CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!

Merry Christmas! Here are a few pictures of our celebrations so far. Isn't Christmas so fun???? We are at my in-laws right now and then on our way to Minnesota! Have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Cousins

The Millers
Chicago

Navy Pier

Exhausted!

This is the tree in our apartment! A little big, but very festive!

Ella's 1st Hot Chocolate

That's not me on the left!

Happy Birthday Ella!!!

We love you Ella!!!

Thanks!

Thank you for all of your prayers during this last month. It is amazing to feel the comfort of God and know that is is because people are praying.

I think we are all doing good. We do have our moments. Sometimes I am doing great but then I think, "Oh, that was funny, I should call Warren." Then, realizing he is gone, I break down into the ugly cry. (Not attractive)

I decided to post some pictures since I have been terrible at that. They are from the last few months! ENJOY!

Heaven is a Glorious Place!

Our precious Warren is with his Lord and Savior!!! He passed away today at 2:55 pm. He was surrounded by Tana, family and friends.
I wanted to write about how special Warren was to me but at this moment I just want to comfort my sister and nieces and nephews. It is amazing to know that Warren has met our Savior and he has said, "Well done, though good and faithful servent." What a blessing to have had Warren as a brother. Our lives will forever be changed today, but praise the Lord we have hope in heaven. We will see you soon Warren!

Our Precious Warren

Today is a very difficult day for us. Our brother in law Warren is now ending his fight with cancer. He has fought so long and now gets to enjoy meeting our Lord and Savior. At this time please pray for the Lord to take Warren soon. He is struggling for every breath. Such a strong heart. Tana and the kids are are doing as well as can be expected. The kids are filled with questions: "Why Daddy?, Will Daddy still have cancer in heaven?, Will he meet Jonah and Noah?" Pray for all of us as we answer them. We have no understanding so how do we explain to children whose hearts are breaking? Thank you for your prayers!! We love you Warren!!!

Getting Stuck!

This weekend we had our nephews, Tyler and Will, with us. Dana and Jim wanted to have a little getaway so we got to entertain our little guys! Friday night we went to Chuck E Cheese. We enjoy going there with Ella but it is an entirely different story with 3 kids!!!!

On Saturday we went to the Northern Illinois University game vs. Indiana State football game. Our former neighbor's brother is the ISU coach so it was very fun to watch. Again, we have it down going anywhere with Ella, but add 2 boys to the mix and well, we eventually figured it out. The best part was when the boys had to use the bathroom and Alex got to take them!! I just sat back and relaxed. . .Oh, until Ella had a bad diaper. (-: I thought since I was going to change a diaper I would just pick up some snacks. Ok, didn't think that one through. It was about 6 ramps down to the concession stand. After buying 2 drinks and 2 pretzels it finally hit me. . .how was I going to get back up to our seats with Ella? When in doubt, bribery always works. I would walk up a ramp and then from the top say, "Come on Ella, walk up to Mommy and get a drink". I felt a little bit like a person talking to their dog, but nonetheless it worked. We eventually made it back to our seats!

On Sunday we went to a Water Park to celebrate Tyler's Birthday. I am not a big water slide person. I guess the thought of going down a black tube really fast doesn't appeal to me. I tried the first one which was going down the slide while sitting on an innertube. That one went so good I thought I would try the one where you go without an innertube. I get to the top and sit down. The lifeguard says, "You can sit up but if you lay down you will go faster." So I start going down the slide extremely fast and it is pitch dark. I reach up to cover my face (not sure why) when all of the sudden I think, "I am going so fast I don't even feel it." REALLY???? I feel the wall and I am just sitting in the middle of the tube. I start freaking out. I know that Alex is right behind me. The last thing I want is Alex to come down that slide with me sitting still in the middle of it! Here I am pushing, pushing, pushing down the slide! Finally, I reach the end and can see Jim laughing because I am pushing myself down the tube. Oh my word!!!! That is one of those things you dream about happening like showing up at school naked, but you never think would actually happen!
I guess they should make it clear that if you sit up you will STOP......COMPLETELY!!!

