Lots of Travels

Since I last posted (way too long ago) we have traveled quite a bit. We had the privilege of seeing our dear friend Scott Daniel get married to a beautiful girl, Maria, in Louisville. It was so sweet to be a part of this wedding. Scott was one of our first friends in Louisville and we have grown to love him so much over the 4 years we've known him. We have also spent much time in prayer for a wife for Scott and the Lord heard our prayers! We couldn't be happier for him. While in Louisville, Shep and I got to spend some time visiting with our friends Shelly and Atticus. Atticus is just 2 weeks older than Shep and was his first "friend." We have missed our weekly playdates with them!


The picture above is Shep (left) and Att (right) in August right before we moved to Pearland. And the one below is of them during our visit in November. These boys are growing up so quick!



From Louisville we headed straight to St. George Island, FL for Thanksgiving. This place is very dear to me since it's been a tradition since I was a kid for my extended family to go there every Thanksgiving for a week. We had a great time. Shepherd got lots of fun grandparent and Aunt Nikki time, and he also got to meet lots of extended family who love him. Dave's parents came up to the beach for a day, so Shep got to see them as well. It's pretty much not an option for us to be anywhere in Florida anymore without seeing both sets of our parents. It's funny how having a baby changes that :) Here are a few pics from the trip:

Shep and dad after a sunset walk on the beach.

Shep, his Nanna and me. Me and mom don't look anything alike, do we? :)

Shep and dad at an ice cream shop in Appalachicola. Dave's mom made sure to give Shep a few bites of ice cream and fulfill her role as Grandma.

Ainsworth family picture

We headed back to Florida for Shepherd's first Christmas and stayed in Keystone Heights with Dave's family. My parents came up on Christmas Day and stayed overnight, so Shepherd had a great time being constantly played with and loved on by both sets of grandparents. He also made out good with toys (of course) and only a few of them are loud, noise-making toys :)

Shepherd got to meet Jenny, a very dear friend of mine, while we were in Florida. Jenny and I met for lunch and I loved on her new puppy Riley while she loved on Shep. It was a sweet time. Jenny has been a faithful friend since freshman year of high school and the Lord used her friendship to bring me to himself. I am eternally grateful for that!

Jenny, Shep, me and Riley. Riley got far more attention from passers-by than Shep did. Funny for the most part, but the mom in me wanted to be like "Seriously people, I know the puppy is cute, but look how incredibly cute this baby is!" :)

Some more pictures of our Christmas fun...

Shep and his cousin Caleb in their matching Christmas PJs from Aunt Courtney. So cute.

Showing off his loot. And pretty excited about it.

Resting with Daideo (my dad, pronounced Dah-doh) after a tiring morning of opening gifts (i.e., playing with wrapping paper and bows).

We had a great time in Florida, but we are very glad to be back home to Pearland, where it is truly feeling like home! We are glad too to have no future overnight drives planned for quite some time!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

My good friends Sarah and Joy and myself took our brood of little ones to a local pumpkin patch last week. It was actually pretty cool out (for Texas) and felt very Fall-ish which, if you know me well, you know made me very happy. I also got to dress Shep in his first sweater which also made me very happy. He looked pretty darn handsome as you can see for yourself in the pictures below.

Shep planting a big wet one on mom. Joy was careful not to get my shoulders in this picture due to the fact that they were covered in slober, snot, and who knows what else. Oh, the joys of motherhood:)
Such a big sweet smile!

I love this one of Reid and Shepherd smiling together. I know this sounds a little sappy, but I hope they will grow to treasure this picture as a glimpse of the beginning of a life-long frienship.
(Of course, well before that happens there will be a lot of Shep rolling his eyes at me when I tell him he will treasure this picture when he grows up).

Reid is making his not-so-subtle move on baby Eliza. Well played, Reid.

This is about the best we could do with all of them together. Shep only looks slightly confused in this one, which is better than bewildered and downright angry as in many of the others shots.

Thought I'd leave you all with my favorite shot. Is it possible for this kid to be any cuter? I mean, seriously! I don't think so.

What's New in Shep's World

I figured it was about time for me to post some recent pictures of Shepherd. He is officially 6 months old now, which is crazy to think about! The time has truly flown by. Here is what he's been up to recently...

Eating yummy baby food like a big boy!

Playing with his B.F.F Eliza.

Hanging out with dad and his favorite stuffed doggy.

Showing off his sitting up skills. He is really getting to be a very sturdy little sitter-upper!

In other news, Shep's first tooth starting coming in last week and the second one followed just a few days later. He now has his front two bottom teeth coming up, and he's starting to look like such a big boy!

