All the leaves are brown...

Although we haven't had any more snow since our last post, the temperature is consistently colder and we know that winter is fast approaching. We have been getting out earlier to defrost the cars before work and are wearing our winter coats. When the sun comes out though, it's beautiful! We do hear though that the days will be really short soon. Brian and Nathanael have had much fun weatherproofing the house and cleaning up the leaves and plants for the winter!

Sealing up the window

All the leaves are brown...

Playing after raking

We have a few praises to report...

Nathanael has stayed healthy and lice free over the last few weeks. Last week we learned that a little girl at our babysitters had head lice (I checked Nathanael's hair everyday for a week and even used the lice shampoo in his hair... and didn't get it in his eyes! We also washed and dried "dawgie" that the little girl loves to play with at the sitters) and this week learned that a little boy there has H1N1. So far, Nathanael has been healthy despite the fact that our pediatrician won't have vaccines for H1N1 until Nov 9.

We are continuing to pray that God will be most glorified in the building in St. Johnsbury. Brian talked with a missionary (Frank, for all you who were here this summer) in St. Johnsbury who told him that the church that received the building offered him space to use for ministry as they are wondering if they will be able to use the whole building. We are not sure how this will turn out, so keep praying with us! We are going to visit Frank again tomorrow.

We've also been busy going to conferences and had many opportunities to fellowship with other believers in the last two weeks. I (Allison) went to the first ever Iron Sharpens Iron for Women conference in Connecticut. I enjoyed worship led by Anthony Williams, large sessions led by Elisabeth George and Shaunti Feldhahn and two smaller sessions about busy lives of women and The Ministry of Motherhood. I'm looking forward to having time to read after the baby comes.... (ha ha)

The next week Brian went to a conference on Finding Christ in the Old Testament and heard from D.A. Carson. He also got to meet more local pastors and other Christians at the NETS Institute for Church Planting. He was even invited to sit in on some classes.

On Thursday, I had a day off from work (in exchange for working the weekend). We drove to Waterbury that day. We are still considering this town for a church plant. We had lunch in downtown (and even saw some women praying, but they were from a town about 30 minutes away). We looked at a few homes there as well. Please continue to pray for us as we are really hoping to know where we will be going soon.

Thursday night we went to the CareNet Pregnancy Center banquet while Nathanael stayed home with one of the teenagers from church. We're not sure who had the better time! The banquet was very nice, as well as sobering. The speaker presented many facts on abortion and he was followed by our pastor, Terry Dorsett, challenging us to give to the center. We were also able to gather info to share with the girl who stayed with Nathanael who has a 15 yr old friend who will be having a baby in January.

At the banquet with Shirley and Jane

Nathanael had a great time at home!

On Saturday Brian attended the GMBA Annual Meeting. He was encouraged by meeting more new pastors from Vermont and new missionaries that will be moving here in the spring from NC. We are praising God for the things he is doing here in Vermont!

See how excited Daddy is! (Nathanael took this shot)

Sunday we attended a service to welcome a new pastor to Montpelier. We are so encouraged that God is bringing more people here to Vermont to serve him. If any of you seminarians are interested in serving here, check out this website. You can visit the state and stay with us if you'd like! :)

Leaves are falling

Nathanael enjoying the pumpkin that CC gave him

The scenery here has been beautiful in the last two weeks! We have enjoyed watching the reds, oranges and yellows appear! We didn't quite expect our first frost so soon, but now the leaves are falling. Snow is in the forecast and we are well aware that winter is on the way! We have already pre-paid more to heat our house this winter than what we paid for all our electric bills in NC last winter, but we are very grateful to the Lord, Ms. Hoover who saw fit to give to the Lord, and the GMBA as we are living rent free in this home. We've started researching snow tires and things to do to winterize our home. Some of my patients have been sharing pictures of their homes in the snow last winter trying to encourage, I think, and not scare me! Of course I wouldn't be so concerned except that I am a HOME health nurse which means I have to DRIVE all day to patient's homes. (Prayer request #1) In the meantime, though, we are enjoying the beautiful views!

