Can we have a redo?

I was so excited for Christmas and ready to have a quiet day home. But unfortunately I was sicker than a dog on Christmas Day. I started to get a cold on Wed. and by Friday night I was miserable. I slept a lot on Saturday and by that night I had a fever and chills, stuffed up nose, sinus pressure and headache and a awful cough. I went to the urgent care on Sunday and got antibiotics for bronchitis. So thankfully the fever is gone and I do feel slightly better. But I would like a redo of Christmas day if I could, please! :-)

I'm ready for our little man to be here too. If he could wait a few more days and let me get better, then that would be perfect! It's hard to sleep when you're sick or when you're 9 months pregnant, so it's almost impossible when you are both :-). I've had contractions on and off and sometimes they start to get regular and then die off. Jarod thinks he will be here this week and I'm thinking later this week or next. This week at least Jarod is home all week on vacation! So if something does happen, he is right here. I will be full-term on Friday so he should be ready to go! I'll keep you posted.

35 week check-in

Well we've reached week 35! Here's a belly shot (please excuse the baggy pants as they can't fit around my belly so they are lower than usual:-)!)


I went to the doctor yesterday and had a good appointment. My weight and blood pressure were good, and I was measuring 36 weeks, which means my belly has caught up with how far along I am. :-) He took the group B strep test and also did a check. I am dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced. So things have started. The doctor is really reassuring that everything is normal. Only a couple more weeks till we are full term, so we are going to take it easy. The hospital bag is packed, and we have friends on stand by for emergency babysitting. Now we wait and pray for a healthy, sweet, little man to come join our family! I can't wait to see you Nathaniel and kiss you!

Randomness 12-13-10

- This last weekend we got to go to 2 Christmas parties. One was for the staff of Northside. It was at Rob and Sandy's house, and they catered Olive Garden. Ummm.....yum! Then we played games and got to chat. It was a good time as always! Last night was the Christmas party for the preschool I work at. We got to go to see Tim Hawkins perform. It was stinkin funny! My face hurt so bad from laughing! It was just a good night hanging out with some great people!

- We are just about done buying presents for our family. We need to pick up one more thing for Kaitlyn and Ethan. Jarod and I just told each other what we wanted :-). You know it makes it easier on each other! I wanted to go see Chris Tomlin when he comes to Tulsa in March. So it is a delayed gift but so worth the wait!

- My brother is coming down here for Christmas!! I can't wait to see him! My Dad is suppose to but it all depends on when his gallbladder gets taken out and if he can recover from that in time. He has had quite the last couple of weeks with this. He was in the hospital for a week and ended up with them having to do a cath and balloon on his heart b/c of a 90% blockage in his heart. So the surgery for his gallbladder was moved to sometime this week. They will have to cut him open since he is on a blood thinner that he can not live without. That way if he bleeds they are already in there and can stop it. Keep praying for him and for peace for him through this.

- I am almost to 35 weeks. It's always good to reach that milestone (when Ethan was born). We are so ready to meet this little man!! I am definitely in the 'I'm ready for my baby' stage. My belly is big, I waddle, I look tired, I'm swollen all over, and I can't breathe or sleep. :-) I know it's worth it, and I will endure it for my little boy! I just can't wait to see him and hold him oh and kiss on his sweet face!

- This is the last week of school before Christmas break! I am excited to have the kids home and for me to be home too! Jarod is going to take some vacations days the Tuesday after Christmas, so he will have all that week off! I can't wait!

- Still trying to sell his truck if anyone is interested! :-)

- Ummm........ I think that is all!

Showers of blessings!

We had such a good weekend! Friday night Jarod's parents came down to spend the weekend with us. It was a very relaxing weekend, not doing much. They brought us a tree from the farm for our Christmas tree. We let the kids decorate it on Saturday. They did a good job! We just hung around the house and played games, watched movies, napped, and ate! We did go see a Christmas light display here in Broken Arrow that is very pretty and millions of lights. It was cold, and we had hot chocolate which together made it feel like Christmas! :-) We got to enjoy church together on Sunday and going out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants here. After that the girls (me, Jacqui, and Kaitlyn) went up to the church for my baby shower. These are my two friends who put the shower together:



Carrie is on the left. She is a dear woman I love very much. She has recently been reunited with her husband after his tour in Afghanistan. She is a very sweet woman. Emily is on the right. She is the lovely lady I get to work with at the preschool. They did a great job putting it all together. The colors were brown and blue, which have become Nathaniel's colors. This is the cake that Carrie made:



The baby was made out of fondant. This cake is so me! I'm not really into baby bottles and rattles and such for decorations, so this was perfect! It was also very yummy! We were very blessed with presents and gift cards. I feel like we are ready now for Nat to come. It was a lot of fun to have friends from all different ages come to the shower. Some knew Jarod and not me and came anyway to support us. I was overwhelmed with love and gratitude! Now we just need a sweet baby boy in a few weeks!

Trying not to be anxious....

Well like I said we are in the homestretch. Only 8 weeks till my due date, and I find myself feeling anxious about the next few weeks. I find with every braxton hicks contraction I am worried that I am going into labor. Here's my reason for concern:

- Ethan came at 35 weeks. I woke up in the night to my water breaking at 3:30 in the morning. He was born at 8:30 and was immediately taken to the NICU. He was 5#2 oz and needed help breathing. He came out blue and not pink. :-) There was never any reason found for why he came early or why my water broke. He spent 10 days in the NICU and weighed just under 5# when he came home.

- Sean came just fine. He came at 37 weeks. His labor and birth was fine, and he was able to come home with us. He was born at 10:30 in the morning and weighed 7#. I did find myself worried that they were going to make him stay at the hospital and not come home with us. But he was able to come home even though he was jaundiced and had to have light therapy at home for a few days. He was our little glow worm.

- Kaitlyn tried to come at 34 weeks. I had regular contractions one evening, and Jarod had to take me to the hospital. They gave me 2 shots in the arm to stop the contractions. Then I was on bedrest for 2 weeks and on restricted activity for another week. Thankfully she hung in there till 39 weeks and was perfectly healthy! She weighed 7# 14 oz. Her labor was hard but very quick. We got to the hospital at midnight and she was born at 3:3oam. I felt like we worked very hard to get her to term, and it was difficult to do with 2 other kids.

So I find that I'm aware of every ache and pain my body makes. Jarod is always conscience of how I'm feeling and if I'm having pains. We would love to have a full-term baby without any complications. We are comforted that the hospital we are delivering at has 2 levels of NICU. The first is for any baby born before 35 weeks and for those with more serious ailments. Each baby has a private room with a bed for the parents to stay all night with their baby. That is huge! We had to make back and forth trips to the hospital with Ethan and it was difficult to make it to every feeding. Then they have a 'special care' nursery right next to the nursery. It is for babies that need just a little help right after birth. The babies in here are put in there with the hope of being moved up to the regular nursery within a day. So it's comforting that there is a progression of levels of care and that Nathaniel would be well taken care of no matter when he arrives.

So I am taking my cares and concerns to God for we are told to not be anxious, but with prayer and petition to make our requests known to God. So I trust our little man to God's mighty hands and that I would have peace whenever this sweet baby comes! :-)

Hard work!

