The Garris Family

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Quick Update On Garris Family

Hello Everyone,

So there is much to report! I know that it has been a while since I last wrote, but so much has happened, and time has run away from me, especially chasing after a high spirited and fiesty 1 1/2 year old. God has been good to us in the past few weeks, leading us into places that we have been praying for- for clarity regarding our family, and where He would want us...After much praying, and soul searching, both Corey and I felt led to embark on a new adventure here in Columbus, OH. We really felt like we might be church planting in some way, but really didn't feel like the timing was quite right to make a major move to Cleveland, or any part of the United States, so an opportunity arose for us to do a sattelite church plant here in Columbus. Sattelite Campus you may ask? Well, for those of you that don't know it is a way for us to still have the wonderful leadership of our church, but open up a different site in a surrounding community to allow people in that community to be exposed to phenomenal preaching by our senior Pastor Rich Nathan (and at times Corey :)), and still be involoved in pastoring, mentoring, and worshipping with people from our own community. The leadership of our church approved Corey to be the Campus Pastor of the site in Northwest Columbus (Sawmill Area). We are set to launch sometime in September, and ARE SO EXCITED!!!! I am extremely proud of Corey...For those of you that know and love him like I do, you know that his gifts are pastoring, teaching and leading, and it allows him to exercise these gifts- to which I am excited to not only see, but be a part of.

That being said, we are closing, and moving into our very first house at the end of this month. (We close on Monday the 20th, and move in on the 25th). The house is spacious, and a stone's throw away from where we will be launching the campus site for Vineyard Church of Columbus. It is amazing!!!! So I have been BUSY, busy, busy...especially trying to pack, and keep after Ava! My growing belly is also not the greatest thing to have right now, as it often prevents me from getting things done :)...We also officially found out that Corey is going to be outnumbered! We have a new little lady coming into the Garris home. She looks great, and heartbeat is strong. We are so blessed. I have attached a couple of shots of Ava and some of us...she is talking a TON lately...some of her spoken words include (this list is not exhaustive):

Mommy, Daddy, pizza, pants, please, peace, socks, shoes, pie, puppy, ball, paper, books, eat, mas (the Spanish word for more), luz (the Spanish word for light), cup, chair, table, milk, cheese, shower, bye-bye, toot-toots, duck, birthday, happy, baby, hot...there are many more...The doctor says that her usage of words, and the way that she puts words together already is stuff that 2 year olds do :)...The other day she stunned me when she said, "Mommy up, please."...She is also now feeding herself with her own fork...which delights Mommy to no end. I will be attaching video footage of it, along with the shots. Hope you all enjoy...

Love,
Cyndia for Corey and Ava

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mary, Martha & Lazarus...

The story of Lazarus raising from the dead- WOW!

Potty Training...

Ava squatting in her potty to go "poopy"

The aftermath of a 16 month old going potty by herself!

Greasy buttery corn hair...she is part cornhusker :)

Hello Everyone,

So we have much to be report here...I'm sure most of you have already heard, but Corey and I will be expanding our family...with baby #2 at the end of August. We are so excited and quite surprised...Having Ava has been such a joy, that we can't wait to see and experience it all over again. Ava continues to amaze us with how smart she is...she is climbing everywhere, and smiles so often that we get comments from people everywhere as we go out...She is sayng almost a new word every week, and has even put a noun and verb together..."Mommy eat..." or "Daddy, bye-bye..." (Of course bye- bye is not a verb- but we frequently use it to explain to her that we are leaving...so appropriately used in my opinion! :) We love her personality, and are so blessed by her. She has even started to tell us when she is about to go potty...so we purchased a potty seat to begin the process...we have yet to pull her pants and diaper down, but she goes in the bathroom and officially squats on her potty seat...I have posted some pics for your viewing pleasure...TOO CUTE!

We read to her at night from a cute little children's Bible we received when she was born...I have posted a clip from her favorite story...we laugh every night...Things are pretty good in life although I was faced with some disappointing news about not getting a job I really wanted...BUT I totally know that if the door was shut, that it was never meant to be...so I am at peace with it. I will try to post more of an update soon, as much more has happened...stay tuned for more soon!

Love,

Cyndia for Corey and Ava