Blue Laundry

And what do you do with the baby while moving clothes from the washer to the dryer?....
Yea for blue laundry!

Don't Worry, We're Alive

It's just that our phone line, and therefore our internet, has been down since we came home to Kara one week ago. You might have been thinking that we were not posting because our new baby is a handful, but that's definitely not it...Corban has been an absolutely amazing baby so far, even easier than Caden was. We'll update everyone on everything as soon as it is back up. For now, here is pic of Caden and Corban, best brother friends!

Brotherly Love

Corban Stewart Emerson

Corban is here! He made his appearance on Friday, November 23rd at 10:45 GMT. He weighs 7lbs 4oz and is 19 3/4 inches long. He looks alot like Caden did when he was first born, which is a good sign for him, since Caden has always been an adorable little boy. The name Corban comes from Mark 7:11 and means, "A gift dedicated to God". His middle name, Stewart, is in honor of April's grandparents on her mom's side. They are beautiful, God-fearing people that we hope Corban gets a chance to know and emulate in the years to come... The first ever pic snapped of Corban (besides ultrasounds of course...) Washing all of the gunk off
**wink**
Daddy with his new little boy...I have TWO SONS!!!

Corban Stewart Emerson
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Go Blue!!!
Corban, meet your big brother!

Brothers
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Caden has been so sweet and curious with his new baby brother...
Getting a very good look at this new baby brother...
Corban and his mommy! April is doing great and was so amazing during labor...with no meds!
First pic of the three of us...there was no way we could have gotten Caden to sit still for this...
About to hit the road after36 hours in the hospital
Leaving the hospital
Corban has been a great baby in the first day and a half of his life, nursing well, sleeping alot, and being very sweet in temperment. Thank you to the Lord our God for another precious gift of life. Delivering in Africa, we learned even more astutely that newborn lives are incredibly fragile and precious, and that Corban's life is truly in His capable hands. It was different without any of our family or dear friends to be here with us, but we did enjoy the intimacy of it being just our family. We knew when we signed up that leaving behind friends and family would be the biggest sacrifice we make as missionaries, but God fills the holes and sustains us through your communication and prayers. We love you all so much!

38 weeks and....

This will be the last pregnant April picture in 2007. We are going to the hospital tonight to be induced. Please be praying that everything will go smoothly and we'll have a healthy baby. We should be holding little Corban on Friday. Keep checking and we'll let you know when he's here.

Look What I Can Do!

Caden has been getting very active these last few months. He loves to climb, run, throw, flip, swing and whatever else he can think of (or sees his daddy do!). He loves to learn what new things his body can do, and he is very coordinated and determined. It looks like he is going to be a good athlete, which makes his daddy especially happy!

Cade_playing
Uploaded by emersonstogo

2 things you have to look closely for: One, Caden "singing" as he plays the piano, and two, the big basketball belly belonging to Caden's mommy! Ok, well maybe the second one you won't have to look too closely for!

Truck Tragedy

Many of you know that our truck was destroyed in an accident last month. You can read more about it and learn how you can help by visiting our Ministry Blog. Scroll down to find the entries we wrote about the accident.

You can also view a PDF file we created to inform people and help in the fundraising process by clicking here.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us and encouraged us with phone calls and emails. We are truly blessed with an amazing support network. Please continue to pray for God to provide the funds we need for a new vehicle!

Growing Boy

Caden Darrel Emerson was born in Montgomery, Alabama and celebrated his first birthday in Albertville, France. This year, we were on the road between Togo and Ghana when he turned two. If you have been following us on our Family Blog for awhile, then you are quite familiar with our Mattie the Bear pictures. We took pictures of Caden with Mattie every month until 6 months, then 9 months, 12 months, 18 months and now 2 years. Mattie has traveled thousands of miles all over the world to be with us today. He has been stuffed in boxes and mailed over the ocean, shoved in suitcases and squished into plastic bags. We brought Mattie to Ghana with us just to keep up with Caden's milestone pictures.

Click here to see Caden's 2 week old and 1 year old pictures with Mattie.

