My Little Communicator

I’m sitting on the floor with my baby playing with toys this morning. She is such a little joy in the mornings. I can do no wrong and she is content to just be in my presence and see my face, which I love. This precious time of learning for her is just so special to me and important for her. She crawled over to me with the widest grin and a look on her face that just spoke volumes of her love for me. When she reached me she looked around and said, “DADADA,” and I told her Daddy was at work and he would be back later. She looked up at me with those killer blue eyes and said, “OH.” I just cracked up! She is 9 months old and is having conversations with me, even if they are only two words, possibly said by chance. Either way, it brightened my day. My baby is getting big and I love seeing her grow but I am so sad to see her infant days fading. I can’t believe she will be one in less than 3 months. I am so thankful I can stay home and see every little new thing she does.

Some Updates

I just wanted to send out a quick update of my family before our summer gets really crazy.

PRAISE! A letter was written to the housing office here on base and it was very well received and we have seen a huge improvement in the quality of the repairs.  We even finally received a new dishwasher!  Ours had been sadly trying to clean since we moved in and recently just gave out. 

PRAISE!  My mom, dad and niece Hannah are here visiting.  It has been such a sweet time.  Moriah and Hannah are just precious together!  Hannah insists on being with Moriah every moment.  She isn't even jealous of the attention my parents are giving Moriah, she just says, "You need two girls!" and wants to be included in the cuddles.  We have been having a blast.  We have been to the pool twice and plan to go today, gone strawberry and blueberry picking (and had the most amazing breakfast, blueberry and strawberry pancakes, for dinner!) and gone shopping, a favorite of my mom's and I.  

PRAISE!  My good friend Laurie is coming to see me today!  We taught together at ICS in Korea and she still teaches there.  I can't wait to spend quality time with her and catch up.  It is such a blessing to have such a great friend that will come visit me form Korea, via Kansas.  We will be really busy sightseeing and having some much needed fellowship time.  I am VERY EXCITED!  My mom being here makes it even nicer.  She will be watching Moriah all day tomorrow so Laurie and I can go to DC and be babyless.  It will be the first time I have left Moriah all day, but it will be in extremely capable hands.

PRAISE!  Zack's father and step-mom are coming for the weekend.  We get to spend some one on one time with them, something that has been rare since we got married.  We are looking forward to building a stronger relationship with them and being able to have them get to know Moriah more.  

PRAYER REQUEST!  When the last of our steady stream of company leaves I start work.  Next Monday I will begin 5 weeks of working.  I am looking to working with great anticipation but extreme nervousness.  I will be working at a summer camp at my church.  It is an amazing opportunity to reach the children in this area for Christ.  Moriah will get to come with me and just be in the nursery at church.  I am thankful that I get to peek in on her whenever I want and give her snuggles and kisses.  Please pray that the transition for both of us goes well.  I am a stay at home mom who is looking forward to returning to that status in August but for the month of July God has called me to step out and serve.  

I will try and post in July but they might be few and far between.  Thanks for your prayers and I will update as I can, and be back to "normal" in August.  God Bless until then!

Roof Saga Continued

Well, we had a repairman out to fix our damage from the roof leak, finally.  He was here for a total of 15 minutes and he just slapped some paint on the old paint.  Needless to say, it was not a decent repair.  If this were my home I would not be satisfied with the job but God is using this to remind me that this is not my home.  This is property belongs to the military, I am just allowed to live here for now.  This is not a permanent situation for me.  God has provided for my family right now with a place to live, be cool for the summer and snuggle with my baby.  This too shall pass.  I selfishly want it to pass, say, yesterday!  I long to be a home owner and have the right to do anything I want with my home, fix things correctly the first time and put my touches on everything.  Zack has been very encouraging in this area and continually reminds me that we will be moving next year, just to hang in there.  Thanks for those of you who prayed.  I guess our problem is sort of fixed.  We are sending a letter to the housing office here and the regional office to make them aware of the many issues we have dealt with living here.  We are praying that it will be taken seriously; that there will be a change, not for us, but for the many military families who live here and are dealing with the stress of living on base.  Living on base is a situation that is meant to provide less stressful conditions for military families, and that just isn't happening here.  

Ahh, only 10 months left in MD.  I pray that God uses me here during that time but I am so looking forward to getting back to my FL!  

Mac-n-Cheese

Yay, I finally get to tell you about Wednesday night.  We had the opportunity to minister in the inner city of Baltimore.  There is a ministry called MetroKids that feeds inner city kids every Wednesday.  The great part is that not only do they feed them but they first have speakers every week share Christ with them.  Our small group from church volunteered to bring them food last night and provide the speaker.  God is so good and a lady who grew up in the inner city of Chicago came and gave her testimony to the kids.  They could really relate to her and were asking great questions at the end.  It was neat to see a ministry right near us that needs help.  We are going to go serve with them again.  I brought mac-n-cheese for my part of the dinner.  Here are some pictures of me trying to prepare it.  It took 2 hours!  We were planning to serve 75 people but the rain storm made it a little bit less.  Sorry there are no pictures of the kids.  I brought my camera but got so wrapped up in spending time with them I forgot about taking pictures.  I will try and post some next time we go.

Roof Update

We no longer have a leaky roof, yay God, but we still have the damage from the leak.  I am telling you this not to complain but to ask you to pray for us as we seek wisdom as to how to handle this situation.  It has been three weeks and the housing office has yet to schedule us for a repair and will not return our calls.  This is not the first time this has happened.  Zack and I are both frustrated and want to portray Christ in this situation while still being firm and insisting that they fix our home.  The water has caused the paint to pucker and chip.  Normally this would just be a case of chipped paint, no huge big deal, but in our case we have lead paint (under layers of safe paint) and it makes chipped paint very dangerous for Moriah.  We also have other repairs that have been made since we have been here that need to be repaired again (already broken again in 6 months!).  Is this normal?  We really don't want to move.  It is a hassle and we are only going to be living here for less than a year, but we want to live in a safe environment for Moriah.  Please pray for a quick resolution to this dilemma.  I will keep you updated as our prayers are answered.  

Girls Night with the Kiddos

So last night my hubby took a much needed break and went to a movie with some guys.  Us wives were stuck with the kiddos but decided that shouldn't stop us from having a girls night.  We took all our babies (all girls) and headed to Pei Wei for some delicious Asian food.  It was fun and a great time of fellowship.  Moriah had been working on her top teeth all day and I needed a little outing to get both our minds off her fussiness.  It worked.  She was a little sweetie all through dinner and even ate some rice for the first time.  She was really happy all through Target and then went to bed without even a whimper.  It was nice to have some time by myself after I put her to sleep but I was happy when Zack got home and we could snuggle.