Upcoming Deputation Schedule

Now that the school year is finally starting to wind down, Darren and I begin a busy summer of planning deputations. Darren will begin his deputation this coming weekend at Temple Baptist Church in Little Rock, AR for the morning service and then Lynchview Baptist Church in North Little Rock, AR for the evening service. It will be nice to go "home" for the weekend and stay in the beautiful state of Arkansas.

We will be leaving Saturday morning to start our family vacation at Hot Springs Village with Todd Cox and his family. Darren and Todd decided that while we will be in Arkansas, they needed to plan to speak to churches. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we speak at churches to raise support for The Refuge. This will be a busy summer and Fall 2011 will be here before you know it and Refuge will begin its ministry.

God Continues to Bless Us

The Lord tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that "He knows the plans for us." He hasn't failed us yet. In December 2010, I completed my Master's degree in Secondary Education. It was a long and hard 3 years, but it was well worth it. The Lord continued to show us His will by revealing to Darren a calling. Darren felt called by the Lord to plant a church in the Talty/Terrell area and was confirmed when the Lord brought Todd Cox into his life. Todd and Darren both felt called to plant and church in the same area. To make a very long story short, we went through an almost 2 hour interview in December and then went through an assessment weekend by the BMAA Mission Directors in Little Rock, Arkansas. Darren and I were approved by the BMAA to be North American Missionaries to Kaufman County, Texas in April 2011.

As of right now, the church is coming together. Darren and Todd will both be pastors of The Refuge Church. They will both share the same decision making processes that are involved in starting a church. Darren and Todd will begin deputations in May to gain supporters financially and prayerfully. We are so excited about this new journey that the Lord is taking us on and we can't wait to get started sharing the love of Christ to the residents of the Kaufman County area. The above picture was taken by Beth at Westlake Park in Mesquite, Texas in May 2011.

How time flies......

Wow...it has been almost a year since I updated this blog. To be honest, having a little one around the house sure takes up a lot more of my time than I thought it would. Instead of making up for all the lost months, I am just going to update what little Daylen is doing these days.

He is now 18 months old and has discovered so many things. At this time, he can say and recognize "Mommy, Daddy, ball, doggie, Jesus, thank you, no, bye, and bubbles." We have taught him American Sign Language and he can sign, "more, please, and thank you." We recently discovered that he also learned how to put his hands together to pray and once Amen is said, he claps and yells, "yay!" He can now throw with both hands which makes his Daddy and Papa very proud. He has learned where the food is in both the kitchen, and pantry. He LOVESketchup, like his father, and will dip whatever he can in any style dip to eat. He loves books and has recently discovered that Mommy's iPad is much more fun to play with than his own toys. He has learned to push the apps that he wants and knows how to close the apps.Just within the last couple of weeks, he has discovered that lying down in the tub is better than sitting up. Lately giving him a bath requires a raincoat. He loves to kick his feet and make huge splashes.

Daylen started attending Mother's Day Out in the fall of 2010. He attends First Baptist - Mesquite on Tuesdays and Thursdays then attends First United Methodist - Mesquite on Wednesdays and Fridays. We feel that this has helped him to become more social and active. Christmas Eve 2010, Daylen took his first steps without assistance. He walked across the room to Beth and me until he grew tired of the new trick. In January 2011, Daylen had to have tubes put in his ears because he continued to get ear infections. A few weeks after the tubes were put in his ears, we started to notice that Daylen could keep his balance. It was no time before Daylen began walking. Since that day, Daylen has graduated from walking to climbing. He climbs onto everything. We are starting to find out that our house isn't quite "baby proof." Just when we think it is safe, Daylen reminds us that we forgot something.

Daylen has already been in "time out" four times. I started putting him in time out at the house and the very next day, he bit a kid at MDO and was put in time out there. Today, in fact, he was put in time out for biting me on the stomach when we were playing. It was hard enough that he left teeth marks. Most people say to bite him back to teach him a lesson, but I want to try a different alternative. If time out fails, I may have to resort to "biting" him back.

Darren and I are so blessed to have Daylen in our lives. We couldn't have asked for a better baby. He is well behaved and slow tempered. He is very social and learns new things every day. The church family at Friendship Baptist Church just love him to death! He is practically raised by everyone in church. He has a lot of grandparents. It is good to be in a congregation with people whom love my son just as much as we do. Daylen loves the ladies in the nursery. He has them wrapped around his fingers like he does most people. The picture above is the most recent picture of Daylen. It was taken by Beth at Westlake Park in Mesquite in May 2011.

Teeth and Mama

Daylen is 8 months old now and he has started sprouting another tooth this week. His first one came in at the end of his 7 months and now his second is coming in at the end of his 8 months. This week has also been a big week for him because he has started saying, "Mama." His first words were "dada" and he started doing that at about 6 months. It was such an awesome experience to hear him say, "mama." I am thankful that I was home to hear it instead of at work. I am hoping he does all his milestones this summer while I am home rather than when I am at work, of course, this would mean that he would have to grow up too fast.

Daylen's 7 Month Portraits

Daylen had his 7 month pictures taken today at Kiddie Kandids in Babies R Us (Mesquite). These are also late Father's Day portraits. The supervisor/photographer who took the pictures did an awesome job!! She liked their portraits so much that she ordered a 20 x 20 of them to hang in their studio as an advertisement. So in about a month go to the Mesquite Babies R Us and you should see Darren and Daylen's pictures hanging up.

Daylen's First Tooth

Daylen is finally starting to "sprout" a tooth on the bottom left side. He has been fussy this week and then we discovered why. His bottom tooth has started breaking through the skin where we can feel the top of it. He is at the end of his 7th month, so by the time he is 8 months old (7/3/10) he should have a tooth showing. Here is a picture I took of his tooth. The picture looks awful, but I had to take the picture while he was crying so his mouth would open wide.

Daylen's First Father's Day