This year we had a cute Cowgirl and an adorable Cow!:) We went trick-or-treating to a couple of houses and then went to the fall festival at our church. We had such a fun night!
Happy Halloween!:)
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Carving a Pumpkin
Bert grew up carving pumpkins with his family for Halloween and said at the beginning of October that we needed to carve a pumpkin this year. (Last year Emily was a little young and wouldn't have even noticed.) My family carved a few while we were growing up, but I don't remember doing it every year. So I was excited about starting a new family tradition and I knew the girls would be.
Emily was by her Daddy's side during the entire process! She had so much fun, although she wasn't totally sure about the mess. At one point she told me "Mommy, Daddy's hands are weally (really) weally dirty....he needs a paper towel." Ha!
Hannah didn't miss any of the action either....she took it all in from her high chair!
The finished product with two happy girls.
It was a fun family night and definitely a tradition that we'll keep up!
Clemson Weekend
A while ago we planned a trip to Clemson to visit with my college friends and see the Tigers play. The plan was for my parents to keep the girls and we would have a date weekend. We were super excited about it! After we lost the baby Bert and I were not exactly feeling up to the trip, but we decided to go ahead and do it. We thought a change of scenery and some one-on-one time with each other would be good, we already had tickets, and we were looking forward to seeing old friends....it was a good decision.:)
On Friday we drove to Toccoa to drop the girls off, and the date weekend/night began. We started it off with lunch at my favorite restaurant in Toccoa, Brother John's. It's just a sub place, but they're good, and just being there makes me very happy. Then we headed to Anderson, SC for a matinee movie. We watched "Trouble with the Curve" with Clint Eastwood. It was good and we both enjoyed it! After the movie we headed to Clemson. We walked around the Clemson campus for 2 1/2 hours, and then had dinner together before going to meet up with my friends. The weather could not have been more PERFECT! I showed him where my old classes were and we just enjoyed talking and being together. (You'll notice in the picture that Bert just HAD to represent UGA while on the Clemson campus!)
Friday night we met up with everybody at my friend Jennifer's in-law's lake place in Seneca. Their house on Lake Keowee is absolutely beautiful and they are so sweet to let us stay there for free any time we want to get together.
We had such a great time hanging out with everyone on Friday night. We stayed up way too late talking, but that's just what we do.:)
We took a group picture of all the girls just before leaving for the game.
Us with our good friends Keri and Patrick. We told Bert and Patrick to come get in the picture with us and they thought it would be funny to take the picture on the "wrong" side.:)
Keri, Kristin and I just before we went in to find our seats.
This was the first Clemson game Bert had ever been to. The weather was absolutely perfect, Clemson won, and he just likes watching football....I'd say he'll come back.:)
I also want to give Bert credit for wearing an orange shirt to the game. He didn't own anything orange when we got married and he had no plans of changing that, but eventually he got an orange shirt that he wears occasionally. And at this game he really did cheer on the Tigers. He would jump up and clap faster than I would (that's probably b/c he was paying better attention to the game). At one point he looked over and asked me if I knew why I was clapping...I started laughing b/c I definitely had no idea! Ha...oh well!:)
As soon as the game was over we headed back to Toccoa to pick up our girls. We were so excited to see them.:) A big thank you to Mimi and Papa Stan for keeping them!
We had a great weekend! We're thankful for good friends and family and quality time together.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Almost Crawling
Hannah is SO close to crawling! I mean some would probably argue that she already is crawling, but I'm going to hold off a little longer before I make the official announcement.:)
She'll take 2 or 3 knee steps and then decide she'll just lunge and reach and roll until she gets to whatever she wants. And she CAN get to whatever she wants....fast!
Emily has taken it upon herself to teach Hannah how to crawl. She'll crawl to Hannah and say "Wook (look) Hannah, Wook!"
In the last couple weeks Hannah has also learned to go from laying down on her stomach to sitting up. She's gotten quite good at it.
A few days ago she started also sitting up in her crib. Up to this point I think she thought she had to lay down in her crib. Ha.:) Well, the secret's out and it's made for some interesting nap times. She'd rather show me how she can sit up/stand up in her crib rather than sleep. She plays, talks to herself and says "Mama" over and over. Little cutie!
