HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Well, I can't believe that Thanksgiving is already here. It seems like just yesterday that we were starting school. The weather in Michigan has been quite unusual. Just last week we had an overnight freeze warning. We are enjoying sunny 60 degree weather today, and it is supposed to peak at 45 degrees later this week. It is quite nice though. We are still able to walk outside during this beautiful weather. The leaves are still changing color and falling from the trees, which seems to be later than usual, but I am not complaining. I love the fall. I am looking forward to seeing snow again. I really enjoy watching the snow falling, while I am in the comfort of my warm apartment, of course.

Here's the picture of Emily as a pumpkin as promised.

The girls are doing great. Emily is pulling up to stand and taking a few steps while holding on to furniture or our hands. We were sitting at the dinner table Sunday night and Rob was saying "Dada" to Emily. All of a sudden she said "Dada". We were all suprised. Then Rob went into their bedroom to get them up in the morning, and Emily said "Dada" all on her own.

We went to a park near the school. Shelbyanne and some friends played in the leaves and then on the playground. We took some nice pictures in the leaves. I love our girls!

The Latest...

Hello Everyone!

We cannot believe it is already November. It should start snowing here soon. We are looking forward to that. We have been quite busy the last couple of weeks .

Rob played in a flag football game. It was NTBI Jackson vs. NTBI Waukesha. The girls team won, but the guys team lost. It was really cold and rainy that day so the girls and I were not able to go see Daddy play. Maybe next time.

He got quite muddy.

The girls love each other and are playing well together.
Aren't they sweet?
On Halloween night we took the girls to a church in the area that had "Trunk or Treating". All the cars ligned up and we walked from trunk to trunk collecting candy. They also had a hayride and pony rides. Shelbyanne had a blast. She dressed up as Dora (minus the hair because she didn't want to wear it). Emily was a pumpkin. I will post a better picture soon. Rob and I were a knight and a lady. It was fun. I forgot that I was dressed up until someone I knew would see me and comment on my costume.

Fall Fall Fall

Greetings Everyone!

We hope you are enjoying the fall as much as we are. We have been taking advantage of the beautiful Michigan weather. The leaves are turning vibrant colors and covering the ground like a beautiful handmade quilt.

Emily started crawling last week. She still likes to play with her head and feet on the floor with her bottom in the air. She is so funny to watch.
This was a fun train ride. Just the right size for Shelbyanne, but not for Mommy!
This was Shelbyanne's first time in a bounce house. She cried at first, but then started laughing and even bouncing on her knees a bit when she saw her friends having so much fun.

Classes are going great. We are in the last week of classes for this block (each block is 3 weeks long). We will be finishing up James/Jude, Romans, and II Corinthians by Monday and starting new classes on Tuesday. Rob will be taking Soteriology, Galatians, and Hebrews. Amy will be taking Galatians and auditing Hebrews. We are learning so much and really enjoying our time of learning, studying, and just hanging out with our friends.

We look forward to hearing from you also.

And the winner is...

The votes have been cast. Everyone who entered won.
Treat yourselves to a nice cup of coffee or tea on us!
In the last post we asked what you thought Shelbyanne was doing in one of the pictures. She is feeding her bear like Mommy feeds sister. What a sweetie! She has such a tender heart.

This is how Emily sleeps...flat on her face.
Shelbyanne is reading to Emily.

We enjoyed a relaxing day today. We went to church this morning. Watched Nascar, did homework, took naps, and played with our girls this afternoon. Then Rob had a volleyball game this evening. What a nice day. We hope yours was just as nice. Have a great week!

Dancing with Daddy

Ready to Crawl
E-mail us what you think Shelbyanne is doing in this picture.

safariseekers@yahoo.com

We'll post the results next week.

Emily is 6 months old today.

Today she decided to start saying, "Mamamama". It is neat to hear her little voice. She is a precious girl, and is becoming much more interactive. She is up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth, and getting ready to start crawling. It is fun watching both girls develop.

Shelbyanne continues to amaze us daily. She is speaking in sentences that we didn't even know she knew. For instance, Shelbyane and daddy were finishing dinner when I took Emily to the couch to nurse her. I turned on the television to watch M.A.S.H. and Shelbyanne said, "Whatcha doing Mommy, watching M.A.S.H.?" Rob and I are still laughing about that one. She has even started role playing with her dolls in her doll house.

Rob and I are still enjoying our classes. I never knew that Romans was so full of excellent foundational teaching. In fact, I never really understood what Paul was saying in the book of Romans as I do now, and yet there is so much more that I need to learn.

I want to encourage you to get to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are studying the Word of God daily. What a Great God we serve!

Have a fantastic day!

I can't believe it's been a whole month since our last update.

School has started and we have been going, going, going! We are doing great though. Here are some updates for you.

EMILY

Two weeks ago I took Emily to the Doctor at the University of Michigan for a checkup about her hips. She had been wearing a brace for 12 hours at night while she slept. They took an x-ray and the doctor said she only needed to wear her brace for two more weeks. The next check-up scheduled is in December. So, as you may have guessed, those two weeks are over and she is out of her brace for good. WooHoo!! Last night was her first night without any kind of a brace since she was 2 weeks old, and she slept pretty well. She is a very active baby. She is sitting up with support and rolling around on the floor. She is a joy to be around, & we love her smiles.

SHELBYANNE

Shelbyanne is doing great. She entered the toddler class in childcare and is loving it. She looks forward to going to class everyday. She communicates very well for her age. We love her sweet voice and are simply amazed at all of the things she knows and says. She loves her little sister. She is very mothering to her. It's cute!