Daddy's hike from Saturday

The view from the top of Camel's Hump

(obviously before the morning fog cleared)

Nathanael blending in

The most beautiful tree

which happens to be outside our living room window

I must say however that our family is going to miss the State Fair this year... For all you Carolinians, please go to the fair and eat something fried, some barbecue and hush puppies from the mill and think of us, get a ticket to see Third Day (as the tickets are the cheapest you'll ever find for Third Day, you'll get to worship the whole time and recall that your friends were once there in Dorton Arena worshipping with Third Day the last time they were at the fair), watch a pig race for Nathanael and squeal louder than the pig and visit the petting zoo, but make sure to wash your hands after your visit! :)

In other news, we heard from the Christian Science church this week about their building. They did not select the Green Mountain Baptist Association to be the recipient of the building, but we did come in a close second... The group that did receive the building is serving in St. Johnsbury already and they felt that group was more appropriate for their building. Certainly we were not really thrilled about the outcome in our own eyes, but we prayed that God would be most glorified as a result of this decision. In our Thurs night women's Bible study, we have been studying though 1 Samuel and the life of David. Providentially, a few weeks before this decision we looked at David and his desire to build a temple for God. Although that was a good idea, it was not God's idea. God had something even better planned for David. God was going to build David a house, a lineage from which the Savior of the world would come. God was most glorified according to His plan, not David's. In the same way, we believe that God will be most glorified in the decision not to get the building. This brings us to prayer request #2. Do we ignore St. Johnsbury now and just focus on Waterbury, or do we continue to consider both towns for church plants in the future? We will be spending more time in Waterbury in the near future, exploring the town further. Please join us in praying for these two towns: Waterbury and St. Johnsbury.

Nathanael's model pose

The pregnancy is going well. I passed my glucose tolerance test on Tuesday, all my blood counts were normal, the baby's heart rate was regular and I did gain 5 lbs since my last visit (yes, I am happy about putting on the pounds). We have been very blessed already by friends who have shared with us. I posted earlier about a mission team who brought gifts on their trip. I also went through clothes that a friend from NC, Melody and more that my sister's friend, Ashley, GAVE us for our little girl (we are counting on that "We think it's a girl" from the u/s tech). I thought I would post the picture of the wardrobe our unborn daughter already has so that you can get a little perspective of how really blessed we are! The other photos are pictures of 28 weeks from both pregnancies. We are grateful so much for these friends!!

A small selection of clothes

Nathanael at 28 weeks

Baby sister at 28 weeks

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Colossians 2:13-14

The week of firsts

Nathanael, has had the one of the most eventful weeks of his life! Last Thursday, we headed up to Burlington to catch an airplane, that was unfortunately too late for us to meet our other plane in Philadelphia. Needless to say, we were very disappointed, but the lovely airline made arrangements for us to catch another flight Friday morning. Instead of catching the sunset from the air, we drove over to Lake Champlain and watched the sunset and even got to play on a really neat playground!

Lake Champlain

The sunset with a view of NY state

Daddy having fun on the playground

Friday morning, our alarm clocks went off at 415 and we were on the road by 5am back to Burlington to meet the airplane. I realized last weekend the challenge of traveling with a child! Trying to say goodbye to Daddy (who of course is his favorite), get out all the papers you need to check in security, take off 2 sets of shoes, carry two carry-on bags and get a two year old through the metal detector without touching the sides, oh and being 6 1/2 months pregnant was a big challenge!! We really appreciated the overhead page for passengers with small children and the wait before they allowed anyone else to get on...

Getting ready for the flight

An informed passenger

He was afraid of the cockpit every time I got him in there

Nathanael did great on his first flight ever, although the plane was too big for him to see out of the window when he was buckled in. We got to ride a bus in Philly between terminals, which he loved as well, too! The airplane to Richmond was smaller, so he could see out the window, but he slept most of the flight. He was so excited to see Grams, Papa J and Holly at the airport. We then went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.... YUM YUM! We had just enough time to see GG before going to my cousin's wedding rehearsal.