This is how I found her just after I looked in the monitor and saw her sitting up in her crib...grinning from ear to ear....she was quite proud of herself.:) Her crib wasn't even lowered yet, but thankfully her Daddy was home that day and he took care of that just minutes later.:)
She's also started talking more. She's started saying "Dada" and "Hey". I'm pretty sure it makes her Daddy's day when she says "Dada" with a big smile plastered across her face.
She's growing up on us for sure! The days are gone when I can set her down and she'll stay in one place. From this point on she'll just be getting faster and faster with getting where she wants to go. I know this crawling stage is going to keep me busy (more sweeping, more vacuuming, more picking up the little bitty toys that I don't want her to eat), but this is such a fun stage! I can't wait to see her crawling all over the house, following me around. It's such a short little stage. It will just be a few months and she'll be toddling around, trying to keep up with her big sister. I'm so thankful for our happy, healthy, 8 month old, almost-crawler, and I'm planning on soaking up these days!
Sesame Street Live
Playing catch up with this post....At the end of September, Bert and I took Emily to Sesame Street Live at the BiLo Center. Mimi and Papa bought the tickets for us back in May "just because". Emily had such a great time! She thought it was so much fun to go on a date with Mommy and Daddy!:) Mimi drove over to keep Hannah for us, and they had a fun evening too!
We were able to take a few pictures before we found our seats. Look at our big girl.:)
Emily was showing me her Elmo doll that she wanted to bring.
This was her reaction the second everything started. Haha...sweet girl! Slightly overwhelmed....
But she warmed up quickly!
Bert was a great sport about going to see Sesame Street. He had fun with his girl and only checked his phone for score updates a couple times.:)
We had such a great time at Sesame Street Live! It was such a great show! Emily especially loved Elmo and Zoe!
I'm thankful that we live in Greenville and that we're able to take advantage of fun things like this. It's still hard for me to believe that it takes us 10-15 minutes to get to somewhere like the BiLo Center! Looking forward to being able to make many more memories like this with both our girls!
Monday, October 22, 2012
"Let me show you, Daddy!"
Tonight Bert walked in the door and Emily ran to give him a hug. The first thing she told him is that she had hit her head. (She had bumped it on the coffee table earlier in the evening.) She then said "wet (let) me show you, Daddy" and ran for the coffee table. At this point we thought she was about to show him where on the coffee table she had hit her head. Instead she grabbed the coffee table with both hands and RAMMED her forehead on the coffee table! It was a 10 times harder hit than her accidental hit earlier!
She was quiet for a few seconds, but then just started bawling. She immediately started getting a goose egg on her forehead. Sweet girl! Bert and I were trying not to laugh, but failing. We couldn't believe what had just happened! We got her some ice and that seemed to make things better.
We gave her lots of hugs (through the chuckles) and had a talk with her about how we just TELL Daddy about accidents that happen...we don't have to show him.:)
Hannah - 8 Months
Our sweet Hannah is 8 months old! She's too cute for words!!:)
Hannah- Oh, I didn't know that was behind me!
H - Huh, look at that!
H - Mommy, look what I found!!:)
H - I think I'll take a bite.
We love you so much, Hannah, and we are so thankful for you!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
God is faithful still
Friday, October 12th started out like any other day. I had an appointment at my OB-GYN for a 12 week check-up. It was just going to be a "heartbeat check." These appointments are usually quick as they just check to hear the baby's heartbeat and then you pretty much leave. No ultrasound, etc. Bert didn't get to go to my last appointment (8 weeks). The 8 week appointment was actually the more "exciting" appointment of the two. If I could have chosen one for him to be able to go to, I would have chosen the 8 week in a second because at that one I had an ultrasound, met with the doctor, etc.....it was just a more exciting appointment. Anyway, he wasn't able to go to the 8 week appointment so we decided that he would come to the 12 week appointment, even though it was just a heartbeat check. We needed to bring the girls with us so we rushed around Friday morning and got both girls ready to head out the door. As we were driving I mentioned that we needed to make my next appointment for a little later in the morning. It was just too much to get out the door by 8:45 when our girls don't wake up until 8 or later. Bert agreed.:)
At the doctor's office the girls couldn't have been better if they had tried. Emily sat quietly in a chair beside me and held her glowworm. Hannah sat in her umbrella stroller and played with a teething toy. It was great! They finally called me back. Up to this point in the pregnancy I had had NO complications whatsoever. Everything seemed to be going great. My nausea had drastically improved about a week earlier (when I was 11 weeks along). This was a big surprise b/c with both the girls I was very nauseous until 15-16 weeks, but it certainly didn't cause concern. Lot's of women said their nausea stopped this early in the pregnancy and then some never have nausea at all. I was honestly just excited and relieved to have a break from the sickness.
