21 weeks

I know many of you have been looking for a new picture of the pregnant me...so here's 2 for ya! This one is from the front. An intern told me I didn't look pregnant from the front, what do you think? One thing for sure is that I am losing my waistline...no more cute curves here, just straight up and down. (This makes for difficulty with non-elastic waisted pants.)And here's the routine profile shot. I didn't think I had changed that much until I went back and looked at the last two pics.

Bath Time!

Counting My Blessings

1. Right now, it is 77 degrees outside and cloudy...so nice!
2. My hubby comes home tomorrow!
3. Caden has been really good while Daddy has been gone!
4. Baby boy in my tummy is active! (We're talking flips and even hiccups)
5. Our internet is working again (it was out all weekend), so I feel "connected" to all of you again!
6. Our houseworkers have taken good care of Caden and me while Brett has been gone!
7. Caden has been taking great 2 hour naps and sleeping until 6 (much better than 5:30)!

Of course, I can't really "count" them all...but these have been the sweet blessings from God during my 10 days apart from Brett. I know it's because so many of you have been praying for this time and I have truly felt the presence of the Lord because of it! If I could name each one of you that has said a prayer for us, I would definitely count you as blessings in my life!

A Lion Says...

lion
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....or a zebra or giraffe.

Take A Guess

Any guesses on what this is a picture of?

Does this help?

That's right, my child has learned how to put peanuts into the small spaces of "mega blocks".

It does't matter which side you prefer, he can put them in both. And yes, he thought of this all on his own.

FYI: This is post #250. Hope this makes you feel 250 times closer to us. ;)

Fun With Caden

I've had requests to see more of Caden in his rainboots as well as more pictures of our dog...this is what I came up with. I wanted to post this at the highest quality, but our internet isn't that good. Thanks for eveyone's prayers during our time with Brett...things are going well.

I Love My Shoes
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I Couldn't Resist

I've been waiting all day for this video to load correctly so I could share it with all of you. I've been teaching the cradle roll class for Caden and Caleb this summer and I'm seeing results from my teaching. Very exciting!

NewWord
Uploaded by emersonstogo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT & USA

Our team celebrated the 4th of July early since everyone would be getting ready for their survey departure (they left early this morning). Brett's birthday is Saturday and unfortunately, his family will not be with him to celebrate the exact day so I surprised him with a cake at our "July 4th" celebration. Thank you to someone at GracePointe who sent us the Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix! I made my own icing (a first for me!) as well as decorated the cake (another first). It turned out super yummy! Don't feel too bad for Brett, this was already party #2 for him. His mom threw him a surprise party while we were visiting Nashville back in April and invited family and friends. Friendship, cake, and presents were all shared. A side note for those of you who have not looked at the calendar yet....Brett's birthday is 7-7-77.....this year it's on 07-07-07 and his is turning 30. Brett says he doesn't feel old yet, but when he can't do what he wants on the basketball court then he will acknowledge that he is getting old.

Cute 4th of July Little Boy Our Little Family

Pretty Soon He's Gonna Want an Xbox

His favorite playlist right now is "Caden's Videos", which includes a heavy rotation of Little Einstein. It may be entertaining and educational, but somehow Caden's daddy never gets to listen to his iPod anymore...

Active Baby

Yesterday I was able to feel the baby moving with my hand on my belly. Later that evening, Brett was able to feel a tiny kick as well. So exciting! It is very different this time around knowing the baby is a boy. Some of you may not know that we did not find out if Caden was a boy or girl until his birth. During the pregnancy, that was a little difficult (clothing, room decor, etc), but when he was born my attitude about it all completely changed. I would have waited again, but being in Africa and not having access to all the baby stores we decided it was best to find out. I found myself feeling different about this baby last night as I said to Brett, "He usually kicks twice in the same place" as if he's already a little person with us and I'm learning his habits. I'm sure some of it is that this is my 2nd pregnancy, but I'm enjoying getting to know this little guy even before I meet him face to face.

17 weeks and...

Here I am at 17 weeks...not a lot of change, but wearing more maternity clothes these days simply because they are more comfortable in this hot weather. However, they tend to hide my belly a little because there's still plenty of room in my tops for future growth.We returned yesterday from our trip south to the Baptist Hospital in Tsiko (cheek-o) for our prenatal exam, ultrasound, and tour of their facilities. We will be posting more about that experience on our Africa Blog next week. We were blessed to see our new little one on a portable ultrasound machine. We very clearly saw a head, eye sockets, arms, legs, spine, and a healthy beating heart.However, the visiting gynecologist that did the ultrasound for us has not done prenatal ultrasounds for awhile and he was not trained to do measurements on the machine. He did say that if he was betting man.....he would bet that











Brett feels like he saw boy "parts" very clearly before the computer's battery died on us...I'd say I'm 90% sure it's a boy. We'll be requesting another ultrasound at our next visit and hope to get a better picture (and technician). But till then, we're only looking at boy names....

