Healthy Baby Boy!

We found out this morning we are having our second boy!! I am so very excited about that. I had really been thinking lately how that is what I felt like would be best. It really seems like to me that Luke could use a brother. However, God's ways are not always our ways (thank goodness!!) and I just didn't know if that was what He had decided was best for our family. The four of us went for the ultrasound and it went really well and was super fast. We saw his "boy" part almost immediately. I actually saw it at exactly the same time as the ultrasound tech did and knew. It was pretty obvious. She was great and even did some 4D pictures for us. He looks very healthy and his face looks a lot like Luke to me (just from what I can tell). No pics to post because I don't have a scanner. Ellie had said it would be a girl very often and refers to the baby as a "her". But she hasn't seemed in the least bit sad. Luke had no clue what was going on and was much more interested in the toy that was in the room. He kept saying "wook! wook!" I thought he was talking about the ultrasound pictures, but he was talking about the toy. He will get it soon enough. So we can cross all our girl names off the list and just focus on the boy names. (which we have almost decided) I'll let you know when a decision has been finalized. So there is my news...just as promised!

Lots of Pictures

Do you like the creative title for this post? I have a hooked up computer, and several downloaded pictures just waiting to be posted. They are very random and go all the way back to July. These first two are some I thought were cute from a youth cookout we had during the summer. We have some of the dearest people in our church and I am so thankful for them. They are so sweet to Luke and Ellie and got out this train which they loved. These days Luke can't get enough of trains, big trucks, or motorcycles.

This day Steven was gone somewhere so I decided to take them to something our town has once a month called "First Monday/Sunday". I basically went because we had nothing else to do and I had seen a slushie machine that morning and thought they would enjoy that. I got some boiled peanuts for myself, which they ended up liking more than the slushies. Isn't that always the way it is? And I just thought this picture of Luke was cute.

This is our very first morning in the new house. I think Ellie and Luke are eating peanuts, marshmallows and drinking who knows what out of regular cups. Notice there are no booster seats and they are sharing the table with plants. We still have a lot to do, but have come a long way from the first morning.

This is what our master bedroom looked like the first week or so. Stressful! Notice Luke lounging on the floor and eating an apple. He wasn't worried about it.

Ellie slept on this air mattress for several weeks. We now have her an actual mattress. But still no bed, because it is an antique and we are having trouble getting it together. Our temporary paper accordian shades are $5 at Home Depot and have served us well, although we don't want them forever. Ellie's are in the process of being made. I hope to have you an after picture of Ellie's room soon.

This is the upstairs hallway. Notice the shop-vac. We borrowed it from some friends and it stayed with us for several weeks. There was so much dust to be vacuumed up from construction. Just when I thought I had gotten it all, I would open a cabinet and there was some more.One of the highlights of our new house is the walk-in shower in our room. Ellie and Luke absolutely love it. It makes bathtime/showertime so much easier on everyone. It's big enough I can still wear a t-shirt and not get too wet. And they can move around and play. It is working well as my belly is getting bigger and it's harder to bend over to bathe them.

And finally...Luke's birthday. I know I posted about it, but no pictures. So I won't say much, just give you the pics.

This was during the day on his birthday. Bless his heart, he was pretty bored, not so exciting at home with me. I let him watch quite a few of his favorite shows.Things picked up a bit later when we went to mom's house for a little cake and a few presents.Then, on Friday (2 days later), the official cake. Which, by the way, do you remember my homemade Cinderella cake from Ellie's third birthday? This one was about $15 from Wal-Mart. So good, so easy. I'm pretty sure we will go this route everytime. The present from Steven and me. I thought it would keep him busy for days. He has enjoyed it, but not like I thought. So, there are lots of other things that have been going on, but those are some highlights.

It's such a process to move and get things the way you want them, not to mention an expense. And now that we have our new mortgage, we're having to be much stricter with our budget. So, I'll do what I can and the other stuff can wait. I struggle with getting impatient or feeling unproductive when a few days go by and nothing gets organized, or we still need something to be finished. And this is the biggest house I've ever had to clean, which means more vacuuming, more dusting, etc. God often convicts me that these things are not bad, but they are not eternal. I pray for His perspective on my daily ins and outs. When Steven taught through James a few months ago, I was really hit with verse 13-15 from Chapter 4 "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that." I often have so many plans for things to be accomplished in a days time and feel at the end of the day that it was not "successful" if I didn't check off enough on my list. I know the truth, but often have a hard time getting it into my head and heart. Praise the Lord that He continues to sanctify us and He is patient with us in the process!

