Now Presenting for the Very First Time….

My little sister married her best friend today.  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding with honest, raw emotion, great officiating, a supercute flower girl (Brielle), and an amazing reception/meal/cake.  It was great being able to see most of our out of state relatives as well.  I was an usher, Lael was a bridesmaid, and Brielle was a flower girl.  Michelle and Brandon did great, the ceremony went smoothly, and we all had a great time.  I’m hoping to get some good pictures to post.  I will also try to post some pictures AND videos to Facebook.  I’m exhausted, it was a really long day, but exciting.  They are moving so that Brandon can start doing his seasonal training working on his Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker.  They’ll both be missed, but won’t be terribly far away.  I’m so happy for them both!

Big Day for the Bryceman

Bryce turned two about a month ago, so Lael decided it was past time to start potty training.  Well, she started in earnest on Monday, and today, he pooped in the potty for the 1st time.  We are pretty thrilled!  He did that better than actually peeing, probably because he can tell he needs to go better and it’s easier to let it go?  Not sure…but we are glad he did it!  I can changed pee diapers all day, but the poo…yuck.

New Video- Bryce and Justine

This is a quick video I did of Bryce and his friend Justine.  I recorded it on our new Flip UltraHd camcorder, and edited it with Windows Movie Maker.  I sped up the video, added some vintage effects to it, and made it greyscale, trying to get the old silent movie look and feel to the video.  I hope you like it!

Has it been nearly a month??

Wow faithful readers, I apologize for my tardiness on posting any updates.  It’s been almost a month, and it’s been crazy ’round these parts.

One of the guys here at work resigned, so I had to take over his job, plus do my own.  There has been overtime, no fun during the beautiful spring.  It’s nice coming home to a new house though, so that’s a blessing.  The marine industry is still in dire straights.  The 2nd largest boat builder in the US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the other day, so that is going to have a ripple effect throughout the industry.  It’s looking very bleak for the fall/winter, so if anyone knows of any jobs around here…let me know!  Contingency planning never hurt anyone.

The kids are doing well.  Nothing major to report.  Lael is enjoying being closer to friends now, so she has kept busy.  All in all, things are going well.  Busy, still a lot of the unknown, but God has always provided, and we’re looking forward to the future!

Busy Weekend!

What a warm weekend we had here in Northern Indiana.  Over 80 degrees both yesterday and today, with just a few sprinkles yesterday.  Very windy, but it was a warm wind.

Went fishing in the pond near our house yesterday and caught one decent sized largemouth bass.  Lost two others, but that was all the action we had.  Not sure if the pond isn’t stocked well, or if it was too windy, or if the fish just weren’t biting.  I’ll try again soon.  It’s across the street and about 6 lots down from us, so it’s easy to get to, to say the least.

We had a lot of visitors this weekend.  We had a good time, we are wiped out, but it was all worth it.  Brandon leaves for Air Force bootcamp on Tuesday, so we were able to spend time with him a lot more than usual this weekend.  Michelle will have it a lot harder than Lael and I did when we were apart during the summer.  He won’t have any communication other than letters and an occasional phone call.  At least we had the internet!

The kids had fun this weekend playing outside, going garage saling (sp?), and seeing family.  All three of them have done well during the transition.  Tomorrow starts a new work week.  Pray for good weather and good boat sales!

Four Days

We are cleared to close on the house.  We will be moving out of ours on Wednesday, closing on the new house on Thursday morning, and falling asleep absolutely exhausted in our new home Thursday night.

We are excited, and are looking forward to having the move behind us.

We had a great day today.  Church was nice, and we all had a fun time with food, family, and more food.  We got to meet Brandon’s family (Michelle’s fiance), which was nice.

Yesterday my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, Brielle, and myself all went fishing at my uncle’s property.  It was freezing in the morning with a constant wind, so we left and came back early afternoon.  I caught nothing, Brielle (with Dave’s help) caught around 7 fish.  I was humbled.  I was the only one who didn’t catch a fish.  I had a catfish on the line, and lost it.  But I usually do well there, so I don’t feel too badly.

More after we move!

Blog Update- It’s Been Over One Year

It’s been a little over a year since we’ve started this blog.  A few highlights.

