The Setliffe Family

What's new with us....

I feel like it's been forever since I've had a chance to update you on what's going on around here! We're feeling a little more comfortable every day--it's starting to feel more like home & less like a place where we sleep. We still have a lot of painting to do, and we haven't hung much on the walls yet, but most of the boxes are unpacked. Matt is learning how to do yardwork and I think it looks pretty awesome! We're definitely not gardeners, but we haven't killed anything yet, so we look at that as success :)

On the church front, we had our promotion Sunday last week & we had a great day. There were about 425 kids, plus adults on Sunday morning. Everyone was really excited & it was a lot of fun. Matt started the year by sharing his vision for the student ministry and our theme--The Movement. He's talking about how Jesus started a movement when He lived here on earth & how it's up to us to keep the movement going. Wednesday was really awesome too--lots of kids & lots of energy! He's going to start teaching through the book of Acts this Wednesday, and we'll hang out there for the rest of the fall. I've never seen him more happy or more content--he's loving his new position & I'm loving having a happy husband again :) Please keep the student ministry in your prayers--it's obvious that God has huge plans for this year--and we're just excited to be a part of it. We've already run out of enough chairs, so I think they're trying to buy some more before next week!!

Ava is cuter than ever these days. She just started sitting up on her own this week. It's so cute, b/c she's a little wobbly & unbalanced. She's a little fighter though--she refuses to fall over :) She's eating baby food & cereal--so far her favorite is sweet potatoes. She wasn't a big fan of carrots, but we'll try again soon. She goes for her six month (can it be time for that already???) checkup on Friday, so I'll give you an update after that. She's still pretty tiny--she's still in size 2 diapers. Hopefully she's gained a little weight though with the baby food & she's growing on schedule.

We have really started researching & praying pretty diligently about our adoption. We've always known that we want to adopt, but we really feel like God is getting us ready to start the process soon. We've looked into a couple of different programs and feel like God has closed the door on those. Over the last few days though, we've really been talking about the country of Africa & the possibility of adopting from there. I found this amazing adoption agency online called Acres of Hope (www.acresofhope.org) that really struck us as something special. They are a very small agency & they have an orphanage in Liberia, Africa. It is run by a Christian couple & 4 other people & they're based in Wisconsin. So far, they've adopted out 300 kids from their orphanage. They feed 8,000 kids every day & have been able to get 4,000 kids into new schools. Last night, Matt & I spent about an hour looking through their website & talking about it. We're probably going to try to call them & talk more to get a feel for things. We're so excited about this possible opportunity & would ask you to pray for us as we begin to pursue some leads. We're also really trying to seek God about the possibility of adopting more than one--probably siblings. Maybe 2? It seems so overwhelming to us, but we just want to remain open & available for whatever God wants to do in & through our family. We really need prayers for wisdom, finances & grace as we begin this process!!

I keep trying to add more pics of Ava from a little photo shoot we did the other night. Blogger has been acting a little weird for me lately, so I'll keep trying until I can get them up. We love you all :)