the dickens family

2009-01-10T13:56:00.002-06:00

Hi. We are doing well. I know we are not posting as much now and not emailing a lot, either. We are still very busy getting settled into our house. There is still much to do there. And meal prep takes a long time. We were down to our last loaf of bread so I needed to make bread today. I started back to teaching and also chase Abigail often. On top of that, we have to go to the school house for the internet. Everything is really going well. We are great. Not in the least complaining. Just trying to give you a clear picture of our daily lives now.

It sounds like there was a misunderstanding about kids at our door. None of them have been asking for food and we are doing great with it all. People come to the door to sell produce and dolls daily. I can think of once, on Christmas Eve, when a blind man came with one of his children begging for food for Christmas dinner. I was happy to give him some as he cannot provide for himself and his children are too young to provide for him at this point. We do have to decide how to handle new situations as they come up, of course. But we are all so happy to be in our home and getting settled.

Thanks for your continued prayers. We got the projector set up so Joel wants to have a movie night with his wife later! So I will close.

2008-09-11T22:42:00.004-05:00

Hi. I am in the process of reworking our blog. The new name will be easier to give out and have others remember. Click here to view the new location.

two pages

2008-08-16T00:15:00.003-05:00

Hi, all. Go back at least another page or more to see and read all the new posts. None of them are long, but there are several!

Abigail

2008-08-16T00:12:00.001-05:00

Growing Up

2008-08-16T00:11:00.001-05:00

Before/After

2008-08-16T00:10:00.003-05:00

Colt's Project

2008-08-16T00:10:00.001-05:00

Fun in Houston

2008-08-16T00:09:00.001-05:00

Little Girl in Red

2008-08-16T00:08:00.001-05:00

July-kids and friends

2008-08-16T00:07:00.001-05:00

Abigail in July

2008-08-15T22:58:00.001-05:00

ghana

2008-08-15T22:23:00.002-05:00

More answers to more of your questions:

We will be living in a western style house with running water and electricity. The house will be much, much nicer than what the huge majority of the folks there live in, as mud huts are the norm. We will have washer, dryer, fridge, but will not use disposable diapers but instead the new generation of cloth! No easy way to dispose of trash, no walmart down the street to get more diapers, etc. we can eat both western style food as well as ghanian.

free time activities will be whatever we can come up with-watching a dvd, having missionaries and others over, hosting our friends and family who are visiting (hint, hint), playing baseball and soccer (or football, as they call it). there is a tennis court there so we will likely play tennis, as well. but we will have to be pretty good or get a lot of extra exercise as there is no fence currently around the court!

we'll find out how proficient we become in the tribal language we will learn! It's supposed to be fairly simple. maybe once we learn a few words we'll post a recording either here or on facebook.

about colt, on one hand he seems very interested and likes to share with others about africa. he does say he will miss his friends and cousins, which is very understandable, of course. He does have Jesus as his savior, so that does help a lot.

(I just noticed myself trying to spell like a Brit. I may do that more as we live over there for awhile.)

Thanks again for the questions, interest, and most importantly, prayers!

Answering More Good Questions About Ghana

2008-08-15T22:17:00.002-05:00

Here's a link I found on climate for Ghana: http://www.southtravels.com/africa/ghana/weather.html. Joel and I are both surprised at the temps on two sites I checked. It only felt like it was 100 degrees or more or else the sites are just wrong! The equator may effect the heat index big time!

We will need no winter clothes at all in Ghana, per se. I light jacket for the evenings after our bodies have adjusted and the cool nights feel chilly, maybe. And we may take a little something for any fun traveling we do in Europe while in that part of the world.

The number of missionaries where we will be, not including us: two married couples (The Failes), one with three children still in the home (The Hewitts); one single woman (Jane) and one widowed man(Tommy). Yes, we will live on a compound together except for Tommy. He lives just outside the compound.

Thanks for asking great questions. More to come as more questions come in.

