Casey, Terrie, Josiah, and Levi: 2009

This picture is supposed to be down with the Christmas ones. I can't ever figure out how to get the pictures where I want them. Anyway, this is Tommie, my awesome sister.

I guess I'm gonna have a catching up blog at the beginning of every year. I think blogs are the coolest thing if only I could just keep up with it. And now, before I've even got this thing down, all of you are doing the whole facebook thing. I'll never keep up. Oh well, on with the news from us. This is gonna be a long one.
We now live in Oklahoma. Casey lost his job in November, which was a big shock to us. Losing the job also meant loosing the house we built on the same ranch, which was an even bigger shock. But, when we built the house, and ever since, we have prayed that we wouldn't close our hands around the blessing God gave us, so, the time came and it was taken away. He gives and takes away right... Anyway, Casey got a new job with some good friends here in Oklahoma, so I guess we're Okies now. Most of you know that I have moved around my whole life, and for the first time since Colombia I felt like I was home in our little town in Texas. I loved recognizing people every time I went to town, to WalMart, to the post office, where ever. I loved even more our little "house church" (at least that's what Casey and I called it) where we were like family and we gathered every week to pray and learn the Word and just be together and be real and try to bring what little we had to our King's feet in worship. It was an awesome group, the most genuine "body" we've ever been a part of. All this to say, I was settled. And now, God has moved me, to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. This is hard for me, but, I still want to praise Him for it. This world is not my home, I am not called to settle here. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of that!
Okay, well, on with news about my guys. Casey is working for a wildlife management consulting firm and hunting lodge(well, more like a cabin.) I know, it's a mouthful. He loves his work, it involves hunting, land management/conservation, horses occasionally, and other cool guy stuff.
Josiah will be three in March. He is so much fun. Whoever said the two's are terrible? I love this time. I think he is learning and saying new stuff every day, sometimes the stuff he says is so hilarious. He's still convinced, and won't hear other wise, that we live on a ranch called Oklahoma in Texas. Casey and I talk off and on about homeschooling, but I think Joe might be a little too smart for me. He is a great big brother to Levi. He loves to "read" to him, and is getting really good at helping me keep up with his crazy little brother.
Levi is 17 months, and reckless. We used to think Josiah was crazy, but turns out Levi is our little wild man. I would say he's brave, but I guess at this age that would be giving him a little too much credit for what is actually just plain ignorance. He's convinced he can keep with his brother, but there's a big difference in the coordination of a 3 year old and an 1 and a half year old, and Levi has a lot of bruises to prove it. My baby is trying really hard to not be my baby anymore. OH, how I wish I could slow down time. I know all of you with kids know what I mean. Well, at the moment my two little men are tearing up my closet, which I guess is the price I'll pay to actually get something on this blog. Oh, about Levi's kidneys, well, we had been told he would have to have surgery next summer, no way around it, but, his last appointment was with a different doctor who said we weren't at that point yet. So, that's great news, but we're still gonna get another opinion once we get all the new insurance stuff figured out, just to make sure. In the mean time, he's still on antibiotics daily to keep him from getting a kidney infection, but he's a healthy little guy anyway. We are so grateful to the Lord that the permanent antibiotics have not affected him in a negative way, which is pretty common. Thanks for your prayers about this!
Well, I guess that's about enough for now. Feels like it's gonna be a book pretty soon. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings...

The boys first rodeo, back in August. They LOVED it!

Levi loves the camera. It's hard to get a picture of him that isn't right in his face because whenever he sees me with my camera he comes running.

I couldn't resist putting this one in here. Josiah is starting to ask about Jesus, there's nothing in the world that could make us happier than to have our sons eager to learn about our Savior!

Our good friend Shannon, who lives in Indonesia, came to stay with us for a few weeks in November. It was so good to have her here, as always. We will miss her!

Christmas

I realized I don't think I've ever introduced our dog Sugar. We've had her for years, she's a mutt that we got from a shelter, and she's the best dog ever! She loves the boys, and they love her. She lets them climb and pull all over her and acts like she likes it. She's the best kind of dog you could ask for for little boys!

All my family finally got to get together for Christmas here at our new place. It's been a few years since Tommie has been able to come, so it was so good to all be together. She hadn't met Levi yet, or Tim's kids, Ethan and Seth, so that just made it even better.

There's nothing more entertaining, well, these days I guess, than 4 little half naked boys running around and wrestling and jumping...