Quote

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
~Isaiah 6:8 NIV
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
~Micah 6:8 NASB

Monday, September 30, 2013

Our Baby's First Rainbow Party

This past Saturday, my mom, sister, and best friend, Shere, hosted our baby's first Baby Shower. I had a great time.  My mom went with a rainbow theme for the party which I absolutely loved.  Thank you to everyone that came and made the day really special.  This baby is seriously blessed to have these wonderful people in his or her life.  Here are just a few pictures that my sister took.


Our Baby's First Santa Outfit

The onesie says, "My dad is cooler than your dad." Steve loves it.

Some really soft sleepers. My mom bought one in each color since we don't know the gender.

My best friend's mom handmade this diaper bag for us.  I filled it up so we are now ready to head to the hospital when baby is ready.  She made some great bibs for us too.  Cristal is so incredibly talented.  I love it.

Just a few of the great people that were there.  Seriously, these are the best people that you could ever have in your life.  Our baby is so blessed.

Grammie's baby blanket.  My Grammie (mom's mom) has crocheted a baby blanket for every one of her great-grand kids.  Baby Pitney will be Great-Grandchild #4.

Rainbow cupcakes.  There were so good.
I couldn't post every picture.  We got so many cute little outfits, blankets, toys, and other important things for the baby.  I just can't wait for this baby to make it's grand entrance into the world, so he or she can meet all these special people and wear all the cute clothes.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Ending Bible Poverty

We recently heard of a story out of Cameroon where technology is really making a difference in Bible Translation. Not only is technology helpful by making creating backups possible and speeding up communication, but now it is being used to create audio Bible's that are available even on cell phones. This is allowing the people of Cameroon to ability to bring the Word of God into their own homes much faster. They no longer have to wait for a copy of the Bible to be printed. They can read it right on their phones. Having the Bible available via a Bible app, like YouVersion, also allows the Bible to get into "closed countries" much easier.

Will you prayerfully consider helping us complete the work that God has called us to do with a monthly gift. Together, we can make a difference for the people of Cameroon and every other language group still waiting.

http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=AF45B1


Moise Yonta joyfully read aloud a Scripture portion on his smartphone, punctuating the phrases with vigorous gestures. This was God’s Word in his mother tongue—the Ngiemboon language of Cameroon—and he was seeing it on his phone for the first time! As he came to the end of the selection, he jumped up and delightedly shook hands with a colleague. With a huge grin, he exclaimed, “Wonderful! Wonderful!”

It was indeed wonderful!  Moise, who works with the Cameroonian Association for Bible Translation and Literacy (CABTAL), was the coordinator for the Ngiemboon translation project.  Since the New Testament was dedicated in 2007, he’s used both the printed and audio version, but gaining access to the digital version took his experience to a whole new level!

He says, “I was so happy that I couldn’t hide it! Immediately I applied the lesson we learnt by selecting a verse and sending it to my dear wife, and she was happy to receive it.”

Now when Moise travels, he carries the Scriptures with him on his phone. His special joy is helping others access God’s Word the same way.  He encourages them to get the written Scriptures from YouVersion and the audio version from Faith Comes By Hearing.  At the request of his pastor and church elders, he is preparing a training course for his church on how to use cell phones for evangelization, and CABTAL would like him to present the same course to other churches as well.

Moise is one of more than 650 million cell phone subscribers in Africa, where cell phone service is far more available than landlines. As I’ve traveled, I’ve often found better service in Africa than I get in my own home in Orlando, Florida. I have no doubt that God is behind the development of digital technology, and while cell phones are used worldwide for communications, financial transactions, healthcare, and much more, I believe that God also intended this technology to support the distribution of His Word.

Warmly,

Bob Creson
President/CEO
Wycliffe USA



A video of Moise enjoying his digital Scriptures is posted here .

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

37 weeks Update - Full Term

I can't believe we are Full-Term today.  In just 3 short weeks, give or take a few, we should be holding our beautiful rainbow.  Our house is almost ready for our sweet baby to get here.  This weekend, we went to Toledo this weekend to visit Steve's mom.  Baby Pitney had a great time visiting Grandma and going swimming in their pool.  Baby even got to meet Great Grandma, Brooksie (Steve's Grandma). 

