Coming to a close

Ilana and I fly away tomorrow. Paul, with the dog and trailer, leave Friday morning. With these things in mind, Life at Baylor is quickly coming to a close. So, as is our custom, I've created a NEW BLOG. :) It's www.paulandheathermiller.blogspot.com. Check it out!!
Blogger allows you to buy a url so you don't have to use their "blogspot.com" tagline at the end, it's only $10 a year. But, being "frugal" as we are, and knowing that we don't mind letting Blogger get some credit for our blog, we decided against that option. So, read up, visit often, and onto the new blog!
-H
ps-sorry for the lack of pictures. We're down to using Paul's laptop and it doesn't have any pictures loaded onto it. I'll post some new pictures as soon as I can.

the adventure continues...

A lot of people have offered support and prayers for us in this time and we are so thankful. I cannot explain how "full" life was last week. In the midst of a vomiting toddler, Paul was offered 2 jobs, we were battling some pretty bad head colds and trying desperately to decide what was next on our journey. Well, Ilana is back to normal again, a decision has been made and we are off to Chicago. Paul accepted a job at Loyola University of Chicago as the director of their brand new outdoor adventure program. We are so excited! We know that all of Paul's past outdoor experience in the CCO's OLT and here with Baylor's outdoor adventure program, combined with his education have prepared him perfectly for this.
This decision does not come without grief in leaving our community here in Waco, and it still leaves us with tons of questions. Here is what we know about our future plans: Ilana and I will fly to Maryland on Thursday, May 27, where we'll stay until Paul and Moses (with the trailer) join us in a few days. Our house in Gettysburg is available as of June 6, so we will "move in" and be there until we head out to Chicago for Paul's July 1 start date. Loyola is providing us with temporary housing through mid-August if we need it, to give us time to find a place to live once we get up there.
If you're in TX, we'd love to see you to say good-bye, but these next few days will be hectic. So, please contact us and see when would be a good time.
If you're in MD or PA we'd love to see you while we're there, but as you can imagine, it will be a very busy month - going through our whole house deciding what we want to take and what we want to give away/sell/goodwill...what have you.
If you are in neither of these places, then you are just as important to us and we'd love for you to know what we're up to!
Thank you all, so much, for your support in this time. It has been a crazy month and we are excited to explore a new area of the country. I'll be updating our blog (obviously life at Baylor will be coming to an end), so check back for the upcoming changes.
In the meantime, we're doing our best to continue the packing process that started this past weekend (yes, in the midst of the graduation ceremonies and my birthday celebration), but we're also starting to get really excited about these next few months. Loyola - here we come!
-H

Guess who likes Oreos?

...when she's healthy of course.


Yes, she's "smiling" in this last one.
Now if we could just get her healthy again...
-H

Baby Update and shower pictures

So, here I am:
And here are the stats:

• How far along: 22 weeks
  
• Baby’s heart rate: in the 160's - exactly where it should be
  
• Total weight gain: 17 pounds
• Maternity clothes: nothing else at this point! I can wear my 3 largest non-maternity t-shirts, but everything else has got to be maternity.
• Sleep: I have good nights and bad nights, but I always get up at least once a night, usually around 3:45.
• Best moment this week: having nothing to do except sit and enjoy feeling this baby boy move all around. He must have tons more room (or he's just more active) than Ilana. It's so fun to notice their differences already.
• Movement: uh, yeah! All the time!
• Food cravings: ice cream!! I actually haven't had a pickle in quite a long time - crazy.
• What I miss: being able to cuddle Ilana really closely, she's running out of space on my lap. :(
• Weekly Wisdom: 2 things...
• Even if you try to enjoy some freedom, you can't ever lose the responsibility of being a parent. Twenty hours into our weekend celebration get-away to Austin, our overnight babysitter called to tell us that Ilana was throwing up. Needless to say, we were home that afternoon. We knew we made the right decision when she didn't stop smiling and hugging us when she met us outside. She's much better now, but we're still going to the dr's tomorrow.
  
• No matter how much coughing and hacking I do with this 10-day old cold that I have, this little boy seems to think I'm playing with him. According to my nurse mid-wife he's just "as happy as a lark in there!" Everything's already a game for this boy!
  

Now, for the shower...
A week ago the faculty-in-residence's wife, Hope, threw me the sweetest baby shower here on campus. Here she is dishing out punch for everyone.
We ate - the food was delicious!
We played games, including the "which smooshed/melted candy bar is that?!" Not recommended for the queasy-stomached.
We opened mostly gift cards and a few actual gifts. Due to our unknown future, Paul and I had requested gift cards - we got some great ones!
We generally had a great time.
To her credit, one woman, Beth, was not in this large group picture. Being a mom of 3, she included a small gift for Ilana in her gift. Just as Beth guessed, after seeing all the gifts from the shower, Ilana wanted to open them. So, right on cue, I gave Ilana her gift.
It was a baby doll complete with a backpack. She knew exactly what to do with it right away.
But, she may have enjoyed the ribbon better, I'm not sure.
I never would have imaged this kind of support 2 years ago. It was no small miracle in my mind to look around the room and know that these women are all so important to our family. We definitely found our "place" here in Waco and we are so thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness in helping us find it!
-H