Lots of pictures.

This is a picture heavy update, and unfortunately they loaded backwards. So, starting with the most recent...

Two weeks ago, Justin, Abigail and I had a potty training week. As a reward for it being a great success we took Abigail to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It is a non-profit organization that specializes in the rescue and release of dolphins, sea turtles and otters. Abigail was amazed to see the dolphins!

Abigail and Justin touching the sting rays.

Can you tell she REALLY liked the dolphins!

The weekend before, we celebrated our first Halloween in Tampa. Covenant Life gathered at the corner of Kate Jackson Park to pass out water and candy as well as take family portraits to serve our community. We had a HUGE turn out. We passed out over 150 waters, lots of candy, and took over 100 family portraits. It was also a great time to meet some of the families in our community!

Stephanie and Eden. Eden was a cupcake.

Here is our set-up and our team. This is the park Abigail and I go to several times a week. A fantastic gathering place.

Justin as you have rarely seen him (you can't see the tube socks).

Maris is one of the UT students that have been joining us regularly on Sunday and Wednesday nights. She dressed up as bubble gum under a shoe.

Josh Carroll as you rarely see him. Abigail still talks about how he had a funny mustache and wig.

Kaleigh, another of the UT students that has been joining us. Abigail can't get enough of her!

Our pink ballerina.

Our family pumpkin carving quickly turned into Justin and I carving the pumpkins. Our little girl didn't like the "ooey, gooies."

While confined to the house for potty training, Abigail and I made cupcakes. This is her thoroughly enjoying hers.

So, even though the average temperature is still in the mid-eighties, there have been a few days to wear long sleeves. What a cutie!

Abigail dressed up to go to the Hyde Park Fall Festival. Here she is getting her face painted-one of her favorite new things.

Daddy/daughter day to the theatre for a special kids presentation. Thanks again Kelli for the tickets.

One proud little girl just before she left on a date with her daddy.

Justin and I went to Denver for a commissioning weekend with NAMB. While we were there, we had several really fun opportunities. First, we spent Saturday night in downtown Denver. What a fun city! And, Sunday we got to visit a local church in the area and share with their high school and college students about Covenant Life and church planting.

Happy Anniversary! Justin and I spent a day at Disney World to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. How blessed I am to have spent five years with the most amazing man I know.

Family Days.

Friday's are Justin's day off and our family day. For our anniversary we celebrated as a family with a trip to the zoo. This week, we headed to the beach. Check it out!

We had passes to ride all of the rides, and Justin couldn't resist the log ride.

Abigail took her first pony ride and she did it "all by her big girl self" (as she would say).

And, she rode the carousel for the first time.

Our zoo allows you to be very interactive with the animals. Justin, Abigail and I all rode a camel - so fun.

Again, the zoo really allows you to interact with the animals. There are several animals that you can feed including a giraffe.

A time to celebrate!

Abigail's big girl room.

Abigail calls this her "pretty, pretty white big girl bed."

We still have some final touches, but here is Abigail's new room.

Can you tell that she loves her new bed. She was totally ready for this right of passage!

The Perry's and the Tucker's first Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game. Thanks Ejero!

On the sidelines before the game. We couldn't believe it!

Abigail, Max, Gabe and Noah at the Zoo. What a cute bunch.

Justin and I celebrating his birthday at GrillSmith. Yummy!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Justin, happy birthday to you! Make a wish.

The big 30!

In the last few weeks God has given us a lot of reasons to celebrate. Justin celebrated his 30th birthday, Covenant Life celebrated it's first corporate worship service, we all celebrated Labor Day with 16 of our family members and friends in Tampa, Abigail celebrated her graduation from the crib into her new "pretty, pretty white big girl bed", and Justin and I will celebrate our 5 wedding anniversary tomorrow. What a joy it has been to experience all of these exciting moments and many more in the Perry household. We are so grateful that we had the Tucker's the Carroll's and even my parents here to rejoice with us. Here are a few of them captured of film.

One last thing. Every Sunday morning Abigail watches a show called "Kids Time Praise." This was a song she learned from this weeks show.

Shall we go for a walk today, a walk today, a walk today. Shall we go for a walk today, to see what God has given. Oh, let us praise Him, praise Him, for everything we see. Oh, let us praise Him, praise Him, for everything He's given.

Life in Tampa.

After someone asking for the password to our blog so they could update it for us, I decided that it was long overdue for an update. In moving to Tampa, I was naive to think that I would have more time to keep up with the blog here than I did in North Carolina. But, the last three months have proved me wrong. In all of the best ways, we have potentially had the busiest summer on record for our family. Here is a slide show of the happenings.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pictures.

Good-bye to our old small group in Wake Forest. 

Dinner with our landlord's, Barbara & Indrek (oh, and I can't forget Sasha).

Taking a break with Granddaddy. Justin's dad came to help us move. Can't thank him enough for all of his help.

"I'm so glad that I didn't have to load that big truck!"

Two of my favorite things: my blanket and my new water bucket.

Abigail loves to fill her bucket with water and climb in. We take her to the park almost everyday. First we swing, then we slide, and then we cool off in the fountain. It's a lot of fun and a great way to meet new friends. I have several mom's that I met at the park, and can't wait to spend time with in the coming days and weeks. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mimi.

Happy Mother's Day, Mama!

My parents took us to The Florida Aquarium. Abigail had a blast. This is a shot of them watching her play in the splash park. Thanks you guys for an awesome week. We miss you already.

WOW! Look at all the fish!

The aquarium splash park.

Our bathroom.

Our bedroom. New bedding compliments of my parents. 

Abigail's room. 

Our side yard.

Kitchen.

Living room.

Dining room.

From the entry way.

We feel so blessed to be in our new city and in our new home. The Lord has been so gracious to us already by allowing us to meet our neighbors, workers at our local bank and several women at the park. We look forward to developing these relationships further. We are so thankful for our family that took time to get us here and settle us into our new place. It is more than we could have ever asked for and the perfect size for a family of four. (Yeap, I said four. Baby Perry will be arriving in January.) 

The Lord Provides.

After fifteen minutes of typing and erasing trying to articulate what the Lord has done words escape me. So, take a look at His amazing provision for our family.

Oh, and before you look. Here are a few reason's this is truly amazing.

-It's two stories. Most of the townhomes in Hyde Park/SOHO are three stories. We specifically prayed for a two story to best fit our family - PRAISE GOD!

-It's three bedroom. We prayed for a three bedroom to help accomodate family and friends that we hope will come a visit us.

-It's one street from the Tucker's. We asked that the Lord would strategically place us in the city and He chose to put us one street over from the Tucker's.

-It's less than a mile from Hyde Park Village. This will be the place of greatest impact for me (Jackey) in the community because of all of the mom's that gather here on a daily basis.

-It's already childproof. The family that owns it has a three year old, so they are reinstalling all of the gates to make sure it is safe for Abigail.

-It's strategic. Our neighbors will be two young professionals, a young family and three college students. What a great jump start on relationship building in three totally different demographics of the community. Not to mention it is centrally located to downtown and University of Tampa.

Fun in Memphis.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Memphis. We really enjoyed the time with Nana and Granddaddy (Justin's mom and dad), Mimi and Papaw (my parents), Great Nana (my grandmother), Aunt Paula, and our dear friends, April, Jayden, Katie, Daniel, Aubrey and Sloan. Thanks everyone.

I also wanted to give everyone the link to North Wake's website if you would like to hear Justin's sermon from Sunday. http://www.northwake.com/media-center