Feeling Loved

I appreciate all the comments from everyone concerning my fate during the summer. The thought of people thinking about me made me feel very loved, so thank you. I have thought about journeying home, but that seems like way too much work. It's really hard to travel and be away from home with babies, especially by yourself- schedules get all messed up and lots of grouchiness occurs. I think I will fair much better at home. I'll have to wait until Jon can come home with me. This may not be until next summer at best. This is a really critical time for us. Jonathan is in the process of finishing his dissertation. It's a lot of work and he hopes to have it finished by the beginning of October. This is why I am willing to spend so much time alone without him this summer. Five weeks to devote to his work with nothing to interfere would be so great for him getting this done. He usually only gets to work at it about nine hours a day. Maybe one or two more if the kids go to sleep early enough. This whole process has been really stressful for our family. I heard this stat that only .01% of the US population has a PhD. Jon looked it up on the census bureau and estimated it to be actually about .003% or 1 in 3000 people. It makes sense that not many people would stick it out. It would be so much easier to go to a couple of years of school to get an MBA or even a law degree and know that when you are finished you will 1) get a job and 2) make lots and lots of money. Neither of those things are assured for us and Jonathan has been in school for going on 12 years--yes COLLEGE for that long. We've been married for nearly six years so by now him finishing is like I'm finishing. I think we both have earned this degree to some extent. We see people our age buying houses and cars and going on vacations and having savings accounts and retirement accounts and sometimes we wonder what we've done, but really both of us want this life. Even though every time the kid next door coughs our baby wakes up screaming and I can't plant a tulip outside our door because it not our property, we are happy and content and safe and happy. We love our tiny apartment (490 sq ft) (but it does have a washer/dryer- so who could ask for more?) It is safe and warm. We love that when Jon is finished he will be able to make money doing what he loves most (let's all pray for him that he does find a job!) We love that we set a goal and the fruition of that goal is in sight and soon will come to pass. How many things in life take 12 years of hard, hard work to accomplish? (Besides raising kids that is!) We both would like to thank everyone who supports us and has helped us to reach this goal. It hasn't been easy on anyone to be so far away from family and friends- especially since we have had kids. Thank goodness for the gospel and for friends that we have made here. I don't think we would have made it. It's hot here and humid and there are tornadoes! And I really want to buy a house!! I am sure that in due time everything will work itself out.  

Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

This picture we've titled "The Elusive Tooth." It took about 100 tries to finally get a shot of her tiny little tooth. Look closely!

Once Ezra found out we were taking pictures of Anika's tooth, he wanted to show everyone all of his teeth! Aren't they cute?

Anika's trying to crawl! She moved a little bit but still hasn't quite figured it out. You can see Ezra at the bottom of the picture cheering her on! He really is her biggest fan (and vice versa).

This is Anika's more or less permanent grin, at least when Mom and Ezra are around! And, you can see the tiniest bit of her tooth her as well. We didn't think it would be possible, but she's actually getting prettier every day!