What We've Been Up To

It's been a while, yet again, since I have last posted on this blog.  What can I say?  The craziness of summer is in full swing, and I literally haven't had many minutes to even be on the computer at all, much less complete a blog entry. 

Our third mission team for the summer just left a couple of days ago, and we have spent these last couple of days just spending time together as a family. I am trying to cherish these last couple of weeks because it will be time for Ella to start school again.  Yes, you read that correctly. Ella will start school in TWO weeks!!  It seems that summer has gone by in a blink of an eye!!

Nevertheless, I thought I would give you a quick update of what we've been up to.


1. Swimming/Playing in the water- Since it's been over 100 degrees pretty much everyday since the middle of May, the only way to stay cool is to be in the water.  We've done as much of this as possible.



Playing in the sprinkler is one of their fav things!

Fixing to jump in the pool!

I love Brayden's face in this one!

Ella @ the aquatic center

Brayden @ the aquatic center- what a crazy kid!

2. Trip to KY- We took 6 of our youth girls to Crossings church camp in Kentucky.  Thankfully, both sides of our family are just about a 15 minute drive from the camp so we got to see them as well!

Hanging out at my mom and dad's before going to camp

Look what I can do!

Swinging



Ella and Jace playing in the water again (this time at Memaw's)

Always being goofy :)

This is Eric doing the zipline with some of the kids at camp (He's on the left side.)

Jace and I riding in the boat. (I should mention that Jace is the son of one our youth girls. He didn't just magically appear in our family. Although I would take him in a minute :)

3. VBS- Because of the nature of our "job" (if you would call it that), our kiddos have experienced VBS 6 different times.  Each time has been in a different place with different kids.  They have loved every second of it!

Ella (in the middle) with the mission team teaching the kids the song

Brayden (far right) in one of his classes

Excited to have friends visiting from KY for one of the VBS's!!

Brayden and his buddy

4. Girls Day and Boys Day-  This past Saturday we had a Girls Day and Boys Day.  We started the afternoon with all of us getting some lunch together.  Then we went to the movie theatre.  Ella and I watched the movie "Brave" together while Brayden and Eric watched "The Amazing Spiderman".  It was a great day that both kiddos really enjoyed getting to spend one-on-one time.

Here we are actually watching the movie (which is why the pic is so dark)

5. Our Garden- We planted a garden this year and some fruits and vegetables actually grew!  It is seriously a big deal because we kill everything we plant!!  We have gotten watermelon, okra, and green beans so far.  The corn and peppers didn't turn out :(   But we are excited about the other things though!!  Eric and the kids say that the watermelons are the best they have ever tasted! (I don't care for watermelon so I wouldn't know.  I'm excited about the green beans!)  After picking all the "stuff" from the garden and bringing it into the house to prepare, it brought back so many memories for me.  It felt like just yesterday that I was back at my Granny and Grandaddy's house watching them break beans and preparing the food we were going to have the rest of the year.  I wish I would have paid more attention now :) But so glad that I have those memories and excited that my kids will have the memories of us doing it together this year.  We are definitely gardening again next year (now that we know we didn't kill everything) and hopefully gonna have a bigger garden!

A while back

Our watermelon

Some of the green beans

Well, there is more to say, but I need to go cook supper and spend some time with my babies!  Remember we only have 2 more weeks left of summer. I'm gonna try to make the most of it!!


Love,
Brittany

New Life in Christ

My sweet Ella was baptized by her daddy a couple of weeks ago!!   It was such a precious moment for our family!! 

I've been meaning to post pics since that night, but I am just now getting around to it.  (This is the season for mission teams and the busiest time of year for us.)

She was so excited!!

Buried with Him through baptism

Raised to walk in the newness of life!!

Wow!!  I may have cried a little :)

Thank you Jesus for giving my daughter new life!!  May You receive all glory and praise!!!


Brittany

Growing Up

My sweet Ella Grace is growing up.  Of course I've noticed this over the past year, but it seems like over the past month she has become a big kid.

It all started with this:

No training wheels

She literally decided one day she didn't want to have training wheels anymore, and the next day she was riding her bike without them!  She has such determination!!


And then this happened not too long after:

See the missing tooth?

She was so excited to lose her first tooth.  She has been asking me all year long when she was going to lose her tooth.  You see they have a chart in her kindergarten class tracking how many teeth everyone has lost and she was (I think) the only one in her class that hadn't lost a tooth yet.  Finally, she made it :)  Just yesterday, she lost the one right beside it!

Not only has she hit these "first" milestones, but she is doing so well in school.  She loves math (definitely doesn't take after me) and she is doing well with writing and reading.  She just picked out a chapter book at the Book Fair to read over the summer.  She said, "I have to keep practicing over the summer, Mom.  This big book will help me."   Next week will be her last day of Kindergarten!!

And while thinking of my baby girl growing up makes me a little sad, it also makes me really happy.  I see the young woman that she is becoming.  She is learning important truths and truly understanding what life is really about. 