We've been working really hard on our house this week. Since we don't have any family nearby, we spent the time working on things. We spent Wed. raking the front yard and hauling it to the back, so that today we can burn. We also have to rake our backyard today (which if you've seen our yard you know this is a huge job!). We also wanted to get our ceilings textured and painted. We had scraped the ceilings in the hallway, living room, and the two kids bedrooms. We figured this was a good time to get some of it done, especially before Nathaniel makes his debut. So we got the kids ceilings and the hallway textured on Wed., and yesterday we painted them. Now Kaitlyn's room is all done! Here is a before picture from when we first moved in:

This is the after picture(sorry for the weird dot on the picture!) :


This is after scraping her ceilings, sanding and painting her trim and doors, painting her walls, and texturing and painting her ceilings. The only thing I haven't done yet is hang up her curtains. I know it's hard to see all the progress in a picture, but it looks completely different. Her room looks so girly and so pretty. I love the outcome, and it was so worth the time and mess! We also put the crib in her room and went through all her toys.

The boys room is almost done too. We need to touch up their paint and paint their trim then their room is all done. We plan on working on the ceilings in the living room here before Christmas. It would be nice to get the messiest stuff done now rather than when we have a newborn. But we shall see as our schedule gets busier from now till Christmas! I'm just thankful for a long weekend with Jarod and the opportunity to work on these things!

No it's not twins!

Well we are in the home stretch! I'm 31 weeks and feeling every bit of it. Here is a picture of my belly for my family to see:



I went to the doctor on Friday, and they did an ultrasound to see why I'm measuring so big. Nathaniel is just perfect, weighing in at just under 4 pounds. If he goes to the due date that would make him about an 8.5 lb baby. So for us that's big, but since we don't usually make it to our due date, it's good he is a little big. I'm still measuring 4 weeks ahead, but it's just how I'm carrying him. Here's a picture of his chubby, little cheeks:




He had his hands across his face again on this ultrasound just like he did at 20 weeks. I wonder if he will still do that when he is born?. My blood pressure was better and my weight gain was fine. So I go back in 2 weeks and then 2 weeks after that I start my every week appointments. Jarod and the kids are trying to predict when he will be born. My guess is January 2nd. Not sure why- I just picked it. Sean says January 1, Jarod says Dec. 28, Ethan says around January 12, and Kaitlyn says whatever her brothers say!

We took the kids on a sibling tour of the hospital. It was great! The nurse was so sweet and answered any questions and showed them anything they wanted to see. I think it was a real comfort for Ethan to know where he will come see me after Nat's born. After the hospital we stopped at the Carter's store and picked out his coming home outfit. It's super cute! I'm starting to get anxious to see him and get to hold him. Come soon Nat- but not too soon! :-)

What's in a name?

I haven't really said what we are naming our baby boy for a reason. I wanted to tell the story behind his name, and I wanted Jarod to be a part of telling it. So far our kids have part of their names from Jarod's side of the family: Ethan Dean which is passed down from Jarod's Dad (Roger Dean) to Jarod (Dean); Sean Thomas is from Jarod's Grandpa; Kaitlyn Mae is after Jarod's Grandma. So I knew that I wanted to honor my side of the family and use my Grandpa's middle name for our baby's middle name: Phillip.

For the first name, we are naming him after Jarod's friend, Nathanial. Nathanial is an incredible man who has been through so much in his 31 years of life. He has fought numerous health issues which have left him without a nose, fingertips, parts of his legs, and all of his toes on one foot. He also had been on dialysis for two years and is currently waiting to receive his Dad's kidney. We thought we were going to lose him about 4 years ago, and we rejoice that he is still here- using the life that God has given him for His glory.

This is what Jarod wrote to Nathanial when telling him we are naming our son after him:

"I want you to know how much I have appreciated you for years. In high school you were the friend (along with Tino, I guess) who encouraged me to live for Christ. In your life I saw a deep desire to live for God, and it was a constant encouragement to me.

Little did I know that so many things would happen between then and now and that along the way you would continue to be an encouragement even though I don't get to see you very often. I continue to read the things you write, like the story of me, which I love. I love your focus on the next life. If we would all live with a passion for heaven, the stuff of this life wouldn't choke us and pull us down like it tends to. I still have a copy of the myspace note you wrote before your infection. I can honestly say that I long for heaven, and God has used you to get me there.

How's that for sappy? huh? Well, it just gets worse. Laura and I have been moved and changed by God in amazing ways over the last couple of years. He's moving us to a place of absolute dependence on Him. He's moving us to compassion for people who have so much less than we do. He's moving us in ways we never expected, including the desire and decision to have another kid. And God's will for us is that we would have another boy, another son of the Most High, and He's tasked us with raising up another man of God (a task we don't take lightly). I'm rambling.

We decided long before we knew whether we would have a boy or girl that if it was a boy we would name him Nathaniel. I know the spelling's different, but he is named after you. We have nicknames for each of our kids - Buddy, Seaners, Katie Mae, and number 4's nickname is already chosen for him: Nat."

We are so honored to name our boy after such a godly man! So our baby boy's name is Nathaniel Phillip. We can't wait to meet you Nathaniel, and I can't wait for you to meet Nathanial and see the godly man we named you after!

Update

Yesterday I went to the doctor. It was an okay appointment. My blood pressure was a little high- probably just because I was a little nervous. The doctor isn't worried unless it continues to go up. My weight gain was fine. I only gained a couple pounds after last months huge gain :-). I've been having a lot of braxton hicks contractions, and they seem to get closer and stronger. So she checked me to make sure nothing was going on and so far nothing is. She also did a swab that can tell if you are prone to go into early labor or not. It's not a perfect test but does give some reassurance. They called today and it was negative- good thing! His heartbeat was good and strong. Last appointment I measured 2 weeks ahead, and yesterday I was measuring 4 weeks ahead. So she scheduled an ultrasound for my next appointment in two weeks. They want to see if I'm just carrying big (which is probably the case), or if he is big, or if there is too much fluid. So we are praying for a good ultrasound and peace that he is doing well. He is still active and all else points to a healthy baby. Only 11 more weeks till my due date!

Pregnancy Randomness

I am pregnant. And I feel very pregnant. :-) Our little guy has found my ribs, and the other day I could feel his heal sticking out. I feel like my profile changes each day as he grows bigger and bigger. At my last appointment he was measuring 2 weeks ahead already. Dr. Nolan is going to keep an eye on my growth and maybe do an ultrasound if he keeps measuring big. But I passed the glucose test, my blood pressure has been great, and so far so good. I am 28 weeks on Friday and getting to where I am just ready to have him in my arms and see his sweet face.

My sweet friends, Carrie and Emily, are going to throw a baby shower for me. Carrie is a cake decorator and she brought us cupcakes last weekend. One of the flavors was chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing. It was soooo good! I told her I want that to be the flavor for the cake at the shower, and I was thinking we could serve milk with it since it's so rich. And I think it's kind of funny to serve milk at a baby shower :-). We took the kids to Target to register for our little guy last week. It was fun, and the kids got to pick out a lot of the stuff. Since we got rid of all of our baby stuff, our registry is pretty long. There is a lot of really cute stuff out there, and I was surprised at how much baby stuff has changed since we had Kaitlyn. It has been a long time since we had a baby boy, so it was fun to pick out blue stuff with dinosaurs and bugs and frogs on it. So cute!