Job (and other) News

Dave has a job! He will be working as a case manager for an organization called Neighborhood Centers. He'll be working primarily with homeowners who were affected by Hurricane Ike last September, helping to get them the services they need to get back on their feet. He's not totally sure what to expect, but hopefully he'll get some good training when he starts next week! Thank you for joining us in prayer for this need. Your prayers were answered! We are so thankful for the Lord's provision of a job for Dave!

In other news, Shepherd is officially sitting up by himself these days - of course, mom or dad is close by to catch him when he inevitably tumbles over after about a minute or so. He is also eating lots of "real" foods these days, including peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, carrots, and apples. He doesn't seem too picky yet, but it's apparent he's not a huge fan of squash. It is crazy to think he will be 6 months old in a couple of weeks! The time is seriously flown by.

We're still living with our dear friends the Gangers. With Dave's new job, we are beginning to look at other housing options, but truly aren't in too big a hurry to leave. It has been such a blessing to live with Tim, Sarah and baby Eliza. Every night is like a big family dinner. Shepherd has Eliza as a buddy to learn from and be entertained by. We both have built in babysitters in each other, so we take turns going out regularly. Basically, fun things are more fun and hard things are made easier when you live with your friends. I highly recommend it! It certainly helps when the friends you live with are as hospitable and generous as the Gangers have been to us. The Lord has blessed us immeasurably in this move to Pearland through Tim and Sarah. Who knows...maybe we'll just stay put in their house for the next few years! (That was a joke Sarah - if you're reading this :)

Covenant Community Church is still meeting together weekly and our body is growing. We've already outgrown our first meeting home and are now meeting in a larger one. Although this can be logistically tough, this is good news for a church plant! Dave has been working on updating the church's website, so hopefully I can show off his hard work soon. Until then...

Update

We've been here in Pearland now for 2 weeks, so I guess it's about time I updated the blog. I am just now starting to feel like we actually live here and are not just on vacation. Nothing much has changed since we first arrived. We're still living with our friends Tim and Sarah and Dave is still job hunting. He's had a few good leads on jobs, the most exciting of which is for a librarian position in the local Pearland Library. We are prayerful that this is the job the Lord has for him (since it is pretty much his dream job to be surrounded by books and book lovers), but while we wait to hear back about this job he is continuing to apply to others.

We have loved getting to meet and spend time with the "core group" of people involved in Covenant Community Church. These are the people we have heard about and prayed for over the last couple months, so it has been very sweet to be able to put faces with familiar names. We spent this past weekend on an "Elder's Family Retreat" with the Davis' and Gangers in Campwood, TX. It was such a treat to spend a restful weekend with these friends that we love so much. Shepherd even had his first experience swimming (i.e., splashing his feet) in a river.

Shep also started eating rice cereal since we've been here (as you can see from the post below). He's taken to it quite well, except for the past couple of days since he's had a cold and can't breathe through his nose. Poor guy. A 5 month-old with a cold is about the most pitiful thing in the world.

That's about it for us. I'll try to be more regular about updating but, as you know, my track record is not very promising. We would love your prayers for Dave's job search, and specifically for this librarian position!

Shepherd Laughing

This is a quick guest post by Dave, Maggie's husband. She asked that I post this video of Shep giggling. We had just fed him Rice Cereal for the first time, and I think he was a little tipsy.

The Waiting is Over

Well, it's official. We are moving to Pearland, TX in 2 days. Dave and two other guys pull out with the moving truck on Monday morning, and Shepherd and I hop on a plane a few hours later. It's been a whirlwind of activity since I last posted. Dave does not yet have a job in Pearland, but many circumstances, the wise counsel of others, and the Lord's leading has encouraged us to go ahead and make the move. Some of these above-mentioned circumstances include the giant hole in the ceiling that fell in Shepherd's room, as well as the breaking of the air conditioner (both of which occurred within about 3 hours of each other). The combination of these events caused our apartment to be unlivable, at least until the air was fixed, but more importantly, they caused us to consider going ahead with the inevitable move to Pearland. We are grateful to the Lord for these events because through them, we believe He pushed us out of our apartment and out of Louisville sooner than we would have gone on our own. It was not the most fun way to be pushed along, but sometimes we need things like this to get our attention and move us in the direction the Lord wants us to go.

I'll try to post most regularly in the coming weeks as there will be lots happening and lots of new things to post about. Right now, we are heading out for one last Nord's Bakery and Sunergos Coffee trip in Louisville. I will miss this wonderful city!