Spencer Mark

 Carrie and I  (39 weeks)

The three of us, just moments after Spencer was born.  He was born 6 days late on July 3rd. at 11:06 AM, weighed 9 lb 3 oz, and was 23 inches long.  He has the biggest hands and feet!  His feet barely fit on his id card, they were each 3 1/2 inches from heel to toe.  When Carrie's water broke one of the doctors told me how she tells the weight of the baby, and she said Spencer would be between 7 and 7 1/2 lbs, hmmmm????.  Carrie wishes Spencer would have been that small!

Spencer with the hat one of the nurses made for him.

While Carrie recovered fine, Spencer had abnormal blood work which indicated an infection.  They treated him with antibiotics, but his blood work was worse on Saturday morning, so he was transferred to Children's in Columbus.  A LOT of people were praying for him, and praise God, the prayers for Spencer were answered, and he is now home and healthy.

Ok, I haven't been paying attention and didn't realize that it's been ten months since I last posted!  However most of you who are subscribed to this are local so you know what's been going on, but for the rest I'll try to give an update.

In the past year we have...

Met Kaylee...our cute-not so little anymore-niece...

Celebrated Carrie's birthday with her family...

Added onto our house...

Gone to Myrtle Beach for vacation with Carrie's family...

Been in a friends wedding (Carrie was anyway)...

Had our first real Christmas tree, with ornaments from the U.K. and Africa...

Shoveled more snow off our steep driveway than I care to remember...watched this buck run around our back yard...

Gone hiking in the snow...

Celebrated our second anniversary...(Wedding picture, not a reenactment).

Visited family in N.C. (here hiking Whiteside Mt.)...

and for things we don't have pictures off...

One year of college down for me, while working full time for Dad...Carrie's new job as a RN...planting a garden at Johnson's house...mowing the yard...planting flowers around our front porch and in planters for the back deck...buying a computer for school work only to have it completely crash after 3 months...our church finding a new pastor...God testing us by letting so much stress add up on us until we realized that we can't handle it, that all God wants is for us to trust Him to fix things.

The weather has been wet and cool, sure can't wait for it to warm up about 10 degrees.  This next week is going to be another busy one, work every day, and school most evenings, the quarter is almost over, that will sure help a lot! 

Well, Carrie's done with her work for this evening, so I think we're going to relax and play a game!

Time to update!

Ok, it's been over 8 weeks since I last posted, but sorry to say I don't have much to say at this moment. 

I'm now back to work full time, and I'm trying to get a few odd jobs around town preferably building decks.  Carrie and I built a large deck behind our house, turning a huge mud hole into a nice area for family and friends to gather for home made ice cream(-:  I enjoyed the project so much that I want to build more, so this weekend I have a job putting up deck railing for E's former boss.

This Fall I'll be going back to school, only this time I'll be studying Business Management at a local technical college.  I'm hoping to broaden my job market so I can get out of manual construction labor, seems that I should stay in construction since I've been in it for 12 years now, but I enjoy business much more!  I also think that this is what God wants me to do at this time.

Guess this hasn't been much of a post, today has been a rough day, we were supposed to go to Kings Island today, instead I ended up working all day in the sun/humidity/rain/wind along a busy street.  By the time I got home I was completely soaked and cold as the temperature dropped from 90 to 75 as the storms rolled through.

Hello and Good Bye!

Looking back...just a little...at billboards!

I was just looking back over some pictures a few people took of things in the area and found one I liked.  I know Carrie posted it soon after we arrived, but I thought I would post it again for those who didn't see it then.  She held this little guy while his mom was having her eye's examined.

One of the comical things around here are the billboards!  Some are to graphic to post, but I guess they get the message out to many who can't read.

There's a salon on every street! 

Not sure what this one's all about, looks like she's at least holding a Bible, and she's not wearing a mask, so maybe she'd be ok! 

Oh yeah, now those makes me want a coke???????

Exactly what do they serve here?  Just how fast is that food...before it's cooked? 

One another note!  We've had a great "last Saturday" in Monrovia!  This morning we went to an orphanage and played and sang with the kids for a few hours.  Then this afternoon we drove around town shopping for crafts and fabric, before walking out to the end of the port road for ice cream!   At 7:30 we watched "Night in the Museum" on the aft deck.  Now it's about time to head for bed, Sunday is going to be a busy day packing!!!!!!!

As for exactly what they do eat??? Racoon is sold here. 

Oh yeah, some guy handed me counterfeit money today, as soon as I held it up to the light he knew what I was doing and started looking for a legitimate bill.  Really, how hard is it to tell when it's been printed on plain white paper?