In Addition to Jonathan's recent blog!

Jonathan was able to put together this little video depicting everyone's reactions to the news of the baby.  It was quite fun to surprise everyone and to be able to capture everyone's  expressions. We thought we had also gotten dad's reaction on video too, but we aren't sure what happened...I think he will understand and know we didn't leave him out, at least not on purpose!!   

Kudos to Jonathan for his first published video...pretty good, eh?

Christmas News.....

Hello all,

We would just like to give you an update on our escapades over this xmas.  The weekend before Xmas my parents came to greenville, since we were going to Cajun country for Xmas this year.  We didnt do all that much, but hang out and clean up our house a bit......if you have read this blog from the beginning, all im gonna say is that my dad and I had a project.....estimated time of completion...15 min....actual time....2-3 hrs......business as usual..but this was all my miscalculation..We did some light presenting (made up word) and here are some pics......your welcome mom....

Sorry there are no pics of me.....i got the camera from my dad for xmas....so only pics of everyone else.... well here is on of Bristol.....

 We traveled down to Utica Mississippi on the Monday before Xmas.  We went to visit Baileys dad a his hunting cabin.  It was pretty cold there over the first two days, but we enjoyed it.  It is a great place out in the middle of now where that is great for hunting or just getting away.  I enjoyed takin a few pictures around the land.....

This is really the first time i got to see hunting ground......I was pretty excited!  Bailey and I went on a walk around the land and I stood in the tents and tooks some pictures.  We had to wear our orange and in a couple of pics I pictured Bailey as my dear......

Bailey stepmother Debbie shot a doe while we were there and I got to watch my first deer skinning......I have pictures, but Bailey said I cant post them.....talk to me seperetally if you are interested......:>)

After our time in Utica, we drove to Hammond Louisiana to spend the remaining xmas time with Baileys mom and brother and sister.  Along with her nieces and nephews.  We spend xmas morning together and then went to sarah and chads for a minute and then over to chip and crystals.  Where crystals dad, thomas cooked an amazing dinner.  Fried turkey and all.....it was great....here is a family tradition that I made Sarah, Sydnie and Fede take part in.....early morning xmas photos....oh the hairdos you will see.....

Here are Bailey and Bristol on Xmas morning.......

We had a blast at Chips playing Wii, mostly Mario Cart and Guitar Hero.....we spent Xmas eve night Bowling....that was fun as well.....

Baileys Mom even got in on the action......it was pretty funny....notice Bailey on the couch....asleep!!!

We didnt do alot of presents this year and didnt ask for much either.  We wanted to focus the attention of christmas back on what the holiday really means.  The birth of our saviour.  We had a blast just hanging out with family and loving one another.  I got to experience new xmas traditions as different familys celebrate different ways.....I did interject a few of my own like the morning pictures and this....the afternoon family photo.....it was good times....

Im not to good with the camera yet.....

Bailey and her sister and brother....Sarah and Chip

Us......

All in all it was a great trip....alota travel, but well worth it.....we were excited to see everyone and felt blessed to spend this special season with family.....we even got creative with gifts this year and only gave pictures to our parents......let us know what you think about it......

If you didnt know already....we are pregnant....well Bailey is....We have our 12 week appointment tuesday and should be able to hear the heartbeat as long as everything goes well....pray for us...we are both pretty nervous.  There will be many more pictures and posts...with even a few videos Im sure....but as for now...thats it....gotta go to bed....we hope everyone is well and we look forward to keep you updated.  We will talk to you soon!!!!!

Jonathan

And the Saga Continues

So we can add to raw chicken breasts to the gross things eaten by our sweet, angelic puppy. We were smart enough to put the chicken in the sink to defrost, but checked on it before a grocery run. When we checked on it, we forgot to put it back in the sink, and sure enough...it was devoured. What is he thinking???

Other news....Bailey just finished her 12th hour toward her masters degree with an A! It is so nice to be done with another class!

A Quick Note to say Hi!

So we are getting threatening notes about the fact that we haven't updated our blog yet! But I understand since it has been two months. We do have a couple of things that have been going on. For Thanksgiving, we headed down to Florence, SC and spent time with Jonathan's family. We had a great time, other than Bailey recovering from some stomach bug she got from the kids in her class.
We are also putting our house on the market Dec. 19. We are excited, but need to do some work before next Friday. We've decided the price for which we could sell, and decided since it is a buyer's market to go ahead and list it. We will be patient, and not rush. Once we sell, we will look for another house. We have no idea where (still Greenville, but it depends on what's open at that point). It is really excited (except when I think about how long this could take)!!
In this process, we have eliminated the dog kennel which has made for some interesting times. Bristol has done pretty well (although, he did chew Jonathan's favorite kitchen utensil). I did get a little worried yesterday when I walked in and realized that he had gotten the pound of meat we had set out for Tacos. That's right, he ate a whole pound of raw meat...he seems fine, but I don't think Jonathan was too terribly happy with this ordeal.
We will be going to spend Christmas with our family in Mississippi and Louisiana. We are excited to see everyone, and will post when we get back.
Okay, so not the most interesting post in a while, but an update for now!
Until next time, have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, and remember to celebrate Jesus' love for us, and the true meaning to why we have this day! LOVE

Rough Month, but GREAT Weekend

So Jonathan's been doing most of the posting, so I decided I would actually stop in say hey, give some prayer request, and put up some brand new pictures.

