All Piled Into One...

I have so many things to post about, so I am going to jumble them all into one post - hopefully! I feel badly doing this because they are all a "big" deal to me, but when you are moving in 5 days, have a 13 month old into everything, and pregnant it has to be this way for now.

Hope this is in order:

1.) On November 12th Canon took his first steps!!!!! Jess and I both saw it at the same time in the living room! YAY! Just a few steps at a time, but boy were we excited!!

2.) November 19th - We put our little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree up. Since we are moving and have a 13 month old we decided not to put our big tree up. Jess and I actually decorated it after Canon went to bed. We listened to Christmas music, talked about traditions we wanted to start, and ate smores! Canon loves to look at the Christmas tree and touch it (only when mommy or daddy is holding him and gives him permission).

3.) CANON IS WALKING!! On November 20th - Canon took about 15 steps and then on Nov. 24th he just took off and never looked back. That day (the 24th) Jess and I were sitting on the kitchen floor playing with him and Canon just started walking back in forth to us for about 30 minutes. I think more than anything he loved the praise and the claps that came from his mom and dad. The look on his face was priceless when he would walk to us. He was so proud and so were we!

4.) Canon said "juice" for the first time (Nov. 22). He now says - milk, duck, book, juice, ma ma, daddy, roar, and yes.

5.) On Nov. 23rd I felt the baby move for sure (17 weeks).

6.) Jess and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house! The Rainers came in for the weekend! We had ham, spinach artichoke dip, and macaroni and cheese catered from Honey Baked Ham. I made 2 pumpkin pies, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, and Jess made deviled eggs. We had a great time together and ate way too much! Jess and I were able to go out on a date while Jess's parents watched Canon, so that was a nice treat!

7.) On Nov. 27th Jess felt the baby kick for the first time! This week the baby has really been going to town! I think we have another active one on our hands!

8.) Jess got ordained!! What a sweet sweet service our church had! I am so proud of Jess!! Jess's parents were still in town, so they were able to be there for it!

9.) It's another BOY!!!! We had our Level II Ultrasound on Nov. 29th. First and foremost the baby is very healthy and right on track! We are so thankful for a great report! The tech asked if we wanted to know the sex and Jess said, "I already know" and at that point I knew he meant boy! I thought sure we were having a girl, so I was a little shocked, but I am SO EXCITED to have 2 little boys running around! Now on to picking a name. FYI - Jess does not get into a hurry about picking names, so it will most likely be a while until a name is picked.

10.) Last Friday night our sweet neighbors threw us a surprise going away party. We had gone out to eat with 2 other couples and when we came back to our townhouse one of our neighbors asked us to come in to see the score of the Auburn/SC game (yuck), so Jess and Canon walked in while I lugged behind and "SURPRISE"!!!!! We were defiantly surprised! We felt so touched that all of our neighbors had put it all together - Great food and fellowship! We have been blessed with such wonderful friends/neighbors!

11.) One of the things Jess has always wanted to do while being in the Raleigh/Durham area is go to Cameron Indoor Stadium to see Duke play basketball. Well we got that chance last night! We splurged a little and Jess bought tickets! Jess was so excited (I was too)! Two of our neighbors were more than gracious to split up the time to watch Canon until midnight (yikes!). We had great seats and just had a great time taking in all the sights and spending time together! I am so glad we got the opportunity to go.

So if you have made it to the end of this post - Thank you for reading, I know it was a long one!

I am very thankful for all the blessings and fun things that have been going on in our lives lately!

Rachel

12 Months

I am a month and a half behind on this post, but better late than never!

Canon is so full of life! He has become more independent, but his personality is blossoming more and more these days!

12 Month Milestones

- Really scaling the furniture

-Drinking from a sippy cup pretty well

- Eating more and more table foods (spaghetti, meats, pizza, chicken, waffles, ect)

- Started MOPS

- Went to the Pumpkin Patch (rode your first train, went on your first hay ride, tried a funnel cake, picked out pumpkins, went on a huge slide with daddy

- Had lots of grandma time with both grandmas

- Went to Charlotte, NC so mommy could attend a conference

- Saw your new sibling on ultrasound!

- You turned ONE!!!!!!

Rachel

Old News, but....

We are MOVING!

I am sure this is not news to very many people, but we are moving to Hendersonville, TN. We will be joining a church planting team to start a new church in Hendersonville. Jess has taken on the role of administrative pastor. We are very excited about the opportunity and pray the Lord will bless us and the church! We are so thankful for the opportunity and feel the Lord has worked everything out so perfectly and has given us clear answers that this is where he is leading us. We know it will be a challenge so we covet your prayers!

We will hopefully be pulling out of Wake Forest December 14th and 15th. I will be leaving a day early and Jess will leave the following day.

Please be in prayer for

- For Jess to finish strong with all of his responsibilities here (work, church, getting support letters out, and finishing out the semester at school)

- For Jess and me as we leave a lot of dear friends behind here in Wake Forest - Very bittersweet... I get teary eyed thinking about it.

- A stress free move (ha!)

- A safe move as we will be driving through the mountains

- An easy transition for Canon as we will be staying with family for a few weeks through the Holidays before we move in to a house

- For God to provide a house for us (we still don't have anything set up for sure yet). We have a few prospects, but won't set anything in stone until we view the house for ourselves.

- For us to raise all of our support

- For the unreached people of Hendersonville we will be trying to minister to!!

The list could go on and on, but I will stop there! We really would appreciate your prayers as we transition!