One last thing...Thursday is the big ultrasound!! I am getting very anxious to find out if this new little person is a boy or a girl. We'll take the entire crew. I promise, promise, I will let you know on Thurs. evening if at all possible. I can't promise any cute or creative ways it will be done, but nevertheless, I will post the news.

Oooops!

I made a slight mistake in my last post. I just checked my blog last night and after reading a few comments, I realized I had put Luke's birth weight as 9 lbs. 11 oz. Not quite true. He was 9 lbs. 1 oz. I must have hit the 1 button twice. Still a big baby, but not that big. Sorry about that! I am still waiting on a computer hook up to post some pics. In the meantime I am trying to figure out this money-saving stuff by clipping coupons and taking advantages of sales. I know lots of friends who have jumped on this bandwagon and are saving quite a bit on their groceries. I am about to check out hotcouponworld.com because and read the "newbie" section to see how to really get started. I think it can get pretty complicated and if you really know what you are doing you can spend hundreds less a month on groceries. I am not there yet, but am really itching to learn how. Again...sorry to mislead on Luke's birthweight.

Back from the Land of Moving...

Glory, Hallelujah! We are pretty much moved into our new house(minus a hooked up computer-right now I am at mom's) I had about a week's pause with the moving process to visit a dear friend in Ohio. (More on that later-it needs its own post) I am beyond thankful to be in our new house and although there are still several little things that need to be done and quite a bit of organzing to do-we are functioning well in our new house and love it!! One of our favorite things is our new/old bed. See, when we were in Alb., Steven's parents so graciously gave us their king size bed along with an amazing matress to go with it. It didn't fit in our rental house, so it has been in storage for a year. The reunion has been wonderful!! Oh, how we have missed it. Now, along with the TV in our bedroom, the kids and Steven and I can pile in on a Sat. morning(or maybe a few other mornings as well) and have some family time. I know that I am extremely overdue for pictures and I have several to share, but as I said earlier, my computer isn't hooked up, so for now I will have to use only words.

So, I wanted to say a really big Happy Birthday to my little "Lukie" who turns two today. This is really the main reason for the post. I know I have done this a lot over the summer, but I am going to refer you again to my mom's blog if you would like some pictures from the "pre-party" we had for him today. His official party will be on Fri. at our house (our first official have people over deal) since we moved in, which I have been itching to do. It also gives me extra motivation to get the house put together. Mom couldn't stand not to do anything for him on his actual birthday. So, after I picked Ellie up from school, we headed to her house where she had set up a little birthday scene, which both kiddos were thrilled about! She made homeade chocolate cupcakes that were out of this world. I was most excited about those, but Ellie and Luke loved the balloons the most. They each opened a few presents. I know you are thinking it is Luke's birthday, not Ellie's. But mom, of course, got her a few (little) things as well. There were a few little squabbles over the balloons, and since it was past 2:00, we hurried the party along so they could take naps.

I can and can't believe it has been two years since I delivered Luke. There is absolutely nothing in the world that compares to the day your baby arrives into the world. I wish the memory of it would stay vivid year after year, but of course, over time,it starts to get a little fuzzy. Especially when you keep adding more babies. But for now I remember most everything about Luke's delivery. It actually started on Sep. 9 at 6ish in the morning. When you are induced, it takes several hours to get everything going. Since it was my second labor, we thought it would go rather quickly. It was a Sat. morning and we had talked about how we would watch the Georgia game later in the day (or maybe it was the Auburn game, not really sure) and eat dinner. Well, the game came and went and I was still in labor (with a wonderful epidural). All through the night my body progressed very slowly. And finally after only 20 min. of pushing at 11ish on Sun. morning, Luke came out a whopping 9 lbs. 11 oz. He didn't cry much, and latched on right away. He had the sweetest disposition right from the start. He was a dream baby (aside from the normal things at first and I had trouble with my milk production around 3 mo.) I thank the Lord for my sweet baby boy. He is tender, and a little sensitive at times, but he remains easy-going and most of the time is just along for the ride. He gets frustrated with Ellie these days and is entering into the "I do it" phase, which I think is all part of turning two. I am so, so blessed and thankful to have been given this role as his mother. I love how God made him and my prayer is that God will shape him into a young man full of wisdom and that he will have a heart that seeks to know the Lord.

