Please Pray...

Would you please pray for a girl who has been involved in Hope for Augusta's After-school Tutoring?

In the past 2 months there has been 2 fatal shootings at one of the housing projects close to our house.  This girl attended after-school tutoring at Oak Pointe (another nearby housing project), but lived in the housing project where these two shootings occurred.   The second and most recent shooting victim was her father!  She is in 2nd grade.  I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to 1) lose your father to such violence, 2) live in fear of someone coming for your family member - as after the first shooting they moved - knowing that that one was supposedly intended for her dad and 3) what other things has she been exposed to in her short life?  

She is not coming to tutoring right now as they have moved.  The manager of the housing project told all of this to Stephen yesterday.  She said this little girl is taking it very hard!  I pray that she would be surrounded with people who love her and that she would know the comfort that only Christ can give!  Stephen is hoping to be able to get in contact with her and her mom.  

Please pray for all the kids we minister to.  Many of them have witnessed events like this.  Many live in this project or in the surrounding projects/neighborhood.  Some perhaps have been involved themselves in acts of violence.  The first Saturday of March we hope to go to this particular housing project with other members of our church to share the Gospel with the children who live there.  It has been a prayer to see doors open to get more involved in this particular housing project.  Pray for those of us who will be going - pray that we would boldly proclaim and show the love of Christ to these neighbors.  In fact, please pray for tonight as it is New Town - the neighborhood Bible Study.  Pray for the 110+ kids and youth that come to hear the Gospel, play, eat and receive the love of Christ.  Pray for the volunteers who have committed to come every Thursday and build into these kids lives.

Thank you!

My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness!

Ever have a day where you have one song in particular on your mind all day long and you just sing it over and over - out loud or inside?  I have - well actually all week and even this past weekend.

It's this one...

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To Him who bore my pain;

Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace

And gave me life again;

Who crushed my curse of sinfulness

And clothed me in His light

And wrote His law of righteousness

With pow'r upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To Him who walks beside;

Who floods my weaknesses with strength

And causes fears to fly;

Whose ev'ry promise is enough

For ev'ry step I take,

Sustaining me with arms of love

And crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness

To him who reigns above,

Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,

Whose ev'ry thought is love.

For ev'ry day I have on earth

Is given by the King;

So I will give my life, my all,

To love and follow him.

"My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness"

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music

We went back to Carrollton this past weekend for a friends' wedding and to celebrate my birthday with my parents. It was quick and short and definitely didn't get to see everyone we would have liked to but it is always so good to go back to Carrollton for a visit (I never thought in high school I would say that - I couldn't wait to leave Carrollton.).  I love being around  our family and friends there!  I leave feeling so encouraged and uplifted!  I feel free to share prayer requests and know that they are lifting me and my family up in prayer.  I love catching up on what is going on in their lives and knowing how I can better be praying for them.  God continually uses them to encourage, remind and show us just how faithful He is!


It at times has been lonely being here in Augusta, as we adjust to a new city, a new church, new groups of friends, but knowing we have so many people praying for us makes those times a little bit easier.  Thank you for caring and investing in us so we can in turn invest in others!   Many of you will probably never know the impact you have had on our lives.  Thank you for reminding us that we are a part of the body of Christ in Carrollton, Augusta and around the world!


As much as we miss Carrollton, we were excited to come back to Augusta.  We know this is where God has us and we are excited about the things He has planned for us this year and the things we will get to be a part of!  We joined First Presbyterian Church, Sunday night - an hour after getting home.  It was a little crazy, but we are excited to be a part of First Pres and the body of believers here.  We look forward to getting to know and serving alongside these brothers and sisters in Christ.


Monday, Laura (my sister) had the day off of work, so the girls and I enjoyed a day with her!  We went "shopping" and then after the guys' Bible Study, John and Laura enjoyed a homemade pizza dinner with us.  It's always fun to spend time with them!


Tuesday night was my "family birthday celebration" as today is Stephen's busy day.  Stephen made my favorite Ethiopian dish - Dora Wot!  So good!  Ethiopian food has been my favorite since my family lived in Kenya.  We hope to go eat at an Ethiopian restaurant sometime soon but for now homemade will do.  The girls gave me their present - Cadbury chocolate - another long time favorite! :-)  Then John and Laura came over for dessert.  Laura made some yummy cheesecake with peanut butter chips and we had mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I can lose the weight all year long right!?!? :-)


Today, (yes, my birthday) has been great so far!  The girls and I went to the Women's Bible Study Brunch.  The girls enjoyed time with their friends and I enjoyed some Mommy Fellowship time.  I enjoyed reconnecting with new friends after a long break.  I am so thankful for the friendships God has already blessed us with here in Augusta!  I am excited about the new study and look forward to it.  We came home and Emma took a great nap - which allowed me computer time. :-)  I had time to read many sweet birthday wishes from family and friends literally all over the world, to blog, to catch up on emails and to even write thank yous!!!  Thrilling, I know, but I've enjoyed it! :-)  I am looking forward to my birthday date with my husband Friday night.  I'm thankful that my sister and her husband like my kids so much, to be willing to watch them two Friday nights in a row!

