Merry Christmas from the Erwins

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:10-11

My little brother is getting old

Happy birthday to my handsome, adorable, amazing brother Joel Daniel!!  To be honest I couldn't remember how old he was until I logged on to Facebook today.  Sad, since he's only 17 months younger than Charys and me...when you get old, the numbers don't seem to matter anymore. ;)

Joel and Charity are quite possibly the most gorgeous couple on earth...inside and out.

While I was stealing photos from his Facebook page, I thought I should include a couple of his favorite things as well.  After all, it IS his birthday. :)

Oh, and she happens to be one of my favorite things too.

Happy birthday bro.  We love you!!

But take diligent heed to do the commandments and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  Joshua 22:5

Our little princess

We got another glimpse of our little princess at an ultrasound yesterday.  Most importantly, she is very healthy (THANK YOU JESUS), had heart rate in the 150's, growing well (about a week+ ahead of schedule) --- and we think quite cute if we must admit.  Chet said she is beautiful; I agree.

The little stinker decided to be shy about showing her face again.  I literally looked through our ultrasound photos from 13 weeks on, and in every.single.set. she is covering her face with her arms.  I carry all the u/s photos with me, so we had a good laugh that even when she resembled a teeny gummy bear, those two arms were over her face.  I went through my iPhone photos and found many of Holden doing the same thing.  It made my heart leap see and remember that.

Now I know she does not always have her arms covering her face.  As I type this, I feel her whole body stretching out, feet on one side and hands on the other.  I think she senses the u/s wand and quickly covers up!  We suppose she wants us to be a little surprised about something upon her arrival.

This was the best photo we got of her face (profile), and the few people I sent it to could barely make it out.  Her eyes are covered with an arm, but you can see her nose, lips and chin if you are a sleuth.  When we changed to 3D, both of those arms shot straight up to her face. 

I love you my little princess.

Nothing makes me happier at an appointment than to see our healthy baby.  Her Creator takes my breath away.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything.  Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  Acts 17:24-25

Happy "Anniversary" HUF!!

Since I am definitely not going to be able to describe the past year in mere words on a blog, I just want to say THANK YOU to our amazing Christ Jesus for allowing us to be given an opportunity to experience such hope.  Never in my life would I have pictured being a part of anything like this, yet God has redeemed our hearts and replaced brokenness with joy.

Thank you Lord!  Thank you Lord!  Thank you Lord!

Holden Uganda's 1st Year:
Founded in December 2010
Goal to build nine wells in nine months completed in 6 weeks
55 wells completed, 60 wells funded
1 orphanage clean water and sanitation project (ongoing)
1 primary school water project completed
Hope and life given to thousands of people

We know the Lord is just getting started with Holden Uganda...

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Photos

I am beginning to get a little self-conscious/worried about comments that my belly isn't as "round" as it should be.  I think she is growing sideways in my stomach, so it looks different than last time.  With Holden I felt like I always had a protruding stomach.  Now I have to eat a large breakfast and lunch to get photos like these.

I really dislike 'cell phone in mirror photos'.  Excuse me for this please.  And the fact that I am taking my time off work seriously by wearing sweats and house shoes nearly all day.  Really, this is simply just for my daughter to see one day:

As you can see, the nursery colors are the same still.  We haven't done anything to the room just yet.

This is us at conservatively 22.5 weeks.  (We are possibly a couple weeks further along than that, but I am being conservative.)

I just found this photo on my phone I snapped while I was staying in Oklahoma for a work trip.  I originally was not going to share on my blog, but I want to show how much I've grown in the last month.  This was about 17 weeks.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  1 John 4:9