Lasagna

A couple of people have asked for Rob's recipe for his lasagna. If I told you what it was then you would have no reason to come by for dinner. Its very hard to give you a recipe, he never makes it the same twice. I can tell you this, be creative with your veggies. Yum.

Elizabeth has turned

Yesterday I finally got to see my Midwife. Its been 4 weeks. The baby is turned and is heads down. She just hasn't dropped at all. This is typical of all my babies, they never drop and that's why delivery is so hard. Please pray that this time I will have a baby that drops. Toni told me a couple of things to do so we'll work on these and see what happens. She's resting on my pelvic bone and toward my back on the nerve. Every time I have a contraction my back goes through spasms all up and down the spine. Its very painful and this is one reason for my lack of energy. So please do pray that she drops soon.

Christmas Dinner

My family all came to my home for dinner. I loved having them all here. Rob made the dinner, his famous lasagna. It was so good. My mom got the kids dress up clothes and Logan paints and paper. It was so nice and relaxing.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. It was a mess here with all the wrapping and presents. We were very blessed this year and are still being blessed each day.

4 weeks since my last midwife visit.

It will be 4 weeks when I finally get to see my midwife. I'm a bit nervous. We still don't know what position the baby is in. I'm 36 weeks and I feel ready. I've been having a lot of painful contractions and I can feel the baby moving and pushing down hard. I'm also at the point we're I'm utterly exausted. I don't want to do anything, one reason is because I can't sleep at night. I hope she stays in there until December 29th. I don't want to go to the hospital. One nice thing is that I don't have to order another birthkit, I still have a ton of stuff from Colton and Alainna's birth and my midwife said she would give me that things I need. Speaking of needing things, I'm still low on onsies; I have no socks and only one pair of pajamas for Elizabeth (all of this is thanks to Jessica). My dear friend Liz Ney is going to put on a baby shower for me on January 9th if anyone wants to come. I registered at Target for a few things. I didn't have a shower for Alainna and then I gave away all her things. Yikes, I wasn't planning on another baby. I knew others needed the clothes then. The shower is at Valley Bible at 6:30, Please call Liz if you can come 253-862-4312.

Snow Pictures

I no longer like the snow

It will be 3 weeks when I see my midwife again. I was supposed to see her this last Tuesday but the snow is so bad at her house. She lives in the hills of Enumclaw so she has a ton of snow. I won't be able to get out there until Monday the 22nd if the weather allows it. I will be at 36 weeks by then and we still don't know what position the baby is in. I'm not worried, I just want to have my check up. Alainna was on her way out at 36 weeks until I went on bedrest to stop the labor. And with Elizabeth she is pushing down so hard. Oh well. The snow is beautiful and the kids had a blast. I'll post pictures tomorrow. That reminds me, I still have to finish my Christmas shopping.... Oh bother.

Please pray for my dear dear friend Liz Ney

My friend of 13 + years needs prayer. Her name is Liz and she found out the other day she has cancer. She has had many health issues for a while now so this is just an added item to her list. She has a wonderful attitude about it. According to the doctors it may be taken care of with just surgery. Please pray that they will get it all in surgery and that they won't have to do chemo. If you know Liz she is a wonderful Godly woman. I would love to be more like her. She talks about our Lord in every conversation she has. She is a wonderful prayer warrior and one of my very best friends. Please pray that she will continue to not worry but lean on the Lord and pray for them to be able to pay for all their medical bills.
She is a character. When the doctor told her she had cancer she said she couldn't because she has to do a baby shower for her friend. Of course cancer will take priority.
Thank you Liz for all you do for me.

Our tree

A free tree

We were so blessed to receive a free Noble from a friend of my dad's. We went and cut it down on Saturday afternoon. The kids had so much fun. The family we got the tree from had alpacas. Colton tried to feed them and Alainna just laughed and pointed. Our tree is the smallest tree we've ever had, which is perfect for us. We really don't have the room so it fits perfectly in the corner. Its as tall as me, 5'4, but very full and the branches are perfectly spread out. We love it.

