Thanksgiving Fun!

If you've spent much time with me, I hope that you pick up on the fact that I am a big fan of thankfulness. That's not to say that I always remember to be thankful, but I see what a life changing experience it is when we put things in their proper perspective and give thanks where it is due. Needless to say, I love Thanksgiving!!!

We are abundantly blessed to live within five minutes of both of our parents. For some people that may not be such a blessing, but it most definitely is for us! Our families are amazing! One of the dilemmas that comes from this though is, what do we do for holidays? We do different things for different ones, but for Thanksgiving we've settled into a "every other year" routine.

This year was with the King side of the family. David comes from a family of nine children and it was so wonderful to have all but one there yesterday. Isaac is down in CA selling Christmas trees, but Jonathan and Laura were able to make it from southern Oregon and Benjamin and Andrew were able to make it home from Bible college in CA. It was such a blessed time. God is so good!

The girls LOVE their uncles! This is Uncle Andrew who has been away at school. It is so wonderful having him here!!!

Uncle Benjamin and Uncle Jonathan take charge of the turkey!

The eight uncles ( and of course the aunt!) are all soooo good with the babies and little girls! Never is there a neglected baby in this house!

Singing time is always wonderful!

Lydia enjoying her cider with Boppa King

The girls checking out the dessert counter! They get this from their mommy!

There were also eight others from the church family that joined us. What a wonderful day it was, praising the Lord for His greatness with such wonderful family!

Cousins!!!!

We have been so incredibly blessed the last two days to have Jonathan and Laura ( brother and sister-in-law) and their precious new Talia Mae stay at our house. I can't believe that I survived this long with out getting my hands on that precious little girl, but somehow I managed. She is so adorable and we are getting as many loves and smooches in before they have to leave.

This is the very first cousin and the girls absolutely adore her. Even Havilah constantly wants to know what is going on with her. They are all going to have so much fun together as they grow up! Isn't she so beautiful?!

Birthday Party Fun!!!

Yesterday was our birthday party for Bethany with my side of the family. She had quite the crowd turn up which delighted her. On top of Great-Grandma, Great-Boppa, Grandma, Boppa and the aunties, some other special guests including Nana ( other great-grandma), Great Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Peter ( Mary's fiance) and "Uncle" Thomas ( best friend, adopted uncle) were able to make it.
We went for ice cream sundaes this year and with Bethany picking out the toppings, we had quite the selection!

(Bethany with Great-Boppa)

We are amazingly blessed to live so close to much of our extended family. Not only do my parents live just down the road, but my grandparents have an adjoining apartment to them. It blesses my heart to see my children get to spend such quality time with such precious people!

Thank you Lord for my precious little Bethany and for all that you have in store for her life!

It's Bethany's Birthday! ( Finally!)

Well, it's birthday time again for our sweet Bethany. In this case I have to say, finally! With her two sister having birthdays within two weeks of each other in the spring, it is a long wait for a November birthday. But here we finally are and once again I am amazed and overwhelmed at how fast time is flying, and how gracious God is.

Bethany is as unique as they come. I am constantly amazed at how I can have three little girls so close together, and yet as different from each other as they can be. I always struggle to accurately describe Bethany. She is completely hilarious, and yet not in a comedian like way. The way she talks has always been very articulate which makes just about everything that comes out of her mouth sound so funny. Bethany makes friends everywhere she goes. Not little people generally, but adults. Bethany will carry on a conversation with anyone who cares to pass the time of day with her. She loves her sisters deeply and while she may be very keen on going on a date with Mommy or Daddy, she misses them terribly the whole time. She lately has been choosing to be very self-sacrificing and unselfish, especially towards her sisters. She is either gloomy as a rain cloud or happy as a lark. Thankfully there are many more happy times then gloomy ones.

Just thinking of my dear girl brings a smile to my face. From day one she has been different than I ever would have guessed.I'm so thankful for how masterfully she has been created and for the many plan that are yet to be carried out in her life.

These are just a few random pictures from the last year.

Last year I wrote out a bit of her birth story and posted some baby pictures. You can see them here, http://graceisblessedbygod.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-birthday-bethany.html .

More birthday pictures to come. For now I'm just going to go smooch on my girl!

30 Weeks!

Did I ever mention that I love being pregnant? (If you're one of those people who hate people like me, you may just want to skip this post entirely!). I really really do. I think I've always known it, but this is the first pregnancy that I've become an outspoken, die hard pregnancy lover! It is such an irreplaceable and precious time. What a privilege it is to fully care and provide for such an innocent and tender little person.

