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.

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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

The World's Worst Blogger.

I was told by an old co-worker of mine that although I am not the world's worst blogger (that title has already been claimed by her daughter), I am definately at the top of the list. Well, admitantly I am not your good old trusty blogger, but I do aim to do better. But, if I am honest, I get overwhelmed by the task of outlining all that has taken place in the last three months. So, I have decided if I ever want to begin blogging again I have to start somewhere. Well, today is somewhere.

Currently, Abigail and I are in Memphis spending time with family and friends. It is my assumption that this may be the last time we visit before we move to Tampa in May, so I had several people I really wanted to see - namely two very close friends: April and her new baby, Jayden and Katie and her new baby, Sloan. We also wanted to have some time with family, which never seems to be long enough.

While we are away, Justin is preparing for a sermon that he will preach at North Wake tomorrow morning. Our pastor has done an amazing job at not only shepharding Justin over the past four years, but also mentoring him. On several occasions, Larry has provided Justin the oppertunity to preach and teach the word, and then walk through with him ways that he can better divide and communicate the Word. It has been invaluable preparation for our future.

Abigail has grown so fast. I am amazed at her developing personality and independence. She really is a little girl now. She is so articulate, and willing to learn more words everyday. She is very maternal - her babies and her books are her favorite things to play with (Oh, except ELMO). She is still a mama's girl, but loves her daddy. And, she is all girl, but won't wear a hairbow for longer than a minute. Right now her favorite expression is to open her mouth with surprise at almost everything you say. We are in the thick of "training" and discipline, and there are times that as soon as she has done a "no no" she runs straight over to Justin or I to give us a big hug and kiss before we can repremand her. One of the cutest things she loves to do right now is pray. She pray's for her babies when they eat their "snack" and we often pray several times at a meal. When she pray's she says, "God good, amen." We hope this will be the one of the ways her little heart is softened by the holy spirit and the Lord draws her to Himself.

In ten days, Justin, Abigail and I are headed to Tampa to look for housing. This is a very exciting time for us as a family and as a church planting team. I cannot express our gratitude for Drew and Jessi. God has been so gracious to us over the past year, and one of the most tangable ways is our friendship and partnership with the Tucker's. There is more to share than I can possibly write. But, all I can say is that God has overwhelmed us with His love, His patience, His election, His sanctification, His calling, His timing, His people, and His provision. Praise be to God!

We love you all and thank you for your faithfulness to check up on us even when we are still waiting on Elmo for Christmas. Oh, and pictures will be soon to follow.

All I want for Christmas is Elmo.

Abigail loves to be outside. Here are a couple of pictures taken on one of the many cool, crisp North Carolina fall days. She is reaching for the flowers on the other side of the rail. She loves to pick them and make a sniffing noise.

Here she is pushing the walker she never used. In fact, as Justin was putting it together for her, she toddled across the room for the first time to help him. The irony of parenthood.

Her expression here is so funny. This is my "I want mama" face.

The following is Abigails first time looking through the Target toy book. She loves Elmo. She has one Elmo book, but other than that I have no idea why she is so crazy about Elmo. But, as the video will show, all she wants for Christmas is Elmo.

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