Baby Girl Floyd didn’t mind that Becca fell asleep on her “home.” Next week, we’ll continue pictures from the “Becca Tour.” Right now we’re recovering from our trip and enjoying being home. Next week , both Josh and I will start our “summer schedule” of dissertation research.

I recently caught a photo of Becca standing “on her own” next to the couch (with Daddy’s hand behind her, just in case). She can’t do it long — her head is still a bit too heavy relative to her neck strength, and she starts tipping.

And she can also “feed herself” from the bottle now. Not that the skill will come in handy much now that Mommy is home all day.

(Next week we’ll start back with the photo-filled posts.)

Becca’s been quite pleased to have Mommy with her all day!

And one more photo, for good measure. This one from the church nursery. (Sorry no collages this week.)

Today Becca is 27 weeks old! Saturday night we spent the evening with the family of one of Josh’s classmates from Russia. We had some delicious cold soup and got a walking tour of the GIAL campus. Sunday evening we had dinner at Micah and Anna’s new house. We also played Phase 10. (Sorry, Micah and Anna . .  . maybe you can beat us next time.) We enjoyed my extra day off (Memorial Day) and went to Chick-Fil-A to get our free sample of their new SPICY chicken sandwich — beware, it is spicy! Becca also helped Josh and me make lots of chocolate chip cookies to give to my students for their music party in class.  Even though Becca has had a very busy week, she still helped me out with the laundry Saturday morning.

This week, Becca was taken off her last medication (it was for reflux). We’re hoping she does fine without it! Today is my last day of teaching at Cochran Elementary. I’ll miss my students . . . but I’m ready to stay at home full-time with my little Becca.

Last post I mentioned the music program that Amy put on with her K-5 through 4th-grade students. Each grade level had their own song, and then at the end, everyone came on stage to sing “There is a state that we all know and Texas is it’s name-o . . . ”

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The kids and their parents seemed to enjoy the evening, as I did. I’m proud of my wife: she’s a great teacher. And I’m also proud of her commitment to give up something she loves to stay home full-time for our child(ren). (The “ren” part is our ultimate plan, but not an announcement.)

Today Becca celebrates her 6-month birthday, and tomorrow marks 26 weeks “on the outside.” It’s hard to believe Becca is already half a year old. We’re enjoying our little girl so much and are thankful for the ways the Lord protected her during her first months in the NICU. (This week we stopped by the NICU during the day shift — we made a visit a month ago during the night shift — and Becca brought smiles to everyone’s faces!)

Becca celebrated this morning by going with me to a meeting with my dissertation advisor and getting captured. An admin from an office across the hall — a grandmother, I think — came into my advisor’s office and held her hands out for Becca. So I handed her over. Without a word, she took Becca away! I went to check on Becca and found her hanging out with the ladies at the English Language Institute.

Last weekend we celebrated the end of my semester with a fabulous strawberry cake made by Amy and a meal at Kincaid’s Hamburgers, where we went last year for my birthday.

Also this weekend, Amy made 240 chocolate chip cookies for end-of-the-year parties for her 6 Monday classes (she won’t see them next week because of Memorial Day). This weekend she’ll be making cookies for the other 25 classes! Thankfully, a local grocer had a great Betty Crocker cookie mix on sale a couple weeks ago, so mixing the dough wasn’t quite as time consuming as last year. Like last year, Amy is again making popcorn at her parties, too.

Last night, Becca attended Amy’s music program at Cochran Elementary School. Amy’s kids were happy to finally meet  baby Becca. If you didn’t see them, earlier this week we posted some videos of Becca talking and playing.

Becca pets and talks to her sock monkey (both videos):

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Amy talks with Becca about her afternoon with Debbie, who was babysitting for a couple hours. (From April.)

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Today is Becca’s (adjusted) 3-month birthday! (That is, if she’d been born on her due date, she’d be 3 months old today.)

Today is Becca-bear’s 25-week birthday! Becca is enjoying being with her daddy while I’m at school – they’re having lots of fun together. Josh even got Becca to help him with some grading! I don’t have much time to post right now…so, I’ll simply leave you with some pictures from the past week.

Today we are celebrating Becca’s 24 week birthday! This weekend we plan to celebrate the end of Josh’s semester and school year. Josh has one more paper to turn in today and then must finish entering grades for the class he’s been teaching; then the semester will be officially over. We were delighted with Josh’s successful proposal defense on Tuesday, and are thankful for the many ways we have seen the Lord work on our behalf this school year.

I had a wonderful first Mother’s Day. It is truly a joy to be a mommy – I love it! There is nothing like seeing my little girl smile and hearing her squeal with delight. I was surprised by how many cards I received from family and friends – thank you! Josh bought me some gerbera daisies and made omelets for lunch. Becca’s present to me was sleeping from 10:20 Sunday night to 6 o’clock Monday morning.

