Thursday, April 30, 2009

progress

We are making progress to be ready for Idaho in July!



1. We said goodbye to a very dear friend last Saturday.



We got Culby when he was only 5 weeks old. I wanted a weimaraner so that I could have a running partner and Culby turned into a great one. We raised him on a farm in east Tennessee. He would run right by my side through the winding, hilly streets of campbell-rash road and we would always stop at the river so he could go for a swim. He went everywhere we could take him. Even on errands and he would wait in the car for us while we went in to the stores. When I was sick in the hospital, I begged the doctors to let me go home because I missed my dog SO much. Culby ate our couch, ate everything off the counters (including Advil, 2 entire cantaloupes in one sitting, and a bottle of beano), chewed up many of Reece's "animals," and many a-dog bed. But, he was a part of our family and we love and miss him.

No, he didn't die. He actually went to dog heaven, which is on a 6 acre farm near SanAntonio with horses and a man who absolutely loves him named "Mr. David." I think he'll be much happier than in suburbia with a tiny backyard.



2. We found a very affordable rental townhouse that we can rent out when we get back until we raise our support and get ready to go.



3. We almost have all our addresses. Thanks for those of you who sent yours and others in. Please send yours to me if you want updates on our ministry BeckyPez@sbcglobal.net



4. I'll be finished with one of my classes on monday and the other 2 weeks after that!! WooHoo!



5. We had a meeting with Cypress Bible Church to find out the requirements to be a missionary with CBC. There are LOTS of things we have to do, but the program is really designed to keep people on the field and not leaving soon after arriving because of whatever reason.



6. I feel like more than anything, we're preparing mentally. We're talking about what to keep and what to sell. We're talking a lot about putting our house up for rent and how that will go. And we're talking about where we'll go, what we'll do and what it will be like.



God is really answering our prayers and giving us wisdom about how to work all the details out in this process. Thanks for praying for us, asking us questions and walking with us through this process!



Our desire is to use the service of airplanes in order to make the gospel more accessible to those who have never heard!

If you are confused, here's the link for the steps we're taking to get to the mission field
http://cowabloga.blogspot.com/2008/08/we.html

If you want to learn more about MAF, go to www.maf.org

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Spring-Time FUN!

We had an Easter Egg hunt and picnic with our friends from church. It was lots of fun. We really tried to emphasis that Easter means "Jesus is alive in our hearts." We taught Reece Matthew 28:20 "And Jesus said, "I am with you always." (changed a little so a 2 year old could memorize it!)
It was really surprising to me this year the amount of bunnies, chicks, eggs and flowers that were advertised this Easter. Stores were packed with them! Every store I went to, I looked for a book about Jesus or something to do with Jesus. I was shocked at how little there were. It made me really jealous for people to worship Christ! I guess things like that stand out even more when you are aware of what is going into your little one's mind.
Some of Reece's very best friends Jade and Abigail. Reece was very concerned that Jade or Abigail would try to take her eggs so she moved up a few steps so she could eat in peace...we're working on sharing and being generous!
The day before the picnic, we had our small group families over for dinner and smores. It was SO fun. We love our small group friends! Here's Jade being silly with a "hat"
Here's Abigail showing us her awesome walking skills!
Another addition to our schedule as of last evening... Solid foods! I'm starting with rice cereal this week because I just ordered a baby food grinder. I've heard some really great things about it and also some not so great things about grinding your own baby food. I thought I'd give it a try since the grinder was only $20. I'll let yall know how it goes!
Joe ready for some steak and potatoes!!
His reaction to the first bite...not quite steak and potatoes!
Okay, Mom! That's about all the rice cereal I can take!! (Oh yea, and I forgot to buy bibs! :)
Reece's thoughts on giving Joe baby cereal...thrilling...
And last, but not least: Joe's passion in life: HIS JUMPER!! He loves this thing. He's usually really quiet and laid back, but once it's jumper time, he lights up. As someone in the church nursery said, "He becomes a NEW MAN!"


Friday, April 3, 2009

This was NOT on the to do list!

So, I had been wanting to trim Reece's hair for a long time. We have been really busy all week with potty training, but I decided on a whim to go for the trim on Wednesday. I set Reece in the high chair and started hacking away. I didn't really think things through, and I didn't even try to separate it into sections. When I had cut all the way around, I stepped back to take a look at my progress, and one side was an inch shorter than the other side where I had started!! I panicked, and I think I freaked Reece and Daniel out. So, at about 6pm, I grabbed Reece, got in the car and stopped at the first hair cutting place I saw. The place we ended up was not exactly for kids, and it was crowded with people getting off from work to get their hair cut, but they were pretty nice and fixed Reece's hair for me! I was SOOO embarrassed!! I had not showered all day and had just gotten in from jogging, so I was not exactly presentable. I think I smelled like spit-up, too! Reece was such a good girl. I the car, she asked me if they were going to cut her eyes or her nose, so I think she was a little scared. But, she sat perfectly still (I gave her candy and tried to distract her with everything out of my purse that I could think of!)
So, 18 dollars later, we now have a short-haired, big girl, two-year-old:
Here is Reece with her pretty flowers that her Daddy bought her for peeing in the potty for the first time! :)
We have been doing intense potty training for this whole week. I decided to forgo the pull-ups and try to just go all panties all the time. It was SOOO hard at first and very stressful, but Reece is doing much better. It's been a hard week for the both of us. I can tell she has been stressed out, but she is doing much better than when we started. Yea for progress. She is having a lot of trouble with the #2, though.
On another note, we took a road trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma last week. We made many stops including Little Elm, Durant, and Dallas to see lots of friends and family. We were VERY surprised with a snow storm on Saturday morning! It was fun, but we were very cold and for one leg of our trip we had to drive about 40 mph down the highway. That lasted about 4 hours, but Daniel was a really safe driver, so we weren't scared!

This was just the start of the snow. It ended up being several inches on the ground. Before we headed out, Daniel and my Dad built a HUGE snowman and threw snowballs at each other. Reece didn't really want to play in it because she was too cold :)


Grandma Betty and Reece. They had lots of fun playing with Reece's animals.



Our family with Aunt Marion and Dan. We had a great time eating lunch with them and visiting with them at their beautiful house.


The kids and my mom in the snow!

We also had a fun visit with Mr. and Mrs. Girdler, Aunt Stacie, Cousins Amanda, Rachel, Katie and Dylan, Uncle David, and finally Uncle Mike, Aunt Tricia and cousin Phillip.

Joe Update: He is 5 months old and rolled over finally for the first time today!! Actually, Daniel's mom witnessed him rolling over 3 times in a row about two weeks ago when she was watching the kids for us. She says he was really mad at the time, and he didn't do it again for us until today, so I decided not to count that!

Here's a video of the second time he rolled over. The first time he did it, I grabbed the camera and turned him back over, and he did it right away again!

A Glimpse into the lives of a family on a journey to serve God through aviation in Indonesia!