Pumpkin Patch

Yeah for Pumpkins!

Gracie had fun today at a local pumpkin "patch."  One of the churches downtown sells pumpkins every year to raise funds for youth missions.  Since moving to Wichita, we have visited the pumpkin patch, which is really just the church lawn covered in pumpkins of various shapes and sizes, each October.  Last year Gracie was quite small, so we were excited to see how she would respond this year.

Dean's brother, Jonathan, and his girlfriend, Audrey, joined in the adventure.

They are visiting from Oklahoma City, and we were glad they could come along.

First, Gracie wanted to touch the pumpkins.

Then she wanted to hold the pumpkin,

which quickly lead to dropping the pumpkin.

So...

she moved on to some that were more her size.  

She thought the multi-colored, oddly-shaped gourds were quite interesting.

Eventually, she tired out (actually she tripped) and laid down.

A wagon ride let Gracie rest while we continued to pick out our favorite pumpkins.

Uncle Johnny pulled her while Mommy and Audrey filled the wagon.

Posing with our pumpkins

"Wee Be Littles"

We thought this sign was fitting and made a cute background.

Earlier in the week, Gracie had another surprise package waiting at the PO Box.  

We skyped with Papa Jeff while she opened her gift.

Checking out her new Dr. Seuss books.  Thanks Papa Jeff!

And she liked the packing, too!

We sure love this sweet little girl who genuinely enjoys exploring the world around her.  

And we are so thankful that God chose us to be her parents so we could participate and watch.

Proud of our little pumpkin,

DD&G

"New" to G

Gracie has been blessed with lots of "new" things this week.  

We believe in reusing and repurposing things...and when it comes to kid's clothes and toys we are all about hand-me-downs!  This week Gracie had a BIG surprise at our PO Box:

Dianna's cousin Aimee and her daughter, Charlotte, graciously keep us in mind when cleaning out Charlotte's closest and have kept little Miss Gracie dressed to impress.  Timing was perfect as she is outgrowing the bulk of her current wardrobe and as the weather is cooling off.

We've been wanting to get Gracie some legos for a while now.  Yesterday, we found just what we'd been looking for at a kid's consignment shop downtown.  

And Gracie has been loving them!

As mentioned above, fall weather is slowly setting in...we enjoy the cool mornings and evenings.  But to Gracie and Eli's delight, daytime temperatures still allow for playing in the fountain!  

Today they had fun running and splashing while we all watched.

Grace & Peace,

DD&G

Riverside Park

Fall is finally here!  And today was a lovely fall day, perfect for an outing to the park.  We are blessed to have several city parks within walking distance of our apartment.  Riverside Park has quickly become our favorite for many reasons...

Swinging

Sitting

Chasing "ducks"

Mommy and Gracie walked to the park today while Daddy had breakfast with a friend.  But instead of going straight home, Daddy surprised Gracie by stopping by the park to play, too.

Running to Daddy!

Riverside Park has a great fountain area where kids can play in the water.  Usually Gracie likes to watch others play while keeping her distance to insure she stays dry.  Today, however...

 she stuck a hand in...

then she decided to walk a little closer...

until eventually she was all wet!
This picture doesn't show it, but she really was excited about it!

Daddy seemed to be the right spot to rest and dry off.

Before we left, she heard an airplane and looked up to see it.  She's not learned to say airplane yet, but she did say "bye, bye" and wave as its sound faded away.

_______________________________________________________

Date Night

Last night we had a date night and heard Need to Breathe play at the Cotillion in West Wichita.  They are a South Carolina band who is currently touring with Taylor Swift (she was not playing in Wichita...this was a NTB only show).  We thoroughly enjoyed their music.  

If you've not heard them then we encourage you to check out some of their music. 

http://www.needtobreathe.net/

______________________________________________________

Well, we will close this post with a few more pictures of G and her friends...

trying to catch up for our month of no posts.

Riding the horsey, on loan from the Carrigans.  Gracie really enjoys pressing his ears and rocking to the clippity-clop and neighing.

Reading, reading, reading.  

This book is from Papa Jeff, and it's one of Gracie's (and Eli's) favorites.  We are still perfecting how to "orient" our reading material...as you can tell, we haven't quite got it yet.