Lake City-pics again

2008-08-04T07:38:00.002-05:00

I had to add this slideshow of our Colorado trip again (from early July). I went back and added a title to this show later under editing in blogger. I had forgotten that usually messes up the slideshow. So, went back and added it in a new post. If any of you expert bloggers out there have a suggestion on that, suggest away!

We will change our blog in many ways before leaving for Africa. I've got new photos we took with a photographer-taken in May, I believe. Once those photos are emailed to me, we'll have new header photos for our blog with Abigail!

Lake City

2008-08-04T07:37:00.001-05:00

More About Ghana

2008-07-28T15:25:00.003-05:00

Some of you have been asking great questions about Ghana. Joel will work at a hospital in a town called Nalerigu. The hospital services an area with a population of roughly 100, 000 people. There are currently two full-time doctors there. Joel will make the third. He will see patients in the clinic for ailments such as malaria. He'll deliver babies and perform surgeries on men, women, and children. There is a nutrition center for moms with malnourished babies. We can go there to share Bible stories. We can help villages have church. We will be used to pray for healing, deliverance, and salvation. We will have many varied opportunities to minister to those around us.

I will still homeschool Colt there as I do here. We will do some school with Benton, the Hewitts' eight year old boy. We look forward to getting better acquainted with the missionaries and Ghanians.

Post more questions and I'll be happy to answer them! Put "ghana" in the search engine at the top of our blog to see a few pics about where we're going.

Big News!

2008-07-23T11:58:00.002-05:00

After much prayer and seeking direction, it looks like we may be leaving for Ghana in November. We plan to be there for two years. We ask for your prayers as we start preparations and as God continues spiritual preparations. There's much to do. We are excited about finally being at this point after several years of anticipating this.

Lake City, Colorado

2008-07-20T21:06:00.001-05:00

Colt's 7th Birthday

2008-07-19T11:59:00.001-05:00

Colt wanted a swim/baseball party. He had lots of fun with lots of friends. He had a baseball pinata. It's hard to believe he's alreay seven years old. He's such a joy and God is moving in his life.

Home From Vacation

2008-07-15T23:06:00.003-05:00

We are back from an awesome time in Lake City, Colorado. We have fun with family and friends, and awesome worship time, as well. More about our time and fun photos at a later time.

As you feel led, please pray as we make final preparations to go to Ghana. We anticipate going no later than January. Thanks so much.

2008-06-19T07:46:00.003-05:00

This post is related to the article reminding us to encourage our husbands. I got several responses from friends. I"ve posted a few below. Feel free to email your response if you'd like.

• My assignment was to tell my sweet husband what a great lover he is. Besides satisfying a need for sex, I truly believe a man needs to hear verbal approval of what a "stud" he is.

• I often send encouraging e-mails to David. Also, I did write him a list of
"18 Reasons Why I Love You" for our 18th wedding anniversary. Although, he is not one to get emotional, he was overjoyed at the love I could have for, as he put it, such a flawed man.

Although I think we all need to know that we are loved & appreciated, I feel that it is my calling as Dave’s wife to be his "help meet" in this area. Of course, I try to be a good "help meet" in other ways as well, but our men need our encouragement, so why not give it. Can it be difficult at times? Of course! I am not so happy to encourage him when we haven't been getting along, but sometimes, this is the best time to be the positive light in his life. He then knows that no matter what is going on, I am still there, loving him & supporting him.

• These 60 years have happened because WE DO and not just "read" from good books, even the Bible. For all these years, I have used "loving notes" (we HAD NO EMAIL) to encourage Bob and the kids many, many times....Often Bob would find a note from me where his shaving "stuff" would be.
IF he left, I ALWAYS put a loving note in his suitcase to be found on his arrival where he was going....IF I LEFT I left several notes for him....in the most "usual" places so he would find them. Always one on the pillow (covered by the bedspread so he would not see it until he went to bed) telling him I would be missing him and how much I love him.....
I use to put notes in lunch boxes for school or inside a book.....for the kids.....
NOTES REALLY WORK I believe....they can keep them and I found Bob did keep many of his.....a reminder of how much we are TOGETHER even if we are apart.

