The Newest News (and Some of the Old Stuff : ) )


ELENA UPDATE

Elena gives big smiles to everyone! If her lip looks shiny, its because she is drooling preparing to get TWO TEETH!! The second one popped through this week! We had a fun time at the beginning of April celebrating Easter with Elena.

We also introduced Elena to solid foods. So far she has eaten rice cereal, potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, queso (a hot cheese dip used with tortilla chips common in Texas), and most recently smushed green beans and brown rice organic baby food. Here are pictures from Elena's first bites ever!



Also on the Elena front, Elena is now sleeping in her own bed and sleeping through the night!!! Her very sleep-deprived parents breathe a loud sigh of relief (and sleep very hardily!) I'd show a picture, but I think a picture of her sleeping might wake her up : )

JON'S TRIP TO NB

In April, Jon went to visit his mom in New Brunswick to celebrate her 50th birthday. Great joy was had by all, but Jon did feel a bit homesick for his wife and lil girl! The theme of Jon's mom's b-day party was 1957 and everyone dressed the part. Jon wore a 50s style suit-vest.

Jon's mom was trailer trash from the 1950s. She put curlers in her hair, wore bright makeup, had a glass of liquor in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and she kissed all the men at the party wearing bright pink lipstick! She was the star of the party (as she should be for her b-day!). Here she is with Jon and his brother David Noah.Jon's brothers played the part as well. Here are David, Nathan, and Zac.
Here is Jon's mom, Debbie, with several of her friends.
This is Chrissy, David's girlfriend. This was the first time Jon got to meet Chrissy. Here she is dressed in her 50s outfit (not her normal fare).
Here are David and Chrissy, posing together.

BETH AND ELENA'S TRIP TO TEXAS

While Jon was in NB, I (Beth) was visiting my family and friends in Texas showing off Elena to everyone. Elena and I were in Austin, TX for 9 days, but it felt like much longer because of the whirlwind of visitors. We arrived on Tuesday after a surprisingly successful plane flight. (Flying alone with a 5 month old is NOT easy! But God really blessed me with patience and blessed Elena with lots of sleep!) On our first full day in Texas, my paternal grandfather Joel Moskowitz and my Aunt Janie (my dad's sister) and Uncle Harold Babitch came down from Plano to visit for two days. This was particularly special because none of them had seen Elena yet and I hadn't seen my grandpa since I was 11 or so. The last time I saw my aunt and uncle I had only been dating Jon for two weeks and they visited Vancouver. They met Jon at the time and really liked him. They joke that they had to approve him before I could marry him : )
Uncle Harold watching Elena show off rolling around:
Aunt Janie holding lil Elena:Grandpa Joel and Elena had a real rapport. She loves her Great Grandpa!


After my dad's family left, my best friend Heather and her husband Tim and two year old son Hunter came to stay with us for the weekend. On Saturday night, I threw a big party at my parents' house for my group of closest girlfriends and their families. Our group of friends have been close since high school and some of us since junior high. We used to meet as a discipleship group every week, praying and hanging out together. Through my university years, we continued to remain close and even since life has taken all of us in different directions, we still make a point of seeing each other whenever we can. Out of the 8 of us ladies, 5 of us have gotten married, and all 5 married ladies also now have kids. Our current kid total is 7, but two of the girls are currently pregnant (Heather and Natalie) and by this fall, there will be 9 kids. Our ladies will be outnumbered by our kids! The party Saturday night was a big success. All except one of my dear friends came with their kids and two brought their husbands as well. We managed to snap a picture of most of us (Elena was sleeping.)In the front row is deb coleman, Keri Giambrone, Natalie Little and her son Timothy, Rachel Bickford and her son Luke,and Rachel's husband John holding their daughter Sarah. In the back row is Tim Morgan (Heather's hubby) with their son Hunter, Heather, Lorna Hunt, and me.

The following day, Sunday, Natalie had a party celebrating her son Timothy's 2nd birthday. All the ladies came except deb and we all had a great time. It was Elena's first kid party and she had a lot of fun watching the other kids. In the picture is me and Elena, Keri holding Rachel's son Luke, Heather, Lorna, Natalie holding her son Timothy, Angela, and Rachel. Angela brought her daughter Michaela to the party (her daughter Emily had school the next day so she stayed in Houston).

Here is Michaela being silly. She's so cute!

I can't tell you what joy it was to see my family and friends again and to introduce them to Elena! There were so many beautiful moments that I could write many pages in the blog. For example, most nights Elena would show off for my parents and roll all the way across the living room on a big comforter, laughing and smiling. My parents had such joy in spending time with their granddaughter.
Grandmama Mary Louise (my mom) with her little granddaughter.
Grandpa Steve (my dad) and Elena in her cute sailor's dress.

On Monday, I spent some time with my best friend Rachel at her house in Kyle. Rach's son is only a few months older than Elena and they had a lot of fun playing together, along with Rach's older daughter Sarah who is 3.


