Family Time

Sterling had a great time catching up with his family that he misses very much. These are just a few of the many pictures we took with family members. The top are his great grandparents, the next is his grandad Jerry and uncle Kyle, the next is Kacie's cousin Shane, then another with his grandad Jerry (in his very cute John Deere hat) and the last is with his aunt Kara.

The Wedding

The reason we went home was to go to Ashley Stout's wedding. We had a great time! Sterling loved getting all dressed up for the rehearsal and wedding. He looked very cute.

Sterling's first 4-H fair

Sterling spent most of his time at the fair once we got to Indiana. Kacie had to be at many different events for the wedding, so Sterling went with his grandparents and aunts and uncle to spend time with the cows and pigs! He really liked it all and never really got too scared at all the new, loud noises. The top picture is him and his grandad Jerry checking out the cows, then him and his grandma Karen watching his aunts show their cows. He had started to get a little bored so he was experimenting with new ways to stand! The middle picture is his aunt Kara holding him, and his uncle Kyle showing him the cows. The bottom picture is his aunt Kayla feeding him his bottle at the fair. All in all he had a fantastic time with his family!

Sterling & his HOT mama!!!

This picture is really for Zack and Amy, cuz they bought Sterling the Hawkeyes t-shirt. It fits him really good. Thanks for the t-shirt, he really likes it. Kacie also has a new shirt on, I bought it for her. It's a David Beckham shirt, he plays for England. They both look good in their new shirts.

World Cup Party

Luke had a World Cup party for some of the boys in the youth group. The game didn't start until 1 am , so they had pizza, watched a movie, played cards, and then by the time the game started, half of them were already asleep! But they had so much fun hanging out together. They all slept in our one spare bed so it was hilarious to see 5 middle school boys all sleeping in one bed. It was really stinky after they left!

Sticking his tongue out

Sterling has discovered his tongue lately and has been sticking it out all the time and feeling it. It's really cute, except when he's trying to take his bottle and he ends up spitting his milk everywhere!

On the Move!

Sterling is starting to roll all over the place, which is a lot of fun to watch. The picture on the left is him struggling to role over, getting the last bit of his energy out before he went to bed, and the second picture is him being content in the fact that he just rolled over. It's pretty cute to watch, and once he rolls over he always seem pretty proud of himself and his accomplishment. We've also noticed he prefers sleeping through the night on his stomach. We always start him out on his side, but then he manages to roll over onto his stomach, usually without waking himself up, which we think is pretty good (at least for us it's good so we don't have to get up and help him).

Friends, Fun and Dancing at the 4th of July Party

At our 4th of July party we had American missionaries from all around Bangkok come to celebrate with us- and a few Thai kids showed up and wanted to be a part of the fun too! The boy in the second picture was one of the Thai kids, his name is Wat and he is a part of the youth group. One of the highlights of the night was line dancing, led by Kacie (it was quite a hilarious sight!) The bottom picture is Luke and Sterling line dancing together, and believe me, Luke can do the electric slide like a pro! The picture above that is Steve and Samantha Allen, one of the missionary couples we work with. They were dancing the two-step...or at least they were trying to.

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July a day early here in Thailand since we all have Mondays off. We had so much fun! We grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, had apple pie, potato chips and baked beans- an all American meal! In the top picture, Sterling was waving his American flag (and he has a stick-on USA tatoo!). In the bottom picture we were all having a 3 legged race. Kacie's partner was Coco Parsons, needless to say they didn't win, but they had a great time!

Playing at the Park

Mondays are usually "family" days for us because it is our day off. This last Monday we went to a nearby park with the Parsons. Colette wanted Rachel and I to ride on the teter totter with her. We all had a lot of fun.

Rat in the house!!!

Tuesday morning we woke up to a nasty smell! At first we weren't sure what it was, but we had a pretty good idea. The rest of the day the smell grew worse and worse. It was awful! The smell was coming from above our ceiling in our bedroom, near our AC. We wondered if an animal had somehow gotten into our AC, so we called the AC company and they weren't going to be able to come for two days. We were pretty disappointed, because the smell wasn't going to go away. Well, at the youth center Luke talked to a couple kids about it and persuaded them that they should come over and help him look for "whatever" was up there. They seemed excited about the opportunity, but Luke wasn't for sure if they were serious or not. We were at a friend's for dinner on Wednesday night, and Luke had to run home to get the desert and there were the four boys ringing our door bell, with flashlight, gloves, and a paper sack, ready to find whatever was up there. So, they hauled the ladder up the stairs, started in our bathroom, and popped open the ceiling, and the search was on. The first boy went up, but he was too short, he couldn't see over the wall into the other room where the smell was coming from. So his older brother went up, but he didn't really want to find whatever was up there. This whole time the smell continued to become stronger and stronger. Finally, Luke went up the ladder and looked around, and come to find out there was insulation above our bedroom ceiling. The first piece of insulation was all messed up, giving away the animals hiding spot. When Luke pulled the insulation back he found the cause of the smell. Needless to say, it was a dead rat! Luke put on one of the gloves, grabbed the tail, and very carefully lifted it up and slid it into the paper sack one of the boys was holding under the ladder. It was awesome! We found it, and the boys loved it! We were very excited to get rid of the animal. The smell is still lingering a bit today, but we sprayed some stuff up there, and we continue to burn candles, hoping it will be gone soon. The stinking hot weather sure doesn't help remove smells like that, actually it kind of helps the smell sink into everything. Sorry, maybe that was too revealing! Anyway, Mr. Rat is gone, and we are very happy about that! Remember, if you think it smells like a dead animal, then it probably is, especially if the smell is consistent for a couple of days! Later. I'm sure some of you have similar stories, go ahead and share if you want, we would love to read about them.

