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!!