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Vaiden Baptist Church Family Day

These were some pics from the family day at Matt's old church a couple of weeks ago. Anna Jaymes was in heaven on the slides. It's so sad and exciting at the same time seeing your baby grow into a toddler and being able to do all these "big kid" activities.

Matt, his big wet feet, and Anna Jaymes on the really big slide. She kept running back trying to cut in line to go down by herself.

Anna Jaymes coming through!! I thought this pic was funny. This is Avery, Anna Jaymes' new little friend in Starkville. (Matt and her daddy know each other from college). Her family was in town for the family day, too.

This is actually Avery's uncle, Chad, who sung in our wedding. He's also one of Matt's college friends. I thought this was a sweet pic of him and Anna Jaymes.

Matt's little fishing buddy!

Lucky for Matt, who is about to have two daughters, Anna Jaymes loves being outdoors and exploring everything! As long as we've been married, knowing his love for outdoors, I've hoped that he we'd have a little boy one day to share in his passion. However, after being pregnant while having a toddler on the loose, I'm not sure how many more pregnancies I'd like to pursue and we obviously haven't been too successful with any boys yet! (Then again, considering both our pregnancies have not been "intentionally on our to do list", but instead on the Lord's list, I have a feeling that decision won't be up to us in the future either). :) Either way, it has been fun to see Anna Jaymes' love for the outdoors and her enthusiastic desire to explore everything! She just loves being outside, so maybe Matt's little outdoors buddy has already made "her" debut!

As much as Anna Jaymes loved feeding the fish in the water, she's not exactly sure what to think of the fish out of water! She did try to touch the little bream, though.

Here are Matt and Anna Jaymes with my dad, Steve after killing a turkey one morning. No, Anna Jaymes did not make that hunting trip...maybe one day. She's just cute enough to pose in the picture even though she looks mad and doesn't look at the camera.

We're moving to MS!

Here are some recent pics of our little family! Anna Jaymes is growing so fast! She definitely keeps us entertained. We're excited, and a little nervous, to see how she will be with a little sister.

I know, I know, I know! I'll try to be better at updating this blog more often!

We have some big updates we want to share with you!

First, we are finally moving back to MS! This has been a long awaited move and we are so grateful for all the Lord has done in our lives as we've been waiting. Still, we are glad to finally sell our house and get started with the ministry, Phase 2 in Starkville.

We're moving the weekend of Valentine's, but we're still not sure exactly which day. We won't actually close on our house until later in the month, but it is working out for us to go ahead and move. We will miss everyone in St. Pete, but hopefully we'll be able to visit often.

Second...more exciting news for those of you who don't know, we are expecting our second little girl around May 19th! As if Anna Jaymes is not enough of a handful, we're adding to the wonderful chaos! Hopefully, we'll post a name soon!

Third, when we get settled into MS, we'll be able to officially start the ministry of Phase 2. For now, Matt's parents are graciously letting us live in their "home away from home" in Vaiden. It's about 20 minutes away from the ranch where his parents actually live. Matt will commute to Starkville once a week to visit college kids and do some work and then we'll all commute on Sundays for church and activities. The rest of the time, we will be doing fundraising and visiting other churches or organizations to share about this ministry. Thankfully, we've already had people express interest in hearing about Phase 2!

God has already been providing enough financially for us to get started now, and this is really working out well for us to live for free and focus on fundraising until we can get a place in Starkville. Our hope is that we will be able to really get things going by the time Fall Semester begins.

Still no updates on our house! We are still waiting on the Lord, but are actually trusting Him more and more as time goes on. He is so faithful. We actually have so much to share, but are still trying to grasp it all and condense it enough for you to read!

Anna Jaymes, however, is changing all the time!
She stands on her own a lot more now, but we're still waiting on that first step!
She's learning to clap, but is not too coordinated yet, which makes it even funnier.
She babbles all the time in her sweet little voice that we love to hear!
She learned that she can climb into the bathtub...NOT a good thing.
She shakes her hand to tell us "All Done!"