Also on Monday, my Auntie Beth (my mom's sister) and Uncle Jack came over for dinner and got to visit with Elena. On Tuesday, my Uncle Bill (my mom's brother) and my Cousin Cindy (Auntie Beth and Uncle Jack's daughter) went to dinner with my mom, me, and Elena to one of my favorite restaurants, Bamboo Gardens. My family has been visiting Bamboo Gardens since I was a very little kid. We know the owner and all the people who work there very personally. My Cousin Cindy brought her two kids, Brianna and Justin. We had a lot of fun! When we returned home to my parents' house, the kids asked me to read them a story so we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar together.
My Auntie Beth hugging Elena.
My Cousin Cindy with her two kids, Brianna and Justin.
My Uncle Bill with Elena in her car seat.

Elena and I flew back on Wednesday with joy and sadness. I was so happy that my parents made our trip to Texas happen and were so kind to share us with so many people. It was a truly blessed time!

POST TRIPS

After returning from our trips, Jon and I rejoiced at getting to see one another again. We really missed each other, while loving our time with family. Unfortunately, I must have caught a bug on the plane because our whole family very quickly came down with the flu and were sick for several days. In the midst of this flu, I preached at church. Man, was I exhausted! Shortly after our sickness, Jon graduated from Regent College with his Master of Christian Studies degree. We were SOOO proud of him! We also found out this week that Vineyard International Publishing wants to publish Jon's thesis and make his thesis into a course for the Vineyard Bible Institute. This is FANTASTIC news!! We couldn't be happier!


We are very excited about our upcoming move to Ontario. We are counting down with less than two months to go! Then we will be doing a cross Canada drive to move our car to Ontario (as well as ourselves). We are so happy that we got to spend time with family and friends and look forward to spending time with more family soon.

Hey friends and family,

There is a new entry on Beth's blog. I'd love to have y'all read my entries and leave me comments if you get a chance...if you want.


Here's the link: http://bethstovell.homeip.net/blog/

Love,
Beth

Here are the newest pictures of Elena...

Elena has learned to sit up. She is still really wobbly and needs our support, but she can play for short periods sitting up. Jon and I spent a large part of Saturday playing with her and watching all she can do! We are SOOO proud!


Elena also has learned to enjoy playing on her tummy, especially with Mr. Monkey.


Elena also is learning a love for books...well, she likes tasting books!


Here Elena reads with her daddy! Elena loves to listen while Jon reads stories to her (and to her mommy!)


Our friend Erin bought Elena this t-shirt that says, "Mutha Sucka" on it and Jon and I think it's pretty funny!


Elena and I went for a nice outing on Saturday in matching clothes. We got lots of attention which Elena LOVED! (Wonder where she gets that from?!)


In a week, Jon and I will both be travelling. Elena and I will be visiting my friends and family in Texas while Jon visits his mom for her 50th birthday celebration (and visits his brothers as well). We are both excited about the trips, but will miss each other.

Even Elena is amazed at how cute she is! Elena is growing up so quickly. She weighs almost 17 lbs now and is very tall with long legs and long arms (and really long fingers!) Now that she is a little bit older, Elena has started a regular napping schedule and is sleeping more at night. Elena is very interested in the big world around her and seems constantly fascinated with something, especially if its shiny.

This is what happens when Jon dresses Elena and me for church: we look cool in our skulls!
I love this picture because Elena looks like such a little girl rather than an infant. Elena especially loves playing with her toys these days and is learning how to roll. She can roll from her back to her stomach and from her stomach to her back. This also means that she can move more quickly around the house. Watch out, Mama! Elena also has found her feet and likes holding them up in the air.
Since Elena is now much more predictable at 4 months old, Jon and I have started having date nights twice a month. Several of our close friends have volunteered to babysit. Here Jon and I are ready to go on our first date in months. We spent the evening at a romantic italian restaurant named La Rocca and then chatted about life at a coffee shop. This past Friday we had our second date and watched the excellent movie 300. It was amazing!!
Last Sunday, Jon dressed Elena for church and we put this fun hat on her. She was quite the center of attention, which she LOVED! Elena is very much a people person...or people baby as the case may be.

As we ready ourselves for the coming move, we are also having a bittersweet time of it as we say goodbye to our friends here in Vancouver. We have really enjoyed this season in our lives and will take with us many fond memories and close friendships. Ontario will be a big adventure as Vancouver has been!

We Have an Announcement!


We are excited to announce that Jon and I will be moving to Hamilton, Ontario this summer to begin our PhD programs at McMaster Divinity College (MacDiv) in the fall. This decision came after much deliberation and consideration, but we are overjoyed and feel MacDiv will truly be the best place for us. We are especially excited because this means that we will be living much closer to part of our family, Jon's side specifically. Jon's maternal grandparents will be 10-15 minutes away and Jon's dad, stepmom, grandma, stepsister, brother, and their loved ones will all be in neighboring cities. Also Jon's mom and brothers will now be within driving distance as will my aunt and uncle. We are overjoyed by this! Especially since it means that Elena will grow up for her first 3 years near family (something very important to us).

