May 25, 2008

We had a fantastic meeting at Harvest Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida. The people really showed up to enjoy hearing God's Word and enjoy one anothers fellowship. They memorize a verse a month as a church. At the end of the month the ones that have memorized the verse (or passage) go to the front and quote it. It was great! We'd like to do that at the church in St. Barths!

Our day in Miami

Patrick and I went to Miami for a two fold purpose. #1 a little time away together before we leave Florida again (I told the kids that having a date with their Daddy is one of my favorite things to do :) #2 to start the French paperwork/citizenship process. Tuesday while eating a nice romantic lunch together Patrick said "I feel like my throat is closing up". In a matter of 10 minutes he was bright red, swollen (even his ears and feet were swollen), and having difficulty breathing. He said his insides didn't feel right. We realized he was having an allergic reaction. We think it might be from the Macadamia nuts on the fish. (last time he ate a bite of these nuts he started to have mild symptoms) I'm so thankful the Lord pointed us in the right direction and we found a walk in clinic. By the time we got to the clinic he had hives all over. Especially the palms of his hands were itching. The Doctor was so good and gave him a shot and pills and watched him for quite a while. I'm glad we found somewhere to take him so quickly! That night he felt like he had the flu, just really achy. So much for a romantic evening!! :) The next day we went to the French Consolate in Miami. We were told we needed more paperwork, so we got a list of all we need (again) and hopefully we'll get this done when we come back for a couple of days in September. The good news is that we can get the whole family's citizenship papers done at one time! That's great! So, pray for Patrick. He's feeling so much better, but still just a tad weak. Praise the Lord! He took care of us again!

Baby Update

We had our Ultrasound appointment and Midwife appointment this week. Everything went fantastic. At the ultrasound we were able to see the baby's heartbeat. It's beating a strong 158 beats per minute. We were thrilled for all of us to see the heartbeat. It was a very memorable moment for our family. The next day we saw our midwife, Dawn Rachman. She is an amazing lady and it's so amazing the bond we feel with her already. She takes so much time with her patients.....we were with her almost 2 hours. She had just had a 12 hour birth and another was on her way to the office. I said to her "You must be exhausted!" She said, "Yes, but I'm so glad these women are having there babies, I knew they would be calling any minute." I love it that she knows me by name, and treats me as her friend. She said everything is looking very good with baby and Momma. She wants us to come back in a week in a half to see if we can hear a heartbeat with a doppler. It's a little early, but she would like to try anyway. We are 8 weeks and one day today! We are leaving in a week in a half to head north for meetings. We're planning on coming back for a week in September and then we're booked until December 17th. I'll have to schedule regular midwife appts according to what state we're in, so I can receive all of my prenatal care. We asked the midwife when I have to be back and done travelling. She said by the 28th-32nd week, which is late October or early November. Please be praying for us as we make decisions for when to come back. I might come back to Fort Myers a little earlier than my family, so we can continue with some of our meetings. It's an exciting time!

May 18,2008

Central Baptist Church, Winter Haven, Florida. We loved being at this church. It was actually started a long time ago by Dr. Mickey Carter as a sister church to Landmark Baptist Church in Haines City, Florida. Pastor Wiggins is doing a great job and you can really tell his people love him. We met future Macedonia Missionaries going to Ireland. They're planning on starting deputation in another year.