Boy

Josiah William.

Perfectly healthy.

Any questions?

PS: pictures coming

Memorial Day Weekend

I found this on Google Earth/Panoramio this evening. This will actually be my drive to work come July. Beautiful.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We got to spend a lot of time with friends and I've been mountain biking 3 of the last 5 days. On Sunday Anna and I got to go out with my Elders and their wives from Faith as kind of a going away deal. It was a lot of fun...my face hurt from smiling as we left the restaurant. I've appreciated all the growth I've seen in those men in the time I've been at Faith.

Ali has been pacifier free for three days so far. Tonight was a bit rough, but she's making it. She is definitely a little girl though. She has learned that bursting into tears gets her attention, and she has developed a shoe obsession. The last several days, the first word that came out of her mouth when she gets up is "shoe." The picture below is from a recent trip to Target, when she found a shoe as well as a little chair about her size that she pushed around with her as we shopped through several aisles.

The latest housing news is that the inspection did not turn up any major issues, and the appraisal was favorable, so all things are looking like we'll be moving in to our house in mid-June. I'll be starting officially on July 1, getting installed on July 13th, and my first Sunday preaching will be July 20th.

We appreciate your prayers for us as we close out our ministry in OC. My last Sunday at Faith is June 1, and Anna's last week is the first week in June. And then we move very soon...that still hasn't really hit us yet.

We'll put up a post sometime on Wednesday answering the question you've all been waiting for: "Boy or Girl?"

WOO HOO!!!

Our offer on house #3 has been accepted!!!

Thanks for all your prayers. We'll have more information in the next week or so regarding inspections and when we're moving and when you can come and visit the Maschke abode and all that good stuff.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of #3.
Enjoy!

Baby Boy or Baby Girl?

Find out...May 28th!

Pictures and Houses

Hello all!

Here we are again. All of the Maschke clan is happy and healthy, and we wanted to say hello.

Ali is now 19 months old and is learning new words all the time. She now says "See ya" as well as "bye bye" when we leave. Ali also loves pointing to Mommy's belly and giving baby kisses. She also likes going down slides ("Wheeeeeee!") and climbing, which we fear may lead to further extremes in childproofing.

Baby, a.k.a. Peanut, is doing well. Thursday will mark 16 weeks, which means one more month until we find out if Peanut is as he or a she.

Anna is NOT going to Catalina with her students this year; the trip is just too hard on her pregnant body. Instead I get to stay with the 12 middle school students NOT going on their class trips and watch them work on their assignments.

Jed is finishing up at Faith; his last day there is June 1. His first day at First will be July 1 (that is a lot of firsts).

We are still looking for a house. So far we have submitted offers in on three. Numbers 1 and 3 are still options, but our offer for number 2 was declined. We welcome any prayers offered up for housing, although we are partial to #3. God willing, we will soon have a picture of us in front of our new home!!!

Here are some new pictures of Ali. They were taken at a MOPS fundraiser by the same person who took our Christmas pics. The setting is the Heritage Hill Historical Park, a tranquil batch of historical buildings from the 1800s which marked the initial settlement at El Toro. Ali is standing outside of St. George's Episcopal Mission in the picture below. Enjoy!

Coming Soon to Concord, California!

It's official: We're moving! I (Jed) have officially accepted the call to be pastor of First Lutheran Church in Concord, California. We went up there for a house-hunting expedition this weekend since Anna had off for Easter Break and I needed a break after Easter, and spent some time looking at houses with Lisa, our Realtor.

In our price range (which is not terribly high, but at least enough to look at houses) we had a whole range of options, some of which were foreclosures that smelled funny and had unidentifiable sticky stuff on the walls, carpets, and mirrors. One home was quite scary and had locks on the outside of the bedroom doors and what looked like the spray-painted outline of a coffin in the back yard. Gideon had apparently been there too, and had left King James Bibles in several rooms and the garage. Other houses we looked at were completely new, with great rooms that weren't so great because they were pretty small. There were houses that I liked and Anna didn't, most notably the townhouse downtown that she said no to just because there looked like a homeless person was sleeping on the front porch. I tried to convince her that the 40 oz. Natural Light beer and grungy blankets were simply a housewarming gift from the neighbors, but she said we don't need neighbors like that.

Ultimately, we picked two that we thought we could live in, and though one was snatched up right after we looked at it, we have made an offer on the other one which is in Pittsburg, over the hill from Concord. If you go straight back about 4 miles from Anna's head in the picture below, you're basically there. Much thanks to Diane and Bridget for watching Ali while we were checking things out. Also, Diane gave Ali a stuffed Elmo and an Elmo hoodie. Ali can even point out Elmo's nose if you ask her.

On Saturday we went to Pixieland, which is a little mini theme park in Concord for little kids. Ali loved it, especially the teacups ride and the car she got to drive. She kept saying, "Weeeeee!!!" and encouraged us to spin the teacup, before figuring out how to do it herself.

The voters meeting at First Lutheran went off without a snag and the final details were hammered out on my call documents, so I signed them that afternoon before we left and made it official! We're planning on moving up there in June and I'll start work in July.

Thanks for all your prayers! We are thankful that God has been with us and has directed us to this church, and we continue to covet your prayers for us during this time of transition.

For those interested...

Here is the picture we got on Friday of Baby #2. He or she measured 10 weeks and 1 day, so my due date is October 9th now (if it really matters at all). Even though we tell Ali it is a baby, she is not convinced.

Call news is still coming. We promise to let everyone know once the big decision has been made.

More news to come...