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Peoria, IL

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He's ready to see Grandma and Grandpa today!

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Breakfast in St. Louis.

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Being silly.

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Somewhere in Texas.

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Lovely, foggy Arkansas.

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Happy traveler.

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On-the-road

Fun Hair Day

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On-the-road entertainment

Clay Daniel 11/10/2008

Clay Daniel 11/22/2008

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It's snowing!

Shoes & Phone

"Wearing mom's shoe and talking on the phone...two of my favorite things to do!"

Touchdown

This is of Edith saying "touchdown" again...hahahaha

Waking up

This was after a nap...I thought she looked cute sleeping like that, and Joel thought I should take some video of her waking up. She was pretty out of it! :)

Edith saying "Touchdown"

Sunday Best

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Leaving church.

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He has a great laugh.

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Clay is very ticklish.

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Lunchy Munchy

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Halloween Video

We gave Edie some Milk Duds and they were sticking to her teeth...she wasn't quite sure what to do...it was very, very funny! ;)

Halloween

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At the Medical Center 10K. We did the 1.5 mile Fun Walk.

Jackson's Orchard

A couple weekends ago we went to the apple orchard. Here are some pictures from that trip. We had a great time! And as you can see, Edie did pretty well with the animals, which is amazing considering she completely freaks out with dogs. :)

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Long day.

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Dipp'n Edie!! :)

Full of Smiles

Clay Daniel is 2 Months Old!

 
I took Clay to his two month appointment. He is a healthy, growing boy! He is now 14 pounds 3 ounces and he is 23 1/2 inches long! That makes him at the 95th percentile for his weight and 75th percentile for his height....needless to say, I think he is eating enough and we may have another basketball player on our hands! :) Oh, and of course football player too!!! :)

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Edith didn't sleep during nap time. :-)

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After 4 hrs. on the road, she finally fell asleep.

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Ready for a big day...selling a house...seeing Great G&G Drury...good times!

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Edith and Clay at G&G Leeman's house.

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Hanging with Cousin Lennon.

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Itsy Bitsy Spider

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I swear, he does wake up once and a while.

Sibling Love

In A Different Light

Bath Time - Photos

Bath time

Bath Time - Video

Blogger Mobile

I figured out how to post photos and video on the blog from my cell phone, so watch out! I like doing this with my Facebook account, so now I'll have to do it here too. Enjoy the pics...I'll see if I can't upload a video or two.

Joel

Blog Reminder

I just want to remind anybody that checks in on our Ham Huddle blog that we have a blog for our photography "business" (link below). I use it more for posting photos that I have taken recently, which are usually of the landscape variety. I don't get out to take photos as often as I'd like, but life is busy, so, when I have something, I usually post it there. All that being said, please check it out every once and a while and be sure to comment with your feedback (whatever it may be). Thanks.

Joel

http://jandsphoto.blogspot.com

Portrait Session with Clay

We've been blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa Ham visiting with us this week. We've had a lot of fun together; playing, exploring Bowling Green, and talking up a storm. While Clay may be the main purpose for their visit, Edith isn't missing out on any of their attention. We'll be back to our "normal" routine next week when all of our guests have gone. We've certainly enjoyed the company and all the help they've been to us. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Leeman and Grandma & Grandpa Ham! We love you!

Joel, Stacy, Edith, and Clay

Clay's First Bath @ Home

SOKY Fair

On Friday, July 25th, Gordon, Ruth, the kids, Stacy, and I went to the Southern Kentucky (SOKY) Fair at C.W. Lampkin Park in Bowling Green. It was entertaining and it made for a good opportunity to get out of the house and walk around a little. We watched a demolition derby, walked the midway, and got cotton candy. Good times.

Joel

Bringing Clay Home

We brought Clay home from the hospital on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Happy Birthday Clay Daniel Ham

Clay Daniel Ham was born at 1:39 p.m. on Monday, July 21st, 2008 in Bowling Green, KY. He weighed 9 lbs. 7 ozs. and measured 21 inches long (and he was 2 weeks early).

