Months 3-6

Once again, time has FLOWN by. People have always said that kids grow up too fast and I never really understood until now. Not to mention, he looks more and more like his daddy every day (if that's even possible.) One day I look down and Levi is the tiny little thing we brought home from the hospital and the next thing I know he is sitting up, playing with his toys, and gnawing on EVERYTHING with his three little teeth (more like 2 and a forth).

That's right, teeth. About a week before he turned 5 months, Levi suddenly sprouted his two bottom teeth. In. the. same. day. For anyone who crossed me during that day and the couple leading up to it I deeply apologize for my frazzled, sleep-deprived, un-showered self. I also apologize for my angry baby. You know how in Harry Potter, when Voldermort gets near, Harry's scar is more noticeable and it hurts? When Levi gets angry, his "angel kisses" on his forehead turn bright red. And then he screams about a minute later. Needless to say, on the day of the 2 teeth he looked like Harry Potter all day. And with his first two teeth coming in at the same time, who can blame him?

Months 3-6 have come with so many new things! We had Levi dedicated at church, we FINALLY got Levi to drink out of a bottle, and he has started loving his exersaucer. Along with new teeth, Levi has started and LOVES vegetables. From the very first time we tried baby food, he has gobbled it up. Carrots, squash, green beans, avocado, you blend it, he'll eat it. Hopefully this means he has inherited my love for vegetables (a mom can dream, right?). And, thanks to our amazing and generous church in Decatur, First Bible Church, I am now able to make our own baby food too! The church graciously gave us a Baby Bullet at this years Missions Conference. FBC you are way too good to us.

The same week that Levi got his two first teeth, he also started rolling over back to stomach, stomach to back, and sitting up. Thus, we also had to start unswaddling him cold turkey (did I mention we were monsters that week?) Thankfully, he has figured out that he loves sleeping on his stomach so the swaddling issue was not that big of a fight. Lately, he sleeps on his stomach with his bum in the air. It's reaaaaaally cute. (At least for now, at 18 it might not be as cute)




Finally, over the last month, we have made some positive strides in Levi's sleeping. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Levi was waking up 2-3 a night, and only taking 30 minute naps during the day, and that was WITH sleep training and letting him cry-it-out. Needless to say, we were walking zombies with short fuses (want to see your sin? Live with a baby that never sleeps. It is sad to see how selfish and angry I become when someone is interrupting my sleep) Thankfully, God graciously has allowed Levi to start sleeping through the night and it has been such an undeserved gift! Not to mention, he is a much happier baby when he is well rested- thus I am a much happier (and nicer) mama.

Of all of these things, the biggest thing that has happened in the past couple months was I left Levi for the first time. FOR ELEVEN DAYS. Go big or go home, right? But seriously, before my trip to East Asia I had only been away from Levi for no more than 2 hours. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I also realized it was mainly hard because Levi had become an idol to me and I didn't trust God to protect him. So with a heavy dose of the reality of my sinful state, I packed my bags and boarded that plane with my breast pump in tow. And wouldn't you know it, the moment I got over there I accidentally fried my breast pump and had to lay down yet another idol and (painfully) quit nursing Levi. Eleven days went by and Levi survived, I survived, and thankfully Mitch and my mom survived as well. Not only did I survive, but that trip was one of the best things that has happened to my perspective as a mother.

Each month that Levi grows just gets better and better. I have always been the first to admit that I am not much of a baby person, so now that Levi is getting older and taking on more of a personality Mitch and I both are enjoying being parents more and more. Thankful to have had 6 months with our little man and I pray we get to enjoy so many more!

The Next Steps

With another semester slowly heading towards a close, Mitch and I have some bittersweet news to share with everyone! From Mitch:

With all of the excitement and anticipation this time of year brings, Amy and I wanted to share a bit of exciting news about our ministry as well.  As many of you well know, one of my (Mitch) major passions as a Christian is to teach truth to fellow Christians regarding their faith and why we can be confident it is true and coherent.  That has continued to be the case during my last five years on staff with Campus Crusade.  One of my favorite things we do on campus as a ministry is give a weekly talk discussing the deeper things of God and his Gospel.  There are so many ideas floating around a college campus, and as Ravi Zacharias likes to say, “Ideas have the greatest of consequences… either for good or for ill.”  The battle for the mind and true ideas is fierce and never ending, especially on ever “progressive” college campus. 

A few months ago, with this in mind, Amy and I had a discussion as to where we would like to see ourselves and our family in 5 or 10 years.  Where was God leading us?  What giftings and passions had he given us that would lead us?  It is normal for a cru staffer to be asked to take on team leadership role after their 5^th year.  Is that something we felt led to do, or perhaps something else?  Amy asked, “If you could do anything, what would you want to do?”  Without thinking much about it, I responded, “I would love to go to seminary to teach theology and apologetics to Christian students so that they can be a light in an ever hostile world.”  We hadn’t really even considered the possibility before, but now that it had been said (and with the risk of over-spiritualizing a situation, said by the influence of the Holy Spirit), it seemed to make great sense.  I love teaching the material, but most of the time I feel woefully inadequate in my knowledge. 

Since then, Amy and I have prayed about it and have received great confidence in where our next steps will place us as a family.  We will continue to be in ministry, but it will look very different.  I have applied to and have been accepted at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary based out of Louisville.  They offer one of the best degrees in Christian Apologetics and worldview studies, and they have extension centers throughout the country for easy access to education.  While we will still be working towards careers in ministry, we will regretfully be leaving full time staff with Campus Crusade in September.  We have truly loved our time as full time missionaries, but our time of dedicating our lives to spreading the Gospel of Christ will never be over this side of Heaven.  All of your support has been and continues to be a great and eternal blessing!                                       - Mitch

  This has been such a hard decision for our family! We absolutely love the relationships we have made in Mississippi and through Cru (Campus Crusade). However, we are very confident in God's calling and we are also excited for this new step for our family. The degree program that Mitch is enrolled in has the possibility to do a good portion of his school work online. Because of this, Mitch and I had the freedom to job search in several different places and pray for God to open doors wherever he desired us. After applying and searching in several different cities, we have had two open doors in Columbus, Georgia. I (Amy) will be accepting a job to work alongside my dad at his business; something that I did in high school and I am so excited about getting to do again! Mitch has accepted a job offer at Calvary Christian High School to teach mathematics. The way that both of these doors opened up have left us extremely confident that Columbus is where the Lord is calling us to go as we work our way through seminary. We plan on moving sometime this summer before the school season starts this fall. 

We are so thankful for the many of you who have prayed for us and supported us during our time with Cru and we covet your prayers as we begin a new branch of ministry in Columbus!