A few recent events

What we've been up to:

 We got dressed up for a Harvest festival at Doug's parent's church:

Samuel in his giraffe costume

Even little giraffes have to sleep =)

The three of us at the harvest festival

Then we went down to Columbia, where Heike's dad is back from Africa and we got to meet his new wife, Yemi:

We took Yemi to the Columbia Zoo. The Australian Parrots loved her =)

Samuel decided he liked the Ethiopian food Yemi made

Samuel was in desperate need of a haircut, so we got out the scissors and put on some Elmo to distract him:

The final product! I can't believe our little one is over 15months old!

We will be in Florida December 1st through the 8th and look forward to seeing some of you!  We so appreciate all your prayer and support, please continue to pray that God would bring in the rest of the support we need soon.

October happenings

I can't believe it's almost November! This month has flown by!  Here are some of things we've been up to this month (besides settling in to our temporary new home with Doug's parents here in Greenville):

Speaking at wonderful church in Rising Sun, MD. Samuel is trying to eat a pager. =)

Samuel started taking more then a passing interest in books--which really helped the long car rides go quicker

Weekend fun trip in NC with some college friends

Samuel loving pasta

Samuel discovering the joys of Daddy's nose

Samuel showing off the big scrape on his forehead. He is truly a toddler now!

God also provided for us to visit another church in Columbia and speak there. It has been a busy month, but a good one!

Coming up, we have another speaking engagement this Sunday in Columbia at another church that just started supporting us. It is so fun to see God provide for us! We are also looking to travel to FL the first or second week of December, so if any of you are there and want to see us, let us know.

Doug is still working, for which we are grateful, as we still need some income. I, Heike, have officially resigned from my nursing job in Columbia and am focusing on Samuel and support raising and packing. Too bad I don't get paid for packing, that seems to be a job in itself! =) We are so thankful for the support that is already coming in. THANK YOU for your love and prayers!

New Address - again

We have moved and are settling in to Doug's parent's place. This is our new address, and will be our permanent one here in the States:

115 Coxe Drive
Greenville, SC
29609

We are enjoying mom's cooking and esp. her babysitting skills. =) Doug and I are both a bit overwhelmed as we start sorting through stuff for Germany and working on support raising. Doug is also still working some, which is actually good because we need the income. Please pray for us that we would use our time wisely and God would take us to Germany in his time.

I'll post some pictures when I get them uploaded to my computer. =)

back in SC - for now

We're back in SC after 4,183 miles, 94 hours of driving, 8 states, 2 tropical storms, 1 earthquake, and 1 major diaper disaster.

What a trip! God protected us and encouraged us and blessed us beyond our expectations. We didn't pay for a single night anywhere, and often people fed us or took us out to eat, so we hardly paid for any meals.

Financially we are at over 70% of what we need per month now! So we are hoping by faith to be in Germany by the end of the year. Possibly November or December.

A few favorite pictures:

Riddle boys at the Boston Zoo

Cousins!

Aunt Heike with her amazing nephews

Samuel's first experience in a mud puddle - he walks everywhere now!

Now that we're home, we are packing up again-this time to move in with Doug's parents. All our winter stuff, boxes we've already packed for Germany, and kitchen stuff we aren't currently using are already at their house. This is, Lord willing, our last move before we go to Germany.

NJ and NY

Thank you for your prayers for our health. Heike is still a little congested, but other then that, we are doing great!

Our week in NJ was wonderful. The missions committee  generously let us stay in their missions house - an apartment right across from the church - and the apartment was wonderful! It gave us space all to ourselves and was perfect for us and so nicely set up! We even had a washer and dryer and dishwasher! The missions committee also had a little surprise party for Samuel on his birthday. He had cake, presents, lots of grapes and crackers, and another helium balloon! =) We were so touched and encouraged. Throughout the week we met with various friends and supporters but thankfully we didn't get too busy and were able to rest too.

We are now in Nyack, NY, and are headed to Boston today to spend the rest of the week with Doug's brother and his family. From there we will go to Ithaca on Saturday. We had a nice couple days with good friends here:

Samuel at the command center

Samuel is still traveling pretty well, but is getting more grumpy and is obviously getting tired of the frequent transitions. Please continue to pray for safe travels, good health, our support situation and for Samuel.  Thank you so much!

Prayer request

All 3 of us have colds and are pretty congested. Samuel is and has been grumpy. Please pray for good health, strength, patience and good rest especially as we meet with people and speak.

On the road

We arrived in MD yesterday evening. There were at least five accidents on I95, between Richmond Virginia and D.C. As we crawled along at 25-35 miles per hour for at least 2 hours, I tried to remind myself to be thankful that we weren't involved in one of those accidents. Thankfully Samuel was a champ despite the fact that we were at least 8 hours on the road. I KNEW people were praying for us. =)


This morning we spoke at a church and then met with the missions committee for lunch afterwards. It was very encouraging, and everyone was sweet to us, even the poor nursery lady who came to get us during the service because Samuel had a meltdown.


Unfortunately church is usually during his morning nap time, and he is starting to do the whole 'separation anxiety' thing. So all that considered, Samuel did well, even during the long lunch where he amused much of the table by tearing hungrily into a bread roll, stuffing bite after bite into his face.


We are staying with one of Doug's good college friends and old roommate, so it has been relaxing and enjoyable.  We will hear back from the church soon, they seemed to want to get behind us in prayer and also financially, so we are excited about that.