Our Little Fish

We enjoyed a special team swim day at the Hotel Kara Pool this weekend. Caden is learning to balance with his swim vest and even venturing away from Mom and Dad occasionally. He has finally figured out how to keep his mouth closed and head up so as to avoid inhaling water. We took a few short video clips and put them together for you to get a small glimpse of our little fish.

Little Fish
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A House Full of Friends

It's great to have a living room that is packed, everyone fellowshipping and worshipping together. This past Wednesday we had our 6 teammates, 12 interns, and 2 former Togolese missionaries jammed into our living room. It was a great time, and we even got to Skype with some good friends back in the States, who shared with us all that they are going to have a baby! We'll let them remain anonymous here, just in case they're not ready for their news to hit the world wide web and our millions of readers. You know who you are, so congrats and we love you guys! We thank God for filling us up in this way...

Baby's Moving

Just thought you'd all be interested to know that I have definitely felt the baby moving!

Keep your eyes on our blogs next week for the results of our ultrasound.

Rain Boots

I wish you all could see Caden walk in these rain boots. It's hilarious! He resembles someone walking on stilts. Obviously, the boots are too big for him but he doesn't seem to think so. He's ready to help Eric, our day guardian, in the yard as well as whatever the rainy season brings us.

Basketball Skills

Who needs Chuckie Cheese when you can have your own personal basketball toss game where the ball actually rolls back to you?!

Someday, I'll be able to beat my Daddy on the court!

What's On Caden's iPod???

Building Blocks

Building Blocks
Uploaded by emersonstogo
Brett found these unused building blocks while helping the interns clean out our team's schoolhouse. He washed them off and brought them home and Caden immediately began playing with them. He is trying SO hard to put them together himself but will often ask for "huh" which means "help". So cute!

Check Me Out

Like my new scrape? I got it from falling on some steps at the local hotel pool. I was so excited to see the parrot they have that I wasn't watching where I was going and completely fell down these two steps. I cried, but I'm o.k. now. This isn't the first time I've fallen this week. Earlier, I fell down some steps at our house. I really was trying to be careful that time and just lost my balance. Oh well, I guess these little bumps and bruises are what becoming a little boy is all about. It definitely won't slow me down any!

Sleepy, Sleepy Boy

We have now transitioned Caden to one nap a day. However, some days he barely makes it through lunch. Here's what we caught on video one day....hey, what parents don't have a story about their child falling asleep while eating lunch, right?!

Sleepy
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For the Grandparents...

...but the rest of you get to enjoy it too! On hot days in Togo, the only way to beat the heat is to be in the water. I may find myself "swimming" with Caden more often as my belly grows and my tolerance of the heat diminishes.

Swimming
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Making Pizza

Yes, this is another post about Caden helping in the kitchen. No, he does not help with every meal...but it sure does make for some good photos and blog posts, right?!


Making_Pizza
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Cooking with Caden

While Brett was in Accra, Caden and I decided to venture into the world of making cookies. Since I was by myself, I wasn't able to get any action shots of the process. Here's a few of the aftermath...

Our workspace.

Caden's first taste....mmmm, yummy!

Let the frosting begin.

Finished product.

Caden's taste of homemade frosting. He wasn't too sure what to do with it.

The World Is Shrinking....Again

We have faster internet again...and it seems to be faster than last time. The best part is the unlimited access we have through DSL. OK, it's more of a DSL lite....but we love it! It seems to be fast enough to run Skype, so call away friends and family (334) 239-3109. You can call us in Africa for whatever it would cost you to call Montgomery, Alabama. We haven't tried out the video feature of Skpe yet, but we'll let you know how it goes.

18 Months

Our little boy is 18 months old! Mattie the bear has traveled great distances to be with us here in Togo for these pictures, and as you can see Caden has just about outgrown him!
Caden is special in everyway. He is smart, outgoing, playful, sweet, and loving. You can see his little heart just broken in two whe he has to be disciplined, but he takes it well and always gives us a hug afterwards. He currently loves dogs, puzzles, books, swimming, being outside, watching movies and spending lots of time with his mommy and daddy. We praise Caden's Maker for the precious gift that he is to us, and we thank Him that He has given us everything we need to bring him up healthy, happy, and full of His Spirit. We love you Caden Darrel Emerson!

