"So give your servant a discerning heart..." 1 Kings 3:9

For awhile now, at our church here in Byram (RRBC) we've been going through the bible; book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse and it has been an amazing journey for me! No matter how many times I have read the books of the bible in the past or read or heard sermons preached on certain scripture, this has been probably the most beneficial in truly understanding His Word. I know that he probably would say that I shouldn't give him any credit, but I have to say that our Pastor Jonathan Russell has really taken us deep into the Word, in truly understand verse by verse. 

Tonight, we started into 1 Kings and King Solomon's reign....WOW! And I'm reminded yet again that even today you can learn so much from people who lived so long ago.  I love that when God appeared to Solomon in a dream saying, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you.", that King Solomon didn't ask for riches or a long life, but that he asked God for WISDOM! I could only hope and pray that if asked the same question by God, that I would have the same response as King Solomon.  That is my prayer: that I would seek the wisdom from God that King Solomon sought and God gave him.

And as a family we ask that you pray for us tomorrow, as Trey and I will be traveling to Amite, LA to meet with the personnel committee again at a church there for a Student Ministry position that they are looking for Trey to fill.  They are so excited about us as a couple, about Trey and his vision for the student ministry, and about our future mission work in Africa.  This church is earnestly seeking God, and we def. have seen that when we were there only a 2 weeks ago, so please pray for them also.  We can't imagine leaving our church family here, but we know they are excited for the road God is taking us on and the future He has for us both on and off the mission field!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is...PATIENCE..." Gal. 5:22

PATIENCE...what a great word and topic for our life lately!

(Hey there the name is Ashley Fuller....(chuckle)...this blog is def. not new it's just a new update in almost a year, and that is pretty embarassing.  My life is def. not too hectic that I can't sit down for a few minutes every other day and post a blog to keep our loved ones that aren't able to see us on a regular basis, updated.  So, I must start by thanking my sis Mer and my friend Tonya for non-intentionally motivating me (by well, nothing they said, but just keeping up with their own blogs while life continues around them)...so thank you gals!)

PATIENCE....patience for waiting on God's will, waiting for a moment to pass, waiting for an answer that might come in another form.  Since, our last post we have gone through a lot as a family; moments that were cheerful, sad, and sometimes just everyday moments that make you think "Wow! We are so blessed!"  I'll take note from Tonya and kind of just lay it out for ya'll:

May-September
Life was crazy trying to get the girls on similar schedules and asking God for the patience to get through each moment and count each one as a TRUE blessing! Hannah and Noelle enjoyed their first summer together: swimming, playing at the park, Noelle's first airplane ride, Hannah got potty trained-yea! My brother got married in June to his amazing wife Jacki, and I'm so glad the girls have another wonderful Aunt!

September-December

What a whirl-wind of life! Trey and I started our non-profit org. Mayatima International Ministries (building an orphanage in Kenya) and just being patient that God's timing is EVERYTHING! He has already done so much through the organization: Trey took a trip to Africa and God showed Him so many things concerning the orphanage and our future there in Kenya! My husband turn 28 and I turned 24...28 and 24 ya'll-that's not old I'm jsut saying I can't believe it's been 3 yrs. since we first met! Noelle had her 1st...well everything and Hannah just seemed to grow up too fast for us...Each and everyday there was something new that Noelle and Hannah did that just gave us so much joy...still does!

 

January

A very specialwomen: wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother passed away...Teresa Fuller (Trey's mom) passed away on January 23rd after her long battle with Breast Cancer and I guess we're still being patient when it comes to the sadness of having her gone.  But don't get us wrong, we REJOICE in knowing that she is in Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ, cancer free! Amen!

February

Oh, to some it's the month of Valentine's Day but to our family it's the month of special birthdays!  Noelle turned ONE YEAR OLD on the 19th...wow what a fast year it seems...I think I need to be patient with myself in thinking "What will she be like when she's Hannah's age?" I need to let the time go by, I'm already asking where the past year went! Teresa (mawmaw's) birthday was on the 26th and she would have been 51, and we celebrated her being with Jesus!

March

Ok, so you get how Patience is so much a part of our life, as are all the fruits of the Spirit! May God continue to instill patience in me to be the best God honoring wife and mother I can be!  And we pray that our children learn by our example...I already see Hannah imitating me, as she loves to pretend to put on make-up like mommy does, or take care of her little sister the way mommy and daddy do....she'll be TWO on the 14th and I can't believe it....TWO!

Well, we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and group of friends! Please keep us in your prayers as God continues to work in the life of our family, showing us His goodness and love!

New Post, New Day, New Place

So we've finally settled into our new apartment in Mississippi and let me tell you it has been a long journey! When we first arrived April 1st in Mississippi, we were staying with Trey's parents until we found a place to live...it took a little bit llonger then we expected but we love our new place! I will post pictures of it as we get each room completed. Right now we have the kitchen practically done and same with the living room, we just need to hang some things on the walls to make it all cozy! We also have 3 bedrooms, two baths and a laundry room (the washer and dryer are coming this week...Praise Jesus!), so there's plenty of room for the whole family! The apartment complex has it's own pools, and a lake with a walking path, and some play grounds..WONDERFUL!

Please continue to be in pray as Trey tries to find employement, it has been so hard with the lastest layoffs and bad economy. We found out this weekend that a local church needs a youth minister, so he's going to go by this week to talk to the pastor. We know that God always makes a way where there seems to be no way so we just conitue to pray that we'll continue to have faith!

Update: Trey's mother has ended her radiation treatment and went back to the doctor today. She had some bloodclots but they didn't seem too too alarmed. She will be scheduled soon to go and see the doctors for another scan. Please continue to be in pray for her and the family as they deal with the day to day struggles! And we continue to praise Jesus for things like the fact that she no longer needs a walker to get around!