Our Dreams, God's Plan

Today we went to our friend's church to hear Phil Vischer, the Creator of Veggie Tales. Ella hasn't been too involved in the movies yet but absolutely loves the music.
One day when I was getting 'her music' on I said "Ella, Get your ears ready!" So she pulls on her ear loabs.
"Ella, get your mouth ready." So she sticks out her tongue while pulling on her ear lobes.
I am so amazed when she does this stuff.
Moving on. . . .
Phil Vischer's testimony was amazing. His heart's desire was to build a a Christian Walt Disney World but he went bankrupt and had to sell it all. During his testimony he kept saying that he wanted to "save kids from Hollywood." After he lost it all he came to the conclusion of why God allowed him to lose his dream (even when it is a God honoring dream).
He started Veggie Tales to honor God and somewhere through it all he had added to it where God had not. God had simply asked him to use his talents for him and Phil had turned that into "saving all the children in the world". Phil said, "God had not asked me to take that burden on but only to serve him which should bring joy. " He had made the mistake of turning a passion that God gave him into an idol that almost destroyed his ministries.
There were so many ways God spoke to me in that message. It was a great reminder that God allows things to happen for our good, God loves us and wants what is best for us. Phil said he made many mistakes in his busines and ultimately he is the reason he went bankrupt but God allowed it.
Another lesson was that many times we start out with the best of intentions but when we 'add' to that and ultimately make it more about our dreams than following God's plans that is when we are out of God's will.
Tomorrow Ella and I are out to buy a new VeggieTales CD. I love the one we have but when you are singing the songs in your sleep you know you need a new one! (-:

Still Here!

I am still here, just been enjoying the last few weeks of summer! Ella and I have throughly been enjoying the pool we joined this summer. Oh, did I mention all the baseball games we went to. There are some weeks that if we want to see Alex we have to go see a game. (-: School started today so we are now starting the fall and the busy regimented schedule that brings.
Where did the summer go???????

Happy 5 Years!!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ALEX!!!
(Yesterday was our 5 year Anniversary! I wanted to post some of our wedding pictures but I can't find the printer cord from our move to scan them!! I believe I am going to just have to buy a new cord!)

We had such a fun day yesterday! We found a butterfly garden that was free!!! Gotta love that. Then went to the park for a picnic. That was enjoyable until the geese starting chasing us. We were playing catch and I think they thought the ball was bread. Then we went swimming. It was a great day!!

Today is Alex's birthday! Happy 31 years honey!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! CHLOE BUG!!

Chloe, Maddie, Spencer
I wanted to say a special Happy Birthday to my wonderful niece Chloe!!! Uncle, Ella, and I miss you so much! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you. Ella and I have been talking all day about how special you are and how much we would love to be there with you today. Call us tonight and tell us about all your presents!

P.S.We Love And Miss You Auntie Maxine**

THANKFUL!!!

Well, we are all moved in! Every box has been unpacked and everything put into storage that needs to be. Since our home in Indiana has not sold yet, we are renting an apartment. Not my first choice, but, alas, it is very cozy!
Moving away from our first home together was more difficult than I thought it would be. The hardest part was putting things I love into storage. I have to admit I did start crying! Alot!
But then I was reminded of our friend Jamie (Thanks Dana and Mom for the reminder) and how she had to put many of her belongings in storage when she went to the mission field. Then I read a blog where someone said, "God doesn't mind us having nice things, he just doesn't want us to hold onto them too tightly." So instead of feeling like I am living in a pinball machine I have decided to be thankful instead. What a concept!!!

Thankful that my wonderful husband painted it so it would feel like home!

Thankful that I have a washer and dryer!

Thankful that I have a beautiful view!

Thankful that my Mom and Dad came to help me make it cozy!

Thankful that my Mother-in-law helped me organize my kitchen!

Thankful that Alex and I live in the same place again!

Enjoy the pictures!

Our Dining Room!

(Ella is waving hello)

Ella's Very Pink Room!

Ella's Play Area!!!

Ella's scraped up face. I thought Midnight Golf sounded like a great idea, but maybe not with a toddler.

PALAU!!!!!

