Seeing as Benjamin was born two months and *counts fingers* four days ago, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane and show you him then and now.

Yo! Long time no write.  I mean, LONG time no write! So sorry for leaving everyone hanging like that, but let's just say that life has not lent itself to eloquence and wordiness lately. That and the fact that my computer has going AWOL quite frequently. Believe me, y'all, you aren't the only on es who have gotten very little of me lately, lol!

I see that it's been some months since I last updated, so I guess it's good that there hasn't been _too_ much going on, lol. Not that we haven't had our fair share of minor excitements.

In February, we had work start on our basement, intending to to turn the space into an extra bedroom, a school room and a living space with a kitchenette...abona-fide bachelor pad down there. ;) It's taken some time, but it was finally finished this past week, with work culminating with the carpet being laid down. It's actually quite cozy down there, and it's so nice to have the additional space. Right now we're in the process of putting together furniture for the downstairs, some of which are bookshelves...my books have finally come out of boxes; the first time since I packed them up in November!WOOT!
The bedroom down in the basement is going to be the boy's room, an d the boy's old room upstairs is going to become the guest room/Mary and Esther's room. That will leave any given room with no more than three occupants, which is just astonishing for us, lol! We're loving the elbow room!

Mom's pregnancy is progressing nicely, and we're all excited at the prospect of a wee little boy...I did mention that we're having a boy, right? No? Well, we are! Trust me, we're quite "chuffed", if I may use the expression. The day we found out, mom went shopping and bought the cutest little boy clothes she could find...really helped to wrap our heads around the news, lol. Anyway, we're all eagerly anticipating the upcoming arrival of our newest little man. My heart is melting already, hehe!

In other exciting news, I was baptized a few weeks ago, April 20th. It's been a long road and a story which I won't take time to write down here, but let's just just say that I'd been waiting a loooong time for that day, and you can't imagine how happy I am to have finally done it! The actual baptism process went really well and nothing unusual occurred, except that I did receive a little memento that I had not been expecting, namely a nice big scrape on my left foot. I'm not sure at what point in the process it was acquired...the take at our church is pretty much made out of plywood, so I'm not at all surprised it happened at all. I was changing afterwards and I noticed a pink spot on my food; no big deal, and then I thought,hmm, why is there blood running down my foot?!? LOL! It's quite spectacular-looking, and it gives an interesting story to tell, hehe.

Oh, and i got my driver's permit a while ago...drivers of the world, beware. No, really...you know what they say about women drivers; well I don't know if that's true but it probably applies to me. >_< ;)

And now for some 'big' news, as some of you know already, mom and I are making a trip to California! May 13th-21st! Originally it was going to be just me going in June, but things didn't quite work out and mom decided that a trip (to Disneyland) would be therapeutic forpre-baby stresses, and so offered to come with me in May (so she could go to Disneyland) so I would have transportation, yadda yadda. No ulterior motives here, noooo. ;)

A shout-out to all my Southern California friends, if we can manage it, I'd love to meet up with any or all of you! Due to various reasons our schedule isn't exactly what I'd call flexible, but I'd love to see what we can work out. Mom doesn't want to do a whole lot of extra driving/side trips, so you'd probably have to come to where I'll be, instead of viceversa. The best days for me are the 14th and 15th (I'll be in the Moreno Valley area) and the afternoon of the 17th if I don't come up with something else to do, and I'll be in LA then. The other days are a little packed, but as I said, let me know what works for you and I can try and work something out on my end. :) Anyway, I'm super excited to be coming down to California and I'm looking forward to seeing y'all! :)

So now that I've got all the big news out of the way, I know you're all dying to know, "What's Illinois like? How's spring? What's the weather like up there?" (Or 'down', depending on your geographical location, ;) ).
It really is getting beautiful out here...we've gotten quite a good amount of rain, so everything is turning the most vibrant shade of green, and actually staying that way, lol. In California, it would turn green in early spring, but it never lasted long.
They don't call this the Windy City for nothing; the Santa Ana's have got nothing on these winds, baby! The other day we had a thunderstorm and were on tornado watch (!!!); quite the novel experience for us, and the wind was really blowing...my goodness, those were the strongest winds I have ever seen, bar none. There was a time when I was about to get into the car and the wind came rushing down, and I literally could not move for a few seconds. Definitely not something you experience every day in temperate California. ;)

Speaking of national phenomenons, I assume y'all have heard of the earthquake that rocked the Midwest a week ago? It's been quite the source of hilarity to me, to be sure. It's like we never left California, lol!!! Now mind you, I didn't actually feel the earthquake...it was at 4:30 AM, for pities sake; it would take a lot more than a little jolt to wake me up, lol. This really must be the mecca of strange weather; we have thunderstorms, tornadoes AND earthquakes; just throw a hurricane in there and hey, it's a complete set! ;)

Anyway, all that unpleasant stuff aside, it really is very beautiful out here. Every day I look around me and I think of how incredibly blessed I am...the Lord has been very good to us. Who would have ever thought I'd end up in a place like this? California and Illinois cannot be more different! I think I'm going to enjoy living out here...although I do miss my mountains...it's all prairie out here; couldn't tell you where even the nearest hill is! But besides, who needs MOUNTAINS when you have SNOW in the winter, for pities sake? ;)

To be sure, there are cons to very pro, and living out here is no exception. There aren't as many home-schooled families out here as there are in California (at least I haven't met as many), and you have no idea how frustrating it is to be shelling out real hard cash for a trip to California, that if I still lived there, would be merely a day jaunt and would cost barely anything. But all in all, I don't regret moving here,...we've only been here five months but I've enjoyed it so far, and I look forward to getting to know the area better in the coming years, Lord willing. This present year is shaping up to be quite the year...as I said before, the Lord has been very good to us!

Well, this has been quite lengthy so I'll stop now...thank you all for your patience, and I'll try not to be so lazy in updating in the future!

God bless!