( 30 weeks!!!)

It feels like time is flying by ( didn't I just post that it was 99 days? Guess what? 64 days today!!!), and yet I am so anxious to meet this little one! After exclaiming to my husband the other day about how much I love being pregnant, He wondered if it was the pregnancy or having a baby that I loved. Let me clarify. I'm not some weirdo who simply loves being round and uncomfortable. It's the baby that I love! Pregnancy is the first step of a beautiful relationship. A chance to get to know even a little this precious little treasure that will be such an irreplaceable part of my life. I love the first step. And every step along the way!

(Okay, I am actually 31 weeks tomorrow but I didn't have an updated picture!)

A dose of reality

Well, it's been a week since my last post. I promised not to neglect my poor blog too terribly, so here I am, with a sneak peek into the everyday lives of the King family! I have been so encouraged lately by some of you saying how much they enjoy reading my blog and some have even said it "inspires" them. This baffles me greatly and slightly amuses me at times. Especially at times like this. If you could walk into my home at this moment, you would walk into a living room piled with every article of little girl clothes in our house. Not joking. We are going through ALL of it, putting away and getting rid of unused or out of season clothes. Sorry no picture. I'm not that brave!

You would also be greeted by these half dressed, hot chocolate covered, bedraggled urchins. ( Yes I know it's almost noon!)

I hope that I can encourage you. I pray that the Lord inspires you. As I share my heart with you ( more serious topics to come!) please remember that I am a very real woman, with many mistakes. I have so much to learn and grow in. Please pray for me as I continue on this journey of life.

Hint~ I LOVE to hear from you! It always brightens even my most laundry laden days!

Operation Christmas Child

For the last few weeks our church has been busy getting ready for Samaratin's Purse "Operation Christmas Child". For those of you who are unfamiliar with this program I will explain it briefly. Fill a shoe box ( or plastic tub) with soap, toothbrush, tooth paste, underwear, socks, school supplies, toys, candy, etc.. Take it to church, youth group, or anywhere else they are collecting them. Have it sent to a child somewhere across the world who is in great need of provision, love, hope and the gospel.

This program is amazing and sends millions of boxes to children from all over. The stories are incredible of how lives are completely changed through this simple act of love. I think that I was as excited as my girls this year to put our shoe boxes together. It is so amazing to think about someone, somewhere feeling loved and hearing about Jesus just because we sent a small gift. I'm so thankful that we are able to participate in this!

I LOVE FALL!!!!!!

I love living in a place that has four seasons. I love every single one of them. Even the dreary and wet Oregon winters. But I have to say, fall is my very favorite! With it comes a very long list of many of my favorite things. Tea and hot chocolate, toasty fires in the wood stove, blankets ( lots of blankets!), long sleeves, dark evenings ( I know, hate me, but I LOVE it!), candles, soups, crisp air and beautiful colors!

David got home from work early the other day and decided to blow all of the leaves in our backyard. The girls had so much fun working with him! There is nothing better than a gigantic pile of dry leaves!

Somehow days like these just make me fall even more in love with my adorable children, my amazing husband and my beautiful Savior and Creator!

P.S. As much as I LOVE fall, I have found myself a little more eager than usual for winter to blow in this year. Anyone notice 78 days until an important day?!!!

A new kind of love

Friday night a very wonderful thing happened. Lydia and I were so excited that we couldn't go to sleep and stayed up until Daddy came home from patrol. Don't we look excited?

I became an aunt and the girls became cousins for the very first time!!!!

Talia Mae King was born October 30, 2009 to Jonathan and Laura King. She weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. Talia (pronounced "Tuh-lee-ah) means "Dew of Heaven" in Hebrew.

I haven't gotten to see her yet so I don't have any pictures of my own, but here are some that I stole from Jonathan!

The proud daddy!

The beautiful mommy!


The GORGEOUS little girl!

I am absolutely dying to hold her! They are planning on coming up for Thanksgiving so it looks like I will have to wait until then. I try not to think about it too much for fear that depression will overtake me during the wait. I'm very hopeful that time will fly and that I will some how survive that long without her!

Now, together David and I have twelve siblings, so we are pretty sure that in the future there will be no shortage of cousins, nephews and nieces. Somehow I just can't imagine it getting any less exciting with any of them. New life is such an amazing miracle!