A (late) Christmas update on the Billeters—and their new baby

Baby Jack - lights in color

It has been far too long since we last posted an update, but I’m going to be honest—things have been a little bit crazy in the Billeter household.

For starters, we have a household. After moving back to Sioux Falls in May, Lindsie and I bought a house, which we love. After spending a year sleeping in our tent on the side of the road, sleeping on the floors of churches, and sleeping in the guest bedrooms of generous hosts, moving into a house feels like we finally have a foundation to start the next stages of life.

Speaking of which… we had a baby!

Baby Jack in whiteJack David Billeter was born on November 6th, 2014. He weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces and initially measured at 20 ½ inches (but my dad, a basketball coach, insisted Jack was “taller” than that). A day or two later at our follow-up appointment, Jack was measured at 21 and ¼ inches, so I guess my dad was right.

Although I would never make the mistake of saying Lindsie’s delivery was “easy,” I would say that it went pretty smoothly by most people’s standards. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 AM on November 6th and Jack was in our arms at 8:57 AM. It was a fast delivery, and we are so grateful that the Good Lord has blessed us with such a happy, healthy baby. We somehow manage to love him more and more by the day, and we’re looking forward to watching him grow up to be a strong, confident warrior for Christ.

Baby Jack in black and white lightsAll in all, we have just been overwhelmed by God’s goodness and grace in our lives, and it has given us plenty to reflect upon this Christmas. We hope that things are going well for you too.

We’re still working on our book (we have several chapters written, it’s just a matter of making sure everything feels right before we finish a full first draft), and we hope to have more developments on that front sooner than later. As always, feel free to email us at StormingJericho (at) gmail (dot) com if you want to get in touch. We’d love to hear from you and get an update on what’s going on in your world. And if you have any prayer requests, please don’t hesitate to let us know. When we’re up at 3:30 AM with our delightful-but-wide-awake baby, doing something productive like praying would be very helpful.

Thanks! We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and we hope you have a blessed 2015.

In Christ,
Mike, Lindsie, Jack, and Jaeda

P.S. – Speaking of Jaeda, we should give an update on her. Although we’re thankful that she seems to truly love Jack, we’re also battling the fact that now she feels the need to fiercely defend him from any and all threats. That means when I (Mike) go to pick him up, my hands and fingers are usually in some sort of peril. So we’re praying that she eases up just a little bit, but knowing that little ball of fire, it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. 🙂

Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Lindsie and Mike at ChristmastimeHey friends and family, we’re finally back with a new blog update! What inspired this return to the blog? The birth of our Savior, of course. We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and we also thought we’d share a little news about what’s going on with us now that our journey is complete.

We’d like to start with a reminder of how blessed we are to have a Savior that our Heavenly Father sent down to earth for us. As we go about opening our presents, spending time with family, and probably eating too much delicious food, make sure you keep in mind that the little baby born in a manger would go on to give His life on the cross for our sins. The fact that God loves us that much is worth more than any presents we could unwrap or stockings we could unstuff.

We also wanted to let everyone know that we have officially gotten ourselves settled and situated in Springfield, Missouri (for at least the next 5 months). I, Mike, took a 6-month contract with an awesomely creative marketing agency in Springfield called deep group, and we’ll be figuring out our next steps from there.

Lindsie has enjoyed getting to spend a little time getting settled and doing things that people with a normal home do. She’s also working on getting certified as a medical coder, which will provide an opportunity for her to work from home part time, which we both think is a pretty good plan.

On a final note, we’ve officially started working on our book, which will both tell the story of our journey and also share with people the amazing things God did for us and through us spiritually as we traveled across the country. There’s still a long way to go, but we’re happy to be started, and we’re already enjoying the stories and adventures we’re reminiscing about while we write.

We’ll have more updates in the near future, especially now that we’ve gotten settled, so be on the lookout for an update from the Storming Jericho crew soon. Until then, we hope you have a blessed and very Merry Christmas!

-Mike, Lindsie, and Jaeda