Finally....an update!

The last time we blogged was right after we arrived in Mississippi, our new home. A lot has happened since then and we had intended to blog weekly to keep you all posted on all that was going on. Well, as you can see, that didn't happen. Things were quite crazy with our house renovation and all...much crazier than anticipated. So...here we are, on the other side of it all, finally getting a chance to catch you up!!

We'd like to take you back and show you some pictures of the last 3 months, but that will be for another blog. For now, I'll do a quick recap. We arrived at our new home in Terry, MS on April 13th. Steven got right to work on the house, working his day job (trim carpentry in new homes) and then going straight over to the house and working till the wee hours of the night...6 days a week. Meanwhile, we lived with friends from our church who have a small apartment above their garage that they use to house missionaries or others in need. Jenny took care of the kids on her own while GREAT with child.

Needless to say, it was not an easy 9 WEEKS for any of us!! We treasured our Sundays, as it was our only day together as a family...and Steven's only day to rest. The more Steven got into the house renovation, the more he found needed to be done. We had hoped it would only take 4 weeks and we would have about a month and a half to get settled before the baby would be born.



After a while, we began praying that we would at least be in the house in time for the birth!! Especially since we were planning another home birth. The Lord is gracious and we moved in 2 weeks before our baby arrived. The house was not finished but was livable. We moved in on June 14th, our 11 year wedding anniversary! The following day was Father's Day and we enjoyed honoring Daddy who worked so hard to provide a home for us.

Jenny's mom arrived a week later, then Jessie (Jenny's sister-in-law) a few days after that. They helped us get things ready for the baby's arrival, help take care of the boys, and be there for the birth. On June 28th at 11:49pm our sweet little baby girl arrived!!! Her name is Mahaila Jo and most often we call her "Hailey Jo"...which fits well here in the south :) She weighed 8lbs. 6oz. and was 21 inches long. Jenny had a wonderful birth at home...her best one yet! We are so blessed to have little Hailey Jo in our lives. The boys absolutely adore her.


It has been so much fun to have a little girl. It felt really strange though, to put her in pink and little dresses. The first time we dressed her we felt like we were dressing a boy in girl's clothes!





We have spent the last 5 weeks enjoying our sweet Mahaila Jo, working on the house and continuing to unpack. The time has flown by. We hope to be more faithful to blogging so y'all can stay abreast of our happenings. Next time we'll post some pictures of the house renovation.

Love to you all!!!
Steven & Jenny

Mississippi or Bust!!!

Hello Friends!

Well, after loading up our trailer (which the moving company drove for us) and packing our big red van with the kids and all the gear, we headed out Monday morning (April 7th) for a long road trip to our new home in Mississippi. Yep! We are officially proud home owners of a small acreage in Terry, MS. We had fun touring the country on the way.


We saw the Grand Canyon,
the Four Corners,

hit a snow storm on our way to Mesa Verde (so unfortunately didn’t get to see it), stayed in Durango, Colorado, ate at the Big Texan in Amarillo,
toured the Old Town Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma,
visited a Walmart in Arkansas (of course :-)),

crossed the Mississippi River and finally came into our new home town of Terry, Mississippi this evening. It was a fun 7 days on the road…the kids did amazingly well! But we are glad to be out of the car and onto solid ground again. We drove straight to our new house. Our friends (the Bentons) met us there with the key. They are the wonderful family who we will be living with for a number of weeks while Steven fixes up our house. It was strange driving through the beautiful green countryside to our new home. This was the first time that Jenny and the boys had seen the house, since Steven was the one who found it on his house hunting trip in February. It is a fixer-upper, so he was a little nervous about Jenny seeing it. But, of course, she loved it…though it does need a lot of work. The boys jumped out of the van and ran to the swing set, which the former owners left. Then they ran around with excitement exploring the 3 ½ acres of their beautiful new backyard. It is so quiet, you can hear the wind blowing through the trees. What a difference from our city life in Ontario, CA. We are venturing upon a new and different life as “country folk.” Lots to learn for us city slickers! We are very excited. Steven will be heading over to the house tomorrow to start working on it already. We are hoping that our moving truck will arrive tomorrow so we can unload it into the garage. Then Tuesday Steven plans to begin working. He will be working with our friend Fonzo, from our church here, trimming out new houses (putting in all the new cabinetry, doors, window casings, moldings, etc.). So, we have lots ahead of us. We’ll keep you posted on the progress with the house.