Rachel

ROAR

Our little Can Man was a lion for Halloween and the cutest little lion I have ever seen! We taught Canon how to say "roar" and put your hands out like paws. He would do it occasionally but it was pretty weak "roar" but for sure adorable!

Saturday night (Oct. 30th) we went to our church for a Fall Festival. I was worried Canon would not leave his hood up or leave his mittens on, but I think with it being so chilly he didn't mind one bit. We all had a great time! One of Jess's co-workers came and brought her family and then some of our friends came from seminary. We rode a train, took a hay ride, ate cotton candy, Jess and Canon bounced in the bounce house, heard the gospel in the pumpkin house, and just had an all around a good time!

On Halloween we took Canon to the historic area of Wake Forest just to stroll around. We didn't want to take him up to the

houses for candy because 1) He doesn't eat candy and 2) we didn't want to take the chance of him getting scared from the decorations, music, and flashing lights and 3) it was CROWDED! We did have a good time just walking around seeing all the other kids (and a few adults) dressed up. We did take him up to one house because we knew the family (seminary professor) and whats the harm of us parents eating ONE piece of candy?

Cheesing for the camera!

We are thankful for our little lion!

Rachel

Saying Goodbye stinks

Our dear friends, The Couch Family left us late October to move to Florida. :(

Seminary is like college, there is a huge turn over rate, people find jobs, graduate, don't have the money to stay in school, ect. We have had to say goodbye to so many dear dear friends over the last few years, but it seems lately it is one after the other. We have been here for 3 1/2 years now, so it makes sense, but it still stinks.

Anyway we met Wes and Laurie in January of 2008. One of our other dear friends Amy had invited a handful of couples up to the mountains to stay at her parent's cabin for the weekend. Jess and I had only been in NC for a semester, so it was totally unlike us to take Amy up on her offer since we did not know her very well or anyone else for that matter. Thankfully we did because it was an awesome experience and we made SO many good friends that we still hang out and talk to this very day! We feel like God for sure orchestrated the whole thing. One morning half of the group went shopping and the other half of the group wanted to go snow tubing. Jess and I of course wanted to go tubing. Wes and Laurie wanted to too and ended up riding with us. We did not know them AT ALL. Anyway, we hit it off (I guess) and have been best friends ever since. We have spent Thanksgiving together, went on a trip, experienced our first pregnancy together (6 weeks apart), spent many late nights together, and the list goes on and on. Laurie even stayed with me for 2 nights while Jess was away when Canon was only a week old and she was 36 weeks pregnant. ha! She defiantly saw a different side of me (I was a basket case)! Jess and I are so thankful for them! For me Laurie has been a friend that is honest with me and makes me feel like I can totally be myself around, personality flaws and all. Laurie and Wes are always willing to open up their home too. We had many many dinners over at their house!

We miss them so much already, but know we will be friends for a lifetime! Oh and Laurie and I are pregnant together again! Four weeks apart this time!

Love you guys!

Rachel

Canon's Baby Dedication

Canon was dedicated at our church here in NC on October 17, 2010. Since all of the grandparents were in town for his birthday this was the perfect time to do it. The church we have been going to since May (Jess has been on staff) is a small country church, but Jess and I (and Canon) have fallen in love with the people. My word they have treated us well. They have loved on us and loved on Canon and it has just been such a blessing. Jess has had to privilege of teaching a young adult Sunday School class and leading a home group on Sunday nights. Through those two ministries and Jess being on staff we have really built some special relationships with the people of the church!

Anyway, back to Canon's dedication. It was such a sweet time and Dr. Lawson (the pastor) made it so personalized and even included each grandparent in the dedication. Canon of course was a ham and talked back and held up his hands to Dr. Lawson when he was talking to us. Canon would look at the crowd and clap and laugh! :) It was funny for sure!

(Getting Canon dedicated did not save him or give him a ticket to heaven. This dedication was to encourage and challenge Jess and me to dedicate ourselves in raising Canon in a Christian home and to teach him about God (and live by example) in the hopes that one day Canon would accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. That is our daily prayer for Canon! We know our tasks as parents is significant and we do not take it lightly.)

Here are a few pictures of our handsome man on his big day!

Pops reading Canon a book before we left for church.

We are so blessed the Lord chose us to raise our sweet Canon man!

Rachel

First Birthday Party!

We had Canon's first birthday party on Oct. 16th. We decided to have it at our house since Canon would be familiar with his surroundings, I wouldn't have to do a whole lot of decorating, and I wouldn't have to transport all of the food. The day was perfect! Canon was in a great mood the entire time except when he made a scene when it was time to get in his highchair to eat cake. I hate when everyone is looking at you watching how you are going to respond to your child. Anyway, we felt so thankful that so many people showed up to help us celebrate Canon's precious life! We had a great time catching up with friends and family and seeing all the little ones play together! Both my mom and dad and Jess's parents came in for the birthday bash. Our parents were such a big help preparing for this big day!

I went a little picture crazy in this blog post.

Here is the BIRTHDAY BOY!

The Decorations.

All of Canon's month by month pictures.

The food table!

Canon's Smash Cake

Drink Station

The DELICIOUS cupcakes my mom made!

Sweets Table

Pops (my dad) and Canon

Mam-aw (my mom) and Canon

Cake Time! Happy Birthday! He loved people watching him. He kept clapping and everyone would clap back! Such a ham!

Our sweet family!

I had been thinking of Canon's first birthday party for months. It all turned out how I wanted it to. I was so pleased! But more than anything just so thankful for such a sweet son and his first year of life and for all of our friends and family that love on us and our son!

We love you Canon John!