We are taking our last trip this weekend before baby comes. We are going with our good friends up to Jarod's parents and spending the weekend. Then on Saturday Jarod's mom is going to watch our kids and the McClain's kids while we go with them and Jarod's Dad up to Manhattan for the K-State vs. Oklahoma State game. Dave and Charity (the McClains) are big OSU fans, so it is going to be a lot of fun to go to the game together. I'm sure there will be pictures to follow.

Bragging on my man!

Today my poor husband is a little tired and sore. He worked all evening on scraping our living room ceiling! We have 10ft. ceilings in our living room so this was no easy task. Luckily his Dad let us borrow some scaffolding, so it made the job a little easier. I was working on painting the trim and window sills. I did the doors in the living room last weekend, so now it's just the trim, which I've already sanded. We also tore the wood paneling down over our fireplace. I haven't liked the paneling since we moved in and was rather excited to see it go. This is all just part one of our living room makeover! Next we have to patch a hole that was behind the paneling :-), sand a couple walls that the previous owner had put paint with sand in it, texture the ceiling and the walls we sanded (the really messy part!!), and then paint the whole room. It will look so beautiful and so different in there! We hope to get it ready to paint, with maybe the ceiling painted, by the Christmas. Oh and did I mention we are also getting Kaitlyn's room done too??

Jarod got to read to preschoolers on Thursday. It was so cute! All the 2's, 3's, and 4's from the preschool at church got to go listen to Jarod read some stories and hear what a minister does. He did such a good job! I sneaked down from my room to snap a picture:


This is Jarod reading to the 4's. Kaitlyn is sitting in the back by the couch. She absolutely loved having him read to her class! She also got to eat doughnuts with him for "Dads and doughnuts" at the book fair at preschool. She love, loves her Daddy!

Some exciting news! A few months ago I shared that Jarod got to baptize our good friend Randy. He was very lost, struggling with addictions, and just desperate for hope and change in his life. Well, he has been doing amazing! God is so evident in his life and the power of the Holy Spirit working on someone. It shows that you don't have to have it all together when you come to Christ. Well his wife took notice, started coming to church and our small group, and last Sunday Jarod got to baptize Barbara!! Here's a picture:



Barbara was even truly afraid of water, thus why Jarod's clothes are all wet! He held her securely so she would feel safe and ended up with water going into the waders he had on. :-) We are so excited to see the change and the freedom that comes with knowing Christ become evident in her life. We love you Barbara!!

My own little world

This is some of what God has put on my heart lately: it's not about me; it's all about Him. The implications are huge. Here's a song that has been on my heart lately:

Pregnancy update

Well we are 22 weeks along. I haven't done a picture in a while, but here is my baby bump:



I think it feels bigger than it is :-). Tomorrow I'm going to a sidewalk $1 sale at a maternity store here to see if I can find some larger shirts. Mine are getting too short and too tight, and I know I will only get bigger. I've been feeling pretty good. My hips bother me at night when I lay down, but it's not as bad as it was with Kaitlyn. With her, I slept sitting up for the last 4 months. Hopefully we won't get to that point. He moves quite a bit, and his kicks are definitely getting stronger. Sean desperately wants to feel him but so far no luck.

We've been working on getting the boys room ready. We have organized their toys and cleaned out tons of junk. We moved our little guy's dresser into their room, and they were pretty excited about that. He will sleep in Kaitlyn's room for the first year and then graduate to the big boys room. Our next goal is to get Kaitlyn's room ready. This involves scraping ceilings, painting trim, and painting her room. We hope to get this done by Thanksgiving.

My sweet friend here gave us a tub full of baby clothes. Most of them are 6-9 month and super cute. It was so sweet of her, and it makes my heart overflow from her thoughtfulness. She is also going to plan a shower for me in a couple of months since we gave all our baby stuff away. So slowly we are getting things ready.

My next doctors appointment is in 2 weeks. I will get to do the lovely glucose test. But so far my weight and growth is right on. He should be about 1 pound now and about 10-11" long crown to rump. I can't wait to meet this little guy!!

Retreat, retreat!!

Last weekend was the minister's and spouse retreat. The staff from NCC went up a day early to have time together. It was such a good time for them to all go (minus one staff member who couldn't go b/c of a loss in his family) and spend time together, discuss many pastoral and secretarial items, and to go relax. A very generous family let the staff go to their cabin at Grand Lake and stay for free. It was a gorgeous cabin! It was right on the lake and had enough bedrooms for all the staff. It was definitely a retreat!

On Friday the wives went up to join them. We got there and went to dinner and came back to play games. We ended up staying up till almost 1 playing games and hanging out. These people are so incredibly fun and amazing to be around! This was Jarod and my view from our bed as we woke up on Saturday:
Yes that is the lake with the sun rising behind it! So incredibly gorgeous and a great place to go do devotions at!

We had breakfast together and then had a time to dream for the church. Rob asked us all to share what we dream for Northside. It was so encouraging and exciting to hear where everyone's heart is at. Northside is going in a direction that is about serving and connecting to the community. It's about reaching out to the poorest in our area, the unlovely, and the people who just need help. It's becoming the first century church to each other and to Broken Arrow. I am really excited to see where this takes us. Hopefully I can write more as things progress and begin to happen. All I know is that God has worked in the hearts of our staff and put dreams in place for Him to really work. It will be quite the adventure!

We enjoyed a nice game of bacce ball too. I played alright but it's hard to throw the ball far when my center of gravity has shifted. :-) We ate lunch and headed home and set the stage for Sunday morning. Next year the retreat is going to be longer and hopefully at the same place. It was such a blessing to be together and dream for Northside. I love this church and its people!

Who is in there??

We had the joy of having an ultrasound today. Kaitlyn went to play at her friends house and the boys were at school, so Jarod and I got to go together to see our sweet baby. I was so anxious to go and didn't sleep very well in anticipation of finding out who is in my belly. The ultrasound tech went to check if it was a boy or girl and right away we both saw that it is a BOY! We are so excited! We do have a name, but we want to talk with someone before we announce it to cyberland. Soon I will let you in on the name and the story behind it. :-)

Our little man was all bunched up in one corner of my stomach and was giving the tech a hard time in getting some measurements. He had his hands up by his face most of the time, and we could see him sucking on his hands. SO sweet! He didn't like her pushing down on my stomach, and he kept kicking her when she did. :-) He is measuring at about 12 oz. and right on for our due date.

We are honored to raise another boy! We are blessed to get to experience raising boys and a sweet girl. We feel it's a big responsibility to raise boys and to train them to be godly men and leaders. This world needs men who will stand up for the truth and be examples for their families, friends, and co-workers. What a privilege to get to be a part of that!

Our kids were excited. Kaitlyn really wanted a sister, but she had a great big grin when we told her she was going to have a baby brother. The boys were full of smiles too, and Sean yelled "Yeah!!" when we told him. I love my family and can't wait to meet this sweet boy!

Preschool and stuff....

* Kaitlyn started preschool this week. She is going to the pre-k class at our church preschool while I work there. I am in the infant room, rocking babies in the morning. She loves her class and her teachers. I love the people I work with, the environment, and that I get the rest of the day with my family. I also will get to take our baby with me to work when that time comes. It's a blessing to our family.