A Few Things...

Warning...I am going to jump around on this post from subject to subject. Does that happen to anyone else? There are several different things you would like to say, all on different subjects? So that leaves me with no good title for my post. Anyway, we are about to move into the new house. Finally!! Friday is the big day. Although I have been working on getting my kitchen moved all week a little at a time. I'm not sure how it's all going to work with sleeping arrangements and everything. Like, if we will actually sleep there Friday night or move the beds on Sat. We'll see. Hopefully I will remember in the chaos to take some moving in pictures.

Ellie has had a good first 2 weeks back at preschool. She is pretty tired, but seems to be handling it better than last year. Luke seems a little lost without her. One day last week he was just lying on the floor. I said "Luke, are you tired? Do you want to get up and play something or do you just wanna lie there for awhile?" He answered that he just wanted to lie for awhile. He is usually pretty excited when it is time to go get her in the afternoon and then shortly after they say hello to each other and hug(sometimes), the fighting begins. It's like he doesn't know what to do without having her around to give him a hard time.

Ellie seems to be learning more this year, or at least she is telling me more about it. Several new songs, and today she was pretending to read and I heard her say "I pledge allegiance to the kitties". Now, this is opening up an entirely new subject that I have yet to blog about, but I will just say that I have felt a conviction in the past six months or so (still praying about all the details) for my children to have a Christian education. And since there are no Christian schools here in this small town, it seems to be more of a conviction to homeschool. I will post more on this later, but I will say that I have never been someone that thought I would homeschool my children. I still selfishly do battles in my heart and head over it, but since I have heard Ellie singing to me all these new songs and repeating all the new things she is learning, it has been confirmed once more. She (children) are a sponge! And their minds are being shaped everyday. I just don't feel comfortable letting a government school system take over that responsibility. Not that there are not Godly teachers in the public school system and Praise God for them. I have been reading Voddie Baucham's book "Family Driven Faith" and he says this much better than I can.

"I applaud men and women whom God has called to teach in government schools. These people are front-line warriors, and they need to be right where they are. However, there is a big difference between sending fully trained disciples into enemy territory and sending recruits to our enemy's training camp. If we do the latter, we shouldn't be surprised when they come home wearing the enemy's uniform and charging the hill of our home while waving an enemy flag."

So, basically all I'm saying is Ellie is picking up what they are teaching her and it confirms in my heart that (for now) she is not a fully trained disciple. And she will learn whatever she is taught. Please don't think that I trying to push my convictions. I just want to share where God has us right now and how He continues to confirm this in my heart.

Okay, on to a little something about Oprah. I watch her every now and then, like if it's a good informational show. But most of the time it makes me so frustrated and saddened at the same time. The things she says are so off. She does some wonderful things, for sure, and physically helps so many people. But at the same time, she is leading so many people down a road that will in the end lead to death. What scares me too, while she is talking about things like "You have to find your calling, and I firmly believe people are put on this Earth to do good and figure out what that is" is the way the people in the audience are looking at her. They are hanging on every word she says. Today she had a man on the show who had left his million dollar job to start schools for children all over the world. (Again, this is not a bad thing in and of itself) They were both discussing how education is the key to ending poverty. And she is clear how strongly she feels about that. She made this statement: "Education is the food that will fill them forever". Jesus says in John 4 "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." It's scary what a following she has. I do not pretend to know what Satan is up to. But I do know that Scripture says this: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Pet. 5:8, "...for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." 2 Cor. 11:14. It also talks about in 1 John 2, how there is one Antichrist that is coming, but many antichrists have arisen. I pray believers will have discernment about her and the things she claims!

