What's going on now?

Good question!  :-)  Well, we are in full swing around here.

After school tutoring officially started back this week.  Stephen's glad to be actually implementing all the planning he has been doing the past month.  There is tutoring at Oak Pointe, a local housing project again this year on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.  This year there is also tutoring at East Augusta Commons, another local housing project (one of the ones we did Bible club at this summer) on Tuesday afternoons.  Monday and Wednesday during lunch, Stephen tutors some high school boys at a nearby school. Tuesday during lunch, Stephen, Rick and Andrew (a new co-worker) lead a Bible study at the same school with the same boys.  Monday nights Stephen and John, our brother in law, have their Bible study with some of the junior high boys.

New Town, the neighborhood kids Bible study is still on Thursday nights.  This year Stephen is helping more with the junior high and high school group.  The girls and I are still apart of the youngest group (1st grade and under). Caileigh still loves it and is really taking the initiative to make friends on her own!  She even participated this week  in a large group game with the 5th grade and under group - huge step for her! Emma has good nights and not so good nights.  She still gets overwhelmed by how many kids are running around and especially does not like it when they try to pick her up.  Most of the time she clings to me on my hip.  She will occasionally show her true colors and be ornery.  We're working on keeping her clothes on at New Town. :-)

Stephen is also taking two seminary classes during this semester.  We are thankful that First Pres has partnered with Erskine and is offering them here at First Pres during the week so Stephen doesn't have to travel.  He is very excited and is learning a lot already!

Mary Stewart, now almost 7 months old still comes and spends the day with us during the week.  She is crawling and wanting to play with everything the girls are.  She is a happy baby and therefore makes our job easy and a joy! :-)

Emma will be 2 in a couple weeks!!!  Instead of a party we are taking her to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia.  We're excited about that!  I'm sure we will celebrate with grandparents at different times as well.  Emma is a talker just like her big sister.  She is really trying to form sentences.  Her way is by adding it on slowly until she gets it all out the way she wants to. An example from this week  at New Town, "Hold me... You hold me... Mommy, you hold me... Mommy, you hold me, Emma... Please!"  She is also potty training. She is wearing big girl panties at home and becoming much more successful at telling us and and actually making it to the potty on a regular basis!  It's a work in progress but it is progress.  She is excited about it and so we are certainly encouraging it!  She enjoys doing some preschool stuff in the mornings with Caileigh and I while Mary Stewart takes a nap.

Caileigh and I have been doing more preschool stuff while the little girls nap in the afternoon.  She is a sponge!  I am constantly amazed at what she can learn and at how quickly she learns! This past week she has accomplished writing her name in the correct order and from memory.  She is so excited about it and every room in our house has a paper with her name written on it at least ten times! :-)  I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to help her learn.  She is also such a big helper around the house, wanting to help with chores and even wants to learn skills like cooking and sewing. She is becoming much more bold in making friends and is willing to try new things without Mommy, Daddy or Emma -which has been a big step for our introvert.  She LOVES her Sunday school class at church and looks forward to going each week!

Our family will be moving into a house just a block away from where we live now by October 1st.  This house is one way God has provided for our family beyond what we could imagine.  We looked at this house not really expecting to be able to afford it, but thought we would at least "check into it."  The owner was asking way more than our budget would allow.  We loved it but both walked away saying, "Lord, if this is something You want for us to have we trust You will work it out, if not we trust that You have something better and in Your timing for us."  We were suppose to call the owner back in 4 weeks to see if he had had any other offers - he knew what we could afford.  Within 2 weeks he called us - offering if for what we could afford!  God certainly does provide for our family!  We are probably most excited about the yard, although small - it is a yard! :-)  We look forward to not having to load everyone up to seek a patch of grass to just run some energy off. So thankful! The house will also be much more flexible for having Stephen's office at home as well as for our family to grow.  We do have the opportunity to buy this home if we decide to, but can rent it for as long as we want until we make that decision, if we ever do.  Please pray for wisdom for us in this.

Speaking of growing, we recently found out that we will be adding a new little Pittman to our family early May 2013!  We are all very excited about the new addition.  At this point in time I am feeling great!  We are praying that it will stay that way at least until we get moved out of here and into our new place.

Please pray for our family as we prepare for these upcoming transitions. Please also pray for the girls and I as we hold down the fort the last week of September while Stephen attends a CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) conference in Minnesota.  We are thankful he can go to this conference but he won't return home until late on the 30th and then we  move the next day.  Thankfully it is just 10 houses down and we have had lots of offers to help!