Ellie and I are spending the week with my parents in Wisconsin.  {Spending a weekend in a cabin at a camp with a 17 month old @ 36 weeks pregnant for a fall conference was less than appealing :)}

Anyway- some friends were over on Friday night and Ellie was acting very shy.  I said,  "Oh, she's playing shy" to which our friend responded, "I don't think she's playing shy, she is shy"

And there it hit me, I have a daughter who is very shy! Why had I never really realized that?! Maybe it's because it's hard for many (myself included) to imagine myself with a daughter who is shy :)  

Further proof of her shyness was on Sunday morning when she was totally overwhelmed to be walking into a "new" church with "tons of new" people.  She sat down and just didn't want to walk in.  She kept saying "bup" (up).  

Call me crazy, but I guess it's a revelation-  Ellie is just a very sweet shy little girl.  And I love that about her :) Willing to sit back, be patient, and observe things from afar.  Oh so precious!

Daddy's girl.. in more ways than one !:)  

Quick update for you:  this weekend we're heading to a camp in Seymour, IN for JOURNEY 2012, the fall conference for the Illinois-Indiana region of the collegiate Navigators.  Over 220 are attending this annual conference.  Our speaker this year is Tom Yeakley, former collegiate director for the Navs.  Tom spoke at my first Nav fall conference as a student, and it's one I'll never forget.  This year's theme is "The Adventure of Trusting God" and is a topic that's right up Tom's alley.  He will be sharing some amazing stories of God coming through as he and others have trusted Him with their lives.

Would you please pray that the Spirit would move during this conference, and that our students would be encouraged, challenged, and convicted?

Consider praying one these prayers that Paul prayed:

"...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."  Colossians 1:9-10

"..that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."  2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

I like the second prayer for this context.  Events like this conference can have a very high impact, providing an opportunity for students to "place a stake in the ground" on a signficiant life or obedience decision.  Pray that the Lord would enable them to carry these out after leaving the conference!


Have a great weekend!

-Noah

Hey friends!

Happy Friday!  Today's Friday Update contains a few mini-updates.

Katie and I received two messages yesterday that do well to illustrate the variety of "typical" things that happen in our work.

• Yesterday, Katie received a text message from a student who just suffered a very significant setback in something that she has poured her whole life into (sorry to be vague).  Her parents received the first calls, as this student found out her news, but Katie was next on the list.  At a last minute meeting last night, Katie got to hear this student pour her heart out, and was able to listen and encourage and pray for her.  Our hearts ache for this student, but we sense that the Lord will use this event to draw her closer to Himself.
  
• Yesterday, I received a text message from one of our senior students.  His request was a lighter one:  "Do you have a tent we can borrow for camping this weekend?"  It's fun to be able to be a "Dad" to these students as we serve and help them along.

We have a love/hate relationship this time of year with Green St, the lovely street we live on in Champaign.

Our block has a canopy of large old trees hanging over it.  In the fall, it's probably one of the most beautiful blocks in the city!

Then, all the leaves fall.  We had a reprieve last year, only having to fill 60-70 large paper bags full of leaves. Previous years, the count was in the 90s!  We'll keep you updated :)

A week from today, we leave for our annual regional fall conference:  Journey 2012.  We'll gather with 200+ students from campuses in Illinois and Indiana.  The speaker this year is Tom Yeakley, former collegiate director for The Navigators, who actually was the speaker at my first fall conference as a student at UWEC.  His messages are the most memorable I've heard, and greatly challenged me to trust God with all of my life.  I'm anxious for our students to hear from him.

Our campus staff are in charge of the registration for the conference this year.  The next week will be filled with preparations for this.  Katie will be spending the weekend (and following week) with her parents in Platteville.  She's sad to miss out, but a young child and a pregnant body would prevent her from being able to experience too much at the conference.  I know she'll enjoy her time at home, and I'll be freed to serve our students in whatever way they need.

Please pray that God would impact our students' lives tremendously at this conference.  These conferences are significant times of momentum in the lives of our students.  Pray that they would be challenged to trust God in life-altering ways.

Grace to you all!  Thank you for standing with us for the Kingdom of God!

-Noah

Wow, hard to believe due date is 6 weeks away.  I keep telling myself we have 2 months, but 6 weeks sounds like a lot less than 2 months!!

This is the stage that I think is really awkward.  Multiple times in the last few weeks I've looked in the mirror and been like, wait, am I really that big?! I don't feel that big, but I guess I am!

I've decided that carrying a baby the "right" way is much more uncomfortable than carrying a baby the "wrong" way.  (Ellie was Frank Breech I believe-- or a bi-fold as my dad calls her---) she was folded in half, butt down. It didn't help with delivery (I had a c-section)  but it did make pregnancy more comfortable as she didn't have the ability to move around near as much.  All that to say, this pregnancy feels very different! And much more like other people describe their pregnancies.  I've been cleared to attempt a VBAC if baby's size and position is appropriate.  We have a sono at the beginning of November which will give us a better clue of what to expect.

I'm feeling very good over all (just tired!)  But Ellie walking makes a HUGE difference! I want to take time to "count my blessings" and list all of the things that have instantly become easier now that she can walk- there are a lot of them! If you've never been 33 weeks pregnant and carrying a little kid around-  you may not realize how many little things are just challenging! WOW!

We have a NAME for this little girl- which is huge!! We're keeping it a secret, but it just feels so good to call her by name!! Ellie loves to give the baby "tickles"- it's very cute! 