First, I said in the title that it has been a rough month. I am not sure what is significant about this month. Alot goes into the roughness though. I find myself struggling with my schedule of being a teacher, student, and a wife. I find myself thinking that I am not doing a great job at any of these, and being a little bit of a perfectionist, I can beat myself up about this pretty good sometimes. This then brings in a wave of hormonal emotions that Jonathan has no idea what to do with. In addition, because I feel that my time is jam packed, that leaves a little to be desired in the time that I spend in the Word. This is the one place I need to be in times like this. We have been doing a six week study on God's Word, and how desperate we should be for it. I am inviting you to pray with me, that I will be desperate for His Word, and that He would comfort me through what I read. That He would stabilize my emotions, and help me to find ALL my trust in Him.

Now on a little happier note...Jonathan's parents came to visit us this weekend, and we had a blast. We went to Fall for Greenville on Friday, Skytop Orchard (to pick apples), the Carl Sandberg home, and Pearson Falls on Saturday, and wrapped-up the weekend at the Handlebar this morning. It was a great time, and we were able to take some fun pictures!





This next one is one of my favorites!

I like this one pretty well too!

Grace Downtown

Well the new thing in our life know is Grace Downtown. Our church has started a new campus in downtown greenville and Bailey and I are on board full bore. We are leading the audio visual team, which control the slide, lights and overall production of the service. Bailey has been doing slides and I have been producing. Producing basically means that I have to stress over all the intracasies of the service....which I dont mind. It is actually neat to be working so closely with some of the staff and being a part of this. We are meeting at the Handlebar, which if you are not from Greenville is a music hall, if you will. It is a great initimate concert hall, but also is a bar at the same time. We are pretty rugged as there is a fully stocked bar in the back of the "worship hall". There are also signs for a tatoo parlor and a big pair of dice hanging from the ceiling. It is a great place to worship...Some people might look down their nose at it, but I tell you from my opinion it is great. We have had 3 services now and sitting back and watching people worship God is no different here than anywhere else. It is just a big reminder that GOD doesnt care what you look like, where you are or what you wear....he just cares about what is in you heart and that you praise him for everything.....thats what we try to do! There are alot of little things that people may worry about when it comes to the service, but I try to bring the thought process that we are here for him and if we leave something out or something doesnt flow right, Praise GOD because he is more important that all things.....Hope everyone is doing great and we hope to see or hear from you soon....Love Jonathan

1 month and counting

Well I guess we should update our life for all those that are addicted to blogs (mb????).
We have been super busy lately....well not busy...but super tired. Our work lifes have hit full swing and we are both trying to not work ourselves to death. But let me tell you it is hard.....Bailey has been doing a great job at leaving work on Tuesdays and Thursday to go workout.....some days with Mary Beth??? She also has started her Fall Grad class at Furman which meets Monday and Wed night....so other than Friday, she has been doing a good job of leaving early from school. The weeks get kinda long but so far we have made it through. The toughest thing is going to be when all the new TV series start up this week and next. We are going through a series at church about Gods word and how we need to be immersed in it.....well lets just say that I am already convicted and with the TV stuff starting, I think some of my favorite shows will get dropped....why is it so hard????

The hardest part of the last month had been the fact that due to my job, I am missing out on a few important things in my life. I will miss out on all of our fall small group because of my work schedule on Sunday afternoons.....this is a big thing, because I love our small group and the conversations and support we have with them. I have only missed two weeks and I am already feeling the void. Also I will miss part of not all of this falls Mens Roundtable at church, this actually bums me out to for a couple of reasons..

1) It is a great opportunity to be in community with other males in the church and just connect

2) the series is going to be on a Man and his Wife.....and as I am constantly trying to better serve my wife and be less selfish....I think it is a great shame that I may miss part or all of it. I will be able to get it on CD, but there is just something about being there and listening, then discussing it with others........

So if you guys or gals out there in blog land can just say a prayer for us that we would not get bogged down with the unimportant stuff in our lives and focus on God and his purpose. Also if you would just pray that we are intentional with our time with God and that we look to him to fill us, not to the artificial.......

