Do you have this yet?????

Helping our friends Steph and Daneel move today, I found out that not everyone knows about this amazing product.  I have had a few favorite cleaning supplies, but this little piece of foam is truly a wonder.  It makes cleaning tubs and showers so much easier, and I know I will use it more and more now that my little man is getting better at drawing on things we don't want him drawing on. 

Just thought I would share.  :-)  Brandon was against me using my blog for advertising, but I think that everyone needs one.  

Have a happy Tuesday!  

p.s.  Steph and Daneel, we already miss you!  And Kyle and Chrissy, we hope to see you guys soon.  :-)

Longs Peak

When we were at our National Staff Conference in 2005, Brandon and I climbed Longs Peak.  I did some scrapbook pages tonight, and this was a fun one to do.  Almost all of the pages I have done so far are about Caleb, so it has been fun doing some of our pre-Caleb days lately.  

We are still house hunting.  We have found a few we like, but we do want to make a financially wise decision.  We would really appreciate prayer.  THANKS!

American Idol: The Toddler Edition

On Tuesday night, Brandon and I watched a little of the American Idol finale.  Caleb was fascinated.  

You see, our little boy is quite the musician...if you want to call it that.  In an earlier post I mentioned his obsession with guitars.  He loves them.  He pretends to strum when he hears music or whenever he sees someone playing.  He has grown more and more attached to his little guitar, and he always has to play for our friends when they come over. 

Lately, we have been blessed more frequently by his singing skills as well.  Just as I am not sure where he first saw someone playing guitar, I have no idea where he learned how to hold a microphone.  But all of the sudden, he has started singing into his fist.  It is really pretty hilarious. 

After a song or two on American Idol, Caleb had the moves down.  As we were putting him to bed, I took the photos below as he sang on his changing table.  He was really getting into it.  I told him that he could even be "the next American Idol."  I don't know if I will tell him, however, that he has just about the worst musical genes in the world.  At least the genes I gave him anyway.  Poor kid.  So, I guess we could see just how far pure practice and hard work can take you.  :-) 

Seriously, how can such a little person make us laugh so hard?

  

The photos above were taken as we were getting him ready for bed Tuesday night.  The photo below was taken this morning after he woke up.

There is never a dull day in the Pelton household. 

Our Little Ringbearer

Pierce and Holly were married on Saturday.  It was an incredibly beautiful outdoor wedding in Old Mesilla, and Holly was breathtaking.  

Our little boy did surprisingly well as the ring bearer. After falling asleep in Denise's car right before naptime, he never did take a real nap after that.  As a result, we had a very fussy, crying little boy for the two hours before we needed to be there.  We almost had to bail out of the wedding. 

It's always crazy to me how God cares about the things we care about.  After praying, Caleb soon calmed down and was able to participate in the wedding with no problems.  He fulfilled his job requirement and was super cute in his little tuxedo...which someone commented was the smallest tuxedo he had ever seen.  

Pierce and Holly are recent graduates of NMSU and will be joining our team as interns in the fall. 

Congratulations, Pierce and Holly!  WE LOVE YOU!

...and does anyone know how to spell ring bearer?  Is it two words or one?

House Hunting

We started looking at houses on Saturday, and it was fun...and funny.  The only house we were interested in is under contract, and so we will keep looking.  We believe God has a place for us, so please pray in this process.  

Tomorrow we are going to look at a house that some friends from church will be selling.  It is close to campus but probably out of our price range.   We'll see.  

Our Anniversary

Brandon and I were married 4 years ago today on top of a mountain in the Smokies.  It has been an incredible four years...and they have gone so fast.  

Friends

My second attempt at digital scrapbooking.  It is definitely a lot faster...and cleaner...than the real thing.  :-)

This picture of our staff women was taken in Saint Louis...directly under the arch.  I really liked the light, and they posed for me.  I am so grateful for these women. 

Good News

Brandon met with the hematologist today, and he had some good news for us. Although Brandon tested positive for a gene that makes him predisposed to DVTs, the doctor today made it clear that it is not the big deal it originally appeared to be. It is pretty common, actually, and it doesn't mean that he will be on blood thinners for the rest of his life...as our general practitioner thought he would be.

So, we were excited about that...and very grateful. Please continue to pray that his clot goes away uneventfully. They are still monitoring his blood clotting level and will continue to do so throughout the summer.

I love this face.

Have you noticed?

Hope and Barry Visit

Brandon's parents, Hope and Barry, came to visit this week.  They were in Albuquerque for a bowling tournament and were able to drive down and spend a few days in our little piece of the desert. 