I'm not even close to being ready for baby number 4

I've been trying to clean out the closets and the kids dressers to make room for Elizabeth's arrival. I can't believe how much junk we have. I hope she's still a girl because I just took a ton of Colton's old clothes to the Goodwill. Unfortunatly though, I was going through Alainna's old clothes and I don't have any newborn stuff or up to 3 months. Yikes!!! I know that according to the calander I still have time, but my body is telling me a different story. When Alainna was born I didn't feel like she was ready but she was on her way out one month early. I had to go on bed rest then she was born 10 days early. I'm getting excited and nervous, having babies at home is a wonderful experience but it hurts and I don't like pain. I have an awesome midwife though. I don't know how I would get through all my births without her. If you need a good midwife I would love to give you her name and number. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Toni and all she does for people.

7 weeks left and counting

I went to see my midwife today. I'm measuring 41 weeks, but that's because my lovely little girl descided she didn't like being upside down. She's completely upright and man is it uncomfortable. She needs to get with the program though and switch back within the next two weeks. Otherwise I will have to see a dr. about moving her back down. Ouch!!! I was wondering what was going on. On Monday I went to the post office and I was standing in line when she started to turn. It hurt big time. Her head was down so to have her do a complete 180 while standing there wasn't fun. It hurt so bad I thought she was going to rip my stomach open and pop out. I could see her move, the pain brought me to tears. Now because she's in the wrong place every time she moves it hurts. But... she has a ton of hair. We could see it clearly on the ultrasound. I'm excited to see what color of hair she will have. Please pray she moves back down and that it won't hurt too much. Toni, my midwife, wants to see her down by the 16th of December. My children love to come early so she needs to be ready.

What in the world!!!!

Our house phone has been dead for two days now and we don't have a cell for emergencies. We called Qwest when our neighbor got home last night and its going to be another day before they get out here. Then this morning we hear a huge crash and the school but ran into our mailbox. I'm glad it wasn't a child. The same school bus driver wasn't paying attention the other day and almost hit Logan, he had to jump into the ditch to avoid being hit. Man what a week so far. I hope nothing else goes wrong. By the way, Colton is doing awesome without his bop. He's now dressing himself part of the way. What a big boy he is.

What happened to Colton's bop???

We've been wanting to get rid of Colton's bop for some time now. He's done really well with not useing it during the day. But nap and night time were still too hard. I've been teasing him about throwing it away like a big boy would. Yesterday after his nap, the bop just disappeared. We've searched high and low for it. Around 1 in the morning he cried for it and I searched again for 20 minutes but could not find it. He finally went back to sleep. Well, we wanted to get rid of it I just hope he adjusts to it quickly. Alainna still doesn't sleep at night so the bop really helped to keep him asleep while I got his sister to calm down. I know he'll do fine, he's just so darn cute and very hard to disappoint.

A Great Big Thank You

Rob and I just want to say thank you to the family from church who gave us a wonderful Christmas gift to go toward our van. We still did not have neerly enough for us to get the lower interest but God is so very good. The dealer called and told us we didn't owe as much as they said on our old car so that made the down payment $250 lower. We only needed to come up with $238. Its still a need, so please pray that God would provide this $238. Thanks again to our friends for their wonderful help in this time of need.

We have a new van!!!

Our family is growing by leaps and bounds. And our vehicle doesn't have the ability to grow with it. We've been looking for a van that is in our price range and is newer so we won't have to put any money into it later on. Well, we found one. We purchased a White (I know, but I have to be content with the color) 2006 Dodge van. We really like it. We still have to come up with $750 to make the payments low enough for our budget. Please pray with me for this. I trust the Lord to provide and He knows our needs.

Happy Birthday Logan!!

Logan turned 13 on November 19th. I can't believe how old he is getting. He's almost as tall as I am. We had an early Thanksgiving with my family on the 15th so we celebrated Logan's birthday then. Here are some pictures (if my computer doesn't quit). Please pray for Logan, he's not doing well (behavior wise) and I'm concerned for his soul.

