it's a ...

BOY!! That's right ladies & gents, we are having ourselves a little boy! His name will be Luke Cleveland Phillips. To give a little background on the name, we decided early on that we wanted our children to know where their names came from. So we agreed that we would give each child one Biblical name and one family name. Isabelle's name comes from my great-grandmother and Ruth, of course, comes from the Bible. For Luke, his first name obviously is the Biblical name and his middle name is from my great-grandfather. Mark likes to think that we named him Luke so he can say, "Luuuuke, I am your faaaaaather." Others may think that we are now "completing the Gospels," so to speak, in Mark's family with his brother & nephew being named Jon & Matthew. Nope, as cute as both of those are, those didn't factor in with the name at all.

People have also been asking us are we excited? scared? Yes & yes! Yes we are excited to have another child but we are also scared because this is another responsibility on our hands. Let me clarify that a little further ... another God given responsibility on our hands to make sure this little fella grows in the wisdom & stature of the Lord. That's a heavy responsibility & one we don't take lightly. So, naturally, it sometimes scares us to think of having not one, but two, children to raise!

In terms of the boy factor, we are both excited & scared, too. When we found out that we were pregnant with Isabelle, Mark was terrified! He didn't know a thing about girls or girly stuff - playing with dolls, dressing up, putting bows in hair, etc, etc. It was all new territory for him. But as soon as he held her in his arms, he was in love and he now knows the wonderful gift of a Daddy/daughter relationship. So it is with me & this boy thing. I am excited, of course, but scared too. The whole cars, trucks, mud & guns thing is all new territory for me. I don't think "blue," I think "pink." But it doesn't mean that I'm not excited, as I think some people have misunderstood me. It's just new territory for me & a new adventure, but one I'm very excited to embark upon.

My sister thinks I'm weird for thinking like this but, let me just tell you, boys & girls are VERY different! VERY. Isabelle has never shot pee across the room or my face, for one. After being in student ministry for 6 years, I know, know, know there are vast differences. Us ladies liked to go have coffee or sit inside the house & chat til 4 am. We liked to get dressed up & paint our nails and our idea of being adventurous was toilet papering someone's house, all the while giggling uncontrollably about it because we were so scared of getting caught. Mark & the fellas, on the other hand, would be outside making up games with soccer balls, throwing small balls of flame or shooting pellets at each other, having pizza eating contests at Cici's or daring each other to down an entire bowl of pico de gallo at Puerto Vallarta. Fancy coffee, inside, nails, chit chatting - that's me. Flame ball, eating contests, not much on talking - this is the new adventure I'm in for!

that's my girl

I'm sure these might find their way onto Izzy's blog but they were too cute for a proud dad to pass up.

Enjoy

There have been many moments in my life I've thought "oh man, if I'd just had a video camera to capture that moment for all time!" Thankfully, I don't have to say that about this moment...




Thanks Richard and Shawn for a great week of ministry! We had a blast and the people of Ayorou will remember you forever!

Richard and Shawn

Living Hope has been such a unique partner with our ministry in Ayorou. They first came in 2007 and helped as we laid a foundation of prayer. A team then came in 2008 and was part of our mass seed-sowing effort. Now, in 2009 they've sent two teams to disciple our believers. Richard was part of the 2008 team and couldn't believe how much a village could change in one year!

The guys did an awesome job and our believers were faithful to attend the sessions. Living day to day means they literally left everything to come and hear these lessons about their new faith.

As the pictures will show, these guys got to experience Ayorou in all of its glory!

Richard and Shawn got to see and even work a little on Ibrahim's millet farm.


The guys taught 2 lessons each day. Our believers came anxious to learn. They then went out each afternoon alongside Richard and Shawn to distribute cassettes in their areas of town.


We had 7 people pray to receive Christ during the week. These were all fruit from our believers sharing with their families and friends.


On their last night, Hamsatou cooked a delicious meal for all of our believers.


"hmmm, there's probably no amoebas in there...right?"


What trip to Ayorou isn't complete without meeting Nadia, the queen of Ayorou.


The Songhai men hold hands as a sign of friendship, 3 years later and it still creeps me out but Shawn said this was his favorite part of the culture.


Richard and Shawn showing Ibrahim how they roll in the BG!


Richard and Shawn with Hamsatou


At the river with some of our male believers after a baptism.


Richard said something about how American donkeys were so much cooler than Ayorou donkeys. One thing led to another....


The trip ended with a giraffe visit.