We had a great time with them.  They are always so easy and fun to be around.  We ate a lot, shopped, blew lots of bubbles, and played several games of Cribbage.  We even made a trip to White Sands National Monument...a trip that ended unfortunately with us eating in the car due to a windstorm pelting the beautiful white sand in our food and faces.  It was still a good time nonetheless.  

We love having family visit...especially since we probably won't be making our annual summer trips out their way.  Thanks so much, you guys, for a wonderful visit.  

WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Mother's Day

This is my very first attempt at digital scrapbooking.  It was a lot of fun once I finally learned a few things.  I am very bad at getting cards in the mail in time, so this might be our future.  :-)  

It has been a while since I have updated our blog, but I did want to share some of what is going on with Brandon.  The doctor did end up recommending that we stay home this summer.  It was a very good recommendation, as it turns out, because we received a call on Friday that Brandon does have some sort of genetic predisposition to blood clots.  We will know more tomorrow, but it might mean that he will need to be on blood thinners indefinitely.  He will need to see a hematologist soon.  

Please pray for my sweet husband.  We do know that God desires to use this in our lives, so please pray that we will trust Him with all this.  I don't know what people do without Him. 

Isn't God creative?

Lindi and I went to a little park yesterday to take some pictures.  She is studying photography, and she is AMAZING.  So, it was a lot of fun hanging out and playing with our cameras.  We talked some about how much fun it is to try to capture in a photo even a little bit of God's glory in what He has made.  I just love how creative He is.  The morning was a little too chilly for me, so we ended up spending most of the hour talking in my car.  Thanks for letting me into your life, Lindi.  I very much enjoyed it. 

Thanks to everyone for the notes and emails about Brandon.  We really appreciate your prayers.  Tomorrow we have an appointment that will help determine a lot.  Thanks!

Please pray...

After the triathlon, Brandon started feeling a strong pain in his calf. A few days after making an appointment to get it checked out, he almost cancelled it. The pain was feeling a lot better, and it seemed like the visit would end up being a waste of money. He ended up deciding last minute to go...a decision that was definitely led by the Lord.

Brandon has a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). It is a blood clot. The doctor was really surprised at the ultrasound results, and he put him on blood thinners that night. Brandon has been giving himself shots twice daily. He will be taking the pills for at least three months.

We're really, really grateful for the diagnosis. It can be very dangerous if left untreated, and many doctors don't recognize blood clots when they see them in someone as young and active as Brandon.

Please pray for my husband to get better. We have another appointment at the end of the week to see how his blood is clotting...or its thinness level...or something along those lines. It will determine a lot.

We are now trying to determine our summer plans...and we ask you to pray for that as well. We were planning on helping staff the Myrtle Beach summer project on the 27th, but now we don't know if we can anymore. The doctor advised us against the travel...both the 3-4 day road trip we were planning to get out there and the multiple plane trips that would be necessary because Brandon can't be in a car for that long. He also has to get checked out weekly by our doctor.

Writing out all the reasons why Myrtle isn't a good idea seems to make it obvious what we need to do. We would just be so sad not to get to spend the summer with the other amazing staff (and students) who will be there. I was getting really excited to see what God had in store...and much of my family is out there as well.

So, again, please pray for my husband and his health...as well as for guidance for us. God is amazingly great at answering prayer. THANKS!

These are a few random family shots...including Caleb pre- and post-haircut. In the bottom picture, he was giving rides to his koala bear, brown bear, and rabbit on his fire engine. He then took a rest on my lap. I love when he does that.

Happy Birthday, Em!

Emily is one of my best friends in the whole world, and I am so grateful that she was born.  We were on STINT together in Guadalajara, and I miss her way too much.  She lives in Chicago now, and this photo happened when I saw her last summer when we were there briefly for a wedding. 

I LOVE YOU, EM! 

Lambda Chi High Alpha

Brandon has been very involved this last year in the Lambda Chi fraternity here on campus.  He was a Lambda Chi at K-State, and he has loved getting to know the guys at the NMSU chapter.  On Saturday night, we went to their White Rose Formal.  It was our third year going, but this year was really fun for me.  I loved seeing him interact with all of the guys.  

A part of the evening involves an awards ceremony.  The last formal award of the evening was for the High Alpha award, a recognition chosen by the chapter president.  As Nate, the president, was sharing about the recipient (an alum who had contributed significantly to the chapter this year, who was not even a part of the chapter), I started hearing guys all over the banquet room whispering to each other, "It's Brandon!"  "Brandon." 

When they said his name for the award, I wanted to cry.  It was so fun to see him recognized for something he loves so much.  I am very grateful for all the ways in which the Lord has blessed my husband's job this year.  He has loved it more than ever before.  Thanks, God.  :-)

I didn't edit this photo very well.  The red eye fix made these poor men look like aliens.  They don't really look like that.  I brought our old camera to the event.  Sorry. 

