Our lives got a little crazy September-December, as you can tell  keeping up with our blog has been no problem  haha.... So here's our 3 month recap :) We traveled to America for 2 months to have family and friends finally meet our sweet Evangeline. It was such a wonderful time together enjoying her and everyones company. Evangeline was a busy little girl! In September when she turned 7 months we had her baby dedication at church. She was precious! It only made sense to dress her in a traditional northern Thai outfit.

7 Months

Mommy and Daddy felt extremely blessed to be surrounded by family and church community while we asked God to bless and protect her little life. Here's a look into the letter we wrote to Evangeline that we read out loud at church....

Evangeline when we first found out that we were pregnant it was quite a surprise to us. Our lives had completely changed because we had just moved to Thailand to pursue God's calling to be message bearers of Jesus. When we found out we were pregnant with you- we had just begun language school, we moved into a new neighborhood and didn’t know a single soul. During that crazy time of transition God saw fit to bless us with YOU! And boy, have we been my overwhelmingly blessed! Our lives have become infinitely richer with you in it! With the excitement of this news, we began praying about what your name should be. It was such a beautiful process to pray over you and the name that God had already chosen for you. As we asked God to guide us in naming you, He gave us the name Evangeline Nora. Evangeline means good news and Nora means honor.  We pray that you would see the honor it is to be a message bearer of the good news of Jesus. Our soul prayer is that you would surrender your life to Jesus and follow Him anywhere, no questions asked, and even from a young age, you would be a witness of the good news to the world around you. 

Evangeline, you are unmatched in beauty and loveliness. The way God intricately formed you makes us certain that you will impact this hurting world with deep deep love and care. We promise to guide you through this beautiful messy existence called life. Along side of Christ, we will carefully journey with you through every stage, trek to the mountain tops and brave the deep valleys. We understand that you will need redemption in this life. Oh that you would know Christ and his majesty. He is mysterious, daring and adventurous.  

My prayer for you is that you would look into the eyes of the marginalised, hard-pressed and the overlooked and see beauty, see humanity-God’s intended image bearer for himself. I pray you never create borders in your heart, but instead that you would be a sanctuary of hope for all who seek refuge. I long that you enter into the mysterious places that God lingers and whispers your name, and that you would be fully satiated in him. I pray that you would know your utter beauty, and that a mirror would not be a confirmation of this truth. And if everything in life falls apart, I pray you would find yourself secure in our love for you. I look forward to growing together in this adventurous life. I love you, sweet Evangeline. 

As you mother and father we make these commitments to you:

We commit ourselves to each other so that our marriage will be a reflection to you of God’s steadfast and redeeming love.

We commit to seek forgiveness as your parents, because we know we will let you down in difficult places and will need to seek reconciliation with you.

We commit to modeling humility over pride. 

We commit to embrace an attitude of thanksgiving in all circumstances. 

We commit to celebrating you, always. 

We commit to teach you the truth of God’s Word in this ever-changing world.

And lastly we commit to slow down and savor life’s moments with you, to laugh together, to cry, to celebrate and give thanks to God whatever the circumstance!

All of our lives, we will love you Evangeline!

Later in September we also had the opportunity to get away with our family. We were blessed by a sweet couple who allowed all of us to stay in their cabin in North Carolina. It was sweet time having all of the cousins together! We did a lot of hiking, exploring waterfalls and enjoying nature! It was a much needed time of quite reflection with the family, sharing meals and stories of what God has been doing in all of our lives! It was truly one of our highlights when we visited the States!

8 Months 

In October Evangeline turned 8 months and she was really cutting some teeth and crawling around. She was on the move. She was crawling around like crazy... At one point when Mommy and Daddy were focused on making a "perfect" cup of espresso with the velvety smooth milk and all, as we were distracted we heard a little giggle and we caught Evangeline trying to climb the stairs! She was a quick one! She actually made it to the 3rd step! We ran as fast as we could to get her and she just laughed at us; as if she was thinking, "Hehehe Mom and Dad I know what I am doing, no fears here, just adventure." I think we are going to have our hands full with this sweet, adventure seeking redhead! All in all we had a lovely time back in America. When it was time to say our goodbyes again we had flood of emotions heading back to Thailand. Bangkok is home now and we love it but it does come with its ups and downs of missing family and friends. 

9 Months

 When we arrived back in Thailand Evangeline turned 9 months and along with enjoying watching this sweet girl grow we unfortunately watch her get her first serious dose of illnesses. No fun right, guys? Anyhow, we've all have covered and are plugging away at life, ministry, cutting teeth and learning how to walk! :)

10 Months

In December she turned 10 months! We can't believe it! She really is the sweetest little girl. She loves to be chased, she enjoys holding on and walking around the coffee table, she is learning how to "wai" which is the Thai way of saying hello. You put your palms together like you are saying a prayer and you slightly bow your head. AND she also gives kisses (the other morning she gave momma 6 kisses in a roll without any prompting- talk about a melting heart). She has never meet a stranger, she just loves everyone around her! Happy 10 months... Momma and Daddy love you!