Sorry No Pictures!

I haven't written in a while because I didn't want to post an update without pictures. But unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me find the USB cable for my camera to upload the pics to the computer. It's not the standard size of cable or I would just buy a new one, but they don't carry this kind anywhere in this one horse town.



So here is an update sans pictures.



Corban...WOW! Mr. Personality. He has changed so much the past couple of months. He is talking so well and loves to be the center of attention. People always stop us in the store and comment on his red hair. He's getting sassy toward his mama though. We are trying to nip that in the bud real fast. It's funny how much easier parenting was before I had children! Being consistent is proving to be a much harder task than originally expected.



Corban is all boy. He is a hyper little thing who loves airplanes, trains, and trucks. He has a new love in his life. She is a Hispanic little girl who has captured his heart name Dora. Can you say "Obsessed?"



"Dora" is the first word out of his mouth in the morning and the last word out of his mouth before he goes to bed. If I could, I would post the picture here of him in his Superman outfit, holding a pink Dora lunchbox that we found at a thrift store and he couldn't live without it.





Caleb will be five months old this week. He is a sweetheart, happy go lucky baby. He LOVES cereal (and any other sneaky tastes daddy gives him). He's gotten a couple of boo-boos this week now that he has learned to roll with avengence. Nothing makes you feel like a bad mom more than hearing "the thump" and then the pause, and then the loud wailing afterwards. So far just a couple bad bruises and a puffed eye. Don't worry, I don't put him places he can roll off anymore.


Caleb's favorite toys are 1) his feet and 2) Corban. It's great to see these brothers adore each other. We pray they grow to be best friends.



In other news, we are still adjusting to small town life. We are very excited to go home to Wichita for the 4th of July weekend. We are looking forward to shopping at any place other than Wal-Mart and storing up on some things that you just can't find here. Hopefully we can find a store with the right kind of cable and then I can post pictures. Or I could keep unpacking the boxes and hoping it mistakenly got put in a box labled "garage supplies" or something.

Home Sweet Home

Finally, after

*72 days in transition

*51 meals eaten out

*19 different hotel rooms

*1 really damaging storm and

*countless memories made, prayers uttered, and lessons learned,

WE ARE HOME!!



Humble as it may be right now (we still have a lot of damage to take care of) we are in a place we can call "ours". And we are thankful for it.



Picture of our house pre-storm.

When it Rains, It Pours...

Overall, our house is completely liveable save for the fact that there is glass everywhere and the carpets are soaked. Nate's Saturdays for the next couple of months will be spent doing minor repairs such as fixing the doors, minor roof repair, touch up paint, etc. Our moving truck is coming this Wednesday, so we will hopefully have all the glass picked up and carpets extracted by then. We now see it it was Providence that our stuff didn't come on time, or else there would have been a LOT more damage. We are thankful for home owners insurance, but not for deductibles. :) People have been real helpful. What a way to meet the neighbors!

We are still without electricity. Most of Altus has it back except for our area. It was *supposed* to come back on today, but we know how these things go. We are comfortably staying at the Hampton Inn. It's more inconvenient than anything.

We are just so thankful that everyone is alright and no structural damage occured. The hotel across the field behind our house lost it's entire second floor and people down the street lost their garage. Several mobile homes tipped over and many people had it a lot worse than us. It seemed to be just a tiny short-lived twister, thankfully.

Thanks for all your prayers! Altus has turned out to be a little more adventurous than we originally thought!

Starting a Blog

In my attempts to keep in touch with dearly loved family and friends, I am attempting to join the blogging world. Hopefully this will be a place you can come to for frequent updates on the Tolle family, current pictures, and all the exciting details of our Adventures in Altus. Oh, and I promise to provide you with more than you want to know information on the mundane day to day details that sometimes bore even myself and plenty of random ramblings. (And you thought you would miss me!)

In case you are wondering why I chose the title "The Jubilant Journal" I will tell you. After looking up the word "jubilant", I found it means "showing great joy, satisfaction, or triumph; rejoicing; exultant." None of these definitions are by any stretch characteristics of me. In fact, Nate occassionally calls me "Debbie Downer" (in jest) due to my tendency to see the glass as half empty. (I defend my honor by reminding him that I am a "realist".) However, I long to be full of the joy of the Lord. And with a title like "The Jubilant Journal" I can't help but strive to see God's goodness in every part of our lives. So bear with me as I grow in grace and joy. And feel free to grow with me.

Hopefully in my next post I will write about the "David" tornado that hit our town, but caused "Goliath" damage to our house. And I'll post pictures. So check back soon!