One of Sterling's Favorite Hang Out Places

Sterling loves to hang out in his stroller, though he likes it best when the stroller is moving. He's not much for sitting still. He puts his feet up on the little tray, and it makes him feel pretty special, like he's a big boy! His eyes remind us of all the Birt baby pictures.

Sterling Eating Cereal

We have started to feed Sterling a little cereal. Today he really seemed to enjoy eating it and was upset when he was finished eating what we had made for him. We are taking our time introducing him to food, so we only give him cereal once or twice throughout the day. As long as he keeps growing at the rate he is now he should have no problem eating a hamburger in a couple months!

Dr. Appointment!!!

Sterling turned 4 months old two days ago, which meant he needed to go see the doctor for another check up. This check up required a couple of shots, one in each leg. Here he is showing off his war wound. The first shot he took with ease, actually he didn't know anything had happened. The nurse was distracting him, but the second came and he felt it. He let us know it with a few tears, but he still took it pretty well. He was weighed and measured also, so here are his measurements for those interested. He is 7.8 kilograms, which is 17 pounds/2.5 ounces, and he was 65 centimeters long, which is about 25.5 inches, so he's just a little over 2 feet. As you can see from this picture, once we returned home he was all smiles.

Army Pants

Sterling has a pair of army pants (another hand-me-down from cousin Zion- he wouldn't have any clothes if it weren't for him!) that he wore yesterday. Luke decided that it would be funny if they matched when we went to the mall, so here are father and son in their fatigues. Pretty cute in my opinion :) I love this picture of Sterling because he just looks like he thinks he's so big.

Sterling's New Toy

I have been seeing these playmats at the Mall, and I have been wanting to get one for Sterling. I knew he would love it because he likes to lay on his back and play. So we got one and he definitely likes it. He will lay there for a long time just talking and kicking his legs.

Little Air Jordan

We found this Jordan jersey at an export store at the mall where they sell really cheap American clothes. Of course, Luke insisted that we buy this jersey for Sterling...but we also had to get one for Zack and Amy's little boy and for Owen. Luke is such a spoiler! I think Sterling will be able to wear this for the next two years :)

Another picture of Sterling and Owen

I thought this was an even better picture of the two of them playing together. It really was amazing that Sterling didn't mind that Owen just crawled all over him. They both just thought that the other was very interesting.

Sterling and Owen

Nick and Rachel came to live with us for a few days while their electricity was out, so Sterling had a friend to play with! The two boys had a lot of fun together, although Owen is so much more active that he just crawled all over Sterling. But Sterling was a good sport about it, he usually just laid there and let him! :)

Just Like His Dad

We're hoping that Sterling doesn't inherit his dad's head size...but I guess we'll see. It looks more like a football helmet on him than a baseball cap!

Malaysia

This is Sterling and Kacie in Penang, Malaysia. It was very beautiful. We enjoyed our stay, although with a baby, it wasn't too relaxing. It was harder to travel with him than what we expected. He was really good, but it's just exhausting to have all of his stuff and try to fly and take taxi's places.

More Swimming Pictures

We went swimming with Sterling both days on our visa trip. He is really starting to love the pool. (Don't worry, we put lots of sunscreen on him!) The picture of Luke and Sterling going down the slide was right before they crashed into the water. It scared them both, but Sterling hardly even went under the water. He was fine after that and still wanted to be in the water!

Watching the Game

While we were in Malaysia, Luke and Sterling were able to watch the NBA finals. Sterling's attention span wasn't very long though.

Sterling's Annoyed Look

Sterling doesn't like playing on his stomach very much. This picture pretty much captures how he feels about it :) He looks like his mom when he makes that face.

Swimming at the Hotel

We had so much fun playing in the pool this week at our hotel. In case you are reading this before you read about the other pictures, we went to a prayer conference this week in downtown Bangkok. It was a lot of fun to hang out with our teammates, Nick, Rachel, Colette and Owen. But it was also so great to be a part of a conference for all of the Christians in Thailand. During the week there was lots of prayer for reconciliation and revival for the church in Thailand. There were powerful worship sessions as well as workshops that taught on many different topics. It seemed like the Thai people were very encouraged by the week.

Sterling's first skytrain ride

Here is the Parsons' family along with Sterling and Kacie (Luke was the photographer) at the sky train station. We got to do lots of fun things since we were right in the heart of downtown Bangkok all this week.

Three Babies in One Bed

We went on a trip to downtown Bangkok this week for a prayer conference. Our teammates, the Parsons' went with us. These are their two kids, Owen and Colette. The three of them are the best of friends!

Sterling in the morning

Sterling is so happy in the mornings. He giggles and laughs at us. He sleeps in his pack and play with his pig and his horse to keep him company.

3rd Anniversary

We celebrated our third anniversary this past Wednesday. We ordered in food and had Nick and Rachel watch Sterling for us. We had a great evening.