What's New with the Egbert's

2011 is proving to be chaos. I get up at 6:00 am go to bed at 9:00 pm and by the time I get into bed I'm always momentarily shocked that the day is already over. It is during these busy times that I wish we lived closer to family. Living in Flagstaff has taught me a few major principles: how to rely on God and how to rely on my husband. From the time Jesse and I were married God has made it very clear that he has a plan for our family, and we just need to put our heads down and work.

I will never forget the time when we were living in Provo deciding on what graduate schools we should apply for. Jesse decided on 5 schools and sent in the applications. We felt good about the schools Jesse applied for, we put a lot of prayer and thought into them but one after another Jesse was turned down by all 5. I often reflect back at this experience and have come to the conclusion that the only way Jesse would have ever come to know of NAU is if he was turned down by all the schools he applied for. We had to be brought to our lowest point in order to find the right path. Sometimes it feels like all we can do is weather out the storm and hope that we endured it well. But the key is, did we endure it well?  I don't know exactly why I have been thinking about this experience. Maybe it's just because we are waiting to hear back about some very important things and I really don't want Jesse to be rejected again. Any who, moving on...

For the past few months Jesse has been working hard to secure our future. He applied and was accepted to take additional classes so he can get a certificate in statistics . This will allow Jesse to teach statistics on top of English and Linguistics. Also he has been working hard to present and publish his research. Just recently he went to New Orleans to present his research at a large conference with his group. He is also reviewing a book and hoping to get his review published. We have not heard back about the National Science Foundation Grant yet, but Jesse was offered the Applied Linguistics Doctoral Research Award of $4,000 per year for four years. Yay free money!!!

Landon just got put on the waiting list for pre-school. Jesse and I figured that he loves nursery so much he could probably use a few extra days a week where he can spend time with kids his own age. We have been working on Landon's room for some time now and just  finished.  Eventualy we would like to put Travis in that room so we had to get bunk beds and a big dresser. Landon is a very tidy little boy he is very particular how you clean his room. He likes his stuffed animals on one shelf and books on the others and his big bear and all of his blankets have to go on his bed.  I have had to be patient because I am just as particular and sometimes we clash in opinions.

Travis is happy and chubby, just my type of baby. He is growing and developing quickly. He rolls all over the place, sleeps through the night, eats solids, sits-up on his own and puts everything in his mouth. Travis looks up to Landon. It's really special to see how much Landon and Travis are learning from one another. Landon loves to make Travis laugh and each afternoon when Landon wakes-up from his nap he always goes and checks in on Travis before he comes down stairs to find me. I just love my boys.