A Day in the Life of...

...a pregnant father.
Today Kayla is 35 weeks pregnant! :) Another "milestone" we have to rejoice in. Every week, every day is another blessing as we wait for our daughter to arrive. The doctors were hoping she could make it to at least 34 weeks, so now that we are past that goal, we are wondering WHEN is this little girl gonna show up!?! Most babies born between 34-36 weeks have very little, if any complications. Isaiah was born at 31, so we are very very thankful. Thank you so much for your prayers and all the encouragement we have received! We have felt God's hand with us every day!
Its so very nice that Kay can do a little more now without worrying so much, but the flip side is her feeling less and less like DOing those little things. :) The good news is that Kay is feeling good, a contraction here, a lot of contractions there, but nothing extremely hard or regular at this point. She is definitely feeling very pregnant!
So today I had prayer with my mentoring group in the morning, I was at IGo for that, and also caught up some with some of the teachers at the English Centre.
In the meantime, I arranged a babysitter for Isaiah, and took my cabin-fevered wife out for a stroll in our nearby 5-story mall. We hadn't had a real date for a while, so it was very nice to treat ourselves to Big Macs and a caramel frappe from McD's :) and just enjoy being together, and walking our legs off. We came back, and Kay was ready for some bed time, so I took Isaiah and Mia (his puppy) on the bicycle down to the Centre for a bit, then played basketball with Isaiah on the court by our house until Kay was up and about, but she wasn't feeling good or hungry for supper, so us guys heated up and shared some leftover spaghetti and soft pretzels. In other news, Isaiah finally took off walking about 2 weeks ago, and is progressing pretty quickly. His favorite toy is any ball, but the ones that give him the most joy are full-sized basketballs that he can hardly lift, but he's getting better at it! :)

Now Kay is feeling a little better, and is entertaining Isaiah while I write this and my computer is pumping out Bible songs by Wee Sing. :)

I am learning a whole new appreciation for my wife and my mother, and every other mother out there! :) I am learning: patience (the definition of a good mother), flexibility, priorities, love, and more kids' Bible songs! Some days I wonder what I have "accomplished" and then God shows me my wonderful wife, my active and happy son, and my unborn daughter in that haven of protection and safety that He has given her for another day, and I can only be thankful, and know that not a minute of my time with them has been for naught.
We are blessed to have Jonathan Schrock and Doyle Byler here for another month as part time teachers at IEC. They came to cover for our other teachers as they took their CELTA training, but having 2 of them here has freed me up a lot during this time to take care of my family.
Please continue to pray:

• for our teachers and students at IEC
• that we can present the love of Christ to our students through our celebration of this holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas parties at the Centre)
• for Mairi as she takes the very intense CELTA these next 4 weeks
• for the guys in my mentoring group, as they finish up their IGo experience, and we spend some very intense and focused time together, getting ready to re-enter their home cultures after 4-8 months of being over here. pray that I could lead those times well, and be directed by the Holy Spirit
• for the people of central Thailand as they deal with the worst flooding in over 50 years
• for God to arrange our travel plans according to His plan: we would like to make a trip back to the states the first part of the year, but due to the timing of our visa renewal, we may not be able to make it during the time we'd like
• that our continued presence in this culture would point people to Jesus

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love that we feel!
Because of Christ,
The Beachys :)