what the bishops are up to...

We bishops have been snuggled away for the winter.  the cold and snow and grayness of west michigan has had us almost ready to go stir crazy.  I am not a cold weather person so Lorens and I did not go outside much (ok, like not at all if I'm being honest)... So we have been so excited with the warm weather the past couple weeks.  What a beautiful start to spring!  To bring you up to speed...
LORENS
He is growing like a weed.  Mostly just upwards though.  He is pretty tall for a 16 month old - in the 85%! (He doesn't get that from me.) He's still sporting his poofy, duckie-like blond hair, (although now growing into quite the mullet...I don't even care)... He is getting a mouth full of teeth (much to my dismay)... and usually has a smattering of bumps/bruises/scratches/cuts all over his little body.  He had his first bad fall about a month ago which ended up in 3 stitches right above his eye.  Pretty traumatic for a fifteen month old...and for his mama since josh was in CA at the time.  He still owes me for that somehow.  These things don't faze Lorens though.  He's onto the next death defying experience as fast as his little legs can carry him.  He is running and climbing all over the place.  I'm still finding out that nothing is safe from him.  I walked into our living room a few weeks ago to find him dancing in the middle of a room completely covered in smashed rice chex cereal.  I promise you he wasn't alone for that long...he's quick.  He is learning all his animal noises and is getting quite good at them.  He is also learning to say the names of everyone in the family.  He will so far say MorMor (sounds like MoMo), FarFar (yaya), Kirsten (Keeteh), Ben (buh), Matt (mah), Grandma (ganah).  Sorry everyone else, its still a no go.  If it makes you feel better, I'm a solid "mama!" at home (yes, an exclamation mark was added because he never says it without yelling it), but "dada!" out in public.  what does that mean?  :) He's also working on his ABC's - he'll repeat alot of the letters to us.  He's starting to repeat a lot of what we say, which is the cutest thing ever, when he's never done it before.  Today we gave him a teething biscuit and Josh called it a cookie, and Lo yelled "cookah!!!"  His favorite foods are raisins, blueberry pancakes, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, berries, avocado/beans and his "green monster cereal" which is oatmeal/applesauce/and a kale, collards, chard mixture.  He loves to sing, booty dance, "read", color, and basically destroy my house in his path.  I love a clean house, so this is my biggest frustration.  Josh likes to take pictures of what the house looks like when he comes home because it is that ridiculous looking.  Aaahhh, and I'm proud to say that MY son loves shoes.  He DID get this from me.  He got some green rain boots for christmas (thanks mere!) that he has insisted on wearing everywhere the past couple weeks.  He actually likes picking out his clothes and shoes already...i love this kid!  He is super quirky, sweet, joyful, stubborn, and cracks us up constantly!  There is never a dull moment here.
MICHELE
I am still working part-time and am really happy to be doing something I love, and am good at. I'm mostly happy to have a good job in this economy!  Josh and I are thankful for this all the time.  Aside from taking care of my little jumping bean, and working, I decided to train for the Riverbank 25k run in May!  I started really training in January and quickly realized that training for an almost 16 mile run is almost like having another part-time job!  I got up to 10 miles this weekend.  I'm running somewhere around 9 minute miles, which is good - I surprise myself everytime I'm able to add another mile and I don't die at the end.  Although I've been a runner for like 13 years, running this type of distance is something I never thought I could or would want to do - and I'm doing it!  I'm planning to do this race with my dad which is my main inspiration for doing this run - I've always wanted to run a race with him.  Its no Chicago Marathon, but will do the trick!
JOSH
Is still working full-time at Mars Hill and loving it.  He has been doing the job of student ministries (5-12) pastor for about 2 years now.  He also took the plunge this past winter and applied to Michigan State's Master's of Social Work program.  He just had his interview 2 weeks ago and is now waiting to hear if he got in - they only accept about 25 people per year - we'll know by the first week of April whether our lives are going to drastically become double busy.  It's an online program so at least he doesn't have to commute very much!  The program will take him 3 years to do - so we'll be in Michigan for a while longer!  (boo...but happy to stay with friends who are like our family and keep living in a city that we are in love with.)  Josh also just recently ended a 4 year battle with chronic knee pain from a pretty devastating basketball injury.  After what seems like a hundred doctors and therapies, he got fitted for some custom orthodics (he won't tell me how much they cost, probably wise...) and it seems like they are really doing the trick!  no pain and no swollen knee - praise God! 

~mb