Happy Halloween!

Hey everyone! Just a little post to share some fun pics of Elizabeth in her Halloween costume. She's the cutest kid, EVER! And also to say thanks for your prayers and support. My new job is hard, but the Lord has blessed us, and things are improving. It's so great to know that God's people are praying for us!

Hope your Halloween is "Spook-tacular!" :)

Long Time No Post!

Hello and long time no see to all the friends who usually keep up with this blog!

I know I've neglected this thing lately, and I think that it's b/c SO much has happened that I've had no time to post about it all!

Anyway, it's high time for an update and some fun pics!

Stephen: He's working on his last year of officially taking classes, and for this program, that's saying a lot! As soon as he is done with all of the requirements of classwork, he'll be free to focus on lab work and his dissertation. He's SO ready to be done w/ class, and I don't blame him! It's a lot of stress! However, proud wifey that I am, I have to brag that he is doing REALLY well. Even though it's tough, he's rockin out, and I knew he would. Keep him in your prayers that he can finish his classes strong!

Jen: An update on my current situation would take WAY too long, and I'm pretty sure that I'd be tempted to complain, so I'll just ask for prayer. I've started my nannying job, and let's just say, it's not what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a way for me to learn how to take care of more than one child, a chance for us to make some desperately needed extra money, and a chance for Elizabeth to have a new playmate. Unfortunately, that's not what it ended up being at ALL. Please pray for me to have strength, kindness, and wisdom in this situation, and that I will have the discernment to know if I should keep this job or quit for Elizabeth's sake.

Elizabeth: She's about to be 15months old, and she is amazing us at every turn. She understands a LOT of what we say to her, now, AND she's trying to talk as well. She still babbles a lot, but she can actually say a few words. Her favorite word to say is "hi." She LOVES to say it to everyone and everything we pass by! It's precious to see her try to communicate the best way she knows how. She's still a little firecracker, and we're constantly trying to figure out how to guide her in the right direction, so keep her in your prayers as well.

Events: In the following pics, you'll see our latest exploits! We just got back from a trip to Texas to see our friends Brian and Holly get married, and this past weekend, we took Elizabeth to a gourd farm to celebrate the fall with our friends from church. It was a blast, and we were reminded again of just how blessed we are with great friends and family!

Elizabeth's first order of duty when we got back to Texas was to find the biggest stuffed animal possible and jump on it! Ha!

Elizabeth is a total girl, and she LOVES to wear bracelets. Here she is showing them off to her doggie friends.

All of her grandparents were glad to see her! Here she is with her Pops!

Chatting with her Grandma B and petting Opie.

At Brian and Holly's wedding. It was outdoors...and GORGEOUS!

Brian made this beautiful arch for their ceremony!

Their flower girl and ring bearer got to sit on a little stool so they wouldn't squirm during the wedding....they did anyway! :)

The happy couple!

Stephen was a groomsman. Isn't he handsome?!

The reception was at a great country club, and there was a room JUST for the cakes! That's my kind of place!

Their cake-topper! :)

Patrick and Jeni (and Sheridan) Adair. He officiated the wedding! Such great friends!

Best. Picture. Ever! (And SO glad that Kristen Kay came in for the wedding. Miss her BADLY!)


Here we are at the gourd farm for fall festivities like pumpkin decorating and a corn maze! Elizabeth was NOT in a picture-taking mood...probably b/c there was SO much to do!


She found a BUNCH of pumpkins for sale and had to try to pick them all up!


One of the kids dropped a little plastic pumpkin, and Elizabeth decided to play with it the rest of the night!


Our fantastic friends!


A group shot of all the kids. We never COULD get one good one of all of them smiling...or at least LOOKING at the camera. Ha! But this is a good pic to show all of Elizabeth's baby friends.



Walking through the corn maze!


Looking at something Riley is showing her.



Getting hugs from Mitch and Caleb. THIS is why she tries to hug everyone...b/c everyone is always hugging her! :)


And finally, looking at a donkey. She LOVES animals. She got to see chickens, bunnies, donkeys, goats...all types of farm animals this evening!

Well, that's it for now! I'll try to be better about updating.

Love to you all, and thanks for the constant support!

Bush Family Update

I thought it was high-time to do some updating since so much is going on in our life right now, so....enjoy! :)

Stephen: He starts classes Monday, and he is actually feeling good about it. He pretty much likes his lab and feels more confident with everything since he has one year under his belt. I can't even believe we've been here that long! Anyway, it's going to be a VERY busy school year for him, so keep him in your prayers as he juggles everything he's got going on.

