Black Friday

Thanksgiving has already come and gone!!! We hope you all had a great, safe Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Instead of getting trampled on Black Friday or putting up Christmas decor, I decided to update our blog for you all.

We put our house up for sale last week so we'll see who wants to buy a house right before Christmas :). We had to do some last minute projects beforehand so we had the pleasure of Bonnie, Ryan's mom, come to help out watching Josiah.

A trip to Iowa was made to find a new lair for the Lins pack. We were not finding a lot in the way of acreages but the Lord was good and we found just the home for us. We made an offer and it was accepted (much to our surprise!). Our closing is January 11th so we will be staying with my (Katie's) parents in Minnesota in the meantime. Nana and Papa will have had thier full share of the little monster by then. Here's a picture of our new home. Be warned friends and family, there may be a call for a "barn raising" in the spring as the new pad has no horse housing yet.

Being so close to Minnesota while we were there, we spent a Sunday up there to see our new addition to the Lohse family. All cousins were together and I think Josiah is begining to feel a little out numbered so hurry up you guys on the Lins side, you seem to be our only hope of getting a boy in the mix!

We all (yes, even the horses) will be moving Monday, December 3rd back to the midwest so we hope to see some of you midwesterners here in the near future.

Josiah surprised us last week with his new talent, crawling! I think it's a survival tactic for Christmas....to get away from toy hoarding cousins and smoochy women.

Lastly, Ryan turns 30 (!!!) this Monday, November 26th so please make sure you give him a hard time about how old he is. He seems to remind me frequently of this fact.

We hope you all are enjoying your long weekend and don't forget to scroll down the page for some more new pictures!

Finally, A New Post!!!

LOTS of changes have happened since our last post in June! We will fill you in on the big events to not bore you with the small details....

Ryan's sister, Tracy, got married to her love, Jesse Win, mid September. We were able to drive out to Wisconsin to celebrate the big event and Josiah even got to wear a tuxedo curtesy of Opa and Oma Lins, thanks Grandparents! The wedding was beautiful and the bride even more so!

Josiah started sitting up all by himself the last day we were in Wisconsin. We're begining to realize how fast babies grow up.

A couple weeks later, Ryan entered his first triathlon. He had to swim 1/4 mile, bike 13 miles, and run 3 1/2 miles! He enjoyed it so much, he is looking forward to doing another one next year.

This past Tuesday, October 8th, Katie became a proud Aunt and Ryan and proud Uncle again! Mark and Sara Lohse had thier first child, a beautiful little girl. Praise the Lord for this successful childbirth! Avalon Rose Lohse was born at 8:37am, 6 pounds 15 ounces and 20 inches long!!! Looks like Josiah is becoming outnumbered with all the girl cousins.

Josiah is over 6 MONTHS OLD already!!! We are having so much fun with him. It seems like he's doing something new everyday and it's funny what a big deal we think it is! He started on solids almost a month ago. His favorite food is peaches and could care less for the blander things like oatmeal, beans and carrots. He loves his Porter Dog. We're not quite sure if Porter feels the same yet.

It amazes us how flexible this kid is, he loves to suck on his toes! No crawling yet but we're sure it's around the corner and he loves for us to hold onto his fingers so he can walk around the house.

Lastly, a big life change announcement for the Lins Clan..... Ryan just accepted a new position within his company, Syngenta, a few days ago in Ames, Iowa! It was a promotion for him and it's very close to both our families. His official start date is December 17th! We will miss our friends and church family here in Delaware very much. It's amazing how close we became with all of them in just a few short years. Stay tuned for more details on this developement.

Hope all is well with you all and God Bless!

Memorial Day weekend was spent with Aunt Tracy up in Hoboken, NJ. Josiah got his first bus ride while we were there when we rode into NYC for the day. He did pretty good and enjoyed Central Park. However, I think he was a little disappointed we didn't take him to a broadway show. Porter even got to come and hang out with us. Thanks Tracy for accomodating the whole Lins clan for three days!

