The Final Countdown!

37 weeks!

The Nursery

Tim and I enjoyed making our spare room into the "home" of our soon-to-be bundle of joy! We painted a dresser that we've had for awhile as well as an end table and a bookshelf that we bought at a thrift store. I painted some canvases for wall hangings and Tim and I made her a wall hanging with the verse we dedicated to her (and also had in our wedding!): Ephesians 3:17-20

before...









after!

Christmas Is Almost Here!

Baby Shower Blessings!

Tim and I feel so blessed by the outpouring of love and support showered on us over the last couple of months with all of the incredible celebrations thrown in honor of our little one soon to be here! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! We don't take your generosity lightly and can't wait for our baby girl to meet all of you! Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures from all of the showers but here are a few:


Our CABLE group (from church).



Lifelong friends!



Sisterly love!


Generational love! Mom, Me/Baby, Oma!


The Grandma's-to-be!


Tim's mom surprised us with a gift containing baby booties that his Great Grandma "A" had made when Tim was a baby, Tim's baptism sweater, the Snoopy dishes that Tim used when little and Tim's baby blankie (new trim was added)!

Whatta Man....

Tim worked hard on finishing a room in our basement so that his office and the spare bed could be moved down there in preparation for the nursery upstairs. I am so proud of him and so impressed by his talents! The room turned out fantastic and we are in the process of putting things in place!




The finished product!


Tim and our "Big Baby" Bailey!


Bailey listening to God's Word. :)


Tim has been loving his new "side job" as a Park Township volunteer firefighter! He's been out on a couple of calls and comes back grinning from ear to ear...especially when he talks about riding in the fire trucks. :)

Myles' 1st Birthday!

Our nephew, Myles, celebrated his 1st birthday on November 22nd. Here are some pics from the celebration!


Mommy and Myles


Mom and Andrea carrying on the tradition of my Grandma Oosting's lamb cake!


Mom making the lamb cake for her 1st grandchild!


Myles loves his lamb cake!


Opening gifts


The many faces of the birthday boy! :)

Update

I know it's been awhile since we've given an update on the life of the Keelers so here are some of the things we have been up to!

* We've been really busy lately preparing our minds and our home for our baby girl due in 4 WEEKS!! My belly has expanded and baby girl is filling it up. Her feet like to poke out my side and against my ribs. She's been head down for awhile which is good and hopefully she stays this way! I've definitely noticed a change in my comfort level over this last trimester...I think God does that for a reason so you feel more ready for her to be here!

* I was able to take a couple of days off of work a couple of weeks ago and Tim and I enjoyed working on the nursery together. We completed transformed a room in a matter of a few days! It turned out really cute! We just have to finish painting a bookcase and hang up a couple of things on the wall. Her dresser as well as the nursery closet are full and all organized...ready for her debut! We're planning on packing "the bags" this weekend and getting a list of email addresses set up and ready to send out for the big announcement! :)

* Tim completely finished off a room in the basement which is being transformed into his office and a spare bedroom! I am so proud of him and his talents! It turned out so great!!

* It's still somewhat of a surreal thought that we will have a child in a month but it's definitely become more of a reality lately with all of the beautiful showers thrown in celebration of her (THANK YOU EVERYONE!!), the completion of our child birth classes, the nursery being finished, and our doctor appointments moving to once a week (starting on Monday)! Tim and I are so excited for her to be here but meanwhile, are cherishing time together that we will never experience again!

* In addition to his growing business, Tim is taking on a new role as a VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER for Park Township (where we live)! For those of you that haven't heard, we had a chimney fire a couple of months ago (strange since our chimney is extremely clean...there was really no explanation for it except that maybe a piece of newspaper that was on fire got stuck in the top cap. Thankfully, we caught it before leaving the house and it didn't last long. We praise God for his protection!) which brought out a slew of firefighters to our house...including the Chief who hit it off with Tim. Anyway, long story short, Tim will begin a 6 month training in January (two nights a week) before he can take full action on duty, however, until then, he can go out on calls with limited responsibilities. It's been interesting listening to all of the situations that come across dispatch. Even though it's a volunteer position, he will receive a base salary and then be paid for the times that he goes out on a call. He'll be "on duty" two nights a week (dispatched from home) and on-call the rest of the time (he can choose whether or not to go out on a call). This is something that is right up his alley and I am proud of him for being the one chosen through the whole interview process...but I could use some extra prayers from all of you for his safety on duty and for my peace of mind while he's gone. :) This is the same for his snow plowing which is now underway!

* Because of all these changes happening, we've decided to lessen our involvement in areas outside of work and home so that we can slow down life a bit and cherish our focus on our expanding family a little more. One of the main things we are cutting out of our life for now is our involvement as leaders of our church's youth group. This was a tough decision but one that we feel God was calling us to make. We'll miss you e/teeners! Despite this, we look forward to staying connected to our CABLE group and the serve/mission team!

COMING SOON: Pictures of the nursery, the new room in the basement, my expanding belly, Christmas tree cutting/decorating and other happenings. :)

Word Made Flesh

Tim and I were blessed on Friday night to attend an intimate gathering with people interested in dialoguing with Chris Heuertz from Word Made Flesh, an international ministry committed to serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor. We were so intrigued with his story, his experiences, his humility, his wisdom and his ability to communicate what it means to be hands and feet of Jesus to a hurting world (the "majority world"). Check out the links above to learn more about Chris and this awesome ministry. I am reminded not only of how blessed I am to have the freedom and opportunities that I do, I am convicted to examine my life and evaluate what areas, mentally, spiritually, verbally, financially etc. create barriers for God's power to permeate the presence of hatred, bigotry, evil and oppression in this world.

Vision Statement for Word Made Flesh:

Word Made Flesh is called and committed to serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor. This calling is realized as a prophetic ministry for, and a holistic, incarnational ministry among, the world's poor. We focus our energy to make Jesus known among the poor while reconciling the Church with the poor.

Our involvement for the poor is primarily through serving the Church as a prophetic voice articulating God's passion for the poor through Scripture and further educating them concerning the needs of the world. We seek to reconcile the Church with the poor as a means of communicating and testifying of God's redemptive work in our lives. This movement of bringing the Church and the poor together is done through Biblical preaching, teaching, discipleship, exposure experiences, music, media and other creative means. As we participate in this movement we pray that our lives will answer both the cry of God for the poor and the cry of the poor for God.