* We are headed to Kansas this weekend. We are going to Emporia first to see Jarod's family and meet our new nephew. We are going to have a birthday party for Ethan (his birthday is on Tuesday) which will involve a camo cake, water fights, and homemade ice cream! Then we are headed to KC to see family and friends. It's going to be a great weekend.

*We had an all church picnic this last Sunday. It was held at a local park, and so many people came. We had a potluck style dinner with grilled hamburgers; an egg toss; a pie eating contest; a 3-legged race; and the ministers and elders got pies in their faces to raise money for a missions trip. Here's a picture of all the ministers and elders after getting pie in the face(Jarod is standing up with a black trash bag on):

I love that a church this size does picnics together. It's a lot of work putting it together, but it was so much fun!

* 2 weeks from Friday we find out if we are needing to buy pink or blue baby stuff. I'm excited to know who it is that's in there! I've been feeling pretty good and starting to grow. It's fun to see my belly getting rounder, and I can feel the baby move now too. So thankfully all is going well so far!

My bit.....

So this morning one of my friends put for her status on facebook:

"I think it's sad how "excited" parents are about school starting soon. When did our children switch from blessing to burden??"

This is a friend that I've known for 11 years, and she and her husband are big time advocates for homeschooling as they homeschool their children. So it kind of upset me b/c I hate the rift there is between homeschooling and public schooling. (we will leave private school out b/c they generally are in a category of their own) The assumption with her status is that if you are excited to send your kids away to school then you see you kids as a burden. I don't want to dwell on this b/c it is a sensitive issue that can be divisive and is not a salvation issue. But I do want to say that I wish both sides would support the other and not think more highly of themselves for choosing one or the other. Just b/c you homeschool doesn't mean you are more spiritual or love your children more and on the other side just b/c you choose public school doesn't mean you are more spiritual or love your children more. We are in this together, fighting the good fight, trying to win people to Christ. I wish the big picture would be what we see, the reason we are here: to love God and to love His people. Whatever method you choose to educate your children, you have to be involved, and you still have the responsibility to teach your children about God. I know families on both sides that do an amazing job and have amazing children.

We are excited for school to start. My boys are so excited to go and meet new friends and have new adventures. I am excited for each step of their life, and Jarod and I join them on their journey. We met a lot of great families last year and have had ministry opportunities b/c of that. I grant you that some people do get excited to ship their kids off for the day but not all families are like that. We are enjoying the adventure of raising our kids, and we look forward to what comes this year.

So let's not let this issue be a ruler of spirituality or love for our children. Let's support one another and encourage each other to raise our children to love God above all else. That's my bit that I felt I needed to get out.....

Hot town, summer in the city....

It is sooo hot!!! I am ready for fall! This is the second or third week of 98 or higher degree weather. Today it is 103 and tomorrow is supposed to be 106 with heat index of 112. So needless to say we haven't been doing much during the day. Taking it easy and enjoying the last couple weeks before school starts is all we've been doing- and eating a lot of ice cream.

We did take the kids bowling on Saturday. We had promised them we would as a reward (that they picked) for doing such a great job at school last year. So thanks to kidsbowlfree (Thank you Alisa!) they got to bowl 2 games with just the cost of shoe rental. It was so fun to watch their three different styles, and they loved doing it together. Here's my cuties in their sweet bowling shoes:



In other news, we have started trying to sell Jarod's truck. This is out of choice not out of necessity, so we are willing to wait for the right price. We have two main reasons why we are selling the truck: to have room to travel in with 4 kids come this winter and b/c we are wanting to downsize to another minivan. We have really been feeling God challenging us in how we live- basically how can we live more sacrificially so that we can make a difference in someone else's life. We don't want pride or material things to come in the way. I will maybe write on that more at another time but for now that's all I'm going to say. :-) But if you would like a great truck at a great price, let us know!

Jarod's sister had her baby last week! We are so happy for her and Nathan and can't wait to meet Nate Jr.! Hopefully we will be making the KC run to Emporia and KC here in a few weeks (as long as Jarod can get someone to cover that Sunday leading worship). We would love to see both families and some friends we haven't seen in a long time. We'll keep you updated....

Well we have started the second trimester! Here is my end of the first picture (13 weeks along):

My stomach is pooching and swollen, but other than that I think I look alright :-). I went to the doctor on Friday and heard the heartbeat (150-160bpm). I gained 3 lbs. Ugh. Not looking forward to the weight gain. Dr. Nolan also told me I could take Pepcid to help with my stomach since I always feel worse after I eat than before. It has helped, but I'm not a big fan of taking medicine while I'm pregnant. When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, I fought going to the doctor for my sinus infection b/c I knew I would have to take antibiotics. I just don't like it and get protective of my body while pregnant.

We've been working on picking names. We want to use names from my side of the family. I want to use my Grandpa's middle name in a boy's name and use my middle name if it's a girl. I think we are getting close to having names but no announcement yet. Stay tuned.

Anyway, besides staying out of the awful heat, not much going on pregnancy wise. We will have our ultrasound September 3rd. We are excited to know who is in there, and to see if Kaitlyns prayers for a sister worked or not :-).

"Lead Me"

I love this new song. It's my prayer that Jarod would have this desire for God to lead him as my husband and as a Daddy. It's also the kind of man I pray for Kaitlyn (someone like her Daddy) and for my boys to be when they grow up(like Jarod). Hope you like it.

Howdy!

I am closing in on the end of the first trimester! Woohoo! Today I am 12 weeks and looking like I'm 4 months along :-)! I love my pooch, though. I am already so in love with this child and excited to see who it is God is creating inside me. I am eager for when I can feel it move- just so I can fall in love even more. It's going by quickly.

Speaking of going by quickly, the summer is flying. I start working at the preschool in just a matter of weeks. The boys start school August 12, and I feel like there is still so much to do before then. It's been a good summer. We haven't done much or gone on any fancy trips, but we've just spent a lot of time as a family. I love my family! Even on boring, rainy days like today, I cherish them.

We get to participate in VBS next week. It's going to be a lot of fun. They have put a giant ship on the stage- and it takes up half the stage (which if you've been in our auditorium you know how big it is!). The theme is "High Seas Adventures." We are all looking forward to it!

We had a good 4th. We spent the first part of the evening swimming and grilling out at Rob and Sandy's house (the preacher here). Our kids absolutely love spending time with their kids. They swam for almost 3 hours straight and were so well behaved and had a good time. It was nice to sit in the beautiful weather and just chat. Then we went over to our friends David and Michelle's for fireworks and more hanging out. It was a lot of fun and we were all there till almost midnight. The kids did amazing! They got tired at the end but were troopers. We got some waterproof black cats (they burn slower) and all 3 of our kids lite them! Big stuff! :-) Then we all came home and crashed and slept in the next morning! :-)

It's July!

* Hey world! It's been a while, I know. I've been busy and honestly, when I have a moment to write, I am either too sick or too tired to do so. But thankfully the nausea has eased up, and I can eat food again. The tiredness is in full effect, so I don't get as much done during the day as I usually do. But that's okay- it will pass soon enough.

* This week I've been watching 2 more little girls. They are 3 and 4 months old, so add that to my own kids and Ellie, who is 16 mo., and it's a busy household. I'm one tired chica from that alone! They are all good, it's just a lot of little hands to watch. It's a blessing though. We have to prepay my OB by October and watching them the next couple weeks will pay for over half of that. So I'm thankful for that.