Just this past Saturday, Ella received Christ as her Savior!!  I cannot explain to you the joy this brought me.  This was a day that I have been praying for since the day she was born. 

To be honest, I always wondered how our kids would be affected growing up in a "ministry" family (Eric was a youth pastor for 5 years and now we are missionaries.) They see the good, bad, and ugly associated with this.  Also, they hear the Gospel pretty much on a daily basis (not a bad thing I know) but a part of me was concerned that they would never make a distinction between knowing the facts and actually knowing Christ as their Savior. 

But Saturday night proved to be one of the best days of my life.  Eric and Ella were outside playing in our little swimming pool and Ella said, "Daddy, I'm ready to believe in Jesus."  They started to talk and he asked her some questions.  Finally, Eric said, "Let's get out of the pool and go talk to momma."  So, they came in and she began to talk to me.

She said, "I wanna believe in Jesus.  I want to live for Him and worship Him."  She prayed the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have ever heard.  She began to cry and she said, "Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to take my sin away.  I love you.  I want to live for you.  Help me to live for you tomorrow, and when I'm a big kid, and when I'm a momma.  I want to teach my kids to live for you too."  There was more, but you get the point.  It was a really precious moment that I'm so glad I got to be a part of!!!

She went to school Monday morning and told her entire class that she was a Christian now and she was going to be baptized. She also has a friend in her class that is a Christian, and they decided together that they were going to pray before lunch everyday!! 

Even though she is growing up, I'm excited for the big girl that I get to see grow in her relationship with Jesus and show others her love for him!!  I know God has big things in store for her!!

Man, I love that girl so much and am so blessed to get to be her momma!! 

Happy Mother's Day!!

Enoying these precious blessings today

and my love

I feel so privileged that God chose me to be the mommy of these two. 

And hopefully one day soon, this little princess will be home with her mommy.

Until then, I'm praying that she feels the love of her mommy (and daddy) from across the ocean and knows that we are coming for her soon!

Also, thankful today for a wonderful mom, mother-in-law, and grandmother!!  I wish I could be with them today to personally say how much I love them and give them hugs, but phone calls and a blog post will have to do.  Love you all!!!

Wishing all you mothers out there a very happy mother's day!!  I hope you are enjoying your day as much as I am!!!

Love,

Brittany



WE PASSED!!!

COURT IN THE CONGO!!!

We are so stinkin' excited about this!!!  Isn't it funny that I just posted about really feeling the "wait" of this adoption?  God knew my heart and, of course, He is right on time.  His time!!

So, what does this mean?  It means that the court process is over!  We have a mandatory 30 day wait period from the day we passed court.  If there is no opposition (which we do not expect there will be) then Emmalyn officially and legally becomes our daughter!!!  This day just happens to be May 13, which is Mother's Day and would also have been my grandmother's (Emma) birthday, which is where Emmalyn's first name comes from.  I do not see this as a coincidence.  It's totally God!!

After the "wait" period, we have some paperwork to file, Embassy appointment, visa issued, etc. Then we get to travel to pick her up.  Since we have no control over the people or of the time that it takes to get these things completed, we still do not know when we will travel.  My guess is still another couple of months.  We are hoping now to travel in June or July!!  So, yes we are close, but not quite there yet.

But we are PRAISING GOD for this court process being over!!! 

We would love for you to continue to pray for us and Emmalyn!  Please pray that this 30 day wait (which is more like 21 days now) passes with no opposition.  Please pray for us to have the funds necessary to travel when it's time!!  Thanks so much!!!

Love,

Brittany

While I'm Waiting

The last couple of days "the wait" for our adoption has been very present in our family.  It seems so close, yet so far away.  Although the wait is hard, I know God has used this time to teach us and grow us.

Eric and I were just discussing the other day about the wait.  When we first started thinking about which country to choose to adopt from, we crossed many off of our list because of the length of time you had to wait.  We did not want to wait for years.  That's funny to think about now because in June we will be waiting 2 years. :)  But we see how God has worked and how His timing has been perfect.  A LOT has changed in those 2 years; we are using a different agency, we have a different house, we have different jobs, and we live in a different state.  But God used all of that to bring us to our daughter that He had prepared for our family!!!  We wouldn't have the privilege of being her parents if we had done things in our time.  Thank goodness He knows best!

So the last couple of days the song "While I'm Waiting" has been on my heart.  (You may recognize it from the movie Fireproof.) I don't know what the song was originally written for or about, but it speaks about how I feel at this point with our adoption. 

Here are the lyrics (by John Waller):

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I will move ahead bold and confident
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yeah

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint

And I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You Lord

How ever long it takes, I will worship God and serve Him while I'm waiting!!  Praising Him today for His perfect timing and perfect will!!!!

Here's a video made to the movie Fireproof  if you would like to listen to the song.

Love,

Brittany





Happy Easter!!

We hope you had a blessed day celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord!!  We sure did!!

Love,

Britany