God is SO good!!!

You may be wondering why I'm SO happy today....Well, it's because MY DADDY GOT A JOB YESTERDAY!!! He is the new Small Groups Director for Young Couples at Southeast Christian Church, here in Louisville, KY!!!For the past several months, my mommy & daddy & myself have been wondering what God had in store for us here in America... Since my daddy didn't get the first job he prayed about with Southeast, we were a little confused as to what God was doing... But we knew that the Lord just must have another plan... And we learned A LOT about waiting on God and drawing nearer to Him in times of uncertainty...
We trusted that God was in control & that He knows what He's doing... And now we see what God was doing... He was giving my mommy & daddy time to just be with me & each other as they transitioned into this next chapter of their lives as parents! He was waiting for His perfect timing to give daddy the perfect job for him! And now that Daddy has not only a job, but one that he feels called to & passionate about, we are all 3 just so thankful & excited! We can't stop smiling & thanking Jesus!GOD IS SOOOO GOOD! And we knew all along that HE IS FAITHFUL and that He would have something GREAT in store for us! And today, we are just SO THANKFUL to God for providing this job, which is a PERFECT FIT for John & for us as a family! We are so excited to see how God will use us in this new ministry and chapter of our lives!

Oh, and by the way, John had a wonderful First Father's Day too! It was very special & very fun! Jackson and I are so grateful to Jesus for giving us such an AMAZING husband & daddy! We are truly blessed to have him in our lives! And of course, we are so thankful for the AWESOME Heavenly Father we have as well! We have a lot to thank Him for today!

Graduation & Appreciation

This past weekend we were thankful to be home in America to celebrate times like these... On Saturday, we attended two graduations. Many of our friends graduated from Asbury College on Saturday, including Teresa & Tiana Duncan (pictured right), Joanna Ury Pittman (pictured below) , & Elizabeth Key. It was so good to get to be there with them for this special day and see so many friends from Asbury & from Africa!
And then we left straight from Asbury's graduation to see Erica's stepbrother, Landon, graduate from University of Kentucky! We are so proud of him & so thankful we were able to be there to witness this milestone in his life!

And finally, yesterday we had the blessing of being home in America on Mother's Day. As my first Mother's Day, it was very special to be able to spend it with my own mom & grandmother! (Pictured right with my mom, sister, & Granny) And I must say, John did very good at making it special for me~ he's such an amazing husband & daddy, and I am so thankful for him! And even though we couldn't be in New Jersey with John's mom, we were able to talk on Skype with them & use their new web cam for the first time, & it felt like we were right there with them, so that was fun!

I am so thankful for the gift God has given me this year of being a mother! Jackson is such a blessing to us, and having him in our life really is teaching us more about how God's love for us is so unconditional & SO huge for us! I am reminded of one of my favorite verses when I think of how much I love Jackson & how much Jesus loves each one of us!...

Ephesians 3: 18, 19~
¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

In Awe & Awaiting

Jackson is 3 weeks old now, and we're learning how to live on a lot less sleep & plan our life around our new member of our family! We truly do LOVE being parents & we ADORE Jackson! We find ourselves just staring at him & constantly saying, "I can't believe he's ours!" We can't help but look at him & think of how amazing God is to create life! We are so thankful for this healthy baby boy!

He already has so many people who love him so much! I can already see that we're going to have to be careful not to spoil him! Among the many who love Jackson are my (Erica's) brother & sister, Uncle Ryan & Aunt Ashley (pictured below) & John's parents (pictured right) who just came to visit us from New Jersey for a week. It truly was a blessing having them here! They took such good care of us & spoiled us just as much as Jackson!

I have to say, I think one of my favorite parts of all of this so far is watching John become a father. He is such an incredible daddy & does SO well with Jackson!

And finally, for those of you who are still wondering what's going on with our job situation... John is substitute teaching right now in order to bring in a little money while he continues to look for work. There have been many prospects & John is doing so good at networking & meeting with people to just put his name out there & look for potential opportunities. But we continue to wait on God & trust in Him to provide for our needs now & a job hopefully in the very near future! He hasn't let us down yet, and we know we can hold on to the promise that there is... "More Faithfulness Ahead!"

Jackson Thomas Rinehimer
Born March 25th in Louisville, KY
9lbs 8oz 22 inches
He's finally here!!! Meet the newest member of our family... Both he & Erica are doing very well. We praise the Lord for this precious gift. Here are a few pictures of our new son:)

Still Waiting...

Waiting seems to be the them of our life so far back in America... As most of you know, we have been waiting on God to provide the perfect job for John in His perfect timing for many months now. And our baby boy was due 2 days ago (on March 10th), but there is still no sign that he's ready to come! We were ready for him to be late, as we know most first babies are... but still, we are anxiously anticipating what day he will come! (Many of you have asked to see a picture of my pregnant tummy, so here you go~ this one was taken on my due date, March 10th)

In the meantime, we are thankful that God has provided work for John as he is substitute teaching at Christian Academy of Louisville while he looks for what career God has next for him. And I am SO thankful to God for the ways He has provided through so many family & friends for us to feel ready for our baby to arrive! Especially through my mom, who has made it possible for us to have the nursery ready! I know we don't "need" all of these things... especially after living where we've lived the past two years of our lives... but it sure does make me feel nested & ready to be a mommy! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get ready for our baby boy!

"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act." ~ Psalm 37:7