Our PhDs at MacDiv will both be generally in Christian Theology, but Jon's PhD will focus on Systematic Theology while mine will focus on New Testament. We have already been in contact with the professors who will be mentoring us and they have expressed excitement at working with us as well. We felt MacDiv was the best choice because it addressed our lives in the most holistic way. We feel it will be a good place to grow intellectually, spiritually, and personally.

As for our li'l Elena, she is practicing laughing these days which is really fun because she tries to mimic my laugh and I laugh four or five different ways just to see what she will do. Sometimes she just lets our a squeal of joy. Other times it sounds more like a giggle and still other times it sounds like a loud guffaw! She is so adorable!

She has also just learned the joy of the Jolly Jumper.



In this picture, Elena is wearing her squirrel overalls. One of my favorite outfits on her!


We look forward to our cross Canada trip this summer and hopefully seeing some of you along the way. (You probably know who you are : ) )


Love,
Beth, Jon, and Elena

A quick note from Jon to say that our mostly empty website (see links section) is not so empty anymore. In particular, I encourage interested parties to read Beth's personal blog on her section of the site for some deeper thoughts and reflections. Meanwhile, the Photo Archive will soon be populated with many photos at full resolution, suitable for saving to disk and getting developed at a photofinishing store if you are so inclined.

Ah, the joys of parenting! Elena surprises us with something new all the time. The past few weeks Elena has shown a deep fascination with the visualizer on Jon's computer. She especially loves when we play Trance/Dance music. In fact, she loves the same music that she did in the womb and will attempt to dance to the music and smile big smiles when it comes on.


Elena turned 10 weeks yesterday so she is now 2 and 1/2 months old! And wow is she big for her age! She is almost 14 lbs now (13 lbs, 14 oz to be exact) and is getting longer too! She has almost completely grown out of her 0-3 month clothing and is now wearing her 3-6 month clothes. Here she is playing in her new fun toy: the Tiny Love 3-D Baby Gym that our friends Myles and Karen let us borrow. Elena will play in her little gym for 20-30 minutes at a time, allowing me some much needed time to get things done around the house.


Elena loves her giraffe towel. She especially loves when we let her shower with us and then we wrap her up in her towel, put her on her changing table, and sing to her. She smiles so widely sometimes we can barely see her eyes.

Elena's favorite stuffed animal is Mr. Monkey. Elena loves to talk to Mr. Monkey, hug him, and even tries to "kiss" him. She also loves sitting her chair which vibrates.



When Jon gets home from work, he usually loves holding his lil girl and playing with her. The easiest way to calm Elena down is to put her in her baby carrier. She usually konks right out. Here she sleeps with Jon as he surfs the web (one of Jon's fav pasttimes).

Having a little baby to care for can be challenging at times, but Jon and I have such great joy in watching Elena learn new things. Recently she has learned that she has hands and will hold them out in front of her face and try to use them. I wake up and step out of the room and come back to find her reaching out for me with her little arms and hands spread wide. It is a beautiful sight!

January 2, 2007

It's a new year and we have more tales of Elena our Moon Monkey! (that's one of Jon's pet names for her. Don't ask me why, but it makes us all laugh!)

On December 9, my dear friends Amber O'Neill and Joanna Pallister threw me and Elena a wonderful baby shower. Amber organized the shower and Joanna hosted the shower at her house. I feel so blessed to have such great friends and felt blessed to be able to share my shower with my mom who was in town to help us with Elena.

Elena turned 6 weeks old last Thursday and we had our final midwife appointment. Elena weighs 12 pounds on the dot and is almost 24 inches long. She is healthy, fast-growing little girl! Jon and I have been greatly rejoicing in Elena's new use of sounds. Besides making "oohs" and "ahs," she has started repeating the sounds we make. This week I was singing to her and she starting singing back to me in perfect pitch several times! I was SOOO excited! And then she sang back to Jon as well. We aren't planning her career in opera yet, but it is great to know that she can sing!



Here you can see the great joy that my dad has in holding his little granddaughter. Elena is so strong that she is standing when we just use our hands to steady her. My dad visited us in Vancouver from December 19-28 and it was such a joy to have him near and watch him interact with Elena!



Jon insisted that Elena "open" her own presents. Here Elena opens the beautiful gift that her Grandma Ovelina and her Grandpa Dave sent for her to open on Christmas Eve. Inside was a lovely ornament for Elena's first Christmas tree!




Elena also learned to smile just before Christmas as you can see in these two pictures.



Elena received her first stocking and Jon and I thought it would be funny if looking back she got to see that she FIT in her stocking!

Elena keeps surprising us with all the new things she is learning to do. She has begun talking in baby gibberish and seems like she is going to be a real talker. She is always "telling us stories" and "singing us songs" : ) She also loves staring into people's eyes and smiling. Her favorite game is "flying baby" which Jon plays with her every day!

On the not-specifically-about-Elena front, Jon and I have been busily putting together our applications for PhD programs and hope to find out in the next few months where we will be living next and which program we will working in. It is very exciting, but also a lot of work especially with a newborn!

Well, I must be going. Elena is waking up from one of her afternoon naps and needs my attention. We send our love to all and our well wishes in this New Year!