Why I'm proud to be a Southern Baptist

It's probably not too cool to say "I'm proud to be a Southern Baptist" but I'm not that cool so what else would you expect?  While we have many issues to work out as a denomination, I'm happy that godly men are hard at work trying to deal with those very issues.  I'm glad that we've not settled into a mindset that says "we will not change, no matter what!"  I'm glad that we're not okay when churches have 0 baptisms.  I'm glad it grieves us when we can't send out more missionaries.  I'm glad we accept God's Word as just that, the words of our God. 
Since joining the mission field I have come to appreciate the Cooperative Program in a new way.  As we've been on Stateside, I've been speaking in SBC churches that I had no prior contact with.  Yet, I've been able to stand before that congregation (be it 10 or 1000) and honestly say "You have sent me out.  You have supported me.  You bought our house, you paid for our truck, you purchased the medicine when we had malaria or amoebas.  And in a very real way, because of you, there is now a church in a village called Ayorou." 
This is why I love being a Southern Baptist.  That we understand we can accomplish so much more for the Kingdom of Christ together than we could on our own.  That we're involved in something bigger than our own church.  Vance Pitmam, a church planter from Las Vegas, says "that when God began your church, he had the nations in mind."  May we all have such a large view of God's activity in our world. 
So to all my new friends in the Elkhorn churches in Lexington and Tri-Cities Baptist Church in Gray TN, and to all of you who have joined with us in our ministry to the Songhai....THANK YOU!

cakes by izzy

As you all know, Isabelle loves to help out in the kitchen. On Easter weekend, Gaga made a special Easter cake & let Isabelle help decorate it. If you'd like to sign up for cake decorating lessons, just call & make an appointment! Isabelle will be glad to show you all her tricks of the trade.

easter egg huntin' - part 2

A couple of days before Easter, we got together with the Carwile clan & the Perrys. Richard, king of the grill, made some delicious hamburgers & hotdogs on the grill while the rest of us watched the kids play. After dinner, we did a little egg hunt. Isabelle had already had a little bit of practice from her library experience, so she was rarin' & ready to go for this hunt. She did a little bit better but still wanted to stop & open each & every egg. Nonetheless, we had a ton of fun hanging out with 2 of our favorite families & Isabelle always loves spending time with her future hubby, Mr. Gavin Reed Perry!

Vivian, Anna Claire & Izzy taking a little wagon stroll around the driveway

Anna Claire then took her turn pulling the chariot

Mark & Parker playing a little b-ball. Not sure what Mark is doing here but I'm sure he just made some amazing shot & wanted to rub it in Parker's face!

Isabelle's future husband showing off his mad driving skills

Now the Gavster is trying to woo our little lady with his athleticism

Isabelle, however, became too interested in driving the car by herself

Where was Luke for all this fun? Nestled into Natalie's arms ... she's getting her practice for baby #2 due in July!

Now Gavin is really trying to pursue Isabelle

Gotta give it to him ... he's persistent!!

Now onto the egg hunt!

The eggs were pretty hard to find!

Notice that she upgraded from the white sack? I made her a personalized Easter bucket (inspired by my friend Amy Richey)

Wait, Isabelle needs to inspect the egg before she adds it to her bucket

Seriously, Izzy could've had a TON more eggs if she weren't so concerned with checking out each & every egg!

We loved having this American experience as a family ... can't really hide eggs in grass in Niger!

backyard pool

Y'all know that the Belle loves water, right? Well it should come to no surprise to you that we made the hefty investment of purchasing her a pool. A hefty investment of 10 bucks, that is. And it is the best 10 bucks we've spent in a long time! The child wants to be in the water 24/7. She loves putting on her swimmie diapers, her swimsuit & trotting out to the pool. She definitely prefers it if someone is in the pool with her. So if any of you are out towards Highland Way on any given afternoon & are needing to dip your feet in some cool water & get splashed by a cute little toddler, stop on by! We'll most likely be out there doing the same thing!

This is a classic Izzy face!! She's such a ham!

hunting at the library

Living in America with a toddler is GREAT! There is so much to do! Don't get me wrong, we miss Ayorou so much & loved raising Isabelle there but we have also enjoyed being in America & taking advantage of things that we cannot do in Africa. And going to the library is one of those things! Most weeks I completely forget about going because I forget that there is actually stuff to do outside the house besides grocery shopping!

The week before Easter, Isabelle and I had some "Mommy/Daughter" time. We needed a little girl time together, so we left the fellas at home & headed to the library for Toddler Time. Unfortunately, I am not a frequenter of this event at the local library & so I am not "in the know." On this particular day, I did not know that they were having an Easter Egg Hunt & each child should bring his/her own Easter basket. So poor Izzy had to resort to a white paper sack while all the other kiddos sported their fancy new baskets. But she didn't even notice ... just me.

This was actually Isabelle's first egg hunt & so it was a practice run for the next few she would be involved in. She did fairly well ... & by fairly, I mean she racked up less than a dozen eggs to take home. The other kids? Oh, I think they got at least 2 dozen each. Once I finally got through to Isabelle what was going on & what her objective was, she then became focused on each egg she found. I had to show her what was inside the first one so she would continue to look for more. So for Isabelle this meant that she had to open EVERY egg before she would search for another!

We had a ton of fun though & hope to squeeze in a few more library dates before we head out to South Dakota, where there is no library in the metropolis of Wolsey, population 450! We'll have to be a little more creative with our outings ... like counting cows or hay bales or tractors!

Inspecting her eggs. She just opened them up & discarded the shells onto the floor!

Putting her egg/candy stash in her ghetto bag

Isabelle waited patiently in line for her treat from Ms Robin

Ms Robin gave Isabelle her very own bunny! She was very excited about it!

Checking out all her goods before we left the library

loving luke

Luke has been a wonderful baby! He sleeps great, he eats great & he is growing by the minute. He can somehow tune out the craziness of our house with Miss Isabelle Ruth running around in it & sleep through just about anything. He has his occasional fussy moments which is usually due to gas, but it's nothing a little Mylicon can't fix! We've recently heard from some friends of ours that their baby cries for hours, so we feel very blessed that Luke's crying spells are definitely under an hour ... usually just a few minutes once the mommy, the mylicon & the pacifier are all in place!

As Mark and I both know from being the 2nd child in both our families, #2 sometimes gets less of a deal than the first kid ... aka - not as many pictures, hand me down toys & clothes, etc, etc. It has definitely been hard trying to equally document Luke's life in his first few months like we did for Isabelle. Izzy seems to be going through so many new stages of life right now, too! So we find ourselves wanting to snap pictures of her & all she's doing with her big, fun personality & forgetting about the precious baby that's fast asleep in his swaddle or stroller or someone's arms!

But every once in a while, we do remember to give him some attention & snap a few pictures of the beautiful baby that he is!

first haircut

So I'm just a tad bit late on posting as Izzy's first haircut was 2 weeks ago! Bethany Lewis, my good friend & fabulous stylist, graciously agreed to cut Isabelle's hair. I forewarned her that the Belle is NOT a fan of having her hair brushed so I was pretty fearful of how a hair cut would go. Fortunately, there was no one else in the salon that morning & Isabelle did fairly well for her first trip to the salon.

Not a fan of the apron. I was sure this was only the precursor for the rest of the experience.

Just a little timid about what's going on

Yeah, not liking it so far

Still not 100% sure

Okay, all better & now best buds with Bethany!

easter

Better late than never ... Happy Easter!