A moment worth capturing
Sisterly love comes and goes right now, so I have to enjoy and appreciate the loving times. Also I know I am a dork but I love coordinating our girls outfits, and since we are already beginning to battle wardrobe woes then I know my time is very short to dress them.
Flash Back
Just for fun here is some more fun with pictures. Its amazing how similar all our babies look, but once they grow up they sure do change.
2009
2011
2009
2011
Beach Trip
It seems that the rainy season is coming to an end and that means the heat is back. We enjoyed a family day last weekend where we got to drive out to our favorite beach day. It was a blast, the older girls are really loving to swim and play in the surf right now.
Ellie is like a little fish with no fear.
A posed picture where I can never get both girls smiling and looking at the camera at the same time.
And this is what little Anna enjoyed doing in the tent that the girls got for Christmas from Gannie and Mac. This picture reminds me of this one with Ellie at this age.
Ellie is like a little fish with no fear.
A posed picture where I can never get both girls smiling and looking at the camera at the same time.
And this is what little Anna enjoyed doing in the tent that the girls got for Christmas from Gannie and Mac. This picture reminds me of this one with Ellie at this age.
Cyclical
All of our babies are born within 10 days of each other in the month of October. And although I try like every parent not to compare my children it is inevitable when they are all achieving the same milestones at the same time of year. Therefore I feel like my life is very cyclical and every 2 years it repeats itself: get pregnant every other February, have a baby in October, strive to have baby sleep through the night before Christmas (yeah we are still working on this one with baby #3), struggles with breaking the swaddle, struggles with crying it out before naps, watching baby roll over, sitting up, working off baby fat, eating food, crawling, walking, 1st birthday, etc. However, as I was praying this morning I do not want to get caught up in the cycle of parenting and miss out on all the joys of what God is doing in between.
So just for fun here is a picture of each of the girls all the same ages and same outfit, reflecting on the Lord's faithfulness in our lives the past 4 years.
This picture of Lucy was taken at my sister's house February 2007, we were there attending a missions conference to raise support and prepare to leave for the field. It is amazing for me to think that I left for the field with 1 and returning with 3, wow how things have changed! We have been so blessed financially our whole time on the field, never having a need that has not been fulfilled, never having to raise additional support even though we have gained more mouths to feed (or really I should say more bottoms to wipe), and now having a surplus in our support account which we can bless our ministry with as we prepare to leave.
Moving on to February 2009, this picture was taken when we just moved to Honduras and we are living at the Pettengills house waiting to find a house of our own. Thankfully the Lord provided us a home soon after this picture was taken, which we have enjoyed over the past 2 years. There has been so much that has taken place in our lives these past 2 years I can not even begin (another post for another day). We have seen both the ministry and our own personal lives grow and change in so many ways!
Now its February 2011 and we beginning to process closing this chapter in our lives and beginning another one. Sean has received a call as an assistant pastor at a church in Charlotte. It is bittersweet to think about saying goodbye to a people and country we have loved so much, and at the same time excited about what our future holds.
The Lord is faithful and in the midst of the blur that parenthood brings I can look back at each season and see the Lord's provision and care for our family.
So just for fun here is a picture of each of the girls all the same ages and same outfit, reflecting on the Lord's faithfulness in our lives the past 4 years.
This picture of Lucy was taken at my sister's house February 2007, we were there attending a missions conference to raise support and prepare to leave for the field. It is amazing for me to think that I left for the field with 1 and returning with 3, wow how things have changed! We have been so blessed financially our whole time on the field, never having a need that has not been fulfilled, never having to raise additional support even though we have gained more mouths to feed (or really I should say more bottoms to wipe), and now having a surplus in our support account which we can bless our ministry with as we prepare to leave.
