Baby Girl on the Way

Well we are officially on the countdown till Baby "J" is born. Only 4 weeks left!! We are getting very excited as we see the end of the road. We have been blessed beyond belief with 5 baby showers and so much wisdom and words of encouragement from friends and family. Our nursery is just about complete and Josh and I just finished our birthing classes. He has finals this next week and then will be off of the summer. I plan to work up until the due date, but will have 12 weeks off with the baby. We are looking forward to a nice relaxing summer and hope for a lot of visitors. If you don't have much going on and feel like visiting Texas we would love to have you!! The next post we make will probably be once she is born so keep a look out on you email which we will also be a sharing Baby "J"s name. We love you all so much and thanks again for all your gifts, encouragement, and support we have received from all of you. Here are a few pics from some of the baby showers and my pregnancy.

Ohio Baby Shower at my Moms

My little nieces and nephews

Woodville Grace Brethren also had a wonderful Baby Shower for us

Shower at Woodville

Guys from Josh's work had a diaper shower for us

We were also blessed with friends and family in Dallas and my coworkers who also had baby shower's for us which I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera to. :)

A friends here took a few pregnancy pics of us

She's getting big!!

Our nursery is just about complete!!

We had so much fun shopping for bright colors!!

Sex

What were you thinking this would be about?! Yea...well it's not about that. It's about our baby! We're having a little girl! Pretty pumped. Thanks for being happy with us! We are so blessed! Love you all!
Josh and Jenny

P.S. - any ideas on "J-names" for the lil lady?

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Hey ya'll (Yea we're converting to southerns)! Hope you're all doing awesome. We miss each of you and hope to see you soon!
Things are changing in big ways these days...mainly Jenny's belly that is. Jenny and I are doing all sorts of stuff to get ready for this little baby to come into the world. We're excited!
This past October I (Josh) got a part time job working for a company called Booster Enterprises (www.funrun.com). It was so cool how God provided this opportunity. The day that we found out that Jenny was pregnant this job opened up. God's so kind to us. The company is super-big on developing leadership skills in young Christian men. They also paid for me to go on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Pretty sweet deal!
The first trimester of Jenny's pregnancy was not terribly enjoyable for her at all. Nausea was an everyday/ twice a day thing for her. She really rocks though! The attitude that she maintained through those gray days was very encouraging to me. I do however remember her referring to painful pregnancy as a curse of the fall a number of times. I would just simply say "You shouldn't have picked the fruit darling." (NOT!)
After we pulled out of the 1st trimester tailspin we partied like there was no tomorrow. From work parties, to parties with friends and families, this Christmas was full of good times!

We really enjoyed spending time in North Carolina with the family. The Howlett house is always a place full of surprises around Christmas time. Our time there was filled with meaningful conversations, incredible food (Thanks so much Mom!), and plenty of time to just play and have fun (snowball fights, and great hikes). Also, Josh's home church, 1st Alliance, always goes above and beyond to show their love for us! We really enjoyed visiting with you all!

As we begin the new year, we've got one goal. We want to be people who are yeilded to God each day. If we can do that, he'll bring about better resolutions than we could ever think up ourselves. We hope you guys are doing the same! He's good and following Him is quite the adventure!

Mandi (Josh's younger sister) and Jenny

Josh, Grandma Howlett and Mandi

Tacky Christmas Party with Josh's work

DTS Friend's Annual Tacky Christmas Party

Top of Hanging Rock Mountain in North Carolina

Jenny, Josh, Robin (mom), Mandi, Uncle John and Aunt Mei

Aren't we starting to look like Texans?

Surprise

We've got big news as of right now. No, Josh did not flunk out of seminary...Jenny didn't get fired from her job...our identity hasn't been stolen as far as we know. Our big news is, we're having a baby! Jenny is currently 9 weeks pregnant and eating everything in sight. We had our first sonogram last week and saw our little peanut has a healthy heart rate (176). Jenny's due date is May 3oth. We are so thankful to God for blessing us!
This summer God made it really clear to us that He was ready for us to start a family. So...we were planning on getting pregnant. We are excited about this next adventure...also excited to enjoy the next 7 months of sleep.
For all you Ohio folks, we won't be making it home this Christmas, but hope to be there in March. We love you all and are excited to share this news with ya'll! Hope your lives are going great! We love you and look forward to the next time we'll see ya.

