Happy 4th of July (a little late)

Gracie and her cousin Madelyn at the church's 4th of July cookout

Fun in the Sun

Just a little update on what's going on here. We're officially in summer on Cape Cod with hot, humid days and a multitude of traffic due to all the tourists. It is amazing how this place can be so dead in the winter and so jammed in the summer. Thankfully, this summer, we know the back roads!

Gracie had her first swim in the ocean last weekend. We decided to have lunch at the beach, and Lou took her in for a dip. She seemed to enjoy it, and she didn't even fuss when she accidentally got a mouthful of salt water! Praise the Lord, she's an easy-going baby. We're hoping the next one has a similar disposition. Speaking of the next one, we had our 16 week check-up today, and everything is looking good! They also scheduled our ultrasound (we only get one here unless there's a medical reason for more). That will be on July 23rd; so, hopefully, we'll have some news as to whether it's a boy or a girl. We did hear the heartbeat again today. Lou recorded it on his mp3 player; if I can figure out a way to put it on the blog, I will. (Or if any of you know how to do it, please let me know).

Things at the church are going pretty well. We've had some new visitors, some of which seem interested in staying. This would certainly be an answer to prayer. Our nursery is rapidly growing with some of these new folks which poses the wonderful problem of where to put all the little ones. Our building is designed to have a nursery in the basement, but since the basement is unfinished pending finances, we've been using Lou's office as the nursery...

As always, there are challenges in the ministry and we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and grace as we seek to deal with these biblically. God is using these times to teach us and to help us to grow more dependant on Him.

Summer on Cape Cod

Here are some recent Gracie pictures. As you can see, Lou is trying to help her learn to crawl. She's working on it...We are enjoying another summer here on the Cape. It is so nice to be minutes away from so many beautiful beaches! Sometimes we just go and have our lunch there. Some of you should really take us up on our offer and come for a visit!!! We are all doing well. Praise the Lord, Amy has made it to her second trimester with baby number 2; we still have a few weeks before we'll (hopefully) know whether it's a boy or a girl. Lou continues to preach and shepherd the flock here on the Cape. We've had quite a few visitors, many of them vacationers but a few locals, too. We pray that the Lord might allow for some new members. We've gotten a few responses from the T.V. ministry and from a radio commercial that Lou did. We appreciate all of you who pray for our ministry here. Please pray also for our 4th of July cookout at the church. We sent out roughly 250 invitations to our church neighbors, and we hope some of them will come and find out what we're all about.

Our friend Diane was just here for a little over a week; that was a blessing and a lot of fun. She and Amy were helping Joanna, one of the girls in our church, with her wedding decorations. Speaking of which, Lou performed his first wedding ceremony for Joanna and Tim. We were glad, as up until that point he had only done funerals!

P.S. Thanks to those of you who posted comments; sometimes you wonder if anyone is reading this....=)

Beach Baby

Gracie is enjoying her first summer on Cape Cod. She loves digging her toes in the sand!!

We've Moved!

Since our last update, we've moved into a house (top photo with Amy's dad and Paul guarding the door)! We praise the Lord for providing it. We are still renting for a while longer (the cost of living is high here), but we are glad to have more room. As you can see, we had a lot of help! Paul, one of the deacons, watched Grace for us since he is still recovering from hip surgery. We are just about all settled in now, just working on the last tasks of hanging pictures and curtains. We're ready for company!!

In other news, Gracie is growing quickly. I'll post some newer pictures soon. She just had her six month check-up, and praise the Lord, all is well! She's growing like a weed--almost 19 pounds now! She's also sitting up and sporting two bottom teeth (they just came through the surface)! She is expanding her tastes and trying new fruits and vegetables, with peaches and sweet potatoes among the favorites.

Lou continues to study faithfully and preach the Word at the church. We have finally finished productions for our first broadcast on the local cable station, and the program aired today for the first time. This first program was Lou and John, one of the deacons, introducing Cape Cod Bible Church to the community by sharing who we are and what we believe. Next, we will begin taping Lou's sermons and airing them. You can watch the program live stream on www.c3tv.org BUT you can only see us on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. EST, Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. EST, and Saturdays at midnight EST. If you go to the site at other times, you will see the other shows they broadcast as well as some of the other local churches, most of which are very charismatic. We would appreciate your prayers for this ministry.

In March, Lou was in L.A. for the Shepherds' Conference. He enjoyed it very much, and it was nice for him to see so many of our old friends. The Easter service at the church went well, and we were glad to welcome some visitors. We pray for the Lord's work in these lives. Other than that, our time has been filled with packing and moving and unpacking. Hopefully, now that the move is behind us, we will be back to blogging regularly!

Gracie's First Foods

On Valentine's Day, Gracie had her first meal other than milk. She enjoyed her rice cereal and ate quite a bit of it! She's growing fast. We took her to the doctor's on Tuesday, and she's already almost 17 pounds! The doctor says she's doing great, and we praise the Lord for that. She is a very happy baby, smiling and making all kinds of noises. We thank God for giving her to us!

Last week, the Lord blessed us with an opportunity to go on vacation to New Hampshire. Craig Johnson, a TMS alumni, pastors at Christ Community Church in Plainfield, NH, and one of the elders in his church has a cabin that he offered to let us stay in for the week. We had a wonderful time of relaxation and were able to enjoy some extended family time. The cabin was on a pond which was frozen over and covered in snow--very scenic New England. We enjoyed some time visiting with Craig and Tiffany and their kids as well. We hope to go back sometime this summer.

Is it spring yet?

Amy and her best friend Diane having a little too much fun during Diane's visit from California!