2011 Hutcheson Update!

Happy New Year!!

From our family to yours, we wish you warm blessings in 2012! No matter where you may be or what you may be going through, we pray you may experience God's peace and joy in this new year like never before.

We'd like to update you a little on how things are going in our neck of the woods!

Drew- Drew is working two jobs and is keeping very busy! He works part time as a youth pastor for Bethel Baptist Church of Muskegon, teaching lessons Sunday morning and night, hanging out with the youth, and organizing lots of fun (and crazy!) events to keep them busy! He is absolutely wonderful at what he does! He also works full time (47+) hours a week as the manager of a Boost Mobile store here in Fremont. He sells many phones and helps many others with their phone problems. Since he started, sales have gone through the roof and his boss is very impressed with his hard work (so are his wife and son =)! Drew has already started taking classes towards his masters degree and he will finish it up soon after we return from Uganda.

Daddy introducing Isaiah to snow. He saw lots of it last winter but was too young to remember!

Amber- I am an at home mom and I absolutely love my job (and what a full time job it is!)!! It is such a blessing to be home with Isaiah and I treasure our time together!!  Isaiah and I keep busy all day long whether it be cleaning the house, grocery shopping, playdates with other mommies and babies or helping daddy do the things he wants to but can't because he's at work (like write this update! =) I am currently keeping busy writing thank-yous to our donors, getting our international driving permits (so we can drive in Uganda), scheduling meetings, buying and packing things we need for Uganda, and working on the paperwork needed for our adoption!

Christmas morning!

Love love love this sweet, sweet boy!!

Isaiah- Isaiah is 15 months old and is such a sweet boy! He sleeps 12-13 hours at night and still takes two 1 & 1/2 hour naps during the day. We are thankful! He is easy going, obedient (for a one year old!), and is almost always happy! He is a VERY busy boy and is always learning and doing new things. He doesn't sit still for long! We started teaching him sign language when he was 8 months old and he is constantly signing: "all done", "more", "please",  and "thank you". He can also say several things including "mama", "dada", "gigi", "hot", "this", "kitty", "uncle" (his Uncle Josh swears he says it!), "bye-bye", "night-night", and "bama gaga booo jajaka" which I think means, "Dad and Mom, I love you so much, thank you for taking care of me every day, you're the best!". He gives the most delectable open mouth kisses and bear hugs. He celebrated his first birthday on September 25 but wasn't very interested in opening gifts yet. This past Christmas was a different story! He ripped into his gifts with curiosity and excitement. It was so much fun to experience the wonder of Christmas through a child's eyes! Isaiah is a very flexible baby and did very well during our five week stay in Florida where he missed many naps, had many late bed times, and many different babysitters. He thrives, however, in a structured routine of predictable nap and bed times which we implement when we are at home!

The certified present hander-outer at our family Christmas party!

The wrapping paper is just as fun as the present!

He could get used to this present opening thing!

His very own place mat!

Isaiah doing his "model" walk. This boy seriously cracks us up!!

Now that the holidays are almost over and things are starting to settle down, we are able to get busy again with our support raising! We took a break for the holidays to rest and relax and enjoy time with family but now it's time to get back at it again! We are so thankful for the support we have raised thus far and we are trusting the Lord to bring in the rest during these next 5 months before we head to Uganda!

Please join us as we praise the Lord that:

• We have raised 40% of our monthly support!
• Things are progressing, slowly but surely, with our adoption!

Please join us in prayer that:

• We would raise 100% of our support by May 2012!
• Our adoption would go smoothly and we would have our new baby in our home by this summer. The last piece of the puzzle we need in order to complete our home study is a background check from Morocco for Amber. Please pray that it would come back in time to complete our home study and send it off to the government to get USCIS approval before we leave for Uganda.

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have already given and who are praying for us! We are so grateful and so blessed to have such a great support group surrounding us as we follow the Lord's call to mission work overseas. We could not do it without people like you!

If you feel led to help support our work with International Justice Mission please visit the Start-up & Support page of our blog for more information on how you can be a part of helping rescue victims of violent oppression in Uganda.

In all things we remember that:

"The one who calls [us] is faithful, and he will do it!" 

1 Thessalonians 5:24

We trust in Him!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!