There is no place like home...

Especially when my husband is here too! Gil flew in to Omaha on Friday night. Jude and I were there to pick him up. He wanted a shower and some junk food just as I'd predicted! He made it through a rough trip through a rough country, but had a great time with some great students and met some great Hondurans too:) Jude and I also survived our time without him. We are so thankful to have friends and family to be with so we really didn't feel like we were ever alone. We even made a trip to Lincoln last Wednesday for Brittany's volleyball game (happy birthday to Brittany today too by the way!).

So we went to bed early and slept in down at John and Carolyn's in Council Bluffs (even though John and Carolyn happened to be in TX!). We did a little shopping on Saturday, made some pizza, watched Toy Story 3, and then had the pleasure of attending our friend's wedding. Amy and Dan's wedding was held at the Holland Performing Art's Center in downtown Omaha. It was just beautiful! The happy couple also met on a blind date (like Gil and I). It was a fun time with some fun friends. Jude hung in there through the service and food, but really came to life when the music started. He didn't want to be anywhere but on the dance floor!

Now we are home and getting back to life as usual. I'm just wondering when it's my turn to leave Gil with the dishes and laundry and baby etc. for 10 days!!!

One of these things is not like the others

Here are some pictures that are getting out-dated, so I decided it was now or never! Oh, and I did hear from Gil in Honduras!!! It was brief but things are going good:)

My first chicken baking in the crock pot. And mmmmm was it good!

The hunters: Uncle Max, dad, Cousin Jacob, Cousin Colton, and Gil. Alissa is not in the picture which I guess is fitting because she did not get a deer this time :(
Kinda gross, sorry! This is Gil's all ready to go to the locker.
My second pie ever and my first pumpkin pie!
This was too cute of a smile not to share!

Here is a video of Jude watching the NE state volleyball championships with me. He LOVES watching and cheering for sports of all kinds!

Third World

Well, Gil has arrived in Honduras! I know this because I got an email saying Sr. Janet had sent an email to someone saying it was so. We are not to expect any contact until they return to the States the day after Thanksgiving. In 8 days. No contact for 8 days!!! I knew this all along, but right now on the first night he is gone 8 days seems like forever. In fact after he left me in bed alone at 3:30 am this morning I had a crazy dream that I just wanted to share with him (even though he isn't always a fan of my dream sharing!). I was so bummed that I might have to wait 8 days to tell him and then I would probably forget. Luckily he called me from the Houston airport and I did get to share a brief version! But what about my dream tonight?! And what about the story of my awful class today and the new things Jude is saying and doing? I think that is what I will miss most--being able to share my life with my life-sharing partner. Isn't marriage a great idea!?!

But then there is the other stuff about Gil being gone. Like that I now have sole responsibility of doing chores for the next 8 days. And I have to water the plants, take out the garbage, and attempt to keep a fire going at night and days we are home. I have to haul the wood up from the basement even!

Tonight when Jude and I finally arrived home I decided to light the fire. We had shut off the heat so it had gotten down to 54, but Gil had thoughtfully filled the wood stove and had it all ready to light in preparation for this moment. He even hauled up enough wood to last through the night. Well, it turns out I'm a little rusty on my fire building skills. The fire that was "ready to go" didn't want to go at all! I attempted to get this thing going for at least 45 minutes before it took off. And even then it seemed very slow going with the heat. Gil can get that thing roaring and the house so warm we need to open windows in no time; but even now it has only gotten up to 74 for me. I know that probably seems pretty warm, but I am a wimp when it comes to cold and actually have a blanket on me now! That is what I love about wood stoves, you can get it really really warm and not feel too guilty about your heating bill:) Anyway, I have been checking that thing like it's a new-born baby all night. It is constantly on my mind. When Gil is home I don't think twice about it.

The only real positive thing I can think of is that at least I am not snowed in like I was last time Gil left for Honduras! Oh, and the ME day I'm taking tomorrow: Dad/Brett are going to watch Jude (should be interesting!) while I go to the doctor, get some Taco Bell (one of the cravings I've been having that I haven't fulfilled yet. Cali Taco next weekend!), go to Target, get groceries, and get a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Sounds good to me!!!