I’ve been enjoying my music teaching at Cochran Elementary. There are only 13 (working) days left in the school year – time is flying by so fast, and I’m having fun with my kids. Several people have asked me if it’s hard to leave Becca each school morning. As much as I don’t like leaving Josh or Becca, I always feel bad telling people that it’s not that hard to leave home each day. I was pondering why I feel this way and then realized that leaving Becca for 8 hours each day is nothing compared to the day I went home from the hospital and had to leave her behind or to the many nights I had to leave her in the NICU. Now that Becca is home, I get to come back from school each afternoon and be with my little girl all night long.

Becca is doing great. I’m teaching her how to jump on the bed and she loves it! We also had our first tea-party Monday night. Becca had a little trouble holding her tea cup, but we’ll have lots of practice sessions so she gets the hang of it. We’re starting to see Becca reach out for things – she’s so cute to watch and fills our home with buckets full of joy.

Today, Josh successfully defended his dissertation proposal! We’ve been praying about his defense since August and are delighted that Josh was able to defend before the end of the school year.  I’m extremely proud of my husband. Josh has had many “interruptions” during this school year (my hospitalization, Becca’s time in the NICU, etc.) and has continued to be a good husband, father, teacher, and student throughout them all. Darling, I’m so proud of you – I adore you!

(Below is the abstract for Josh’s proposal.)

The public is invited to a dissertation proposal defense by Joshua Jensen.

Date: Next week, Tuesday May 11, 2010

Time: 2.30 PM

Location: Trimble Hall, Room 200

Title of Proposal: “Jarai Clause Structure & Serial Verb Constructions”

This dissertation will investigate the structure of clauses in Jarai (Austronesian; Vietnam and Cambodia), with a special focus on grammatical functions and multi-verb clauses. The research will establish language-internal criteria for (1) determining the syntax of clauses, (2) identifying grammatical functions such as subject and object, and (3) identifying and categorizing serial verb constructions, clauses which have two verbs without any indication of subordination or coordination. The investigation of serial verb constructions will address both their typological characteristics (Durie 1997, Aikhenvald and Dixon 2006) and their syntactic structure (Baker 1989, Collins 1997, Baker and Stewart 1999).

Becca has had an exciting week with lots of walks outside, photo shoots, video shoots, and fashion shows with Grammy Sutter. Grammy flew back to PA Wednesday morning. We are very grateful for the time she was able to spend with Becca as Josh was working on his end-of-semester projects. We celebrated my mom’s birthday the evening before she left.

On Friday, I took Mom with me to school so she could get an idea of a typical teaching day for me. My kids loved performing for her and were on good behavior for their special guest. It was nice to be able to show Mom my school and work. After this week, I have 4 more weeks of teaching before the school year is over. I’m enjoying being with my kids.

Over the weekend, Josh’s sister and family were in town for a visit. They are on a 7-week visit to the U.S. from China. It was nice to spend time with them and have them in our home. Monday morning, Josh took the boys to the fire station. They also visited DTS and were able to spend some time in the afternoon swimming in the hotel pool. When I asked Luke how he liked the fire station his response was, “I loved it!”

This is Josh’s last week of classes. He has a final paper due next week and will defend his proposal this coming Tuesday. The next week will be a busy time for him and we’re looking forward to the end of next week. Josh will also go back to being a full-time dad. Hope you enjoy all the pictures my mom took while she was here.

This week Becca celebrated 3 birthdays – 22 weeks, 5 months, and her adjusted 2 month birthday. We’re enjoying seeing her grow and develop each day. This past weekend we were given a lovely shower from our friends at New Life Bible Church. It was Becca’s first “girl-party” and she enjoyed being the guest of honor. We’re grateful for all the love and work that went in to making our shower so special!

Grammy Sutter flew in from PA on Sunday and is here for a week and a half to watch Becca while I’m at school, so Josh can have some extra time to wrap up his semester. My mom brought a bunch of my old baby clothes and is having picture shoots each day. She and Becca also enjoy long walks around campus each day. Both Grammy and Becca seem to be having lots of fun.

Becca had a doctor’s appointment last week. Her weight was 10lbs. and her length was 22in. The doctor was pleased with her progress. I’ve been very busy with teaching, but was delighted to make it home on time on Wednesday to see Josh receive the Donald A. Burquest Award for Excellence in Teaching Linguistics. Becca and I are very proud of him!  I don’t have time to write more, but I hope you enjoy all the photos Grammy has been taking of Becca.