Practicing

Nathanael was not the best at the rehearsal, so I was really nervous about how he would act during the wedding, which was also right in the middle of his naptime. Saturday morning we rested and thankfully Nathanael took a nap on the way to the church!! He was such a handsome kid! He loved holding hands with the flower girl, Savannah and even snuck a few kisses! After performing so well for pictures, they walked hand in hand down the aisle, fell at the end, got up and Nathanael said, "Let's sit down." So that's just what they did (for a few minutes). Nathanael ventured to the other end of the pew, picked up a tissue, came back down and wanted to help Savannah clean her nose. After I heard the word, 'boogie' I grabbed him and we sat together for the rest of the wedding. My cousin, Lauren, was beautiful, as always and we enjoyed a good Southern meal of barbecue, chicken, hush puppies, corn fritters and sweet tea! (well, I really enjoyed it... the only BBQ and sweet tea we've had in Vermont has come from my kitchen) These are some of my favorite pictures from the wedding.

Sweethearts with the Bride

Hugs

Stealing a kiss

Happy kids!

Wandering off...

Cuties

Mr. Handsome

Lauren, my sister Holly, and me

Our beautiful Grannie B

The Wedding Party

The Carriage Ride

Robin, my other cousin, and me

My mom and Nathanael

Our quick trip was soon over, but CC got to come back with us! We picked up Brian's mom and she flew back with us to VT (a big help in taking care of a 2 year old on the plane). Nathanael spent everyday with CC being spoiled by presents everyday! He also slept in his big boy bed all night every night while CC was here. We have the bed set up in the same room as the twin bed, so CC "rested her eyes" each night while Nathanael went to sleep. We were really worried about how well he would do when she left, but for two nights in a row, he climbed into his big boy bed, listened to Daniel's music and went right to sleep.

Happy outside the cockpit

Big Boy Bed

While CC was here, Mommy got to take a day off during the week (and worked her first weekend since starting her job here). We took advantage of the time together and went to Burke Mountain and St. Johnsbury on Friday. We ate at our favorite diner in St J's, showed CC the church there (which we should find out later this week if it will be given to the GMBA) and drove to the top of Burke Mountain and enjoyed the changing leaves! We are close to peak here and the colors were beautiful!

Before our drive to Burke

top of the ski lift at Burke

the view from the top

CC, Mom, Nathanael climbing the rocks

a blue trail in the winter...

the most beautiful colors!

Rt 2 pulloff near Danville, VT

We are looking forward to our next visitors after baby sister arrives! :) Call to reserve your days if you want to come! We'll hopefully let you know later this week about the church in St Johnsbury! Keep praying!

Our Adventures

We are about to go on another adventure... so we thought we could update you on our most recent outings. We want you to be praying for our future adventures, too. Brian and Terry turned in the proposal to the Christian Science church in St. Johnsbury today. They will begin looking over the proposals and deciding to which organization they will give their building. We will know by October 1st.

Since we returned from our summer vacation, we have been very busy. Brian has been putting together curriculum for the new SS year, will help in training new workers this weekend and is having profitable counseling sessions. We have taken a few hikes to area mountain peaks... the second much shorter than the first! We went to a little bonfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Nathanael has had a few play dates and Mommy is growing along with baby sister. Tomorrow, Nathanael and Mommy are headed to VA for our cousin's wedding, in which Nathanael will be the ring bearer. Meanwhile, Daddy will prepare for his first of 4 out of 5 weeks of preaching. CC will be flying back with Mommy and Nathanael on Sunday. Hope you enjoy the photos of our recent adventures!

Our Destination... Spruce Mountain

2.1 miles with 2 babies in tow... what were we thinking?!

We took many breaks on the walk up...

Inside the firetower

The view from the top

The Bonfire

Helping Mommy bake

Mommy was proud of this train!

This hike was much easier!

Lake Groton from Owl's Head

Kettle Pond from Owl's Head