Baby Girl Gimenez Quilt

I finished the quilt I made for our baby girl (if it's a girl!) The front has some flannel and the back is all flannel. It was a little hard to work with and stretched in places in shouldn't, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. I love to quilt!
There is one block flannel, one block chenille, and one block that is actually made of four squares of calico.
This is the back of the quilt! Now, I'm ready (quilt wise) for a baby boy or girl! 13 weeks left!!

Macedonia Annual Conference

We just posted an update on our family blog (there's a link to the right) about our annual conference with our mission board, but I thought I'd share a little more. We had a fantastic week!! It's so refreshing and encouraging to get together with other missionaries. It's neat how our kids also like to meet new missionary kids. Whether old or young, there's a common bond. Each day they started services at 10 am. They had singing, then missionary testimony time. All the missionaries were assigned a day to give an 8 minute update on their mission field, call to surrender and testimony, etc. There were many missionaries each day to give a testimony. Then we heard from veteran missionaries that are home on furlough. We love to hear how God is working on the field He has called them to. It was so encouraging! Then, we heard preaching from a different preacher everyday. Each Preacher did such an excellent job and was truly a blessing to the missionaries. Then we ate lunch that the church provided. Then, we had free time....which for our family is interepreted, School Time!! At 5:30 they provided dinner for us, and services began again at 7. In the evening they had more veteran testimonies, singing from visiting choirs, and then preaching. It was a busy week, but we're so glad we were able to go! There were mostly younger boys there this week (this is just a few of them) They all seemed to flock to Josh. One of them came up to Josh and said "I've missed you!" (Josh had seen him just an hour earlier!)

On Wednesday night they recognized the missionaries and presented them with plaques that have served 10, 20, and 25 years. There were two families there that have served over 30 years as missionaries. They made DVD presentation for them and gave them gifts. It was so moving and encouraging. On Thursday night Dr. Scott Caudill became the new president of Macedonia. Dr. Don Richards is on the right, He has been president for 26 years and has done such an amazing job. Dr. Caudill is on the left. Dr. Dave McCoy is directing the ceremony and meeting. He's the vice president of Macedonia and one of my favorite preachers...I think I posted about him in February!

For the "Changing of the Guard" service they had all of the Executive Board members kneel at the altar and pray with Dr. Richard, and Dr. Caudill. Then they had all of the missionaries present come and pray too.

We're so thankful to be a part of an organization that truly loves the Lord and wants to do His will. They stand on the Bible and their main goal is to reach others for Christ.

We ended the conference singing, "Christ is All I Need". Isn't that true! God is so good!!

Brenna Happenings

Brenna has been pretty busy lately. She's making a quilt for her baby brother/sister. She's using scraps from the baby boy quilt I made and from her quilt. She cut them her self and made a cute layout. It's turning out really great and I'm so proud of her!

Brenna had a little run in with a caterpillar yesterday. First off, let me tell you, we had a blow out tire in the motor home yesterday. It was so hot, so we stood outside for a little bit. Don't worry, we weren't by the road, we were safe. Anyway, after we went back inside, Brenna came to me with a cold cloth on her hand and said her finger is really stinging. I looked and I didn't see anything. Then, she cried out and said, "Mom, I just stepped on this and now my toe is stinging like my finger!" There was a tannish/orangish caterpillar on our floor! It was so hairy!! Brenna's poor finger and toe swelled and turned reddish/purple. She was really in pain for a while. A few hours later she finally started feeling better. We were worried! Mom looked up symptoms that we're to watch for on the computer. This morning she had red marks on her toe and several on her finger. Poor thing! We don't like those kinds of caterpillars!

St. Simons Island

This is Debbie Hoffman with Beth and Brenna. She is a dear lady from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia. She called a few days ago and asked if she could take us girls out for lunch. We said that we'd love to! We had such a wonderful time. She took us to Barbara Jeans on St. Simons Island. It's a very busy, very delicious place to eat. Everything we ordered, we loved. Beth really loved the Pumpkin Bread they served before the meal. She wants to get Mam-maw's Zucchini bread recipe and adapt it using Pumpkin. Sounds like a fun January project to do with Mam-maw!

