the Hunts head out...

Our good friends the Hunts are heading out of the US today on a plane bound for Prague, Czech Republic to work with World Harvest as missionaries that will help plant a daughter church of our church in Charlotte. We have been friends with the Hunts since just before Caleigh and Sam were this big...

We have love living everyday life with them, from impromptu gatherings at Chick-Fil-A... to chili and trick or treating on cool fall evenings. We have been friends through the birth of lots of babies. Mary, Melissa, and I have been in a prayer square - a small accountability and prayer group and have met every other week for at least the past 2 years.

We have been through pregnancies...

and Melissa even helped induce my labor with Andrew at this fun and hilarious concert.

We have enjoyed playdates -

And we have loved getting together for random picnics at the park... even ones that involve cupcakes being accidently turned on their ends - but still thoroughly enjoyed. We have celebrated birthdays - and other fun holidays - Halloweens... Christmases... and awesome Christmas traditions/memories. We will miss you Hunts. But we are thankful that this goodbye is really just a see you later. We look forward to the day (in this life or the next) that we can live day to day life next to you guys. We are so thankful for your ministry and have loved being a part of the praying, planning, preparations, and now the sending of y'all. "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can the preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Rom. 10:14-16 Hunts we are thankful for you guys - thankful that you are taking the good news to those who haven't heard. Godspeed!

Hunts head out...

Our good friends the Hunts are heading out of the U.S. today on a plane bound for Prague, Czech Republic. We have been friends with the Hunts since Sam and Caleigh were about this big...

We have loved just living everyday life with them - from impromtu gatherings at Chick-Fil-A...

to chili and trick-or-treating fun on cool evenings.

We have loved living everyday life with them - from impromptu Chick-Fil-A outings...

to trick-or-treating and chili nights. Mary, Melissa, Carrie, and I have been in a prayer square for quite

a time for mourning

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: ... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..." Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 We have been in a season of mourning with our community at Uptown Church. Last Thursday a friend and a sister in Christ was taken home to be with her Savior and King after a fatal car accident less than a mile from the school where she taught. Aimee Powell was a daughter of the Good Shepherd, full of life and emotion. Today we mourned her death and celebrated her life. I am shocked by the entire thing, it seems unreal. I am shocked that I sat at lifegroup praying for her the Sunday before and the following Sunday I sat and prayed a different prayer for her: I thank my God everytime I remember you Aimee. In all my prayers for you Aimee I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you Aimee will (and did) carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:3-6) Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Ps 116:15). Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven (2 Corin 5:1). Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to Aimee has really served to advance the gospel... For to Aimee, to live is Christ and to die is gain (from Phil 1:12, 21). Thank you Father for the time we were able to enjoy your precious servant while she was here on Earth. Help us to mourn well, as those who have hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

shut up

So yesterday I had my first experience with Caleigh repeating something bad that I have said. After a hectic day of Andrew fussing basically the entire day (he is cutting his first tooth) around 6 pm we were in the car and he was screaming like usual and I said (kind of under my breath) - shut up Andrew. And then I hear this cute, tiny voice from the backseat, "Tut up, A-drew." Great. Love it that Caleigh decided to repeat me at that exact moment. I tried to conceal my laughter because it was pretty funny to hear a 2 year old tell her 7 month old brother to shut up, not knowing at all what it means. I talked her through it and we prayed for forgiveness for Mommy, but wow... it is really an entirely different ballgame when you have a little mimic following you wherever you go. Having a child really does show you your sin.

7 months

Bruzey boy is 7 months old. Hard to fathom. This little guy is cutting his first pearly white - I can see it glistening below the surface of his lower gums just waiting to break through (and in the meantime making him as grouchy and drooly as ever). He has transitioned to nursing 4 times a day (8, 11, 3, 7) and eating 3 baby food meals a day. We have tried letting him play with Cheerios and Gerber puffs and he gets them in his mouth from time to time but he is basically just experimenting. He is down to 2 naps a day too. He still is not rolling over from back to front - and while it is seriously stressing me out - the doctor says it is totally fine. He is sitting up pretty much 100 percent of the time. I keep thinking one day he is just going to start army crawling across the ground but it has yet to happen (I will probably regret ever wishing he would crawl sooner rather than later). We haven't been brave enough to move him into Caleigh's room yet, though their room has been set up with both beds since last October. I really keep wanting to move them in together but he is such a light sleeper (especially since he is used to sleeping in basically a cave). We will see if I ever make any progress on that. It is so hard to believe we are in 2010 and in this year he will turn 1. I can't believe he is growing up so fast. Yesterday Adam snuck a peek at him while he was snoozing and he was all cuddled up with his silky and sleeping on his side and Adam closed the door and said, "Aww, I want another one." I was like - hmmm, why don't you hold onto that thought for a couple of years and once I haven't been pregnant or nursing a child for 33 out of the last 34 months then we will talk (is that right - that really puts it in perspective). Seriously. Not for a long time. But I am rambling - we are thankful for you bubba boy!

country, take 2

We just got back from the "country" - Holly Hill, SC. We enjoyed a weekend away with awesome friends to celebrate our friends the Hunts who are leaving for Prague this month. It was awesome to be away without kids and to really enjoy each other. I am hoping to post pictures from that soon (when I get them from everyone else - I didn't take a single picture!).

happy new year

Over New Years I was in the midst of working 6 days in a row, so after working on New Year's Eve, this is how we spent our New Years Day (morning) - hanging out in the bed, having a big breakfast, and skype-ing.

Just a little shoulder rub... Andrew, let me read the Bible to you... And the kids played a tune for us...

Happy New Year!

christmas pix part 2 - kids kissing

Andrew looks a little worried in this one...

christmas pictures

At the end of November our friend, Daniel McNamee, took some awesome family pictures for us at Freedom Park. He is extremely talented and we are thrilled that he was able to capture some beautiful shots of our family.

In the above picture - biggest smile Caleigh had all day. We thought feeding the ducks would make the kids smile - instead it just made them look at the ducks. love this one - this is the one we ended up choosing for our Christmas card photo this year... silly face...

christmas day!

I realized we hardly took any pictures on Christmas day - bummer! Here is a video of Caleigh playing in one of her favorite new toys - a princess tent from Bampa and Gammy.

And another video... Sweet little bruiser in his Santa outfit (disclaimer: I did not purchase this outfit and only put it on him as a joke) On Christmas after spending Christmas morning at our house, we headed down to my parents house to open some presents. We enjoyed spending time with Uncle David especially who was visiting from New Hampshire. Bampa and Gammy joined us at my parent's house for a Christmas feast (as is our Christmas tradition) - we had a great time and especially enjoyed introducing the Dyers to one of our favorite family games - Rummicube. Merry Christmas!

christmas eve 2009

After I spent Christmas eve mostly in bed, the Dyers (Bampa, Gammy, Jon, and his girlfriend Kayla) came over to open presents with us, go to church with us, and then we all went out for a feliz navidad fiesta at Cantina 1511 (as is our Christmas eve tradition!). Caleigh loved opening presents...

After she opened each item she wanted to take the item out of its packaging so that she could play with it.

The doting grandparents - Bampa and Gammy. After presents we went to the Christmas eve service at church which I LOVE going to. Caleigh was absolutely hilarious - I thought she would be nervous to go on stage for the children's message but she wasn't. I think she must have had nervous energy because she kept trying to jump ('jump, jump' and squatting up and down since she can't actually make herself leave the ground yet) and she kept saying, "hi, bampa!" - at one point she was trying to climb up on stage and Bennett Kulp (age 4) even tried boosting her up but couldn't, for which I was utterly grateful... who knows what a nervous bundle of energy would have done to the drums, guitar, and microphones. Afterwards we went out for a fun mexican dinner with the whole gang and had a blast!

third annual christmas eve breakfast

On Christmas eve I met my best friends from college - Marcy, Jessica, and Kim for our third annual Christmas eve brunch. We had a great time chatting and catching up.

And then I got one of the worst migraines I've ever had and spent the rest of Christmas eve (until around 3) laying in bed and throwing up. More pictures from Christmas eve to come...

christmas eve eve

A new tradition! We celebrated Christmas eve eve with good friends - the Kulps, Dirks, and Hunts. We ate dessert, we sang Christmas carols with the kids, we talked with them about Christmas, we attempted to get the obligatory picture, and we watched them as they ran/marched around the house in a parade.

Foard, Celia, Sam, Caleigh, Andrew, Maggie, Henry, Bennett, Camilla - And then all the kids went to bed for a half sleepover (we woke them up around 11 or 11:30 and took them home). We had such great adult time after the kids went down - playing games, having fun drinks, and just talking. Times like that really make me think that is what heaven will be like - eternal fellowship with other believers in the worship of our King. Come quickly Lord Jesus!

little a is 6 months

Our little bruiser is 6 months old (actually almost 6 and a half as I write this post). We seriously love our sweet boy so much. He is so lovable - he loves to laugh and be tickled. He is super social - always wanting to be with people. As soon as he sees us he will reach and out grab our faces and try to pull them close to him. He loves to be held and is at such a fun baby age. I can't believe how big he is already -

• He is rolling over front to back but he still hasn't rolled from back to front yet. He can sit up for several minutes unassisted and is pretty steady.
• He takes a morning nap from 9-11 and an afternoon nap from 1-3. Most days he also takes a little cat nap from 4:30 - 5:15. He goes down at 7 and sleep until 8 am without waking. He is a champion sleeper nowadays (just like his sister - a huge blessing!). He falls asleep quickly and has really grown attached to his silky. As soon as you put him in his bed he grabs the silky, pulls it all the way over his face, and starts sucking his thumb.
• He loves to eat - he is eating solids three times a day now and I am back to making baby food again. So far he has liked pretty much everything we have given him - bananas, applesauce, pears, peaches, apricots, prunes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas. He does not like green beans or avocados. I am determined to get him liking green beans though and keep giving it to him. He will eat small bites of them and then do a big shiver after each bite.
• I am still nursing him 4 or 5 times a day and hoping to stay with that until we get a little closer to spring (out of this season of colds).
• He seems to be growing out of his milk protein allergy. I have started eating cheese and he is tolerating that fine. I haven't tried drinking milk again though and I think I will probably steer clear of that until he has been weaned.

6 month stats:

• weight: 16 lb 11 oz (36th%)
• height: 27 and 1/4 inches (79th%)
• head circumference: 17 and 1/4 inches (53rd%)

We are SO in love with this lovable hug-able squeezable little guy!