It's official- Josie is smiling! I even captured in on camera tonight- so I had to share!

This precious little girl is already FIVE AND A HALF weeks old!!!  Time really does fly!

Josie is a very sweet baby, but the poor girl has major tummy troubles! If she could talk, my guess is she'd be saying "my tummy hurts" all of the time.  Poor thing! We're doing our best to get to know her and figure out her cues, but all we know right now is if she's unhappy she probably needs to burp, and will likely spit up after that. 

She's not the greatest sleeper during the day, but she continues to amaze us, sleeping well at night every night!  Each evening I think, "There's NO WAY she's going to sleep well tonight, she's had such a rough day" and then she amazes us yet again.  I feed her before I go to bed and (almost always) only have to get up once in the night!

Ellie wasn't even around when I took the above picture of Josie, but she must have figured out what we were doing- as she laid right down on Josie's boppy and said, "CHEESE!" She's getting smart! :)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I look forward to posting about ours soon :)

It's over!
Finals concluded yesterday and our students have headed home, having experienced a full semester.  It's been our privilege to walk beside them amidst many hours of open Bibles, prayer, tears, laughs, and encouragement.  God is gaining significant ground in many of their lives as they learn to trust Him more.  The gospel has been preached to and shared with many who haven't heard it.

Thank you
for your part in this ministry--praying for us and giving generously that we'd be able to minister on this dark campus.  We wouldn't be here without you!

Rum pum-pum pum
We have a little drummer girl on our hands.  For a long time, I've had a sneaking suspicion that Ellie has a really good sense of rhythm.  Being a percussionist myself and her dad, I'm aware that I'm probably biased, but I've really noticed how Ellie can seem to keep a steady beat along with me while I'm drumming to some music or with one of her toys.

My confidence in her rhythmic ability has only increased as she's acquired a favorite Christmas carol.  Check it out below :)

and Merry Christmas!

-Noah

My precious little girl is almost 3 weeks old and I have yet to really say much about her on here... I guess it's time! I started typing out the long version of her birth story, and decided... it's too long for a blog. So here's Josie's entry to the world- via pictures :)

Josie is doing great at home- it looks like we have another amazing sleeper in our family (we couldn't be more grateful!) Most people told us we couldn't be this "lucky" again :)  My mom was here for the first week which was WONDERFUL. Since she has left, Noah has had to carry a big load around here as I couldn't drive for 2 weeks, am not going upstairs/or downstairs and I can't lift Ellie. :(  We are doing quite well, all things considered, but it's been a big change! :) 

We have been home a week.

My sister and her two kids came down Friday night with my dad to pick up my mom and bring her home. 

That means my mom left yesterday, and we've been "on our own" for just over 24 hours.

We made it to church today, so I guess we're doing well :)

My sister made an epic video of their adventures here.... thought we'd share with you all - just for fun :)

Enjoy!