These two girls enjoyed a night out with Daddy last week!
I can't wait until my turn! :-)

My heart is full! I have so much to be thankful for!  Emma's awake now, so back to the real world. :-)

We recently enjoyed creating snowy scenes with "snow paint!"
It was super fun and easy to clean  up (just shaving cream and school glue - no paint)!
Our favorite part was that this was one project Emma could join in on!

December Update

We enjoyed being a part of the Tour of Homes!  Both nights combined we had over 150 people come through the tour!  We met many, many new people, even some neighbors we didn't know.  Stephen was able to share why we have chosen to live down here and what he does on a daily basis.  He even got three new volunteers for tutoring!  Caileigh and Emma did really well considering the late nights and lots of strangers!  I was thankful we had a December wedding (2006) and still had many Christmas themed decorations from that special day!

One question I was asked several times was if I felt it was safe raising my girls down here.  My response, I do!  I truly believe this is where God has my family and I am overwhelmed how He has provided such a wonderful home, neighborhood, neighbors, church family, and friends for us!  I can see in my life where God has given me a greater passion and love for the "least of these!"  Seeing such hurting and darkness around me has made me so much more grateful that Christ came into this dark and lost world to bring salvation - to bring light!  I used to worry that it would be hard for Caileigh to daily see the homeless pushing grocery carts full of random items down our street - she does notice and we have had many opportunities to talk with her about the brokenness of this world without Christ.  I see in my girls a love and a desire to help those who are hurting.

Caileigh is constantly seeing and thinking of ways to help those around us.  From wanting to help our landlady sweep up outside to giving her Christmas parade candy to a homeless man to praying for two other homeless men to find jobs and a home to wanting to give some of her dress up shoes to one of her friends whose dress up shoes had recently broke.

Emma knows no strangers and loves to be around other people, her smile is quite contagious and attracts all sorts of people which excites her and they are often rewarded with a much larger smile and even a "Hey!"  Their example of unconditional love has constantly humbled me!  Throughout this Christmas season I really enjoyed the many displays of Christmas lights around us.  I was continually reminded of the Light Christ brought into this world.  I pray that my family would reflect His light into our circles of influence.

We loved Mrs. Deb's star!

We had a wonderful Christmas season and enjoyed many festive things as well as some great times of family and cooporate worship!

Putting our puzzle together - Christmas Eve

Some highlights:

decorating our home,
our family advent times (we added a new resource this year - Truth in the Tinsel, which was perfect for our little ones!),
special worship services at church,
seeing Christmas lights,
lots of family time,
Christmas movies,
Stephen and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a two day trip to Charleston, SC,

A friend took this for us.
Thank you Anna Leigh Photography!

Caileigh discovered she LOVES Egg Nog,
Emma learned that we weren't suppose to "eat" the pretty lights on the tree,
and most importantly celebrating Christ's birth!

Christmas morning 2011

We ended our year with lots of traveling to see family.  The girls did great so that made it enjoyable for all! :-)  We spent Christmas day with Stephen's parents and brother and his family.  We spent the day after Christmas with my parents and sisters and brother-in-law.  (Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from these two days!) The next day we went to Kansas and enjoyed time with my mom's side of the family!  The weather was great so we were able to enjoy lots of time outside on the farm!

The Farm at sunset

Caileigh riding Boots with Sarah

My grandpa will be 90 in July.  He has had parkinson's since at least the year I was born.  It was so good to see him - we haven't seen him since last Christmas.  He doesn't talk much any more but he enjoys the company. It isn't often you see a smile on his face,  not because he isn't happy but because it is hard for him to control the muscles in his face.  His eyes told it all   though!  When Emma would come up to him and rest her hands on his knees and smile at him - his eyes would twinkle.  He seem to get a kick out of us grandkids gathered around the floor playing games and seemed to enjoy the movies and hugs him and Caileigh shared.  I am so thankful we were able to see him this year.  People often ask what we do in Kansas?  We spend time we family, play games, soccer, football, ride horses, feed animals, enjoy catching up and lots of good food!  The farm was our home away from home.  On furloughs, my family would pretty much live with my grandparents.  It's always good to go back!

4 generations: Emma was named
for my Grandpa's mother.

Grandpa and his family!  We are missing four!

Exploring the "timber" with Grandpa and Great Grandpa

Emma was a HUGE fan of the outdoors
and especially the animals!

2011 brought many new things for our family, some wonderful memories and so many things to be grateful for!  We look forward to what God has in store for our family in 2012!  Thank you for all your many prayers for our family!

We're Ready!