ROB & AMY

We have started classes for this semester and are really enjoying studying the Bible and getting to know our classmates and staff better. Rob is getting involved in the prison ministry where they go to the prisons to share with the inmates how to have and grow in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I, Amy, am trying to balance family, homework (lots of reading), socializing, and my crafts (scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, etc...)

Please keep us posted on what you and your family are up to. We look forward to hearing from you.

Home Sweet Home!

We're Home! There is nothing like the feeling of sleeping in your own bed. We have begun our leadership training and are glad to see our friends again. Everyone is doing well. The girls are slowly moving back into a routine. We transitioned Shelbyanne to a toddler bed last night which was exciting. She laid in bed an hour before falling asleep. I think she liked it!

We hope you all had as wonderful a summer as we did. Please keep in touch with us!

God Bless!

Family Fun

Greetings from North Carolina. We will have been to:

Tennessee

Alabama

Florida

South Carolina

North Carolina

Virginia

& West Virginia

before arriving home on August 4th. We are having a great time visiting with friends and family. We hope you are having a great summer as well. Woo Hoo!

What's Up Doc?

Greetings from sunny...no...rainy...no...sunny south Florida.

We have had a busy summer so far, but are having a ball visiting with friends and family. I apologize that it has been a month since our last update. We had a great time in Alabama with Amy's family. In the middle of June, on Rob's Birthday actually, Amy and Emily flew back to Michigan for a doctor's appointment. The doctor gave Emily a new brace that she wears over her clothes and only for 12 hours at night while she sleeps. Praise the Lord! The doctor said that her hips look normal now. Yeah!! We will have another appointment when we return to Michigan in August. We arrived at Rob's parent's home last Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Shelbyanne is having a blast playing in the water this summer. While at Amy's Dad's house she wouldn't get in, but would only put her feet in and play around it. Rob set up a small blow-up pool in Amy's Mom's backyard, and she would get in but not sit down much. Rob's parents have a pool too and Shelbyanne is finally getting in and having a blast splashing around.

We hope everyone is having a great summer. Let us know what's up with you as well.

Much Love and Many Blessings!

Its Bathtime!

This week we gave Emily her first bath. She liked it a lot. She slept so hard afterwards that it was hard to wake her up. She is only out of her brace for 7 hours each day. It is really nice to hold her without it on. Emily and Amy are heading back to Jackson, Mi, for a doctor appointment on June 13th (Daddy's Birthday). The good thing is that we will be heading back the very next day.

We have been in Alabama for a week now, and are having a blast. It has been nice to not have homework, although we are looking forward to our classes next semester. Shelbyanne is enjoying being around water even though she has not ventured into it yet. We attended Amy's brother, Will's, high school graduation. He did great. We are so proud of him. We will be in Alabama till June 21st. Then we will head down to Florida.

We hope you all are having a great summer.

God Bless!

Emily Update!

Isn't She Cute?! We went to the doctor today. Emily had an ultrasound to check progress of her hips. The doctor said to keep the current brace on her 24/7 for one more week. Then she can have it off for 7 hours a day. We are excited for her to get her first bath next tuesday!! She has grown enough that he moved her from a size small to a size medium brace. He said that we need to come back and see him in 3 weeks, so Emily and Amy will be flying back to Jackson, MI in the middle of June.

Hope all is well with you all!!

Summer is Coming!!

We are coming up on the last week of classes for this semester, and boy are we tuckered out (tired)! I think having a baby may have had something to do with that though. Homework has kept Rob busy for most of our free time, although we do take a little time to get away and have fun.

We went to the Toledo Zoo last weekend and had a blast. It was cold and windy so not all the animals were out and about, but we got to see most of them. Shelbyanne had a really good time. We think her favorite animals were the seals. That's all she wanted to look at in the gift shop on the way out.

Emily is doing great! She is actually starting to smile at us and respond with the cutest facial expressions. We had another doctor's appointment at the University of Michigan on Tuesday where he changed out her brace with a clean one so we can wash the one she had been wearing. We have another appointment on May 22nd, for an ultrasound and doctor visit to see how much she has progressed. Please pray for her to finish growing completely so there will be no future complications. We want her to be able to run marathons or climb the Great Wall of China if she wants to when she grows up.

We are heading to Alabama on Wednesday, May 23rd. My (Amy's) little brother, Will, is graduating from high school on May 25th. We are so proud of him and thankful that we will be able to attend. Will is looking forward to being a freshman at Auburn in the fall.

War Eagle!

We hope and pray that things are well with all of you and your families. Thanks for all the comments we get in response to our blogs. We really like to receive updates on what is happening in your lives. We love and miss you all bunches.

Amy

Update on Emily!

We had another appointment at the University of Michigan last week. The doctors looked did an ultrasound on her hips to make sure her hips are positioned correctly in the brace she is wearing. The doctor said it looked good. She has another appointment in two weeks to get a new brace put on (a clean one). And then she will have an appointment two weeks after that to check the progress of her growth. If the Doctor is satisfied with the progress then he will move her to a transitional brace that she will only have to wear 12 hours a day. Thank you for your prayers for Emily. Please continue to pray for her hip sockets to grow well and quickly.

Other News:

We had a great week with Nana. She was visiting for her spring break. Shelbyanne still walks around saying "Nana", as if she were around the corner. We are beginning our last block (3 weeks) of classes for the semester. Amy is not yet attending classes again, but is listening to them at home. Rob has been working diligently to complete homework and have plenty of playtime with Shelbyanne. She is adjusting well to being a big sister. She likes to hold Emily, and put her pacifier in her mouth if it falls out. We are really enjoying our two precious children. Shelbyanne just seems so big to us now.