Monday Missions Moment

For the next few weeks we'll be posting videos promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  As many of you know, we just returned from serving a three year missionary term to Guatemala with the International Mission Board.  Your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are what helped pay the way for us to be able to go and serve.  We are thankful to all who have given in the past and ask that you prayerfully consider what you will give this year.  Funds are currently low, which means that many are wanting to go but are being delayed because of financial reasons.  Please give this year so that many can go and tell the good news all around the world!



For more information on where your money goes click on this link.

Still feeling ill

This is the way my normal "busy as a bee" self has been feeling lately!  I am on day six of the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, and throwing up sickness and am wanting it to go away!  We talked with a nurse at my clinic and she gave me a list of medicines that I can take, but I just can't seem to get much relief.  Please pray that I can get over this and get back feeling well soon!  Thanks!

David Getting To Baptize

This past Sunday we attended our home church, Harmony Baptist, in Crystal Springs.  David was asked to baptize two young adults in the morning service.  He was thrilled to get to do that!! 

This was a sight many had not seen in a long time- David in the baptistry

He baptized Alex first, one of our former youth ministry students

Next was Kelsey

A group photo with the happy family- Sue and Eddie (Alex's parents), David, Alex, and Kelsey

After the service we joined everyone for the annual Thankgiving meal together.  It was very delicious and a great way to end the service.

Week 13

YAH for finishing another week of pregnancy!  We do count it a blessing for each week that passes!  Right after we returned to the States I ordered a few books.  One that I ordered and it has become a favorite is "The Belly Book".  I wanted to be able to jounal my pregnancy and my growing belly with each week.  This book is perfect for that!  I started taking belly pics at week 6 and have enjoyed putting them in my book.

It is divided into three trimesters and is filled with all kinds of fun things!  I love this book!

I also ordered "Your Pregnancy- Week by Week" and it has been a great resource to me!

ABOUT THE BABY-
He or she now weighs about 2.5 ounces and is roughly 3.5 inches in length. Little hairs, known as lanugo, will start to cover their body this week, and their sense of taste and smell are further refined. Their cozy little amniotic sac is also increasing in size and mass as it continues to fill with more fluid.  By now, the baby's eyelids have fused together to protect the eyes as they develop. The baby may also be able to put a thumb in his or her mouth this week, although the sucking muscles aren't completely developed yet.

HOW AM I DOING?
The first part of the week I felt great!  I ate well and felt well.  We were very busy over the weekend and it caught up with me.  Sunday night I started with a sore throat and by early Monday had stopped up ears and a stuffy nose.  Yucky is how I have felt the last few days!  I've been trying to take it easy and rest before we start the Thanksgiving visiting.  My foods of choice this week have been yogurt, lima beans, cheese toast, milk, orange juice, and my old faithful- a Sonic hamburger.  If in doubt, I can always eat one of those.  Saturday a local Sonic had it's whole menu half price!  That made me very happy.  I bought two pairs of maternity pants this past week and that made me very happy too!  I can't wait to start wearing them.  Ever since our last sonogram and we saw the baby moving around soo much, I can't get that sight out of my mind.  I keep imagining our little baby jumping around inside of me!  That is such an awesome thought!!!  Please continue to keep this pregnancy in your prayers!  We appreciate it more than you know!

Basketball Season Has Begun!

Saturday we attended our first basketball game of the season.  We went to watch our neice, Kaylie, play.  She is #15. 

Our favorite sport to watch has always been basketball.

They won all three of their games.

This is Kaylie with David's cousin, Trey

We can't wait to watch many more games while we are home!

Party with the Preschoolers

Friday I was excited to get to go to Larsen's preschool Thanksgiving party.  She attends the First Baptist Church Kindergarten where I used to work so I also got to see a lot of other people there that I knew.  Larsen is David's niece.  We both had a fun time!

Before they ate their food, they said the blessing.  It was very cute watching them.  I tried to get my camera ready faster but only caught the end of it.  Larsen clapped like this the whole time.  She was soo funny!

Week 12 with Sonogram Photos

We were finally able to get our sonogram photos scanned so that we could share them with you.  The first photo was taken on October 21, 2009 in Guatemala City.  I was 8 weeks pregnant.

These next few were taken on November 16, 2009.  I was almost 12 weeks.

The baby moved the whole time we were having the sonogram done.  It's legs never stopped kicking!  We were tickled to watch it being so active.  You can see it's leg hiked up in the photo below. 

This is a photo of it's hand waving hello to us.  :-)

It's the most amazing thing seeing your baby on that screen!!!  Words just can't describe that feeling!  We are soo honored to be having this child!

MORE ABOUT THE BABY-

Even though the baby's body is still growing quite rapidly, 2 inches long right now, the overall growth of the brain continues to leave the head proportionately larger than the body— and is actually slightly more than one third of the total body mass. The head and neck are still straightening at this point and can be seen by their little chin lifting off of the chest. The baby is also actively rehearsing “breathing” by using amniotic fluid to prepare the lungs for future air respiration. 

HOW AM I DOING?
My uterus is growing! By now, my relatively small uterus is stretched to the size of a softball.  It is slowly increasing at a rate of approximately one centimeter per week.  I'm thinking a few more weeks and I'll be shopping for new clothes.  I can't wait to start growing and showing!!!  Other than being tired, which I feel like is going to stay with me the whole time, I've felt pretty good this past week.  I credit a lot of that to time but I know much of it is due to your prayers!!  My foods of choice this past week were salads, cheese toast, and milk.  We are thrilled to be leaving the first trimester and entering the second phase of this pregnancy.  What a relief that is!  Keep praying- we only have 28 more weeks to go!

Seeing Family and Friends

We made our first visit to see David's dad on Wednesday.  We drove down to McComb to see them and went to church with them at First Baptist. 

David, Jody, Mr. Harold, Regina

On Thursday, I met my mom for lunch at Porches.  It's my favorite place to eat for lunch.

Thursday night, thanks to Facebook, we heard that some old friends of ours band was playing at a  restaurant nearby.  We decided to drive down and hear them sing as well as eat a good meal.  They sang some wonderful praise and worship music that we enjoyed hearing in English!!

I took a few photos but it was dark.  They were singing outside.  They did a great job!

While there we also saw several other people we knew.  David saw four old high school classmates and I was so upset with myself that I did not take a photo of all of them.  But, it was a fun night!

Celebrating Ms. Linda's Birthday

Tuesday night we celebrated David's mom's birthday by going out to eat at the local fish house in Hazlehurst.  One of the food's we missed while being away was fried catfish and all the trimmings- fries, cole slaw, hush puppies, and turnip greens.  It was very good!!  We were glad to be home this year to celebrate with her.

David, Regina, Sawyer, Ms. Linda, Robin, Kelly, and Larsen

(our other neice, Kaylie, had a ballgame)

Our nephew, Sawyer, proudly wore his Guatemala soccer jersey we brought him home last year

Our neice, Larsen

After eating, we all went back to Robin's house to open gifts and visit. 

Larsen, David, and Ms. Linda

David's sister- Robin, his mom- Ms. Linda, and David

Sawyer and Larsen clowing for us

Larsen with no shoes, no shirt, her pants on backwards, and eating a banana.  You would think we'd raised her in Guatemala, haha!!

Week 11

I am 11 weeks today!  It is such a relief with each passing week to know that things are going well.  I just don't think that I'll be able to relax and not be anxious until I actually give birth.  I have been nervous to buy anything yet but could not resist buying a few seasonal outfits that I found on clearance this past week.  They were super cheap and I couldn't pass them up.  We can't wait for our little one to be photographed wearing these-

The Baby's Development
From this week until week 20, the baby will be growing rapidly — increasing in size from about 2 inches to about 8 inches from crown to rump. To accommodate all this growth, the blood vessels in the placenta are increasing in both size and number to provide the baby with more nutrients.  At this time the baby is about the size of a large lime.

Facial development continues as the ears move toward their final position on the sides of the head.  The baby's head accounts for about half of the body length.

Although the baby's reproductive organs are developing rapidly, the external genitals of boys and girls appear somewhat similar until the end of week 11. They will be clearly differentiated by week 14.  We don't think we will be able to find out the sex of the baby until our January appointment.  :-(

How Am I Feeling?

We had our first doctor's visit in the States on Monday.  All went well.  We heard the heartbeat and that made us very happy!  We will return next Monday, Nov. 16th for another sonogram.  At my appointment, my weight was the same, although I expect that to be changing soon.  I have not craved one specific food this week but have eaten a variety of different foods.  Some of the things I have enjoyed the most have been a plate lunch from Starks, fried catfish, fried oysters, salad, stuffed mushrooms, and Sonic hamburgers.  Yeah, my weight will soon be going up, HA.  I usually have to eat a late night snack before going to bed so that I can make it all night without getting hungry.  The foods I most like at that time are instant grits, instant oatmeal, or toaster strudel's.  I still stay tired most all of the time but am hoping that in a few weeks I'll start  feeling better.  We are anxious to get through this first trimester, just one more week to go!!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers. 

Dinner with Friends

Monday night we had a couple of friends drive down to meet us for dinner.  We met the Brown's and the Sojourner's at Mitchell's, a local restaurant here in Brookhaven.  The meal was delicious!  We had jumbo fried shrimp, crab claws, coconut shrimp, fried green tomatos, and stuffed mushrooms (my favorite!)  Needless to say, I did not have to eat a snack before going to bed last night.  It was great visiting with them and laughing about old times.

David, Regina, Reagan, Malinda, Mrs. Ann, Amy, and Mr. Johnny   

Weekend Update

We started the weekend off with a visit from two of our former students, Tyler and Candice, on Friday night.  They were married back in June.  Tyler is a student at New Orleans Seminary and they stopped by to visit us on their way home for the weekend.  We went out to eat at the local Mexican restaurant and then went back to our house and talked for hours.  It was great catching up with them and hearing how God is working in their lives.

Saturday David's sister and mother came to visit as well as Larsen and Lilli Grace.  We went to eat lunch together and made a trip to Wal-Mart. 

Later that afternoon we had a visit from my former step-sister, Janet.  It's been many years since I have seen her so I enjoyed visiting and catching up with her too.  We had a great visit and plan to get together again soon.

Sunday we attended services at our home church, Harmony Baptist in Crystal Springs.  It was great getting to see many that we have not had a chance to see since returning home. 

We had a great weekend full of visits with family and friends.  Hope yours was good too.