Noah Lee Hynds is here!

We'd like to welcome Noah Lee Hynds to the world. Noah was born on Sunday, February 22 at 3:24 p.m., at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 inches long. He has brought tremendous blessing and joy to Angie and I. Here's the first of many pictures of our little guy. Noah and his mom are both doing well.




There will be a lot more pictures and videos both on this blog and on Facebook. We can't wait to share his stories to all of you! A big thank you goes to all of our family and friends for their caring and generosity.

Baby Comic

My grandma sent this to me a few weeks ago. It's a comic from Parade Magazine, and she threw in her own captions:




Pretty funny, and sadly, I know it will be true very soon.

Our Baby Shower

Angie had her baby shower back on January 17. It turned out very well, and we'd like to thank everybody for all of the books, all of the gifts, and the great food. Special thanks to Sherry and Nicky for organizing the event, Dad for preparing the soup, and our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and friends for helping out. The pictures can be seen on Sherry's Facebook page.

If you see Angie, ask her what she thought of the fruit salad.

Thank you all for a great baby shower, and our little guy will be here before you know it!

The First Nursery Photos

Angie and I have worked hard over our holiday break to get the nursery put together. Here are a few photos. More will come as the nursery progresses.

Here's the crib and the dresser. The crib was pretty easy to put together; the dresser, not so much. They both look nice, though.

On the other side of the room are the changing table and the rocker. These were some lucky finds; the changing table came courtesy of my sister-in-law, Jill, and we bought the rocker when One Way had its church sale.

We also bought new curtains for each of the windows.

Here's the closet. The boy already has more toys than he needs. This is what happens when Angie's siblings couldn't wait to unload some unneeded toys. We are very thankful, however, to have so much. We don't plan on washing the clothes for a while, hence why the clothes are in a big pile.

Here's his bookcase. He also isn't hurting for books. The train on the top is a piggy bank train, where we can write in his name, height, weight, birthday, favorite food, etc. Next to it is a teddy bear from the Chicago Symphony. Both were wonderful gifts from my brother Danny and his fiance, Marianne. On the right is Woofers, a bear we made at Build-a-Bear when we were in St. Louis this past fall.

Finally, here's a closeup of the dresser. The ultrasound picture is on the left. That frame was a gift from Betty, a co-worker at my side job at the M.E. Barber Company. The picture book and piggy bank came from my parents, and my parents and grandparents combined to save over $120 in quarters to put in it. I gave Angie the elephant photo frame for Christmas, with a note saying "Insert baby picture here" in it.

It was hard work, but a lot of fun, to put it together. Now comes the waiting. We're pretty excited to see him come!

My 2008

2008 was something else for Angie and I. Here's the year in review.


Angie and I both changed jobs this year (which I can't say was planned in either case). Angie took a break from her full-time position working with the blind and visually impaired. Now, she teaches part-time in the resource room and English at Meridian High School. I left my teaching job at ISU (and the commute that comes with it) to teach at Richland Community College.

We dialed it down a bit this year when it comes to traveling. Our longest vacation of the year was a five-day trip to Carbondale in June for a church conference. Even though it was brutally hot outside, we enjoyed being in Southern Illinois for a few days. In July, we spent a weekend with Angie's mom and dad, along with her sister Sherry's family, in Wisconsin Dells. In late September, we went to St. Louis to see one of Angie's high school friends get married. Finally, we went back to Carbondale in early November to visit the Staleys (read my earlier blogs for pictures of that trip).

Over the summer, I used the time between full-time jobs to work for my father at the M.E. Barber Company. Angie worked at Scovill Zoo, acting as a liaison between the teachers and the animals for the Zoo Crew kids' program. For an animal lover like Angie, it was a pretty fun experience.

And of course, there's the biggest news of all: In June, we found out that we'd be expecting our first child! We're expecting a baby boy in late February. Honestly, I can't wait for him to come. Seeing him move in Angie's belly is so exciting. He is such a blessing already. Pictures of the nursery will be posted very shortly, so stay tuned.

As 2008 has come to an end, I have a lot to be thankful for. I have spent the last couple of days thinking about this year, and all that happened. Sure, there were a few things that Angie and I wish hadn't happened. However, I feel like there were enough good things to be thankful for this year. And most of all, I thank God for providing for us all year and being there for us all the time, as always. I feel like I grew personally this year through both the good and the bad in 2008, and I praise God for the opportunities He has given me to grow.

I don't know what will happen in 2009, other than the fact that our lives are going to change forever when our little guy comes along. I do plan to write down some goals for the year, and I hope that I can be writing again in this blog on December 31, 2009, detailing the successes of the year.

I plan to keep up with the blog throughout the year. Also, Angie and I now are each on Facebook, so check it out. We wish you all the best in 2009.