Missions Interest Group

Over the past 5 and a bit years, we have enjoyed meeting with friends in Memphis who share a passion for missions. We've enjoyed sitting a the feet of many seasoned missionaries. We have seen several come and go. We have friends we met at these nights who are now serving God in Bolivia, Italy, PNG, Cambodia, within the United States, and other places I am sure to be forgetting. Others are in different stages of preparing for missions -- team formation, fundraising, vision casting. Soon we will have friends in even more corners of the world - Rwanda, Angola, Togo, Peru . . . perhaps New Zealand and Asia.

For the last MIG of this school year, Ileene and Evertt Huffard prepared an awesome Arabic feast. And feast we did! We enjoyed a great time of sharing, prayer and fellowship after the meal.



We will miss our times with people like this. I believe that God has used these times to shape us and lead us on our journey towards Wollongong, Australia. And I am confident that He will continue to allow these people to encourage us even when we are scattered throughout the world. God is good!

Park Avenue Baby Shower

We were showered with love and gifts for our baby girl again on Sunday. Park Avenue threw a wonderful baby shower for us. We are so blessed by the love and generosity of so many people. And what amazes me is the outpouring of love for us and our child that they will soon send on our way to Texas and then Australia.



We have many adorable outfits . . . perhaps we can outnumber diaper changes with outfit changes! Maybe not, but it could be a close call.

Wow ! ! !



The more baby stuff we accumulate, the more we anticipate her arrival. At the same time though, we realize that this is a truly special (and short) time where her place is to grow within me. Her arrival will be here before we know it.

Our life is extremely busy right now. Our days are literally packed full between work, fundraising, meeting with people for the last time, packing, cleaning etc. We did manage to reclaim our living room from the books and boxes. It might just be for a short time but it sure looks a lot better than it did.

Missions Resource Network Annual Dinner

On April 18th, our team joined three other mission teams, MRN staff and supporters in Dallas for the annual MRN benefit dinner. Jason's family also drove from Abilene to have lunch with us. We enjoyed our time together, and our time with our team mates, and meeting other people in the same preparation process as we are in right now.

God continues to encourage us through many people.

Here is a picture of our team taken that evening.

Showered with love

Pregnancy is full of surreal moments for me. Mostly in the fact that this is actually happening to US. It was surreal when staring at three positive pregnancy tests, and surreal during the weeks that I KNEW a life was growing within me, but there was no physical evidence (well . . . aside from gagging and sleeping!)

Surreal to create a baby registry, to buy baby clothes, to play with names, to see her ultrasound picture on our refrigerator every day. Surreal to be startled by my profile in a mirror! Surreal but wonderful.

Tonight my co-workers showered us with love, blessings and gifts for our baby girl. I am overwhelmed by their excitement and generosity. It was surreal being the guest of honour at a baby shower!








These girls deserve extra credit. They're sharing the office bathroom, and putting up with not one, but TWO pregnant gals in the office!

Almost 26 weeks

Not quite Paradise . . .

Well, its that time again. Time for boxes, and packing tape, u-hauls and goodbyes. May 29th we will load up the truck and head for Austin, Texas to spend around four and a half months with our overseeing congregation - the Round Rock church of Christ.

We expect a time of growth and rich fellowship while with them. It still hasn't quite hit me that we will also welcome our first child into our family during this time. This could be some level of denial because all signs (increasingly) point to 'child within'. Seriously, she is already so fun to watch on the inside . . . and we can't wait to have her in our arms. We know that we, and she, will be greatly loved on in Texas. We pray we can give and love on others, too.

Our plan is to leave the United States from Memphis. In October, we plan to come back 'home' to Memphis, enjoy a week or two here, and then head down under to join our team mates in Wollongong.

These are surreal times. Sure wish Myron or Kenrick were around. . . packing would be a whole lot more fun with a little Jamaican cheer!

Memories from Paradise

Memphis to a piece of Caribbean paradise in just 2 hours and 47 minutes. Our time in Jamaica was everything we expected - pure R&R and a little bit more . . .

Upon arrival in Jamaica we were taken to the concierge lounge where we learned that we had been upgraded to the River Suites - a new room at Sandals Negril - and that our butler would soon be arriving to take us for in-room check in. Our room was gorgeous, the view - spectacular.






And Myron and Kenrick, our butlers . . . what can we say? Before this week, I was always a little weirded out by the whole butler thing, but not anymore.




They were great. Anything we needed, they were right there with it, or even a few steps ahead of us. Every morning, our beach chairs were set up under a palm tree, with a "Reserved for Mr & Mrs Whaley" card, towels and a cooler of drinks. And this is pretty much where we planted ourselves for the entire vacation. I am pretty impressed, if I do say so myself, at the way I "landed". I tend to be a little like a bird, "flying" here and there, either in my mind or body. It is hard at times for me to just land, settle, relax. But not this time . . . I did well. I had "landed" within an hour of being on property.






Our days consisted of reading and sleeping on the beach chairs, and swimming in the lazy river pool or the Caribbean. I was a beached whale in its truest form. :) We did take a couple of walks down the beach each day. We had a cell phone to call Myron or Kenrick if we needed a snack, or wanted to make dinner reservations or anything else. Whatever we ordered arrived within 5 minutes with flair and a smile, and often carried on their head.












It is sad, but true, that all good things do come to an end. But the renewal we received, and the good time we had being together in such a beautiful place, will be one of the sweetest memories I have of our life together pre daughter.

Beautiful Saturday

I wish I had a picture of the beautiful spring day we woke up to today. I went for a walk this morning. It was cool, but sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Beautiful.

Today we also began our child birth classes. We chose to enroll in a Bradley Method class here in Memphis. Our instructor has had both a hospital and a home birth. I first talked with her when I was only 5 weeks along in our pregnancy. She has been a great resource for us already, and what I appreciate most about her is the way she presents information. She does so with conviction, yet with understanding that we will make the decision that we feel is best for us. She encouraged us to go ahead and enroll in this class even though we might not get to have the birth experience we are hoping for. She has stressed the importance to be as mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for both a natural birth AND a surgical birth. She helped bring me out of the pit I felt I was in when we learned that a c-section was a possibility by reminding me that 1) it could change, and 2) if it didn't there are things I can do to have the best possible surgical birth and recovery. And she has graciously allowed us half tuition as we will be here for only 6 of the 12 weeks, and has even contacted Bradley Method instructors in Austin who would be willing to take us on for the last 6 classes. We are not die-hard-must-do-it-one-way-birthing-kind-of-people but we are excited to learn what we can.

And happily, tomorrow, we get to fly out for Negril, Jamaica. We are headed back to Sandals Negril for one last travel agent hurrah! We get to stay for $25 per night - all inclusive. That, along with a frequent flyer ticket, and an amazingly cheap ticket for Jason can't be beat. I think the maternity beach clothes might be more expensive than the trip itself. I spent the last three weeks or so trying on my summer clothes each week, thinking (in vain) that they would 'work'. Well...lets just say they didn't 'work'! :) We are SO looking forward to getting away. By no one's fault other than our own, we have been so outrageously busy. The R&R is much needed, and what better place to get it.