One Week Until Take Off!

I can't believe it, but it's one week until we leave for our trip to Papua New Guinea! It's been a BUSY month, but a good one.

We've:
-Gotten our malaria medicine, along with Sophie 18 month check-up
-Gotten shots
-Talked with a number of people in PNG to make sure we're covering everything we need to take and know
-Sent out new prayer cards/update letters
-Hung out with countless friends and family
-Had several weddings, birthday parties, bridal showers, and a bachelor party
-Purchased Christmas gifts
-Had a family thanksgiving with my family yesterday
-Have enjoyed sweet time of fellowship with our Life Group

I've:
-Finished getting all my teeth filled in (I had a LOT of cavities)
-Had a midwife appointment (and have one more before leaving)
-Welcomed baby Wesley into the world (my best friend's baby who was born last week)
-Had a Thirty One party!
-Taken Sophie trick-or-treating

one of the best parts about hosting a party- food planning!

looking at fun bags!

this was what one of Sophie's gifts came in- it was a cash register... the box was much bigger than necessary

Sophie, the giraffe :)

Since I know this week is going to be crazy, I've began a To Do list. Hopefully this will help keep me from getting stressed out! Thankfully we already have all the big stuff done, but little details can sometimes be the most stressful.

Since we're leaving on November 4, we also had to get absentee ballots. We need to fill them out an send them back.

We appreciate your prayers!
-That we will accomplish everything we need to this week without being stressed
-That we will have safe travels and also for Sophie as we travel- since it will be long!
-That we will learn a lot while in PNG- that our time there would be helpful in making decisions for our future as well as that it will strengthen our relationship with the Lord
-That we will stay healthy
-That Ben and the others building the homes in the tribe will accomplish MUCH!

We're Taking a Trip To....

Papua New Guinea!

Today it became official when we booked our flights. It feels unreal, but we're excited for this upcoming 6 week trip!

Check out this panoramic view that we'll have while there... (photo taken by Chris Jones)

Our church, Christ's Covenant Church, supports our friends Chris and Evie Jones, and they are preparing to allocate into the tribe with the people group they are going to work with. We're stoke for them! Along with this process, they wanted men from our church with carpentry skills to come and help them build their houses in the tribe. Their house is going to look something like this (except not surrounded by sand... Chris is super techie, if you can't tell!)

So Ben has great carpentry skills AND we're currently planning on moving to PNG around 2015 or 2016 to do mission work there, so this was a perfect opportunity for us. While the opportunity is amazing, it involved some tough decisions like Ben quitting his job (as he can't take time off), being gone over thanksgiving, going there with a 1 year old and with me (Alisha) being pregnant, etc. We're thankful for our church elders and deacons who advised us wisely.

So, Lord willing, we will be heading to PNG in the beginning of November and will be there until the middle of December. We can't wait to experience PNG and come back to tell you all about it!

The Newest Member of the Miller Household

Yesterday we learned that our second child is a girl! We're so excited that Sophie will get to have a little sister that she can share lots of memories with. We took some fun pictures to announce with! (Photos by Created By Carrie Photography. She's awesome!)

Why I Avoided Pinterest... and Why I Finally Caved

I avoided Pinterest for a long time. I did so because I already have enough things to do and check online and really didn't need one more. Plus, I heard from plenty of people who said they spent hours pinning things but never actually making or doing any of the things they pinned. I was afraid I'd be one of those people as I know my creativity motivation... and it's pretty low.

Well, I wouldn't say I love to cook, but I do enjoy it. I think I enjoy it even more while pregnant. I found myself googling recipes, and it was annoying to have to click on every link to see what the recipe looked like. I began thinking it might be a good idea to join Pinterest so that I could get recipes more easily (I love being able to see a picture!). I'll admit... part of me was being stubborn because I was proud I had held off on getting it for so long. But finally I decided to get it.

And I have not turned out to be one of those people who pins all day long and does nothing about it! Ben has been very happy with my decision to join as he's gotten lots of good food out of it (he told me if I made at least one recipe a week, I was allowed to stay on it, haha!)

I've made EIGHT recipes in the 2.5 weeks since I joined! And quite a few of them have been really good.

I made Chick-fil-A Bites that were amazing- I think they were the biggest hit! They really weren't too complicated either. Now here's the shame part... I've never had real Chick-fil-A Bites, so I don't know if these compare or not. But they're really good either way. Definitely worth trying! 

Other main dishes I made were:
- Bourbon Chicken (I LOVE the bourbon chicken place at our mall- I would say this wasn't quite as good, but it was close!... You have to scroll down in the link...
- Sweet and Sour Chicken (I love sweet and sour anything, so it was good of course, but I think I had my hopes too high)
- Chicken Ranch Tacos (These were great, but really not much different than regular chicken tacos made over the stove with just taco seasoning)

I also saw this thing floating around on Pinterest about how you could hard boil eggs in the oven. I was a fan! I hate hard boiling eggs on the stovetop. So I gave it a try, and they turned out great! The only thing is that you have to make sure you push the pan back far enough in the oven because the ones in front didn't cook quite as good for me as the ones in back.