Moving on to February 2009, this picture was taken when we just moved to Honduras and we are living at the Pettengills house waiting to find a house of our own. Thankfully the Lord provided us a home soon after this picture was taken, which we have enjoyed over the past 2 years. There has been so much that has taken place in our lives these past 2 years I can not even begin (another post for another day). We have seen both the ministry and our own personal lives grow and change in so many ways!
Now its February 2011 and we beginning to process closing this chapter in our lives and beginning another one. Sean has received a call as an assistant pastor at a church in Charlotte. It is bittersweet to think about saying goodbye to a people and country we have loved so much, and at the same time excited about what our future holds.
The Lord is faithful and in the midst of the blur that parenthood brings I can look back at each season and see the Lord's provision and care for our family.
Pitiful
Yeah that pretty much is our family right now...pitiful. We are thankful now that Anna is back at home and we can all be together as family but it is still a slow recovery process with lots of medicine and breathing treatments every 4 hours.
And the big girls although they are physically well they are struggling from just returning from a trip to the US and then having mom and sister in the hospital for 3 days, all of these changes and inconsistency makes them very winey and disobedient.
We are praying and trusting God's grace to help us make it through this difficult season of parenting.
And the big girls although they are physically well they are struggling from just returning from a trip to the US and then having mom and sister in the hospital for 3 days, all of these changes and inconsistency makes them very winey and disobedient.
We are praying and trusting God's grace to help us make it through this difficult season of parenting.
USA
So after not being able to make it to Durham to see Sean's family, we quickly changed plans and stayed 2 nights in Augusta with my family to be able to recover from the long journey. The girls jumped right in to where they left off 2 years ago, to the tea parties of course.
Anna was all smiles to be in grandma's house.
The girls loved discovering all the new toys and even put on a concert on for us.
After we were rested we headed off to Charlotte where Gannie and Mac graciously met us so we could have some time with them.
While we were there we enjoyed visiting our home church, Sovereign Grace, and getting Anna baptized.
Then it was back to Appling to see the C-man.
A fun shot with all the grandkids minus Grace who will make her appearance late March.
KK and Anna were instantly in love and enjoyed all the snuggle time they could get. Anna gave some pep talks to baby Grace telling her to come as soon as she is ready.
The golf cart was a big hit, although Ellie could never quite get over how cold it was outside, and was therefore always a little miserable in the cold weather.
It was a whirlwind of a trip (like always) being back in the States but we loved every minute of it and enjoyed spending some fun times with family and friends.
Anna was all smiles to be in grandma's house.
The girls loved discovering all the new toys and even put on a concert on for us.
After we were rested we headed off to Charlotte where Gannie and Mac graciously met us so we could have some time with them.
While we were there we enjoyed visiting our home church, Sovereign Grace, and getting Anna baptized.
Then it was back to Appling to see the C-man.
A fun shot with all the grandkids minus Grace who will make her appearance late March.
KK and Anna were instantly in love and enjoyed all the snuggle time they could get. Anna gave some pep talks to baby Grace telling her to come as soon as she is ready.
The golf cart was a big hit, although Ellie could never quite get over how cold it was outside, and was therefore always a little miserable in the cold weather.
It was a whirlwind of a trip (like always) being back in the States but we loved every minute of it and enjoyed spending some fun times with family and friends.
Anna's First Trip to US
Warning this post will be very long and probably somewhat winey but hopefully humorous as well.
We planned months ago that we would make our first post-Anna visa trip to come back to the States to introduce her to family and friends. Already having experience with one country with Ellie and her papers we figured it should be pretty easy, but of course we were wrong. A process that is supposed to take 4 weeks took us 11, which included 2 trips to the embassy 3 hours away, 2 rushed packages, and many phone calls. But at last 3 days before we were schedule to leave we got it!
