Nate, Jenny, and Very Soon to Be Here Baby Boy!!!

Hi All,

Wow, it's been a L.O.N.G. time since we posted anything! We have traveled some, had family visits, were blessed by a baby shower, and so much more in the past couple of months! It's hard to know where to start...

The ladies on vacation :)

In June, we were able to go on vacation with some dear friends of ours. We rented a place in the Poconos and enjoyed time visiting a Boulder Field, Kayaking, Playing Games, Eating, more Eating, dealing with a newer car that wouldn't work correctly :( and seeing God draw us closer still as we worked through life. Our friends nicknamed our boy Harvey Jirah Hoover until he's born, so they have something to call him, and it's cute, but it won't stick past his birthday! It was so fun to be around a crew of people who love God, who love each other, and who can laugh and challenge us! We'll be starting a small group in a couple of weeks with these same couples - we are so excited!

The boulder field...

Also in June, my mom came to visit us, which was fun. She had fun planting a garden of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and many herbs. Nate's family hosted a family baby shower for us and we were so blessed by family, friends, and my coworkers. It's incredible how generous people are! It was so great to have mom here to share in the celebration with us!

At the end of June, we enjoyed a long weekend away with Nate's family to the mountains - what a great weekend! We said farewell to our "family" friends from Switzerland (they were included in our family gatherings for the past year they lived here). I'm sure we'll see them again, but it was still a bit sad!

Our son continues to grow and do well. We have had a couple of tough doctor's appointments in the past couple of weeks, with non stress tests early due to his two vessel cord. The tests were not showing his heart rate elevating when he moved around, which one doctor said was fine until week 34 (which is this week) and then last week, they were worried, so they had us have an ultrasound. He didn't fake breathe enough, so that was hard - it's tough when you don't quite understand what's going on. I finally had to ask for the worst case scenario and they told me that they would just induce at week 37. So, that's not too bad. From the ultrasounds, however, his growth is right on track! Praise God! Our blessing might arrive in as few as three weeks and no more than six weeks (they won't let him go past his due date of August 18). Please continue to pray for his health and growth. We pray his heart does what it's supposed to in the days to come and if we have any extra ulstrasounds, we pray he does the breathing thing, too :) Please pray, too, as Nate and I continue to prepare our hearts and home for his arrival.

Nate has been a wonderful husband through this pregnancy (and before!) and not a day goes by I don't thank God for blessing me so much! He's a wonderful mix of strength and care and well, he is just so nice to me! He loves the Lord and continually takes our family before Him in prayer and encouragement. I am blessed, no doubt about it! We continue to learn and grow together and life is just so much fun with Nate! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our son!

Thank you so much for praying for us in our work. Ministry for both of us continues to be a blessing and we are so grateful God continues to pour out His love on us through what He has called us to. The projects for MDS are slow during the summer months, which has been great, as I've been able to see more of Nate :) Our new assistant here at work is picking up well and I think she'll be ready when I go for maternity leave for a little while! She fits right in and is a joy and delight to be around, too. I plan to return to work 20 hours a week after a brief time away. It's a blessing to have that flexibility. The Alliance continues to grow and we now work with over 150 programs around the world. I still can't believe I get to do this! It's an incredible journey. We are already planning for next year's annual meetings which will be held in India, Ethiopia, and Mexico. I'm not sure if we will go to one of the meetings or not (maybe as a family!). That would be an adventure for sure!

I have been attending a women's Bible study on Tuesday nights with other ladies from our new church, Living Hope, and Nate is going to start playing drums with the worship team. We're excited to be planted at this church for the time and get to know others who go there.

I will sign off now, but I thank you and thank God for you all. Your friendship, prayers, encouragement, and support are a great gift!

Many blessings to you,

Jenny (for Nate and baby, too)