Yes, we live:

So we have not been particularly fantastic when it has come to this blogging thing. We were crazy awesome at blogging back in the day. But then you add moving, school, church responsibilities, moving again, another new school, pregnancy, a bad doggy, a newborn, moving again, etc etc you find that you don't have time to do the things you did when you were first married. With all of this, blogging time generally goes down the drain. But, we had a bit of time today, so we thought we'd do an update!

Since moving to the Quad Cities, we have found ways to settle in nicely. We are enjoying our townhouse in Davenport while we search around on various websites dreaming about the house we will buy. We are both getting used to our new jobs and finding our niche there. Grace is a huge hit at her day care and is especially taken with a 9 month old named Tyler who she is constantly trying to roll over to so she can hold his hand. We have found our vet, pediatrician, pharmacy and bank. We are still working on our church hunt, but we're not rushing that one. So things are coming together nicely which is a blessing since the holidays are right around the corner.

Since our last post, our baby girl turned 6 MONTHS! Can you believe? An old coworker of Becky's lives in the area and does some amazing photography, so we had her take some pictures. We just had to share them because they are too darling. Family and friends will get one of these cute poses on their Christmas card from us this year, so be checking your mail in the next month!

We can't wait to celebrate the upcoming holidays with our families and also watch Grace enjoy them for the first time. We are continually amazed at our God and His constant provision for us. It was 4 years ago that we made the decision to move from Lake County to Macomb, Illinois so that Derek could start his college career. We had no idea what our future held when we drove our stuff down to WIU, but we are so overjoyed when we look back at our journey together so far! Along the way we picked up a furry family member and our first child.
Bottom line: It will be a wonderful holiday season and we have a lot to be thankful for! What about you?

Here are some pictures of one of our greatest joys. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Seriously? Again?

So the common theme of our lives since we've been married seems to be "everything changes." And the events of the past week compliment that theme beautifully.

If you have not heard heard any other way, we're moving again! This is a very new and recent thing that just came up in the last few weeks (about a week after Becky started her new job here in Bloomington-gotta love the timing).

A few weeks ago Derek got a call from the Army Corps of Engineers in Rock Island, Illinois (where Becky's sister Rachel works). They had an opening for a Geologist and were interested in him specifically. He went up there for an interview and was hearing some favorable feedback indicating that he would likely be offered a position. Then finally at the begining of this week he was offered one. It is an incredible opportunity and a position he will be able to grow tremendously in, both in experience and professionally as well as financially. It would provide tremendous security for our little family that will be a welcome change after living the last 4 years on one income-a Social Worker's income at that! We felt that we had to take it given that it was the kind of job that he was going to grad school to get anyhow! So he officially accepted it yesterday and has a tentative start date of September 7th. He plans to eventually go back to school and finish his grad degree. Once he's at the Corp long enough they'll actually pay for it/give him the time off to complete it while still paying his salary. Not a bad deal!

So now another fun transition begins. Becky's last day at her job here in Bloomington is September 22nd. We plan to do one big move the weekend of September 17-19th. We will be renting a U-haul truck and we hope to pack it later Friday evening on the 17th (going into Saturday morning if we need to) and then driving to the Quad Cities late Saturday morning to unpack the truck so we can return it that night. Becky is currently applying for jobs in the QC area and hopes to start somewhere the begining of October. Although it wouldn't absolutely necessary for Becky to work, it will help us to save for a house a whole bunch sooner. So our hope is that Becky can work for a few more years until we are in a house and the second one comes along and then she will stay home. Because once we buy a house in the QC area we are not moving to another town again. EVER. We are so sick of moving and sending out emails like these every few years! Apparently transition happens quite a bit when someone in the marriage is always in school. We have to admit we are happy to be done with that for now.

Anyhow-if you could, please be in prayer for us regarding this transition. We have alot to do in the next 30-45 days. Becky needs a new job, we need a place to live and day care for Grace. We have some leads on housing and day care that we are still looking at and Becky has put out about 5-6 applications, but we have not heard anything yet. We know that God has this worked out for us, but prayers are still appreciated!