Husbands

2008-06-12T07:33:00.010-05:00

I came across a good little article today on encouraging your husband. It has a list of ways to encourage. I'm wanting to hear/read then do more than ever now.

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So, I chose an idea and acted on it this morning. I'd love for you to post (under comments or email to hdickens@suddenlink.net) something you choose to do to encourage your husband, as well. Have a blessed day.

Click here for article.

Aren't true, deep, heart-felt revelations of things you've known in your head just beautiful? I'm spending much more time on this this morning than I'd intended. (Why I don't blog much). I asked God to forgive me for taking away from time with Him in getting interupted. He did forgive me but I knew He was disappointed-not in a condemning way but b/c He longs to spend time with me and misses me when we don't get all the time He's planned, the time He wants. Isn't that beautiful? It means a lot to me, for sure.

2008-05-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

Abigail's doing great with sitting up now. Once in awhile she falls over. She's also rolling around.

Mother's Day

2008-05-27T14:37:00.003-05:00

Colt, Abigail, and I visited Mom for Mother's Day. Joel was on-call so needed to stay in San Angelo. We had a nice weekend.

Haircut

2008-05-27T14:34:00.002-05:00

Colt wants to go short again for the summer so I buzzed his nice hair off. Here are before and after pics.

Luke & Holly's Wedding

2008-05-27T14:29:00.002-05:00

The wedding was great. We had a great time. Everything looked so nice, as did the bride and groom! Happy marriage, Luke and Holly!

2008-05-27T14:28:00.001-05:00

Colt bought me this necklace. Wasn't that sweet of him? I love it when he does special stuff like that for his mommy!

Finally Updating

2008-05-27T14:18:00.005-05:00

I'm finally getting to a quick update. I'll put just a few pics on the blog today. We are doing well. Abigail and Colt are growing and are such joys. The Lord continues to show us more of Himself as each day passes.

Growing Up

2008-04-24T08:57:00.002-05:00

Abigail is 7 1/2 months old now. She is too long for the infant carrier now, according to safety standards. My kids are always tall, like Daddy. She, like her brother had to about this time, has started a more intensive "baby physical therapy." When I go into a store like Target now, I have to strap her in the cart seat and put things on either side of her or continually prop her up right again as she leans to one side or the other and doesn't know how to right herself! She is also adjusting to the new carseat in the car. Joel fixed it last night so it reclines even more so her head shouldn't fall forward as much when she naps in it now. She is usually such a happy, smiley baby. Yesterday just wasn't her day, though, with all these adjustments. It was pretty traumatic, rough in her book!

Aaawww!

2008-04-24T07:33:00.003-05:00

Colt noticed the buttercups outside in the yard recently while playing. He got a bucket and picked a lot of them and brought them in for me! What a sweet boy! He was so excited to give them to me. He's done that again since then. I love him so much!

Flowers

2008-04-24T07:33:00.001-05:00

Annie and Abigail

2008-04-24T07:30:00.002-05:00

Here's a great pic of Annie and Abigail. We all love having Annie around! She's such a blessing to us. We love you, Annie! :)

Abigail's Getting Bigger

2008-04-23T21:12:00.003-05:00

Abigail loves Colt's old exersaucer to play in. She is very busy with her hands right now, so this is right up her alley! She is such fun and already growing up so fast.

Exersaucer

2008-04-23T20:56:00.001-05:00

2008-04-23T20:50:00.005-05:00

Here's Colt at another tball game. He's doing great and loving it!

We love our ball player!

2008-04-23T20:50:00.001-05:00

Weddings

2008-04-23T20:47:00.003-05:00

We recently went to two weddings and visited with family and friends. Rachel Smith got married that weekend, as did Danny Patyrak. We enjoyed our time.