Due to his size, we scheduled Stacy to be induced 2 weeks earlier than Clay's due date. Stacy's labor went okay, starting Sunday night after being given some medication and progressing faster after the doctor "broke" her water Monday morning. Stacy did a great job pushing, but needed some help at the end to get our BIG boy out. Our doctor and the nurses did a great job of taking care of Stacy and Clay throughout. Clay is doing well and appears to be healthy in all respects. Stacy is recovering nicely and looking forward to going home. We should leave the hospital tomorrow morning (Wednesday, July 23rd).

Stacy's parents, Gordon & Ruth Leeman, have been in town since Saturday and have been taking care of Edith while we've been in the hospital. We're so grateful for their help and support and look forward to spending the rest of this week and weekend with them.

Grandma Ham will be arriving on Sunday, July 27th to spend some time with us. At some point Grandpa Ham will come down to visit as well. We look forward to our time with them.

Stacy and I are so thankful for everyone's prayers and support. Our God is so good to us everyday! We look forward to where He leads us from here. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Joel

In addition to the photos I've posted in our Picasa Web Album, I've uploaded some videos to our YouTube page. Click on the links to be taken to each site.

Fun Friday

We had a fun Friday afternoon and evening. Stacy painted Edith's fingernails and toenails, we played on the bed and on the living room floor, and, after supper, we went for a dip (in the pool) at dusk.

I uploaded some videos of our fun time at the pool. Visit our YouTube page to see them.

Joel

Please?

Edith has mastered the language of sign. Okay, mastered might not be the right word, but she has learned to say "please" using sign language. We finally cracked through her stubborn little brain and helped her make the connection that "please" means you get things a lot quicker and usually with a smile and some praise from mom & dad.

She has also started letting on that she knows when it is bedtime. She cries and clings to you for all she's worth. She cries less than she clings, so we don't mind really. We get a few extra hugs at bedtime. Thankfully, she doesn't fight sleep too much and, usually, gives in and goes to sleep with little "fanfare."

We're excited to see how she does with her little brother. Many precious moments are to come, I'm sure.

Joel

P.S. You can see more videos of Edith and, eventually, the rest of the family by clicking YouTube.

Baby Update

Stacy had her last doctor’s appointment today. The doctor confirmed that we are good to go for Sunday night/Monday morning. He said that Stacy is dilated to almost a 3 and is approximately 75% effaced. So there you go.

If you would, please pray that Stacy will be able to get the rest that she needs before Sunday. She’s been getting bad heart burn and/or acid reflux at night, along with all the other aches and pains that come with having a gigantic baby inside you, so sleep hasn’t been coming and staying as easily as it could.

Also, pray for safe travel for Gordon & Ruth as they drive down on Friday night/Saturday morning. We are excited to be able to spend a whole week with them!

Pray for wisdom for the doctors and nurses that will be taking care of Stacy and Clay.

Pray that I will be a good husband, supporting and encouraging Stacy through this delivery.

Pray for all these things and more. Thank you.

Joel

Weekend Fun

We had a lot of fun this weekend. We wanted to enjoy our time together as a family, because we will have company for the next two or three weekends.

We didn't do anything too crazy; went to the pool, grilled out, bought Edith some sandals, went to church, etc. Stacy made wonderful food, as usual, and we played a lot on the living room floor. Edith's walking around pretty good now and can't wait to show off her skills to Grandma & Grandpa Leeman and Grandma & Grandpa Ham.

We hope the Lord blessed you with a great weekend as well. We'll keep you updated on baby news as it comes in.

Joel

Edith - The Mover and Shaker

Ham Baby Update

Hello Family & Friends! The blog has been sitting unchanged for too long, so I figured I'd post some baby news.

