Updating

Since I have blogged last, we have had our trip to Indiana and our apartment has flooded twice! The first flood came with a hurricane just two days before our trip. It flooded Niah's room (and our room but we didn't realize until after it dried) so we had to move all of her stuff out of her room and a cleaning company came with two industrial sized fans and a special machine to suck the moisture out of the carpet and air. These machines stayed there for several days while we were gone to Indiana and they replaced the carpet padding before we got home. We got home on Saturday Sept. 13 at about 11:30 PM. As we all know, there was a new hurricane blowing in from Texas with huges amounts of rain. So I checked her room and the carpet was dry, so we assumed that the apartments had been fixed and we moved her furniture back so that she could sleep in her room. Sunday morning I went to get Niah ready for church, I walked into her room and the flooding was worse than it had been the last time it happened! So after church services, we moved ALL of the furniture out of her room into the living room (toys), bathroom (changing table), dining room (dresser), hallway (toychest), and guest room (crib and storage from her closet; we didn't have room for it in one room). Then I checked our room, our closet was completely soaked (and like most closets there was stuff on the floor that had to be cleaned, washed or thrown away because it was ruined), the water was also under our bed and one of our dressers. There was no room in any of other rooms for stuff from our bedroom, so we had to push it all against one wall and we had to have our bed stored in our Pastor's garage! (Where it still is because they just replaced the carpet padding YESTERDAY!!!) There is still water damage on the walls and doors and I am extremely worried about mildew and mold. Especially in Niah's room because it got the worst flooding. Not to mention that mildew and mold can cause young children to get asthma! Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell I'm a little frustrated with these apartments. Today, after Jonathan gets off of work we will be going to speak with the office manager about letting us out of our lease or discounting our rent (our air conditioner had to run 24/7 with those machines running because they created so much heat)! I have taken pictures of all the damage it has caused to take with us.

So, now that I have vented, let me tell you about our trip to Indiana. We left Thursday night Sept. 4 after Devoted (our teen bible study), we didn't get to hit the road until 9 PM! After driving for almost 6 hours, we stopped for the night at a motel just outside of St. Louis. Then we left again the next morning and got to my parents at about lunch time. We had a lot of fun there, Niah LOVED Papa and Nana's chickens, cows and dogs! I celebrated my 24th birthday on Saturday. On Monday, we went to Spring Mill State Park and had a great time! Niah even took a dunk in one of the creeks and Nana got pretty wet going in after her! On Tuesday, we packed up and went up north to spend the day with our good friends Josh and Erin Allen. We had a blast spending the day at the lake, where they surprised me with a birthday cake and decorations! After that we went to the park and then had a hurried taco dinner. That night we went on to Gary and Cathy's or shall I say Poppy and Mammaw's! We had a great time there spending quality time with family and Niah got a swing hung in the front yard for her visits (which she fell asleep in when we tried it for the first time)! On Friday, we went to the Children's Museum which was a lot of fun for both Niah and the grown ups. Daddy's favorite part was the comic book section where they had one of the Batmobiles used in the movie! Then on Saturday morning, we packed up and headed for home... Or at least that's what Gary and Cathy thought... We actually went to the church for a surprise 30th anniversay party for them, which Mandy so thoughtfully put together. After a couple of hours though we had to hit the road and come on home. All in all, we had a great time and it was so great to get to go up after not going for six months!

Since we have been back we have had something everyday and evening for Church, and will until Saturday (I'm looking forward to a family day!). Please keep us in your prayers as we stay busy for the Lord!

Niah's Room

The toy chest Jonathan & I painted for Niah's room. It was plain unpainted wood. Below is the Bow Hanger I made for her room.