Summer Recap

Well school has started back up and Josh and I are getting back into our routines. We had a wonderful summer filled with countless hours of playing pool volleyball, hanging out with friends, short Texas road trips and of course for Josh Greek worksheets and me me my nursing job. Here are a few pics from our summer.

Pool volleyball outside our apartments

Barnum and Bailey Circus was in town so Josh and I went with a couple of friends.
It was a ton of fun!!

Watching Fireworks with some friends on the 4th of July

We went to a neighbors, 1 year of son's, b-day party where we were to
dress up like Bible characters.

Here is a picture of the floor I work on some of my coworkers

After Josh finished Greek for the summer we celebrated by taking a trip down to San Antonio with some friends who also just finished Greek.

The Alamo
(We now feel like we understand all of Texas' History)

)
River Walk (Miles of beautiful trails and restaurants beside the river)

Japanese Gardens, San Antonio

Spanish Missions

Well Josh is now busy taking his last Greek class, Hebrew 1, Biblical Counseling, Old Testament Poetry, and Angels and Demons. He is also starting his internship where he is going to start an outreach ministry where he is evangelizing to triathletes. We could definitely use your prayers that God would bless this ministry and that many of the people Josh is meeting will come to know the Lord through this outreach.
We both are getting ready to race in a triathlon on Sept 12. Josh will be doing the full event and I will be doing the biking portion of a relay with 2 other friends. We are excited for the opportunities that God is giving us to meet so many people and being able to use the gifts that he's blessed us with.
We love you all. Thanks for praying for us and remembering us. You all our so special to us.

Well so much has happened since my last post that I barely know where to begin. Josh just finished his first year at DTS. He is still enjoying learning and at times he is so into reading that I can barely pry a book out of his hands. (I didn't think I would be saying this a year ago). I am still working at Baylor University Hospital as a cardiac nurse. I am loving my job and am constantly challenged and always learning and growing as a nurse. This summer we had the opportunity to head up to Ohio for a week and catch up with our family and close friends. God blessed us with the opportunity to see so many people that we love and have missed. The following week we drove through Virginia and visited my aunt and her family, Josh's uncle and his beautiful new bride, and Josh's grandma. We had a great time together in our 40+ hours of driving. The following week Josh's family visited us in Dallas for Josh' s cousin's wedding in Tyler TX. They had a beautiful wedding and we were so blessed by the time spent with family and friends. Now Josh and I feel like we are back to reality. He is taking Greek 3 and 4 this summer, spending at least 50 hours a week studying and reading. He is enjoying it, but will be very relived when it is over. Here are some pics of our so far crazy summer. Hope you all are doing well.

Josh and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary in Fredricksburg TX. We stayed a night by lake Travis and hiked around at Enchanted Rock. We had a great time together.
Here is pic of the cute little Inn we stayed at.

Josh cliff jumping at Lake Travis

Hiking at Enchanted Rock State Park

Josh ran a Sprint Triathlon in March

Josh's good friend Jeff who also raced in the triathlon

Columbus Zoo with my family(little Violet smashed between us)

My niece, Lyla, who is now 1 year old

Jake and Violet celebrating their 3 year b-day in there new Texas cowboy hats

Katie and Violet

Hiking with Aunt Mei up Big House Mountain, Lexington VA

Top of Humpback mountain with my Aunt Cindy Uncle Eric, cousins Jamie and Cassie, and Jamie's boyfriend Ben

Josh's sister Mandi and our little nephew Holden

Josh's sisters Brooke and Mandi and our new sister-in-law Angel

Dancing at the rehearsal dinner

Josh's parents, grandmother and sisters

Even and Angel and the rehersal dinner

DTS Friends

I thought I would throw this pic in just so you guys would believe we do more than travel and have fun. :)