Stacy, Edith, and I went to see the doctor yesterday for a routine appointment. At the previous visit, the doctor had us schedule an ultrasound, because Stacy was measuring larger than "normal." So, we had the ultrasound first and got to see Clay up close and personal. He looked a little squished in there and, if you've seen Stacy lately, you know why. After the ultrasound we met with Stacy's doctor and talked baby/delivery. Stacy is between 36 1/2 weeks and 37 weeks, but Clay is measuring at 40 weeks, so he's a big boy. We had already talked to the doctor about inducing Stacy earlier than her due date. He confirmed that that would be a wise thing to do; especially if we want to have Clay naturally vs. C section. So, we talked dates and settled on Sunday, July 20th. Yeah, I know, that's less than 2 weeks away! We will go into the hospital Sunday afternoon or evening and they will administer medication to "soften" Stacy's cervix. By Monday morning we should be rockin and rollin and having ourselves a baby! Needless to say, we're pretty excited that he'll be here a little early!

Stacy's parents, Gordon and Ruth Leeman, will be coming down that weekend, so they have the grueling task of taking care of Edith. ;) We get their help for the whole week and following weekend. Then Grandma Ham (and maybe Grandpa) will be coming down and staying with us to help until we kick them out. ;) I'll take a little bit of time off from work, here and there, when Gordon and Ruth and Mom and Dad are here. Then, when the grandparents have left, I'll take a few days off so we can spend time together on our own. I can't wait!

So, that's the news so far. I'll try to keep you posted on any further developments. I'm sure I've left out some vital information, so please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll do my best to answer them or make something up. :P

As they say in Kentucky, "We love y'all."

Joel

Drury Family Reunion 2008

We travelled from Bowling Green, KY to spend time with our families in MN. It was a long drive and a short time there, but we had a lot of fun spending time catching up and enjoying each others company. We're already looking forward to next year.

Joel

Edie's 1st Birthday

 

We celebrated Edith's birthday last night! We had a great time celebrating with her. She loved the balloons and the cake. It was so much fun to watch her dig into her cake. She thought it was pretty great! This morning we went swimming with her, and she was happy to be in the tube all by herself. She is definitely getting more comfortable with the pool. This evening we are going to go pick out a present from Mommy and Daddy and get some ice cream. I think we are having too much fun with her! We are so blessed to have a happy, healthy little girl! We have enjoyed every day of this past year and look forward to the coming years! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we're getting settled here in Bowling Green, KY. We have enjoyed our Memorial Day Weekend. We grilled some brats on Saturday (the 1st group of photos), checked out a new church on Sunday, and went to a park today (the last 2 photos) where we got rained on.

Joel

Fun @ G&G Ham's

On our move down to Bowling Green, KY we took advantage of stopping halfway at Grandma & Grandpa Ham's. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with everybody and can't wait for the Lord to bring us together again.

Joel

Saturday Afternoon

Some photos of Edith & Stacy on a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

The Power of the Cross

Keith & Kristyn Getty - The Power of the Cross

Update - Bowling Green Move

I just want to take a moment to update everyone on our progress towards moving to Bowling Green, KY.

I have a start date for my new position. I will take over as Loss Prevention Manager on May 19th. One unfortunate thing, the supervisor (her name is Melanie) that will work for me has National Guard training from May 12th until July 15th. So, it may be more challenging to get acclimated and make changes while my supervisor is away. I will be in Bowling Green the week of May 5th to spend time with Melanie before she leaves. Hopefully, this will allow us enough time to get prepared for the upcoming transition. I’ll be back in MN Friday night, and the following week, as we prepare to move to BG.

