A Father's Wisdom

Dad came and visited this weekend! We had the best time together. Friday night we went and looked at a house that was for sale in town and ate dinner together. Saturday we went hiking together at some falls near by before dad had to head home. What an awesome dad God gave me! We had such a good time just talking about life and decisions that we will be making in the near future. For some reason, I had forgotten how wise my dad was. He was such a great listener and gave the best advice a person could give. He even brought Samantha (the family dog) with him to visit! The falls you see behind Mark and Dad is called "Machine Falls." Then we went and saw Rutledge falls (not pictured). The whole day was fun and relaxing for all of us. We were sad to see him go.

Aiden Joseph 'Joey'

Great News! Aiden Joseph 'joey' Abrahams was born on August 17th around 11am. 8lbs,90z, 20 1/4 inches long. We are so excited he is here! Andrea and Joel are doing great...very happy, but of course losing lots of sleep. They didn't find out whether is was a boy or girl, so of course when we heard Andrea went into labor early Sunday morning, everyone in our small group was waiting anxiously by our cell phones to hear what 'we'had. I am so blessed to be an 'aunt' now. I know Joel and Andrea are going to be great Godly parents. God has got great things planned for this little miracle. We love you Aiden!

Also...last Sunday was our 'Send off Sunday' for two families that our church (Cedar Lane church of Christ) is supporting as missionaries to Arequipa, Peru (just try to pronounce that one, it's tough). It was one of the best worship services I have even been honored to participate in. Very uplifting, although I cried pretty much the whole service. The songs were so appropriate and chosen perfectly. Greg preached about doing everything for 'His name sake.' The Smith's and the McKinzie's are leaving in just a few days for up to 10years to further the Kingdom of God in Peru. Both families have been here in Tullahoma for the past 6 months getting to know everyone at church better (or for Kyle and Larissa it was for the first time). Megan grew up in Tullahoma and had come back many times to visit with her husband Greg. Over these past several months I have grown to love both of these families very much, and felt especially close with Megan and Larissa. I am very sad because I will miss them so much but also very EXCITED for them in this new mission to which God has called them. I feel so humbled that God has allowed me to get to know these two women of God and their beautiful girls. I know, you are asking...'How can you feel/become so close to someone in just a few months....easy.....GOD! He knew exactly what I needed and gave it to me at just the right time in my life. I give him the glory! What an awesome God we serve!

First blog.....

Hello everyone. This is officially my first 'blog'. Several of you (you know who you are) have encouraged me to start a blog. So...here we are. I am 'blogging."
I thought it appropriate to start my first post with some general information about my life, family and friends...
Mark and I as you all know have just moved back to our apartment complex we lived in until last year when we moved to a house. Now we are back, but in an 'upgraded' version. It's TWO bedrooms now instead of one. It's small, but we are very happy. I am still working at the hospital, but I am what they call PRN. It's great! I still work 3 days a week and a few nights a month, but I am able to make my own schedule and don't work any weekends. Mark still works for the same company in town, and seems to really enjoy it. We just got back from an awesome trip to Oregon with his parents which was so awesome(pic shown above)! I saw parts of God's creation that literally took my breath away. We don't have horses here in Tullahoma right now. Since we moved back to an apartment we are going to wait a little while to figure out what we are going to do from here with our living arrangements. Both our birthday's are coming up so we will head back to Kentucky with our parents for some birthday fun! Jenny will give her yearly birthday bash for Mark, Rachel and Me. I guess that's it for now...at least until I get the hang of this whole blogging thing.