Fun, Fun, Fun

2008-04-23T20:47:00.001-05:00

Let's Play Ball

2008-04-20T22:42:00.002-05:00

This is Colt at his first T-ball game on March 28th. He enjoys playing and plays well. He really throws himself into the game. More pics of future games to come!

Let's play ball!

2008-04-20T22:38:00.001-05:00

2008-04-20T22:35:00.005-05:00

Elaine is taking the kids with her for our date night. She takes great care of them. This was taken March 25th. I'm trying to get caught up! She kept Colt a couple of nights while we were gone this last week, too. Colt enjoys her whole family. We love them so.

Elaine and the Kids

2008-04-20T22:35:00.001-05:00

Swingin'

2008-04-20T22:31:00.001-05:00

Abigail Swinging

2008-04-20T22:29:00.002-05:00

This was taken on March 24th. We put up Colt's old baby swing outside. She loves to swing! This was her first time to swing.

2008-03-30T19:00:00.002-05:00

Mimi Carlisle King and Abigail together. Aaawwwaa!

2008-03-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

2008-03-30T01:12:00.002-05:00

The Lord has me up reading John 17. Verse 6 stands out to me:
I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.

Easter Weekend

2008-03-29T23:17:00.004-05:00

We spent Easter with Mom in Fort Worth. We had a great time with her. On Sunday, her church had an egg hunt with 30,000 eggs! Colt came home with 73 for himself. We also colored eggs with Mom, too!

Church Egg Hunt

2008-03-29T23:16:00.001-05:00

2008-03-29T22:59:00.001-05:00

The Thursday before Easter, SACHSA had our annual Easter egg hunt. Colt had a great time.

Matthew 28:6
He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

2008-03-29T22:58:00.001-05:00

2008-03-29T22:50:00.001-05:00

2008-03-29T22:36:00.004-05:00

For our Bible lesson one day the week before Easter, we went through the Resurrection eggs together. What a great way to symbolize what Christ did for us on the cross. Go here if you want to learn more about the eggs.

2008-03-29T22:11:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to get caught up on blogging! The weekend of the 14, 15 of March we worked outside, cleaning out the pond and the flower beds. That was Friday. Then Saturday, while Joel and Colt went to watch the Thunderbirds at the air show, I planted a few new flowers. It was a beautiful weekend.

We're Working Outside

2008-03-29T22:10:00.001-05:00

2008-03-29T22:04:00.001-05:00

2008-03-29T21:47:00.003-05:00

Abigail and Colt love being with Judy, April, and Eve at the office! We are very blessed to have these three working for Joel. They are hard-working, kind-hearted women. Judy's been with us now for eight years! We all love them lots!

Dinner

2008-03-24T18:19:00.001-05:00

2008-03-24T16:03:00.003-05:00

Colt fed Abigail her first cereal recently. It was the same night we had Dan & Linda Wilson over for dinner. We took photos to mark the special event. We love you, Dan and Linda!

2008-03-16T16:32:00.005-05:00

When in New Orleans, Jessica made this delicious garlic broccoli recipe. I highly recommend it.

We went to the Coronados' tonight. We've been going through a marriage study with them. We're enjoying getting to know them better.

I'm posting the link for this recipe in here. My first time to do this on our blog. It's fun to learn new things to use on here.

2008-03-12T23:03:00.004-05:00

The guys went skiing at Angel Fire, New Mexico Friday-Tuesday (pics to come). They got in yesterday afternoon just in time for Joel to take me out for my birthday! I'm glad they got to go. Colt loves skiing. It's nice to have them home again, too. Abigial and I had a long girls' weekend together. I got a ton of work done on her baby book.