Moving

I'm so excited to move this coming summer. Our plan is still to move to Northern CA. Our house is so small. And with 4 children, a dog, a bird and two fish it can become over-crowded. Sam and Kecia are still praying with us that Rob can transfer and that we can find a home to buy and settle down. I will probably continue to do CEF in CA and try to become involved in Jr. High Bible studies. Sam and Kecia's church is very very friendly. We already know people there and Logan would fit right in. He would have wonderful examples to follow and many men who love the Lord that would help to teach him how to be a man of God (Kecia's brother, dad, uncle, grandfather and of course my brother Sam all love Logan and want to see him grow in the Lord). Plus Rob would be incouraged by all these men and many more who have already met him. I am so excited for all of us and I wish we could move today. But we want to wait until the baby is about 5 or 6 months old. I may even start packing right after the baby is born..... we'll see. Here are pictures of my neices and nephews (and their friend).

Trick or Treat

The kids had a blast. Once they figured out they get candy at every house they ran from house to house. Alainna was a princess and Colton was Thomas the train. If I can get better pictures I will post them. Right now these are all I have. The lighting was weird.

More Pumpkin Pictures

More pictures...

The Great Pumpkin

We had such a wonderful time at the pumpkin patch. It was sunny but windy. The kids loved it. Every time we put Alainna on a toy or tractor ride she would laugh and was so happy, then when we would take her off and move on to something else she would scream her head off. Colton loved riding the tractors. Logan picked out the largest pumpkin we've ever had and it only cost $10. What a wonderful day.

Tag

I'm it! I've been tagged by Amy. Here are ten things my husband loves.
1. Me
2. Our beautiful, funny children
3. The sun
4. TV
5. Baseball
6. Did I mention me
7. Food
8. Movies
9. spending money
10. Talking to his family in NY

Financial Support

Due to the gas and grocery prices going up I have lost two supporters. My support has always only been at 50%, now it has gone down to 40%. I know that times are hard on everyone, my family included. With my support going down my pay goes down and this means we cannot pay our rent for the home we are in right now. My husband does not make enough so we do depend on my salary to meet this monthly need.
I am looking for 50 people to come along side me and support me at $20 a month. This will bring my support up to 75% and will be a much needed blessing.
I want to thank all of my supporters for their generous gifts each month and I pray that God uses this money to reach many children for our Lord.

Middle School Bible Club

This is my 5th year in CEF. What a wonderful roller coaster of a ride. I had the greatest time going to the Children’s Ministry Institute at the beginning of my journey and I have been greatly blessed since then. I got to be a part of starting the clubs in 8 Puyallup schools where they are still going strong. We’ve even added schools to the list that bus children to the clubs already established. I’ve been the bookkeeper for the past two years and have seen our supporters come and go. I’ve also been able to go to three camps and have seen teenagers be a part of leading children to the Lord. We have done fairs and 5-day clubs and have shared the gospel with hundreds of children.
For a short time, I have to go part time after having my two beautiful babies. Now I’m working on bringing it back to full time by adding new ministries to my plate. I love working for the Lord and I depend on Him daily for the wisdom, energy and the strength to get through each day. By working for CEF I am able to raise my children and home school Logan. Logan is now in 7th grade and has a concern for the children in Jr. High and Middle School. So this fall I will be learning how to put on a Middle school Bible club. This is new to CEF and is designed to go more in-depth into the Word of God. Logan and I are very excited about starting these clubs and we look forward to see how God works in the schools.
With this new ministry I need a lot of prayer and a lot of help. I would like to raise up a team of teachers and helpers to go into the middle schools and Jr. high’s with me. If you are interested in working with me to reach the teens of our area with the gospel then please email me at yankeedudet@hotmail.com or call my home at 253-891-2182.

Mount Rainier

We were able to spend a beautiful day at Mt. Rainier on Sunday. We live only about one hour away from the parks but it took us 3 hours to get there. On our way there was a very bad car and motorcycle accident where one person died. The wait was two hours. So we turned around and went down to the river and played for a while. After a couple of hours we were able to get through and continued on our way. At one point we had to stop for a herd of elk. They were beautiful. Once we got up to Paradise it was late afternoon. We took one of the trails and as we came around the bend there was a large brown bear grazing in the grass. The pictures we took don't show the actual distance between us and the bear, but we were very close. Colton wanted to pet it so we had to get going. Then we saw a dear up close and had a bird land on Logan's finger. It was a fun and gorgeous day.