* We got to go see Jarod's family a couple weeks ago. Jarod and I stayed at Mindy's house and our kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. It was great to get to see Mindy and Nathan's house. She is sooo cute pregnant! She is due at the end of this month, and she is stinking adorable! I can't wait to meet little Nate!

* Our kids took swim lessons last week. They did great! Ethan is swimming on his own now. We still have to watch him, but he can jump in the pool and swim to the side and swim all over. He is part fish I think! Sean took some giant steps this year. For a boy that was so scared of water just a year ago, he gained so much confidence. He was even swimming (not using his arms but floating and kicking) on his own. He even put his face in the water! Kaitlyn was working on kicking and pool safety. By the way, she is so tan- she definitely got Jarod's skin tone and not mine!

* We have VBS a week from Monday! The kids are excited! It was one of my favorite weeks last year, so I am pumped! Can you believe it's already July??

Goodbye Karthik, for now!

I know I've written before about how Jarod and I sponsor children through Compassion. Our boy from India, Karthik, has graduated from the program, and we no longer sponsor him. He is 18 now and finished his schooling. We are so very proud of him!! What a big accomplishment! When we got the letter from Compassion saying we were no longer sponsors for him, I have to admit I was so happy for him but also sad. I was sad b/c we have been communicating with him for 5 years and all of a sudden it was over. I wanted to tell him goodbye for now and tell him how proud we are of him.

Well today we received one final letter from him. What a precious letter it is! I was crying through the whole letter, so thankful to know this godly man on the other side of the world. Here is a sample of what he wrote:

"My family and me are very thankful and grateful for your love and care towards me in our poverty situation. God showered his love and mercy through you all and your support and love and care helped me to do my schooling. ......... Because of compassion and your sponsorship I tasted the love of God even though I am born into a Hindu background family. It's by the grace of God and through compassion...surely I will be a fruitful tree to God."

How could I ask for more? "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Matthew 6:20. I can't wait to meet Karthik someday and give him the biggest hug- whether that's on this side of eternity or in Heaven!

Fearfully and wonderfully made

You would think that being my 4th child, a sonogram wouldn't be a big deal. But yesterday it was a wonderful experience. Since I've been so sick there are times I have to honestly say that I don't feel excited for the pregnancy part- love the baby and so thankful but not excited as I feel like puking all the time. I know it's all b/c I feel rotten, and first trimester is always hard b/c you're getting bigger and feel sick and you can't feel the baby yet. So yesterday I went to the OB and they did another ultrasound since my first one was when the baby was so little. Let me say it was amazing to see how much it had grown in just 3 weeks! The baby was looking right at us and I could see it's arms moving! It is 2 cm big (about the size of a gummy bear) and it was just beautiful! It made all the sickness so worth it and it helped me to bond even more with this precious child! I could see it's head and face and arms and legs. So beautiful! I kept thinking of Psalm 139:14 "I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Thank you Lord for creating this child and giving me a peek into how special and wonderful it is!

This and that

* Morning sickness (rather, all day sickness) is no fun! I know it's a good sign and for a good reason, but I can't wait till I can enjoy eating again! I really love food, but right now I force myself to eat so I won't feel as sick. The baby must be growing strong with how yucky I feel. It's not too bad to handle, but this week has been hard. Jarod has been leading worship at camp, so he has been gone since Sunday. Fortunately he comes home tomorrow night, and I am so ready for him to be home. I have found cooking dinner really grosses me out- especially if it has hamburger in it. Friday I will be 8 weeks along, so only 6 more weeks till I should feel some relief :-)!

* I go to the doctor next Tuesday for my first OB visit. I'm supposed to have another ultrasound done to make sure all is still okay. I'm excited to see how much it's grown in 3 weeks.

* We've started talking about names for the baby. I'm having a really hard time finding a boy name that I love. I have a couple girl names, but boy names are hard for me. Any suggestions?

* Ethan went to day camp last weekend. He was so pumped and absolutely loved it! He got to go on the "blob" in the lake and get launched into the air. He got to swim in the pool and eat lunch there. They also played games and worked on some Bible verses. Buddy is already excited to go to camp next year. :-)

* I've been growing my hair out for locks of love. You have to have 10 inches to donate. I've got about 5 so far so hopefully by November we can chop it. My hair hasn't been this long in years!

* Next weekend we are going up to Emporia to visit Jarod's family. All of his family is going to be there (aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins). It's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm excited to see how big Mindy's belly has gotten! Have I told you how cute she is pregnant? I can't wait to meet Nate Jr!

A new bundle of joy!

Jarod and I are very excited to let everyone in our secret: we are pregnant! Yes this was planned- we wanted one more kiddo in our family! I am currently 7 weeks along and feeling really nauseous! I went to the doctor a week or so ago and got to see the heartbeat. At the time it was 3mm long with a strong heartbeat. It was beautiful!

Our due date is January 21, 2011, and now the process of gathering baby things, seeing as we have gotten rid of everything, has begun. Garage sale season has been good to us and helped to get some things we need. We are really excited for this new one!

The kids were fun to tell. We gathered them up for our prayer time before bed and Jarod told them we had some news for them. He told them Mommy has a baby in her belly and that we are having a baby. Sean smiled and said he was excited. Ethan laughed then said "that's weird!" and Kaitlyn smiled and said she was happy. Kaitlyn asked me yesterday if I could tell the baby to be a girl. :-) Sean is my protector and while Ethan was telling me some gross story the other day, told him to stop b/c Mommy's going to be sick! :-)The kids are super happy and ask about the baby a lot.

So that's our news!Surprise! hee hee!

It's been a while....

Hey world! It's been a while since I've posted anything. We've been pretty busy, and honestly in the evenings I really don't feel like blogging. But here we are with a little catch up. Mother's day weekend was so wonderful! We didn't do anything fancy, and I didn't want any gifts. Rather I just wanted to spend some great time as a family. First Friday Ethan's class had a Mom and Me tea party. They escorted us to their seats, ate cookies with us, and had a video of each kid saying why they love their mom. It was precious and more than I could ask for! Here's buddy and I at his tea party:

Then Saturday of that weekend we went to the Rooster Day parade in downtown Broken Arrow. It is a big thing here. We got there a little early and lined up along the street and watched the parade. The kids have a great time b/c all the floats hand out either candy or fliers (and Blue bell passes out popsicles!).After the parade we loaded up, ate lunch on the way, and went to the zoo. The kids were so excited! It was a blast with them at this age! They loved the animals and asked questions and didn't get worn out until we were all done. I love the zoo and seeing all the beautiful and unique animals our Creator made. Here's Sean being a chimp:




Then Sunday after church we came home, and I got an awesome nap. Jarod grilled me some bruschetta chicken for dinner. It was so nice to just be with our family and feel loved!

Now the kids are out of school, and summer break is here. Ethan is really getting into the whole notion of sleeping in. He has slept in every morning till about 9:30 or so. Awesome! My family is coming here this weekend to spend Memorial Day together. We are very excited to see our niece and nephews!! It's was so much fun at Christmas and at least this time there won't be a blizzard!! :-)

My Mom

I wanted to write about my Mom because she is a very special person to me. I am thankful for her for giving me life and giving me some of her qualities. I am a lot like her, and I thought I'd share some reasons why I love her:

* She is a very compassionate person. God gave her a heart to care for those who are overlooked. She has been a nurse for a long time now and has had great compassion and love for the elderly and with Alzheimer's patients. She does with great love the things that most people simply don't want to do. I admire this in her. It's not surprising she became a nurse b/c of the nature of the profession.