As usual, we couldn't choose just one. We hope you can get a small glimpse of our toddler's fun personality.

Baby Blessing

On October 22nd my home was invaded by a group of women very special to me. As a surprise to me, my teammates had planned a baby blessing and invited several of the expatriate women in town. They walked through the front door with balloons, yummy treats, cards of blessings, and an amount of energy that was exploding through their smiles.We enjoyed cupcakes, cookies, chicken salad croissants and punch. We told stories about our births our the births of our children (don't worry, scary stories were not allowed). We played fun baby shower games (you should see the pictures these women drew of my baby) and started a pool for the baby's weight and due date. My favorite part of the evening was when each woman shared with me a blessing for my baby, my family, or Brett and I as parents. I will cherish these notes (they came "scrapbook ready") throughout my child's life. Lastly, they gathered around and prayed over me...words cannot express this feeling.

Thank you to all the women (and girls) that made this night so special for me. In the midst of a very difficult time, you were the peace and energy I needed. I thank God for blessing me through each of you in His own special way.

Our TWO Year Old!

Many of you know that Caden turned two on October 25th. Due to the craziness of our lives, we decided to postpone his birthday party until a more calm date. We also thought it would be fun to celebrate with family, so be looking for pictures of that sometime in December. He's just two...he'll never know we celebrated his birthday a month and a half late, right?!

In honor of our world traveler, I thought it would be fun to post a list of all the places Caden has been...beginning with the day God created him.

1. Knoxville, TN
2. Memphis, TN
3. Birmingham, AL
4. Searcy, AR
5. Nashville, TN
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Israel
8. Montgomery, AL
9. All over France
10. Switzerland
11. Rome and Florence, Italy
    
12. Ghana, West Africa
13. Togo, West Africa
14. Benin, West Africa
15. Dallas, TX

Just this week we had pages added to Caden's passport because it was filling up so quickly. How many of you had a passport at two years old?

Swimming

Here is an almost forgotten video of Caden swimming for the first time with floaties. This was taken at Coconut Grove back in September. Caden continues to be a little fish and definitely prefers swimming with his Daddy. (I can't imagine why!)

Floaties
Uploaded by emersonstogo

35 weeks

So here I am at 35 weeks and five days. My countdown says I have only 30 days until my due date....I remember saying that with Caden and he was born 2 weeks later, so we'll see. I also thought I'd take this post to tell you about our doctor here in Accra, Ghana.

His name is Dr. Hiadzi, and although I can never remember how to pronounce it, I am so excited to know he is my doctor. There were several things that really impressed me about him and scored some big points in this mommy's book.

• He has little accent making him very easy to understand. (Most of the time I have to ask Ghanaians repeat themselves before I get it.)
• He understood me every time I spoke...we're talking my normal voice, no fake-Ghanaian accent.
• He showed genuine interest in Caden (big points for that one!)
• He answered all of our questions without hesitation.
• His confidence in the baby-world showed in the questions he asked and the comments he made.
• He thought it was ridiculous that someone would tell us what gender our baby was if they didn't know for sure (which happened to us twice in this pregnancy).
• He knew our baby was a boy with the first glance.
• He graciously explained to me how the "folds" would look different if it were a girl.
• He joked around with us when we asked for a photo of the baby's boy parts.
  
• He offered me his hand to sit up after he was finished wiping the ultrasound gel off. At 35 weeks pregnant, you can imagine what a welcomed gesture this was.
• He took my talk of contractions seriously and put me on a fetal monitor for half an hour.
  

This man is answer to much prayer. We will be seeing him every Wednesday until the day of delivery. Also, I'm not sure if we've officially announced our baby boy's name.

Corban Stewart Emerson

Corban is found in Mark 7:11 meaning "a gift dedicated to God" and Stewart was chosen to honor my grandparents, Bill & Dot Stewart.

Halloween, Such As It Was...

