I'll be home for Christmas...

That's right we are headed to the cold northeast... New Hampshire to exact. My family is up there and we will be spending Christmas and ringing in the New Year up where the snow falls and the ice makes it impossible to get around. It will be fun though, we haven't been back since we got married 2 1/2 years ago and Jamen will get see the Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. I'm sure we'll have lots to tell you about when we get back but in the mean time may you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Here are some new pictures of Jamen...

Some friends are letting us borrow a jumping thing, for lack of a better term, for Jamen and it only fits in our bathroom door; which is why you have a lovely view of our toilet.

Can you guess what he's doing in this picture?

You're wrong if you guess messing his pants...he learned he can suck on his lips different ways and it make a popping noise. Thats what he's doing in the following pictures...

Clap Jamen Clap

Four days after we taught Jamen to clap, he has mastered this new skill.

(Sorry its so dark, guess we need another light in the room)

Jamens First Snow

It snowed all day here in Missouri, but Missouri snow fortunately is not as cold as Michigan snow or New Hampshire snow.  But it is colder than Georgia snow since we don't have any.  As you can see from the video Jamen wasn't quite sure what to think of the falling white flakes.  (and for those concerned we only kept him outside without a hat for 60 seconds and promptly brought him back inside)

Thanksgiving Pictures

This Thanksgiving we were blessed to be able to go to Uncle Ed and Aunt Merions house in Springfield MO.  We can't believe that we have family just over an hour away!

Thanksgiving morning Jamen joined the gang as we watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade

 Jamen was surprised at the disgraceful perfermance by the Detroit Lions

 After Thanksgiving Dinner we took Jamen to the Bass Pro World Headquarters in Springfield.  He loved watching the fish and the ducks in the different aquariums.

He also got to see Santa while he we were there!

But the highlight of the day for Jamen was the dog Nicky.  He thought she was the best thing ever...unfortunately Nicky thought Jamen was out to get her and spent the entire time hiding from Jamen.

sorry for how dim this video is...but I think it shows the relationship Jamen and Nicky have. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Prayer Letter

These Images can be viewed in their entirity by clicking on them. I wish there was another way but this is the only way that I have been able to figure out so far. Enjoy!

A Lion Says Roar

This is kind of out of the blue. Jamen is an excellent mimicker, and today I thought it would be funny to roar at him...and he roared right back!

I'm still little

Jamen went to the doctor on Tuesday for his 7 month check-up and he weights 15lbs 5oz and is 26 inches long. Don't let his small size fool you though, look at what he can do now...

He holds his bottle, which surprised us because he doesn't get a bottle very often.

He has teeth for chewing his bath duck.

He stands and plays in the saucer at daycare.

He climbs over things and...

Jamen jumps!

Homemade...

I made gluten free pizza the other night and it looked so pretty I had to take a picture (oh and it tasted good too). Besides my craftiness in the kitchen I've also starting making my own baby wipes and laundry soap. Both work very well and I'm pleased with both. If you want learn how let me know; I'm glad to share my money saving tips with you.

A Cute Pooh!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Quast for the Winnie the Pooh costume! I think Jamen had a fun time dressing up...

A happy Pooh bear

I've fallen and I can't get up!

Hey...where did my toes go?

Much better Mom!

This one is just cute...I have no other words...oh and he did this himself

Some of the lastest...

Jamen really enjoyed breakfast this morning!

Jamen playing with his toes

Jamen and I before church

New warm hat from Great Aunt Dawn, thank you!

100th Post is about Musical Kid

I've been trying to decide which instruments to teach Jamen first since he was first thought of. Recently I decided that djembe should naturally be his first instrument because he can get used to hitting it at a young age. Once he can start walking I'll get him a small one of his own, but for now he likes daddy's. Enjoy



This is the first take that didn't work so well...

Take Two

Crazy 10 days!

So much has happened, where do I begin? For starters, Jamen has slept through the night for the last 10 days. Now, I'm not talking 6 hours, I'm talking 12 hours at a times and he did it on his own. Its been amazing! He's crawling, as you saw in our last post. He's cut a second tooth, turned 6 months, started solid foods and went camping for the second time. Our little baby is growing

up!

I'm ready to eat!

Oh gosh, here it comes...

Yum!

The boys warm by the camp fire

Just me:-)

The following pictures are some of my favorite. Jamen was suppose to be taking a nap, however, I left the tent open by accident and when I came back to check on him this is what I found...

Oops...lost my pacifier...

guess I better go get it...

oh good, its right there...

Oh Hi Mom, just getting my pacifier...nothing else:-)

Well...Hello To You Too!

Jamen has been trying to crawl for weeks now. Monday morning, while Jen and I were getting ready for class, he finally "figured it out". We were so happy that we were both on hand to witness this first step of forward motion. Ever since he made the discovery he has been having so much fun going where he wants and getting what he wants. This video is of him on day 2 of crawling. Watch the whole video for a surprise ending!!

Where Do We Go From Here

Hello Brothers and Sisters in Christ. This is not intended to be a one-time post but a theme that will be revisted many times over the next couple of months. We had our "field fair" here at the Missionary Training Center just over a week ago now. The field fair is where representatives came and shared the needs around our world specifically relating to those that had never heard the gospel.

While Jen and I have not made official decisions or plans, we would like you to be praying with us as we feel like we are praying for a couple of fields specifically. Would you join us as we pray for our future involvement in either the Paraguay, Bolivia, or Senegal fields? We will supply more information on each of these fields respectively. Each has very real needs, and each presents unique challenges.

We hope to have made our decision along with our sending church First Bapist St Marys GA no later than Februray. The sooner we decide the better, but we do not want to rush into a field without first following Gods lead. Thank you all for your prayers and support...they are what keeps us going

Do we like our kid or what?!

Jamen trying out his high chair

Jamen under the couch

Jamen under the couch and pretty happy about it

Jamen still under the couch and happy!

I may be small, but I do alright for myself

For the Grandmas (and Great Grandmas)

Just because

The other day Jon and I were getting supper ready and when we turned around there was Jamen, off his blanket and on the other side of the room.

He then proceeded to scoot himself backward under the table.

For a while he had this surprised look on his face, like "how did I get over here?" We didn't get any pictures of him smiling but he was pretty proud of himself! He's not crawling yet, but he rolls and scoots.

This is Jamen after a nap. He's not awake yet, can you tell?

Its been raining these last few days and I had to dress Jamen in his little rain coat. He was fine

with it as long as he could still get at his hands.

Books, toes and sweet potatoes

Jon and Jamen reading Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss before nap time.

Jamen loves his books, he also likes eating them!

Jamen recently found his feet, he hardly lets them go now.

He gets more and more cute everyday and he's always trying something new.

We went to the local farmers market last weekend and I bought the biggest sweet potato I'd ever seen. I could hardly pick it up with one hand because its so big!

It's 12 inches long and weighed a little over 2lbs. I cooked it up and made it into baby food for Jamen. It filled 5 ice cube trays, hope he likes sweet potato!

So while Jamen has been enjoying his books and finding his toes and we've been to the farmers market and are constantly being challenged in our classes. Last week we looked at worldviews and how people think and this week we have a lot of intro class. They are wetting our appetite for whats to come in the future. We'll keep you posted!