A little catch up work...

It's been a while but a few things have been happening...

June 13 we headed to Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention.

We stayed at Disney's Fort Wilderness. Upon arriving at check-in, we were greeted with a big HOWDY by the staff. My darling Emma looked at me and said, "I could never work here because I will NOT say HOWDY." We just busted out laughing...she keeps us in stitches. Tuesday evening our dear friends from seminary, Jim and Beth Collins and their children, came to campground and we grilled burgers and swam. It was nice to catch up with them. 10 years has been a long time :(
Wednesday am we decided to head to Typhon Lagoon to cool off. We had about 5 hours until the rain came in but we had to head back to convention anyway.
Thursday...long day. We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 8am. We watched the opening and then headed straight to Space Mountain (before line got too long.) Emma loved it so much that we rode it again that night.

We had a wonderful day at the Kingdom. Even though the crowd was large, we were able to do all that we wanted. Thursday night we had reservations at the Hoop De Do Musical Revue.  Oh My Goodness...it was AWESOME.  We haven't laughed that hard in such a long time. Emma was completely engaged and laughing out loud...

After dinner, we headed back to the Kingdom to close it down. We watched the parade and got back to the camper around midnight...exhausted of course. GREAT FAMILY DAY!!!

Friday we packed up and headed home...Boo.

But I left for CENTRI-KID camp on Saturday...not much time to process Disney because we left the church at 5am. That's right...am. Whoa! I'm not the morning person but we made it. Had a great week of camp. Thank you Ms. Debbie and kids for a great week.                                                                                             

We did hear from our adoption agent today. There have been a few problems with Jack Jack's family and their lack of official identification. This comes from a country where Jack was born in a mud hut with no doctor, there are no jobs, no food, etc...but the family needs "official IDs." Our faciliator is working with the family to make sure this is taken care of quickly. Keep praying God continues to move our paperwork...Here's a new pic of Jack Jack we downloaded from the ministry's website. I can't wait to get my arms around him again...      

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Today...P and I celebrate 13 years of marriage. Thank you Lord for a wonderful husband that loves me unconditionally. We've had ups and downs but I wouldn't trade it for anything. We had 3 years of seminary...talk about ups and downs; served great churches through youth/children ministry, and now senior pastor at a place we love, FBC, Live Oak. God has always been faithful to us through all the rocky roads and we have learned the importance of leaning on each other and seeking His guidance first. I'm excited about what God has for us in the future...Thank you Lord for building our marriage on You. May we never loss sight of You.

Race Day Arrives

The setting was the 36th annual Georgia Blueberry Festival in Alma, GA. That's where Mimi and "Uncle Lee" live. Emma has been running off and on with me for a few weeks, preparing for this race...and she would not disappoint. But first, Phillip had to run his 5k. What once was a specialty of his, the years have increased while the miles have not. And boy was it hot for 8am!

With a great Ipod playlist of classic 80's hits, it was a fast race that only set the stage for more in the future. He finished 20th overall in 22:41.But the day was really about Em and her first race.

The gun fires and we are off...the first race adrenaline rushing through the system and daddy has to remind those short legs that she has a whole mile to run. A funny moment occurs about 300 yards into the race when Em asks, "We can stop if we want to, can't we?" The competitve daddy says, "No we can't stop! You want to win a trophy don't you?!"So the encouragement starts sooner that I thought.

She did great and really began to see how a race is run. I pointed out a little boy in front of her and told her to go catch him. She passed him, and with a proud daddy by her side, Em strided it all the way through to  her very first road race in 9:48!

The best part as a dad was cheering her every step of the race and seeing her finish. When her name was called for a trophy, she sprinted to the table. We are so proud of her.

Here she is with her trophy as one of the top 10 student finishers. She finished 10th overall!

Not sure what it means...but we are excited :)

I received a facebook message that Jack was taken to Port Au Prince to work on his adoption paperwork. We have NO clue what that means but we are rejoicing that something in Haiti is happening. We are learning to rejoice in every small step. Each step is one step closer to having Jack home. Here's a picture taken last week. Oh my goodness...I'm ready to be able to wrap my arms around him.

BTW: Yes he has on a girl shirt and yes I did buy him boy clothes, but he's at an orphanage with 45 other kids so who knows where "his" clothes are. But look at those captivating eyes and gorgeous smile...does it really matter what he has on?

Besides, he doesn't like to keep his clothes on anyway...boy are we gonna have to work on that :)

In other news...

Our amazing daughter, Emma, has yet again taken on a new challenge. She wants to be a runner like her daddy. Phillip and Em have been running in the evenings and she loves it. I'm not sure if she likes the running or just the one on one time with her daddy. Phillip says she's pretty good. I was able to catch them the other day. They even seem to have the stride... below she was doing her best to finish "strong"

Surprise...10 years

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary at FBC, Live Oak. Our church surprised us with a reception after the evening service. It was a great time of fellowship and lots of laughter. Several told "tales" on Phillip from the past 10 years and we were showered with lots on encouragement. Who would've thought that when we left seminary in May of 2000 to be Associate Pastor of Students/Children that 10 years later, we still be here and now serving as Senior Pastor. God indeed has taught us alot over the past 10 years. We are so grateful to serve a God that will never leave us or forsake us. We are thankful that He has given us His word to cling to and the promises and examples in it. Looking forward to many more years of service at FBC, Live Oak.

Here's a few pics that we took that afternoon.

We come a long way baby!!

Whirlwind...

The dossier was mailed...hip, hip hooray! We have completed our part of paperwork, now it's up to the Haitian government to keep things moving.

Emma update:

Last Wednesday, we had our AWANA awards night. It was so much fun. Emma completed her second book and got her 2nd book ribbon. Now she will get the summer off before starting the next book.

On Thursday, Emma had her cheerleading exhibition. Wow! She did a great job. We are very proud of her.

She is definitely our favorite cheerleader :)

Dossier on its way tomorrow

A big Thank You goes to my beautiful sister, Stacie. She hand delivered our documents to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago to get all the proper stamps for the Haitian government. I received the documents back from her today. I spent about 2 hours today processing and double checking everything. Now, they are ready to be copied. We must make 4 copies of everything and then express mail the entire package to our adoption agent tomorrow. They are waiting the documentation in Haiti. Whew!!! What an experience putting together a dossier has been. Lots of prayer, time, energy, frustration, tears, joy, etc went with this experience. Thank you Lord that you have been faithful to us through this process. God never ceases to amaze us. Continue to pray with us that there will be no road blocks through this process. Thanks for praying with us.

Jack eating his favorite meal: Peanut Butter (mumba in creole)