My daughter

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Starbucks with Jesse and Ava (getting a half passion/half black iced tea with one Splenda. YUM!) when a lady asked me, "How old is your daughter?". My daughter! It was fun to hear out loud. I've waited 9 years for a daughter and I have one now. It seemed surreal actually. Wow-it's not a son this time. It's a daughter!
And since then, several people have asked me how I like "finally" having a girl. And of course, I say it's "GREAT!"
But in all honesty, she just seems like...a baby. She doesn't sleep when I want to sleep, she eats, she cries, she poops, she has fabulous cheeks for kissing, she's a ball of heat (which I LOVE! I'm always cold. Stupid thyroid!), her skin is silky soft, she's barfed on me, smiled at me, filled my heart with LOVE...she's my baby. EXACTLY like her brothers were. But she's my daughter! I can't wait for all that will mean in the future: tea parties, pedicures, wedding plans. But for now, she's just like all my precious babies were. Except with a bow on her head and a pink blankie tucked around her.

Godliness during heartbreak

http://shawnandkalle.blogspot.com/2009/05/searing-loss-and-deep-joy.html

Mother's Day 2009

Today is Mother's Day. It's also the first day that I'm home with all four of my kiddos alone. Ah, the irony! Jesse is preaching all three services and my mom left yesterday (boo hoo) so after two-2 hour sleep sessions, I had to get up and be a mommy instead of sleeping until Ava's mid-morning feeding at 10am like I had been able to do for the past two weeks since my mom or Jesse were always here to help with the boys.
Four kids is A LOT! It's a lot of work, a lot of food, a lot of laundry, a lot less sleep, a lot more laughter, a lot more sharing and a lot more love. This morning, Ava was crying in her crib and when I went to get her, Lucas was leaning over her crib touching her softly and patting her blanket. At lunch, Knox got his brothers some ice water while I was feeding Ava and then he took out the trash-twice. During chore time, Caleb put away all the toys himself since Knox and Lucas were sitting together watching Sponge Bob. My boys aren't perfect but they love each other and can be so kind and helpful.
Tonight Ava will be dedicated. And as we pray over her with our church, pledging to raise her in the fear and admonition of the Lord, I will be praying in my heart for my other three too. I am so thankful for the evidences of grace in their life and the ways I see them growing in faith. I love being their mom and am so blessed to have four fantastic kids.

P.S. My awesome husband got me the Chanel sunglasses I wanted-"from Ava"! My boys got me make-up (with help from my mom) and fabulous gifts they made me at school-a tote bag from Caleb and a book from Knox.
Happy Mother's Day to me! WooHoo! :)

Resurrection Rolls

I LOVE holidays. I LOVE to decorate and make them special. It's a little harder for me to get into Easter this year since we are in a temporary house and all of my Easter decorations are packed away. An I'm due in 5 days! But I will still make things special for my family in a few simple ways. First, since Jesse will be gone all day (leaving very early in the morning) on Easter, we will celebrate tomorrow morning as a family. When the boys wake up, the table will be decorated, their baskets set out and we'll have a fabulous family breakfast of waffles, strawberries and whipped cream, sausage and eggs. YUM! (I think I'm hungry right now. This post is all about food...)

On Easter Sunday, when Jesse is gone I will make Resurrection rolls with my boys. They are fun and easy-perfect for this mom! My boys love doing it and it's become a great Mommy/son tradition.

Here is the recipe/instructions if you want to do it to:

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.
Read Matthew 27:57-61

1. Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus.
2. Have him/her dip the marshmallow in melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.
3. Now dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represents the spices used to anoint the body.
4. Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.
5. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. (The oven represents the tomb - pretend like it was three days!)
6. Let the rolls cool slightly. The children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN!!!! (The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

Now read Matthew 28:5-8
He is risen from the dead! Alleluia!

May you have a blessed and meaningful Easter! And please share with me your fun Easter traditions!!!

When my heart is overwhelmed

Psalm 60:1-2
Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

My heart is overwhelmed with uncertainty today. Yes, I wanted God to lead me. But I was looking for Him to lead me to the answer, the plan, the solution. RIGHT NOW! The solution didn't come. But this scripture did.

What I really need is to be lead to faith in Him. To rest in Him. To trust him. He will take care of me. My future is certain to Him. He is the rock that is higher than I. So I can trust Him to work it out. And I can be patient because He is good and loving and cares for me!

Babymoon

We were supposed to go to Montana for three days of snowy bliss in a beautiful resort outside of Bozeman. But after two nights of contractions, we bagged it. The resort was over an hour away from civilization, even longer to a hospital and then there was a plane flight, etc. Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, we decided to go to Westport (a little beach city on the WA coast) for one night instead.
I love long car rides with Jesse because we can talk uninterrupted. And I can sing loud. And we always eat Skittles.
So, after stopping for lunch (teriyaki for Jesse, Subway for me. Skittles for both of us!) We were on our way. We arrived at our beach front condo around 5pm. It was nicer then we expected! Right on the beach grass in front of the ocean, brand new, a totally darling condo. We went for a walk on the beach and then Jesse went surfing. We had a late dinner at a great restaurant in the marina. When we sat down at a cozy window table, the sun was setting and the moon was rising, making the moon fiery red-orange. SO beautiful. We talked and laughed and ate a great meal with the full moon sparkling on the water in the marina and the boats all lit up right below us. I love when the moonlight hits the water. It looks like diamonds.
After sleeping in late, we checked out. Jesse went surfing and I went to a little cafe to read and eat oatmeal. Then it was back on the road. After a late lunch at a fabulous BBQ place outside of Olympia, we headed home. Rested, connected, blessed.
A sweet little babymoon.

My nose and cheeks! :)

At my 32 week check-up, I was measuring around 35 weeks and my doctor was concerned since my last ultrasound showed Ava to be rather small-25th percentile. So she ordered an ultrasound at my 34 week appointment which was today. Everything is GREAT! They think Ava must have just been in a weird position causing the outer measurement to be so high (I measured the same today as I did two weeks ago, which puts us back at normal). The ultrasound tech measured her head, tummy, arms and legs. Everything is average-now 50th percentile. It seems that she weighs about 5 pounds now which would put Ava on course to only be a petite 8 pounder. Thank You, Lord! :)
We also got to see a front on view of her face. And as the tech pointed out all her features, she said, "It looks like she has your nose, and she already has full, round cheeks!" She was so cute and I can NOT wait to kiss those chubby little cheeks!! Just 6 more weeks!