Horses, horses, horses and celebrating 12 weeks!!!

Howdy folks,

Micah, being quite excited for the ride!

Major, making sure I got his face in the shot of Jeremy, Nate, and Jim working on the reigns/halter.

These two cuties are getting hitched in June ;)

The guys, ready to go!

What a beautiful weekend we had at the cabin!!! Nate and his dad and two of their friends rode horses on Saturday, while Benson held down the fort with the ladies :) He rather enjoyed himself and somehow made it almost 24 hours without crying once. And I was nervous he wouldn't sleep well in a strange place. Silly me.

Benson smiling with Grandma Hoover

Nate and I were really looking forward to this trip, as he and his family and the Horning family have been going on horse-back rides together for 10 or 12 years. I really enjoyed hanging out with the women and going on a nice long walk in the cool fall air. God has really blessed us here!

Benson and the ladies out for a walk. Notice Jean's selflessness, pulling the large stick up the hill to mark our spot on the trail so we could find our way home.

We ran into these cowboys on our walk :) I think the guy in the middle is pretty cute ;)

We found this beauty randomly on the trail... Sandhill cranes are not too common in these parts...

Benson celebrated his 12 week birthday by getting two vaccines, which he only cried for about 30 seconds afterwards, then was grinning up a storm at the nurse. I saw a neat lesson in quick and total forgiveness there :) He then went to work with mama and sat through a couple teaching sessions, lunch, and disintegrated big-time right as prayer started. He's been smiling and happy and talking tonight though, and we thank God for being his Healer, Protector, and Strength today! (and everyday, for that matter!)

And we leave you today with a parting video with our tough li'l guy :) Please pardon my sweet cheapo photo camera video :)

More photos at...... http://picasaweb.google.com/nateandjenny.blogspot.com

Baby Benson is 11 Weeks and "Doing His Part"

Happy 11 Weeks (+2 Days) My little Baby Benson.

Baby Benson slept SEVEN HOURS last night, and this mama almost didn't know what to do with 6.5 hours of CONSECUTIVE sleep. Bliss, I tell you.

I thought I'd post some cute toes pictures, a pic of Benson in his daddy's loving arms, and a picture in honor of my job and the "work" Benson does to help me continue working. Such a good, sweet, awesome baby boy :)

Here Benson is "Doing His Part" so the world will know...

Happy Friday everyone!!!

10 Weeks!

Our little baby Benson is 10 Weeks Old (+ 1 day)!!! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (well, mostly :))

Happy Birthday Luke!!!

Two months with our blessing!

What a great day! We celebrate our precious son today and thank God for what a gift he is to us!

We had our two month checkup today and here's a quick update on his stats:

23" long in the 54th percentile (last month: 21.75"/60th%)

12lb 10oz in the 74th percentile (last month: 9lb 14oz/54%)

15.12" head circumference in the 17th percentile (last month: 14.76"/40%)

***at least he's not getting a big head about how quickly he can grow! hardeehar. Give me a little credit. I think sleep deprived women can get away with some cheesyness ;)

He's responding very well, cooing and smiling even as I type, to the two vaccines we got him today. We're doing a delayed schedule of vaccines and will forego some alltogether for a while until he's older. We've done a lot of research and feel peace about spacing them out and also about getting them. We feel we've weighed the risks of the vaccines and the risks of the diseases and have made what we hope is the right decision for Benson :)

Here are some pictures from the past 24 hours. I wanted a picture of him last night, just before the time two months ago we were going to the hospital and hadn't yet met this wonderful baby. A night full of uncertainties but mostly hope and excitement :) (see above pic)

Here are some pics from the doctor's office today - what a cutie.

He was clearly unhappy about the cold room :) but check out those sweeeeeeeeeet thighs ;)

Post shot - just a few tears, then smiles - a pic of his band-aid, that incidentally, is not actually covering his injection site - that's about an inch lower... Ha.

And just a few minutes ago, very happy to be TWO MONTHS OLD! When he really smiles hard, he scrunches up his shoulders. I love it. And I really love him.

Thanks so much for your prayers and love - he is a testimony of God's faithfulness to us!

**Car update - the catalytic converter was diagnosed as needing replaced by the end of November and the check engine light went off on Friday, so maybe God healed our Montero! Yippee! We shall see when inspection comes up!

8 WEEKS!

Happy 8 weeks to this little cutie pie...

We are enjoying our baby Benson SO much! God has blessed us abundantly! Two month checkup coming on Monday. We are looking forward to checking out his stats!

Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses...

Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of our God! Psalm 20:7

This morning I am grateful for so many things and pondering what God has to teach me with our cars. Again. I’m grateful for a relationship with my Heavenly Father that blesses me and challenges me. I’m grateful for a wonderful and healthy husband, son, and family who I love. I’m grateful for friends who encourage and challenge me and I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with training directors to send missionaries in 30 countries around the world in a small way, so others may have a chance to choose Jesus as their Savior.

