Smiles & Coos

Our sweet baby boy continues to thrive and grow and bring us much joy! He weighed in at 14lbs, 2oz at his two-month-old doctor's visit. He regularly smiles and coos and loves "talking" to anyone who will converse with him. He also enjoys sucking on his hands or anything else he can get into his mouth. His favorite friend is his cousin Eli - who hasn't quite figured out how to be gentle yet, but enjoys hanging out with Isaiah, nonetheless. I'm sure they'll get into much trouble together in the years to come.

Things continue to be very busy at church, and as we gear up for the holiday season, the schedule will grow even more hectic. Amos recently enjoyed a camping outing with the junior high boys in his youth group on Mount Nebo, near our home. He also continues to minister to a Men's Discipleship Group, Adult Sunday School Class, and leads our Outreach Team.

Our church just celebrated our annual Fall Festival at one of our member's farm. It was a fun celebration with horse rides, hay bale jumping, a petting zoo, hayrides, a bonfire, pumpkin decorating, and of course a trunk or treat with lots of candy. Isaiah dressed up as a pea in a pod - check out the pictures!

We will be stealing a few days away around Thanksgiving to introduce Isaiah to all of his relatives in Minnesota. We're looking forward to spending time with friends and family in the great north!

Happy Autumn!

Much Love,
Amos,

Meredith

& Isaiah

Diapers & Sleepless Nights

Our sweet baby boy is now 6 weeks old! We can hardly believe how fast the time flies. He's getting so big and is now smiling and cooing to our delight.

He's adorable and we're loving every minute of being parents - even the sleepless nights and hundreds of diaper changes. We also enjoyed a recent visit from Grandma Anderson - it was fun to show her around Arkansas and watch her enjoy her first grandson!

Enjoy the pictures (we added one of our new place (finally!) for those of you who haven't seen it)

and thank you all for your cards and gifts of love and congratulations.

We're so blessed by your encouragement and support!

Isaiah Amos Anderson

Most of you have probably already heard that our son, Isaiah Amos Anderson, was born on August 12th at 9:16 p.m. He arrived after 68 LONG hours of labor weighing in at 9lbs, 3oz, and measuring 21 1/4" long. Meredith started having contractions on Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. We went to the hospital when they were coming about 3 minutes apart and lasting for a minute only to be told that Meredith wasn't dilating and to be sent home. Labor continued to grow more intense with the contractions consistently 5 minutes or less apart and lasting from 1 to 3 minutes. Needless to say, by the time Tuesday night rolled around, the intensity was starting to wear Meredith out. We finally headed back to the hospital at about 5:15 p.m. when she couldn't handle them any more, hoping to hear that the dilation had progressed. It had indeed and Meredith was 4 cm dilated at that point. Within the next 2 1/2 hours she progressed to 8 cm and the epidural was put in place allowing her to rest for about 45 minutes before she started pushing at about 8:50 p.m. The pushing went quickly and Isaiah soon emerged - giving birth is nothing short of a miraculous experience! Isaiah came out crying and was quickly nicknamed "Pork Chop" by the doctor. He soon quieted and was very alert for the next few hours. He nursed right away without any difficulties and has been eating ever since!

We were discharged from the hospital about 24 hours later and arrived home around midnight on Wednesday, August 13th. Unfortunately we had to return to the hospital for a follow up check on Isaiah's bilirubin levels (jaundice) on Thursday and were readmitted into the hospital to be placed under bili lights because his levels were too high. It was a rough night as we had Isaiah in a room with us and had to keep him under this light, completely naked,whenever he was not eating. It was a long night of lots of fussing and we were happy to be discharged from the hospital on Friday morning. The doctor asked us to bring him back to the hospital on Sunday for a re-check of his levels. We were readmitted to the hospital on Monday and had to stay until Wednesday morning again under the lights the entire time. Watching Isaiah so uncomfortable and fussy was exhausting and we are so thankful that he has been completely cleared of any danger in regards to his bilirubin levels at this point.

Since arriving home we are working on getting into a routine. Isaiah is a very laid back baby who fusses rarely. He's loves to be held and cuddled. It's been fun

to watch how much his mannerisms and looks remind us of Amos. He's an amazing gift from the Lord and we are cherishing parenting him. Thank you so much for all of your love, support, and prayers!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

I'm sure that many of you were hoping this update would annouce the birth of our son...not quite yet! We're sure hoping we'll be doing that soon though. This is the 8th day in a row that we have logged temperatures over 100 degrees and Meredith is definitely ready to not be pregnant any more - with back aches and foot aches and all over aches...pregnancy is starting to take it's toll! We know it will all be worth it though and we can't wait to meet our baby boy.