Busy Busy

So I must say that I have been a little stressed out and anxious recently. I'm not really sure why other than us being so busy. It is causing me to not sleep well. Mainly because I just can't seem to turn my brain off at night, I have so much running through it. Relying on God's promises has really been helping me. When I start feeling really anxious I either pull out the Good Book or I try to remember and walk through some of Scriptures. I am constantly overwhelmed by both God's grace and protection. Speaking of which, my Mom was in a car accident yesterday. She was rear-ended and sent over two other lanes of traffic. She hit the car in front of her because of it but God protected her and other than feeling a little stiff and sore, she is just fine!

Well, the Awana Kick-off last night went well. And tonight, I have the Ladies Auxillary Book Club! I'm still really excited about it! Tomorrow, we're going to help some friends of ours from the Church move. They are closing on their house today and moving in tomorrow. Luckly, the house they are buying is only about 2 blocks from the house they are renting. Then, later in the afternoon, we are having a Back-to-School Pool Party for the kids in 6th grade and under. Saturday is the Noah Musical!!! Next week, we will be preparing for a trip to INDIANA! On next Thursday, we will have 'Devoted' (our bi-weekly indepth Bible study for our teens), we are hosting it at our house this time (we take turns). After it is over, we will be headed for Indiana. We are driving through the night partly because we think it will be easier with Niah (since she can sleep) and partly because we are anxious to get up there and see everybody. It has been 6 months since our last visit and we truly miss everyone!

Jonathan and I have been working on painting my old toy chest for Niah's room. I think it is coming along quite well and I think we will be done with it tonight! I promise to post pictures of it and her room when we move it in there. I also made a 'Bow Hanger' for her, I'll include pictures of it also.

As for Niah, she is going to be 18 months old next Saturday (on my birthday). And she is talking up a storm, unfortunetly we don't always understand her. Niah and I were talking about the different parts of faces as she was pointing to them and she said 'eyebrows'. Strange, yes I know... We have also been working on potty training. She has been doing a really good job at home, she rarely has accidents but when we leave the house (which we do quite often) we aren't very consistant and so we have to put it on hold. We are trying to teach her to tell us when she needs to go, I think then we wouldn't have as much of a problem when we leave the house. Anyway, as you can tell from the picture she is really growing up! Acting and looking more like a toddler than a baby... Makes me really sad!

Hello out there!

I was inspired by a friend of mine (Ashley) to start blogging. As I'm sure you all know, we do have a family website but I thought this might be a refreshing way to keep tabs on our family.

So to get started... Just over a week ago, Jonathan and I joined the Faith Bible Institue course at our church. I must say I was worried that I would be bored and looking at my watch through the 3 hour class. However, I have really enjoyed all that I have been learning. The teacher on the video is quite interesting and he covers so much ground that I don't have time to be bored. The homework is a lot of work but I'm enjoying it. I think Jonathan is a little bored though... Since he just graduated from Seminary this past May, it has all been review to him. He is mainly taking the course to spend time with me (I think) and to keep the information fresh on his mind. Either way, I really appreciate him supporting my interest in taking this class.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), starts Awana at our church. We are teaching the teens and will have our own schedule. I am really excited to see how God is going to use this time with the teens!

On Thursday, our Ladies Auxillary will start meeting for dinner once a month, we are going over the book "Bad Girls of the Bible" by Liz Curtis Higgs. If you have never read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it. I am very excited to see what the other ladies of our church think about this book!

And Saturday, I must say I'm really excited about this... We are going to see the Noah Musical in Branson with some members of our church! I can't wait, if you haven't heard anything about it, it has live animals! How neat is that?

For those of you that are only reading this blog to keep up on Niah... She isn't a baby anymore! She is a toddler by all means! Walking, running, and talking. Yesterday, I grabbed her up and was telling her I love her. She desperatley wanted down so she could keep playing so she said to me (in her babyish talk- it almost sounded like gibberish), "I know you love me." She then thrusted her whole upper body towards the floor so I would put her down!
Niah is showing a major interest in music (she has been for quite a while), any time she hears music she stops what she is doing and either starts dancing or tapping her foot. I must say she has quite a nack for rythm.

Anyway, I know this has turned into a novel. More to come later (and definetly more on Niah)! So keep checking back!