New House!!!

My heart has wanted more space ever since we first thought we were having more kids and I couldn't get the idea of more kids out of my head.  But over time, God was good to help me surrender that desire to Him and trust Him.

Well, the time has finally come!  We've been getting our house ready to sell over the last few months.  

And isn't it looking so so cute and good?!

We found a house that we liked over the weekend!  We made an offer and have a contract.  

Its been a wild ride of emotions, that I didn't totally expect.  

(Altho, I should have, knowing myself.)

Its the thrill of 'wow, God is providing this great house at just the right time'.  Truthfully, I have just been thrilled to get our current house thinned down and fixed up (loving the lack of clutter!) and have been relishing in the fact that we are getting to have another baby.  So it felt like an easy place to rest in trusting God's timing. 

Its the thrill of 'its so much bigger! and has so many great things about it'!

To the sadness of 'we are leaving this house that we've brought two babies home to, and spent hours playing in the back yard, and I've painted every square inch of the awesome chunky trim and wood work, to oh no, our new bedrooms are smaller and not as charming'.

But I can't complain and pout about God's good provision to us!! 

This morning I read in Jonah 4 after it was mentioned at church yesterday.  And the Spirit reminded of good truths that need to sink deep into me.

 "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."

The Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh..."

It convicted me that God is gracious and compassionate, and not as caring about my old hardwood floors and chunky molding, and painted brick.

Our new house allows us to welcome more people, to show hospitality and compassion.  And it is wonderful!  Thank you, Lord!

Girlie (& Lunch) Happenings

She loves to help around the house. I'm trying not to quench this fire before its actually helpful.

She loves to help with cooking.  Making some blue cupcakes to celebrate our little boy and just because we are hungry and its winter.

She LOVES to make a list and to make cards.  We've had a list for the river house weekend, and lists for the pool (dreaming!).  And the drawings and cards.  There are 10-20 cards made daily.  Paper is on my grocery list for this week.

This past week, we went out for our first haircut at the salon.  I usually do it but thought I'd get her a "real" cut.  She enjoyed the pampering.  :)

And then we did nails afterwards.

She is just a sweet snuggly little girl in the mornings and loves her Daddy, for good reason.  She won't snuggle with me like she used to.  But I can still sneak some from time to time. 

Her voice.  Her voice just kills me.  She has such a high pitched little girly voice, esp when she sings. 

And yesterday, I took the kids out to lunch.  Mike had a meeting after church.  We've done this once before when he had a meeting.  It could become a fun, little tradition for us.

Funny Boy Story

Late morning I got a call to come and pick Peter up from school for "vomiting".  Thankfully, our family has managed to avoid stomach bugs over the years- I don't know how- just the grace of God.  So I have sorta been waiting for it.  Lily threw up the night after the Father- Daughter Dance and I swallowed hard and told Mike that I was trying to count it a victory that we'd avoided puking kids for 6.5 years.  I layed awake that night waiting for her to throw up again.  But nothing.  I really think she just ate too much "junk" and "sweets" that eve.  Our girl does love to eat, like her mama.  
So today, again, I did the 'oh no, its our time' thing in my head.  And immediately thought of myself and how I dread the idea of me getting it and puking at 33 weeks pregnant.  I'd also made note this morning that Peter had been a touch congested.  If you know Peter you know that he is congested half the time.  I went in to get him.  There was a little hustle and bustle in the clinic and the nurse called Peter to come out and mentioned that it happened in the cafeteria.  I asked about how much and just got the passing report of "a lot" but not in an overly convincing way, more of a polite 'just get your kid out of here' way.  Peter, Lily and I head down the hall and out the front door.  I say to Peter, "So what happened, buddy?"

"I sneezed and my {granola} bar came out of my mouth."

HAHAHA!!  Bwah, haha!  My sneezy, slobbery, doesn't-care boy.  Of course that's what happened.  #grossboystory

In the van, I went through parts of his body to ask if they hurt.  'No' to all of them, except when I asked about his head, he said "I think watching TV will help my head feel better".  Smart boy. There's been no TV watching here today.

They immediately ran out of the van to play in the backyard.  Bellies down, spinning on the swings.  Oh, I love this scenario with the boy home from school for a 'legitimate' reason (that does NOT involved vomiting) on a sunny day!

Hallelujah!  Thank you, Lord!

The Tale of Two Front Teeth

Peter's front teeth have been getting loose for a while.  Its been about a year since his bottom two came out.  We all think its fun to wiggle them and... we can make that part of oral motor exercises, right?  Wiggle your teeth with your tongue?

Lily gets in on the action of feeling them.

This weekend at the river, Paw got in on the action and wanted to get them out.

 The vet and nurse get a last pic :)

 Peter wiggles...

 ... and pulls.

 And then eventually Paw gets one out!  

 But we had to leave one in for Daddy to pull.  
After a day of the pirate look, we were bound and determined.

 They actually tied some fishing line around it and then Mike pulled.

Peter was pretty pumped.  These pics crack me up!!

(click for full size)

Card for a Cousin

Both Kathy and Mike have been parent readers in Peter's class this month (my turn was in Jan).  The week that Kathy read, Lily was reeeeally sad to not go in (oops- I forgot!) so she got a special date with Goo that afternoon.  So Peter and I had the afternoon to ourselves.  We went out to pick out a birthday gift for cousin, B.  At the toy store, Peter got this "free" PlayMobile catalog- you would have thought I bought him the moon.  He studied it for days!  After the toy store, we stopped by Five Guys for a burger for ME (hungry!).

