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No photos in this post. Although much more fun to look at...they offer me a chance to skip out on actually filling you in on our lives. No cheating in this one...just text.

Next phase. We still don't know our exact move-in date for William Jewell... sometime mid-July. We are definitely moving out of our current home by July 1 to let the new YL staff people move in. Those few days between the first of July and mid-July will be interesting. "Homeless" with two young children...hmmm.

Potty-training. Two days ago I would've had a terrific report. (That's what I get for not updating right when I think of it.) This morning was rough, two BIG accidents...if you catch my hint. This is a tough training time for me...yes, I said for me. Each accident of Rory's brings on feelings of guilt and failure on my part. I tell myself I'm not teaching her correctly, haven't found her "currency", have misjudged her readiness. Those days are much fewer and far between. Most days she does a great job. Yesterday we shared a large root beer at the movie theater during Shrek 3, and she didn't have an accident...we did have two quick runs to the bathroom. She stayed dry. That's a victory.

She's gone mobile. Emme is crawling. About a week ago she was thinking very seriously about the possibility. Last Saturday night I saw her "crawl" for the first time. Now she is all over the place. I can't leave the room without scanning to make sure I didn't leave anything out of place. Her new goal is pulling up on things.

Humbled. This has been a tough few months. It is not an easy task to realize you are no longer excellent at something, make the decision to step back and let someone else take over, and then fill that position for the next 7 months. But that is what Brad and I have done in our choice to leave YL staff. It has been incredibly hard for me to stay in this role for so long after realizing I am not as good at it as I used to be. Not that it has never been done before...people leave jobs this early all the time. I'm not complaining. I'm just admitting that it's been difficult. I have roller-coasted through feelings of worthlessness, humility, excitement, and sentimentality. I have never understood the phrase "quit while you're ahead" more than I have in recent weeks. Our last year on YL staff has been hard. Struggling to maintain the budget, numbers are down at weekly clubs which in turn affects the energy at club, camp sign-ups are frighteningly slow, and we feel like we are never doing enough (both for our family/marriage and for our ministry). We are truthfully leaving after our "worst" year of ministry if you were to "measure" it by numbers. On top of these struggles...we are leaving Young Life. Young Life has been a huge part of our lives for the past 8 years. Leaving staff is hard...period.

Healthy living. Some of you may not recognize Brad next time you see him. After some loving encouragement from his wife, he made an appointment to get a general check-up before leaving behind our tremendous health benefits. What the doctor told him was shocking. His cholesterol is high, blood-pressure is high, and he needs to lose lots of weight. The doctor wanted him back within a month for another weigh-in and blood-pressure check. He came home serious...and perhaps a bit scared. I think his exact words were, "I don't want age 31 to be half-way." Ever since, he has resolved himself to healthier living. "Eat less, exercise more," as he would say. Brad lost 14.5 lbs in two weeks, his blood pressure is down to 110 over 70, and he's exercising on a daily basis. We're very proud of him and are excited he's so serious about being healthy.

Memorial Day. We're heading of to the lake for Memorial Day again this year. Very much looking forward to sharing a three-bedroom/two-bathroom cabin with 10 other people (4 of them kids) for a few days...call us crazy.