New(s) Things

I thought I should write to update a little bit about things going on at the Ridenour Ranch. Before I get to that I will share my grossest bug story yet. Remember the Asian beetles we've had bombarding our home for the past few months?! (I'm hoping this cold weather will finally beat them down). Anyway at night lately I've been bringing my nice big water bottle (the one they gave me in the hospital when I had Jude) upstairs for the nighttime thirsties. This morning I brought it downstairs and decided I had the morning thirsties so I took a nice big swig. Now mind you this water bottle has a lid and a straw, so as I'm sucking up from the straw I notice something of a lump come up with the water. My water is not usually lumpy. And as soon as it entered my mouth there was like this instantaneous realization (because of the lump and the horrible taste, which I had never experienced, but because of the smell knew in an instant) that an Asian beetle had crawled down my straw and into my water and was now in my mouth!!! I turned to the sink and spit it all out. There was the culprit...still crawling!!! GROSS. Now to me that's more disgusting than butchering chickens any day!

Ok, on to news! First things first, the reason I now need my giant water bottle wherever I go (and the reason I make a few trips down the stairs in the middle of every night to visit the bathroom) is because Gil and I are expecting our second child on May 23!!! I am almost 13 weeks now. I have been feeling well for the most part. Better than with Jude anyway. A little sicky, but nothing to complain about really. (warning: TMI, I have only puked once!). So we are excited about that and like our doctor and already got to have an ultrasound at 9 weeks:) Here's the little one:

In other news Gil is preparing for his second trip to Honduras with Briar Cliff students. They leave next Wednesday and will be gone until the day after Thanksgiving. It is going to be a lonely week for Jude and I, but he will have a great time digging trenches, sleeping on the floor, not showering, and eating "traditional" Honduran food!!! This time the area they are going to is even more remote than last year so I don't think we'll even get to talk on the phone:( But we are having a very exciting week before he leaves. He is doing a little deer hunting and writing a 30 page paper for the class he is taking. Ok, so maybe not that exciting. But we do get to travel to Council Bluffs on Sunday for the Ridenour Thanksgiving, even if we do have to miss Brittany's game tomorrow night that we were supposed to be able to go to (sorry Brittany!!!!!).

When Gil comes back from Honduras he with start the second of the three semesters at Briar Cliff so his schedule will change a little. My schedule will change a little soon as well. This semester I have been teaching two sections of a class at Wayne State called "Succeeding in College." I have really enjoyed it even though my first section is a challenge and I feel that some of my students are not quite succeeding! Next semester there are no classes available for me to teach so I will hopefully pick up on my subbing in the area. But I do plan to return to Wayne next fall to teach 3 sections. Should be a whole lot easier now that I have a little experience under my belt!

Another activity that has kept me busy this fall is the new MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) group in Wayne that I have been a part of starting up. I am the discussion group team leader. We have had two official meetings now and meet again next week. I really love getting together with other moms and the best part is the new friendships I've made. In fact, our friends Melissa and Tony (who we met at church in Wayne one Sunday after Jude chucked his shoe at them!) have a little boy just four months older than Jude and are also expecting in May, just 11 days before us!

A few other new things have popped up inside our house recently. The first is this handy dandy wood stove gate. We decided that we really needed something for peace of mind since it is impossible to watch Jude constantly. He is getting the concept of hot and staying away, but this gate (although a pretty penny) is PERFECT! It can detach and attach to the wall easily and actually goes the entire length. It also has a section that opens so we can get inside.

The final new thing is our Christmas Cactus that John and Carolyn brought down to us last weekend. It is a replant off of one that they have at their house. I think these are so pretty and it seems to be doing well!

The day has finally come...and gone!

Beautiful sunrise with a sliver moon!

Jude holding the new baby kittens we found in the barn yesterday. They were so calm they let him hold them right away and he loved it! He has become much more gentle and even loves holding his "baby" (precious moments boy dolly).

We held our first annual (did I just say annual?!) chicken cleaning day at the Ridenour Ranch yesterday. 20 broilers and 3 roosters were done for and are now soon to be dinner! This also means a lot less chores:) If you feel left out, there's always next year!

The moms/grandmas were hard at it in the kitchen doing the dirty work of cleaning and cutting. I did the bagging!

Our city friend Cas even came out for the day and got his hands dirty!

This is the dunking/gutting station. Sr. Janet took charge of the gutting!

I'll spare you a picture of the head chopping station! Brett and John took care of that mostly.

Here are our dads plucking away.

Gil and Sr. Janet doing some plucking as well.

Here is Jude playing with his two papas and two grandmas...well not playing "with" so much as close to! He's not the best sharer yet...notice he's really good at saying, "ME!"

He must've got worn out by the chicken day or else it was daylight savings, because he went down for a morning nap today at 9:30 and has been down for over two hours already!

BAD!

Here is a great one of Jude doing his thing!