Closer and Closer (2015)

As an analyst, I (Rebekah) spend time thinking about limits pretty regularly. We analysts often describe limits as "within epsilon" of whatever value we want something to be, and to the uninitiated, we say that means that the function/sequence/whatever is getting "closer and closer" to the limit. There's even an introduction to real analysis book entitled Closer and Closer. This has been a year of getting closer and closer to many things for each of us.

Ryan is getting closer and closer to finishing his PhD in computer science from the University of Rochester.  He continues to enjoy his research and hopes for endurance in the new year for the final stretch.  He has also been enjoying collaborative building with Judah with his childhood Legos before bed at night.  So far they have constructed an airport with a working jet bridge and numerous airplanes, a firehouse with sleeping quarters and pole to slide down and several fire trucks, a horse barn with horse jumping fences and a press box, two high speed hand crank windmills, and the music building from Houghton so the Lego people can go to music class.

Rebekah is getting closer and closer to tenure (we hope!) at Houghton as she is halfway through her 7th year and just waiting until February for the final decision. This is a risky thing to write in a Christmas blog, I suppose, but you'll all know next year either way.

Judah is getting closer and closer to school age (ok, this one is a bit of a stretch). He started preschool in September 3 mornings a week, and he seems to be enjoying it, though he does not divulge many details about his day. He spent almost the entire Christmas program dutifully standing on stage not singing or talking (the only child to achieve this level of public non-participation), though he has recited the entire program and sung all the songs to us at home—apparently he does not have a future in theater. But then he got a toy reverb microphone for Christmas, and now he may just be getting closer and closer to being a rockstar…. He keeps us on our toes with questions and hilarity.

Junia is getting closer and closer to walking, especially in the last few days, and to speaking in paragraphs. She has a lot to say these days and many opinions about how her world should work, but she is still pretty easy going, adores her brother, and enjoys reading, playing with train tracks and cars and big Legos, drawing, and pretty much anything her brother is doing.

As a family, we have been enjoying that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson moved closer and closer to us in June when they relocated to Rochester. It took Judah a bit of time, but he eventually rechristened them from "Pennsylvania Grandma and Grandpa" to "New York Grandma and Grandpa." They've been coming to Houghton once a week to watch the kids, and we are very grateful!

We also had a great trip to California this summer and a great visit from California Grandma and Grandpa in November in which Judah and Junia were able to grow closer and closer to their paternal grandparents.

We're excited, too, to be getting closer and closer to the birth of our new niece or nephew, due at the beginning of February.

We pray that we are daily getting closer and closer to the One whose birth we celebrate in this season, who became one of us that we might be reconciled to Him. We also pray that you may know Him closer and closer throughout the new year. Please keep in touch!

We'll close with some more pictures from 2015:
Judah with the balance bike that Ryan built

Judah insists that the couch is a "more better" place for their monthly pictures. 

We tried to take a nice family picture for Rebekah's birthday this summer. 

First day of classes (Ryan was in Vancouver for a conference and Judah was at New York Grandma and Grandpa's house). 

Judah's 3 and a half picture required jumping. 

Fall picture. 

Junia has a strange obsession with fingernail clippers. 

"Found you!" Junia declares as she opens the cabinet to reveal her hiding place. 

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas: A Recap of 2014

Every summer our church (Sojourners Mennonite Fellowship) joins with the Mennonite church in Rochester to have a worship service in Letchworth State Park. This past summer, the Rochester church asked us to learn the hymn "Thou True Vine." While the hymn is great for many reasons, the phrase that has stuck in my (Rebekah's) head ever since is "make us sane and simple." While our lives often feel anything but sane and simple, we are renewed daily by the true vine that heals the nations. In this season in which we celebrate our savior's birth, we are again awed that the Creator of the universe humbled Himself and came to us in the simplicity of a baby, dependent upon His earthly parents for all His needs, to live and die as one of us and to conquer death that we may live in Him.

We have been especially reminded of just how humble babies are this year as we welcomed our daughter Junia Ivonette on May 25. She's named Junia after the only woman in the Bible who's called an apostle (Romans 16:7, NIV and some other versions) and Ivonette after her Great-grandma Yates.

Judah, who turned 2 in April, has been a big fan of his baby sister from the beginning. He loves to "laugh her" and report on whatever she's doing to anyone who will listen. She's a very content, happy baby most of the time, so she has many fans wherever she goes.

I'm in my sixth year of teaching math at Houghton College, and Ryan is in his fourth year of a computer science PhD program at the University of Rochester. His advisor is on sabbatical this year, so Ryan's only heading up to Rochester once a week, which is a nice change from previous years (though last year it was only twice a week most weeks). We're surviving the challenge of our jobs while parenting two small children, and we are grateful that we have babysitters who love our kids and take good care of them!

With the goal of keeping this post sane and simple, I'll just end with some pictures. If you're interested in a significantly larger volume of pictures and funny Judah quotations (he keeps us laughing every day, and Junia's starting to hold her own in that department as well) and you're on facebook, be our friends. If you already are our facebook friends, then we apologize if we've overwhelmed you with such items!

Judah discovered his inner Clark Kent last Christmas.

Ryan and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary this summer. It's not the greatest picture, but this is not something that should go unmentioned, I suppose!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa J in PA in August and got to go on a firetruck!!!

Judah's favorite pastime this summer was going to see "the construction" (Houghton built a new field house, among other things).

We can hold both kids--we're totally competent parents.