A Quick Video

This is a video that we took on our point and shoot camera in October. There is no sound, and the quality is pretty bad. I still haven't figured out how to put videos from our video camera on the computer, so it will be a while. Sorry, Mom and Dad. :-)


The theme for our Fall Festival was the Old West. Caleb dressed up as a horse. He was still crawling at that time, so it was quite a comical scene.  He looked just like a horse.  His tail even wagged.  Enjoy.

Our little boy...

is a great sleeper!  He started sleeping through the night when he was ten weeks old, and he has been a pro sleeper ever since (like his parents).  :-)  He currently is napping three to four hours a day, and I am starting to wonder if I should let him sleep that long.  Any thoughts?

These are some pictures I took of Caleb when we had to go wake him up from his nap so we could meet someone at the park.  Brandon and I love to go get him when he is sleeping or when  he is awake because he is almost always in a good mood...as seen below.  The bear was Brandon's when he was a little boy, and Caleb loves it.  

We took two trips to the park yesterday.  In the morning, we went to the park down our street so that Caleb could run and play.  In the afternoon, we went to a park on campus to meet up with a woman and her son that we had met last week at that same park.  They are from Cameroon, and we really enjoyed meeting them.  I think there was a miscommunication because they didn't make it.  But, we ended up meeting a Mexican woman and her grandson. So, we had lots of fun anyway.  Caleb and Rodrigo were quick to play in the dirt together.  Such boys!  

Caleb is shirtless because he was unfortunately in the path of bird poop and therefore had to have his shirt removed.   :-(  Rodrigo is wearing a very warm fleece jacket though it was in the 80s.  I love how different the Mexican culture is.  Not wrong, just different (as all my STINT training repeatedly informed us).   

Settlers

When we were engaged, I remember telling Brandon that I am not competitive.  I lied.  Or, at least I soon found out something new about myself...I do like winning.  

Brandon introduced me to Settlers of Catan.  He was already addicted, and I was soon to follow.  I thoroughly enjoyed beating him on the rare occasions that it happened.  After four years of marriage, we still love playing games.  Last night, Brandon beat me twice at Settlers, and I am about to go beat him at Cribbage.  :-)

Balloons in books...and some pics from the park today...

Caleb has really been enjoying Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton lately.  He particularly loves to point out the telephone, the sun, the moon, the hats and the balloons...all words  he has been learning lately.  It is super cute.  In fact, he is amazingly good at finding balloons not only in books but in Wal Mart as well.  He is on the hunt as soon as we walk in the door, and he goes crazy when he finds the lost balloons that are hiding up in the rafters.  I like balloons now too because they keep my child occupied while we're grocery shopping.  He calls them "oooooons." It's also not uncommon for us to come home with a free balloon that someone has given us because a certain little boy has freaked out upon seeing it.  :-)

We have a park near our house where we go regularly to let Caleb run.  My parents have expressed a desire to see more pictures of Baby Pelton (as my dad calls him).  So, here you guys go.  :-)

Caleb put a feather in his mouth, and he poured a handful of dirt and sand in his hair.  Gross.

Thanks, Mamie, again for the new shoes.  We love them.  :-)

Celebration Banquet

So, after the triathlon I wasn't sure I could get much prouder of Brandon. Tonight, I was reminded of how wrong I was...and how truly blessed I am that I get to be married to him.

We had our Cru Celebration Banquet this evening. It is our annual fundraiser for all of the expenses we as an organization have throughout the year, and it was an incredibly affirming night for us. Brandon spoke first about the changes we made to Cru, and his passion really came out tonight. It is so exciting and fun for me to see him love being on campus this much. I wish that everyone could have been there to hear him speak. As I mentioned before, I was so proud of him.

I wish I could accurately put into words all that God did tonight. I can't. There really aren't words to express how truly good He is. I can share one pretty crazy thing He did though. After taking care of every detail for the event, we felt that everything looked professional. The caterers, however, brought plastic plates and cups and flatware. They had made a mistake, and there was nothing we could do about it at that point. People had paid 20 dollars a plate. After praying about it, we left it in God's hands.

At the end of the evening, the woman who owns the catering business came in and made an apology to everyone and told us basically that she would not be charging Cru for the meal in order to compensate for the mistake. Normally the majority of the ticket price goes to the costs of the night, and what people give on top of that becomes what we use throughout the year. So, for her to basically wipe out the majority of the cost of the evening, we saw so much more come in than we had expected. How crazy that God would provide so much for us through plastic plates and silverware. How good is He!