I have terrible hearburn, all of the time, but that's about all I can really complain about :)

We're getting very excited to meet our little girl, and all of this cooler weather makes me anxious for winter where I plan to spend most of my days snuggling with my girls :) 

For those of you who stuck with and read this all... here's a picture.

And a bonus picture of Ellie- snuggling with daddy before bed. She's started a new thing- this nice cheesy smile :)

A few weeks ago Noah and I stopped by the post office on our way home from a dr. appt.  Noah came out from mailing a package and said there was a girl inside who needed to get to UPS (not USPS).  Noah was confirming with me where UPS was located so we could point her in the right direction.  We decided we might as well just offer to take her as it is all the way across town and too far to walk. Not to mention, this girl was a international student from China who didn't know her away around.

So there we were taking Crystal across town to UPS.   I ended up exchanging phone numbers with her and Noah asked if she'd be interested in visiting a church.  Crystal was thrilled to be invited and told us "You're my first American friends"  WOW! 

Her English is conversational, but we figured it would be best to bring her to the second service at our church as it has the service translated in Mandarin Chinese. (How awesome is that?)  We much prefer the first service, mostly because it works far better with Ellie's schedule as she is ready for a nap by the time second service starts, but we knew that was minor in the scheme of things.

 Awesome provision from God #1- Ellie slept in until 9 am on Sunday morning. That has NEVER happened before!

On our way to church, I got a text from Crystal.  Maybe it's because we're used to American college students,  and getting up "early" isn't their preference, my first guess was she'd be telling me she had overslept and wouldn't be coming.  Instead she said she was afraid she would be late, so she had arrived early (25 minutes early!)  

Awesome provision from God #2-  We are NEVER 20 minutes early for church, but we were this week!

We dropped Ellie off at the nursery, picked up a headset (for the mandarin translation) and got a seat. Crystal has absolutely no religious background and has never been to any sort of a church.  I was grateful for the time to explain things like a prelude, a worship band, a message, etc.  She seemed to really enjoy the service.

After the service I look over and another Asian woman is talking to Crystal- it happened to be the girl that was sitting on the end of our row- who happened to be from China and at TCBC for the FIRST TIME!  The two of them seemed to hit it off right away!  The other woman had a Mandarin/English dual translation of the Bible and she said she had picked it up on her way into church. (I didn't know we had them?!)  As I was on my way to go find them, 

Awesome provision from God #3  - a friend of ours  was already on his way over to us carrying TWO of them as he saw I was with two Chinese students.

Feeling in a hurry, I knew I needed to go pick up Ellie from the nursery but didn't want to leave the girls alone... I told them I would be right back when 

Awesome provision from God #4 - another friend of ours was on her way over  to introduce herself.  She exchanged numbers with them, and offered to meet them at church in future weeks (as she typically goes to the second service).  

We invited them all to lunch, but they weren't able to come.  They had to get to the library to resume their studies.

Awesome provision from God #5- as we were on our way home, we ended up driving past the two Chinese girls walking together to the library-- how awesome is that?!

We were very humbled as we felt like we didn't have much to offer Crystal- our plates are very full and it had taken a few weeks for us to even be available enough to invite her to church... but all we had to do was invite her and God just showed up!  We shouldn't be surprised that He works in such amazing ways as He wants us to depend on Him!  

In fact, this very point is what Pastor Allen introduced his sermon with.  "When we hear Jesus' call to care for the needs of our world, it is very apparent that we don't have the resources.  In this story (of feeding the 5,000) Jesus is forcing the disciples to see the same thing! The question is, Am I willing to bring the little I have [even though I know it isn't much] and give it to Jesus?"

We are grateful for this (and many other) opportunities to bring the little that we have and give it to Jesus, and then be amazed as He makes it work!

Ellie is walking.

Not all the time, and it isn't necessarily her favorite mode of transportation yet, but she has consistently taken 8 or more steps.  We're going to call this walking!

Yesterday she walked across the room from Noah to me. Today she walked to go get a book and bring it back to me. 

Nevermind the fact that this morning when I put her down in the dining room and asked her to walk to her high chair, she had a total fit, tears, crying, head on the ground, pleading "bup, bup" (up! up!) 

She is walking! 

For any of you who have been following her progress, you know how significant this is.  At 17 months and 1 week, in the Lord's perfect timing, Ellie is walking.

I have much more to write on this topic as the Lord has taught me A LOT, but I just couldn't wait to share this news.

ELLIE IS WALKING :)

Can you tell how excited this very pregnant (and tired) Mama is? :)

Way to go Ellie, we are SO proud of you!!!! It has been incredibly fun to watch you develop and learn how to take steps! :) We love you!

Hey friends,

Thought I'd clue you in on an upcoming deal.

NavPress is selling pretty much everything for 50% off the regular price.

This is a great time to stock up if you're looking for a resource for your church or small group (such as bible studies like the 2:7 Series, or LifeChange Series).  Other you can get a great deal on a book you want to read on your own.  Or looking to get started on Scripture Memory?  Check out the Topical Memory System.

This is no shameless plug!  I know some of you have greatly benefitted from NavPress resources and simply wanted to pass on the deal.

You can find more info from the NavPress blog here.  To get the discount, simply use coupon code:  C24S16CL3.  Order online at navpress.com or call 
800-366-7788.  Deal ends Friday night.

Great deal!  Have a blessed week!

-Noah