The nurse followed us in the room and said she was going to go ahead and do the heartbeat check. I was surprised b/c at my last doctor's office in Raleigh the doctor always did the heartbeat check, but this was only my second time coming to this doctor's office and I didn't know how they did things, so I was fine with it. She probably tried to find the baby's heartbeat for almost 5 minutes. I asked her if there was anything to be concerned about. She said no, that she hears movement in there, she just can't find the heartbeat. The whole time she was trying to find the heartbeat I was thinking "WHY is the doctor not doing this?" I stayed calm and was relieved when she said she would "send the doctor in and let her find it." She still didn't seem concerned and was convinced she had heard movement in there. The doctor came in pretty quickly. She was upbeat and personable. She didn't chit-chat long, but said "well lets find that heartbeat." Again I was relieved. She kept hearing the same sounds the nurse had heard, but the doctor kept saying "that's you, that's you, that's you..." Apparently, what the nurse thought was the baby moving, the doctor thought was just me. She probably only tried to find it for a minute or two and then decided to send us back for an ultrasound.
As we walked back to the ultrasound area I waned to panic. I didn't understand why they couldn't find the heartbeat. I was trying to convince myself that their heartbeat-monitor-machine-thing was probably not very good. I had tears in my eyes and probably asked Bert 20 times in 5 minutes if he thought everything was okay. He always told me yes, although he later told me that he was concerned too, but just trying to keep me calm. There was a couple in the ultrasound room and one waiting by the door. We sat across from the other couple waiting in the hall. They were waiting to find out the sex of their baby. They were quiet, but looked excited. The girls were still being good. Emily was sitting on my lap....I couldn't quit bouncing my leg. She probably thought we were playing "horsey", but I was really bouncing her b/c I was a nervous wreck. The couple that was in the ultrasound room came out and the lady came out and said "Stephanie, come on back." I was surprised b/c the other couple in the hall had been their first, but we walked on in. I sat down and asked the ultrasound tech if people have to come back here to find the heartbeat sometimes...hoping she would tell me that their heartbeat-monitoring-machine-things are just terrible and people have to do this ALL THE TIME....She didn't do that....she looked at me and gave me a sad smile and said "sometimes." It was the opposite of reassuring and I jerked my head over to Bert to make sure he had heard her. He just nodded at me and grabbed my hand.
All the sudden our baby appeared on the screen. It was absolutely precious. Relief flooded me for half a second. I could see my child. Then, I looked over and asked the lady if she could see/hear a heartbeat. She kept looking at the screen and just said "not yet." At that point I lost it. She looked at the screen for another minute and just said "I'm sorry." I wiped the gel off my tummy with tears streaming down my face. I honestly couldn't believe it. Bert was crying too. I asked the ultrasound tech when the baby died and she said it looks like the baby died at about 11 weeks and 1 day. At this appointment I was 12 weeks and 2 days. Our baby hadn't had a heartbeat for over a week and I didn't have a clue. I had bought a couple new maternity shirts, we had talked about names several times in the last week, and we just didn't know. As we were getting ready to leave the room the ultrasound tech was printing off pictures of our sweet baby. I didn't even notice. Bert walked over to her and asked her if we could have those. She gave him one and I will forever be thankful that he was there and that he asked. We will treasure every picture we have of our sweet child.
Can I just stop and say how even in a time like this, our God is overwhelmingly faithful and loving? I am SO thankful Bert was at this appointment with me. I needed him there and he needed to be there. I needed him to hold my hand and he needed to see our baby one last time. He needed to hear everything the doctor was saying, for him and for me. God knew this and he made a way. If Bert had gone to the 8 week appointment I have no doubt he would have just stayed at home with the girls for the 12 week heartbeat check....it just would have been easier than "dragging" the girls to the appointment.