Elizabeth: After all of the fun/craziness that she had celebrating her first birthday, you'd think she would be ready for a break....not so much. Ha! She's still doing great! I feel SO blessed to have such a happy, healthy kid! She's able to do so much now! The only bummer right now is that she's teething again, and I just feel so bad for her b/c she's in pain a lot. I have stuff to help, but it's just a bummer. But, if that's the only trouble, I'm a lucky mommy! I'll post more specific bragging on her in a later post, but for now, suffice it to say, she's the best!

Jen: I guess the biggest thing for us right now is the craziness that is my life. As most of you know, we have desperately needed for me to get a job, and there just aren't any out there...well not any that work for our situation with Elizabeth. BUT, we feel like the Lord answered our prayers finally, and He answered it in HIS way (as usual). To make a VERY long story short, basically, I am working at Sylvan Learning Center in Raleigh until October, and then I will be nannying for a family in our apt complex. Yep, I will be taking care of TWO baby girls soon! It will be a lot of work, but I'm excited for Elizabeth to have a steady playmate, and I'm thankful for the paycheck we desperately need!

Well, I guess that's it in the Bush family for now. Thanks to all of you who have read and prayed for us! We are truly grateful and so blessed to have such supportive friends and family! As a thank you to everyone, here are some of the latest Elizabeth pics. Hope you enjoy!

Elizabeth and her sweet daddy!

Wearing a great Baylor shirt my mom got her...while sitting backwards on her toy


Another shot of her backwards. Ha!


Showing off her pretty Sunday dress


Not only does Elizabeth LOVE her new shoes...but she also now understands what to do when I say "take your shoes off" She's amazing!


Sweet smile!


Oh, and she's decided that Jeremy is her boyfriend. Ha!

More to come!

Love to you all!

Trapped in My Own Body

I normally use this blog to brag about my cutie pie and keep everyone updated on our lives. And, I REALLY hate complaining (anyone who knows me understands this), but today I just need to get something off my chest b/c I just need some prayers.

As many of you already know, I've had back problems since college. It runs in my family, so it was only a matter of time before it hit me. Unfortunately, it hit at the worst possible time ever. Not only was I just starting my life with Stephen, but two years later, I had a child. According to my physical therapist and my doctor, this was a bad move on my body's part...and judging from the amount of pain I'm in all the time, I tend to agree with them.

Anyway, last week was one of the worst I've had in a long time, and today when I went to see my physical therapist, he basically gave me the grim truth: Until I'm done having kids (and they are old enough that I don't need to pick them up), AND until I get a better job (one that I don't have to drive so far to get to), my back will continue to be on a rollercoaster of pain, AND it could even get worse. So, the two things that I am having the hardest time changing, are the two very things that HAVE to change if I'm going to get any better......so basically I'm stuck like this for at least several more years.....possibly a decade.

I don't mean to whine, but ARG! It's SO frustrating to get news like this. I feel completely defeated and trapped in my own body.

So those of you who read this, I would really appreciate some prayers because I think I'm in for a LONG, HARD journey. I know that there are SO many people out there who have it much worse, so I shouldn't even be complaining, but I just feel like all the work I'm doing to try to help myself is doing as much good as using a water gun to take out a forest fire. Anyway, no more complaining. Just needing some prayers. Thanks to all of you who care!

Hopefully more encouraging posts to follow shortly.

Love to you all

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!

Well, we made it! Elizabeth is officially one year old today! We're SO proud of our amazing little girl! We had a great birthday party for her, and she had a BLAST!

As usual, here are some Mommy braggings followed by a couple of fun pics from the party!

Elizabeth can now:
- walk everywhere and in any direction (she can even walk backwards a little)
- babble A LOT
- Say "Dada" and "Uh Oh" for the right reasons
- eat solid foods including milk, oranges, apples, and birthday cake! :)
- recognize people on the web cam and try to interact with them
- play with others
- "dance" and twirl
- jump up and down
- climb EVERYTHING
- run (a little bit before falling down)
- play "tag"
- "tickle" Mommy
- "share" toys
- "feed" her teddy bears crackers

And here are a couple pics from her birthday party:

When she first saw her piece of cake, she just wanted to play with it.

THEN she figured out she could eat it, and went to town!....and then she wore the rest of it! Haha!