* My mom loved her parents. I saw this characteristic played out before my eyes when her mom passed away. For months she and my Aunt took care of her, day and night, loving and comforting their mom. My Grandma passed away almost 2 years ago, and I was blessed to be there in the final hours of her life. I got to see my mom stroke her hair and tell her it's okay to go, and I saw her tell her mom goodbye at the graveside. That image of love will stick with me for the rest of my life. I want to be there for my parents like she was for her mom.

* My mom is passionate. Whether it was yelling at our sporting events when we were little or standing behind a cause she believes in, my mom will fight for it. She can be stubborn (which all of her kids got from her :-)) but stubbornness can be a good thing sometimes.

* My mom is beautiful. She teases that I will end up looking just like her because I take after her so much. :-) I know she was fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator, and that reason alone makes her a beautiful creation. But I also think she is pretty though she often doesn't see this about herself. I think she's been told too many times in her life that she wasn't beautiful. So mom- you are a beautiful woman!

* My mom is very smart. She loves history, and I think she has seen almost every war movie out there. She was the top of her class at nursing school, and she is someone I call for advice and with any medical questions.

* My mom is very brave. When she and my dad split, she had to make the choice to go back to school. Through some really tough times, she managed to get her LPN license and start a career. I remember her studying night after night, and I also remember how she was glowing the night she graduated. To make such a change in her life while struggling to take care of us, took a lot of bravery.

I love my mom for many more reasons. We've been through a lot together, and through all of it, I still and always will love my mom! She knows I continue to pray for her everyday, and that I pray she comes to know her Creator and experience the love and hope in Him. I do this b/c I love her. So-Happy Mother's Day mom!!

The buzz....

* A few weeks ago I said I was praying for some things and waiting for God's timing. Well I can share one thing that He has answered. Starting in the fall I am going to be working at the preschool up at church (Lord's Little Army or LLA). I'm really excited about this! I will be working in the infant nursery and the one year old room. It's 3 days a week for 4 hours a day, and Kaitlyn gets to attend for free. So she is super excited to get to go to school and be in the 4 yr-old class. I still get all day Monday and Friday with Kaitlyn while the boys are at school. The plan is for me to keep on watching Ellie on Mondays and during school breaks. I'm excited- it will be a change in routine; get me out of the house more; and be around a lot of wonderful, Christian women.

* I can't believe school is almost out. Only 3 more weeks! Then we will have a 2nd grader and a 1st grader!!

* A boy from Ethan's class at school lives just down the road from us. I've met his parents before on field trips and at class parties. Ethan and Sean are down at his house playing right now. This is the first time we've had a friend live down the road from us that they can go play at their house and they can come play at ours. We are hoping to really get to know his parents and have opportunities to witness to them. They are really nice people.

* So Jarod broke his hand. Most people know this b/c of facebook. He has 3 more weeks in a cast then he can get it off. B/c of his cast he hasn't been able to play the piano or guitar which he does a lot when leading worship. I think it's been teaching him to rely on others to help out b/c he can't do some of the normal things that he usually does. His cast is black and we got a silver marker for people to sign it. I put a big heart with J + L in it. Heee hee.

* We went to Jarod's parents last weekend to help them work cattle. We like to go do that b/c it helps them get it done, and we get to be with them for the weekend. It was soo muddy this time. Jarod got his cast dirty from the mud and other brown substance. This is how he covered his hand the second day we worked:
The kids had a great time! The got to come down and "help" the second day when the cows were in the pins. Ethan and Sean got in there with the flags and helped to keep the babies back. When I took this picture I told them to give me their work faces:



* I love my family! I am so thankful for my amazing husband and my incredible kids!!

Persevere

I've been ready "Finish- Line Faith" by Matt Proctor. It's a good little book going through 2 Timothy. I read a part today that spoke to me as I feel a lot of weight on my shoulders lately. The chapter was about expecting rough times and to persevere through it. He wrote how his little girl, Lydia, loved to watch princess movies when she was little and wanted to be a queen when she grew up. Then he wrote this:

"I know that as Lydia grows up, she will go through hard times. The going will get tough. She will face trials and tribulations, and at some point, she will feel like giving up.

But I want her to know that someday, if she holds on, she will inherit a kingdom more wealthy than any earthly kingdom.

She will live in a palace more beautiful than Disney could ever draw.

At the wedding banquet of the Lamb, she will not just dance with the prince. If she endures, she will get to dance with the King Himself.

And so will you. So don't quit.

The Christian life is really hard... and really worth it." (pg. 62)

April so far

April has yet again been a busy month. It has flown by so far! We had a fabulous Easter! It started off with a full house at church (around 1200!) with a very powerful service followed by an afternoon full of good friends and food! We were reminded of God's love and surrounded by some great people from our church family. It was just one of those days you look back on and just smile!

Jarod went to a worship leader's conference this past week. He was gone from Monday till Wednesday. The kids really missed him this time! They wrote him cards and letters. Sean wrote him telling him he is the best Dad in the whole world, and Ethan spent an hour making this creation for Jarod to see when he came home:

We were excited to have him home again, but so thankful he had a great time at the conference.

Sean's birthday was yesterday. He turned 6 years old!! We let him invite some kids from his class at school over for a party. It was a cold, rainy day, but we had so much fun! We played a couple games that Jarod and I came up with, and we did a treasure hunt out in the backyard. This is the kids after they found the treasure:

This was Sean's cake:



We had a great day celebrating his birthday. We are so thankful for our silly, sweet, and "all boy" Seaners! We pray you grow up loving God above all else and grow to be a godly man doing great things for the Kingdom!

It's spring!

We are trying to grow our first vegetables this year. Some are starting to pop up. This is one of our squash/ zucchini mound. If you look closely you can see Sean's footstep in the middle :-). Beside that, they are growing:


We have strawberries in our yard too. We cleaned around them really well this year, and they are starting to bloom too!


This is one of my favorite tulips that are in the front yard:


This is some wild grass that grows by one of the back gates, and it is growing quickly. It's actually really pretty when it grows:


Just some pics from our yard!

What's new in Laura's world....r

- Uh, last night's game was INCREDIBLE!! I didn't think Jarod was gonna make it through the K-State game. It was so good and awesome to see the Cats go to the Elite Eight!! Hopefully tomorrow is another victory!

- I think I killed our remote. It fell off the couch right down into a full glass of Dt. Mtn. Dew. It hasn't worked the same since. Jarod is currently taking it apart seeing if he can revive it. It's not looking so good....

- I got a couple of my cavities fixed yesterday. I was there for almost 2 hours having this done. I love our dentist; he is such a kind, godly man. His wife is the receptionist and she is as sweet as can be. They are doing so much for our family, and we are so thankful for them. My tooth feels much better. So now only 6 more cavities left to fix! Ugh...

- Jarod and I are praying about somethings right now. We are trying to follow God's leading and trust in His timing for somethings. I would appreciate your prayers for this as God know what this about.

- Jarod just revived the remote!