Today is Becca’s 21-week birthday. As you can see from the picture, she now weighs 9lbs. and 14oz.. This afternoon she has a doctor’s appointment, and we’ll find out her length (I’m too lazy to find a tape measure right now to measure her myself). Becca had an OT appointment this past Monday and received a good report. Her OT continues to give us exercises to do with Becca to strengthen her eyes and muscles.

This week, Becca has had lots of new experiences. She went to the grocery store, Costco, and Kohls. It was the first time we’ve been out shopping together as a family, since Becca’s stay at the hospital. I also took Becca to meet my OB. Dr. Moseley delivered Becca but only got to see her as she took her out of my womb and passed her to the neonatologist.

Monday night, we made a visit to the NICU to deliver a photo collage we made for them. We tried to get pictures of Becca’s caregivers while she was in the NICU, but only succeeded in getting about half of the nurses. (Debbie did the lettering for me). It was nice to see several of the NICU nurses again. The nurse that admitted Becca was there and has a good memory of her arrival on Thanksgiving evening.

I started back teaching at Cochran Elementary School this week. In the past two days I’ve received lots of hugs and welcome backs from all my kids. They are all concerned about Becca and are enjoying the pictures I brought of her. They especially like the picture of her reading. Josh is doing a wonderful job taking care of Becca while I’m at school. I think they’re having a lot of fun together. I always enjoy coming home to see my two favorite people.

On Friday I submitted a thoroughly revised dissertation proposal to my committee, in hopes of defending my proposal by semester’s end and officially starting on my dissertation in May. I haven’t posted for a while, so I’ll give a couple updates here.

First, some short clips of Becca over the last couple weeks:

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Second, an update on books Amy and I have read together–mostly in little bits before bed–since our last report (almost a year ago):

• C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength)
• Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
• The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
• Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)
• The Princess Bride (William Goldman) [yeah, it was a book before it was a movie!]
• Worldliness (C.J. Mahaney)

We’re now working on Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tripp) and Surprised by Joy (Lewis).

Third, we’ve started memorizing hymns (a New Year’s resolution)–all the stanzas! So far, we’ve memorized “Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor,” “Be Still My Soul,” “Be Thou My Vision,” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” Now we’re working on “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven.”

Well, it’s haircut time for me now. Check back later in the week for the photos.

Today is Becca’s 20-week birthday…it’s hard to believe that she was born 20 weeks ago. Becca went to church for her first time this past Sunday and did an excellent job in the nursery. She was also dedicated during the morning service and enjoyed meeting so many of the people who have been praying for her. I was worried that Becca would spit up all over her outfit before we got to church, but instead she spit up all over me, and I was the one who had to change before we left for church.

Becca is smiling and talking/singing a lot more this week, and we enjoy our conversations with her. Hopefully Josh will post some videos of her, once his school year is over. I start back at school this coming Tuesday. I’ll have 7 weeks of teaching before school is out for the summer. I’m enjoying every day I have at home with Becca and Josh.

Today is Becca’s 19-week birthday. I’m not sure how long we’ll keep celebrating week birthdays, but for now it works as a good marker for posting pictures. This week, we noticed that Becca has really taken to reading…though we’re afraid that the dictionary is going to fall on her one of these days. Becca is not strong enough yet to lift it herself.

This week we celebrated Josh’s 29th birthday. Becca and I surprised Josh with a little gift to celebrate each day of his birthday week. Saturday, Josh’s gift was his birthday meal. I wasn’t sure what to make him this year and he didn’t have any special requests, so I decided to try making crab cakes. My brother, Jon, gave me a recipe and I surprised Josh with a crab cake dinner. I was a bit worried about how they would turn out and about how Josh would like them, but my worries were unwarranted – Josh loved the meal. This was my fourth year celebrating Josh’s birthday. I am so blessed to be married to Josh – he’s a wonderful husband and daddy. I thank God every day for giving me Josh as my husband.

Even though Becca couldn’t go to church on Easter, I still dressed her up for the occasion. I found her a little Easter dress at Goodwill. We had a fun time taking pictures and getting ready to see Josh when he arrived home from church. We have lots of leftover ham from our Easter dinner and I’m trying to find creative ways to use the ham in other meals.

As of this week, Becca is allowed out of the house. This Sunday will be her first time at church and we’re both looking forward to attending church together as a family. Becca’s next OT appointment is on the 19th of April and her doctor’s appointment is the same week. We’ve seen good progress with Becca’s tracking and head lifting this week. It’s always neat to see the progress she makes each day. We continue to enjoy our little Becca. I’m treasuring each day I have before I head back to teaching on the 20th. God has blessed us in so many ways and we continue to see Him work on our behalf.