Hopefully it wont be too long till our next post.....but I gotta get back to work.....later

Jonathan

More from Nicaragua

The next million posts could be about Nicaragua......but we will try to cut that down a bit. Our trip was amazing (even though that word doens't describe it). It was so nice to leave all of the distractions of home....well home. Being totally wrapped up in serving others was a very freeing place to be. Nothing to do but serve and help as best you could. It was just amazing how God brought our group closer together through the week and even though it was only a week, we feel like family now!


This is our group with the group from the church....

It was great getting to know the people of this church and seeing their faith....which is stronger and more of a true faith than ours.....even though they have way less.....which this world would say doesnt make sense.....
It actually showed me what true FAITH was and convicted me to let go more and trust God.

Although Bailey and I were ready for whatever the week threw at us, the only real question was the sleeping arrangments (see previous post and pictures) but they turned out to be amazing. The family that put us up were from the states and just an amazing group. They were Michael, Lisa, Kya, Ellis and Samuel Perkins.



Here is Michael and Lisas' oldest daughter Kaia, who was a huge help as she went with us a couple days (instead of going to school) to the church and translated for the childrens team. Yeah she is 9 and fluent in spanish....(as you may tell by this post...Im 30 and not fluent in english!!!!)

I think Bailey and her really hit it off......



The kids didnt want to see Bailey or Kaia go ->
This is Ellis (the middle son) and Samuel (6 months)

Ellis was a little shy but just loved Mr John (John Crawford) and Samuel was just loved by every female there....especially Shelly and Kelly S


















The sleeping arrangments were great.....and the hammock was very comfortable. Ill post some pics of where Bailey and I slept and then give you some pics of the compound we stayed at.....I dont know if you will be able to take in the beauty of it all......but you can try!














My hammock...................................................................Baileys is the middle tent

I would wash my pants in the shower and hang them up to dry.....only used two pants all week....

As this post is really long....I will wrap up with just some pictures of the rest of the compound.......the next post will have details and pics of other portions of the trip.....hope this gives you a feel of how things were.......and just remember to always think of the most beautiful amazing site that you have ever seen and realize that God created it and everything around it.....and he can handle us if we just let go and have faith.....












Perkins House...................................................................Mens Hut and tents

This is a veiw of the womens hut where we ate and also where the bathrooms were ------>









<----Front gate into the compound

and now some views around the compound.............

Back in the States

I almost titled this blog as home again, but was some how reminded we are not at home! We got back from Nicaragua on Sun. Since then, we have been trying to restore ourselves physically and emotionally. The trip was truly one of a lifetime. We learned so much about so much: about sitting in the comfort and peace of a God who is truly God of the universe, about being humbled as the ones we went to serve served us, about the menial things that we focus on verses focusing on who He is. It has been a long time since I've just sat in God's comfort and let Him surround me with His arms. It has been great for me this week to do just that! Here are some pictures from the trip:These are some of the cooks at the church, and their children!

This is Jonathan with Kevin; I think that everyone on the trip wanted to take Kevin back to the states!

These are two of the girls that hung out with us each day! The young girl on the left was Mabeling. She really enjoyed playing with Kelli Swartzentruber (I have no idea if I spelled that right)!

These are three active little boys. They kept trying to tickle me, which was fun?!?! They also enjoyed playing keep away from the chele (translated: white girl)!

Preparing for NICA

This week as been a little crazy as we get ready to head to the city of Villa El Carmen, Nicaragua. On Tuesday night, we (us and the Spann's) took Jermile to Blue Fire Grill for his birthday! We had a great time just celebrating life, and enjoying Jermile being close enough to Greenville to go out to eat.

On Wednesday night, we went to a really expensive restaurant (Restaurant O) in downtown for our anniversary. I had received a gift card from one of my students at the end of the year last year, and we decided to hold it for our anniversary. Now, our actual anniversary will be Monday, but since we will be out of country, we celebrated last night! We had a really fun time just laughing and eating really yummy dessert. When they brought me mine, they wrote a really cute message on it!

On Thursday (or today), we are receiving our new couch! YAY! It is a sleeper sofa and I am sooo excited to actually have a couch. Bristol might have a hard time, because contrary to the futon, he isn't allowed! We are also getting a swivel chair to replace one of the recliners. It is nice, big, and comfy! I am so excited...I just love new furniture...I'll post pictures when it actually gets here.

We leave in two days (Sat) with half of our team, and the rest will leave on Sun. Our team was too big for one trip. Please pray for our safe travel, good health, and over all that the people in Villa El Carmen will be open to the Word! There are some specific requests sent from the pastor and team already located there, so I might post that tomorrow or something! Thanks again for helping this dream become a reality for Jonathan and I. We are so excited to watch God do some very unique things we might not have experienced here!

Us celebrating with Jermile (I had to reduce red-eyes on Mary Beth and I, and now I look gray)

Jonathan and I at Restaurant O (we're off center cause I had to trim the arm fat)

This is our message and my vanilla bean creme brulee(many thanks to the chef)