Spring Time!

We have loved the Spring weather here in Louisiana. The Mosquitos (and every other bug) are taking some getting used to for Laura Beth (her poor legs were covered in sores this week from scratching the bites), but the rest of our "outside time" has been wonderful! We planted flowers this week. I didn't take pictures of all of them, as many haven't bloomed yet. The picture above is Laura Beth's watering can and mine. The Hibiscus (above) just bloomed today. We live on Azalea Avenue. They don't call it that for nothing. These beautiful Azalea's are blooming all over the place. Picture below is from our yard.

We love sitting out on our swing together (Picture below Left). AND going to the see the ducks in a pond at the front of our neighborhood (Picture Below Right). One of the Kingsville Baptist Church members brought over a radio flyer wagon that they were finished using. I (9 months pregnant) pulled Laura Beth in the wagon to feed the ducks (it's "hilly" here too, ugh). She LOVES when the ducks start coming to eat the bread. (Note the pink purse. She is totally obsessed with purses as of this week. She carries it everywhere. She checks the items in it at every stop. She even calls me on her "cell phone" from the back seat.)

I am SOOO thankful for these days we get to spend together.

Since we've been outside so much. I really haven't done much on the inside. Hence, we have no house pictures up yet. I'll get there...I just hope it's before Julie Ann is born. :)

Tran-che-leen

In Pineville, we live next door to the preschool/ children's minister at Kingsville Baptist Church. They have children, Hannah and Lorelei (sp?). So they have toys too. :) Laura Beth's favorite toy that they have is a trampoline (or "Tran-che-leen," as Laura Beth says). When we leave our house, Laura Beth says, "Say bye to Hannah's playground." (referring to their backyard). HA!

Today, we got to jump on the trampoline for a while. :) So fun!

This is their dog. Laura Beth loves it, but she often calls it Kaddle (my parent's dog, which is the same type of dog). They have another dog, but I forgot it's name.

Today, we also saw Dr. Beiber (don't laugh. Not related to Justin Beiber). We are starting the 37th week. She is estimated at 6 pounds. I can't believe she will be here in a few short weeks.

Pineville Pictures

These are just a few pictures from Pineville. Being 9 months pregnant and "crazy" I didn't get ANY pictures of everyone that helped in Ft. Worth or in Pineville with the moving truck. UGH!

Daddy and Laura Beth swinging. We have missed our swing.

Me and Wabee. So thankful for her help this past week!

Wabee and Laura Beth.

A belly picture. 9 Months pregnant! UGH! Come on into the world Julie Ann, whenever you're ready.

9 Month pregnant women are allowed to do this. ha!

This is a Banana Split Pie that our Landlord left for us in the freezer. It was so frozen we couldn't cut it. ha! I picked it up to break it and realized I could just bite into it. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. Mainly icecream. I only are one slice (the portion that I am biting in this picture, of course).

Gage and Laura Beth having the best time on the air matress. I am sad we couldn't get more pictures of them together. However, they did have a great time playing together.

Laura Beth got a new kitchen in our new house (excuse the pajamas). Her cousin, Hannah Claire, passed the kitchen down to us. We are VERY thankful!

Laura Beth's first day at "Mother's morning out" at Kingsville Baptist Church. It was St. Patrick's day. Laura Beth enjoyed it.

A door bell is a pretty fascinating thing to a 3 year old who never had one in her house before. ha! This is how happy she is to greet those who ring our door bell.

We live in a neighborhood with little lakes throughout it.

This was the first attempt to get a picture with Gran and Papaw.

Success!

Showing me her bread that she was throwing to the ducks.

All together, we are VERY excited about our new town, home, church, friends, etc! What a blessing from the Lord. I will put pictures of the house up soon.

PINEVILLE, LA

We have MOVED!

We no longer live in Fort Worth, TX. I wanted to post so many times about our plans and adventures this last month, but was unable to due to the circumstances. After Steve graduated from Seminary in December, we continued to pray for where we were to serve. We have made several trips to Pineville, LA since January of this year.....

After phone and email correspondences with Kingsville Baptist church we made our first trip to meet with the youth committee and the staff of Kingsville Baptist Church. Steve was looking for a job as a student minister and Kingsville Baptist Church was looking for a student minister. The phone correspondence with Kingsville began before Christmas. That first trip was at the end of January. Last weekend, March 11, we came to Pineville again in view of a call. (This is the final stage of the Ministry Job being offered and accepted.) We had multiple meetings (deacons, sunday school teachers, church wide meeting, college ministry, and finally the youth). It was a very full weekend, but also very fulfilling. We drove home on Sunday afternoon after the church voted on Steve's new position. That afternoon, we got the call that the church had voted him as the new student minister with over 99% of the votes being positive and only three votes against (Steve said as long as the three against votes weren't the pastor or staff then we'd come) ha!.

We packed the truck to move to Pineville on Monday, March 14. We were overwhelmed by the help we received in Fort Worth to pack and move everything, especially as I am 9 months pregnant. (Surely, I will get a tunmy picture up soon).

We were again OVERWHELMED with help unloading the truck when we arrived at Pineville, LA. So many people came and brought food to us, unloaded boxes, lined my shelves with liner, and just welcomed us to our new home. What a blessing!

My parents met us here on Tuesday with LOTS of things we had to leave in MS. We are so happy we got to visit with them. My mom and dad were such a huge help to us. I am so thankful for them.

Lauren Kelly came for much of the week and helped unpack what seemed like a million crates. I would not be nearly as closed to "finished" or "organized" without her help. She has been such a blessing to us. Everyone needs a "Lauren Kelly" in there life. Ha! We also had a friend Jill from Fort Worth come and help unpack. She was also on Spring Break from school (as was Lauren) and gave up a couple days to help us. We are soooo appreciative.

My sister, brother in law, and nephew also made their way to Pineville with some much needed "things" that we left in MS when we moved to TX. We are very thankful to them and REALLY enjoyed seeing Gage! He is getting sooo big, with such a fun personality. Pictures to come soon.

I met our doctor who will deliver Julie Ann. He is very nice and says everything is on schedule. I will see him every week from here on out. Next Thursday we get another sonogram. :) I am ready to hold Julie Ann in my arms (and not so much feel it in my feet, back, etc. ha!).

Laura Beth spent one day this week at "Mother's morning out" at Kingsville. She had a good time with her new friends. She loves our new home and is pretty excited about this new adventure in Louisiana.

God clearly made the way for us in all of this. His continued confirmation comes with each day. I am staying home with Laura Beth at this time. When Julie Ann is born (in about 4 weeks), I will continue to stay home with both of the girls for a while.

I will post pictures of this week's adventures and the rental house soon. We have so much more space than when we were at seminary, we really don't know what to do with it all (another wonderful blessing!).