Then we went home and he drew a card for B.  I loved sitting with him and watching him work on it.  Oh, their minds and imaginations and dreams!  He and B are heroes going up to save a princess who is yelling 'help!' in the arms of a 'bad gi'.  The fine motor progress and cognitive development still blesses & soothes my soul each time I watch it!

 Then the flame they zoomed up with had to be colored in fire colors.

 Thankful for the one on one time with him!

My Birthday

We celebrated my 37th birthday earlier this month- on the date that's a command. 

Mike made me the traditional Dennis breakfast of steaming grits, bacon, and eggs.  He is so glad he married a southern, country girl to get in on this heavenly breakfast.  

Love my different colored Fiesta dishes- its the little things!

3 babies (!!!) and my man

 My oldest boy

 sweet girl

There was the P family tradition of pizza and cupcakes- Goo and Pop came to our party.

And then my parents were in town the following night and brought us a second dinner party.

They were looking at a boat- woohoo- we are dreaming of summer!

Daddy came with us...

We had another great snow storm this week.  I think it helped me mentally that we'd been away for the weekend, so it felt like a bonus, instead of mooore days at home.

And Daddy worked from home so he came sledding with us this time!  He was bummed to have missed our last adventure and had to get in on it this time around.

 It was pretty to be in the snow while it was falling!

 Love these three.

We all had fun!!

Uncles and Cousins, Oh My!

{Hello middle of the night blogging!  Third trimester body discomfort has set in.  But there are no complaints, just joy at the thought of this little one.  And I need to blog anyway!}

We had a family gathering over the weekend with the brothers.  J&J were generous to host us in their neck of the woods, and Maw & Paw were generous to put us up at a hotel with a pool!

I love any chance for the kids to have a faux breakout from winter in a pool.  :)

All the cousins pictured, apart from the one in my belly.  See sweet, snugly Sarah on Jessica's lap. :)

 Love even a blurry pic of this girl on the side of the pool!

 We had gorgeous weather and managed to dodge the recurrent snow storms.

The dogs chased the cat, Octopus, into this tree.  See him near the very top.

I set this as the wallpaper on my phone.  The bright blue sky is just what I need to see at this point in winter.

Esp remembering we were in Turks and Caicos this week last year!  

AHHH man, even just the pics get me! 

 There were Legos with Uncle Will.  Peter loved a partner in building too.

 We had a yummy dinner... 

 ...of ELK burgers!!  

I think, assume this is the one John shot when he was in CO in the fall.  I was hesitant at first, but JD reminded me that this meat is probably much "cleaner" than beef I'd buy at the store.  

It was really good!

 Elizabeth and Sarah... reminding me of the spacing of Peter and Lily.  This was my life.  :)

 Peter loved extra time with Paw.  We all kept threatening to pull those teeth.

 And we celebrated my birthday and ELIZABETH'S 2nd birthday with cake.

We really missed Mike and Emily!  But are glad they each had good weekends with other fun things going on.  Another highlight was an escape that Mom, Jessica, and I made (along with Sarah & Elizabeth) to go shopping.  I loved the extra time with the big & little girls for some retail therapy & lunch.
Holly, we missed you too!  You complete our family!  2 boys and 2 girls :)

Deep Thoughts on Pregnancy & Waiting

I've thought about this post so many times in my mind, and a few times with the keyboard, without finishing and hitting "publish".  I've waffled back and forth about whether to document it.  On sad days, I want to.  And on other days, I too don't want to be bothered with the heaviness. 

A few weeks ago, I had my one hour glucose tolerance test.  
(And I passed!  First time ever!!  BS of 77- go older body!!)  
Being at the office, surrounded by pregnant ladies, stirs the emotions for me again.  Every time someone "announces" their pregnancy, or congratulates someone on a pregnancy- even me-, I still feel it.  To a lesser degree, but its there, its always there somewhere. That gut reaction sometimes takes the Spirit to tame.  And leads me to remember that He is trustworthy, and He calls me to follow Him.  There is so much excitement and blessing and thrill that I'll get to hold a baby, MY baby, again soon.  But there is still the sting, the awareness, the touch of bitterness, that that place holds... the awareness of all the grief and heartache that lurks in those walls for some, and that has been so real for me, and ones I love, for seasons.  And it feels so real, so mean, so wrong. 
Part of me doesn't want to mention it.  How could I complain?  But part of me wants to make it known, not just for me but for others too.  I know that being known doesn't change what it is or make it different, but maybe it does help a little. 

This pregnancy, this baby is such a gift.  I am so excited.  But my heart still feels the ache some days of not having some of our children with us.  I also know, and don't want to forget the blessing in that.  And that somehow, God made and molded our story in that season.

This testimony (during Advent) from someone in our church during Advent really resonated (& stuck) with me related to this.  Even with a new baby on the way, I am still waiting for Jesus, and waiting for heaven.  And I don't want to misplace my hope to somewhere else.  You've gotta click and read, its really good.

Here is another part of what I scribbled in a little bit of free time that I had early on:
Also with another pregnancy comes a mixed bag of emotions.  Its what I wanted for so long, always, but the Lord had led me to a place of accepting that it wasn't His plan for us, and trusting Him in that.  His ways are not our ways.  Although always a low lying level of disappointment, in submitting to that came some joy and bittersweet, and heartbreak.  
There were also blessings.  The blessing of longing for heaven in  knowing that things aren't as they should be, but knowing He surely has a sweet purpose, and one day He will make all things {death} right.  I'm happy to be a part of His story.