LJ & Cissy

Believe it or not, LJ LOVES his Cissy! He tells me, "hold it, hold it!" all the time. Yeah he still refers to her as "it" or "Cissy", but you can't win'em all.
 
 

LJ's New TV Chair

This is how LJ watches tv when at MawMaw & PawPaw's house;)
 

Cissy Cuteness!

 
 
 
 

Bailey with her MawMaw
 

I call this one ...

.... return of the Mack!
 

Bailey with her PaPa
 

I know its almost Thanksgiving ...

... but I was having technical difficulties with the camera. So here are the halloween pics!

 
 
 
 

The Kids ...

 

Maximum Cuteness!

 
 
 
 

Afraid to Hope?

Have you ever been afraid to hope? If you haven’t, you’re either kidding yourself or you’re a better person than most. It hard sometimes to want something so badly and yet to know that it is completely out of your control. You want to hope, but you are too afraid. Afraid that if you allow yourself to hope, to expect, to dream, that it won’t happen … that you will somehow jinx yourself. Or, as it was in my case, that I would be too devastated to function if my hope was not fulfilled. I knew I needed a miracle, a divine touch from the Almighty. But I froze. I couldn’t bring myself to ask God for a miracle, for my miracle. I have, on many occasions, petitioned God for miracles on behalf of others. But I could not bring myself to ask Him for my miracle. I confessed this to my husband and explained to him that if I asked and I was denied I wasn’t sure my faith (or my heart) could take it. I certainly would not be the first person that God denied a miracle to, Jesus Himself asked for the cup to pass from Him. So who am I, that God should choose to grant my miracle. But my brave husband, stopped then and there and asked for me. Calling on the faithfulness of God, he boldly (yet humbly) petitioned God for my miracle. And you guessed it, I got my miracle! And I am more than grateful and totally amazed. But I hope that next time, I won’t be afraid. And that is why I am telling you all of this …. I hope that you won’t be either. I want to believe, to trust, to hope. Be bold, have courage, ask for your miracle!

Pics of Baby Bailey

 
 
 

9 lbs. 5 oz., 22" long! We came home from the hospital last night and so far all is well.

So Much Fun!

Last night after we let L.J. "carve" and "decorate" his pumpkin, we headed for the bath. We finally got him undressed and he walked over to me and said "potty" then lifted the toilet seat and brought over his step-stool. He needed a little help getting situated, but still it was a great attempt. Now I know what you are thinking and let me assure you, this does not end the way you think it should. He then leans over at me, smiles, and says "MM". That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have officially trained a child to eat M&M's on the toilet. No potty training here, only M&M eating. On the plus side, I at least make it educational. He has to tell me if he wants one or two M&M's and which color. FWIW, brown is his favorite color M&M. We sat there for a good long time and I thought that maybe, just maybe, he would actually pee on the potty, but no. Then he let me know he was ready to get down, so I said, "ok, but first give Mommy a kiss". Well that apparently was the funniest thing ever. He leaned over to give me a kiss and instead we bonked noses. He laughed until he snorted. So of course, we had to do it about a hundred more times until all of the laughter was exhausted or his little bottom was too sore to sit on the potty any longer;) He did finally get a bath, by the way. Wish I could have caught it on tape (John offered to go grab the camera), but I thought that was probably too cruel. Nothing like years from now him watching his little naked self on the potty, eating M&M's, kissing his Mommy, laughing himself silly .... he'll thank me one day!

Pics from Uncle Kenny

 
 
 

So Big!

 

His Toy Frog

 
 

Consider This Please!!

Lots of you have asked how you can help or if there is anything we need. At this time, we are good, but we would love for you to help some friends of ours. Jimmy & Kelly Trent (and their baby girl Lily) are missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ. They work with college students down in Florida. As most of you know, John & I met while serving in the college ministry at our church, so it has always been very near & dear to our hearts. Anyways, Jimmy & Kelly are responsible for raising all of their own support and are currently in need. So John & I would like to ask that any gifts you may have been considering for us, you would send to Jimmy & Kelly. Their address is 4235 NW 27th Drive Gainesville, FL 32605 (make all checks payable to Campus Crusade for Christ). Every little bit helps, so please consider sending whatever you can. Even if you can’t provide financially for them, please take a moment and pray that the Lord would provide abundantly! To catch a glimpse of their ministry - http://www.ufcampuscrusade.com/
Thank you!

So Much, So Fast ....

Things seems to be happening here faster than I can keep up with. The USB cable for my camera is broken so you will have to wait for pics until I get a new one (hopefully before Bailey is born). This past weekend we went to Atlanta for Clay & Amy's wedding. John was the best man and he did a fantastic job! And yes I did travel while 38.5 weeks pregnant (quite uneventfully). It was awesome! John & I got to spend some much needed "couple" time together (since L.J. stayed with grandparents). The wedding was beautiful, actually the most beautiful ceremony we have even seen! It was so Spirit-filled and so refreshing, we were so grateful to have been a part of it! We made it back Saturday night, but it was too late to pick-up L.J. so we had one more night to ourselves. Spent most of Sunday with my folks and took L.J. to see the open house at the local firestation. We ran into a fireman there who used to be in our SS class. It was great, he paid L.J. all sorts of special attention and let him climb all over the firetrucks. Today has been the kicker though. We only had 2 things we had to do today: 1. pick-up our milk (from the dairy co-op) 2. go to playgroup. But you know that they say about the best laid plans. L.J. started running a low-grade fever, so I knew playgroup was out. But when it spiked to over 103, I knew we wouldn't be leaving the house at all. Poor kid is so miserable. He just laid around all day, mostly on me. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! I really want him to get better immediately, not just b/c I don't want him to feel bad, but being this close to my due date I don't want to be quarantined if I have the baby a bit early. So pray for Bailey to stay put until L.J. is better. I think that about covers it for now.

News from Iraq

Ken is doing well. He's received several care packages at this point and says they have all of the necessities. Its starting to get cold over there now, so some coffee, cream & sugar would be a good idea if anyone is looking to still send something. He did mention wanting some books or magazines for any downtime they might have. Things are slowing down and becoming more settled now. He is really grateful for this, because now he has the time to get things organized and clean. He got a bunch of letters from some 2nd graders back home and was really tickled about that. Other than that everything seems to be moving right along. He enjoys hearing from folks back home, so drop him a line if you get the chance.

The Boy Loves Him Some Firetrucks!