Tomorrow my sister and her family leave for their 3rd summer working with the people in Palau. Now, if you would have told me 3 years ago that I would be excited to see them going I would have been shocked. I fought the Lord on this for a really good time (and I wasn't even the one going). When I first found out they were praying about going to Palau to join their friends John and Jamie Zimmer I was not very happy. Such a shame! Here God had given them an opportunity to witness to people who otherwise may never have a chance to hear about the Lord and all I was concerned about was that I couldn't spend another Fourth of July with my sister. REALLY????? Jim would constantly tease me that he was going to pack the family up and go minister in Palau. Not that it is funny to serve the Lord but I'm sure my reaction to taking my sister to the farthest spot away from the United States possible was. Oh, and it wasn't just Jim. When I was little (probably 5 and Dana was 10) Dana used to pack up her flowered suitcase and sit me down by the front door. "Jana, I am now going to serve the Lord in Africa." I would follow her to the sidewalk sobbing and pulling her arm begging her to come back. We were not allowed to cross the sidewalk so Dana would put 1 foot on the street and say, "Jana, I must go. The Lord has called me to serve Him. Tell Mom and Dad I love them, but now I must walk to Africa ." I would sob and sob. Where were my parents at this time????? Finally Dana would say, "Fine, Jana I will stay for dinner, but then I must go." Dana had 4 reasons to torture me in this way:
#1-She has always enjoyed the power that comes with being an older sister.
#2- I had a speech disorder and whenever I talked I sounded funny.
#3-Dana was considerably larger than me.
#4-Mom flooded us with exciting missionary stories of people who abanded all they had and moved to exotic places to tell the story of Jesus and obviously Dana really enjoyed them.
The Lord has blessed them in an amazing way. To be able to hear the stories of the people who have accepted the Lord as their Savior have truly been amazing.
So yes, I am very excited to see them leave (I know it is only for the summer but for sisters to not be able to talk on the phone, that is an extremely long time.) because I know that this is another opportunity for them to serve and another summer where souls will be saved.
Please pray for them. Dana is still healing from her tubular pregnancy and 1 week ago their basement flooded (along with many others in Wisconsin) while Jim was gone at a conference. Dana and the boys were carrying buckets of water up and throwing them outside. Here is an excerpt from a conversation Dana heard between the boys:
Will: "Tyler, my bucket is too heavy."
Tyler: "Well, dump some of it out." So Will dumped half of his bucket back out into the water in the basement and carried the rest upstairs. Finally, Dana said she became overwhelmed and told the boys they need to pray. They got on the knees and asked the Lord to help them. A few minutes later a friend of theirs called and asked if they needed help.
Why are we ever shocked at God's Power?
Jim, Dana, Tyler, and Will- We miss you and are so proud of you!!! See you later!!!!
P.S. We are all moved in!!!!! As soon as I find my printer cord I will post some pictures!!!!

Moving Day!!

Moving Day has finally arrived. Alex and I are thrilled that this 6 month long tranisition is finally over. Only seeing each other every other weekend gets quite difficult! Although, not having to cook has been nice (-:
We loaded the truck today. Alex, unfortunately, couldn't make it 'cause he had to work. So, our dear friends all came together to help.
Just a note to anyone who is thinking about moving: If you are in a 2 bedroom house- a 17 ft. U-haul truck is not big enough. Such fun memories!!!
Keep praying for our home to sell.
I can't wait until tomorrow to move into our new place!!! Lifting boxes is always enjoyable.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!!

I wanted to write a quick note about my wonderful Mom!!!! I love my Mom and strive so much to be like her. She is so selfless and always doing everything she can to make our lives more comfortable. Here are just a few reasons why I love my MOM:
* I love that she will drive 12 hours to visit us when we need her. (Even when I think Dad needs her more).

*I love that she makes every holiday special even when we can't spend it with her.

*I love that we still get Easter baskets, Halloween treats, and gifts from Mrs. Clause.

*I love that some of my favorite memories of growing up were going to Indiana vs. Minnesota basketball games together. I love that she and I would proudly walk into Williams Arena being the only 2 wearing IU colors.

*I love that I have memories of her kneeling at the couch praying for us.

*I love that she loves my Dad.

*I love that she makes each one of her girls feel like they are her favorite.
(Although, we all know who really is).

*I love that she was my high school volleyball coach.

*I love that while growing up she was my mom but now she is my friend.

*One thing I didn't love was my haircut!!!!

MOM-Thanks for everything. I could go on and on! Most importantly thank you for showing me how to be a MOM!!!!

HURRAY!!!

Last year I applied for a Reading Recovery Position in our School Corporation and got it. Reading Recovery is a program that offers one-on-one reading instruction with at-risk 1st graders. This was such a unique opportunity because it was Part time and the corporation paid for my training which ended up being 6 graduate hours from Purdue. I also got to leave work at 11:30! I had 4 students the first half of the school year and then 4 more the second half. All year I've been in training and tonight I finally got my Reading Recovery Certificate!!!!! I went to the School Board meeting with the rest of my class and had to walk up in front of everyone to recieve my certificate. My favorite part was when I picked Ella up at my sister's house and she said, "Nice outfit! Your hem is completely out of the back of your skirt!"
Oh, well, you can't look perfect at all times!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

We were driving to church on Sunday night when I heard Ella in the backseat. She was making her "ooh-ooh" sounds and her hands were grasping toward the window meaning she wanted something. I looked out the window and not next to our car but two lanes over was a man eating a hot fudge waffle cone sundae. My precious Ella!!!! Always looking for chocolate!!!!!

Coupon Trouble!

