More than just catch up

I had high hopes of blogging about our birth story, newborn moments, and first months with baby. Then baby came. I haven't blogged once. While there have been copious moments that have been blog-worthy, I have slacked. I am going to try to get back on it, starting today. This is my New Year's Resolution-starting mid-Feb of 2011!
I'll just skip to the up-to-date picture of Finch.
This picture was taken 2 Saturdays ago. A day at the pool here in Nairobi.



And another....



One more...

Happy Birthday Graydon

Here's to a Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet nephew, Graydon!! He turned 3 years yesterday, Sept. 14. He is such a sweet child of the Lord and gives the best hugs ever!
Love you, Aunt Les Les
note: he also talks like Gus Gus from Cinderella and doubles names. Ex. Les Les, Coats Coats, Si Si

So it is Sept 15, my sweet Mimi's b'day and 3 days post due date. I have been trying to coax him out and have been telling little Finch that today is the day I wanted him to come. I really think he knows exactly where he is and he is staying on Kenyan time. The common phrase that is said here is "Pole pole" which means slowly, slowly. And that is exactly how life works around here! I am still feeling quite normal, not miserable. This is the first time that I have wanted to feel the preggo "misery" because it usually means they are on their way. We go back to the Dr this coming Friday and she will do some things to try to naturally induce labor. I have been saying that if he doesn't come on his late Mimi's birthday, then I want him to join us on the 18th (Sat). It is Auburn gameday, we play Clemson. Then we can always tell him he's been watching Auburn football since Day 1 and it will be true!
Michael's parents, Papa Jack and Shuggie, arrive to Kenya tonight. Who would have ever thought they would make the trip to Africa twice in one year!! We are so excited to have them here to help us out and spend time with their new grandson!

Please pray as we try to wait patiently on Finch's arrival. We have our doula, Rena, on standby. We are hoping to have a completely natural birth and are trying to avoid being medically induced. We are hoping to avoid any medical interventions at all. We feel prepared and excited for the hard journey ahead of us. Please pray that the Lord allows all to go well and as planned.

I'm Finally getting up pictures of our other new nephew and BEAUTIFUL niece!! Louanna and Silas. After seeing this picture of Silas, I think it's obvious why they call him "Smoochie"....those little lips are just to die for!! Silas was born Jun 9, so is not quite 4 months old yet. We miss these precious 2 so much!!

Here are a few more photos from our beach trip this summer.

The beach in July

Here are a few more photos from our beach trip this summer. The group shot did not include my family, who spent the first half of the week with us. This was taken on our "out to eat" night which was wonderful, with the only exception being the imported fish due to the lovely oil spill. Only a few tar balls found the whole week though.
We love this shot of Thompson and Louanna-it looks like a paparazzi shot of 2 celebrities!
And Michael loves those bare belly bump shots!

Playing catch up

I laugh at the last post on here! Most of all, I laugh at the picture!! I have really forgotten what it was like to be that small. So, when little Finch makes his arrival, I will be posting much more. It's really a blog for him-or will be.

As for us, we are just getting back into the swing of things after a great 5 wks at home with family. It was just so good to be with everyone, especially our 2 new nephews!! (pics of them to come.)

Since being back in Karen, I have gotten the nursery put together...still need a few things but it is almost there. I am growing VERY heavy!! Whenever I stand up now, I have to wait a bit and let baby boy settle his weight before I can walk! He is

still very active, he started at an early 16 wks, but this is slowing a bit as he grows too big for his home. He is still in good position and we are expecting a very LONG boy from what we can tell so far!! No surprise there!! Our doula is still in the states as she was delayed and is expected to return back to Kenya Aug 27. I'm pretty sure that we will be in the clear, but just hope he doesn't decide to come earlier than that! As of now, our due date is still Sept 12. Michael's parents arrive Sept 15-which is also my grandmother's birthday, so we are ok if he chooses this day!

Here are a few pictures from home....

Here is a sweet picture of my sister's 2nd baby boy! His name is McLain Coats Griffin (now 3 months old.) He goes by Coats and yes, he has the coolest baby hair ever!

This picture was taken at our precious friends' Katie Shropshire & Ben Strout (aka Strout & Shrop) wedding. Michael felt so honored to have 2 of our best and most favorite friends join hands and we were also able to stand beside them in such a special celebration. This picture is with my most favorite Kiwi and BSR...Georgie. She traveled all the way from NZ for the wedding, I can not tell you how much I love and miss this girl, so it was soooo wonderful to see her and hang out! She is also a little bride...getting married in Dec.

Our sweet friend, Caleb Chancey, did a little preggo photo shoot for us. Against my hesitations, Michael insisted I go bare belly in most of the shots! This one is probably my favorite. I was 30 weeks here, and compared to now, still small!

16 wks

This is 2 weeks old, but I'm a little behind on updating the blog anyway! The baby is growing by the day and has been so active for the past 2 weeks-especially after a little chocolate! :)

Our spring break in Bundibugyo

We have been away for a little over a week for Michael’s spring break. We traveled out of the country to the far reaches of western Uganda to visit the World Harvest team there. What an amazing blessing the week was to us as we enjoyed wonderful fellowship, beautiful tropical mountains, wonderful food, and beautiful times of worshiping our Father during the Holy week.

The Bundibugyo team showed us so much hospitality as we visited the various ministry sites that the development team has worked to build up for over 20 years. We had a great time seeing the health clinic where they have a maternity ward, labor and delivery, pediatrics, adult and child HIV ward, and male & female units. We also were able to spend a lot of time learning about the nutrition program they have-a personal interest of mine. It was also a great afternoon visiting the agriculture, goat, and chicken projects!

It was a perfect day to visit as it was ultrasound day for the local women. The doctors have a very small, portable machine for the clinic. Scott and Travis did a scan for us along with the Ugandan women. It was a neat experience although we were still unable to determine if we will be buying a blue or pink ribbon! Hopefully that will happen in the next 2 weeks-pray he/she isn’t modest when we go for our next scan!

Scott Myhre gave us a tour of Christ School the next day. It is a young school still, but the mission has already been able to turn over all of the staff positions to Ugandans. Michael especially loved hearing about the history and hope for the school in the future. The students are beyond blessed, we thought, as we admired the beautiful sunset behind the Rwenzori mountains while Christ School won their semi-final football game 1-0!

We so enjoyed spending part of the Holy Week with the Bundibugyo team. We were truly blessed by the Seder meal on Maundy Thurs. The Myhres did an amazing job of walking us through the meal and through scripture. We were reminded of the trials and brokenness experienced here on earth but of the hope we have in our saving Father and in the beauty of Christ’s atonement. I say to this…”Next year in Jerusalem!”

Picture at 13 weeks

Here is a 4-D picture from our last scan (first time to see the baby like this.) It was taken March 6-just starting week 13. We got to see he/she dancing all around!
Now I just need to talk Allison Miller into coming over to Kenya in Sept to be our doula!!! :)