With the start date being so soon, we will not have much time to get our house sold before the move. The house was listed yesterday, so we are now on the market. I’ve included a link to the listing at the bottom of this post. I haven’t had a chance to take my own pictures yet, but the realtor’s photos are on the listing. You will see from the photos that we were able to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time. This is due, in no small part, to the help of our friends, family, and a contractor. We were happy to have Mom & Dad Ham come up from IL to help with a good part of the work. Mom & Dad Leeman were integral in organizing, prepping, and applying paint to many walls and ceilings throughout our home. We had a Saturday, two weeks ago, where a couple of men from church (John & Rich) came and helped paint the basement. Finally, our contractor, Arric, a guy I had met while painting with Uncle Ken, did a fantastic job transforming various parts of our home. He was able to finish all of the projects Stacy and I had started, and then some. We are really happy with how everything has turned out and look forward to enjoying our “new” home for a little while longer. Thank you, again, to all who helped us along the way and to those who will help us in the very near future.

We were able, with the help of Stacy’s mom, Ruth, to find a new home for Boomer. A woman from Ruth’s work talked to her about looking for a dog. She mentioned an ad for Lab puppies, but “complained” that they weren’t hairy enough. :) Ruth showed her some photos of Boomer and told her that we were looking for a new home for him. She was very excited and called me to make arrangements to get him. We delivered him last Saturday to her home. She has a big, fenced-in backyard and a park across the street. She has had many dogs, so we are confident she will be able to care for Boomer quite well. Stacy and I are happy we were able to find a good family for Boomer to go to. It was a little sad to see him go, but not too much. ;)

So, as you can tell, the Lord has been at work. We ask for your continued prayers as we experience the many ups and downs that will come our way through this process. It’ll be time to move before we know it and we have a lot to do before we get there. We are thankful the Lord is on our side. Praise God!

Joel



Click the following URL to see the listing:
http://matrix.northstarmls.com/Matrix/Public/Email.aspx?ID=4524696932

Also, if you’d like to see what our house looked like when we moved in a little over a year ago, click the following URL to see our House Hunting Hams blog: http://househuntinghams.blogspot.com/

It's A Boy!

Stacy had her ultrasound on Friday afternoon. After our twins scare at a previous doctor’s appointment, we were able to clear up that question right off the bat. There is only one baby in there. The technician was a little mean and made us wait until the end of the ultrasound to find out the gender. There was no doubt about it; it is clearly a boy! We’re very excited! His name will be Clay Daniel Ham. Our due date is still August 2nd. Thank you for your continued prayers for Stacy and Clay.

The Hams Are Moving

Yes, we are moving!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! On March 5th I was offered the position of Loss Prevention Manager at my company’s (ShopNBC) Bowling Green, KY distribution center. This promotion is a big step in my career and brings with it many more opportunities than I have currently. I do not have a start date as of yet and it appears as though my boss will be patient and give us a good opportunity to sell our home before requiring me to go to work in KY.

Since accepting the position, Stacy and I have been working on getting our home ready to sell. We want to get it listed as soon as possible. We hired a contractor to come in and finish a lot of the projects around the house that we had started, but haven’t had time to finish. When the work is completed we will have a newly renovated bathroom with new flooring, wainscoting, tiled shower, new sink, new light fixtures, fresh wall/ceiling paint, and enameled woodwork. Our kitchen is also getting some major work done. It will have new flooring, new countertops, new hardware on freshly enameled cupboards, new light fixtures, and fresh wall/ceiling paint. Finally, besides a few smaller repairs around the rest of the house, the last thing we will do is add new carpet to our living room. Work has already begun and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

We are very thankful for those helping us. Gordon, Stacy’s dad, has been out the last two days working on getting the cupboards enameled and walls primed. Last week we took the cupboard doors & drawers to him and they are all done. My mom is flying in tomorrow to stay with us for a week and a half. No doubt she will be a huge help in getting us organized, cleaned, and giving Stacy better feedback on colors & design ideas than I could ever hope to do. This Saturday we have a contingent from our church coming to help paint the basement and maybe put some flooring down. Then dad is coming on the 26th to help until he and mom leave on Sunday the 30th.

