Visits from aunts,evil bananas, and more!

Last week we got a surprise visit from Melissa (a.k.a. "Aunt Lala") who was flying standby through ATL heading to Managua. She didn't make it onto the Tuesday flight, so I got to spend almost 24 hours with her, and it was such a special time together! I am always for grateful for the little unexpected visits that God gives us!

Then Wednesday and Thursday "Aunt Lauren" came to visit James, and we had a great time! We had brunch at Cracker Barrel (where James learned to "play" checkers... haha), then we did some shopping that I had to do. It was so nice to have someone to share the time with! We even got to splurge for 1/2 price shakes during happy hour at Steak 'n' Shake! Yummy!

It was an all-around great week! And then Jim came home Friday afternoon, and it was so nice to know that he didn't have to go back out of town for work this week! What a treat it's been to have him home every evening!

Life has been so wonderful right now that I'm almost afraid that I'm enjoying it too much! I love being a stay-at-home mommy watching James grow and change, and even selling the house hasn't felt stressful recently. I really believe that if God is in this move (which I feel he is), then he will sell it in his own time. I am praying that he bring the buyers that will be most blessed by this house! The pressure to "sell it" myself is gone, and all I have to do is keep it clean, pray and wait! That's easy, right?! Haha!

Thank you, dear friends, for your prayers for our family. They are definitely not falling upon deaf ears. God is good, and his faithfulness to us never ceases to amaze me! I am eagerly awaiting the time when I can share with you the exciting, new plans he has for us in Spartanburg! Please join us in praying that he will be at work (now even before we sell our house and start looking there) preparing a family of believers up there for us. We will be farther away from both of our families there, and we are hoping that the distance will help us to plug into a church more quickly and find ways to serve and share.

We love you all very much! Thank you for you faithful prayers and friendship as we walk out our journey.

And without further a-do, here are the newest photos of James!

With love,

Jim, Ally & James-z ;) (that one's for you, Lala!)

"I like my Aunt Lauren!"
"She's funny!"

"And she lets me play new games!"

"Look at all the red circles! Can I hold one?!"


"Or maybe I like the black ones better?"

"Yumm! Cereal is tasty, and it doesn't leave those itchy red places all over me like bananas!" (We've discovered that James is alergic to bananas! Sad! One of my favorite foods!)

James likes bananas, but bananas don't like James... and this wasn't even as red as he got before it was all over.

Yep, definitely not going to be eating any more "monkey food"!