Colt & Annaleigh-July 26

Annaleigh 5 Days Old-July 25

Brother/Sister Bond Getting Even Stronger

Here's Colt reading a bedtime story to a tired Abigail one night this week.

Joel is Blessed

I haven't posted in a while. Kind of been busy with my patient Hollie and beautiful wife Hollie's pregnancy. She began having contractions around 31 weeks. We prayed at our mission station meeting for her to wait and deliver at full term. Hollie showed so much strength and faith in the Lord during her pregnancy and delivery. We are so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with a healthy and full term Annaleigh Faith. She has a sweet disposition. Her sister Abigail loves to hold her. Colt also adores her. We appreciate your prayers and messages of support so much, blessings, joel.

Well, Annaleigh must have read my post from yesterday. She decided to sleep all night last night! Daddy says she is too young to not get in a feeding or two, so I did wake her up for those and she went right back to sleep! Let's keep that up, right?

Welcome to the world and our family, little Annaleigh Faith! This photo was taken late morning the day after she was born. She was born at 6:45 p.m. on July 20, 2009. She was 6 lbs, 10 oz. We are thrilled to have her. She is a healthy little girl. According to Ghanian tradition, when babies stay awake at night (and sleep during the day) they are looking after their mothers. Annaleigh is doing great with that! :)

Colt and Abigail both adore her. Abigail loves holding her and gets upset when we take her away from her again. She even loved her little newborn cry. Abigail loves to go on walks with Daddy. Joel was about to take her on one this afternoon and Abigail started crying real tears because she didn't want to leave Annaleigh. "Baby, baby..." It was so sweet. Colt has helped so much, of course. He is a wonderful eight-year-old big brother. Thanks so much for your prayers.

4th of July Baseball Game

Abigail & Mommy on July 4th

Happy 8th Birthday, Colt!

Abigail (June)

Momma Tummy

Me at the end of June

Abigail, Daddy's Glasses, & the Bible

This photo is definitely worth a couple of clicks to get to if you're seeing the caption from Facebook. Joel reads the Bible to us some at meal time. He needs glasses to read now. Sometimes Abigail likes to get Daddy's glasses and the Bible and do some reading herself. It's way cute, if I do say so myself!

Daddy with the Kids

Yes, we Bought This Truck New!

(It just usually doesn't look like it! She's proud to have her photo taken when she's clean.)

Fun in June

I'm Up to June Now!

The Huckabee's Visit in May

Colt taking a surfing lesson in May on vacation.

Convoy

Somehow we found this several-truck convoy amusing. Many hazardous/dangerous items/situations go completely unlabeled or not noted here. But cyanide driving on the road was dangerous enough to make a big fuss about. Maybe we're missing something.

At the Surf Shop (May)

Daddy & Abigail at the Beach

View from Busua Beach Resort

We took a long (over 15 hours drive or so in one stretch) to get down to the coast of Ghana for some R&R. Later we went shopping for groceries and other things we needed in Accra while staying at the guesthouse there. Jimmy and Sylvia Huey are such good hosts. We had a great time both at Busua Beach Resort and in Accra.

Hangin' Out

At the end of April and beginning of May we took a little vacation to south Ghana. This was one of the first interesting sights on the trip down. Several men were hitching a ride. They were suspended over a large load of longhorn cattle. A bad thunderstorm also started while we they were on the road. Folks get a ride anyway they can.

This is Where We Buy Eggs!

We got to attend a floor pounding in April. Joel and Colt actually did some of the pounding, a task traditionally set aside for women. Women meet to help pound the compound floor for several houses in one day. It is quite the experience-and hard work!

Floor pounding in April

Abbers all in pink in April

We are doing well. I'm 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. Contractions started getting stronger and more frequent on Sunday. I'm dilated to at least 3 1/2 cm. No baby yet! The same thing happened the last weeks with Abigail. We are looking at names and have found a website for names we really like: www.nymbler.com. You put in some of your faves and you get customized lists. I'm kind of focused on this little one getting here right now. Not much else to say at this point. Wait for the "big" announcement!

Rain

It is raining some here this morning. We are thankful for the rain. The farmers need it to grow food for their families, as well as try to make a profit on extra food, as well. The temperatures have cooled off some, so that is nice.

There have been storms that have knocked out our internet connection periodically. It can take up to a few weeks to get back on-line again. Hopefully that won't happen today.

We enjoyed a nice 4th of July celebration with other missionary families here. We had great bbq (not something common here in Ghana), as well as a little baseball and time to visit with others.

I'm 35 1/2 weeks along now. We still are not sure on the gender of this new one. We need to find some names. In Ghana, most folks wait at least a week or longer before naming their baby. Often there will be a big ceremony in church to name the baby. Maybe we should follow suit?