YOUR ARE INVITED!!!  

What:   Wright Family Send Off

When:  Tuesday, Sept 2nd   6:30pm - 7:30pm

Where:  10320 Watterson Trail

             Louisville, KY 40299

Why:     We are officially leaving Louisville on September 3rd, and would love to invite you all to come send us off with love and prayers.  This will give us a chance to say good bye, fill you in on what we are doing, and hopefully you guys will pray for us and truly “send” us to Central Asia.  We will have something like this in SC and TN probably, but for our Louisville friends, this is our good bye!

Please come - we would love to see you, say good bye, and be prayed for as we leave on our new big adventure!  There will be desserts and, of course, EB will be crawling around ready to charm your socks off!

Today is EB’s half birthday!!!  I can’t help but look back and remember all of God’s blessings over the last few months, and I would like to share just a few of them with you:

1. EB!!!!  She has been an AMAZING blessing to us - indescribable!

2. EB’s feet - the day she was born and we saw her feet, we didn’t know what to think - maybe she wouldn’t ever walk - we really just didn’t know.  Now, 6 months later, her feet are PERFECT - she handled all of her treatment better than most adults would have, and DB and I saw God do miracles through the whole process!!!

3. EB’s health - when EB was two weeks old and we found out she had lost weight and had to start bottle feeding, it was devastating to me.  Now she eats like a champ is a perfectly healthy weight, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

4. Money - as many of you know, we were planning to leave the country as soon as EB was born.  When she was born all of that changed because of the treatment she needed for her feet.  The church DB was working at had already found his replacement, and I had planned
 to leave my job at Sozo as soon as the baby was born.  This meant no jobs, no insurance, and no place to live, as we were living in a parsonage.  And yet GOD PROVIDED!!!  Right away Sozo offered me my job back and I was even able to take EB with me once DB found a job until they found a replacement for me.  What a blessing!!!  We were able to stay in the parsonage for another 2 months until we found a place to live.  DB found a job where he has learned SO MUCH about web design and the internet - stuff he can use for many years to come!  A family offered to let us live in the apartment over their garage until we figured out what was going on.  I could list time after time and instance after instance that God provided for out needs - and what little faith I had every time that things would come through - when will I learn to trust???

5.  Timing - we thought immediately after EB was born that this would delay our departure for Central Asia for years (maybe even forever).  DB applied for ministry jobs all over the country - and even though things always looked like they would come through, nothing did.  We prayed that if we could make it to Central Asia sooner rather than later for God to close the other doors - and they all closed.  EB’s treatment went so well, we found out there was a doctor in Dubai that she can see, and lo and behold, our delay is only 6 months!!!  Once again, I tried to solve all of our problems myself and God provided and provided and guided us.  

6.  DB - I have loved DB since I met him - he is so amazing and we fit so well together.  But through my pregnancy, c-section, and everything we have been through the last 6 months I have seen him be strong, courageous, have faith way beyond mine, take care of me and EB with such sweetness - my love for him has grown and deepened daily!!  What an incredible man - he has such a heart to serve our family - I am overwhelmed by how blessed I am to be married to this man!!!

I know this post is long - it is more for me to reflect on God’s goodness than anything else.  This list is about half as long as the reality of God’s blessings.  In six short months, DB and I have been on a roller coaster, and the blessings have been all the more sweet for the hard times.  When I see EB’s feet I think of the verse “How beautiful are the feet of those that bring the good news.”  Those perfect little feet are going to carry the Gospel to a place where it has rarely been heard and be our number one bridge to relationships and ultimately sharing the Good News!!!  Thank you to those of you who have traveled this road with us, helping us carry our burdens by being there for us, praying for us, and continuing to love on us!  

Funny girl EB is always a little bit sleepy in the mornings. She wakes up with a smile and a burst of energy, and then spends most of her morning sucking her thumb with her head resting on her blanket until after her first nap. Our little night owl comes alive in the evenings laughing and talking playing little made up baby games that DB and I don’t understand.

As I have mentioned before, she is eating solids. (Only rice cereal right now). Thanks for all of your suggestions about this - we are not ready to move on to any additional foods yet, but I am thankful for all of your advice. EB gets SO excited about her cereal - she is like a little puppy dog wiggling and reaching for the spoon with her mouth wide open, then she clamps that pretty little mouth around the spoon and gets the food off - and the she opens her mouth for the next bite. Notice there is an important eating step missing. NO SWALLOWING!! The cereal just sits in her mouth and pours out while she reaches for the next bite. She might think this is some sort of game, especially since I laugh hysterically the whole time.