Unfortunately, as part of getting ready to sell our house and move down to BG, we have to find a new home for our dog, Boomer. If you know of anyone who has a distinct liking for big dogs, send them our way. Here’s Boomer’s info: Breed-Great Pyrenees, Gender-Male, Born-12/21/2006, Color-White, Registered-AKC, pure bred, not fixed, Size-BIG. Click on Boomer to be taken to a slideshow of photos of him. He’s a great family dog; Edith loves him and he’s great with her. He very rarely barks when he shouldn’t. We need to find his new home very soon (within a week or two), because we will be finishing the work on the house and, Lord willing, showing it to prospective buyers very soon. Thanks for any help you can provide.

We are excited to see where God will lead us and we seek His guidance as we strive to know what to do. Many important decisions will need to be made, our house will need to sell (faster than on average), and we are moving, which is a huge ordeal in itself. Please pray for us. Pray that we will be able to get the work done that needs to be done in order to get our house listed. Pray that we will honor God during the process of selling our home. Pray that we find a good home, in a good area. Pray that we find a Christ-centered, Bible teaching/preaching church that is traveling the narrow way as a congregation. Pray that Stacy’s pregnancy continues to go well.

We are excited about what is happening and our opportunity to trust God through it. We will keep you updated on our progress as time permits. Thank you for your prayers.

Joel, Stacy, Edith, & Baby

Edith @ 9 Months

Edith & Ham Baby #2 UPDATE

I just wanted to fill everyone in on the latest with Edith & Ham Baby #2.

Edith went to see the doctor last week. She is healthy in all regards and the doctor is happy with her growth. Her stats are; height - 28 5/8", weight - 19# 8oz, head circumference - 17 1/4". Edith is crawling around quite easily now and has started to pull herself up to a standing position. She jabbers a lot and still has a ready smile. The front, top two & front, bottom two teeth are still where she is at for teeth. We continue to introduce her to more and more "adult" foods at lunch & dinner and she seems to like everything we give her. She's a lot of fun and we thank God for her.

The same doctors appointment for Edith was for Stacy & baby #2. Stacy has been healthy and sickness-free for this pregnancy, as she was with Edith. Praise God! Baby #2 appears to be healthy and growing well. The doctor, when trying to listen for the heartbeat, was having a hard time keeping it in one spot. When checking Stacy's uterus, she said that it seemed a little high. These two things may end up meaning nothing, but she said there is a possibility that we may have twins. We're not getting too worked up just yet. We will have another appointment in 3-4 weeks, with an ultrasound shortly thereafter. So, we'll wait and see what that reveals. ;) Needless to say, we're eager to get to that ultrasound! :)We're so thankful that God has blessed us with a healthy, happy family! Without His love and guidance, we would be lost and unhappy. We are amazed at how He continues to work in us and through us and pray that He will continue to look favorably on our family and give us peace. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Love,

Joel, Stacy, Edith, and Baby #2

Trip to AZ - Saturday, In The Park...

Trip to AZ - Canyon Lake & Tortilla Flat

Stacy, Edith, and I flew down to Phoenix, AZ to visit Stacy’s brother, Rollie, and sister-in-law, Megan. We left Feb. 7th and returned on the 12th. This was Edith’s 1st trip to Uncle Rollie and Aunt Megan’s house.

The flight down was uneventful; we had a layover in Denver. Edith did pretty good on the airplane for the 1st flight, but was a handful on the 2nd flight. We left temperatures in the teens and falling snow and arrived to 70+ degrees and sunny.

Megan picked us up from the airport and drove us to their home in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix. Megan and Rollie had gone for an ultrasound, for their baby, that day and found out that they are having a girl. So, there was plenty to talk about on the drive. We’re very excited for them and are happy that Edith will have a girl cousin to play with.

We all sat down to dinner that evening and had a great meal, with great discussion. Megan is a wonderful cook and hostess. We were definitely never left wanting.