The most addicting part of Pinterest for me is the desserts... mmm yumm!

Last night, I made No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies. They are delicious, of course. http://mysoulisthesky.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-peanut-butter-cookies.html
Other desserts I made:
-No Bake Energy Bites (These were ok, but I used regular oats instead of rolled oats because it's what I had, and it made it much harder for them to stick together).
- Healthy Banana Cookies (I'm a chocolate... and sugar lover... so these wouldn't be my first choice by any means... but Sophie loved them, so they're a great healthy cookie for a 1 yr-old)

All in all, I would say my joining Pinterest has been a success.

Sophie's First Trip to the Zoo

On Wednesday, Sophie took her first trip to the zoo. Ben had off work, and we have been talking about going all summer, so we finally went. It was the perfect time to go because it was late in the season, kids were in school, and we went early in the morning, so it wasn't very crowded. We also left just in time before the rain came, so we had perfect weather too.

I started babysitting this week, so the boy I babysit for came along too! Here they are looking at the hyenas.

Sophie checking out some animals...

Looking at the lion.

Giraffes!

Sophie's favorite animal was the orangutang. They were so fun to watch as they swung from one rope to the next.

There was a little farm area, so Sophie got to pet the goat. She's probably one of the few one year-olds that go to the zoo and yell out, "Goat!" when she sees a goat. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Miller, she knows what goats are and love them.

All in all, we had a great day at the Ft Wayne Children's Zoo! Sophie will probably enjoy it a little more in the next couple of years, but it was fun to take her.

Visiting our Future Home (MTC MO)

We took a quick trip to New Tribe Mission's MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Roach, MO. We left thursday so that we could help these dear friends from the Bible School move on to the next phase of training (Downings and Cizdziels). 

We drove through rain the ENTIRE drive from Indiana to Missouri (the worst rain I've ever drove in too!), and we hit some frustrating construction as well. But we made it in one piece, and thankfully a lot of things stayed dry.

It was nice to help them move because it also gave us a chance to see our future home! Hopefully, this is where we will be moving to next August in order to finish our last phase of training. This is the older, smaller housing ... this is Jason's and Laken's apartment.

This is the newer, bigger housing for families...

And standing in the same spot as the previous picture, but looking down the hill instead of up, you can see the classroom and administration buildings. It's a little bit of a walk, but not bad.

Here are the administration buildings.

And that classroom building.

Here is the beautiful lake. It is really pretty! We love the location of the campus. It's on the Lake of the Ozarks.

One other nice thing about visiting was that we got to see quite a few Bible school friends! It was nice to see Brett and Kelli and baby Addie.

After a quick few days in Missouri, we drove home through the night last night (less traffic, no construction hold-ups, and no rain= much faster arrival time!!!). It was so nice to get home to see this little girl who stayed with my parents. It's the longest we've been away from her, and we sure missed her... but I think she had such a good time that she didn't really miss us much. She will love the MTC too- it is very kid-friendly with playgrounds and lots of other kids and lots of area to run.

Family Vacation with the Millers - Gull Lake

This past week we took a little vacation with Ben's family as we do every year. They go to a place called Gull Lake Family Camp every year. It's in Michigan, and Ben's family has gone for 24 years! That's some dedicated family vacationing, right there. I have gone with them ever since Ben and I got married- so this was my 4th summer. And it was Sophie's 2nd summer :)

Ben unfortunately still had to work- but his job is about half-way between our house in Warsaw and where we were in Michigan, so he didn't have to drive much further to work. He would go work every morning and then come hang out with us the rest of the day!

This is our cottage that we've stayed in every year since I have gone. It's a nice little cottage right on the lake. I sat in the back yard almost every day while Sophie took her nap- it was nice to soak up some sun while reading and watching people on the lake.

Sophie had SO much fun with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. They definitely spoiled her, and she knew it! Last year she was only 4 months, so it was fun to see her enjoying everything this year. They have playgrounds, a splash pad, a gym, and a fun nursery area for her. Here she is with Uncle Nate kicking her feet in the water. She was trying to splash Aunt Katie.

On the last night, they had a fun carnival-type thing set up for the kids, and Sophie loved the bouncy houses! This was a little bouncy house, perfect for Sophie...

It had a slide that she loved to go down. She did it over and over again.

Here Sophie and I are after we went through the splash pad some! She likes it as long as she's with an adult. Nate, Katie, and I all took her through in our clothes because we didn't have our swim suits on :)

(thanks Katie for a couple of the pictures... I am always bad about taking pictures at Gull Lake!)