Miami!

Tomorrow morning Bekah and I board a plane for 3 1/2 days of pure sunny bliss in Miami, Fl. Thanks to a generous donor offering us his condo, cheap flights from Indianapolis, and willing grandparents to watch our 3 kids, we're able to take our first vacation 'just us' since our honeymoon (7 years ago). 

It still hasn't sunk in that we'll be traveling with only a carry-on, free of car seats, strollers, diapers, sippy cups, and bags of kid's snacks. It's still surreal to consider large portions of time to actually read, to snooze on the beach, or to eat a long, quiet meal. [Insert 'ahhhhhh' here]

If you think about it, pray for our kids in our absence. We'll benefit immensely from the time away to refresh, but we want them to do well without us. 

Miami or bust!

Rubba Dub Dub

Eloisa and Johanan are two peas in a pod. My mom watched all the kids Sunday night and she said Isa and Johanan were 'wound!' :)

Isa watching Winnie the Pooh with Uncle Josh.

Hey Jackson and Matea, we could easily fit two more kids in this tub!!!

Church Playground

My brother, his wife, and their two kids from Alaska are visiting OH. My mom has five kids, 3 yrs and under, sleeping in her house (4 cribs in one house-ha!). Fun chaos! It has been rainy and cold-big bummer-so yesterday Drew and I took our 3 kids and my nephew and niece to the church where Drew used to be a pastor. It's the nicest indoor playground I've ever been too. Drew and I might have had more fun than they did.

Benjamin used to be so timid and scared but he led the pack all over the playground yesterday.

The two younger ones spent a lot of time just looking out the windows.

Johanan and Isa were just a tiny bit too short for the climb up to the huge slide so they would help boost and pull eachother up. It was so cute.

Sock Monkeys

Drew's mom made Samuel a sock monkey for his birthday. Benjamin already has a sock monkey from Nana so he was very excited that his little brother now has one too.

Oooooklahoma!

We just returned from a short, but meaningful time visiting Drew's extended family. The kids did great, and loved being down there.

Sam having a good laugh with his Pawpaw Bill:

Snacks with Grandma Peggy:

The town of Cyril has a nice park, so the kids were able to get out and enjoy some sunshine!

It was such a nice day we had a picnic at the park with 'Grandma Babe' (Drew's Grandma Moser).

Isa and Pawpaw Bill definitely bonded this week. She was on his lap or playing with him just about every second.

We also got to meet the newest member of the Brown family. Drew's cousin and his wife just had a baby girl, Audrey, and were gracious enough to let Isa hold their beautiful 4 day old daughter. She loves babies.

Of course, we had to get a Moser picture:

Sam's incredibly active these days, so his moments 'in lap' were few, but he was good enough to spend some time in Grandma Babe's lap.

Isa? Well...how can you not laugh at Isa?

Benjamin being quite the gentleman:

Benjamin and Drew (another Drew in the family) decided to 'moo' at Pawpaw Bill's cows, in hopes of getting them to come up to the fence. Unbelievably, it worked! Every single one of them headed in and just stood and stared at them-occasionally mooing back. Benjamin was so excited.

And...the Brown picture.

This picture of Ben was so cute, I just had to throw it in.

Untitled from drewandbekah on Vimeo.

[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click HERE to give online.]

Easter

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!" Luke 24:1-6

Gives me goose bumps! Praise Him!

Saturday after breakfast the kids hunted around the house for Easter baskets. Though it doesn't look like it from the picture below, they were each very excited about their books and sat through Jamberry, The Napping House, and The Tale of Three Trees.

Showered with kisses.

Sam got to open a belated birthday present from Gramma Pam.

We tried to get a picture of the kids all dressed up. Benjamin is reminding me more and more of my brothers-always acting like a big goof in pictures.
I have no idea what Isa and Benjamin are yelling about in this picture.
We'll try again next year! :)

More Samshine

I just downloaded pictures from our camera and these were taken the day before we left for OH.

Sam's friend, Grey, also handed down this little push toy to Sam. We have two of these type of toys in OH but forgot to bring them out to Vancouver with us because Sam was just a newborn when we moved. He kept Kristi busy racing up and down the hallway and looking to her for help every time he got stuck.

Password: Moserkids

Push Toy from drewandbekah on Vimeo.

Toot Scoot

Thanks for your prayers! We are all back in OH. Drew had an uneventful 3 day drive-an introvert's dream. My mom and I had a long (Isa did better than at Christmas with only about three 5-10 minute bursts of screaming.) day of traveling on Sunday and it took mom and I a few days to recover but the kids bounced right back.

It snowed the first two days we were back in OH, but thankfully the past two days have been sunny and beautiful. Drew and I busted out a little surprise for the kids. We see these Toot Scoots all over Vancouver. Kids younger than Isa just fly around on them. It is going to take the kids awhile to get the hang of running and then lifting up their legs and balancing but when they do I think they'll have a blast.

Password: Moserkids


Toot Scoot from drewandbekah on Vimeo.

Moving Up

Sam's friend, Grey, handed down his crib to Sam this afternoon. (We miss you buddy!)  So bye bye Pack N Play and hello big boy crib.  He once slept in a Pack N Play in our closet and now gets to bunk with his big brother in a real crib.  Yay Samuel! 

Last sleep in his Pack N Play:

We will be on the road at 6:00am tomorrow headed to the airport.  Pray for safe flights and cooperative children and for protection over Drew as he drives the 36 hours to OH by himself. 

 
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click HERE to give online.]

It's Farewell

Heidi (in the middle in the brown shirt) started this sketch back in June of the 7 apprentices and kids.  Looking at it now it is amazing to me that she was able to portray us all so well even though she hadn't known us long at that point.  She just showed us all the finished product and I just had to laugh out loud.  Benjamin is rubbing his ear, Isa is running off to who knows where and Sam, sweet Sam, is behind Ken and Brittney.  There may have been a time or two in our first month here when neither Drew nor I remembered where we had set down his car seat.  Sam may or may not have been in it when we couldn't find it.  What a year.  One we will never forget (or want to do over).  We'll miss you guys.

Steps

Samuel has been taking 2-3 steps for a couple of weeks but then he always drops down into a crawl because it's faster. This past weekend at our retreat he was a little more patient and was taking 4-5 steps at a time before he would take off crawling.

Password: Moserkids


Sam's Little Steps from drewandbekah on Vimeo.

Closing Retreat

We just got back today from our closing retreat.  We have been blessed in countless ways by this group of apprentices these past 10 months and we are sad to say good-bye.  After our commissioning dinner on Friday, the 7 of us are heading in 5 different directions (thankfully the couples are going in the same direction): France, India, LA, Dallas, and we are staying in Vancouver.  

Samuel is a big fan of green beans.  The bowl was within his reach so he just helped himself.

Eloisa was a big help in the kitchen this week.  Rinsing dishes was her favorite part of meal time.  

Benjamin and his friend Ava.  

Anjali brought along stencil tattoos for the kids and they were thrilled. 

Kat was nice enough to let Benjamin paint a tattoo on her face. 

The kids loved the window seat in the dining area so we tried to get a nice picture of them all together.  

Sam spotted me holding up Molly on the other end and took off crawling out of pure jealousy.

By the time Sam got himself into position, the rest of the kids were done.