Third Trimester Here We Come!

Yeah! Praise God we are finally into the last trimester! This picture was taken at 28 weeks. I am doing well and feeling great most days. I think our little "Henry" is practicing already to be a star punter or a soccer player as much as he has been kicking. We are getting more and more excited for this little guy to join our family and settle into his room. I had my first baby shower (pictured above)a couple weekends ago with lots of State College friends and it was so much fun to open a package of newborn baby diapers and imagine his little bottom in it. I can't believe how small he will be. :-)

Griff continues to settle into his job at Voith Siemens. He works on the west side of York so it is about a 45 minute drive home, which can make for a long day, but we are adjusting. There is no class in college that can prepare you for 5am mornings and 45 minute commutes to work, and dealing with the daily challenges of the job. But truly praise God for his faithfulness! We know God has brought us to Lancaster for this season of life and we are tremendously thankful for the community around us, for the job he provided Griff and even the great doctor and hospital we have been able to get into. He is working out Ephesians 3:20 right in front of us...doing exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.

The other pictures are of the Penn State Barn Dance and Chili Cook-off that Griff and I got to go to a couple weekends ago. We had a great time with friends, and working the duck pond and the barn dance festivities.

And the other picture is from a recent wedding when all us old PSU staff and students got to have a little reunion before Jamie and Susan took off for California. Praise God for these great friends!

25 Weeks and Counting

Many of you have been asking about a pregnant picture and wondering about the size of my ever expanding belly. Well, here you go. This picture is from about 23 week and was taken on our front porch. I am definately bigger now but everything is going well and the baby seems to be healthy and happy. I think he is going to be a future olympic champ as much as he has been moving, rolling, punching and kicking inside. We have affectionately named our little one "Henry" for the time being. Griff and I continue to toss around names and have yet to decide on anything. Good thing we have a little while though I know December 8th will be here before we know it.

Home Sweet Home

The above picture is of the current Jones family. During Griff's "vacation" we got to travel to Pittsburgh and visit family for a few days. It was a great visit as Andy had just returned from Bolivia and Chris, Sarah and Abby were able to come up for an evening.

Griff and I have finally moved into and are semi settled in our new home. We are loving our little row home in Lancaster. We are getting to know our neighborhood and neighbors and really loving it. Praise God for His gracious provision in providing us a home in such a short time. It is wonderful to drive just a few minutes any direction and be surrounded by farm land. I feel at home.

The move went amazingly with all of our parents and many friends helping out. Our mom's cleaned the place top to bottom and our dad's not only put up crown-molding but also installed a washer and dryer, fixed plumbing and did small odd jobs around the house.

This morning, it was back to the morning routine for Griff as he woke to the beeping of his 5am alarm. It moments I felt like a proud but weepy mom sending her son off to his first day at school.

It is a fun and exciting time. Thank you all for your prayers over the past month as we began this process. We could not have done it without you.

A Boy and a Boy

Today we got the exciting news that we are having a boy! I think everyone was predicting this so it didn't come as a complete surprise but it was really great news. Our little guy looks completely healthy. He is weighing in at a whopping 12 ounces, and Lord willing he will come and greet us on or around December 8th. This ultrasound picture below shows his profile. He is pretty handsome if I do say so myself.


Below is my other boy, in some rather out-dated clothes. We did some purging of our closet last night in an effort to down size and not move unwanted clothes to Lancaster. And these were some clothes Griff found in the depths of his drawers. An old old old Chicago Bulls t-shirt and some old B.U.M. Equipment purple jogging pants. Now, if you notice the length of the jogging pants I don't think they had fit Griff correctly since 2nd grade, probably the last time they were in style. We had a good laugh over these. I hope you do to.

Anxious To Know

Yesterday we celebrated Griff's 23rd birthday! Yes, he is getting so old. :-) Amongst packed boxes and quite a mess I made stir-fry for Griff with lots of veggies, always a favorite of his and then made a peanut butter whoopi pie as his birthday cake. For the folks in Iowa or maybe anywhere outside of PA you may not know what a whoopi pie is so I will try and post a picture. They are quite delicious though. It was a nice relaxing night of remember all God has done in the 22nd year of Griff's life - take his first real job, start dating, graduate from PSU, go to Kenya, move to Philadelphia, get engaged, plan a wedding, get married, move again to Langhorne, find out he is going to be a dad, take a different job in York and prepare to move a third time. Whoa! Praise God for the way He has faithfully led and provided over the last year. We are excited for all that his 23rd year hold!

Tomorrow we find out the gender of our baby! I am so excited as this little guy or girl has been whiggling around a lot this past week. Especially this morning from 3:30am until about 6. I guess this is good training for the many sleepless nights to come. I don't know if this baby was just celebrating his/her dad's birthday late or they didn't like the spicy stir-fry from a few hours before but I enjoy the movement. It is completely amazing. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a much larger baby ultra sound to share with you all.

Changes are Coming

If there is one thing I (Sharon) have learned in the last 18 months it is that life can change very quickly. In April 2007 Griff asked me out, October 2007 he asked me to marry him, and January 2008 we got married and move to Langhorne, PA.

Then, when we thought we were settling into life God threw us a surprise. In April I found out I was pregnant! Whoa! What an unexpected surprise from the Lord. It took us a good bit of time to adjust to this news but we are excited to be starting our family. Lord willing on or around December 8, 2008 our newest addition will be here.

Now, we are preparing for yet another change, this one we had been thinking about for awhile though. Griff has taken a new job at Voith Siemans in York, PA so we are moving to Lancaster! We move August 1st and we are super excited to be moving close to friends who are also starting families.

Please pray for us with all the packing, loading, unloading and transitions of the next few weeks.