We are ready for the Tour of Homes.... we think at least! :-)  The Nativity is set up, the tree is trimmed, the stockings hung, lights are up and the biggest accomplishment to me is the house is clean!  Stephen commented last night that he thinks this may be the cleanest our house has ever been.... quite possibly since we have been unpacking and putting away things for almost 2 months.

We live in the downstairs apartment - the door with the wreath.

We THANK YOU for your prayers!  We feel blessed to have so many friends and family praying for us!  This week has not gone without it's challenges, frustrations and stresses but with the exception of Monday, we have enjoyed our time preparing for this weekend!  One of my highlights was that we were able in the midst of the craziness to start our daily advent readings and activities which has produced some great dialogue with Caileigh!  I feel like this is the first year she is "really getting it."  At mealtime and nights she has wanted to pray and the prayers she prays are amazing - she so gets it!  I have goosebumps as I listen to an honest prayer thanking God for our house, for a bed to sleep in, for her sister, for her friends and other family members, for Jesus who was born in a "stable" and died for sins, how He rose and conquered the Braves (we're still working on that one), for the two homeless men who have crossed our paths this week that as a family we have been burdened to pray for. She prays that they would "know Jesus," that they would be able to find a bed to sleep in that night, that they would have food.  On Thursday one of the men were raking the leaves in front of our house for our landlord - Caileigh said, "Mom, there's the man, I'm sorry I don't remember his name, that we prayed would be able to find a job so he would be able to pay for a place to sleep and look he's working for Mrs. Deb!  Jesus answered our prayer Mommy! Can I go ask him his name again?"

Caileigh and Emma - Front door

Please do continue to pray for tonight and tomorrow.  Last night during the walk thru, we were told they had already sold 100 tickets.  People can buy tickets at the start of the tour and they will be selling them at the Christmas Market tomorrow morning.  They say they would not be surprised if they sell 100 more!  Please continue to pray that we would be able to have gospel conversations with neighbors and those who might come to our homes. Pray that Christ would be glorified in our home! Pray that Emma in particular will be able to "hang in there" since she will be up later than normal - Caileigh will be the life of the party I am sure! :-) Thank you for praying for us!

Well, we are off to enjoy some time as a family and in hopes of keeping the house clean! :-)

Ready to give tours!

Christmas is Coming!

We are still alive and I am working on getting pictures off the camera and onto the computer to prove it!  I figure you would rather see a picture worth a thousand words than read the thousand plus words it would take to write everything down that we have been up to in the past 2 months! So stay tuned... they are coming!


In the meantime would you please join us in prayer for this week and weekend. We are participating in the Candlelight Tour of Homes in Olde Town. Our home is one of eight homes in Historic Olde Town that is participating in the Candlelight Tour of Homes.  This year the tour is featuring the 300 block of Broad Street and three newly renovated organizations - Christ Community Health Services, Heritage Academy and the Vine Inn. The tour is open to the public this Friday, December 2nd 6:00-9:00pm and Saturday, December 3rd 6:00-9:00pm.  


This is very overwhelming to us.  As I write our house is a wreck, bags are scattered down the hall, waiting to be unpacked, there is a trail of toys throughout the house where two cute little girls have tossed them aside to help their frazzled momma unpack. We went this morning to get our Christmas tree - yay!  However, it's been a frustrating ordeal- the trunk is too short to fit down into our tree stand and we don't have a saw to trim more branches.  It will all work out but I can certainly see the spiritual battle we are in right now.  Moment by moment I am struggling to not just decorate and prepare our house for Christmas in a mad rush to just get it done but rather keep my eyes on Christ and the meaning of what we are looking forwards too - celebrating His birth. I try to remember "why we are participating in this?" when the overwhelming feelings begin to take control but I am failing miserably.  This is why I ask for prayer.

I would like to share what our next door neighbors, Steve and Diane Hubbard wrote recently in an email to our parish in regards to their participation in the Tour of Homes as well.  It echos our thoughts and feelings on participating in the tour:

·  "By participating in the Tour of Homes we have another opportunity to interact with folks in our neighborhood who are not part of our church family."

·" It gives us a tangible and visible way to say that we buy into rebuilding Olde Town and that we care about our community."

·  "It is one small way to say to those who do not live here, but might come on the tour, that we believe that God can redeem the city and that it is worth doing so."

· " It is a visible means of saying that Olde Town isn’t just a drug infested, dieing community.  It is a place of hope, and we want to invite others to join us in the rebuilding.  Maybe someone who comes on the tour might catch that vision."

·  "It just might take some fear out of “coming downtown” for some folks."

· "It just might be used as a point of dialogue for the gospel with our neighbors." 

Our prayer is that by participating in the Tour of Homes we would have the opportunity to hold up Christ and what He is doing in Olde Town. So will you please join us in prayer?  We will be sure to let you know how it goes and post a couple pictures!

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!