What's Next for the Freemans?

Can I just say that I love that you follow my blog? Seriously, I do!

I consider myself blessed to go through each step of life with you readers. You’ve celebrated with us at each milestone - such as our marriage, new jobs and the birth of our daughter, Hannah - and been there for us with everything in between. And it is with great excitement that we announce life’s next step for our family as we sense God pointing us in a whole new direction.

After laboring in prayer over a few years and ministering to college students at our home church in Tyler, we realize our calling to be missionaries within the United States. Specifically, God has led us to Fort Collins, Colorado, where we have been called to start a church and build a community of faith with other young adults and their families. In fact, our goal is to move there before school starts next year.

We have the beginnings of a team in place that includes our best friends, David and Laura Sutton and their little boy, Josiah. David will serve as the pastor. And Chris will serve as the worship leader/associate pastor. There are so many other details I could share about this new journey for us, but I’m honestly afraid I’d bog you down in the nitty-gritty. So if you want more details, just ask. It’s just such an exciting time for us!

I want you to partner with us in prayer as we follow God's lead. We've never started a church from scratch! Not to mention it's hard to move across the country, especially when we’re moving away from other close family and friends. Also, pray for the folks in Fort Collins. We’ve truly fallen in love with this community and long to share what matters most to us, and that’s the love of Christ.

You can keep up with our progress in a number of ways. Obviously, I'll post some updates here. But you can follow us on Twitter, become a fan of our Facebook page or check out our blog -- all of which you can visit from our website, iheartfortcollins.com.

Whew! I'm so glad to finally share that. Here's a picture Chris took from a recent trip to Fort Collins at Christmas. Beautiful, huh?

FREEZE!

We laugh a LOT in our household. I've got my ultra funny husband. My baby is an entertainer. And I'd like to think I'm awesomely witty, but I'm not so much, and that's okay. I'm the resident live studio audience ready to laugh and clap on cue.

Much like her father, Hannah has entered into the business of entertaining. She will do something over and over again if it makes someone laugh. For instance, she's started "freezing". Just watch and be entertained.

Never Give Up

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the fight against breast cancer is something that's very important. I was honored to not only participate in a video to help raise awareness about a women's risk of breast cancer, but I was able to do so alongside my sweet Memaw, some of the awesome girls from our college ministry - Angela, Devin, Maleta, Michelle and Sam - and a few great guys I know - Simon and Matt and his son Brady.



I'm going to assume because you're reading my blog, we know and care about each other. I want you to take care of yourself and the women you love. The best protection is early detection. So know the risks, inform others, take preventive measures (self exams and mammograms) and join in the fight against breast cancer!

Check Out This Shiner

Hannah got into a little fight with a dump truck this morning and lost.

Hannah’s best friend, Josiah, let her borrow this awesome dump truck for her to push around our living room. She absolutely loves walking behind it and thinks honking the horn is pretty great, too. But what this Mama loves most about it is that it’s virtually indestructible. I have yet to see her pull it over, which is a pretty important feature in a toy for almost-walking babies.

So Hannah was cruising along with said dump truck this morning when her feet got tangled and she dives head first into its seat. It didn’t move. It remained standing. All the while poor Hannah instantly bruised.

She cried for about a minute. Correction -- she screamed bloody murder for about a minute. You know, the high-pitched, shrill shriek that leads you to believe she’s dying a horrible, horrible death? But her Daddy fixed it quickly with snuggles and an ice pack, as you can see from the happy little girl in the picture.

Welcome to world of walking, little girl.

My Apologies On Behalf of My Daughter

So apparently my darling baby girl appreciates accessories so much so that she wrestled some or all of the babies (I missed that detail, but one is enough to astound me) to the ground to take away their pacifiers and headbands in Sunday school today. I think there are a few ways to see this:

• She is helping to break the children of their pacifiers.
• She wants to wear the bows since her Daddy doesn’t like for her to wear them because they make her look too girly. (One day he’ll wake up and realize that she’s A GIRL!)
•  She is a big mean bully.

I prefer options 1 and 2. And I apologize on behalf of my daughter if she made your child cry today.

Here’s my bully of a babe after church (in the shirt I made her, thank you very much) coming after me. You can see it in her eyes -- “Mom, I’m taking you dooowwwn!” Y’all, don’t mess with this chick. 

Through the Eyes of an Expecting Father

I found a few of these candid photos Chris had taken of me while I was pregnant. It's fun to see the moments he captured and what he thought was memorable.

Here I am, waiting for the first sonogram to check out the new bun in the oven. Chris made sure to get the machine, especially the wand, in the picture. Needless to say, he was caught off guard by what the first sonogram entailed.

At one of the many check-ups. I made that gown look hot. Zoltan.

Hannah got music lessons very early on. Chris made sure of it.

Here I am waiting for one of the many sonograms we got from our dear friend Debbie. This is the day we found out we were having a girl.

If you look closely, you can see that my left foot is swollen up like a big fat whale. You could press on it and your fingers would leave indentions. So my doctor recommended I get it checked out. And when I did, they insisted that I do not walk, but travel via wheelchair. I wasn't happy - see my smirk? - and Chris thought it was hilarious.

And here I am, in all of my big-bodied glory, working through a contraction. I never knew he took this picture, but I'm glad he did. Because here is proof that I'm one tough Mama. Look at my toes curled!

And lastly, here I am at the hospital. They just told us we were going to be moved into a delivery room to finally have Hannah. No doubt Chris said something silly as you can see the smirk on my face.

After six years of marriage and one life-changing experience together, I can't imagine going through life with anyone other than Chris. He's my favorite.

How to Grow a Woman from the Ground

If you know me well enough, you know that I LOVE to name things. I think I would have loved Adam and Eve's job of giving names to all of creation. I hope they appreciated the task.

One thing I never took the time to give a good name was my blog. But now as you can see for yourself, it bears a new title: How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. I lifted the name from a folk song I like mainly because I agree with the singer that "... it takes forever to grow a woman from the ground." I'll keep growing until the day I die. This blog exists to document the progress.

Hysterical Hannah

All Chris did was throw a ball into the air and Hannah went nuts. We think her laugh is so contagious.

Yay Hannah!

Once she figured out how to clap this weekend, she has been clapping non-stop!