"It has leaves for eyes. I'll call it Levi!"

Christmas kids. Note: Junia's head looks almost as large as Judah's in this picture. This is an accurate representation of reality.

Happy 2015, everyone!

The 12 Months of 2013

In the first month of 2013, we skied a lot, flew to San Diego for the Joint Math Meetings (during which Judah got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Yates and go to the San Diego Zoo and the aquarium), and Ryan had a birthday. 

 In the second month of 2013, we had school and that's about it. Thus, not that many pictures.

 In the third month of 2013, Judah got a new car seat. He thought the best part was the box. We also celebrated Easter with Aunt Rachel, Uncle Doug, Lydia, and Micah. Ryan was informed by his graduate program that he had earned a Master's degree.

 In the fourth month of 2013, Judah turned 1. Lots of people came to celebrate with him at various times and for various lengths of time. He also got a car. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for getting that out of the way for us early in his life.

 In the fifth month of 2013, Judah got to ride in his bike trailer (the first purchase we made when we found out that we were having a baby) for the first time. He also fell in love with laundry baskets. And we flew to Minneapolis (Judah's first non-cross-country flight) for the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences biennial meeting. And apparently I loved the car picture so much you get to see it twice.

 In the sixth month of 2013, we had a two-day cycling expedition with the Hofstras (Rebekah's mom's family) in Rochester and then flew to California. Judah got to visit Christian Encounter Ranch (where Ryan spent several years of his early life) for the first time.

 In the 7th month of 2013, we put Judah to work sweeping the deck at home. We also visited Letchworth State Park, went out for our 9-year anniversary (thanks to Rachel and Doug for babysitting), and had our basement gutted to take care of mold. We also had our deck refinished and our house painted, but we have no pictures of the finished product of the house painting, apparently.

 In the eighth month of 2013, we spent some time and home and also went to Ocean Grove, NJ, with some of Rebekah's family, where Rebekah's mom went on a helicopter ride (accompanied by some other family members, though not the ones pictured here in the helicopter) in celebration of her 60th birthday. Judah gave up his morning nap in favor of sand and sea on that trip.

 In the ninth month of 2013, school started. We went to Rochester to celebrate our nephew Micah's 2nd birthday. Ryan went to a conference for a full week and Grandma and Grandpa Yates came to help keep Judah and Rebekah sane and fed.

 In the tenth month of 2013, we flew to Illinois (Judah's first-ever direct flight) to attend our 10-year college reunion. We stayed with Rebekah's cousin Jason, who was working a lot that week so we barely got to see him, but we did get to have fun with his wife Bonnie and son Grady! We also went to Letchworth with Rachel, Doug, Lydia, and Micah, and Rebekah's mom and dad, where we failed to get a good picture of the three grandkids all together. Judah was a lion for Halloween.

 In the eleventh month of 2013, Judah became very safety conscious. He also had his first burrito (after which we returned to quesadillas for him), and we went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house for Thanksgiving, where we got semi-successful pictures of the 3 grandkids who are 3, 2, and 1 years old currently.

 In the twelth month of 2013, we started telling the world that Judah will be a big brother at the end of May 2014. We also made some Christmas cookies, celebrated with Rebekah's family a few days early, and flew to California to celebrate with Ryan's family. Judah got up at 5:15 on Christmas morning, but only because he was still on NY time and it was our first morning in CA. His favorite part of Christmas celebrations is handing out the presents to other people.

As we look back on this year, we are thankful for all our friends and family and for God's provision in our lives. As we celebrate the twelve days of Christmas, we continue to be in awe that our God became incarnate as a baby, lived and died among us, that we may know Him. As we look forward to a new year, full of new experiences and challenges, we pray that each of you will be blessed by His presence and love for you. As always, we would love to hear from you!

2012: a year, a baby, a blog.

As most of you already know this last year has been largely shaped by the birth of our son Judah. This post could go on and on with thousands of cute baby pictures, but I'm sure only the hardiest of readers would make it past the first five hundred. So I'm left with the very difficult task of filtering the year down to the size of a single post (for those inclined to take the plunge in to the land of overwhelming cuteness you can friend one of us on Facebook). The year started with signs of spring.

At least, we don't remember much before Judah being born, it was probably a semester like others, but it ended early. These signs of spring meant much more for us this year.

Somehow we finished the semester, though with a little bit of juggling.

Then we promptly left our home and went to Oregon so that I (Ryan) could be an intern at Intel (giant company that does many amazing things). We had several visits from friends and family.

Saw many sights and enjoyed Portland (including lots of good food). Met up with old friends (how can we have no pictures of this?).

Judah saw his first volcano.

Rebekah and Judah went back to New York to see his cousins.

At the end of the summer we had a wonderful time picking blackberries and visiting with the Farringtons.

We also took lots of pictures of Judah. This one may be my most favorite ever.

Just in case you thought we didn't do anything without Judah, we went to a soccer game.

The fall semester settled in and we got really busy, but we were continually reminded of our new pace of life as it seemed like Judah hits some new milestone every week. New teeth, sleeping though the night (sometimes), standing while holding on to chair, eating solid food, playing in the snow, babbling, and toying with words to name a few.

It has been wonderful fun to grow as a family. Merry Christmas (late), Happy New Year (a little late), and Splendid Epiphany (slightly early?). As we have celebrated the birth of our son this year, we have been even more in awe that our Lord came to earth as a baby, and we pray that you are blessed by His incarnation this season and throughout the year.