Our sweet friend, Elaine, has the kids for our date night. When we got home last night, Colt had made 4-5 cards for me for my birthday and laid them all over the house. I found them on the entry hall table, in Abigail's bed, on the clean clothes, and several other places around the house.
I also found a new design template for our blog and added music while the guys were gone. If you don't want the music, either hit the pause button on the top of the playlist or turn your speaker down. It's been fun to add more to the blog.

I'm losing a bit of steam in my baby weight loss effort. I need to continue pressing on, right?!

We're going to an upcoming conference regarding missions. We believe we'll know much more about our future after this.

We are hungry for God. We don't want to be complacent but instead diligently follow after Him.

New Orleans Visit

2008-03-08T16:46:00.001-06:00

Trip To New Orleans

2008-03-08T15:34:00.004-06:00

In February we went to New Orleans to visit Dave & Jessica Coats. They are friends of ours working there as Campus Crusade missionaries with several of the colleges in the area. Dave & Jess met as missionaries with CC in Russia and hope to go back there again. We so enjoyed our time with them there. They were so hospitable. We wish we lived closer!

2008-03-01T21:00:00.001-06:00

We have done a lot of blogging in the last two days. Go back through February to check for more new posts.

Colt's Jokes

2008-03-01T20:35:00.003-06:00

Do you know why you do not do math in the jungle?
Because if you get 4 + 4 you get 8!

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Abby.
Abby who?
Abby Birthday to you!

Why was 8 afraid of 7?
Because 7 8 9!

What kind of phone does the ocean have?
A shell phone

Where do you put a barking dog?
In a barking lot!

Lock and Key

2008-03-01T20:29:00.002-06:00

I am a gold lock
I am a gold key
I am a silver lock
I am a silver key
I am a brass lock
I am a brass key
I am a lead lock
I am a lead key
I am a don lock
I am a don key!

You are a donkey? :)

Colt and I read this poem in school last week. I had him repeat the second lines with me reading the first! He liked it so much he wanted to blog it. (From The Real Mother Goose)

2008-03-01T00:05:00.001-06:00

Memaw came to visit us a few days ago. She came to see grandkids play basketball. We are always glad to have her.

2008-02-29T23:47:00.003-06:00

Pepaw came for a visit last weekend. He watched grandkids play basketball and enjoyed Abigail, too.

2008-02-29T23:47:00.001-06:00

Here's Abigirl!

2008-02-29T23:44:00.001-06:00

Valentine's Dinner for Mom

2008-02-29T23:43:00.001-06:00

2008-02-29T23:40:00.001-06:00

Each year the week of Valentine's Day Joel and Colt make dinner for me at some point during the week. Then Joel and I go out on a separate night alone, usually on our date night which we have each Tuesday night. The Valentine dinner is such a sweet tradition! Mommy approves!

Planting Seedlings

2008-02-29T17:45:00.002-06:00

In Science we've been studying plants. We are working on an experiment where we have different bean seedlings in different locations getting different amounts of light and water.

Grabbing Her Feet

2008-02-29T17:42:00.002-06:00

2008-02-29T17:26:00.003-06:00

I figured it out how to share the slideshow. Yea! Dad and Nancy came to visit a couple of weekends ago. We enjoyed the visit with them. We appreciate them making the trip out here.

2008-02-29T17:25:00.001-06:00

2008-02-29T16:57:00.002-06:00

Ok. So I was finally going to post the latest photos and news today. I've been trying to figure out how I posted that slideshow and can't quite get there! So, I've emailed Merritt to see if she can help me. She's my blog expert. That's what happens when you're friends with your parents' friends, Merritt. You get to help us out with this new technology that our generation barely touches on! :)

So, on to news. We found out today that we've been invited to a required conference in April that will move us along in the process of getting to Ghana. Wow. We still have no definite timeline but are getting closer to having one now. We would appreciate your prayers as we seek the Lord, His will, and His timing.

We are definitely in a preparation time with the Lord at this point. He continues to reveal more about Him and more about where we are with Him.