- I keep verses on my bathroom mirror that I can look at everyday and memorize. One of them right now is Zephaniah 3:17: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Thank you Lord!

What a day!

So today didn't go at all like I planned. I was going to take the kids to the park and get a few things at the store before it turns cold and snowy tomorrow. But this morning when I got out of bed I had some intense pain in my lower right area. It was so painful that I was doubled over crying in pain (and I have a pretty high pain tolerance). I got nauseous, shaky, and clamy. I couldn't stand up, and when I tried to get my phone out of my purse to call Jarod, I almost passed out. I called him and had him come home from work. Kaitlyn stayed with me and brought me a pillow and blanket since I was laying on the bathroom floor crying. Jarod came home and got me some ibuprofen to see if that would help and let me rest in bed till lunch. I got up and still hurt but I could get up and walk. After it started hurting again, we decided to take me to urgent care.

The doctor there had me lay back and felt on my stomach, and I started crying when he pushed on the right side. So he had them draw labs and check for bladder infection. The blood work came back suggesting that my appendix was acting up. He wanted me to go the ER and have them check me out. So we took our kids from one babysitter to our friends house while Jarod took me to the hospital. We were there for a few hours and they did a cat scan to check for appendicitis. Fortunately it came back that it wasn't my appendix but rather a 4cm cyst on my right ovary. It must have ruptured this morning causing so much pain. So I got to go home with pain meds and some tlc from Jarod. I'm exhausted and still sore. Jarod said he will take care of the kids tomorrow so I can rest and hopefully feel all better by Monday.

Here are some thoughts from today:

-if you want to be seen quickly in the ER all you have to do is tell them you may have appendicitis. we were quickly seen and taken care of.

- a blown IV kind of hurts!

- cat scans aren't as scary as I thought it would be though I'm sure the bill for it will be- eek!

- I am thankful for friends that take great care of our kids during these times- and we would do the same for them!

- I've had cysts before but never one that has done this. Hopefully this won't reoccur.

- hospital gowns do not cover very well! :-s

- my husband is wonderful and takes such good care of me! I love him so!


Thanks for the prayers, and we will hopefully be back to normal again soon!

It launched!

Jarod has been working hard to get the new website for the church up and running. It's up and going now. Check it out: www.northsideonline.com

Random happenings

- Sean is reading now- I mean really reading. He has finished all of the homework books for the year and now is starting their AR reading program. When Sean sets his mind on doing something, he is a very determined little boy. He put his mind to learning how to read, and he has soared! We are very proud of him!

- Ethan has learned to tie his shoes. I don't know if this is a little late for that, but we finally made him learn. He does a good job. It's just another thing he can do that shows how much he is growing up!

- I'm glad Spring is almost here! Goodbye winter- I've had enough of you! The weather stations have done their outlook for severe weather this spring. They are saying it is looking to be a very active spring season with lots of tornadoes and severe weather. Bring it on! I love stormy weather and I'm ready for some good thunderstorms!

- The little girl I babysit turned 1 yesterday. I've been watching her since she was 8 weeks old. Crazy how time flies!

- It's hard to see family members hurting and/or making bad choices. I'm praying for some family members right now.

- I took Kaitlyn to buy a new dress for her birthday last Saturday. We were in Target and we had to stop and have a talk about modesty. She wanted a dress with spaghetti straps that cut low on the chest. I told her no and then talked to her about keeping her special parts covered and not wearing things that are too tight. Crazy that I have to talk to my 4 yr. old about this, but she has jumped to girls clothing (not toddler anymore). The girls clothing can be questionable to me: the shorts are crazy short or tight, shirts cut low, dresses designed to be tight, etc. I don't want her to get in the habit now of wearing things that are not modest. God calls us to be modest and the earlier she gets this the better. So she picked out a super cute polka dot dress that she wore with some brown boots. I can so get on a soap box about this. Modesty is not just for little girls or teenagers but for adults as well. You can dress pretty and still be modest. Anyway that's all I say for now on that one! :-)

- I absolutely love my family and I am so thankful for them! And I'm thankful that God has given me a great church family to be a part of too!


-

Kaitlyn Mae is 4!!

My sweet, baby girl turned 4 today! She is such a sweet and silly little girl, and I am so thankful for her! We celebrated her birthday by having a friend spend the night Friday night. This is Kaitlyn and Lydia or as Kaitlyn calls her "Wydia:"




We had a little party for her Saturday morning with a couple of her friends. Today at church she had so many people tell her happy birthday. It was so sweet, and she is so loved! This is Kaitlyn waiting for her nails to dry last night in her new dress up clothes. She also got some "makeup" and she did her own:


Lord please help me to raise her to be a godly woman who loves you and finds her true worth and beauty in you! Thank you for 4 wonderful years with my girl!

What I find in my washer....

That would be change, a pen, guitar picks, legos, spider ring, and a batman clip. All in one week. :-)

- Jarod and I have started watching 'Lost.' Our friends have the entire series on DVD, and we finished season 1 this week. It's actually pretty good. I wasn't sure if I would like it b/c I don't do well with scary movies or shows. My imagination runs too wild sometimes. But this show is just bizarre and has great characters. So we will see how season 2 is.

- Sean had his first cavity filled this week. He did a great job and let them use the "sucker thing" on him. So he goes back next month for filling number 2. Yesterday I went and finished getting my teeth cleaned and go back next month as well for the first of many cavity fillings. The office is just wonderful! It is run by a couple from our church, and they are just fantastic people.

- Only 22 months until Jarod and I have paid off a huge chunk of debt. We did Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" program 3.5 years ago. We've worked really hard to pay things off and get to where we owe only money on our home. I feel like we are 1/2 way there. In 2 years we will finish paying on some things that take up a good chunk of our income. It will be great! I love seeing the total come down every month and know that we are one step closer. I can't wait to be out of debt so we can give a lot more money away!

- Have I said how much I love Jarod? He is amazing, and I am so blessed to be his wife!

- The new church website will be up and running in a couple of weeks. Jarod has been working with an outside company to redo the entire website. Yesterday he went and got his picture taken for the website. The whole staff is getting their picture taken so we have matching and current pictures of them.

- I'm really looking forward to tonight. The ministerial staff is getting together tonight and Rob and Sandy's to eat dessert and play games. We even have babysitting for all the kids! I think it's important to be close as a staff so we can encourage each other through the ups and downs of ministry. Plus these people are a blast to be with and are some pretty incredible people.

- I love days I don't have to go anywhere. The boys were out of school today, and I am still in my pj's at 1:30pm! I do plan on taking a shower sometime before we go out tonight! :-)

We made it!

We survived the ice storm last week. Thankfully the storm kind of weakened up as it approached Tulsa, so instead of 1.5" of ice we got about 1/4". It sleeted and rained freezing rain on Thursday. Friday it snowed all day and night, and we ended up with about 5" of snow. The kids were out of school and the church offices were closed, so we had a long weekend together at home. This is after the snow and after Jarod cleared off the driveway, right before our family snowball fight:


The kids were kind of crazy on Friday being all cooped up inside. Sean woke up grumpy and kind of carried that with him all day. He and Ethan fought most the day, but when it was bed time they wanted to both sleep in Ethan's bed. I found them sleeping like this all snuggled up:



Even after fighting all day, they really do love each other! :-)

Want to take a guess??

