Isaiah's First Day of Pre-Kindergarten

Today something bitter-sweet happened..... My baby boy started pre-kindergarten!!! I am both excited and miserable at the same time. =) Thankfully, Isaiah was very excited (and just a little bit nervous) this morning. He has a very out-going personality and I have no doubt he will do fine in school (sitting still is going to be his biggest hurdle!!!!).

Isaiah is attending Argyle Christian Preschool and Kindergarten this year. We are so glad to have him in a christian school and love love love the school so far! Because of the way Isaiah's birthday falls (he will be 5 September 25th) he was not allowed to start pre-K last year (in Jacksonville you must be 4 by September 1st and last September 1st he was not yet 4). So, although I am sad to see my baby growing up and starting school, I am thankful that I sort of had an "extra" year at home with him! I wouldn't trade that for anything. And, based on the class calendar I saw on the wall in his classroom, it looks like there are two other kids with birthdays even earlier in September than him so he won't even be the oldest in his class!

As a funny after-thought this morning as we were taking first day of school pictures with Isaiah, we realized that today is also Drew's first day of his next grad-school class. He takes his classes in 8 week rotations and today happens to mark the first day of his next class. So, we decided to print him off a sign too and they had fun taking pictures together. =)

Happy First Day of School to both my boys! <3

Our neighbor was leaving for work and saw us taking pictures of Isaiah by the front door and stopped her car right in the middle of the road to get out and offer to snap a family picture of us. It was so sweet! (We didn't have time to grab Livy who was still inside finishing up breakfast.) 

Looks like he's excited about his first day!

Eloise cried on the way home after we dropped Isaiah off. She misses him so much already!

Drew's sign says, "It's my first day of my next grad-school class! 2015"
Isaiah's sign says, "It's my first day of pre-kindergarten. 2015"

Me and my boy. I LOVE having a son. <3 

The Three Amigos! 

In front of his classroom door. 

In front of his cubby. 

Ready for class to start!

The Day I Met Namanya Daphine

In honor of {Throw Back Thursday}, this Thursday I am posting from our blog The Hutcheson Headline that we used while living in Uganda from 2012-2013. The post below was originally published by me on January 25, 2013. You can view it here if you'd like to see the original version.


For many years I have been sponsoring a little Ugandan girl named Daphine through Compassion International. Let me take you back to that wonderful day when I got to meet her for the very. first. time after years of letter writing.....


Last week we had the amazing privilege of meeting the little girl we sponsor through Compassion! I've been sponsoring Namanya Daphine since August of 2008, before Drew and I even got married. And since we've gotten married we've been sponsoring her together.

Daphine will be 12 years old in February and lives in a small town called Maziba, about 6-7 hours away from where we live in Kampala. Compassion gave us the option of either traveling to visit her for the day or paying for her and a companion to come to us for the day. With two small kids, 14 hours in the car didn't sound very appealing so we decided to have Daphine come to us!

She arrived early Monday morning and my first thought was "She is SO beautiful!!" It was an incredible thing to meet her for the first time after 4 1/2 years of writing to her and only seeing/sending pictures. We were so excited! Daphine does not speak a lick of English so thankfully she had a translator with her. The translator told us that Daphine had never been out of her village and was shocked by the big city of Kampala! 

Meeting her for the first time!!

Isaiah was so excited about showing her all his toys, especially his magnetic cars.

Daphine brought us a sweet gift of fruit and a basket.

After some tea and cake at our house we took Daphine to the big mall downtown and took her to see a movie in the theater! We also had Isaiah with us and it was his first time seeing a movie in the theater too. He and Daphine were both completely glued to the screen the whole time. It was awesome to see their faces!!! =)

We had some gifts for her as well.

Opening up her gift bag!

She was so excited!

She loved her new shirt, a hand-me-down from my sister, Adelynn.

We got her a handwriting book to help her practice writing her letters.

She said her favorite gift was her English dictionary!

When we returned from the mall we enjoyed an African style meal that our house help prepared. Daphine had no idea how to use a fork so she used her hands! All too soon it was time to say goodbye. We really enjoyed our visit with Daphine and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet her! She is a beautiful girl inside and out and we look forward to our continued communication with her now that we know her more personally!!

Here I was telling her translator to tell her how proud I was of her for being such a helpful, studious girl who loves Jesus!

Saying goodbye after a wonderful day!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child through Compassion click here to locate waiting children. Your tax-deductible contribution of just $38 a month connects a child living in poverty with a loving, church-based Child Sponsorship Program.

Your support provides:

• Medical checkups, which often save lives
• Nutritious food
• Health and hygiene training
• Educational assistance
• Access to special services like surgeries and disaster relief
• Mentoring to help children discover their incredible value as God’s children
• Most important of all, your sponsored child will hear about Jesus Christ and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God.

When you sponsor a child, you'll receive your child's photo, personal story and a child sponsorship packet by mail in approximately 10 days.

When children find out they've been sponsored, the joy they feel is indescribable. Just knowing that someone across the globe cares means more than you can imagine. Sponsoring a child in need will profoundly change the future for your child, and will change your own life as well.

Six Years as Mrs. Hutcheson

This post is going to be a bit sappy. But, to be fair, I hardly ever post mushy love posts and it's my anniversary so cut me some slack. =)

Six years ago on August 7, 2009 I made the second best decision of my life - I married Drew (the very best decision of my life being to give it to Christ!). I had no idea how to be a wife, no idea what marriage was really like, no idea how to truly set aside my selfishness for the good of another person. But I jumped into marriage with both feet and faced the steep learning curve. Let me tell you, marriage is not for the faint of heart. Choosing to combine your life with someone for better or for worse is not an easy task considering the sinful state of human nature. But it's worth the work because marriage can be refining, healing, beautiful, and fun!

God says that marriage is GOOD:

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22 

I'm so glad God gave me the good gift of Drew. Is he perfect? Nope. But he's perfect for me. He is weak where I'm strong and he is strong where I'm weak. He balances me out and helps me think from a different perspective. In marriage it's easy to get stuck on the little annoying things your spouse does. But a few years into our marriage I realized how silly it was to pick fights over how to squeeze the toothpaste tube (FYI: Drew and I now have our own SEPARATE tubes of toothpaste because we finally decided to just agree to disagree!!! =)). But seriously, I'd rather save up my energy to fight battles that really matter, like conquering sin with each other's help or fighting through difficult life circumstances together.

We've done a lot in our six years of marriage. We've lived in two different countries, three states, and six different houses. We've had three children, completed an international adoption, and lived in Africa for a year. We have said hurtful things to each other and we have forgiven and been forgiven. We have had a blast together on numerous crazy adventures and we have laughed together till our sides hurt.

Interested in a healthy marriage? Listen to this:

"Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful."

Colossians 3: 12-15

That's a big pill to swallow!! But the closer to Christ we become the better we are able to love our spouse like this.... and it creates a sweet, sweet marriage.

I must say that my second year of marriage was better than my first, my third year was better than my second, my fourth year was better than my fifth, and my sixth year has been better than them all combined! Our marriage just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter as we continue to learn each other in and out, as we face and overcome trials together, as we walk through valleys and as we rejoice on mountaintops together. There is no one else I would rather live this life with than my very best friend!

Engaged!

Married (we saved our first kiss for our wedding day!)

First Year - Isaiah was born a month and a half after our first anniversary. 

Second year!

Third year! Eloise joined our family!

Fourth year!

Fifth year! Olive joined our family!

And Sixth Year!

I love seeing how our family has grown, our love has strengthened, and our lives have changed in these six short years. And I look forward to the next 6 (and 16 and 60 years, God willing!!).