Exciting News!

This morning we got a long awaited phone call to tell us some wonderful news.  The IMB trustees voted unanimously today to appoint us as Career Missionaries!!!  We have waited a long time to hear this news and we are jumping with joy!  Many of you have prayed us through this appointment process and we say THANK YOU!  We will be appointed on Wednesday, March 3 at Bellview Baptist Church in Cordova, TN.  Anyone who lives in that area or would like to drive up are more than welcome to come and attend the service with us.  God is Good!

New Providence Baptist Church

We were recently invited to share about our work with a group at New Providence Baptist Church in Hazlehurst.  They were a very warm and friendly group and we enjoyed getting to know them.

They had a finger food meal before we shared

They used a valentine's theme for the decorations

Our display table of things from Guatemala

Baby CPR

We recently finished up our childbirth classes by taking a baby CPR class.  It was very informative and provided us with some much needed knowledge.  I hope we never have to use it but in case of an emergency, I feel like we are a little more prepared now. 

This was my baby for the night

Towel Art

Not only do you get pampered during meal time on a cruise but they also spoil you in your room.  Every morning when you leave to go eat breakfast, they come in and make your bed and straighten up the room.  In the evening while you are eating dinner they come in and turn down your bedding and place towel art on your bed.  I always love to see what kind of animals they come up with.  It is a neat treat!

They also leave chocolate mints

It was soo good to get away and enjoy all the pampering.  We know that in just a few short weeks we'll be back on the mission field and back to a normal life.  As much as we love the glitz and glamour, we also love the dirt and grime of our life in Guatemala.  We miss being with the locals, visiting in their homes, local foods, and just the rustic life we live there.  We can't wait to get back to it!

Our Cruise- A Day in Cozumel

Our only port of call was Cozumel, Mexico.  It was our fourth time to visit there.  There were very few excursions that they would allow pregnant women to go on so we just decided to get off the ship and do a little shopping. 

It was very warm and sunny that day and we loved it!  I think it was the first time we had sweated since we left Guatemala!   

Isn't the water beautiful!  I soo wanted to get in it.

Our ship

This is a photo of us later that night getting ready to watch the show

This is a photo of us on our last night taken with our waitress Elena

Our Cruise- Formal Night

My very favorite thing about cruising is the formal nights.  I love getting all dressed up and look forward to those nights most of all.  I was supposed to be in a wedding back in December but because of a winter storm was stuck in Virginia and missed the wedding.  So, I had a formal dress that I just had to wear!  ha  I was glad it still fit (although a little snug).  On our past cruises we have rented David a tux but opted for a suit this time since this was a last minute trip.  We had a fun night!

(side view)

On this night one of the menu options was lobster and grilled shrimp.  It was delicious!!!

During dinner the waiters usually sing or do some type of entertainment.  It is always enjoyable.

Enjoying the show after dinner

We have been so blessed to have been able to travel and see and do so many things during our married life.  We have soo many memories to cherish and are thankful for the times we have had.  We've had a great life together as the two of us and cannot wait to experience life with our son.  There is so much we can't wait to do with him!  We still cannot believe that our party of two will soon be a party of three!!!  

Week 23

I am 23 weeks today!

ABOUT THE BABY-

By this week, the baby should weigh almost 1 pound and be about 8 inches long.  He should be about the size of a small doll.  His daily workout routine includes moving the muscles in the fingers, toes, arms, and legs regularly. And I can feel a good bit of that.  He should be able to hear and react to sounds from the outside world as well as hear my voice and others around. 

HOW AM I FEELING?

I feel great.  We vacationed this past week and I enjoyed it but could tell that my energy level was not like previous vacations.  I get tired a lot faster and have to rest more often.  The rocking motion from the ship did not bother me at all (which surprised a lot of people).  What did bother me was all of the different smells! 

I enjoyed eating a lot of seafood this past week.  I had oysters, catfish, red snapper, tilapia, lobster, crab, and shrimp cooked in many different ways.  It was all very delicious!!  I also ate a lot of ice cream and enjoyed drinking decaf coffee.  I have not had coffee since finding out I was pregnant but did drink decaf with several meals this past week.  It was more like flavored milk because I would mix it half and half but it was good!

I am getting to the stage where it is getting more uncomfortable to sleep at night.  Besides the fact that I use the bathroom numerous times, I am finding it harder and harder to find a position to rest in.  I think this has a lot to do with me feeling tired during the day.

Keep praying!!  Only 4 more months to go.

Our Cruise- The First Two Days

We began our vacation by stopping at one of our favorite places to eat when we travel to New Orleans- Middendorf's.  They serve very delicious seafood!  We had fried catfish and fried oysters.

We boarded our ship (Carnival Triumph) in New Orleans

Views of the Mississippi River bridge

Getting ready to sail away

Enjoying the views as we cruised down the Mississippi River

The main thing we love about cruising is the night life.  We love getting dressed and going to dinner.  We love the formal meals they serve and especially the service we get.  After dinner we always go to the live entertainment show and then watch the karoke.  I laughed so hard the first night that David thought I was going to go into labor!  It is hilarious!

Our first dinner on the ship

David had steak

One of my favorite desserts of the week- creme brulee

We also like to eat our other meals in the main dining room instead of the buffet area because we just like the first class service.  They really wait on you hand and foot!  This is a photo of our first breakfast.  You can request to be seated by yourselves or seated at a group table.  We did a mixture of both.  We like sitting in a group because you get to meet many interesting people.  This day we met a couple from Canada and three lady friends who are part of a group called M.O.B.- mother's of boys!!  They made me an honorary member and I loved that!  We had fun getting to know them.

The rest of that day was spent out on the open decks sitting in the sunshine, reading, and napping.

The water views were beautiful!

February 2010 Newsletter

Greetings! Our time here is going by way faster than we expected it to. We thought it would be a long five months but we find ourselves amazed that it is already the first of February! This past month we shared with several churches and groups and have raised a lot of prayer support. We love knowing people are praying for us! We spent another week at the IMB learning center getting debriefed and prepared to return to the field. We found out that we are having a little boy, and we are very excited about that! We also just returned from a "babymoon" get-away. We are trying to enjoy these last few months of it just being the two of us before the baby arrives.

We have a couple of speaking engagements scheduled for February. Our trip to Dothan, AL that was scheduled for the last week of January was moved to this coming weekend. Pray for us as we travel over six hours there, one way. We will be speaking twice while there and will stopover in Thomasville, AL on the way home to visit a few days with friends. We are awaiting the next Trustee meeting on February 9 when they will be voting on us being appointed. Once we meet their approval, we plan to be appointed on Wednesday, March 3, in Memphis, TN. We are looking forward to that day.

The pregnancy continues to progress well and we ask for your prayers that it would remain that way. I am almost 23 weeks (due date is June 2).
We appreciate your love, support, and most of all your prayers! Until next time...

Sending our love,
David and Regina
Your Missionaries to Guatemala

PRAYER PRAISES:
1) good prenatal check-ups
2) a lot of interest in our ministry and several opportunities to share about it
3) for the growth and encouragement we have received through the worship and Bible study services we have attended

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) safety of travel during our trip to Alabama (Feb. 5-10)
2) for the health of myself and the baby, for no complications, and that I would carry him to term
3) wisdom in sharing with the congregations we will be visiting
4) for a stress free last few weeks in the States in spite of all we need to do before we leave

Babymooning

We are leaving today for a weekend trip that we are calling a babymoon.  It is a combination of a get-away and a "we better do something before the baby gets here" vacation.  We will be driving to New Orleans today and boarding our ship later this afternoon.  We are very excited!!  Pray that we will be safe and healthy and that we will have a most enjoyable time.  We'll take lots of pictures and post them once we return.

Week 22

I am 22 weeks today!

ABOUT THE BABY-

By this week the baby should weigh about 13 ounces and be a little less than a foot long.  He should look a bit like an oversized raisin right now as more and more wrinkles are showing up each week. All that excessive wrinkling is just his skin’s way of planning ahead for the time when he'll start piling on that baby chub.  His eyelids and eyebrows are well developed, and fingernails have grown and now cover the fingertips.

HOW AM I FEELING?

Great!  I am enjoying this stage of pregnancy soo much.  There is no hiding the fact that I am pregnant now.  People are noticing.  Although, some say they thought I was just getting fat, ha.  I am regularly having people  ask if they can touch my stomach.  I know this bothers a lot of people but I actually don't mind.  It's exciting!

I am looking forward to our "babymoon" that we will be taking this weekend.  We'll be getting away for a few days while I still feel good and am able to travel.  It will most likely be our last "vacation" by ourselves. 

We are about to finish up our childbirth classes.  We only have one left, a baby CPR class, that we will take next Monday.  We are looking forward to that.

Please pray that all continues to go well and that the rest of the pregnancy will be safe and healthy.

Good Food, Good Fellowship, with Good Friends

Saturday night we had an outing with our friends Reagan and Malinda.  We went out to eat at Bonsai, a Japanese steak house in Jackson.  We've been wanting to eat there and we knew they liked it too so we planned a night for us to all go together.

After our meal we went back to their house for coffee and hot chocolate.  She had dessert but we were all too full to eat it.  We played a few rounds of Wii and then just talked, laughed, and visited.  It was a very fun night!

Promoting Missions

On Saturday we attended a ladies luncheon at First Baptist, Crystal Springs.  The ladies there did a great job of putting the program together.  They served a wonderful meal and the fellowship hall was beautifully decorated.

They had tables set up labeled with the months of the year.  Each table was decorated to resemble the theme of that month.  I was seated at the October table and it was decorated in pretty fall colors.

I was the guest speaker and did my best to share about our work in Guatemala as well as our call to missions

                        

They had GA's there to serve the meal.

There were also a few youth girls.

Kaylie and Robin (David's niece and sister)

Kaylie and I.  She modeled a typical K'ekchi' ladies dress

It was a great day of sharing and fellowship with the ladies there!!

Outing with the Oster's

Earlier this week we met the Oster family for lunch at Cheddar's.  We have not seen them since our last trip home in October 2008.  Bro. Joseph served on staff with David as Minister of Music at our home church before we left for Guatemala.  It was great catching up with them and especially seeing the kids and how much they have grown!!

Bro. Joseph, Misty, Regina, and David

us with Paige, Paden, and Emily Grace

Week 21

I am 21 weeks today!

ABOUT THE BABY-

By this week our baby should weigh about 12.7 ounces and be about 10.5 inches long.  We had our check-up today and got a good report.  I gained 4 pounds this past month and that makes a total of 10 throughout the whole pregnancy.  The heartbeat sounded good and was beating fast.  My belly measurement was normal too.  We are thankful for another good report and can't wait to meet our son!

HOW AM I DOING?

I have had another great week.  I am feeling really good during this stage of the pregnancy.  It has been a blessing and I know a lot of that is due to the prayers being prayed for me and the baby.  Thanks!! 

I feel him move regularly now.  He seems to move more in the early evening, usually while I am on the couch watching t.v.  I love that feeling!

Two things I can't seem to get enough of this past week have been milk and fruit. 

I am pretty much wearing only maturnity clothes now.  They seem to be much more comfortable.  I still use my tummy sleeve from time to time, but prefer maturnity pants.

Still no decision on a name but we are discussing it daily.

Keep praying!  We sure do appreciate it!