2008-01-30T19:47:00.001-06:00

2008-01-30T19:29:00.001-06:00

We are doing well. It has been cold more days than not lately. The wind has been crazy, also, the last few days. Colt is doing great in school, piano, and basketball. We stay busy with him but are having such fun. Abigial continues to grow and develop and is such a joy. She likes to visit with everyone she meets! She's so happy.

We continue in the process of applying for missions. We've recently met a deadline for getting some paperwork in. Nothing definite to report still at this point.

God is good-all the time. We say this in good times and in bad. We look forward to what He has for us as we enjoy the "now!"

Colt's First Basketball Game

2008-01-17T07:24:00.004-06:00

Colt did great in his first basketball game. He made three of the six goals for his teams!

Our Family

2008-01-09T22:21:00.000-06:00

I'm finally posting again!

2008-01-09T19:24:00.001-06:00

It's been way too long since I posted on our blog. We were gone over Christmas visiting family. Then Joel and I both ended up with bad colds. We're both doing much better and the kids never got sick, praise God! I'm back to teaching Colt now after the holidays and still enjoying it so much. Abigail is doing great in her own school-she's holding her head up so well, staring to not only smile but also laugh now. She is so social. She enjoys visitng with others a lot!

We're continuing with the missions application process. We're getting references in from church staff and others required. I've got to write a little bio soon! We'll keep you posted on that as it progresses.

I'm starting to diligently get the rest of this baby weight off. It feels great to be eating better again. Better get these photos posted as Abigail's wanting me!

Colt's Christmas Songs

2007-12-20T17:16:00.001-06:00

Colt recorded songs with Tim Russo one night while at Tim and Elaine's house. What a great Christmas gift! The Russos are such a blessing to our family. Thanks, Tim, Elaine, and Colt! Click to listen.

Picture with Santa

2007-12-14T23:06:00.001-06:00

We took Colt and Abigail to the mall today and got a picutre with Santa. We bought the cd so we could share it with you all! Colt had never done this before and was really wanting to so we thought it would be fun this year. This was the first photo taken-and it was the best! Merry Christmas to you all! Jesus is the reason for the season! We'd all be nowhere good without Him.

Bye-Bye Bassinet

2007-12-06T10:30:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we moved Abigail out of the bassinet. She had started turning herself catty-corner (is that a real word?) when she slept and her feet were touching, so it was time for a change. We have her now in the pack-n-play in our room. I'm not ready to move the little cutie out of our room yet. Also, she and Colt have different sleep and wake schedules. She is sleeping great, though. She often goes 8 hours between feedings at night. She'll be 3 months old in 5 days. She's very cuddly and social. She loves talking to people!

I have a good bit of Christmas shopping done but do have quite a bit still to go. I've finished writing thank you notes. Yea! We're so blessed by so many and are thankful for that.

I've started the book of Isaiah in my Bible reading, a book I studied a couple of years ago in CBS (Community Bible Study). No, it's not a very fun book to read-gloom and doom prophecies. But it is the truth and does have the hope of Jesus in it, also. All of God's Word is powerful and doesn't return void.

When Jesus Was Born

2007-11-26T15:12:00.001-06:00

I got the idea for this painting from a Christmas video. I used finger paint to make this picture.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T23:34:00.000-06:00

We had a great time over the Thanksgiving holidays with lots of family and friends. We have much to be thankful for.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above-James 1:17

2007-11-12T12:19:00.001-06:00

This photo was taken of Abigail yesterday (November 11). She's two months old now. She's smiling and cooing now. I'm trying to get caught up on things like thank-you notes. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is almost here.

Luke Dickens has some exciting news. He and Holly are officially engaged now! The wedding is in April. God is good!

2007-11-04T10:19:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Colt and I went to the Pottery Ranch to start a project to give to Daddy. Colt had such fun and we'll go back later to finish. We'll show you a picture after we give it to Daddy.