Yesterday, we had a regular OB appointment.  When we got there, I mentioned that I thought the baby was moving a little slow over the weekend.  It may have been all the traveling or the fact that I was busy and I just didn't notice as much.  The doctors at our OB clinic are so patient with my anxious worries.  They decided to do an ultrasound and a Biophysical Profile just to check everything out.  The Biophysical Profile is basically a simple and painless test to access the baby's health and development.  Baby was wiggling around during the test and tech focused in on the chest so we could actually watch the baby breath and she said our baby has hair already.  Our little overachiever scored 8 our of 8, an A-plus rating.  The doctor said our baby is absolutely perfect.


Your baby's the size of a winter melon!

Yay! Baby has reached full term. He likely measures around 18.9 to 20.9 inches and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds. He's gaining about 1/2 ounce each day.
 This is my favorite photo from yesterday's ultrasound.  Check out our baby's cute little perfect ear.  The tech said that she couldn't get a good face picture because she was upside down in the perfect position for birth.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Visiting Missionaries from Wycliffe

This has been such a fun week for Steve and I.  We hosted a family that is traveling around the country visiting all their ministry partners.  They have been on the road almost continuously for the last 6 months.  We met them in Orlando last April when we went down there for EQUIP training.  They got to our house on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning.

We cooked some BBQ chicken for dinner on Tuesday and took them for a treat to Cold Stone Creamery.  The kids, Jessica and Casey, enjoyed that.

Wednesday, we made homemade lasagna.  It was pretty tasty.

They are serving with Wycliffe and actually spent some years in Cameroon. They are making plans now to serve with JAARS, which is a division of Wycliffe, in North Carolina now.  It was so great to see them again.  They were very encouraging to us as we build our financial team and make plans to serve in Cameroon.  I hope they had a great time.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

35/35 Update

It's crazy to think that we are 35 weeks along now.  I remember when I first discovered that we were pregnant and we had our first ultrasound at 5 weeks.  Now, we only have 5 weeks or 35 days left.  We have so much to do to prepare for our little miracle.  Baby loves to wake up from his or her nap right as I'm getting ready to go to bed and roll around as I fall asleep.  I love it.  Steve loves to talk to the baby and try to tickle the baby from the outside.  We know how blessed we are.
 
How far along?: 35 weeks
How big is baby?:
Your baby's the size of a coconut!
He's about 17.2 to 18.7 inches. From here on out, he won't get much longer, but he's plumping up. He's now about 4.2 to 5.8 pounds, and he'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth.

Any appointments or updates this week?: We have another appointment next week, then we start going every week.

Best moment last week?: We got to tour the hospital that we will deliver at last week with our childbirth class.  That was pretty cool.  Our instructor told Steve that he is great breather.  He is going to be a great coach.

What I'm looking forward to?: I can't wait to hold our precious baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl.  Our baby is so blessed already to have so many great friends and family that love it.

I'm also looking forward to getting the nursery finished and put together.
 

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Wycliffe Garage Sale Success

Labor Day weekend was busy with our first part of our garage sale for our Wycliffe ministry.  This weekend, Steve had both Friday and Saturday off work so we had another one.  A special thanks to the friends and family that donated items to our sale and those that helped us work it.  Bible Translation truly does take a team and we appreciate everyone who plays a role on our team, whether it's part of our prayer or financial team or they are using their gifts in other ways.
Over the 4 days of sales, we made over $1100 for our Wycliffe ministry.  We also took the opportunity to talk to as many customers as we could about why we were having the sale and what the Wycliffe ministry is all about.  It was so much fun.
We could not have asked for better weather for the sale.  It was hot, but beautiful.  It did rain a little on Saturday both weekends, but not until later in the afternoon.
 


Bible translation not only gives the people access to the lifesaving word of God, but it also gives them access to potential lifesaving educational materials through education and literacy development

http://wycliffepitneys.blogspot.com/

If you were unable to attend, but want to give or pledge to our Wycliffe ministry you can do that here:
http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=AF45B