babies and bugs

The week has certainly had highs and lows for us, like any other, I suppose.

On Tuesday night I had the joy of celebrating with our dear friends and former roommates, Jon and Julie Koon, as they welcomed their firstborn son, Elliot Thomas Koon. He was born 9lbs 11oz, 20.75 inches long at 12:13am. Marisa, Rene and I were able to visit much later in the day, and we are so excited to love on this little guy for the rest of his life! (picture coming soon!)

Early Wednesday morning I woke up with a stomach bug that kept me from work and everything else through Saturday. My sweet mom came up Wednesday afternoon and spent the night to take care of me. So grateful for her! It was the first time I had really considered that Stephen will probably miss a few more bouts of sickness. Not having him at home was harder than I would have imagined beforehand, but we are both so thankful for nearby family and friends who are so quick to take care of me. Even before my mom came Lauren went to the store for crackers and Gatorade. I could not ask for a sweeter roommate. Please join me in praying that I have not spread the plague to either of them!

Last Sunday was the first day that the reality of separation set in. Stephen and I found ourselves spending the afternoon resting together after church even before we were engaged. Kimberly Johnson accompanied me to church to take the edge off of that aspect of loneliness, but it was the stillness of the afternoon that really caught me by surprise. I would so appreciate your prayers that the Lord's presence be especially tangible in those moments, both for me and for Stephen.

And speaking of Stephen, he is hanging in through these weeks of training. Unfortunately we cannot so broadly publish the details of his schedule and location, but we expect he'll be home for several days in about a week! Please continue to pray that the Lord will provide a believing or interested companion for this deployment. The military environment is typically a spiritually dry one, but we pray for some sort of saturation however the Lord sees fit. In the meantime, feel free to drop Stephen a line at any time at kump.stephen@gmail.com. 

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the FRG (Family Readiness Group) for our Troop. I am so grateful for the women the Lord has provided through this organization. They are the Army wives, girlfriends and mothers who know so much more than I do about the system, whether they have experienced deployment before or not. Please pray for opportunities to love and serve them well tomorrow and in the difficult weeks to come.