Reese likes using Daddy's professional microphone. He uses it for recording linguistic data, but took some time out to record Reese singing her rendition of "Twinkle Little Star", yes, only one twinkle! She also has a song called Ha-bee-dee-da, we think it is a form of Halleluiah, that she loves to belt out!

Thanksgiving this year was certainly different than any other i have had! We missed our families so much, but God blessed us and gave us a wonderful body of believers to spend an amazing Thanksgiving with. It was wonderful! In a country that doesn't have very interesting food, we were all able to band together and create a turkey, stuffing and mashed potato celebration. We met with other American friends and spent the evening talking about the things we were thankful for and getting to know one another better.


Reese spent some time with some of her friends Heidi and Petra on the trampoline!

I never thought in a million years i would be cloth diapering. But i have to admit i'm in love with it. Thanks to many people who have encouraged, educated and blessed me with diapers.

I first began tentatively investigating cloth diapering before Jamin was born. Disposable diapers here are alot more expensive than in the states and so i just wondered if it could save us some money trying cloth. I began researching on the Internet about diapers and emailed a few friends that i had known did cloth, getting their perspective and hearing about what they have used. after a little while i began realizing that the days of bulky prefolds, plastic pants and diaper pins are now a thing of the past. Instead a new generation of cloth has appeared on the scene. All in one diapers, that are not much bulkier than a disposable that easily are velcroed on and easily velcroed off.

As i researched i prayed, i asked God if these really were better for us to start using, to provide for us some of these new amazing cloth diapers so that we could save money very month and help the trash problem in this country. Well, God provided in amazing ways. First through a website called cottonbabies.com, a company that not only sells cloth diapering things but also provides grants for people working overseas to receive cloth diapers for free. We felt very blessed by their generosity and excited to start using the things they had given us. But, then my amazing friend Jessica decided that she wanted to buy me more! She bought me 14 bumgenius! diapers. check them out at cottonbabies.com. They are rated #1 in cloth and anyone who has used them raves about them.

And now it has come to be my turn! I can't say enough good things about this product. Even if we were living in the states i would choose cloth. Now that diapers like this are available, disposables don't even tempt me. the ease of using a bumgenius! diaper is just like a disposable and not only are we reducing our land fills, we are keeping our babies bum's clear of chemicals.
I'm excited about cloth and have done so much research i feel like a pro. if anyone has questions shoot me an email!

We have some new pets now! A pair of turtles just joined our family this week. Reese seems to like them and Ben is getting a kick out of finding the best way to care for them and create a habitat they will thrive in. Jamin and i just watch the goings on. We are still trying to figure out what kind of turtles they are, and so far they don't have names. If anyone has suggestions we would love input!

Here's my little princess ready for bed in her new pajamas!














After a long day we pulled out some new pj's for both of them, they looked so cute so i had to take their pictures.

We are finally back to our "home" overseas. It took even longer than expected due to complications regarding Jamin's visa but God knew we supposed to be here and nothing ultimately kept us from returning.

The past few days have been filled with seeing friends, unpacking and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Ben put up some clothes lines for me today and i was thrilled! It was cool enough to hang out on the balcony today and we all had a chance to relax.

Reese had some fun too. She found out that Jamin is a perfect sized baby for her stroller!

We finally got the go-ahead from the doctor to leave! We had already had everything packed but Ben wanted to weigh everything to make sure it was with-in the baggage limit...














It took a while but we ended up with 8 bags, 4 carry-on's and 1 guitar. Thankfully my parent's 15 passenger van could handle it all.


Here we are about to leave. It was about 4am, Reese was saying goodbye to Grandma on the phone and Jamin is hanging out in the sling - his second home for about a week.

Thankyou, Thankyou all for praying. Every one of Ben's tests came out normal and we have nothing what-so-ever to worry about! His heart is completely normal and is in perfect shape. We praise God for how he has answered our prayers, protected us and led us through all the things we had to do this past week.



In the mean time, we have had a wonderful visit with my brother Ben. He will be 20 soon and since he moved out of the house we don't get to see him as much as we see the rest of my family. It has been so good to catch up and hang out. Reese loves having him around too!






we had a great party at our church on the 31st. we didn't have time to dress up, but Reese got to play in the bouncy castle and Jamin got a ride in my AMAZING sling. i never had used one until a friend made one for me and convinced me to use it. i love it and Jamin does too! check it out!

Ben has had multiple test the past few days. At this point we haven't heard any bad news, so we continue to pray that the rest of the tests will come out normal and we will be able to leave on Sunday. Thanks for praying for us through this week. We have a great God and we are confident that He is at work in all that is happening.