We didn't really celebrate Halloween this year. It's not because we're anti-Halloween or anything; we both love the holiday and normally enjoy it quite a bit. This year, however, we are living in a culture far different from our own, a culture in which almost no evidence of Halloween can be found, besides a few bats and spiders hanging from the ceiling of a grocery store that caters to expatriates. On top of that, we're not even with our teammates at home in Kara, our little family that usually fills the culture hole that entered our lives when we moved to Africa.

BUT, since Brett's mom went to the trouble to send Caden a lion costume all the way from America, we put it on him for a few minutes (until he started sweating to death), snapped a few pictures, and ate some Smarties. Happy Halloween, West Africa style!

No Title Needed

In case your screen is too small to read the text on the picture....it says "scrotum".
We finally found a doctor that knew what he was doing and it only took us 35 weeks!

One-Arm Pushups

As you can see, Caden has been eating his Wheaties, or at least his off-brand cornflakes. We're not sure where he gets his amazing strength, but it's definitely not from his mommy or daddy :)

At Rest

That's where we are right now: in a state of restfulness. With all that has happened with April and contractions and worrying about the baby, we are now only 10 minutes away from a really good hospital. With all of the car drama from the last week, we are again driving a brand new truck, thanks to our dear friends the Crowsons and the Rieses. We will still have to find a new truck for ourselves by January, but it puts us at rest knowing that we have one for now. With all of the people who normally stop by our house, usually 4 or 5 every day, now 9 hours away and in a different country, we are able to spend all the time we want to as a family. We are strengthening our bonds of love and enjoying these last few weeks as a family of 3.

Are our problems all gone? No, of course not. But for a time, even a short one, we don't have to be burdened with them quite so much. We have never before in our 6 years of marriage needed rest so badly, and God has given it in abundance, just as He promised He would. All we have to do is seek Him, and He will draw near, take our troubles, and give us rest. The picture above says it all: we are connected to God, and He whispers words of rest to our hearts. We thank our great God so much for this time...

Comic Relief

Amidst all the stress our family is experiencing these days, God decided we need to laugh a little. A young man came to our door this morning asking if we wanted to buy some bread....or at least that's what we thought he said. When he returned, he opened his sack and we saw a rabbit. In French the two words can sound very close..... le pain (bread) le lapin (rabbit). So what did we do??? We bought the bunny as a birthday present for Caden. It only cost us $10! The best part is that the boy was selling the bunny to help pay for school books. How fun that our son has a new pet rabbit and we got to help another student with school supplies! Don't you love God's sense of humor?! Caden loves the rabbit and couldn't stop saying "rabbit" the entire time the young man was here. He offered to wash the rabbit for us and even to bring food for it later this afternoon. I think through this bunny we have begun yet another relationship with a Togolese student. Enjoy this short video and a few pictures of the event.



The first introductions.

New Rabbit
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Can you see the excitement on Caden's face?!

Caden and Yovo supervise the bathing of the rabbit. Don't worry...the dog was on a chain and unable to reach the rabbit. Don't you just love Caden in his boxers and rainboots?! His choice, of course!

Like We Needed the Drama

Most people who read this are well aware of our truck situation, so I'm not gonna delve into those sordid details right now. The purpose of this post is to inform everyone that last night, April started having some pretty strong contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart and 20 seconds long. I'm no nurse, but even I know that this sort of thing is not good. Fortunately, our friend Edith IS a nurse, and she said pretty firmly that this is not good. We were scheduled to leave for Accra on November 5th to await the baby, but we're going to have to leave two weeks early, probably this coming Wednesday.

If you've been following our truck situation, then you are well aware that we don't need this right now, at all. We just have to accept that it is happening and deal with it. We've got an amazing support team in our teammates, fellow missionaries, our sponsoring church, our family, and of course our friends.

We would really appreciate your continued prayers. All of this is so much to take in all at one time, and we're struggling to deal with it all. Please pray for my beautiful, radiant wife and our unborn child. Pray for me that I will be strong in the Lord for them. Pray that we can, when this is all past, praise God and bring further glory to His name...

Brett

Maternity Portraits

When I was pregnant with Caden my sister-in-law, Betsy, took maternity portraits of me at 32 weeks. It was her first "job" as a photographer and Brett and I loved the results! We couldn't imagine having those beautiful pictures of Caden and not having any this time around. So here I am at 33 weeks taking advantage of a slightly cooler morning to let Brett take pictures of me. I enjoyed playing around with the coloring of the photos afterwards to get these results. While it is not Betsy-quality work, we enjoyed attempting the look we wanted amidst a limited backdrop here in Togo. (Betsy, I still want to send you the originals and let you play.) These are a few of my favorites. Caden enjoys giving the baby kisses and hugs...so cute, I love it!

Brett says...

the world needs to see this face. And I agree.

Big Boy Bed

We are now into night #4 of Caden sleeping in his "big boy bed". Although it's not the final big boy bed, we did convert his crib into a toddler bed. He has done great and is thrilled about the transition. The first night he woke up a few times, but since then he's slept his normal amount at night and at nap time. Just after we finished putting the railings on, he climbed onto his bed and couldn't stop smiling and squealing....this video is dark, but it gives an accurate account of the excitement.

The ironic thing is that we made the move in hopes he would get out of bed on his own and play in the mornings letting mom and dad have a few more minutes of sleep rather than a 6 AM wake-up call. No such luck. When he was in his crib, he would rock back and forth on his feet while holding onto the crib railing and whining till we came in and got him. Now, he just stands up, does the same rocking motion, and whines until we open his door and tell him he can get out.

This was night #2...saying night-night prayers with Daddy.He looks too excited to sleep, don't you think?!
Caden insisted on sitting like Mommy while we read one last book before bed (night #3). The next morning, Caden woke up and came out of his room on his own! Now I know one day I'll be posting about Caden not staying in his bed...but for now, this was a huge step. We'll see how tomorrow morning goes.

A First For Me

I have read numerous posts of people being tagged to make lists of things about themselves. I always enjoy reading these and learning a little more about my friends. Ironically enough, I have never been tagged...until now. Thanks Betsy! So with a curious husband waiting to read my answers, here we go:


1. Who is my man? Brett Darrel Emerson
2.How long have we been together? We recently celebrated 6 years of marriage on Sept.1st
3. How long did we date? 4 months dating + 5 month engagement=9 months (when you know it's the right person, you just know...right?!)
4. How old is he? 30
5.Who eats more? Right now it's a bit of a toss up....oh the joys of pregnancy!
6. Who said "I love you" first? I honestly don't know. We told each other we loved each other in a brotherly-sisterly-Christian way since day one I think.
7. Who is taller? Brett
8. Who sings better? me...but Brett has definitely improved since we got married
9. Who is smarter? Brett
10.Who has more of a temper? Brett...I just shut down.
11.Who does laundry? both of us....but mostly Antionette, our houseworker
12.Who takes out the garbage? Antionette ("taking out the garbage" is totally different concept in Africa)
13. Who sleeps on the right side? I prefer to. But when I'm pregnant I sleep on the left...this allows me more room with the body pillow. (Brett is a bed hog)
14. Who pays the bills? I used to, but Brett has been doing it since we moved to Togo. Actually, our day guard pays most of the local bills for us...you have to go to the building, no paying on-line or over the phone.
15. Who has sharper computer skills? We both have our computer areas that we're sharper in.
16. Who mows the lawn? uhhhh, Eric (our day guardian)
17. Who cooks? me, Antionette, and Brett is a pro at throwing anything in a tortilla
18. Who drives when we are together? Brett
19. Who pays when we are out? Brett
20. Who is more stubborn? Brett
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? me, I hate conflict.
22.Which set of parents do we see the most? now that we're in Africa, it's equal
23. Who asked out who? I sent the first email (thanks to his ex-girlfriend for the e-address), but after that...I don't remember.
24. Who kissed who first? he kissed me...at the Wishing Well in DisneyLand
25. Who is more sensitive? ME, remember, I hate conflict.
26. Who has more friends? Brett
27. Who has more siblings? Brett
28. Who wears the pants? Brett

So there you go...28 bits of information about me and my man.

31 weeks