6 Months!

Nolan turns six months old this week! We can hardly believe how quickly the time has flown by. This month he has been a very busy boy...learning how to roll over, working on sitting up (as you can see by the picture with his friend Elle), having his first tooth come in, "chattering" to us (with ever increasing volume!), sleeping better through the night, and going on his first hike seated in a backpack on Daddy's back.

One of Nolan's current favorite activities is to laugh at our dog, Lana, anytime she comes close to him. He thinks she is hilarious right now and giggles even more when she comes up to lick him on his hands or face. Lana is still ambivalent towards Nolan but has been very gentle with him. We love trying to catch these family moments on camera!

This month Aaron did some "substitute" preaching a couple weekends in southern AZ, and Lindsey has been busy back at work in the schools with the 35 or so kids on her caseload. Nolan and Aaron are having a great time together during the workweek, and Nolan has adjusted well to Lindsey being gone during the day (thankfully, we're all sleeping much better again!). Now that we've adjusted to the new routine, we are anticipating Aaron's placement in a synod and getting anxious to find out where the next place on our journey will be.

We were also able to travel to Pasadena to visit our good friends from Aaron's Fuller Seminary days and met baby Elle (above), Nikki and Luke's little girl who was born in June. Our friends, Becca and Andrew, are expecting in January and we were able to visit with them as well. Quite unexpected and very fun that all of us will have children within 1 year of each other! Below is another picture from our trip. Nolan loved going for a hike in the backpack on a trail by the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, CA.

The Last Two Months

Once again time is just flying by and we haven't been able to keep up with our blog entries. So, to catch you up to speed, here's our latest update in convenient, bullet point style.

• Lindsey and Nolan spent the majority of July back in Ohio, visiting friends and family, and escaping the terrible AZ heat.


• While they were gone, Aaron traveled to Romania. He worked at an orphanage/preschool for Gypsies (a heavily-oppressed minority population in Eastern Europe). It was a quick trip, but he enjoyed the opportunity to serve and hopes to return in the future. Check out the pictures by clicking here.
  


• Nolan was baptized at Lutheran Memorial Camp (the summer camp where Lindsey and Aaron met). Aaron, fresh off the plane back from Romania, performed the baptism. Rain almost moved the service inside, but beautiful weather busted through at just the right time. We had a blast seeing a lot of family at the baptism. Click here to see some pictures.
  


• Lindsey completed her two-year Master's degree program at San Jose State University. We met both sets of parents in Northern California and had a wonderful week-long vacation. Everyone enjoyed seeing Lindsey "walk" at her commencement ceremony (carrying Nolan as she received her diploma - how symbolic!)


• Aaron finished up his year-long internship at Desert Cross Lutheran Church at the beginning of August. He is thankful for all the opportunities to learn and grow; and he feels much more prepared to serve as a pastor.


• After five months off, Lindsey returned to her job as an Occupational Therapist with the Tempe Elementary School District. She was pleasantly surprised at how it felt nice to be back in the routine and talk with someone more conversationally-engaging than Nolan; but already feels just a little overwhelmed with the workload.
  


• Since Lindsey is back to work, Aaron has been a full-time stay at home dad. It took a while to get on a new schedule, but both Nolan and Aaron are enjoying their time together. Nolan sure misses his mommy though; he has started waking up often in the middle of the night just to spend "quality time" with Lindsey.


• Nolan is growing like crazy. He's now five months old and weighs 15 lbs, 10 oz. He looks more and more adorable every day and he enjoys showing off his smile to everyone.
  


• As of right now, Nolan is in the midst of his first cold. He's not too terribly upset, but he's obviously not 100%. He just alternates between light napping, coughing, sneezing, grunting, and rubbing his nose and eyes. We broke down and bought a humidifier to help out with the adverse effects of the AZ dry heat.


• Aaron spent the weekend back in Ohio, interviewing with the Ohio candidacy committee. He was approved for ordination, which means that he is eligible for a congregation to call him to be their pastor. At the end of the month, we will be assigned to a region of the country. In the following weeks we will then be placed in a "synod" and will hopefully have some congregations requesting an interview. We'll definitely post that info as soon as we can, so keep checking our blog for updates!

Don't forget, you can always see Nolan's latest photos by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/acstamper