On Friday, Rollie took part of the day off from work and we all went to Canyon Lake. It was a short, and beautiful, drive from Rollie and Megan’s home. We had a picnic lunch at the lake, enjoying the views. After lunch, we continued our drive. We stopped at a small widening of the road called Tortilla Flat; many trinkets, much history. Once again, on the road; eventually, our road turned from asphalt to gravel and two lanes to one. We drove down the side of a mountain, with sections of the road being only one lane. Once at the bottom, we got out and briefly enjoyed the scenery. Then we piled back into the car and headed for home. We had a lot of fun seeing the sights and Rollie and Megan, as always, were excellent tour guides.

I’ll fill you in on more of our trip with the next post. Thanks for tuning in.

Joel

Potty Training Update

Growing Girl

I took these photos of Edith last night while Stacy was making supper. I believe, in the 8th photo into the slideshow, you can see Edith's two bottom teeth she recently "acquired." Hopefully Stacy will correct me, if I'm wrong, but I think Edith only has one tooth in on the top. She's loving chewing on things and drives Stacy crazy by grinding her teeth. Stacy has been working with her on picking the cereal up and eating it on her own. As you can see in the photos, she sometimes misses the mark.

Potty Training Update: Stacy has worked with Edith on her potty training this week. I believe that Edith went each time she was "on the pot." She does really well with staying on her "toilet." Alright, enough quotations for today. I'll try to get some more potty training pictures soon.

As always, thanks for tuning in to our little family updates.

Joel

Life of Boomer

Okay, I promise I will post some original photos sometime soon. All you ever get here is Edith & Boomer. I need some inspiration! ;)

Joel

Go Figure, More Photos of Edith ;)

You wouldn't know it by looking at our blog, but I like it when blog owners update their blog often. Even if it's "old" stuff...keep it comin'.

Plus, I just learned how to do these slideshows and I think it's pretty awesome! Enjoy!

P.S. I was a little bored, so I changed our blog template (in case you hadn't noticed). ;)

Reading & Clapping

Here is the improved, working video of Edith. Enjoy! :)

Boomer Update 01/2008

Boomer Ima Ham celebrated his 1st birthday on December 21st. If I remember correctly, at the end of January, we will have had him for a year. Hard to believe!

As you can see from the photos & video, he has grown quite a bit. Boomer eats 45 pounds of dog food each month and is still eager to receive a treat for every good deed (which doesn't happen often enough).

One thing is certain, Boomer loves the snow! He is an entirely different dog in the winter. Yeah, he still enjoys playing in the spring, summer, and fall, but winter is where he shines. Some of his favorite activities include running with wreckless abandon, pouncing on his Ikea dog food bowl (that survived maybe 1 whole day), chasing after sticks and old tennis balls, and eating as much snow as he possibly can. We were keeping Boomer in the (fenced in) backyard this summer and fall for much of the day, but we had to restrict him to supervised visits when he masterminded a couple of escapes. We're hoping to repair and reinforce the fence this spring, so Boomer can once again experience unfettered outdoor living.

For now, we've decided not to get Boomer "fixed." We would like to breed him in the future, but we don't have a clue how to do so. So we'll see what happens.

Oh yeah, most importantly, Boomer & Edith interact quite well. Edith loves her puppy (I think I can still call him a puppy.), lighting up each time she sees him. We've been teaching her how to pet Boomer, as she just grabs a handful of fur, jowel, eyeball, or anything she finds right now. Boomer is really patient and doesn't react poorly to this. He needs constant reminding not to lick Edith or stick his face (wet nose) in Edith's face. We can definitely tell that he is jealous of the attention Edith receives from us, but he's going to have to learn to live with that.

Well, we've learned a lot of valuable lessons since we've had Boomer (too many to list here). We enjoy his companionship and spirit (for the most part) and look forward to his maturation into adulthood.