Happy Birthday Uncle Jobin (AKA Joel Bob)!

Happy 25th Birthday, Joel!  I thought since it is your birthday and I would rattle off a few of my "Joel stories".


For those of you who know Joel, knows he gets his incredible planning skills from my dad.  About 2 years ago, Joel was moving out of his apartment in NoDa and he gave Zak and I a call (the night before) to see if we could help him out with moving a few "big" pieces of furniture (i.e., TV, mattress, table, couch).  So Zak and I head up to NoDa (a 45 minute drive) to help Joel out.  Joel said it would only be for an hour, he only needed help with a "few" pieces.  As we walk in Joel's apartment, we notice NOTHING is packed up in the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  We think "well surely everything upstairs in his room will be packed"- nope, only 2-3 bags were packed.  Captain 'Planner' decided that he would be able to pack up his stuff and the car at the same time.  Joel also asked if Zak and I wanted to borrow his TV.  Come to find out he didn't want to put in in storage and there was no room at his new place!  So 6+ hours later, Zak and I return home with a new TV for our house. :)


Joel is a huge help with Harleigh.  He doesn't hesitated to come over (by himself) and help out if Zak and I need someone to watch her for a few hours.  When Harleigh was around 4 months old, Uncle "Jobin" came over to watch her while Zak and I did a service project for 2-3 hours.  We promised Joel that Harleigh was on a good routine and that she will pretty much sleep 90% of the time and when she wakes up he may have to change a wet diaper.  We told him not to worry, she won't have a poop, she only does those in the evenings.  Well, Harleigh could sense Joel laid back attitude and was completely relaxed with him and had a massive blowout 15 minutes before Zak and I returned home. :)  Joel said as he was changing her he was dry-heaving! haha....When we returned home, we found Joel and Harleigh laying on the couch, and she was so chill and relaxed we couldn't believe it, until he told us what happened minutes before! :)  Thanks, Joel!


Finally, a story from when we were kids.  As kids, we always had chores to do.  One day I was in charge of vacuuming certain rooms in our house in Maryland, Joel was in charge of vacuuming other rooms.  I vacuumed my room first and went downstairs to play.  When my mom returned home and asked us if we had done our chores we said "yes".  When she went to check out the work she noticed that the vacuum cord was completely cut in half.  I thought to myself "oh my gosh, I ran over the vacuum cord when I was vacuuming."  My mom demanded an answer on who cut the cord.  I told her that I had ran over the vacuum cord while vacuuming, but didn't notice that I had cut it.  She said that someone cut it with scissors and until we owned up to it we were grounded.  So I asked Joel, and he said "no, he didn't do it".  After a while my mom said someone had to admit to it.  So I said "I did it, I cut the vacuum cord with the scissors".  I received spankings for lying about it.  Flash forward 15 years, we were talking about stories in the past and the mystery behind who cut the vacuum cord, because I knew it wasn't me.  Joel finally admits to it!!  He sat there and let me get spankings for something he did!  To this day I hold my breath every time I run the vacuum over the vacuum cord.

But on a serious note, Joel you're an awesome brother, uncle, brother-in-law, friend.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and can't wait to see what God has in store for you.  We are looking forward to your wedding, and welcome Cassie into the family with open arms (you know that means a lot coming from me:)).  We hope you have a wonderful day!!  We love you, Happy Birthday Uncle Jobin/Joel Bob/Joel!