I was so excited about a $5 coupon I got in the mail for Huggies Diapers. I read through the coupon thinking there had to be a catch somewhere. I imagined the moment I was going to buy them and there was some catch like, "I'm sorry ma'am. You first have to buy 32 boxes of deluxe diapers, do 12 cartwheels, and lose 5 lbs before you can use this coupon." I looked carefully and there was no catch. It said $5 off ANY SIZE HUGGIES!!!! Ella was wearing her last diaper so I ran over to Babies'R'Us and picked up my big box of diapers. Walking up to the counter I was still nervous. Would the coupon really work? As I'm getting my debit card out I was relieved that she was scanning the diapers and the coupon. WHEEEWWWW!
"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am! This coupon isn't good until tomorrow!!!"
As I got home I realized that I was charged $32.14 for the diapers when they were actually $29.99. We will be making a trip back to Babies'RUs tomorrow with the receipt!

'Lil Toots

My sister Dana had emergency surgery a week ago for a tubular pregnancy. She and her family were at the Dells for their Spring Break with some friends when she began experiencing severe pain. She thought it was just kidney stones. The next few days the pain got worse and on Thursday she and Jim decided to drive back to Milwaukee and go to the hospital. Dana said that by the time she got to the hospital around midnight she was vomiting. Still thinking it was kidney stones she sent Jim home with the boys and said she would call once she saw the doctor. She kept hearing the nurses talking about pregnancy and she kept telling them she wasn't. Finally a doctor came in and explained that she was 6 weeks pregnant. He then went on to explain that they needed to do emergency surgery and take the baby to save Dana's life (She had already lost 2 liters of blood). My wonderful , amazing sister wanted to make sure that there was no chance for the baby before they operated. I know that we all say we would put our unborn babies lives before our own if necessary but when given the choice what would be your reaction? I am so proud of Dana's strength and grace she displayed during this difficult time. HWat a testimony to the doctor and nurses. The doctor showed her the ultrasound and lovingly explained the baby was already gone. Only then did Dana agree to the surgery. She called Jim, who immediately came to the hospital. (Thanks Jen for watching the boys!!!!) We later learned that we were within hours of losing Dana. Praise the Lord for sparing our sister's life!!! Dana said that when she woke up from surgery her first thought was that there was a little Towberman in heaven and that our Gaggy (our Grandma) ran up to him or her, scooped the baby up and said "Hello, 'Lil Toots!!"
Mom was here helping Tana with everything and me with a broken foot. ( It was a rough week for all of us!!! (-: ) Mom and I drove up and spent some time with them. Mom stayed the rest of the week while I had to be back to work.
Dana, Jim, and the boys came here for Easter with everybody and Jim presented their Palau ministry to our church. At the end of their video he says,"Please pray for our family as we plan our return to Palau in 2008" I kept thinking how close Dana came to not returning to her mission field. How good God is!!!!!

Flashback to College

I got MBBC's newsletter today and saw they are doing Pygmalion for their Spring Play. I was in the same play in college and I thought back to one of my least favorite moments of my college experience. I was make to wear a "butt bustle" as part of my costume. Mrs. rice noticed that mine was exceptionally large so she asked the costume people to deflate mine. How kind of her. The next day at practice another star of the play came up to me and said,
"Jana your bustle looks much better on you today than it did yesterday."
"Thanks," I replied. "I don't have it on yet."
College was filled with such pleaseant memories!!!!

Goodbye Albert P. Miller!

Our precious Albert had to go to another family this weekend. With moving to Chicago and probably renting at first we decided it would be better if he went to a family with a yard. The family that we found just lost their dog to cancer and we very excited to take him home. My nieces and nephew that live here are having a difficult time. OK, actually I am having a difficult time. The grandmother of the family is our school secretary and she asked me how I was doing and I just started sobbing. (-:
Everything is going good for our family. We have been so busy with a getting the house ready and travelling back and forth between here and Chicago. The Lord has blessed us with safety and taking care of details for us. Continue to pray for us during this transition!

A Potpourri of Family News!

I have been so busy since getting home from Christmas I haven't hardly had a chance to update! We finally have the house up on the market! YEAH!!!!! Please pray that our house will sell in good timing with needing to move to Chicago. I posted a few pictures (Ok, maybe I went overboard!) of our Christmas, New Years, and Ella's 1st haircut!

We feel so blessed to have had my whole family together at Christmas! 14 people in a house for 2 weeks was definately exciting!!!!

BEFORE the MAKEOVER

AFTER

"I can see!"

The Three Musketeers

Christmas Eve with Mooah in her Christmas PJ's!

Taking a break with Uncle Warren on Christmas Day!

Obviously, exhausted from all of her unwrapping!

Dana and Myself Downtown at Daytons!

Camp Snoopy!

Not impressed!

Poppi with his favorite treat-

A funnel cake

New Years Eve!!!

Thank you for all your prayers for my brother-in-law. Prayers are so important and always a blessing to us!!!

Prayer Request!

Please pray for my brother-in-law Warren. The doctor moved his scan up from the 31st to tomorrow. He was worried about how terrible Warren has been feeling! Please pray that they will find out the results quickly! Thank you!