They led us back to our room. The doctor didn't come in for a few minutes. We both cried. Emily gave us hugs. Hannah started to fuss....after about an hour she had had enough of the stroller. Finally the doctor came in and told us that b/c of how far along the baby was that she strongly recommended me having a D&C. The doctor also said that from the ultrasound it looks like the baby may have had something called Cystic Hygroma, but it's hard to know for sure. She explained that during the D&C they would totally put me to sleep and that I wouldn't even be breathing on my own during the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for the next morning (Saturday, October 13th) and we were supposed to be at the hospital (Greenville Memorial) at 6:30am.
Our church family has loved on us so well through it all. One lady from our church brought a bag full of food only hours after we got the news. Another young lady brought by a beautiful flower arrangement and candy for Emily (which Emily may or may not have had the opportunity to eat:) ). Both of these sweet ladies were weeping with us. We really enjoyed the food, and we're still enjoying the flowers, but it also meant so much that they loved us and loved our sweet baby enough that they would cry along with us.
The next morning came too quickly and too slowly at the same time. Another lady from our church came to our house at 5:50am (with her two kids) so that my mom could go to the hospital with Bert and me. So sweet and thoughtful and they were all three happy to do it. It felt so wrong that we were leaving for the hospital to remove our baby from my womb. My womb is supposed to be a place of life, but there was no life there, and it just felt sad and wrong. When we got to the hospital we were greeted by even more church members who just wanted to love on us. Our pastor and five others came to the hospital at 6:30 am just to sit with Bert during my surgery and pray with us before I went back. I can't tell you what an encouragement it was to us to be surrounded by such love.
The D&C itself went smoothly (also an answer to prayer). The nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologist were all kind and caring. They bumped me up ahead of a scheduled C-section so that I could get home as soon as possible. Before we got back home, Katherine, Brett and Jacob had arrived. They had come over to help with the kids for a little while and to hug our necks. Later in the afternoon more food arrived from several people in the church. It has been so nice to not even have to think about meals for several days now. We really are so thankful.
Our sweet baby is with Jesus now. We loved that little one so much. We were so excited about our three children growing up so close in age. Every time you asked Emily if we were going to have a boy or a girl she would say "BOY" without hesitation. If you then asked her what we should name the little boy she would say "BINGO!"....every time. We were so excited about naming the sweet little one. We had narrowed the names down to one or two (Bingo was not one of them!). The night before we went to the doctor we had been talking about how they all three would be in high school at the same time. On the way to the doctors office we had decided that we would definitely pay the extra $75 and find out if the baby were a boy or a girl at 16 weeks instead of waiting until 20 weeks. We were just so excited! There have been lots and lots of tears over the last few days. I haven't been sleeping very well. I just keep thinking about everything and playing it over in my mind. Bert has been a rock. He has loved me like no one else could. He has prayed with me, stayed up crazy late with me so that I was really tired before I started trying to fall asleep, he was more than loving and patient when I woke him up at 2:15 one night telling him I couldn't sleep, but more than anything he's just been here. He's been by my side. I love him.
I'm so thankful that God allowed Bert and me to be "Mommy and Daddy" to this sweet little one. We loved this sweet child with every fiber of our being from the first minute we found out it was growing inside of me. Knowing what we know now, I wouldn't trade one minute of the nausea or one middle of the night trip to the potty or any of the other first trimester symptoms.....I am so thankful for every day the Lord let this sweet baby be with us. We will treasure those days, and we will never forget.
Our sweet little baby, one day we'll get to hold you close and tell you how much we love you. You are wonderfully and perfectly made by your Creator. You are perfect in every way. You have two big sisters who will miss having you around, but I pray that one day you'll meet them too. You are a precious gift from the Lord. We love you with all our hearts! Love, Mommy and Daddy
At the doctor's office the girls couldn't have been better if they had tried. Emily sat quietly in a chair beside me and held her glowworm. Hannah sat in her umbrella stroller and played with a teething toy. It was great! They finally called me back. Up to this point in the pregnancy I had had NO complications whatsoever. Everything seemed to be going great. My nausea had drastically improved about a week earlier (when I was 11 weeks along). This was a big surprise b/c with both the girls I was very nauseous until 15-16 weeks, but it certainly didn't cause concern. Lot's of women said their nausea stopped this early in the pregnancy and then some never have nausea at all. I was honestly just excited and relieved to have a break from the sickness.