We have had almost 76,000 hits in the past year.  That is a little over 200 hits per day, average.  Lately we hover between 75 and 200, with a few big days (Bryce’s surgery, Jazlyn’s birth) with over 2k hits.  It’s been fun!  The most popular posts, traffic wise, have been the one about demotivational posters and the Ray Boltz controversy.  Notable additions to the blog have been my Twitters (new today, check it out on the sidebar, they are micro blog posts), and the Flickr widget.  We’ve made such big announcements as Bryce’s surgery, our new pregnancy, Jazlyn’s birth, our move, and have posted pictures and videos of our family.  The internet has made this possible, and I love the fact that our out-of-town friends and family have this as a little source of information on what’s going on in our lives.

In less than two weeks we will be in our new house, and will probably not have any huge news to share, however, I’ll be keeping the blog up to date as best as possible.  I will try to post more pictures and videos.  I have to pay for storage, and it’s expired, so whenever I feel like dropping some money to WordPress, I’ll do that and will have the ability to add more music, videos, and pictures.  (Donations anyone? 

Keep on reading!  It’s been a pleasure sharing our lives with you all.

Joel and Lael

The Winter Blues

We are so ready for winter to be over.  It’s been a long, cold, and snowy one this year.  I’ve gained around 7 pounds of weight, and have been very inactive.  Bleah.  Hopefully things will warm up soon.  Work is still really slow.  Thanks to the credit crunch, dealers are still having trouble getting financing for their boat orders.  The future is very dim right now.  Nothing is breaking loose like we hoped it would after the inaguration.  Honestly, things have gotten worse in the economy since then, not better, and the spendthrifts in Congress are only hurting us all long term by driving the national debt to unsustainable and possibly insolvent levels.  The level of angst in our area has been especially high.  More boat companies have laid of worker, more RV companies as well, and our suppliers are even working part time.  I’ve had two weeks of layoff time since January, and am still fighting to get unemployment for one of those weeks.  I’m thankful for it, but wish it wasn’t so complicated to get.  And the government wants to run the health care system as well?  Not a good idea…

Our house still hasn’t sold.  We haven’t had many showings the last few weeks.  This is a good thing, since we’re still not sure what we want to buy since the layoffs/company wide salary cuts.  So that’s a blessing in disguise for right now.  God may be protecting us from getting into something too inflated in price.  We do need to move though, our house is too small.

We need warm weather, the ability to go out and enjoy it, and I think the winter blues will pass.

Happy Valentine’s/Brielle’s Birth Day!

Brielle turns three today.  I can’t believe it!  What a busy, good and bad, three years it has been.  Since then, we’ve had two more children, Lael has stopped working, my work situation has changed many times, and lately for the worse, we’re trying to move, there is a new President, my sister is getting married, my grandmother has died,  and the world is now in “chaos”.

But in it all, we’ve had a great time raising the kids.  It’s not always easy, and having children so close together can be stretching.  Add uncertainty about my job, the future, and whether or not we should move, and times “seem” tough.  In it all, however, God has been faithful, providing finances, patience, wisdom, and love.  I’m taking today to celebrate my wife, my kids, and our extended family as we have a party for Brielle.

Patricia Lamont 1/26/2009

My maternal grandmother has been battling Multiple Sclerosis for years, but really began to go downhill the past year, and began to need hospice care within the last month or so.  I had seen her weeks ago, talking to her about how Jazlyn was going to be born within the month, and how I was going to bring Jazlyn to see her after she was about two weeks old, and asked if she was going to be around.  Grandma told me yes, which didn’t surprise me.  At that time, it seemed as though she could be around for a little while longer (a month or two perhaps).  She had a living will, so when she was no longer able to eat, she wouldn’t be forcefed.  This past week, she began having trouble eating, so yesterday I decided to take Jazlyn in to see her after we drove past a different home we may be interested in buying (long story…short version, the boating industry is being held hostage by the financing companies, so we won’t be able, at this point, to afford the house we thought we could).  She was sleeping when I entered her room, but opened her eyes, and I was able to spend a short amount of time with her, showing her Jazlyn, talking about what was going on  in the family, and she was able to respond to my questions, which, I found out later, wasn’t happening much lately.  I found out today that g’ma passed away early this morning, so I feel that it was a “God Thing” that I was able to see her one last time, and was able to keep my promise to bring Jazlyn to see her before she died.  How cool…  It’s the little things that make losing a family member just a little more comforting, and this was my “little thing”.  When I left and told her I loved her, she actually responded “I love you too, honey.”  She’ll be missed terribly, but I am glad her suffering is over.