Also, if you are in the Bloomington or Quad Cities area (or want to be that weekend) and are interested in helping, we could sure use it! Let us know when/if you think you would be able to help. We promise to reward you with food and desserts. Plus, the best helper of them all gets extra cuddle time with Gracie! Nothing like using your kid as leverage, right?

Thanks to you all. We'll update everyone on our new address as soon as we know it ourselves. Phone numbers and email will stay the same.

Love, Derek and Becky (and Grace and Doogan)

Time for renewal...

So if you have not already heard, Becky will be going through a change soon. A job change! For the last 13 months she's been at a foster care agency in the area, but on July 26th she will join the counseling team at Catholic Charities in Bloomington. We are very excited about this change! Although we believe that God had us where He had us for a time, it is no longer a good fit. Now that Gracie is here we need something that has stable hours/stable structure and that allows Becky to do the kind of long-term focused therapy treatment that she ultimately finds fulfilling. Plus, being right in town where Grace is at day care and not having to do any crisis ever again is a HUGE plus! We are thankful for the new opportunity and Becky is excited to join an experienced group of clinicians at Catholic!

So, we are beginning to breathe a sigh of relief as we look forward to exiting the perpetual chaos soon. It is time for renewal. This new position will allow for this and Becky especially will be able to find balance again.

Well, in relation to the job thing-we do still have a newborn after all!

Good weekend wishes to you all-
The Clarks (plus one)




"The miracle is not that we do the work but that we're happy to do it." Mother Teresa

Nothing sweeter....

When she wants to rock, she rocks. When she wants to roll, she ROLLS!

From our title you may be able to guess this. But yes, our baby has rolled over for the first time! Saturday night while doing some tummy time with her, she finally did it. It's amazing how when you become parents the smallest little things becomes amazing. Because to us she is. Amazing.

Here is the video...

Wanted: Time Machine

It's been a while...we'll catch you up.

We spent the last few weeks enjoying what was left of our maternity leave and Derek's summer break. Every day was wonderful as we spent time bonding as a family, traveling and visiting family/friends and preparing our home for the rough reality of returning to work. Sunday May 23rd we were back in the Zion area so that we could dedicate Grace at our family's home church which was also the same church we were married in. After spending some time at home we traveled to Northern Wisconsin with Derek's family to see Grandpa Clark ("Papa G") and Iris. It was a wonderful way to end maternity leave!

Buuuttt, now we're back to reality. And we would like to put in a request for a time machine please.
Going back to work has been harder than we anticipated for Becky. Social Work jobs are always stressful, but this one takes the cake! Not just in terms of clients but in terms of the hours required, etc. It's hard to feel like you're doing both jobs well and the "mom" job is not one we want to compromise on, obvs. Which is why a time machine would be helpful. Or a duplicator so that we could both be in two places at once. How nice would that be? Derek's internship is going really well, but we still have decisions to make in terms of what would be best for our family. Prayers would be appreciated. And also that time machine thing. Stat.

You live, you parent, you learn!

So we have officially survived our first medical panicky experience. We just got home from our first trip to the E.R. with Grace when we (mostly Becky) became convinced that Grace's umbilical cord was infected. It was starting to fall off, but it also seemed to be leaking puss (turns out that was the cord we were seeing), there had been a bit of dried blood the day before and it had an odor. After google-ing these things and also calling the pediatrician, we decided to play it safe and just get it checked. 3 hours later, it was confirmed that it is just fine. It's just doing what it needs to do to die and fall off-which looks like that will happen soon. Who knew? Not us obviously-we went to the ER!

One plus side to us going there is that we did get an update on her stats. Turns out she continues to be a growing, healthy, strong, vital little girl! She currently weighs 7 lbs 7 ounces and is a little more than 19 inches long. So at almost two weeks old, she has grown more than an inch and has returned to her birth weight plus some! They did blood work on her when we were there, just to be safe, and that came back perfect. Pulse is good, ears/eyes look good, etc. etc.
This isn't exactly how we wanted to find that info out, but you gotta find the silver lining! We just can't wait for the cord to finally fall off-it'll be one less thing for us to worry about. Which is good because as new parents, there are like 90 million others!

The line "Grace has taught my heart to fear" never was to true in our lives until about 12 days ago....
But, ultimately, we wouldn't have it any other way!