I’m even grateful for cars that have issues... Why? Because I get sweet reminders like not trusting in anything but God. Since January, we’ve had several MAJOR vehicle issues. Three blown engines, one fried computer, and many other small issues that basically meant our vehicles wouldn’t run. I wish I could tell you I always responded full of faith and with grace. But I cannot honestly tell you that, so I won’t. But as time goes on, I think I’m beginning to see fruit from these “obstacles”. I’m learning to trust God and God alone and EVEN if everything I “count as gain” in this earthly life is gone and wiped away, one truth remains, and that is: I know my Father is trustworthy.

Last night we picked up a second car (yippee!!!) so no more one carrin it for this family. I was beyond excited, perhaps too much so. I don't believe God is a God who punishes us, but I do believe He will use any means necessary to get to our hearts. I made a remark to the guy we bought the new used car from that now our car issues are solved. Clearly, I was putting my trust in something other than God. I even sensed on the way home that I shouldn't do this, that my thinking was wrong... On the way home, Nate was driving our first car and I was in our newer used car. He told me when I got home that the Check Engine light came on in our Montero (that we got in May). This is the car that had a blown computer in it, that was thankfully replaced on warranty (the warranty period is expired...). My first response was something like, "WHAT?!?!?!?!?" (or something like that) and Nate, calm and composed as ever let me know it would all be okay. Perhaps this lesson is for me, not for him. Sorry honey that I still haven't gotten it ;)

I have the Montero today to get the light checked out. I guess I am posting this before I go, so EVEN IF it's bad, I will remember the faith God has asked me to have in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. Some of you may wonder why I'm even writing about a car problem when I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. I guess I'm writing because I know I often put TOO MUCH faith in things that don't deserve faith at all. Like cars, people, our house, etc.... Really, God is gently reminding me to Trust In Him Alone. I'm also writing it down, so I remember it. God is so sweet, so gentle and so wonderful, isn't He? God, I want my heart to be teachable for you...

I can't get the song out of my head that is from Psalm 20:7 - "Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, we will trust in the name of our God. Like Abraham, Isaac, David and Moses, we will trust in the name of our God!" Okay, God, I get it. I will trust you. Only you.

And in the process, I will also pray for help with our cars. Seriously 10 months of car issues is enough, no??? ;) I don't even want to think how much has been spent on our cars. Ugh.

1 Chronicles 16: 8-11 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

What kind of "chariot" is God asking you to lay down and put your trust in Him instead today?

With love,

The Two Car Hoovers (well, kinda)

Week #6

Okay, so technically, we are in week #7, and I know I'm late on week #6, but... so many things were happening, a blog post just could not be accomplished! All the pictures are, in fact from week 6. And I have to admit, I didn't take very many of Benson. I'm trying to get the hang of part-time working mom here...

I (Jenny) went back to work last Wednesday (Nate surprised me by sending sunflowers to my office, what a sweet gift!). I am blessed to be able to work three mornings a week from home and two at the office. So far, Nate has been home with Benson for my mornings in the office and I am just so grateful for both of our jobs being so flexible with our schedule. Benson's been a total sweetie with this change and even re-arranged his nap schedule for me. He now sleeps most mornings and is awake more in the afternoons! When he does wake up, it's for a brief time and I stick him in the Moby wrap and can continue to work. For a couple of nights Benson was only sleeping for 1.5 or 2 hour stretches and we were praying for him to go back to his nice 5 or 6 hour stretch, followed by 2 hour stretches... He finally did, thankfully :) Last week, I was asking the Lord why He gave us such a calm, peaceful and content little boy. I wasn't bemoaning my blessings, but just wondering why... I sensed very clearly that it's because God's not done with me in my role at Global Disciples yet. So I'll receive this blessing, not only for our benefit, but for the nations, too. God is so good!

Benson's been smiling and cooing more and we just love it. When he really gets to smiling, it's big and causes a large crease to develop at the top of his nose by his eyes. We hope he loves life! His eyes just might stick to being blue. Time will tell, but for now, they are a nice blue. His receding hairline has stopped, so now he has his long birth hair and shorter hair in the front. Ha. He rolled over a few times on September 28th, I think to celebrate mom's birthday and hasn't since. Maybe he was just really excited for Grandma's 60th birthday??? :)

We got to hike and have a BBQ with friends last weekend and look forward to a weekend filled with campfires and S'mores, Mindi's birthday party with Nate's family, pumpkin picking, and our family group get together on Sunday with a fall theme :) We'll be missing the McHugh's though!

Is anyone else completely excited it's FALL??? I think this might be my very favorite season.

Blessings and love to you!

Jenny (for Nate and Baby Benson, too)