I went to the dentist yesterday before the storm hit Tulsa. I knew my teeth were bad b/c I had some dental work done in KC a couple of years ago. Want to guess how many cavities I have?? Well the answer is 7. Ugh. I also found out that I grind my teeth at night, apparently pretty bad too. I had to start wearing a mouth guard at night to protect my teeth. I have grinded(is that a word?) away a filling I had over where I had a root canal done a couple of years ago, and I have cracked one other filling b/c of the grinding. It was kind of weird to sleep with the mouth guard last night- not as bad as I thought it would be but still weird. It just made my top teeth feel weird in the morning. I did learn that this will help the almost chronic headaches I get. Almost everyday I have a constant headache and the dentist said this will help alleviate those. Apparently the clenching of the jaw and grinding are good causes of headaches and jaw problems. And today I didn't have a headache after wearing the mouth guard. Sweet relief! I'll take feeling like a football player at night if it will help with the headaches!

So next month we will continue our dental visits as Sean has a cavity to fill, Ethan is getting sealant put on his teeth, and I go back to finish my cleaning and probably start on my cavities too. We ran out of time with the cleaning b/c I have so many issues and they were trying to squeeze everyone in before the ice came. Good thing the office is 5 minutes from our house!

Here we go!

After 2 weeks, my van is fixed and running again! The alternator went out on it a couple weeks ago after leaving the kids and me stranded twice. Thanks to some great friends, we made it home when it did. I got to drive Jarod's truck while the van was down, and I got to say it is pretty fun to drive! But I kind of missed my clunker of a van :-)! A very generous couple in the church lent us one of their cars so Jarod had a way to get to work. It was such a huge blessing.

The kids and I made a quick run to Walmart last night to get ready for the storm that is coming tomorrow. It's supposed to be a big one! The report last night said 1/2-1"ice with 5-9" of snow on top of that. This morning they were saying most of the ice was supposed to be to our south. Hopefully the worst of the ice goes that way. I can handle snow and being iced in for a few days, but I really don't want to lose power! I know it's kind of wimpy, but it doesn't sound like much fun, especially with 3 kids! So we got some batteries and canned food just in case. We're going to fill up our propane tank tomorrow morning so we can grill some food. Good thing is we have a gas fireplace that will keep us warm if we need. I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Jarod and I got to go to the Tulsa Oilers hockey game last weekend with some friends, Dave and Charity. I'd never been to a hockey game. It was really interesting to watch and a fun atmosphere. I kept cracking up at the guys who sat down in the front by the glass and would bang on it and yell at the opposing team. I think they had 1 too many beers, but it was funny to watch! There were no fights until the end when a couple of guys went at it. The crowd lit up when they fought. I've never seen a fight in real life, and I don't think I care to again. But it was fun getting to go out kid-free with some friends and have a good time. Dave and Charity are a lot of fun. They came over on Saturday to watch the OSU vs. KSU game (they are OSU fans). Even though we lost, it was fun for me to sit and watch the guys talk smack the whole game. KSU plays KU this weekend! Bring it Chickenhawks :-)!

Amen and Amen!

Today was such a great day at church!! The worship was awesome to start the service off! Jarod stopped the service at one point and had it go dark in the auditorium. Then on the screen different scriptures speaking of God's love for us flashed one after another. Then he lead into the song "Oh how he loves us" by Crowder. Very powerful and so true. First service our friends son came forward to be baptized. It is his Dad's birthday today too so what a great present for him!

Second service our friend Randy came forward to be baptized! I think I've mentioned him before. He is in our connection group and is very genuine and real in where he has been and the mistakes he has made. He has been coming to church and to our group since this fall, and he is doing an amazing job changing his life and living for God. His wife, Barbara, has now started coming to our group and told us this morning that she won't be too far behind in getting baptized! Praise God! We are blessed to be part of their lives and decision to follow Christ. Jarod and I were talking about it, it was nothing that we said that convinced them to make these decisions. But our group, living out a genuine Christian life and just loving them, was what they needed to see. Our group has embraced these two and loved them for who they are, warts and all. It is God's power working in us to make a difference. I am so thrilled for Randy and for his whole family, who by the way came to church this week with him for the first time, and so thankful to be a part of this! This is Randy and Jarod after service this morning(and did I mention he looks like my Dad?):

Such a purdy smile!

That's my hick accent for ya! J/K Today we took the 3 kiddos to the dentist. They were all pretty excited to go- Kaitlyn even wore her pink cowgirl boots there(thanks for the boots Dana!). Ethan went first and did great. The dental hygienist said he had a lot of questions and wanted to know all about what she was doing. That is so like him- he is our little inquisitor! Sean did pretty well. He got a little scared of the water sprayer and the suction. He started crying and wouldn't let her wash off the toothpaste and didn't let her do the fluoride treatment. But he was a big boy the rest of the time. Kaitlyn did awesome. She climbed right up and answered all the questions and sat with her mouth wide open during it all. She was a big girl! They all got a prize for doing so well!

All in all we have 3 cavities- all belonging to Sean. Poor guy! He's going to go back for his first filling in 2 weeks and we will work with him slowly to get him used to the dentist. When his cavities are filled he will get a sealant put on his teeth. Ethan will go for the sealant in 2 weeks. All 3 of them have a flap that runs from their lip to their gum that is so close to their teeth that it is causing their teeth to have a gap. The dentist said they clip those so the teeth will naturally line up, and if we don't they will have a pretty major gap in their front teeth. So yeah us we get to take Ethan first this spring to get it done then Sean this summer. Kaitlyn won't have to get it done till she is 6. They say they do it all the time and it is not painful. I just don't want to see it get done! Poor babies! I am so thankful for their pretty little teeth and the opportunity to get this work done.

Oh and we were only there for 2.5 hours today! A long afternoon, but the kids were great!

Great Weekend

I had a great weekend with Dana. She came Friday and went grocery shopping with me (exciting I know!). Kaitlyn kept calling her "that durl" or "your best friend." It was cute! Saturday we just hung around the house all day. We played Mario Kart with the kids, baked a cake, went for a walk, and watched a movie. It was so nice to be lazy and just talk all day. This is Dana helping the kids bake a cake:



She got to go to church with us on Sunday. It was really nice to get to worship with her and introduce her to some people. Even though we didn't do anything super exciting this weekend, we had a great time just talking and catching up with what's going on in each others lives. I cherish those times, and I cherish my friendship with such a Godly woman. God has put some amazing women in my life and I am so thankful for all those friendships!

There will be a day....

My heart goes out to Haiti! What an awful tragedy and my heart breaks for those people. May God be with them and all those working to rescue and comfort. At times like this, I long for the day when God takes us home and restores what is broken. This is Jeremy Camp's song "There will be a day."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-TG4sRRiQ


Amen, come quickly Lord! We need you.

Woohoo!

Jarod is leading worship this weekend for the Mid-winter retreat that our youth group attends. So he will be gone pretty much the whole weekend and Sunday morning. So I texted a friend in KC to see if she would want to come down south for the weekend since I can't afford to travel north. And she is coming!!! Dana will be here on Friday, and I am so super excited! She is one of my very dear friends, and I can't wait to have 3 days with her! She is one of those friends that just makes me a better person by just being around her- and she makes me laugh. So now I just need to clean my house up and get ready!! Just had to share!