A railroad track runs parallel to our apartments, and the kids love to watch the "choo choo" go by...especially when that means climbing on the couch to see.

Well, as you can tell, we are truly blessed with a happy, healthy, active little girl who is growing and changing with every day!

DD&G

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

We did something today that we never imagined doing.

About 4 weeks ago we found out we were pregnant.  Shortly thereafter we had an ultrasound and saw "Baby K2" for the first time.  We were excited to learn that our family was growing, but we were concerned because the baby's heartbeat was a bit slower than expected.  A follow-up ultrasound on September 1st confirmed our fears, after only 7 short weeks Baby K2's heart had stopped beating.  We were shocked and saddened with this news.

The last couple of weeks have been hard, but God has been gracious to us.  After much prayer and waiting, closure came today.  Thankfully, God spared us from complications or surgical interventions with this miscarriage.  And He allowed us to bury this little child with the words from Psalm 139:13-16,

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

 when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book

 before one of them came to be.

This leaf marks the site.

We share this news with heavy hearts.  Yet even through our tears of sadness, we still see God's faithfulness to His children and feel His comforting presence.  Baby K2's life was indeed short but was not meaningless.  Every life is made in God's image.  We pray that God will use our memories of this child to fulfill His purposes in the lives of others.

Resting in Him,

DD&G

Picture Update

We finally figured out the picture glitch, so we'd like to share some June & July favorites.

GRADUATION / FATHER'S DAY

Our residency graduation weekend was also Father's Day weekend.  We celebrated with a trip to the zoo.  Gracie is checking out the flamingos with Daddy & Papa Dan.

Gracie loves the zoo.  She really gets excited when she sees animals.  Her Nana & Papa enjoyed watching her experience God's creation.

MOVING

Gracie helped with our packing...

and our unpacking.

Actually, she just likes boxes.

In this picture, she and Eli are playing with an empty box the morning after our families moved into a couple apartments on the hospital campus.  Eli (2 years) and his sister Hailey (9 months) along with their parents Marc (finished residency with us and is now doing the fellowship with Dean) and Stephanie will be living next door to us in Wichita, and they will be traveling with us to Niger in January.  We have already enjoyed sharing an apartment in West Virginia with this sweet family; we look forward to many more adventures with them during these next 11 months.

TRAVELING

Gracie spying the plane from the terminal window during a layover.  She is quite the frequent flier.  Last count she'd been on about 12 or 13 plane trips; not bad for a 14 month old.

KUBACZ WEDDING

San Diego, CA

Gracie with her Uncle Josh and Cousin Anabel.  It was very amusing to watch these two little girls with Josh and Dean.  Both girls got confused between who was Daddy and who was Uncle.  If either Josh or Dean were in the room both girls would want to be held (regardless if it were her daddy or not).  Josh did a great job with this balancing act while we all waited for Dean to join us from WV.

Silly girls (okay, so really, silly parents who put them up to this)

Bath time fun

Room service

(the fanciest mashed potatoes & steamed veggies two toddlers ever had)

Dancing on the balcony

Motor home ride to the beach.

Gracie really enjoyed time with her cousin Anabel, Aunt Michaele, and Uncle Josh who live in Australia but made the trip to California to celebrate Darol & Cheryl's wedding.

Papa Jeff & Cousin Bethany

(Grandma Ann almost made it in the picture, too)

All dressed in their best for the wedding which was held at one of the naval bases in San Diego. 

Even Darol's black lab, Rock, dressed up for the special occasion.

Truly a delightful day!

MORGANTOWN, WV

Gracie trying out her new booster seat which she LOVES.

Our favorite picture of the 3 amigos:  Eli, Gracie, and Hailey.

Playing at Chic-fil-a

Gracie loves to play with the big kids and often thinks she can do anything they are doing.  

She and Eli had fun climbing up the slide which Gracie confused with a tunnel.

Climbing up the big steps.

Story time

Lots of books were read, and re-read, in our apartment in WV.

