Family Update

I apologize for not getting back on here sooner and posting pictures.  Life around here has been SUPER busy and not to mention we have a slightly (ok- a VERY) clingy and teething baby who is currently trying to cut her 10th, 11th and 12th teeth and is content to just be held!  Literally every time I sit down to write "someone" wakes up! Even now as I write she is awake, but thankfully happy and content to play, for now... :-)

Emma laid her head down on Caileigh's lap while watching Elmo's World - she must not feel good! :-(

We have had a lot of exciting things happen around here as of late!

First - Two Thursdays ago, we had 23% left to go on support raising.  After New Town Bible Study, the same Thursday, Stephen received a phone call and we were at 100%!!! God is SO GOOD!!!  This couple we had met our second week in Augusta had been praying about supporting us.  They knew they wanted to support us a significant amount.  They had reached a decision and called Stephen.  The husband asked Stephen how much we had left, when Stephen told him - he replied that that was the amount they had decided on!  God knows our needs and certainly provides even more than we could have ever imagined!  For the next few days it seemed so surreal to us!  Friday, we enjoyed a nice date to celebrate!  Many thanks to Uncle John and Aunt Laura for babysitting the girls so we could enjoy a night out!  Stephen has jumped right in this past week and this week with many, many meetings in hopes of getting tutoring started Oct 3rd!  We are very excited!  Please pray that God would give him wisdom and direction as he makes plans.  THANK YOU for your prayers regarding our support!

Trying ethnic food at a recent Art Festival

Sharing a treat :-)

Second - Caileigh is a swimmer now!  She finally figured out how to kick her legs and paddle her arms at the same time to stay afloat and to move from point A to point B.  It took her two days of trying and then she was off paddling around the pool at the Kroc center - ALL BY HERSELF without floaties!!! We do have to keep our eye on her though because she thinks she is a pro now!  When one of her older buddies showed up to swim Caileigh proudly took off with her to the deep end to show off her newly acquired skill.  She actually did fine - but we had to explain that swimming by herself was something she could only do with Mommy or Daddy by her side. We have been very proud of Caileigh and her boldness in making friends.  She has bravely gone to new nurseries for church and bible study, a new story time and New Town and has enjoyed herself at all and made many new friends.  She misses her friends in Carrollton and talks of them often but we are so thankful to see her reaching out and being a friend and therefore making friends!  THANK YOU for praying for our transition to Augusta and for new friends!  We are seeing some sweet friendships for all develop!

Aunt Katie and Caileigh swimming at the Kroc Center over Labor Day weekend.

Third - Emma is a walker!  Emma has finally decided that she can actually walk from A to B without holding onto something or someone!  She still prefers crawling as it is much faster at this point.  She's pretty cute walking around the house.  We are still working on getting her used to wearing shoes.  She will absolutely refuse to walk when wearing shoes - no matter what kind!  It is hard to believe that in less than a week Emma will be ONE!  She has grown so fast it seems!  Everyday she adds to her vocabulary.  Some include: Dada, Mama, Hey, Uh-oh, ank u (thank you), ball, bae-bee (baby), ba-ba ba-ba (Brown Bear, Brown Bear - her favorite book), Melmo (Elmo), moe (more), car, K (Caileigh), uck (Duck), quack, m-ow (meow), liggle liggle (tickle tickle) and many hand gestures.  We went last Monday to the ENT.  Emma's hearing seemed to be "okay" despite having quite a bit of fluid in both ears.  They also were pretty red.  The doctor put her on antibiotics in hopes of clearing them up.  He feels like it would be in her best interest to get tubes.  We agree. We will go to University Hospital bright and early tomorrow morning(Thursday, Sept 22) for her surgery.  I really liked the doctor and his staff!  Emma felt very comfortable there and wanted the doctor to hold her, she sat in his lap and "watched" him talk to me and Caileigh about Emma and the procedure.  To be honest Emma knows very few strangers.  She loves to tell everyone she sees "Hey!" with a huge smile and will climb into any open lap.  THANK YOU for praying for Emma and her appointment.  Please keep her and us in your prayers as she has surgery tomorrow

Sweet Emma walking outside with her "Baebee"

Fourth - Tonight we are having a "Painting and Pizza Party" for our new home.  We will move in to the house Sat, Oct 1st.  We are very thankful and overwhelmed by God's provision for our family and for all the new friends who are so willing to help us out!

Two Wednesdays ago, was the first Ladies' Bible Study of the year.  We are reading the book: Gospel in Life by Tim Keller.  I am really excited to read this book!  At Bible Study last week I sat next to a lady who turned out to be the aunt of my childhood best friend, Hannah (from Kenya days) - this came out during an ice breaker.  Hannah's grandmother was also at the Ladies' Bible Study and I got to meet her and hear a bit of what Hannah is up to these days.  I am constantly amazed at how small our world is and how BIG our God is!

With Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with a lot to be thankful for!

We have meet twice for the New Town Bible Study, which is on Thursday nights.  We have all four enjoyed getting to know the kids and other volunteers.  Some of our favorites:  Stephen enjoys shooting hoops with the guys and getting to know his 5th grade guys small group!  He also enjoyed leading the big group in worship this past Thursday. Caileigh loves playing with the other preschoolers on the playground.  They love to swing, race down slides, sing a newly learned Swahili song about a balloon, listen to stories read from the Jesus Storybook Bible and coloring.  She also has learned how to eat chicken from the bone... that was funny to watch her figure that one out while the rest of her group dug right in.  :-)  Emma loves just being around people and in particular other kids!  Her favorites are trying to climb up the slides, holding the preteen/teenage girls hands and walking wherever they will let her, clapping along to the songs, trying to eat the crayons before the other kids grab them from her and of course the FOOD! :-)  I personally love watching my little family build relationships with new friends!  The girls have adjusted so well - I feel like they have hardly skipped a beat!  Caileigh asks every day if we are going to New Town tonight?  Stephen is a whole different person come Thursdays - I don't think we can walk to New Town fast enough for him, come Thursday night! :-)  I LOVE being able to love on the little kids that come.  We have had 10-12 two year olds thru 1st graders in the group I help out with.  Since Emma gets walked around I have been able to give lots of pushes on the swings to some very adorable two year olds!

We have enjoyed getting to know families from church with young children who also live downtown.  The girls and I like going to story time at the downtown library.  This morning we walked to the library with a neighbor and her three children.  Another mom and her daughter met us there (they just recently moved to Augusta for dental school).  We all went back to our friends' house for lunch and let the kids play before nap. So much fun!  I was able to go to a recent Ladies' Dessert Fellowship for the ladies who live in our downtown parrish.  It was nice to get to know some more ladies who live close by.  Stephen also recently went to a Guys night out with some of the husbands from the same group.  Seems like they also had a good time! :-)  We are thanking God for providing us friends during a transition period that can tend to be very lonely and hard!

We found a rental house that we LOVE- what an answer to prayer!  We are so excited about it!  It has 2 very large bedrooms, which will be perfect for us. Our landlord and his wife live upstairs and have a separate entrance.  There is no yard but room to make a nice playroom! It is literally right across the street from John and Laura's apartment complex.  One of our new doctors and her husband, who is also a new doctor in town, live three doors down.  They moved to Augusta the same week we did.  They are about our age, so we will enjoy getting to know them better.  There is some work needing to be done: finding a fridge and stove and some painting before we can move in.  We will move in by October 1st and are excited to get settled in our own place!  We are so thankful for the time we have been able to live in the mission house but are ready to get all our belongings out of storage and set up our own home.

Through a generous gift we were able to go ahead and join the Salvation Army's Kroc Center that has recently opened here in town.  As a family we have enjoyed going almost everyday!  Many of our new friends from church have also joined so it has been a great time to get to know some of them better too!  The girls love playing in the nursery while Stephen works out and I run.  Most days we will pick the girls up and enjoy some time swimming and playing in the amazing aquatics center!  One evening the girls and I met some friends there to swim and had so much fun!  Caileigh has learned to swim although not far yet. :-)  Emma loves to splash around!  A family favorite is the lazy river. Stephen and I are working on our goal of running a 10K in December thru a really cool Swamp/wetlands park we recently found... we shall see! :-)  Either way, we are thankful for this opportunity and God's provision!

We enjoyed a great Labor Day weekend!  Aunt Katie (my baby sister who just started her freshman year of college) came up from Georgia Southern on Friday - Monday.  We enjoyed having her here and hearing about college life!  She even got to experience the Kroc Center!  Sunday, we all went to Columbia to Jason (Stephen's brother) and his wife, Lori's house to celebrate their son's baptism and First Birthday.  It was so much fun to be close enough to celebrate with them! It's hard to believe John Carter and Emma are basically toddlers!  This year flew by!

We have a couple more prayer requests and answers to prayer:  Emma has an appointment Sept 12th with an ENT.  Praying we can figure out the next step in helping prevent her from having so many ear infections!  Support is coming in!  It seems slow some days, but it is coming!  We have 25% more to go!  The goal is to have it in by October 1st so we can start After-school tutoring!  Stephen is keeping busy meeting and calling new contacts everyday!  Please continue to pray with us that it will all come in soon! Pray for Stephen tonight as he leads worship at a young adults outreach meeting.

I have pictures, but Emma is now awake and so I will have to put them up later...  Hope everyone had a good Labor Day holiday and long weekend!