House Pictures

Just thought I would inform anyone who is interested that my mom took LOTS of pictures of our new house today and posted them on her blog. A few things though, before you take a look. I protested because I had not had a shower but she took them and posted them anyway. Also, there are several things that are not yet finished. (stairs are not completely painted, fireplace and built-ins are not done) So, I will post some finished pictures later. But, nevertheless, this is the house that has absolutely consumed us for the past, well, year really. We broke ground in January but we started planning back in the fall and here it is almost fall again. I think I have said this before, that we have self-contracted it, which means we didn't hire a builder, we just hired out all the sub-contractors ourself. Steven has done most of the work. I want to say that I don't want to sound like I am complaining, because this is an incredible blessing and I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to build such a nice house. But it has been an intense year and it has been an incredible challenge to keep priorities priorities (like marriage and family come first-after God, of course). It is something we have prayed about for a long time (what to do about where to live here once we knew we were moving). We were in a situation in Albuquerque where we bought into the market and in the five years we lived there, our house went up in value a great deal. So, with that money, we wanted to invest wisely. We have prayed about this process the entire way. It has truly been a test of our faith and maybe the most stressful thing we have ever done. I'm sorry to say we have failed many times, often resorting to panic instead of prayer. But God has been so faithful to us and has proven Himself time and again. And He is so patient. My prayer is that I would hold everything God has given to me (children and husband included, which is so hard for me to say) with open hands and always be willing for Him to do with my life (and family and earthly posessions) what He desires.

Time Out

No, the title of my post does not have to do with my insanely long blog break. It actually has to do with a funny story about Ellie and Luke that has forced me to make a blog post. I will tell you this story and then give a quick update on our crazy life. So today I was at my mom's house (which is where we spend much of our time these days). I was sitting in the kitchen finishing up my lunch and I heard her bedroom door slam and then I could hear Luke crying. I went in to find him sitting on the time out stool, crying. I asked him "Are you in time out?" He nodded, pathetically. "Did Ellie put you in time out?" Again, he nodded. I, of course, got him up, and went to find Ellie. When I asked her why she put him in time out, she said "He was crying and I hit him." I'm really not sure if she got that backwards, but I told her if she hit him, she was the one who needed to be in time out. Oh, they keep me laughing...always!

So things are pretty crazy for us right now, as we are scheduled to close on our house a week from today. We are praying that they (the powers that be that will decide if our house is done enough) will show us mercy and let us close without a few things (a garage door, mirrors in the bathroom, closet shelving). We are so, so close, yet it feels like so far away. I feel as though I have checked out here in the rental house. Like, I am trying to get away with Lysol wipe cleaning rather than any deep cleaning. Also, we are about to move into our new church building. Well, really it is an older building that we (not me so much) but lots of the men in our church have remodeled. I am kind of trying to put together the nursery. I didn't realize how much "stuff" nurseries require. I just thought it needed some toys. But it's a lot more. Table, chairs, storage, crib, rocker. So, everything is kind of coming together at once, which makes for an exciting, but crazy time.

As for baby news, things are moving right along. I had my first doctor's appt. last week and saw the little "peach" (he or she is about that size) just kicking around. Praise the Lord that everything looks good so far! Ellie is well and excited to start gymnastics class tomorrow. Sometime I will have to write an entire post on Ellie's "phases". She is an extreme phase child and goes through these funny obsessions. Right now (which it has been for awhile) is her "Cinderella panties" phase. She wants to wear them every single day. And on certain days, especially if she is tired, will sob if I insist we need to wash them. She is actually pretty obsessed with panties in general and Cinderella for that matter. I think the marketing world has caught onto that, because until I had a three year old little girl, I did not realize how many products they make with Cinderella on it. You name it, they make it-Cinderella gummies, graham crackers, band-aids, bubble bath, etc. Luke is doing anything and everything Ellie does. I let him wear head band and carry purses (only around the house). But have to put my foot down when he wants to have his nails painted like Ellie.

So, as hectic as life is right now, I often have these moments that I feel so truly blessed by how good God has been to me. I was in the car on the way home from my parents house tonight with Ellie and Luke and we were looking for the moon and finally spotted it. Ellie immediately started singing a song that my mom has taught her ("wee baby moon") and Luke joined in. There is no way to describe how cute it is when they sing at the top of their lungs. But it makes my heart melt and I was just thinking how thankful I am that it is now and they are in the car with me and they are excited to see the moon. Because I know that I will blink and they will not be interested in the moon, much less interested in singing a song about it. Or there will be a day when they are not in the car with me at all. Thank you, Lord for all the times I have to referee fights from the driver's seat or pass food back or try to reach a dropped toy.

I hope I still have a few who check my blog. Please don't give up hope on me, I think this is just a phase. Hopefully this won't be the last blog this week, but based on my record these past few months, I wouldn't hold your breath.