Well, that's all for now. More updates later, and I'll be posting the rest of EJ's July pics on my facebook in a little while.

Love to you all!

Elizabeth's First Independence Day

Elizabeth had a great first 4th of July, so I thought I'd post some fun pics of the day. First she got all dressed up for the big day. I'm so proud of myself for finding her shirt at Target for $1! And, she also had some awesome socks thanks to her Grandma Bush.

She didn't know what to think of her new shirt, though, because it was so soft and stretchy that she just wanted to pull on it for the first few minutes she was wearing it.

She was also not a huge fan of the headband I put on her. She doesn't really like to have anything on her hear anymore.

Then we went to this really cool dairy farm that makes its ice cream from the milk it gets from its own cows. We've been there before, but this evening they were doing a special Independence Day celebration. Here we are sitting on a picnic blanket, listening to a bluegrass band.

When we first got there, she was a litte overwhelmed by all the people and loud music, so she just sat in my lap for a while. BUT, of course, after a few minutes she got excited to be there, and got more and more rambunctious as the evening went on. In fact, when it was finally time for fireworks, she was too busy running amock to even notice them. Ha!

I know this was just a short update. I'll have more soon!

Love to you all!

Random Update

Ok, now that I've gotten a chance to brag on my little girl, I'll update about the rest of our crazy life (but I'll try to be brief...since I don't know who reads this anymore anyway.):

Stephen: So, he's finally in the lab that he will be in for the rest of his doctoral program. Daunting and exciting at the same time. Now, he just needs to get a good project from his professor so that he can begin researching for his dissertation. I can't believe that he still has 4 yrs to go, and he's already having to start thinking about his dissertation work. Oh well, I guess that's how this stuff works. Pray that the Lord will keep him motivated and excited to work and that his brain won't go completely mush. :)


Jen: Pray for me because we looked at the budget, and there is no way that we can go another year without me working. It's a bummer, and I know it will all work out, but the job market is very low right now, so I'm starting to be a little concerned. I've applied everywhere I can think, but there just aren't jobs because of budget cuts and things. The only school that is interested in me is in a town that's like 1hr away. I just don't think I could handle that commute, even if everything else about that situation was perfect. Pray for God's wisdom and most importantly, His provision. I know it's out there....I just can't see it yet.
Summer: Well, we've made it half-way through the summer, and we still have a bunch going on. Elizabeth will experience her first 4th of July celebration this weekend, and then she'll be going to her first baby birthday party for some friends at church. Then Gran and Grandad are coming for a short visit, and finally, we'll be going to Florida at the end of the month for hers and her Grandma's birthdays. It has been so busy, but I've decided that it's a good thing.


Randomness: So couple of other random updates that serve no other purpose than to entertain (hopefully) -> First of all, Stephen and I have gotten ourselves hooked on a summer tv show (and didn't expect it). It's called Merlin, and it's kind of like one of those shows that's about the growing up/teenage years of someone famous before they were important and famous. For lack of a better comparison, I guess you could say this show, Merlin, is to the Once and Future King what Smallville is to the Superman stories. (Only it's much better b/c there's less melodramma and more action and adventure) So, it's got the whole cast of Medieval characters as teens: Merlin, Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, etc. Sounds cheesy, but Stephen and I LOVE Medieval stuff, so we are really enjoying it.



Second, since we live so far away, Stephen and I will get on our web cams every so often so that the grandparents can see Elizabeth. Well, tonight we discovered that Elizabeth is at a tough age for web-camming. She's old enough that she can see her grandparents on the screen and recognize them, but she's still too young to understand that they're far away, and she can't touch them. She got VERY upset about this, so we're going to have to come up with something to fix this problem. Gosh, living with a baby gives you SUCH a new perspective on everything. Sigh, but it's so good too.Well, I think that's about it. To all of you who still keep up with this blog, thanks, and keep praying for us. We are so blessed by all of our friends and family who support us and pray for us. We NEED it! And I'll try to be better about updating more often.

Love to you all!

11 Months

Well, I can't even believe it, but Elizabeth is 11 months old now! Here are some of the awesome things she can do now:
- eat all kinds of crackers and solid foods
- toddle (walk and try to run, hehe)
- "sing"
- play tag
- climb up (and kind of down) the stairs
- point (at everything)


She's the best, and keeps growing like crazy! We're so proud! Here are some more pics of her on a typical play day.






More to come, friends!

Love to you all!