Fellowship

Day 3:
I am thankful for friends and fellowship. Wyatt and I enjoyed a pizza lunch with our friends from the Benbow area today, and it was a wonderful time of hanging out, chatting, and generally relaxing. Although my closest friends live in other states and countries, I am blessed to have met people already here in Montana that have been willing to reach out and be friendly.

Glad for the mountains!

Day 2 of the thankful challenge...

I am incredibly thankful to live near the mountains and to have the opportunity and ability to go out hiking, fishing, and exploring! I always feel closest to God when I am able to go outdoors, and living in a place like Red Lodge makes that possible daily :)

Wyatt and I went out yesterday, fishing and wood gathering, and that just made my day and week a thousand times better. There is nothing like fresh mountain air! Here is a picture from earlier this year from a place only about 15 minutes away from our home. I am so blessed to be living here! And incredibly thankful :)

Daily Thanksgiving

This year I will post daily in the month of November as a way to get me to remember what I am thankful for. What a great way to celebrate a whole month of Thanksgiving!

Today, I am thankful for plentiful wood that keeps our home cozy and warm. This is the first year I have ever had a woodstove, and Josh & I have been working hard to stock up on wood for the winter. I have gone out several times with Wyatt to gather wood and I have also been busy sawing it up.

I am also thankful for a chainsaw to cut all that wood. Hand sawing would be miserable, can you imagine how long that would take to build up a winter stash? Yikes. I would be out there sawing all day, every day! Instead I spend a few hours here and there, leaving plenty of time for other endeavors, like baking and building towers :)

Judging by the looks of things, my two guys also enjoy the woodstove. Father/son bonding at its best.

This should be fun to see all the different things I find to be thankful for over the course of a month :) Hope you enjoy!

Wyatt is 1!

A full year has passed since the birth of my precious baby boy, and toddlerhood is arriving in full force. We celebrated with an after church potluck in our backyard, complete with a fish shaped carrot cake.

Although Wyatt isn't walking yet, he is crawling everywhere and pulling himself up on everything in sight. Already his personality seems to be of the more studious type. He is the experimenter and the engineer, carefully arranging his toys and sorting them "just so". His bright smile is a joy to see every day and it fills my heart with gratitude.

A year has come and gone, and it's hard to imagine what the next year will bring as Wyatt goes from babyhood to a running, talking child. Excitement and nervousness collide, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Wyatt, you light up my life with your smile, giggles, and your careful way of exploring and testing out your world. You are a wonderful gift and I am so privileged to be your mama. I love you, kiddo!

Settled in Red Lodge :)

Life has gotten strangely busy over the last few months. Josh successfully defended his thesis and graduated from SDSM&T. He interviewed in Texas and Montana and was offered a position with Stillwater Mine in Montana, which he accepted. Together we packed and moved with the help of our friends at Project Church and now are in Red Lodge, Montana.

Wyatt & I spent the month of May traveling: 1 1/2 weeks in Texas to visit his paternal grandparents, and 1 1/2 weeks in Alabama / Florida for a family reunion with my side of the family. It was his first time plane traveling and he did very well! All our traveling companions commented on how well-behaved he was and how relaxed even during take-off and landing. I think Wyatt is just a laid back little guy. He is also a charmer, and wows all the women he meets with an incredibly cute smile :)

Since returning to Red Lodge we have been busy unpacking, taking care of a friend who visited for 3 1/2 weeks, taking lots of walks to the post office, and occasionally hanging out in the community pool!

6 months old!

Wyatt has made it to the half a year point! Hard to believe this much time has passed since he was born.
A quick rundown on Wyatt:

• He got his first tooth on March 9th (my birthday) and is happily chewing on his arm right now
• He can roll both directions but usually back to stomach
• He likes to sleep on his stomach and will sleep up to 4 hour stretches there (hooray!)
• He still loves being held and carried but at 19 lbs it is starting to get challenging!
• He seems to have a bit of a shy personality and takes a while to warm up to new people

Motherhood has continued to be a bit of a challenge for me. I wonder where the last 6 months went! I am trying to figure out now whether I should find part-time work or return to school, but all of these things depend upon where Josh finds a job. So I remain in a state of waiting at least for the time being. Right now we are looking at possibilities in Montana, Texas, and Alaska. I can't wait to see where we end up next!

Windy South Dakota! and a cute baby :)

It is another cold day in South Dakota - it's going to be tough to get out this winter with Wyatt if the wind continues like this! 20 degrees and dropping ... colder than Fairbanks, which is unusual for this time of the year!

Grandpa Z holding Wyatt at the Firehouse

In recent news, life has been going pretty well! My parents flew out from Washington the week before Thanksgiving to spend quality time with their new grandson; they treated us to dinner at the Firehouse Brewery, where Wyatt tried out a Fireman's hat.

We had a good first Thanksgiving with Wyatt; we potlucked with the other graduate students in Rapid Valley and lounged around, watching football and playing games. Wyatt just kind of took it all in. He likes to observe, eat, and sleep. He does have a cute smile that he has started showing more regularly! Here is a picture I snapped this morning of his smile :)

Gold flakes in the bottom of a gold pan :)

In other news, Josh continues to work on his thesis. We have had some fun going out and gold panning in areas near Rapid Creek - I take Wyatt up with me and he sleeps in the car seat near us as I help Josh fill buckets with gold bearing dirt! We have had success although it may not look like much at the moment. Wyatt seems to enjoy the outdoors as he stares up at the trees we walk past.

Josh also recently acquired a part time job working a security position at a building on Ellsworth AFB. A man we met at church offered him the position and he works weekends day or night shifts, from 4 - 4. It is a blessing as we currently have no other income! And the other great part about it is that he has Christmas & New Year's weekends off, so we will be driving back to Washington once again for Christmas! It will be interesting attempting that trip with a baby!

It's amazing how much of my life has changed in a few short months since Wyatt was born. At first I struggled with the transition from a busy / hectic work / study life to the new routine of feed baby, diapers, sleep when you can ... but as time has gone on I am beginning to really enjoy this time with Wyatt at home. I don't know that it will be like this always, so I am very glad for the opportunity now. I am trying to take the extra time I have to focus on what God has for us next in life, as we will likely be moving to wherever Josh is able to find work. My hope and earnest desire is that I honor God with whatever I am doing and find satisfaction in Him alone, as I have always struggled in being valued for what I do, not who I am in Christ. Today our pastor spoke about life and death, and living out the passions and dreams that God has given us. Strangely I never had the desire to be a stay at home mom, but that is where I am currently at. So I am praying that God shows me how I can encourage and love other people from my home while supporting my husband and raising my beautiful boy. I am not even close to being there yet, but I trust He will open the doors and show me the way! And if He has something else in mind, I trust He will show me what the next steps are to take. I can't imagine what the next few months will bring ... we are truly at a crossroads in our life.