So, mother and father, Aunt Meme, and everyone else that has complained about no pics being posted-again we are sorry, we've been without the internet for a little over a month, but we're back and up and running!
Noelle is getting so big we can't even believe it...It seems like so long ago since Hannah was the tiny! Anyways, she is smiling and laughing (in a weird way) but she's a WONDERFUL little baby girl and just amazes each day with something new (even being so little). She is a great sleeper, she's been sleeping through the night for awhile now and her and Hannah have been sharing a room for over a month now, it's working out beautifully! And Hannah is so crazy and big, she's cruising around the house, it was like one minute she was crawling and in a split second she just knew how to walk! She loves it! And she's saying so many new things everyday, and sometimes she'll just stand there and talk to you like you are having some conversation, but there are no "real words" but we talk back...it's hilarious! She colored for the first time the other day and a few weeks ago she went swimming for the first time! She is an amazing big sis already, anytime Noelle cries and is in her crib or carseat, Hannah will go over and shake her to help calm her (and the funny thing is, it actually works)! Wow, how fast our lives seem to go with children, but we wouldn't trade a day with them for anything! We love our girls!

I know this post is long, and since it is I'm not reading it back to proofread it, so "boo on you if you find some grammatical error"! Love you all and sorry again for the delayed posting and pictures!

The Power of Prayer....And Our New Baby Girl!

As I sit here in our special hospital room looking over at little Noelle Grace, who a little earlier weighed in at 5 lbs 12 oz., I am amazed how blessed Trey and I are with not one but two beautiful little girls. The past 5 days has been crazy, filled with tears and laughter and sometimes just plain "stress", but first and foremost we thank the Lord for pulling us through it all and thank everyone who has been in prayer for our family!

We came to the hospital around 7:30pm on Feb 18th and by 6:30am Feb 19th we had a new addition to the family. The doctors, nurses, and all the staff at the hospital have gone above and beyond! We learned shortly after Noelle Grace was born that she was having respitory problems and would need to be immediatly admitted to the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. By the grace of God I happened to have delivered at one of the finest hospitals in the country for that type of care! How great is our God! And as the days progressed, what was thought to be fluid on her lungs from phenomia, turned out to be fluid from the birthing process which cleared up by Saturday afternoon. And Saturday evening they decided that she was improving enough to move her up to the Pediatric Ward where we could finally room in with her.

It was so hard last Thursday not being able to just hold and cuddle our newborn but we new she was in God's hands and now we are able to totally bond! Trey and Hannah have been bonding the past two nights (as Hannah can't stay up here, so Trey comes as early as he can with her and leaves right before her bedtime)...what an amazing husband and father!

And as of today, even with a little weight loss, the doctor's say she is doing great and looks fantastic! She was able to be taken off her IV at 5am this morning and they say should be able to go home with us tomorrow around noon time! So please be in prayer that we would continue to see God's hand in all of this! Again thank you for all your prayers! We love you all!

And as for Hannah Elizabeth, she already knows that when we say wave to your sister, she can find Noelle and wave her hand to her...It is the cutest thing! She is getting so big and we can't wait until they can both be running around becoming the best of friends!

Update of Hannah

Hannah is 9 and 1/2 months old and growing by the minute. She now eats all her meals with bits and peices in them and she's a pro at chewing! Yea Hannah! Also she knows how to turn off the lights, and if we turn them off she looks at us with her puppy dog look...it's so cute, she never lets us forget that she can do it (so that's her thing now). We've been trying this week to switch Hannah over from a bottle to a sippy cup and we were just going to switch the middle bottle out of the day for now, but it wasn't working. So, today we decided to go "Cold Turkey" and she is doing awesome! I think that's what it was supposed to take...we're blessed that Hannah can do so many things and we know it may be early for her to stop the bottle all together for most babies but Hannah loves her sippy cup. God's def. preparing us all for the new baby who will be here in a little over 2 months and it's such a blessing that Hannah is doing GREAT learning new stuff!
On another note: Hannah loves Curious George and so for Christmas we got her the cutest pj's...we took picks tonight before she went to bed! Enjoy!

Videos!!

Blessings!

I just want to thank the Szala Family for a very fun evening last night. Trey, Hannah, and I went over to the Szala house around 5 yesterday to have Christmas Dinner after we had spent lots of family time together playing with our (well Hannah's) new toys and presents. It was us, the Szala's, Joanie, and Lori's sister's family and we had a blast. We not only had great food but great fellowship. We were sad that we weren't able to be around our families for Christmas and have Hannah enjoy all her grandparents and aunts and uncles for her first Christmas, but what a blessing it is to have the Szala family in our lives. God def. has blessed us with them and we do consider them our family!!!! I do have to say though that the team I wasn't on last night somehow I know cheated in the game of Taboo...just kidding! But to our family far away, we miss you so very much and can't wait to see some of you when the new baby is here. Oh by the way, we have another name to consider: Noelle Grace....but we're still in prayer, just wanted to keep everyone updated.
We're doing our best to get all the videos uploaded and pics on the blog too, but we hope you enjoy what's on here so far and whats to come (excuse the mess of the blog)!!
And we have a feeling Caleb will be here by the end of next week. Trey and I were talking and it's so weird to think that the stage Mer is at now in her pregnancy, Hannah would've already been here if it was my last pregnancy. It's so neat to think that when Hannah was almost a week old, she was as big as Caleb is now inside Aunt Meme! God is amazing!!!!!! We love you already Caleb and can't wait to meet you, whenever God has planned that you will come!
Pics from last night: