January DTS

It's hard to believe, but we are already in week 9 of the lecture phase of the Discipleship Training School (DTS)! It has been quite an adventure already. Matt and I weren't sure exactly what to expect, but it has definitely blown away any expectations we did have. It has been challenging at times, but the school has brought so much life to us. This is the first time Matt has led the entire DTS and we are learning so much! Matt is doing such a great job and I am so proud to see him step into this new leadership role. The students have really connected with him. 

The first two weeks were really rough as we experienced a bit of spiritual warfare. From perpetual sickness to car problems to curious bank issues, the enemy was clearly not happy about what was in store for these students and for us! We persevered and we have been seeing amazing things in the lives of the students as well as our own.

The students and staff

Some of the topics that the speakers have covered are the foundations of Christianity, Destiny, Nature and Character of God, A lifestyle of repentance, the Holy Spirit, Marks of a disciple, relationships, and Father heart of God. They will also be learning about worldview and missions, how to study the Bible, making disciples, and the Great Commission. These students are so hungry and are really diving into everything that God has for them. I have been so blessed to have 5 people who genuinely love Liam. They look forward to seeing him and take time to play and love on him. He has been LOVING all the attention and loves to give them all kisses and hugs...most of the time.  : ) Because it is a smaller school, we have really had the opportunity to get to know the students really well. We have enjoyed having them over to our house many times as a group as well as individually. 

     The team will be heading to Kansas City in March as part of a stateside ministry. They will team up with our former base director and his family to help encourage the local church to step out into missions. From there, the team will be heading to Uganda, Africa for 2 months as a part of their overseas portion of the DTS. Our two small group leaders, Whitney and Anthony, will be leading this portion of the outreach. Lord willing, Matt will be visiting the team for a week or so in May. The purpose of his visit is to bring encouragement and refreshment to both the students and the staff halfway through the outreach. I am a bit nervous as it will be only a month after Eily is born. I am praying that some of my family will be able to fly out and help me adjust to life with a newborn and a toddler!

     We are so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of this journey. We have seen so much growth in our personal lives and although it has been stressful at times, it has been worth every minute!

Liam

After months and months of constant ear infections, screaming fits, and a typical grouchy disposition, we were finally given the go ahead to get tubes put in Liam's ears. What a difference it has made! Liam has been so much happier overall and we have not had one screaming fit since. Normal 19 month tantrums yes, but nothing like he was having before. He continues to bring us so much joy. He is so passionate and very excitable. When Liam likes something, you will know about it! His current favorites are Elmo (or MO!!!! as he likes to say), trucks, and trains. He points out every single truck he sees with the excitement of kid on Christmas. They never get old to him. The most recent obsession to Liam are "choo's". He loves the sight and sound of them. From the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed he is constantly talking about, playing, or watching his choo choos. We recently bought him a train table and it has provided us with hours of entertainment. Liam continues to be quite the mama's boy and we are praying that he adjusts well to having a baby in the house taking some of the attention away from him. We are so blessed to call him our son and look forward to seeing him grow into the boy God created him to be. 

Walks with daddy are the best!

Liam loves being outside

Mornings are perfect for trains!

He loves watching videos of himself!

Playing with his friend, Zion

We love the camera!

Loving on his friend, Jude!

Taking advantage of one of the few "warm" days

Checkin' out the horses across the street

Cheeeeeeese!

New train set!

"bwoo" (blue)

Short term outreach.

Recently Matt and I had the chance to lead a short term outreach team from Florida. Matt did most of the leading while I stayed home with Liam, but I had the chance to lead them on an afternoon of evangelism in the slums of a nearby town. I love watching Matt in his element. He is such a gifted leader and he did a great job with this team.

Praying before we get started

loving on the residents of a retirement home

Ministry in this great city!

the team from Florida


It was just so refreshing to have this team here. God spoke through us and used us to pour into their lives, but we were also so blessed by them!

COMING UP...

September is just around the corner which means big changes here at the base! The Fall Discipleship Training School starts on September 23 and Matt and I will be staffing the school. I am extra excited for this DTS because my brother Mike will be a student! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us and the students!

Introducing...

                                                                    Our new car!

God is so faithful! We were recently able to purchase this Kia Rio. It gets great gas mileage which will help us so much with our many trips into Nashville! It also fits the whole family plus there will be room for another carseat : )

Thank you to everybody who has helped us financially and prayerfully! We are so blessed to have such a great support system! 

Summer...

As usual I am going to play catch up. It's crazy how quickly time goes by. Even as I write this, I stare at two pictures on the wall. One of our wedding day over two years ago, and the other of me holding an impossibly tiny baby I hardly even recognize anymore. It was only 13 months ago that we welcomed that tiny face into our family; 13 months that has both flown by so quickly and so slow at the same time.

July 1st our sweet boy turned 1! As it turns out, he was teething and in a bit of a rough mood. Nothing a little cake couldn't cure. : )

not so sure at first

getting the hang of it

a little milk to wash it down with

It's been a hot and humid summer here in Tennessee. We've been keeping cool with our little $20 lifesaver.

He LOVES the water

He'll kill me one day, but I just couldn't resist those cute little bunners!

It's usually too hot to be outside during the day, so after dinner we take him out front for a few minutes to get some energy out.

so happy to be outside

rock in mouth...it's inevitable.

Liam's new thing...destruction and holding his breath. He loves to take all of his toys and throw them all over the room and then hold his breath like the hulk. Here is a quick video of him doing both. Pay no attention to the mess he made all over the house.

Liam

Here's what Liam has been up to lately...

finding new things to get into

keeping the house tidy

Loves to sweep!

daily walks to see the cows

lots of banging

lots of eating

climbing on the couch. How can you get upset with that face ? : )

finding new things to climb on!

It's a rough life he leads. : ) We love our lil' guy and cannot believe he is almost 1!  Liam, mommy and daddy love you very much!

faithful with a little...

Everybody knows that the economy is not exactly booming, and living on a missionary's salary can be, well, faith building : ) and we wouldn't have it any other way. We feel that the Lord has challenged us to really be faithful with the little things in our life. We took a look at where most of our money was going and here is what we found. 1)With an 11 month old, we were spending a fortune on diapers. 2)Our dishwasher doesn't work very well, so we are constantly doing dishes and using a lot of dish soap. 3)Along with all of those dishes, we were going through all purpose spray (like 409) like crazy in an attempt to keep our house clean. 4) An active toddler makes for a lot of laundry and we were using a lot of detergent!
 I heard that people made their own household products before, so I decided to do a little research. Turns out you can make most of the items we were going through with just a few simple items and for a fraction of the cost! I was excited to give them a try and see if they stood up to the test of our family. We have been pleasantly surprised with the results. Most of the items use the same ingredients, so once we bought it all (totaling around 20 bucks or so) we was ready to roll. My favorite so far has been this laundry detergent. It makes around 3-4 gallons of detergent for just a penny per load. It works just as good as our store bough detergent and it smells great too!

laundry detergent (almost gone)

I am still tinkering with which all purpose spray I like, but here is a good site I have used.

Next up is the dish soap. This site has 3 different recipes that were easy to follow.

As far as diapers were concerned, we just weren't certain on how to cut that cost. Diapers are necessary, and unfortunately you can't make them at home. : )  I've known a few people who have cloth diapered in the past and I even looked into it while I was pregnant, but I just never saw myself actually going through with it. It wasn't until recently that I have been hearing a lot of great things about them. Many of my friends have been doing it and were talking about how much money they were saving monthly. Matt and I did some research and looked into different brands, and we decided that it may take a little extra work, but it would save us a lot of money in the long run. The start up cost was about $150, but the diapers we bought will last until Liam is potty trained and will be able to be used by our future kids. I do diaper laundry about 3 times per week, so our homemade laundry detergent is really coming in handy!
We are constantly trying to come up with different ways of saving money, so if anybody has any great ideas, we would love to hear them!

The products we bought are:
Arm and Hammer Baking soda
Arm and Hammer Super washing poweder
20 Mule team Borax
Vinegar
Castile soap
'Fels Naptha' soap bars


Here are some pictures of our products.

all the products we use

we started a small "garden" to help with our onion and bell pepper addiction. : )

Missouri and California

Recently we had the opportunity to visit our families in Missouri and California. Here are some picture highlights.

Missouri

Liam and Aunt Annie reading a book

Grandma and Liam

Liam already looks up to Grandpa Harr

Aunt Reena and Liam

Uncle Gabriel and Liam

Enjoying the day together

California...

Together after 9 months!

Family pic at the beach 

She would have LOVED him.

Visiting Carol, one of my mom's best friends

BFF Denise and her adorable son, Levi

Liam and Levi meeting for the first time!

All of my best friends in one room. Perfection! 

Me n' Liam cuddling on the train to Bakersfield

Papa and his beautiful grandsons

Aunt Kacee and Liam playing soccer

backyard sports with Kelcee and Michael

Liam LOVED his cousin!