Here are some recent pictures of our little monkey...



I do not know what she does during her naps to wake up looking like this!! I could not look at her without laughing...

Playing in the car seat...not much more fun stuff to do in this room.

Playing in the cabinets...no worries, I moved all cleaning supplies!!

Driving Carless!

Waking up sweaty from a nap.

Trying to help with the laundry...

Oops! A little too much help! So...I grab the camera instead of helping the poor baby. She stayed like this until I could grab the camera and take a shot! It was too funny.

Anna Jaymes and her friend, Bella. She looks clueless.
















This picture does not even do justice to how cute Anna Jaymes looks in her little bike helmet!
She was not happy at first, but really settled in after we got started.

We turned in our leased car 2 weeks ago and have been riding bikes ever since because we have not gotten another car yet! This is easy to do in little quaint St. Pete. Yes, it is a little hectic at times, but it has really been a neat experience. Besides the bike seat, we also have a bike trailer for Anna Jaymes to ride to work in every day in case it rains (it's waterproof...sort of). She really likes it and usually ends up kicking her feet up and relaxing. We actually use it most of the time.

Not having a car has really made us realize how thankful we should be for all the little conveniences we have in our lives. We just take so much for granted, especially here in America where our culture is really so spoiled.
Maybe it's because we work for things and get paid and therefore think we have earned them and have a right to them. In a sense, yes, but in reality all things are gifts from God. We realize that we are blessed to live in a place where these conveniences are easy to have. We are just realizing that a vehicle, although it is a need at times, is not a necessity, it is a luxury or an item of convenience. So, when you get in your cars, and especially when you turn the ac or radio on, remember what a blessing it is! :)

On a different note, riding our bikes has gotten us outside more...obviously. We've ridden in the rain, the heat and the cool serene mornings. It has been so nice being outside and taking everything in. It gives you a new perspective on things really. It's kind of nice being in the rain and getting a little wet, but good thing I don't have to look nice at work! :) It actually makes me miss the simplicity of life, like the good ole days, maybe? Plus, I like to think that I'm really being "green." Saving money on gas, giving off less pollutants, exercising, getting sunshine...all that good stuff!! Maybe we'll ride our bikes more even when we have a car. We'll see. :)

Don't get me wrong! I'm looking forward to purchasing a car soon! When we do, I just hope we will be more grateful that we have been able to buy a car for our family by whatever means the Lord has provided.

Finally!!

Finally, we are back on the blog! Our last entry is from Anna Jaymes being born, and we have obviously missed many months! We tried to post before, but something was wrong and it wouldn't post, then we forgot about it. Anyway, we are up and running now.





God is doing so much in our lives and this is a great way to be able to share it all with everyone (especially those that are not on facebook!). The biggest blessing we want to share is Anna Jaymes, of course! Check out the pics and videos (actually, you'll have to come back for the videos, we have to break em up first)!

Update:

As most of you know, we are waiting on our house to sell here in St. Pete before we can move back to MS and start the Phase Two ministry. At first, I was really disappointed that God didn't work a miracle and sell our house really fast and send us on to MS earlier this summer. But, then, as Matt originally pointed out, I now keep reminding myself that when the Apostle Paul started on his missionary journey, he ended up in prison. So, my situation could surely be worse! Also, if Paul wouldn't have been in prison writing those letters to the churches, we wouldn't have half of our New Testament today. Therefore, we KNOW God has a plan for us here in St. Pete, despite all the negative comments we hear about the bad housing market making it tough for our house to sell. We are already seeing a lot of God's work unfold. I want to share more about what is going on in a later blog, so keep checking back! I can't wait to share how God works all this out because for a year now, I've known that God was going to use this "selling our house" situation to bring Him glory. So, I am excited to see how it all plays out.

For now, enjoy the pics of our little munchkin growing up! She is crawling all over the place and being so curious. It is so fun watching her grow and learn.