A Full Few Weeks

It really has been a full few weeks around here!

We had the incredible privilege of spending a good deal of time with Flo & Nomayeza, our friends from South Africa. Our church is in partnership with St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Umtata, South Africa and both churches send & receive guests each year as the relationships continue to develop. When Joe went to Umtata a couple of years ago, Flo's family was one of the families he stayed with. I was pregnant with the twins at the time, so Flo (pictured below holding Grace) was especially excited to meet them. Flo is a gifted woman. She has three boys, works at an eye clinic, and is very involved in ministry at church.

Nomayeza (pictured below with Grace), is the youth leader for St Andrew's and is an amazing woman. She is the mother of three young girls, teaches middle school, and has begun a youth program at the church this past year. One purpose of this trip was that she & Joe could talk about youth ministry, share ideas, and engage in creative thinking together. We really enjoyed our time with these friends.


Joe ran the Colbert Half Marathon yesterday & once again ran really well. He beat his time from last year by three minutes and isn't even sore today. Our friend Chris ran it as well and came in third place. Way to go guys!


The kids & I went out to cheer Joe on down the home stretch. Thankfully the rain stopped long enough for us to be out enjoying the morning for a little while without getting wet.


Both kiddos have been sick with colds, but we have still managed to spend ample time outside. I really wanted to get some cute fall pictures of them, but Grace wasn't feeling well and wouldn't humor me...

I love Isaac's expression here.


Our usually happy girl was not so happy...


Isaac trying to make his sister feel better.


If we're not outside, their favorite activity these days is reading. As a teacher, I love that they are enjoying books so much and getting all this exposure to language. Now we just need to get a few new books as we have many of them memorized!!


Ok, ok, I finally had Mom take a few "belly shots" as some far away family members want to see how things are progressing. We just took these last night, and I'll be at 27 weeks tomorrow. I am continually amazed (and grateful) at how different this pregnancy is from the last. I am tired, but I feel fine and have not had any of the complications or difficulties that I had with the twins. What a gift! Now I just need to find some pictures from the last pregnancy so you can see the difference.



The biggest news is that our new little niece, Eden Elizabeth Holmes was born week before last! Everyone is home & doing well. I am thrilled to get the opportunity to fly to Colorado to meet her this next weekend. Don't worry, I'll take plenty of pictures to post. For now, check out the Holmes Family blog to see sweet Eden.