Then of course on our scheduled day to leave and fly into Atlanta (and then on to Durham) there has to be one of the biggest snow/ice storms of the century. So to make a long story short we left our house at 8am Monday morning and did not arrive in Augusta, GA (not planned destination) until 4pm on Tuesday. We gave up on even trying to get to Durham which was our original plan. Everything that could have gone wrong, did in the Atlanta airport, which therefore resulted for us "sleeping" on the floor Monday and being literally stuck there on Tuesday. Thankfully my dad braved the dangerous icy roads to come and rescue us from the weather and from shear insanity (ie 3 kids, 8 bags of luggage, 1 hour of sleep).
1am sleeping arrangements.
4am
So all that to say the Lord is good, we are exhausted, and I can definitely say this trip has been eventful even though Anna has yet to meet any new friends or family yet.
Daddy's super cool tent made with luggage to help pass the time away.
We planned months ago that we would make our first post-Anna visa trip to come back to the States to introduce her to family and friends. Already having experience with one country with Ellie and her papers we figured it should be pretty easy, but of course we were wrong. A process that is supposed to take 4 weeks took us 11, which included 2 trips to the embassy 3 hours away, 2 rushed packages, and many phone calls. But at last 3 days before we were schedule to leave we got it!
Then of course on our scheduled day to leave and fly into Atlanta (and then on to Durham) there has to be one of the biggest snow/ice storms of the century. So to make a long story short we left our house at 8am Monday morning and did not arrive in Augusta, GA (not planned destination) until 4pm on Tuesday. We gave up on even trying to get to Durham which was our original plan. Everything that could have gone wrong, did in the Atlanta airport, which therefore resulted for us "sleeping" on the floor Monday and being literally stuck there on Tuesday. Thankfully my dad braved the dangerous icy roads to come and rescue us from the weather and from shear insanity (ie 3 kids, 8 bags of luggage, 1 hour of sleep).
1am sleeping arrangements.
4am
So all that to say the Lord is good, we are exhausted, and I can definitely say this trip has been eventful even though Anna has yet to meet any new friends or family yet.
Daddy's super cool tent made with luggage to help pass the time away.
Our Christmas
The Christmas fun began with a Wall family tradition of sugar cookie baking with Josiah and Abi. It was nice to have some help from the "big kids", not sure we would have made it through the mess and the sprinkles if it wasn't for their help. We then had fun delivering all of our cookies to our neighbors, who think sugar cookies are one of the strangest things they have seen.
We continued the baking fun with a Happy Birthday Jesus cake.
On Christmas Eve we celebrate with all our teammates. Christmas is celebrated here at 12am the night before with lots of fireworks. So after a bad experience last year of trying to sleep while the rest of the country partied, we decided to join along with them this year and entertained ourselves with games and wii until 1am.
The next morning we were up early with the little ones to open all our Christmas goodies.
You know you might be a missionary kid if you favorite gift of the year is your new suitcase which you can not wait to try out in the airport.
Ellie enjoyed opening all the gifts as well and got a new friend, Millie, to play with.
Here we are after skyping with our families and eating lunch, we got to sit around and relax (still in our pjs) and enjoy our new gifts.
Happy New Year!
We continued the baking fun with a Happy Birthday Jesus cake.
On Christmas Eve we celebrate with all our teammates. Christmas is celebrated here at 12am the night before with lots of fireworks. So after a bad experience last year of trying to sleep while the rest of the country partied, we decided to join along with them this year and entertained ourselves with games and wii until 1am.
The next morning we were up early with the little ones to open all our Christmas goodies.
You know you might be a missionary kid if you favorite gift of the year is your new suitcase which you can not wait to try out in the airport.
Ellie enjoyed opening all the gifts as well and got a new friend, Millie, to play with.
Here we are after skyping with our families and eating lunch, we got to sit around and relax (still in our pjs) and enjoy our new gifts.
Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas
Well we didn't get a chance to do a Christmas card this year so pretend this is sent to your mailbox :) We wish you all a Merry Christmas and pray that you enjoy celebrating our Savior this Christmas season.
Love,
Lucy, Ellie, and Anna
Love,
Lucy, Ellie, and Anna
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