Shortly after, Ryan's mom, Bonnie (AKA "Oma") flew out to visit for almost a week to spoil her first grandchild. We had a great time while she was here and she even had Josiah starting to swing his legs over to roll over (with a little help from grandma of course!).

Aunt Sara and Mark (AKA Aunt Sweetie and Uncle Creepy), headed over next. Just like last year, we drug them all over the place while they were here....we took them to the National Arboretum, the harness races, Rehobeth Beach and the Air Mobility Center (Air Force Museum) just to name a few! Mark must have been a pilot in his previous life because he knew more about airplanes than the average bear. Sara was a saint (or a slave driver), she reorganized all my plants around the pool and did a great job!

Father's day was a success. We got Ryan out to Brandywine Creek State Park and went hiking for the day. Porter, however, had the best day of all as he discovered he actually loves swimming! We couldn't get him out of the water for an hour! Josiah also took a little dip in the water as well but wasn't quite up for swimming just yet.

Another month already gone! It's hard to believe spring is almost over. We can't believe how fast both Josiah and "Mac" have already grown. Josiah now weighs just over 10 pounds and as you can see, Mac is really bulking up (unfortunately, we don't have a scale that is big enough to weigh him.)
Some fun developements with Josiah, he is now smiling when he sees his parents and when pretty girls coo over him. He also is holding his head up a lot by himself. Ryan seems to think he already is predisposed to being a Packer fan, as he was very joyful when we put on the Packer sleeper that his Aunt Tracy got him. Sorry Minnesota family, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when he's big enough to fit into his Viking outfits!
A very dear friend ours, Caryl Loquai, passed away almost a month ago. Katie and Josiah flew back to Minnesota for the funeral and Josiah flew like a pro. It was a very difficult to say good bye to such an unforgettable person but we're so blessed to have had him as a friend.
Last weekend we picked strawberries at Fifer Orchards and listened to some good bluegrass music, our first real outting as a family. This Memorial weekend we're looking forward to visiting Ryan's sister in Hoboken, NJ, just outside of NYC.
Stay tuned for more updates!

Another boy!

Well, we had another new arrival on the Lins Ranch! Our horse, Molly, delivered a lil' colt on the 19th. Of course it all went down at 2:00 AM! Not a lot of sleep to be had around here lately. We have been calling him Mac.

Josiah is doing very well...he is gaining weight like a champ and always lets us know when it's meal time. He looking more and more like a little boy everyday. Kate is adjusting to full time motherhood, as her mentor (Darla) departed over a week ago. There has been some bumps in the road, but Kate has been a wonderful mom.

We have had several visiters from Texas and Minnesota the last few weeks. Mandi (Kate's sister) and Faith (our niece) stayed with us for a week. We even had the pleasure of celebrating Faith's 1 year birthday with a luau. Don (Kate's dad aka Pappa) and Ryan (our bother-in-law) were also able to visit. We had a great time.

As for me (Ryan), I have been enjoying fatherhood, even though the long days in the field get a little tough with limited sleep. However, all the corn for my experiments was planted last week and the Lord even helped out with about a half an inch of rain.

That's the news from the Delaware Lins's. Hope all is well with you!

Meet Josiah Daniel Lins

Josiah was born on April 5, 2007 at Kent General Hospital in Dover, Delaware. He was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long. Kate went into labor on her due date (the 4th) and Josiah was born the next day at 11:30 AM. Kate is recovering well from the delivery and Josiah has already become an eating machine. Here are some pictures of the little guy. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Lins Lair!

Greetings from Delaware,
We hope you all are able to check out this blog spot every once in awhile to verify we're still alive and well. Though many of you are far but dear to our hearts, we thought this is a good way to stay in touch with you all.
Stay tuned, baby Lins to come with a D day of April 4th.
God Bless,
Ryan and Katie