Facebook Us! ;-)

As you may have noticed, our blog entries have not been as frequent as they once were! This is mainly because our primary purpose for starting a blog was to keep family, friends, & supporters up to date on our ministry in Uganda. Now that we are home in America, it seems that the only thing we have to share with you of interest is our baby boy Jackson! And we realize that you may not get as excited as we do at seeing pictures of the same baby over & over again!

So... we may still be updating the blog occasionally, but our main source of online communication will now be Facebook! I have not yet broken down & opened a Facebook account, but John has! So if you aren't his friend already, and you'd like to stay in touch with us this way, then please send him a friend request! And for now, here are a few new pictures of Jackson! Hope you enjoy!

Our baby is SO advanced, he can already read at just 3 1/2 months old! Just kidding... he just learned how to hold a book on his own though!

Just hanging out with mom! Doesn't he look like a little man?!?! :-)

Jackson's with the Boys @ his First Baseball Game~
the River Bats @ the Louisville Slugger Field
We love spending time with our family!
Tenth Avenue North Concert in Louisville, KY at the Louisville Slugger Field~ They were here last weekend, and were kind enough to make some time to hang out with us & go out to dinner after the concert! Mike, Jason, Scott & Jeff really are all such great guys, and we always enjoy our time with them! And we like hanging out with their wives too while they play!Super Baby!
Happy Baby!
And one last picture just to give you a laugh!

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

Holding on ... !!!

Have you ever felt like this guy pictured to the left?... Hanging on & not sure of what God has planned next. We all have times in our lives like this where we wonder ... "Where is God in all of this?" Romans 5:3-5 tells us ... There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (the Message Bible).

We have been feeling a lot like this guy pictured above... holding on & not sure what the next step is that God wants us to take. Last week, we heard from Southeast Christian Church about John's job, and they actually ended up choosing someone else. We were so shocked & totally surprised when we got the phone call. We truly couldn't believe it... that we've waited this long (5 months) to hear & go through this process & now this is the outcome. But we truly do trust in Jesus, and we know He has something else planned for John. Although, it is overwhelming to say the least, with a baby due in just 1 week & no jobs yet; we are holding on to Jesus & know that there is more of His Faithfulness up ahead. It is actually so encouraging in our relationship with the Lord to experience first hand that we really do trust in Jesus more than a job.

Our good friend at Southeast Christian Church, Michael, who was involved in the entire interview process, was so encouraging to John. He told him that it came down to John & this one other guy... and out of 55 people, for a position this big, I think that is quite an accomplishment in itself that they considered John so seriously & it took them a whole week to decide. Especially since this other guy is 10 years older with 16 years of missions experience & has been working in a similar job already for some time! Tough competition! They said that it just basically came down to age & life experience when they were comparing him & John, and that was the ONLY thing that kept John from getting it. Which we totally understand. It's a big deal to oversee a multi- million dollar budget with limited experience in that area. But I am still just so proud of John & how far he made it & how much he impressed everyone involved in the interview process. Michael told John that he wishes he would have had a tape recorder when they debriefed after John's interview so that he could hear how highly everyone spoke of him, calling him a rising star & that for just turning 30 he has a ton of life experience. And he said that once they came to the final decision, everyone said that if another position opens up, John will be the first person they call.

So... anyways, we just wanted to thank you all for your FAITHFUL prayers for us over this whole process and let you know how much we appreciate each of you. We have no idea what the next step is for us... For now we will just keep trusting in God to provide & pray that He opens our eyes to see whatever He has for us next! We love you guys and appreciate you & your friendship more than you know!

Jesus also encouraged us with Psalm 32:8~ "I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you & watch over you"

Love you guys & we'll let you know when the baby arrives!!!:)

Ski Retreat & Birthday Bowl!

This weekend, John had the opportunity to be the speaker for the WGM/ Asbury Ski Retreat at Perfect North in Indiana. He was able to share with over 100 college students from Asbury & Indiana Wesleyan University about where God may be leading them in their lives & where God is calling them after college. John has always had a heart for college age ministry, so this was a sweet time for him and hopefully a challenging and insightful time for the students as well!

And yesterday we finally got to celebrate John's 30th Birthday with a real Superbowl/ Birthday Party! A bunch of our friends came to our house from Lexington (5 of whom had come on a trip to Uganda together while we were there!) and of course our friends & family from here were there too! It was such a blessing to have electricity for the party... since we woke up yesterday and ONCE AGAIN DID NOT HAVE ELECTRICITY!!! It was only out for a few hours this time though, thank God! I was so thankful that the power came back on!

The Past Couple Months...

Dec 20- Jan 12: Spending Time with Family in New Jersey~
It has been so good to be home again with family & friends in America! John's family was so good to us while we were in New Jersey... They took good care of us & even threw us a Baby Shower! And we got to spend New Year's Eve with his extended family who we hadn't seen in 2 1/2 years! Dec 20- Jan 12: Visiting Friends & Supporters in New Jersey~
While in New Jersey, we also spoke at 7 different churches and got a chance to thank those that supported us during our time in Uganda & give them a report of our past 2 years there. (Pictured Below- Brick UMC with JD, Jana, Tim & Kathi~ all 4 of these friends came on a short term trip to Uganda while we were there, so it was so good to see them again!)









Jan 24: Tenth Avenue North in Louisville, KY~
Many of you may have heard of them... They have been around for a long time now, but they've recently become pretty well-known! Their newly released single is "By Your Side," and it is amazing! They came to Louisville to do a conference last week, so we got to go with our friends Sarah & Glenn & hear them sing! We know them from Delanco Camp in NJ, so it was really good to see them again!








Last Week: Updated Prego Pics of Erica~
The first one was taken in October when I was only 4 months pregnant, and the second one was taken just last week, when I was 7 1/2 months! Only 6 more weeks to go now!!!


Jan 28: John Turned 30!!!
Despite the fact that we woke up to no power & an ice & snow storm in KY on John's birthday, he still had a great day! He did shovel 7 driveways over his birthday & the next day, but we still managed to have a birthday dinner, cake & presents that night... thanks to the fact that my parents' house had electricity & we've been staying with them! John is so precious & always has an AMAZING attitude! I am SO thankful for his life & that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband!

This Week in KY: ICE & SNOW STORM IN KENTUCKY!
When we woke up on John's birthday to no power in 20 degree weather, I have to say, a part of us wished we were back in Arua with our solar panels & the warm sun! It has been crazy here... with 600,000 people in KY without power. But it is getting better! We just got our electricity back today (Jan. 30)~ Yeah!!! And we are thankful that my parent's house has had electricy & we've been able to stay with them. Please pray for the MANY people here who are still without power in this freezing weather! They're still expecting it to take another week before everyone has power again.

Feb. 3: John will have his FINAL INTERVIEW at our church here in Louisville for the job in the Missions Department!
Please be in prayer for John extra on this day! Please pray that God's will be done in this situation. We only want God's best for both the church and for us. We know that if John doesn't get this job, then the Lord has something even better in store for him that we don't even know about yet... And we are trusting in Him & waiting on Him in this process. We will not find out if John gets the job or not until the week of Feb. 16th. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers~ please continue to pray that God will give us confidence in Him to provide for our needs & peace that He is in control as we wait to hear about this job & wait for our baby to arrive... all within 2 weeks of each other.