Cessnas, Crowder, Churches and Clinton

We've been trudging along in our unsettled, but very blessed lives. I believe I'll explain all the "C"s before we get too far.
Cessna: Jonathan Scholberg welcomed us this week. We knew Jonathan at Rucker, he ran sound at chapel and went to Bible study with Keith, and is an LT Chinook pilot here at Bragg. He's only recently returned safely from Afganistan. Keith and my Dad stayed with him and his house-mate, Ken, the night in February that they came up to look at houses. Ken is in the Air Force and recently purchased a Cessna airplane, which he explained to my dad, will be used for missions as soon as possible. Ken is deployed for the next few months, and asked Jonathan (also a fixed wing pilot) to keep the plane up for him. So to make the long story a little less long, Jonathan flew from Fayetteville to Sampson Cty, and we all went for a quick flight from there to Elizabethtown for gas and back. It was Annika's first plane ride and she slept great until we stopped! Never even squirmed during take-off/landings. It was my first time in a private aircraft as well... lots of fun!
Crowder: We happened upon an article in a local paper about the David Crowder Band and where might they have been last night? If you guessed Fayetteville, NC... you were correct. And if you guessed that we attended, also correct. Annika's first concert, and she slept. We had her head very cushioned and things stuffed in and around her ears, she can still hear! She slept... the whole time.
Churches: Went to Chapel last Sunday, and were pleasantly surprised with the welcome we received. Yesterday we visited a Presbyterian (PCA) church we found on the internet. Keith was bold and emailed the pastor earlier in the week and went for coffee with him. They are kindred spirits... mostly in their style of sarcasm... and some doctrinal/church responsibility issues. We enjoyed both and are praying for wisdom to decide
Clinton:We bumped into Hillary the other day at the Piggly Wiggly... okay that was a fib. The place were living right now is in Clinton, it looks charming, but thats what the giant "waterbugs" (cockroaches) want you to think. I'd considered taking a picture of some of our housemates... but I decided to spare you.

Otherwise in life.....
* Keith started in-processing today and will begin real work Friday or Monday.
* House closing is still scheduled for the 25th.
* I got a library card! Fayetteville library is huge compared to my Daleville library. But it is a whole 1 1/2 miles from the house ( still walkable/safe to walk). D'ville was only 800 ft or so!
* Annika Joy is smiling more and more! Even for daddy... without mommie's help! She looks particularly chubby in this pic... but its the angle! Or the potent milk she's drinking!

Chillin'

Dress made by Grammie Amsden (Annika's great-grammie). One that Mommy wore when she was a baby
Daddy working his charm
Annika's favortie baby-sitter.... seriously. If we need to put her down, or let her sit still for a minute, we lay Jill down beside her and she just stares and has recently begun cooing at her!

Proof that I occasionally hold her... seems we take a lot of pics with Keith!

We Made it

We're in North Carolina! After a few busy but nice weeks visiting our families, we've arrived in the Ft. Bragg area. I (Becky) had been praying very specifically for a house in the Haymount area in Fayetteville, and I woke up Saturday morning with a feeling that it was ready for us. After a quick search online, I found what we'd been looking for! It has everything both Keith and I wanted (minus the garage which no other prospect had either). It has a little potential for improvement, but most of the work has been done for us! The renovations were just completed.

We arrived in Fayetteville on Wednesday and looked at the house, put our offer in immediately! The seller didn't budge nearly as much as we'd hoped, but we thought it was a good deal to begin with, so we have the contract in today, with closing as soon as the bank can manage it. Please pray that closing happens soon and quickly!

Our temporary housing is hilarious at best. Its almost an hour away from our house and Ft. Bragg, but was the only place available that would allow us to have both our dogs. Most people kennel in these situations or stay in a hotel, but neither option would be cheap, and we aren't certain Santiago would survive a kennel. He is too attention dependent, he needs to be around people.

So we'll keep you up and send more pictures of both house and baby!