New Furniture!

We are blessed to live in a part of the world where we can get cheap exotic woods for all of our furniture needs. We also have lots of skilled carpenters, guys who work with simple tools yet make beautiful pieces (think Jesus' job way back in the day).

Here are a few things that our carpenter, Mr. Germaine, had ready for us when we came back. All of this stuff is made of teak, which we could never afford in the States, but it costs a fraction of that cost over here. Thanks Mr. Germaine for your hard work and dedication. May God bless your work!


New_furniture
Uploaded by emersonstogo

12 Weeks

Here is a pic of my beautiful wife at 12 weeks with our 2nd child! How is it that the larger my wife gets during pregnancy the more beautiful and radiant she becomes? Must be a part of God's plan...We'll be updating every 4 weeks or so from now on, more often as she gets closer to the December 3rd due date. Please keep my princess in your prayers as she deals with the burdens that come along with being pregnant. Right now you can pray that she will have the energy to keep up with Cade and me, her two boys who require lots of attention! She has been tired alot during this 1st trimester, and we're hoping that her energy during the 2nd trimester will be "normal", if I can even use that word. She has been doing her exercises, her appetite has been good and she has otherwise been very healthy. Thank you for blessing us with your prayers and words of encouragement!

Brett

Back in Africa

We've been back for e few days now, and things are going well. We had a couple of days at WAMR, the West Africa Missionary Retreat, and now we are in Accra. We are going to do some much needed shopping in the next two days and then head back home to Kara. We have to stock up on all kinds of food items beause the 12 summer interns from Harding will be arriving in just a couple of weeks. Should be a great and crazy time!

Here are some pictures from WAMR. I was an amazing and uplifting time for our family and for the rest of the missionaries in attendance. Thanks to Joe McReynolds for speaking God's truth to our hearts and to our colleagues in West Africa for making us feel like a part of the family (for a group pic of all of the missionaries at WAMR, check out our Africa blog http://emersonstogo.blogspot.com ). We love you all!

Caden sitting on an elephant

He thinks he's so cool

Caden helping out the tour guide at the Elmina Slave Castle

Brett and Caden enjoying a beautiful day outside

To All of His Family & Friends...

Caden would like to say, "Thanks for love, the kisses, and the fun times while I was in America. I wish I could give you all a big hug!!!"

Introducing...

Baby #2 !

due to arrive December 3rd
(sorry for the poor quality, I was too anxious to post it to wait for a scanner)

What?! That little strip of paper means I'm not going to be the baby anymore?! Are you sure?

The Looches Came to Town

We are blessed with so many great friends in life! Erik and Sonya came from Knoxville to visit us here in Montgomery for 2 days, and we had an amazing time as usual. We laughed until or faces hurt, talked about life and the future, prayed together, and just enjoyed our friendship.

We are just 4 days away from our return to Togo, and we have had a fast but amazing time with so many friends that our cup is overflowing. God provided the reconnecting and encouragement that we truly needed, and for that we are thankful... TheEmersons and Luchauers at the Truman Show


Sonya loves Caden so much that here eyes are popping out of her head!Playtime!Word

I've Got the Best Nephews

One of the best things about being back in the States is spending lots of time with my nephews. I've been blessed with 4 little guys to love on and play with, plus a precious little baby niece. Today I went searching for animals with Owen and Dawson around my brother's neighborhood, and we didn't find anything besides some dead fish and some drunk fishermen, but we still had a blast. Owen discovered that he could step on my shadow and that I would pretend that it hurt me, and we wore that game out for almost an hour. Good times...

As the years go by and the boys continue to change, I know that I will cherish these times when they are young more and more...

Spoiled Rotten...And Loving It!

We are discovering what it means to have a child who is spoiled rotten...thanks to grandparents! Caden is quickly learning who he can go to to get his way. But don't we all remember those days?! Isn't that what God created grandparents for...to spoil our children?! And of course, we love it! This picture is of April's grandmother....Caden's great-grandmother, GrannyDot. Her grandparents, parents and brother are all visiting this weekend in Montgomery. We are

so thankful for this time with family while we're back in the States. That is the biggest sacrifice of missionary life...family.

Our Little Gardner

If you have any plants that need to be watered, or even if your grass is a little dry, please give Caden a call. He's taking appointments now for our time in the States.