The ultra sound of our baby boy! Amazing!

It’s a BOY!!! Yep we just found out it’s a boy and we are both over the moon! We could not believe it as we had ourselves convinced that it was a girl. We had the girls name picked out and everything! We are just thrilled. Now I don’t care if I end up being one of those gushing dads but if you’ve ever seen an Ultra sound or heard the heart beat you will know how surreal and earth shaking it feels to know that, that’s your son! Wow!! So we are just ecstatic and thrilled for what God has for us in the next few months.

Annie just after we found out it's going to be a boy!

While there is sadness over missing Africa there is a nothing like the thought of a little guy arriving in a few months to fill our hearts. While we wait we are getting set up here in Lansing, MI. We have decided to rent here till we go back next year. We are thrilled that God seems to be opening up opportunities to share about our year. The church, URC has been wonderfully welcoming as we fit into life here. We are trying not to be those annoying folks who come back from a life changing experience and compare life here to life there at each and every opportunity. So far I think no one is too annoyed… yet.  However I sense God has been giving me a message to share with His Church here in the U.S. I sense God is making an invitation or a plea to his people to come rescue Him on the road to Jericho. I sense God is looking for more from His people. This message I find challenging and convicting in my own life. So we ask you to specifically pray about our next steps of sharing this and pray that God would use us for His purposes State-side.

A growing bump. Name ideas? Anyone?

Prayer

1. Like I shared, please pray for the wisdom and the message to share what God wants spoken through us as we now focus on mobilizing, recruiting and support raising for the work in Africa.

2. Pray for our new teammates as they leave the U.S. and hit the ground in South Africa. They are replacing us and will be our co-laborers in the field. Check out their blog here. Jason and Cara Mitchell’s Blog.

3. Thank God for the ways He has provided for us as we find our place here. For me, Allan, Chicago was the only American life I knew and being here is definitely different from Chicago. I am grateful for these changes yet there is always adjusting.

Thanks for your prayers, support and friendship. We love you.

Follow Close, Follow Hard, allan and annie

P.S. As this is the end of grilling season and we are enjoying some Summer cook outs I thought some of you might enjoy this short video of a BBQ I took at one of the young adult gatherings of the Powerhouse church in South Africa. They take a lifestyle of worship seriously, singing while they BBQ. Watch for Joshua in the pretty frock.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 5:22 am and is filed under Allan and Annie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.