The nurse followed us in the room and said she was going to go ahead and do the heartbeat check. I was surprised b/c at my last doctor's office in Raleigh the doctor always did the heartbeat check, but this was only my second time coming to this doctor's office and I didn't know how they did things, so I was fine with it. She probably tried to find the baby's heartbeat for almost 5 minutes. I asked her if there was anything to be concerned about. She said no, that she hears movement in there, she just can't find the heartbeat. The whole time she was trying to find the heartbeat I was thinking "WHY is the doctor not doing this?" I stayed calm and was relieved when she said she would "send the doctor in and let her find it." She still didn't seem concerned and was convinced she had heard movement in there. The doctor came in pretty quickly. She was upbeat and personable. She didn't chit-chat long, but said "well lets find that heartbeat." Again I was relieved. She kept hearing the same sounds the nurse had heard, but the doctor kept saying "that's you, that's you, that's you..." Apparently, what the nurse thought was the baby moving, the doctor thought was just me. She probably only tried to find it for a minute or two and then decided to send us back for an ultrasound.
As we walked back to the ultrasound area I waned to panic. I didn't understand why they couldn't find the heartbeat. I was trying to convince myself that their heartbeat-monitor-machine-thing was probably not very good. I had tears in my eyes and probably asked Bert 20 times in 5 minutes if he thought everything was okay. He always told me yes, although he later told me that he was concerned too, but just trying to keep me calm. There was a couple in the ultrasound room and one waiting by the door. We sat across from the other couple waiting in the hall. They were waiting to find out the sex of their baby. They were quiet, but looked excited. The girls were still being good. Emily was sitting on my lap....I couldn't quit bouncing my leg. She probably thought we were playing "horsey", but I was really bouncing her b/c I was a nervous wreck. The couple that was in the ultrasound room came out and the lady came out and said "Stephanie, come on back." I was surprised b/c the other couple in the hall had been their first, but we walked on in. I sat down and asked the ultrasound tech if people have to come back here to find the heartbeat sometimes...hoping she would tell me that their heartbeat-monitoring-machine-things are just terrible and people have to do this ALL THE TIME....She didn't do that....she looked at me and gave me a sad smile and said "sometimes." It was the opposite of reassuring and I jerked my head over to Bert to make sure he had heard her. He just nodded at me and grabbed my hand.
All the sudden our baby appeared on the screen. It was absolutely precious. Relief flooded me for half a second. I could see my child. Then, I looked over and asked the lady if she could see/hear a heartbeat. She kept looking at the screen and just said "not yet." At that point I lost it. She looked at the screen for another minute and just said "I'm sorry." I wiped the gel off my tummy with tears streaming down my face. I honestly couldn't believe it. Bert was crying too. I asked the ultrasound tech when the baby died and she said it looks like the baby died at about 11 weeks and 1 day. At this appointment I was 12 weeks and 2 days. Our baby hadn't had a heartbeat for over a week and I didn't have a clue. I had bought a couple new maternity shirts, we had talked about names several times in the last week, and we just didn't know. As we were getting ready to leave the room the ultrasound tech was printing off pictures of our sweet baby. I didn't even notice. Bert walked over to her and asked her if we could have those. She gave him one and I will forever be thankful that he was there and that he asked. We will treasure every picture we have of our sweet child.
Can I just stop and say how even in a time like this, our God is overwhelmingly faithful and loving? I am SO thankful Bert was at this appointment with me. I needed him there and he needed to be there. I needed him to hold my hand and he needed to see our baby one last time. He needed to hear everything the doctor was saying, for him and for me. God knew this and he made a way. If Bert had gone to the 8 week appointment I have no doubt he would have just stayed at home with the girls for the 12 week heartbeat check....it just would have been easier than "dragging" the girls to the appointment.
They led us back to our room. The doctor didn't come in for a few minutes. We both cried. Emily gave us hugs. Hannah started to fuss....after about an hour she had had enough of the stroller. Finally the doctor came in and told us that b/c of how far along the baby was that she strongly recommended me having a D&C. The doctor also said that from the ultrasound it looks like the baby may have had something called Cystic Hygroma, but it's hard to know for sure. She explained that during the D&C they would totally put me to sleep and that I wouldn't even be breathing on my own during the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for the next morning (Saturday, October 13th) and we were supposed to be at the hospital (Greenville Memorial) at 6:30am.
Our church family has loved on us so well through it all. One lady from our church brought a bag full of food only hours after we got the news. Another young lady brought by a beautiful flower arrangement and candy for Emily (which Emily may or may not have had the opportunity to eat:) ). Both of these sweet ladies were weeping with us. We really enjoyed the food, and we're still enjoying the flowers, but it also meant so much that they loved us and loved our sweet baby enough that they would cry along with us.