The heat hasn't slowed Amos down a bit; he just finished repairing and staining our deck. The deck has been in need of some serious TLC since we moved in and Amos made it look 100% better! Check out the before, in-progress, and after pictures.

Meredith logged her last week of full-time work at the church and will be staying home from now on. It's a bitter-sweet goodbye, but she knows all the free time she currently has on her hands will come to an abrupt halt when baby arrives. She enjoyed working at the church but feels so blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home mom!

Please keep us in your prayers as the birth of our son draws near. We'll keep you posted!

Blessings Galore!

It's hard to believe that the Fourth of July has come and gone. That seems to be the unofficial heart of summer and it's flown by! Things in our household continue to be steadily busy as we prepare for the arrival of our new family member.

We have been so incredibly blessed by the generosity of our church family, GYR family, and blood family in regards to receiving gifts for Gus (as we've affectionately womb-named the little guy). We would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped us prepare our nursery - especially, most recently, to the Tucker-clan in the U.P. We feel like we need to post a sign in our nursery that says, "Furnished by the Tuckers"...your generosity was truly overwhelming! The Nursery is basically finished, minus a few touches, and ready for baby's arrival. Meredith's belly continues to grow everyday and she is more than ready for the baby to be in her arms rather than in her belly. We're hoping Gus may decide to come a little early.

We enjoyed a wonderful visit with Amos' brother, Peter, last week. The guys had a great time fishing, four-wheeling, skeet shooting, and canoeing. We took Pete out for a truly southern meal of barbeque and just enjoyed having him around!

We're putting finishing touches on the house and preparing for an open-house next Sunday, which we've invited our church family, friends, and neighbors to. It will be a fun time of opening up our home, which we feel is such a huge blessing from the Lord. If anyone is in the area, feel free to drop in and join us!

We hope that you're enjoying summer and staying cool!

Summer Days

Life in the Anderson household continues to fly by at a frenzied pace. We can hardly believe that the month of June is more than half way over.

Amos spent last week in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with 7 youth and one other chaperon on a mission trip to Cherokee Nation. The team had a great week and was able to accomplish much in the way of service projects during their time. Overall, the trip proved to be a great bonding experience for the youth group and we're excited to see how it will continue to impact the teens over the coming weeks and months. For most of the youth, this was their first time ever on a mission trip.

While Amos was gone, the women of the church threw Meredith a baby shower and truly showered her with gifts. We've been so blessed by the generosity of friends and family alike as we prepare for Gus (as we've affectionately "womb named" him) to arrive. We have nearly everything we need now and are working on getting the nursery ready. Meredith wanted to put up white beadboard on the bottom half of the walls and that is our current project - a project it has been!

In other news, we continue to stay busy with projects around the house and keeping the 3 acres of lawn we owned, mowed! In the Arkansas heat, it grows like weeds! We're still expecting baby to arrive sometime around August 6th and are eagerly anticipating his birthday. Meredith will be working at the church office through the end of July and then will take a maternity leave before beginning to do some work from home. The Lord has provided a wonderful lady to take her place at church and she will be trained in the coming weeks. We're also really looking forward to a visit from Amos' brother, Peter, in just a few short weeks! We're excited to introduce him to life in Arkansas.

We hope that this post finds you and yours well and staying cool in the summer heat! We love you all.

Getaways, Showers, and Our New Place

Life has brought plenty of activity our way in the past 3 weeks.

Here are a few of the highlights...

Last weekend we were able to take a mini-vacation and getaway from Friday through Monday to northwest Arkansas. We were blessed to stay at a beautiful cottage free-of-charge at a Christian Conference and Retreat Facility. We caught some of an air show in Fort Smith and enjoyed a day out at Devil's Den State Park. We hiked about 1.5 miles...which was about all the very-pregnant Meredith could take in the 95 degree heat. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend of physical and spiritual renewal.

This weekend brought Meredith's first baby shower hosted by her mom and sister (thanks, guys!) and attended by all the ladies of Glenhaven Youth Ranch. It was a sweet time of fellowship, fun, and gifts! The women were most generous and Baby Anderson received lots of cute new outfits, bedding, and accessories.

And finally...here are a few pictures of the new house - there will be more to come; stay tuned!