Gracie and Dianna are back in Wichita.  Dean still has a couple weeks of his Tropical Medicine course, so he stayed in Morgantown with the Carrigans.  We are thankful for phones to help our little family stay connected while we are apart.  Gracie likes to hold the phone up to her ear when her daddy calls.

We will see each other this coming weekend in Charlotte, NC.  We have an interview with World Medical Mission (the medical arm of Samaritan's Purse) regarding a two-year program at a missions hospital.  We are not sure if this is what the Lord has in store for us at this time or not; we continue to seek God's direction.  We appreciate your prayers for discernment.

PRAISES

Our Charleston house (which we have rented for 3 years) sold last week!

Our Wichita house is under contract with anticipated closing on August 19th!

Praise God for His provision and His faithfulness!  These last few months have been a challenging season for us as a family as we have sought God's direction for our life post-residency, responded in obedience to sell our homes despite the current economic instability, and waited for God to provide in His timing.  Our faith, our trust, our marriage have all grown deeper during this time.  

Thank you to everyone who has prayed with us and for us during this season.

Joyfully,

DD&G

July already?

Wow, how time seems to fly!

Since our last post we have moved, graduated, moved again, and celebrated a family wedding.  Currently we are living in Morgantown, West Virginia where Dean is taking a 6-week Tropical Medicine course at the university.  Adjusting to apartment life has been smooth thus far -- definitely good preparation for our upcoming stent in Africa.

Unfortunately, we are having technical difficulties with our phones -- which also serve as our cameras these days -- so we cannot upload any new photos to help share our experiences over the last month.  We will try to post a "photo update" as soon as we get our latest techno issue resolved.

MOVING:  Ahhh...so nice to be on this side of the task.  Family was a major help with our move out of our Wichita home and into our apartment on the St Francis hospital campus.  We are blessed with access to a 4 bedroom apartment as part of Dean's international medicine fellowship.  Shortly after this move (and before truly settling in), we packed again for a 6-week stay in West Virginia.  Gracie and Dianna return to Wichita the last week of July, and Dean follows the first week of August.

HOME OWNING:  Lord willing, we will be homeowner's no longer come September 2011.  This has probably been the most stretching, challenging, humbling, and stressful part of our last 3 months.  Our home in Charleston, SC (which we have rented the last 3-4 years) is under contract and after MUCH negotiation should close July 18th.  Our home in Wichita is in the process of selling; the contract is in the works.  We are amazed at God's provision during this time.  He has reminded us to rely on Him, to trust Him and His timing throughout this process of maintaining, renting and selling homes.  We are happily entering into our new role of tenant without any plans of resuming the role of homeowner or landlord any time soon.  We are excited to see where God takes us next.

GRADUATION:  Well, after 3 long, intense years, our family medicine residency is complete!  Dianna's parents (who prefer the titles Nana and Papa these days) and Dean's mom (who goes by "MA") joined us for the occasion.  A dear friend of ours, Dorenda, also joined us at the official graduation dinner.  Our residency class has been amazing; we have made many friends who we will miss.  We look forward to keeping in touch and hearing how God uses each of these amazing doctors to touch lives throughout the U.S. and world.

WEDDING:  Congrats to Darol and Cheryl Kubacz!  Dean's older brother married July 3rd in San Diego, CA.  All the Kubaczs were in attendance, and we really enjoyed time with family.  It is truly a feat to gather everyone together -- Josh, Michaele and Anabel (11 months) from Australia; Jeff, Cherith & Reippe from South Carolina; Ann from Colorado; Darol & Cheryl from Arizona; Jonathan from Oklahoma; and us from Kansas.  Adventure always unfolds when the crew is together!

Gracie and Anabel especially enjoyed their time together.  From wagon rides to ocean waves, naptime to bathtime, sharing room service to hotel room napping, these girls kept us on our toes with smiles on our faces.  The pictures share more than our words can describe and will be posted as soon as possible.


So, as you can tell, we are very blessed.  This season is different and exciting for us.  We feel we are nearing the lifework God has called us to and designed us for.  During the next couple of months, we have interviews with a couple mission agencies, and we are prayerfully seeking God's direction for the next years of our life.

Thanks for praying along with us!

Free in Christ,
DD&G