TheLionRampant.net

I apologize for my lack of posting of late. Things have been hectic!

Memorial Day weekend we flew (all 4 of us) to Salt Lake City to look for a place to live. We had each had about 4 hours of sleep that night as we had to clean our house for those house-sitting and pack for a family of four. We woke up the kiddos early to jump a plane and made it with 2 suitcases, 2 car seats, 1 stroller, 1 Ergo carrier, 1 Moby wrap, 1 diaper bag, 1 briefcase and 2 kids onto the plane. I’m still thanking God for a compassionate TSA worker who waved us into the 10-minute-1st-class waiting line for security rather than the 45+ minute line for all the rest of us. Both kids did well on the flights. Naps and getting out of the car every 30 minutes while we drove around the city were an entirely different story. I spent most of the weekend either on my iPhone finding out how to get from here to there or sandwiched between 2 car seats while trying to breastfeed an infant so he wouldn’t get hysterical. We very much enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the Wheatleys, the pastor and fam of New Song Pres, and Ezra loved chasing their animals and asking for the girls of the house to pick him up. Church at New Song was wonderful. The service seemed a lovely mix of formal liturgy but executed in a laid-back Western (as opposed to New England Eastern, Southern, etc.) style that fit us. Ezra loved the nursery and the picnic afterwards and we loved meeting so many people; we already feel at home.

We got a call Saturday that the PODS we were to have dropped in our driveway which would allow us to pack up all our possessions didn’t fit so they would drop off one and then the other later in the week. This meant that though we were exhausted Sunday night when we got home that we had to stay up and get everything pretty much packed up out of our San Diego house before Tuesday afternoon, when the packers (who would pack up our kitchen, breakables and move furniture) would arrive. The whole week was really a blur. Packing, cleaning, trying to prevent total hysterical meltdowns because the toddler’s world was uprooted was pretty nuts. We stayed in Orange County with my parents and drove back and forth to get it all done.

Sunday we drove down for our last service at Harbor Pres Mira Mesa and had a lovely farewell bbq that afternoon. We then made it back to OC where Bryce promptly left for RUF training in Atlanta. He comes back tomorrow and we have a family very eager to welcome Daddy back!

Now we’re at my folks’ through June and will be moving out to Salt Lake for July 1. We’re fundraising this month and I’m going to try to get some concentrated work done on my PhD as well. Below are some pictures if your interested in seeing some of what we’ve been up to.

Traveling!

Ezra walking with Nana to go swimming

Sending family pictures to Daddy

Porter (or “Po-Po” according to Ezra)

Bryce and I met Daniel and Ginette Sundin through our San Diegan friends, the Friesens when we first moved to San Diego. Ginette and Daniel have started their own photography business, Sundin Photography and we’ve been the lucky recipients to their talent. Bryce, Ezra and I had a photo session with Ginette in November that yielded some wonderful, artsy candid family photos. (You can see some of the photos under the “family” section here; scroll down and see our blogged Christmas card below too).

As she’s expanding their business, I got to be one of her maternity models! It was loads of fun traipsing around San Diego in 45 degree weather and climbing in trees and over fences to get some good shots. Now I have to decide which maternity photos to consider purchasing. If you feel like checking out the photos, go here (PW: Ashley) and tell me what you think!

And if you’re in the SD area, consider getting the Sundins to photograph you and your family.

Ezra at the petting zoo.

He was much more interested in the climbing structure than actually petting anything.

In lieu of paper cards, we’re sending out this blogged version of our Christmas card.

Merry Christmas from San Diego! Bryce, Ashley and Ezra

Photo courtesy of Sundin Photography

Ezra got his first fat lip this morning courtesy of some unsteady balance, teeth and a tile floor. I was so sad to see his purple lip with blood on it. My poor little boy! I quickly gave him a popsicle and he’s enjoying chewing on a bag of frozen corn. I put a bit of arnica on it and gave him some homeopathic teething tablets for pain. That’s all this mama can do; we’re enjoying a Baby Einstein video now.

The corn

Venice floods and these men sit and enjoy a glass of wine. Joie de vivre! (Sorry, don’t know the Italian for that).

Picture courtesy of the Big Picture.

Appropriately enough Ezra is sucking on his purple binky in the pictures below. Of course trying to do our first Advent readings with a toddler meant lots of squirming and walking about all while our dog decided it was a good time to throw up. Ezra did enjoy listening to us sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Ezra helping Dad turn the pages on our Advent devotional book

Ezra holding the first ornament for the Jesse Tree, a globe, as we read about the creation of the world in Genesis 1.

Ezra next to the first candle, symbolizing hope.

Since I’m often behind the lens, I thought I’d “steal” this from my dad’s flickr site and put up on our blog. Gotta love the strawberry residue on Ezra’s chin and subsequently on my shirt!

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Originally uploaded by Hesed

We like to joke with our friends, Ken and Gillian, that their daughter, Eva, and Ezra are betrothed. Here they are in their green pj’s, with parental supervision of course.