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

A year has passed

Well, it's official ...

Gracie is one!

We celebrated with a trip to the zoo.



Gracie liked to stand in the stroller as we looked at the animals.



Some animals she got to touch,

other animals got to touch her.



We thought she would enjoy feeding the giraffe, but as you can see she preferred to feed herself!



We were excited that the hippos put on such a show for us.

After the zoo, and a much needed nap, we tried birthday cake again.  She was still skeptical a first.

But with a little help she tasted the icing...

and it was all over...

Yum Yum!  That is good stuff!

Gracie has enjoyed her gifts.  Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebrating her special day!

Gracie continues to crawl, stand, and cruise...we anticipate her first steps will surprise us soon.

Sorry it took so long to post this.  We were having problems loading the pictures -- which we think were definitely worth the wait.

Our house remains on the market.  We are learning valuable lessons during this time of waiting.  God has used this time to remind us of the importance of daily prayer and praise.  We realize how much room we have to grow and mature in our walk with Him.  We have been convicted of our own complacency and encouraged to makes changes in our daily routine.  He is gracious to us, and we know He will provide in His timing.

Leaning on Him,

DD&G

Hip-Hippo-Rah!

Gracie turns 1!  Well, almost...

We were in South Carolina for a dear friend's wedding this past weekend, so we went ahead and celebrated Little Miss Gracie's first birthday.  What a fun party!


The theme:  Hippos.

As we discussed possible party themes, safari and jungle animals kept coming to mind since we recently returned from Africa.  While in Koutiala we learned that Mali means "Hippo."  So, a safari themed hippo party it was!

Nana and Papa worked hard to make this day extra special:

   
A friendly hippo and tall giraffe along with a tree full of monkeys greeted guests as they arrived.



Gracie and her cousin Dylan enjoyed their safari hats...



as well as the inflatables.



We all sang happy birthday...



while Gracie watched.



She wasn't sure about the cake.



She played with the icing but never really tasted the yummy carrot cake (we figured since it is one of our favorites she would like it too).



She did like the chocolate covered banana pops that Nanny made!  They were hit with all the guests.

Many friends and family came to this special event.



Aunt Susan and Uncle David helped Gracie play with bubbles.

Gracie monkey-ed around with Aunt Beth & Uncle Ralph (aka: Nana 2 & Papa 2).

Mary & Martha snuck in a few hugs, too!


Gracie enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper while we helped her open her gifts.



We have several new books to read, new outfits to wear,

                                                   new toys to play with,











and a new bookbag to keep our things together!



What an amazing year it has been!  We are so thankful that God blessed us with this sweet little girl.



It has been quite a while since our last post -- we have been busy working in the hospital, traveling to SC weddings, listing our house, and trying to keep up with our mobile little girl.



Gracie is crawling, cruising, standing ... we await some first steps and walking soon!

Excitedly entering year two,

DD&G