Tomorrow we leave for Tom's River, NJ.  We will be meeting with the missions committee on Tuesday-which also happens to be Samuel's first birthday!  We were able to celebrate early with Doug's family in Greenville, and we'll probably celebrate again once we get back home with other family members. Here's a couple pictures of the party:

Wearing the #1 crown that Aunt Jane gave him

He wasn't sure what to do with the cake at first

But he enjoyed the attention!

Favorite Family Photos

So we had 2 photoshoots. I'm posting my favorite pictures, but you'll find out which one we picked when you get our new prayercard!

Location: Bonam's House
Photographer: Jeremy Bonam

Samuel is almost 1 year old!

Location: Irmo Park (it was HOT! We mopped our faces in between the pictures.)
Photographer: Amy Hamilton

She took some cute ones of Samuel too, but I don't have all her pictures yet. Samuel was a trooper, although by this last picture, he was done. =)

Photo Shoot!

We're getting family pictures taken for a new prayercard. We're hoping to get it printed before we leave for our support raising trips up north.

Here's a link to some of the pictures: http://photographybyajhamilton.blogspot.com/

A week of vacation!

We just got back from a lovely vacation with Doug's family. There are a lot of pictures on Facebook, so that's the place to really see how our time was, but I'll post a few of my favorites for those of you not on Facebook.

Samuel loved the beach-and eating sand

Snuggles with cousin Timothy

Hanging out at the pool

Story time with Grammy and cousin Aaron

All of us (minus Doug's brother Keith) in front of the beach house

We are so thankful to the Lord for all the fun times with our family!

I can't believe it's July already!

Our activities in June:

-Settling into our new living situation.
-Doug training his employees and transferring management of the company.
-Samuel had an ear infection and has been teething.
-Trips to Greenville, SC to spend some time with Doug's family and help them paint and get one of their rooms ready for guests.
-Doug and I took 2-3 days and went on a belated anniversary trip. Doug's parents watched Samuel and a good time was had by all.
-Doug's first Father's Day!

Our mini vacation/anniversary trip

Samuel loves playing with his grandparents and vice versa

We were very happy to see Samuel again and he was pretty excited too =)

Happy Father's Day!

What July will look like (Lord willing):
-Doug's work is winding down--much to my delight, because I finally get to see more of him--and we can work more on support raising.
-Vacation with Doug's family at the beach for a week! This starts tomorrow!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?!?!

We're planning to hit the northeastern parts of the US in August, specifically NJ, NY, and MD. If you would like us to stop by and see you, let us know!

Praises:

-Samuel is 10 and 1/2 months old and healthy! He walks with support and stands alone pretty steadily. It won't be long before he is running.
-Cheaper living situation
-Doug being able to work less
-First vacation in 2 years

Our special kiddo

Prayer requests:

-Support raising!
-Issues with our health insurance. Right now our insurance is ridiculously expensive and is taking a large chunk of our current incoming support. Doug is working on trying to get us onto a different insurance.
-Travel plans and time management
-Our relationship with God and with those we live with and within our family

Post-nap stare

We've moved!

So Samuel loved the moving process. Lots of boxes and tubs make for a nice playground:

Can you find the baby in this picture?

He also loves dancing with his aunt Jane--which he can do more often now that we're living with her:

And cuddling with Omi Ria who was kind enough to come distract him so his mommy could pack and then unpack:

We're so glad he's happy anywhere--as long as the people he loves are around =).  We're now working on settling in and unpacking.

Heike's cousin Katie will be moving in on Monday (with her large sheepdog) and so it will be one full house! We sadly had to give away one of our kitties, Eddie. He 'moved' yesterday and we are hoping it will be a good fit for him and his new family.

Samuel's passport arrived today! We are gaining more support, and are around 60% now, so we are excited and hoping to still be able to depart for Germany in September.

New Address!

So the plan is to officially move this Saturday. If anyone has some muscles they want to work out.... =)

Here is our new address:
104 Saddlerock Drive
Irmo, SC 29063

Moving

Life has been chaotic around here. Samuel is getting busier and busier...and making some fun new faces:

Doug is training his replacements at work-which is more work for him, as well as covering whatever shift can't be covered. And we're moving. AGAIN. The owners are increasing the rent for these apartments, so we're moving in with my aunt. We feel very blessed, as we'll end up paying less in rent and can therefore work less and consequently spend more time support raising.

I hate moving though, it's so much work, and since Doug has been working so much, I've been doing most of it by myself. Thankfully, Samuel thinks it's wonderful to have lots of boxes around:

Mother's day was special, we had some fun times with Doug's mom and his grandparents. Here is our latest family picture, taken that day:

Thanks to those of you who pray for us. We have to be out of our apartment by the end of May, and Doug's schedule is only going to get worse before then, as most of his office staff will be out in the next couple of weeks. He is also having to move his business by the end of the month, so needless to say we are stressed and feeling overwhelmed. Your prayers mean so much to us.

Life in March

I haven't updated in a while because there hasn't been many new things going on. We are getting more involved in our church, working on contacting people and planning support trips. We hope to travel in April, May, and June, visiting NY, NJ, and MD. If you'd like us to come visit, let us know!

Doug has hired some more people to work in the office, and is training two of them to take over his job. YES, it takes TWO people to do what he is doing now. We are looking forward to him having more time to focus on support raising.

Samuel is growing quickly. His repertoire of foods is steadily increasing:

He loves peas!

 He also is the proud owner of 2 bottom teeth:

And his new favorite thing:

standing up!