While we were there a friend called offering us symphony tickets, so Colt and I had a date to the symphony while Joel kept Abigail. Colt loved dressing up and paid close attention to the instruments, asking good questions. The performer was world-renowned violinist, Mariusz Patyra. I offered for us to leave at intermission but he wanted to stay for the entire program. Some friends found us during intermission that had front and center seats with extra spots, so Colt loved sitting there even more. We had a great night together.

Abigail is growing and changing so fast. She coos and smiles a lot. She's a good-natured baby just like Colt. We're all enjoying her so much.

2007-11-04T09:53:00.000-06:00

Friday we all went to the LP ranch to visit newleyweds Jamie and Chad for dinner. They really fixed their house up cute. We had goat meat for dinner and it was delicious! Colt rode a horse and loved it! This was Colt's first time to ride without someone leading him. He's ridden one of Aunt Dana's before but that was awhile ago. He got up the next morning saying he wanted to ride again. He talked about it yet again today. We got to hear stories from the honeymoon, including how God used Jamie and Chad in the lives of another couple while on their trip. Thanks for a great evening, guys!

2007-11-01T22:21:00.002-05:00

Can't believe it's already November. Abigail is close to two months old now. She continues to do great. She's sleeping 5-6 hours between feedings at night.

Colt and are are in a good rhythm with school again. He's almost through one of his readers. Whenever we're in the car or out somewhere he's reading signs like crazy! It's so fun to see it all coming together.

Not much going on. Joel's had a busy day and night. He and I are both bushed and going to bed soon.

From Colt

2007-10-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

I know that it will be fun playing basketball games. Y'all should come see some of my games. I will enjoy seeing you.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
Colossians 3:23

Friday Night

2007-10-26T21:29:00.002-05:00

Wow. I hope updating our blog isn't addicting. Joel and Colt went to the Miles v. Cristoval football game tonight to watch the sons of several friends and co-workers play tonight. Abigail and I stayed home out of the cold.

We have kept Colt out of organized sports up until now. But we have signed him up for the Christian Upwards basketball league. He has a great aptitude for sports of all kinds. We go to orientation for this in the morning. Colt is so excited.

He will also start a piano class in a week or two. Colt's teacher uses a peer environment, teaches theory, and encourages original composition and arrangement.

Abigail is doing great. She's sleeping well between nighttime feedings, eats well, is gaining weight, and is very healthy. She's such fun!

Have a super weekend yourself. More to come.

2007-10-26T21:25:00.001-05:00

Oh, my! Brother likes to help dress Sister!

October 22

Aaaahhhhh

2007-10-26T21:21:00.001-05:00

Photos From Our 2006 Mission Trip to Ghana

2007-10-26T17:09:00.000-05:00

This is where we are hoping to go for long-term missions. We are still in the application process. There is a physician position available at the hospital there.

We are also still in "line" for adoption of a baby girl from China. Our adoption agent came from Buckner in Dallas recently to update our home study now that we've had Abigail. We could possibly get her in a year. We continue to wait on the Lord and His timing with His plans in our lives.

Colt & Abigail

2007-10-26T14:21:00.001-05:00

We'll be posting more photos as time passes. Some of you may end up on here, as well! Come back soon for more.

Our own blog!

2007-10-25T22:55:00.001-05:00

Abigail Hope was born on September 11! She's over six weeks old now and we can't believe it! We're all three having such fun with her!

Joel and I had talked about setting up a blog when either adoption from China or long-term mission work in Ghana become a reality. We finally decided to go ahead and set one up now so you can see and read about the fun we're having with Abigail. She's such a blessing to us.

Our Besafeonline internet content filter is blocking me from going to blogs so I'm using Joel's laptop tonight to get this started. His laptop has no recent photos so I'll have to get things worked out with the filter to be able to put photos up.

Colt is doing great. Loves Abigail, doing great with homeschooling. He's in first grade. Time passes so quickly.

Signing off to go to bed soon. Abigail's asleep and I will be soon, too!