Merry Christmas & Caleb's Baptism

Let me start by saying "Merry Christmas" to you from all six of us.

Things are a little crazy for us right now. First of all, we've sold our house, and we have to be out the day after Christmas. We have been busy packing and moving while trying to keep up with everything else. We'll be living with Suzanne's parents for a little while (probably around one year).

In the midst of it all, last Sunday (Dec. 16), after the kids' Christmas play at church, Caleb approached his mom about asking Jesus into his heart. Mommy talked with Caleb about everything, and Caleb made the decision to be saved. He wanted to be baptized in our church before leaving, and he wanted his Pa (Suzanne's dad) to baptize him. Fortunately, we were able to work out all of the details, and Caleb was baptized today (Dec. 23) on our last Sunday at our church by Pa. The video is included below this post.

We all hope you enjoy your Christmas holiday! Take care.

Veteran's Day

It's getting late; it's not been long since I came home from work. I usually don't use this blog as a forum to post things that are not directly related to our family (pictures, stories, etc.), but sometimes my mind keeps going even when my body is tired. Tonight is one of those nights.

I can probably count on my hands the number of country music songs I would admit to liking, and I never listen to it on the radio. About a week ago, when I was scanning through the radio stations on my way home from work, I heard a song that has become stuck in my head. I heard it again tonight on my way home from work. It's called "If You're Reading This." If you've not heard it, click "Play" below.





To me, this song drives home a point that I so often forget. Halfway around the world, soldiers are living and fighting, and some are dying in a war they may or may not believe is right. Their children are being born or maybe graduating from high school. Their lives continue at home with or without them.

Regardless of how bad my day has been for any reason, I come home to the same house where my wife and children are sleeping each and every night. I recently saw the birth of my fourth child, and I held him shortly thereafter. I was there to hear the first words and see the first steps. How fortunate am I.

Veteran's Day was Monday...it is a holiday that often gets lost in between Halloween and Christmas. We should take time to be thankful for those who serve and have served and remember them in our prayers. We should also be thankful each day we are given, that our lives were not required of us that day.

Welcome Joshua Benjamin!

On October 27, at 5:59 pm, we welcomed our latest (and last?) addition to the West family...Joshua Benjamin. Caleb and Miriam both independently confirmed to me that Joshua was their first choice for a name. Suzanne said she couldn't single out one from her short list of preferred first names, but she wanted Benjamin as the middle name. So, there you have it... Joshua Benjamin West. We plan on calling him Joshua.

Mom and baby are both healthy, and we arrived home from the hospital this evening. Dad is also doing fine, thanks for asking. Joshua weighed in at 7 lbs., 10 oz., and he was 20.5" in length. Believe it or not, Nathanael has been surprisingly gentle with Joshua and likes to hold his little brother. I have posted a few pictures in our family photo album (link to the right). I hope to post a video when I have the chance. Keep checking back for updates!

Quick Note

Just a reminder - our web page (www.thewestfam.com) goes offline tomorrow (Sept. 26). We will not be renewing the hosting for that web page, and all future updates/pictures will be posted here. If you had that page bookmarked, please change it to this one. Feel free to email us if you have any questions. Thanks!

Vacation

Ah, yes...vacation. Very few things in life create such an emotional conflict as vacation. It's vacation for which you plan then have everything turn to chaos, when you get to both enjoy and want to strangle your children, when you and your spouse are at each other's throats one moment and hugging the next, and when you're glad you're not at work but sometimes wish you were.

We recently returned from a vacation to Orlando, FL. While there, we visited Disney's Magic Kingdom, MGM, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, as well as Sea World. All in all, the kids were great and held up well considering the long drive. I only had to threaten their lives once the entire trip.

Suzanne and I enjoyed watching our kids enjoy themselves. Because her parents went along with us, we were able to take Nathanael. He had a blast and was a real trooper. I think Caleb enjoyed the rides...Mission Space and Test Track at Epcot, the river rapids at Animal Kingdom, Star Tours at MGM, and Splash Mountain (his favorite), Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom. Miriam had fun on the rides, too (especially Peter Pan, It's a Small World, and Winnie the Pooh), and she even rode and liked Test Track at Epcot! I think she liked the characters the most. Nathanael's favorite ride was Dumbo (he liked to go up and down in rapid succession!). He also likes to flirt with pretty ladies (young or old). We all got tickled at how he's able to distinguish attractive females from those who aren't.

We've posted pictures from our trip - click the "Family Photo Album" link to the right of this page to see them. We hope you enjoy them almost as much as we did making them!


----------------
Now playing: Shane and Shane - Beauty for Ashes
via FoxyTunes

New Arrival

Yes, Suzanne is pregnant (she's due November 6). No, this is not the new arrival.

Sometime in the spring, a kitty walked up to our house and decided to hang out for a while. Dad told Mommy and the kids not to feed her or give her water, because maybe she would return home. Well, after a few days, Kitty was still with us, and Dad didn't want to see Kitty die due to starvation/dehydration. So we bought some cat food, and Kitty was ours. Miriam couldn't have been happier.

Well, Kitty's girth began to increase late this summer, and shortly before we went on vacation, Kitty had babies. There are five in all. Miriam couldn't have been happier. They currently reside in our garage, but we've told Miriam that she will have to pick one kitty out of the litter. The rest will be given to friends and family.

Welcome!

This is our first attempt at a blog. The reason we're doing this is three-fold:

1. I (Jobe) am the only one who is able to make updates to our family web page. Due to my work/school schedule right now, I am unable to stay on top of it as much as I would like. I'm hoping to teach Suzanne how to post here and add new photos to Shutterfly (see link to the right), so she can help me keep everything more current.
2. It will be about 100 times less time consuming to do this than to teach her HTML (how to build/maintain a web page).
3. It takes less time to add photos/thoughts/updates here than it does to our web page, so we're hoping to be able to update it more frequently than we did our web page.

Anyhow, we hope you enjoy our latest venture out into cyberspace. Be sure to check out the links to the right (our web page - which has not been updated recently - and our family photo album with Shutterfly - which I updated today!). I cannot make any absolute promises, but I/we hope to have new updates at least monthly.

Take care,

Jobe


UPDATE - I just received notice that our web page (www.thewestfam.com) expires September 26. We are choosing not to renew it. We will be using this site for all future updates. Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!