The crawling is also coming along nicely - she can definitely cover space in some sneaky ninja like manor. And she can do the typical crawling stance, but the crawling stance is just for fun - the actual movement takes place with thumb in mouth and tummy never leaving the floor. Whatever works for her, right?

And my final EB development update - she is a little windjammer. She “talks” quite a lot - when I am on the phone she is particularly vocal, so if you want to hear her talk just give me a call!

Cloth Diaper Update: I went to the store Katie suggested here in Louisville Mama’s Hip, and they showed me how to use BumGenius. I bought one and we are going to give it a try today.

Please notice that EB is sitting up UNASSISTED!  I thought she would never sit up - until one day she just did!  Now, I will confess she doesn’t sit that way for long before she takes a nose dive to the floor, but she is sitting nonetheless and I am so proud of her!!!

So I am thinking about cloth diapers.  Where we are going, there are disposables available, but I am thinking cloth still might be the way to go.  I will definitely be making my own baby food (thanks Holly for the Super Baby Foods tip and Aunt Kathy for the food grinder).  It seems a little out of my realm of reality to even be considering this, but here I am, wanting info about cloth diapers.  Please don’t tell me anything about diaper services or what it was like 30 years ago using cloth diapers (mom) but I need real, current day information and advice on using cloth diapers.  And what it would be like when you don’t have a washing machine.  Feel free to tell me I am crazy to consider this and not to do it.  If anyone in Louisville uses cloth diapers and wants to give me a live demonstration, let me know.  

 

Friday night EB kept looking longingly at DB, his dad, and me as we ate dinner - as if she wanted our food! Then she started pretending to chew as she watched our food.  It was pretty cute - and we decided it was probably time to start feeing her some solid food.  DB mixed some rice cereal and we found her baby spoons and that little girl ate off of that spoon as if she had been dong it her whole life.  She thinks she has to chew it like we do, but other than that, she is a pro now!  We tried it again last night, and it went great!  

How long should she eat rice cereal before we begin vegetables?  Should she be eating cereal after every meal or just once a day right now?  What is the recommended time frame on this?  To be honest, I am not really ready to start feeding her food - I was perfectly happy feeding her a bottle 4 times a day for the rest of her life.  But she is clearly ready for something new, and so I am going to go with the flow and allow her to grow up before my very eyes.  The doctor said to wait until her 6 month appointment unless she was acting like she wanted to eat, and at that time I thought she would never be interested in eating.  

SO right now we are just going to give her a few spoonfuls in the evening for practice, but she doesn’t seem to need a lot of practice.  OH - and what about her little digestive system - what should be we expect now that she is eating cereal - what should I be watching for?  I am going to call the pediatrician tomorrow, but I WELCOME any info anyone wants to share!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!  From the day we met, I have known you were an amazing man.  I love your “go big or go home” attitude.  I love that you asked me to marry you the first time we met, and that you are so romantic - that you read my favorite book and that you watched my favorite movies just to know me better - I love that even though we knew each other such a short time before we got married, we fit together so perfectly.  I love how passionate you are about the Word of God and how much you love all kinds of music.  I love what a great Dad you are - how much you love EB and take care of her.  I love how you love me and take care of me.  There are so many things I love about you I couldn’t begin to list them all -  I am so thankful that I get to be your wife and get to spend the rest of my life with you!  Happy Birthday - you are truly the greatest!!!

DB’s Birthday is Saturday, so EB and I have been working on a special present for him all week.  Here are my favorite outtakes- and don’t worry, I am not ruining any surprises - DB doesn’t really like surprises and we share one computer, so anything I do can be easily found anyway, and I couldn’t resist posting these - I think they are pretty funny.  Doesn’t she look like a big girl in this outfit?  DB bought her this outfit the day we found out she was a girl - on his birthday last year!

This week EB has begun to display a true love for music. One night DB and I were jamming along, me on the guitar and DB on the djembe, and we noticed EB breakin’ it down, just dancing away. It is pretty much the cutest thing she’s done yet, so of course we had to film it for you guys to see. (I am so proud of my little girl, dancing before the Lord!! Do you think the fact that she is a) dancing, b) naked, and c) loves worship music will cause us problems in Central Asia?)