After lunch we strolled around the pier and beach park, then she took the girls up inside the Lighthouse. The girls loved it and the tour to go along with it. They learned a bunch. I watched from the ground....someone had to take their picture!

Can you see them at the top? There were 129 steps to the top. We're so thankful that the Lord lets us meet people along the way that you feel like you've known all your life. Another blessing of deputation!

24 Weeks!

Tomorrow we will be 24 weeks pregnant....16 weeks left to go!! Wow! Time flies.

Baby Boy Quilt

I finished the baby's quilt...if it's a boy! Since we're not finding out the sex of the baby, I'm wanting to make 2 quilts, one for a boy and one for a girl. While we were in Fort Myers we went to JoAnn Fabrics with my MOm and Patrick's Mom to pick out fabric for the quilts. Patrick really wanted to be involved in the whole process, it was very sweet. He picked out these fabrics for the baby boy quilt and I'm so excited with how it turned out.
This is the back. It's a fluffy, almost furry, super soft material. I can't wait for the baby to come! By the way, this is goal #3! Yipee! Baby girl quilt is next!

Biscuit Throwdown

Have you ever watched the show "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay? Whenever we have cable we love to watch this show. Actually, we love the food network! Anyway, Patrick has challenged me to a throwdown for biscuits. We're going to see who can make the best biscuits, and our kids will be the judges. I found 2 recipes online and tried them both. They were both very good, but I'm looking for something spectacular. I have to beat him! Does anyone know of an amazing, fluffy, flaky homemade biscuit recipe?

2 Restaurants to try

We've tried 2 great restaraunts lately that you may want to try. The first may be a little harder to get to because it's not a chain. This is the Wee-Nee Wagon in Brunswick, Georgia. Can you believe the name? It was a neat Mom and Pop type place. You eat outside. First you place your order. There's all kinds of hotdogs. Brenna got a kiddie dog which is a hot dog with mustard and ketchup, I got a slaw dog, and Patrick got a bull dog (it has just about everything) Josh and Beth got burgers (party poopers!)
We ate there about noon on a Saturday and it was packed! And delicious!

Last month we ate at a "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" We loved this place. There building them in lots of places it seems. Josh loved loved loved this place! They have bags of potatoes all over the restaurant and you can smell them frying the fresh potatoes. MMMM! You have few choices when it comes to different menu items, but they have lots of options of what to put on your burgers. Brenna's hot dot was split in half, then grilled...Just the way my Mom likes it.

I love to try new restaurants and these were two great ones!

We had all of our paperwork!

We had our appointment at the French Consolate in Miami on Thursday. We had all of our paperwork! Yipee!! We turned everything in and are waiting for the next step....keep praying!

22 1/2 weeks

While we were in Fort Myers we had our ultrasound on Tuesday. Everything went very well. The ultrasound technician said our baby is very active! It was so neat to see the baby stretch and yawn and curl its' fingers. We have one picture of when it put its' foot right next to its' forehead! On Tuesday we had our midwife appointment. We love our midwife, Dawn Rachman! The baby's heartrate is in the 140's and measuring perfect. Praise the Lord!

Our Trip to Fort Myers

We had a great trip to Fort Myers! It was a quick one, but we enjoyed it so much. It was good to see family. These 2 pictures are reversed, but Brenna wanted to give Kaylie and Kiara her small violin. She was so excited to do this. The night before we left she dusted and cleaned her violin and vacuumed out the case really well. She was thinking about all the things she wanted to tell them about her violin.
I'm not sure if you can see this, but on the trip down to Fort Myers Brenna played the violin a lot of the way. Josh and I followed our new van in the car. It was so cute to see the bow go up and down.

On Monday night we had Grandma, Denise and Marc over for dinner. Mom's green pepper steak and rice was delicious as usual!!

We met Tab and her kids one day at the mall for lunch. This is Brenna with Ty. Ty has such a cute personality. He's a lot of fun to watch.
Beth and Grandma....thanks, Mom and Dad for letting us stay with you! We sure had fun!