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!

A few favorite pictures...

Hanging out in the bath - He loves bath time =)

Sitting up well...and singing opera

So handsome!

Having fun with mommy

Last week was our church's mission conference and we enjoyed helping out as well as sharing about our upcoming ministry in Germany to a Sunday school class. We had a good time connecting with people and Doug really enjoyed working with kids by leading the opening and closing flag ceremony. It reminded him of how much he misses youth ministry.