Update from the Haugens!

Hello from Kentucky again! I hope everyone who reads this blog has had a fun week like we have. It has been exciting to see how Paul's schedule is starting to come together, find out more and more about what he responds well to and venture out of the house. I'll be honest, the first week was HARD and there are moments and days when I wonder how in the world I am going to do this :), but we have a little studly cute baby who has stolen our hearts and changed our lives forever. He is eighteen days old today.

The whole point of our blog is to keep folks updated about our time in the Dominican Republic, so since we're not in the DR right now, it has changed to baby updates. BUT we would like to let you know what our latest plans are DR-wise...

Mark heads up to Chicago tomorrow to attend a retreat with our Willow Creek team, and then I'll hop on a Southwest flight with little Paul on Sunday. We have had a great time in Louisville with my family and it will be hard for me to say goodbye. Thankfully, my parents will head to Florida at the same time that I take off for Chicago, so that should make the departure a little bit easier. We have been blessed beyond blessed during our time here.... showers, gifts, food, encouragement, office space, pies, laughs, visits... I have learned a lot about hospitality from the folks at Northeast Christian Church, and will not look at how to treat women who are pregnant and new moms the same ever again.

We have some important meetings over the next two weeks up at Willow Creek, and then we will head back to Santo Domingo. The departure date is still unknown, so we'll let you know when we can...

Now, back to Paul and this week's adventures... :)

Distracted on the changing table by the stuffed animal lizard that Mark bought for him... to get him used to hanging out with lizards in the DR.

All dressed up for the University of Louisville football game -- but with no place to go! GG (Grandma), GP (Grandpa) and Mark went without Steph and Paul! :)

Go C-A-R-D-S!

Chilled out in the back of the car on the way to the pediatrician's office -- where we found out he is gaining weight and healthy -- then we went out to eat at Panera to celebrate.