The next morning came too quickly and too slowly at the same time. Another lady from our church came to our house at 5:50am (with her two kids) so that my mom could go to the hospital with Bert and me. So sweet and thoughtful and they were all three happy to do it. It felt so wrong that we were leaving for the hospital to remove our baby from my womb. My womb is supposed to be a place of life, but there was no life there, and it just felt sad and wrong. When we got to the hospital we were greeted by even more church members who just wanted to love on us. Our pastor and five others came to the hospital at 6:30 am just to sit with Bert during my surgery and pray with us before I went back. I can't tell you what an encouragement it was to us to be surrounded by such love.
The D&C itself went smoothly (also an answer to prayer). The nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologist were all kind and caring. They bumped me up ahead of a scheduled C-section so that I could get home as soon as possible. Before we got back home, Katherine, Brett and Jacob had arrived. They had come over to help with the kids for a little while and to hug our necks. Later in the afternoon more food arrived from several people in the church. It has been so nice to not even have to think about meals for several days now. We really are so thankful.
Our sweet baby is with Jesus now. We loved that little one so much. We were so excited about our three children growing up so close in age. Every time you asked Emily if we were going to have a boy or a girl she would say "BOY" without hesitation. If you then asked her what we should name the little boy she would say "BINGO!"....every time. We were so excited about naming the sweet little one. We had narrowed the names down to one or two (Bingo was not one of them!). The night before we went to the doctor we had been talking about how they all three would be in high school at the same time. On the way to the doctors office we had decided that we would definitely pay the extra $75 and find out if the baby were a boy or a girl at 16 weeks instead of waiting until 20 weeks. We were just so excited! There have been lots and lots of tears over the last few days. I haven't been sleeping very well. I just keep thinking about everything and playing it over in my mind. Bert has been a rock. He has loved me like no one else could. He has prayed with me, stayed up crazy late with me so that I was really tired before I started trying to fall asleep, he was more than loving and patient when I woke him up at 2:15 one night telling him I couldn't sleep, but more than anything he's just been here. He's been by my side. I love him.
I'm so thankful that God allowed Bert and me to be "Mommy and Daddy" to this sweet little one. We loved this sweet child with every fiber of our being from the first minute we found out it was growing inside of me. Knowing what we know now, I wouldn't trade one minute of the nausea or one middle of the night trip to the potty or any of the other first trimester symptoms.....I am so thankful for every day the Lord let this sweet baby be with us. We will treasure those days, and we will never forget.
Our sweet little baby, one day we'll get to hold you close and tell you how much we love you. You are wonderfully and perfectly made by your Creator. You are perfect in every way. You have two big sisters who will miss having you around, but I pray that one day you'll meet them too. You are a precious gift from the Lord. We love you with all our hearts! Love, Mommy and Daddy
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Ordination
Bert's ordination service took place on September 16, 2012. It was such a sweet, encouraging service! Mountain Creek Baptist Church loves our family so well. Our pastor, Paul Crews, gave the "charge to the congregation" and our friend, Ryan Hearn, one of the pastors at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, NC, came and gave the "charge to the candidate." They both did a great job, and we are thankful for their kind words and affirmation of his ministry calling. There was also a very sweet time where several men came to the front to pray for Bert and several of the ladies came to pray for me. The whole service was so special and encouraging to both of us! I really do believe that God has blessed Bert to be gifted in many areas, and I can't wait to see how God develops and uses those for His glory!!
After the ordination service the church had a pot-luck dinner for us in the fellowship hall. It was a sweet time and there was TONS of good food! MCBC also (I know, I know, our church just keeps on loving on us!) surprised Bert with a complete John MacArthur New Testament commentary set, with each book being signed by many members of the congregation. He was so excited about this gift and they were able to pull it off without him suspecting a thing!
Several of our family members were able to make it up for the service. We were so thankful to have them there for this special occasion!
We attempted a family photo. We took several pictures, and believe it or not, this is the best we got.:) The girls had had a busy day and they were not about to stay still long enough to cooperate and pose for a sweet family picture! Oh well, at least they're cute.:)
We're so thankful for our church and the ministry God has blessed us with here, and we're looking forward to all the years to come!
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