Gem's napping and I'm sitting here without much to do, so I thought a quick update might be in order. I can't think of much to say right now, but I don't want to just let this fall by the wayside.
Ever since I said Gemma was walking, she's been nothing short of a pro at it. She takes after her Daddy in all things physical. She puts her little mind to something and can do it pretty much on the first shot. She runs around, is already working on jumping, climbs like a monkey, can throw a ball and even kick one really well---even little tiny ones! That should come much later, from what I understand. Maybe she'll play soccer. I'd rather her do that than dance, I think. Unfortunately, while she takes after John in the ability to do the things she wants quite well, she somehow also got my gene for being incredibly accident prone. How one child could possess both traits, I'll never understand. She's constantly covered with bumps and bruises, but it's from her neverending sense of adventure and desire to try new things. She'll fall or tumble or flip but she scrambles right back up and keeps going, laughing all the way.
Gem's still more physically advance than verbally, but she's working hard at it every day. She'll say her little baby words and have such a look of concentration that I know she thinks she's saying something. Or trying. The other morning--it was the first day John and I had the opportunity to sleep in (past 6, at least) in weeks and we just weren't functioning as early as she would've liked us to have been. Anyway, she was rolling around in the bed with us and I set her on the floor and told her to go get a book, hoping that would distract her for a few minutes. (When her bookshelves catch her eye, she'll spend a good 15 minutes pulling them all out and looking at them.) Well, she toddled off into her room (connected to ours, she was safe!) and a minute later she's smacking me with a little Dr. Seuss, saying "Buh, mama! Buh!" I, of course, was so excited that I didn't care about sleeping anymore. She's been telling the dogs "No, no, no!" for a while, but just this morning they were barking and she stopped playing, marched over to the gate, looked at them with a mean face and yelled "Shush!" It was the cutest thing.
She's also doing a lot more imitating/learning. I put my socks on the bed today and as I put one on, she put the other on her foot. She helps me when I dress her... She'll hold one little leg out and then the other. She can drink out of a big kid cup pretty well, but still uses sippies most of the time. She's learned to flush the toilet, which can be kind of annoying.
August starts in two days which means it won't be much longer till we get a yes or no from the two apprenticeships for which John applied. I can't believe the time's finally here and I'm starting to get more and more nervous to hear the answers. We've been working really hard this summer though on acceptance and faith. Before, we would have been severely depressed and angry if neither of them worked out and it most likely would've have a big impact on our marriage. We, of course, hope that he gets offered at least one of them and are very optimistic. That said, though, we know God will take us down whatever path we're supposed to be on, steamfitters or not. If, for some reason, he's denied from both, we'll be sad but we'll keep pushing onward and eventually He'll reveal to us whatever window is out there.
We're also trying to apply that mentality to our next pregnancy, as well. We both desperately want to have another baby, have for a while. We said we'd start trying in August and were really tempted to just go for it this month. We've been trying really hard to discern our own desires from what we feel God is telling us to do, though. When I say we need to wait until we find out if he got the job, John will argue that having a baby would show faith that God will open the door and that we'll be okay. I'll counter that maybe it's a big lesson in teaching me patience, which is a virtue I lack. I don't know. We're praying and listening and, for now, waiting. When we talked about trying back in June, I said that I felt like we were supposed to wait, but not long. A few months maybe. I think we should have the rest of our lives ironed out in the next month or two and then it'll be time. We'll see.
Should we decide to go ahead with another baby while we still live here, we'll be putting some walls up upstairs. Gem and another can definitely share the nursery, it's plenty big enough. Besides, we like the idea of them being close when they're little. We'd want to close the wall off between our rooms, though. Not only for noise control (when the baby would be in with us and up all night), but also simply because the added wall space would come in extremely handy when it's time to put more furniture in there. Then we'd put up a dividing wall in our room and make the living space bigger and close our bedroom part off. We don't want to put a lot of money into this place, but we're trying to last here as long as we can so that when we do go, it'll be with a lot more resources to do what we want without taking on a lot of debt.
Speaking of which, John working this second job has been a Godsend when combined with our new attitudes and outlook on our financial life. We are chipping away at what we do owe people and can see the light at the end of the (very, very long) tunnel! Our credit cards are almost completely paid off and will not be used anymore, except for emergencies. (Though as soon as we get out from under this, we'll be saving up a big emergency fund so that cash will be available in those circumstances in the future.) We only owe his lawyer $250 more and my previous medical bills are down to less than $500! Once we take care of all that, we're going to start putting everything we can into paying off my car and then roll all of that into paying off his student loans. After that, we can officially say we're debt free. We're so excited about life now that we have a plan and motivation. We don't feel the despair or frustration we used to.
Also! We sent in the last ever probation payment a few days ago! John's probation is up in less than a month and on August 18th he has a hearing to wipe his record clean. Talk about a fresh start.
Oh, ha. (Didn't I say I didn't have much to say?) John got his Trooper! After weeks (maybe months) of search ads and having things fall through, he spotted a Craigslist ad minutes after it was posted for a 1991 Isuzu Trooper (pretty much exactly what he'd been looking for) in great shape with low mileage for $700! In Anne Arundel Co. We went to see it the next day and John ended up buying it. It had sat in the guy's yard for like a year because he had a big problem getting the title from the previous owner (in Montana, so no rust!). It turned out that the fuel pump was busted, so he knocked $100 off. It's an easy fix. The interior is perfect, we spent an afternoon having fun cleaning every little nook and cranny and it looks new. Well, except for the fact that it's old. The only other thing it needed is a paint job, which John had planned to do anyway because he had a specific color in mind anyway. He's going to do that soon and get it running and then over time restore everything. I'm happy he's happy and that he has a little project.
Well, I guess I'll stop now. Gem's waking up and I'm sure is starving. It's an hour past lunch. Back soon with good news, hopefully!
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