Our Week of Saturdays

  Those of you who have a self-employed worker in your home know what I mean when I say there are serious upsides and downsides to this line of work!  The notorious downside is the dreaded "slow season".  God has been abundantly gracious to us these last seven years and had been 100% faithful in both the "fat" and the "skinny" times.
Our holiday season got a welcome extension this past month as David was able (smile...) to stay home for a couple of weeks.  Now, I've heard that for some wives this seems like a nightmare. For me, it's a dream come true!  I love spending as much time as I can with my man!

It truly did feel like Saturday after Saturday after Saturday!!!

One of the more exciting accomplishments that happened during this time was the progress on our future master bathroom!  Never in our married lives have we had a master bathroom and the prospect of this makes me SOOOOO EXCITED!!!  We're still a ways off, but I'll keep you updated!

Then there was the snow.....

I know.  Some of my dear friends from colder regions may just snort their coffee when they see our excitement, but we LOVE snow!  Snow makes everything better around here! And having Daddy home to play in the snow with little girls is just about as good as it gets.

(Havi goes in for the surprise snowball!)

Little One stayed close to Mom, but loved to watch the rest of her family.

The completed "snow deer".

There was lots of sleeping in, late breakfasts, books read, games played, but mostly....... conversations.  Mom just doesn't seem to cut it!  The girls drank up any opportunity to ask Daddy about angels, weather patterns, heaven, mammals, and anything else that was weighing on their minds.  Daddy has the best conversations!  They seriously could not get enough.

(Ella trying out her new birthday piano with Daddy)

All in all, what can I say?  We really, really like this guy.  We think he is the best thing ever.  We are very thankful to have him back at work and we love getting back into our schedule, but boy was that week of Saturdays fun!

One Year With Ella Joy!!!

Well, it finally happened.  Our sweet Ella Joy turned one year old last week.  Even while I still pregnant with her I was determined to treasure every moment and while time has absolutely flown by, I can honestly say that I have appreciated every day that we have been blessed with her.

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

ONE YEAR OLD!!!

She is our sunshine.  She is our treasure.  Never could we imagine our lives without her.  To people who don't really know us, she is just "another baby".  Even worse, just "another girl".  Our Ella is the most precious gift we could have imagined.  Thank you Lord for entrusting us with our dear little girl!

You Can't See Me!!!

I feel as if I have been a small child standing with my hands covering my face, hoping that since I can't see you, you can't see me!  These last few weeks, I've kind of been "pretending" that I don't have a blog.  Honestly, I feel quite boring!  Life these days have not felt exciting enough to write about. 

Nevertheless, here I am again, endeavouring to write again!  Hopefully you won't find this poor little blog long neglected again.  If you still remember me and would feel like letting me know you are still dropping by, I would appreciate it!

This week has consisted of one thing; Head colds.  Mine actually started three weeks ago and is just clearing up, while my poor girls are all in the thick of it right now.  While I love the little froggy voices that come, everything else has been quite miserable.  We've been laying pretty low!  Right now I am abundantly thankful for a life that is able to just lay low and a great-grandma who has supplied us with an abundance of soft tissues.  God is good!

(My sick girls)

A reminder for me

Without Christ in my life, it doesn't matter.  Without His grace poured out on me, I'm completely lost.  Oh how I've needed this reminder lately!  It's a new year with new goals, plans and aspirations.  So many things seem so very important.  But without Him, they most assuredly are not.

It has struck me most soberly.  I dare not stray from my Lord.  All of my life, my dreams, my hopes, my plans, my joys are completely dashed to pieces without Him.  My life is the sort that many look at with great pity.  How low my expectations seem!  To sit at home raising child after child after child.  I know the truth!  Never could I imagine a more fulfilling or exhilarating life, full of tremendous promise for the future.  However, it is completely and totally held together in the hands of the Lord.

This reminder has been the perfect place of fear and rejoicing.  To see how easily I can put off my relationship with Him, seeming to sail along nicely as I starve myself of my daily bread and living water is truly terrifying.  But to be reminded of the truly abundant life that comes from resting in Him is indescribable. 

Just because we don't turn our backs on the Lord, let us vigilantly  guard against the ways that we push on without Him.  He promises abundant life.  He keeps ALL of His promises!  Let's rejoice in that!

And the final winner is.............

Alysun P.  !!!!!!

Congratulations Alysun and thank you to everyone for being so supportive and encouraging!  I'm sure there will be many more giveaways in the days to come, so if you didn't win in this round don't lose heart!   Don't forget to check out gracenotes.biz !!!



16 Weeks (or so!)

Well here we are at 16 weeks!  Hard to believe we are already at this point.

This pregnancy feels far less "real" than the others!  I'm SUPER excited, but I have to pinch myself when I think about holding a precious little one come June.  It just doesn't seem real!  I must say though, those precious little kicks I felt for the first time two days ago were sure a huge convincer that there really is a sweet little one growing snuggly inside.  

I still don't really know how far along I am!  I say 16 weeks, but honestly I'm guessing more like 17 or 18.  I'll get into the midwives soon and get a more accurate date hopefully!

Yes, I do think it's another girl.  No, that doesn't disappoint me in the least!  I'm so excited to see who this one will be.  I know even now God is fashioning it just perfectly for our family!

Week 5 Giveaway (The Final One!)

Here we are at the last week of our giveaways.  It has been fun for us to share with you all just a taste of our new adventure!

For our last and final week we are giving away a $10 credit that can be used on any item (or items) in our store.

And for our final entries, we decided to give out an extra reward to those of you who have shown your support for us thus far.  If you have purchased any item from our store since our opening, leave a comment here and we will give you an extra 5 entries!  If you make any purchase during this coming week, leave a comment and you too will get your 5 extra  entries!  

For info on others ways to enter, just check out last week's giveaway here for the rules.  Remember, if you entered in the previous weeks you are still entered, but don't miss out on this way to get a huge jump towards a shopping spree!  Blessings to you all!

Week 4 Winner!!!

This week's giveaway winner is....... Caroline!!!

Congratulations Caroline! (If you have a spare minute today, go check out her site which carries some wonderful options for modest maternity clothes (and non-maternity!).  http://www.themodestmom.com/ )

Our final giveaway starts tomorrow. Sniff. Sniff.  Don't miss out on this last opportunity!

11 Months

We're here!  The last month of having a baby before she turns a year old!

Ella has been changing so rapidly!  Her biggest change this month was, SHE LEARNED TO WALK!!!!  My other girls didn't walk until 13, 14 and almost 17 months so this was a huge surprise!

She is showing us her stubborn will a little more freely these days, but is still the lovable and joy filled baby that she always has been.  I can't believe that we are almost to that big 1 year!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway this week!  We draw the winner tomorrow! 

Highlights of 2010

Today is a slow and sleepy day for us, so I took this opportunity to look back through my whole blogging year.  What a year it's been!  I'll try not to drag this out too long, but I thought I would cruise through just a few things that made this year extra special and a clear sign of God's blessings in our life.

Our year started out with a bang. Our fourth beautiful daughter was born mid January and has brought nothing but pure joy to our family!

There have been several new beginnings this year.  February brought the union of my sister Mary to her wonderful husband Peter,

and now, their family has grown even again as we all welcomed to the world this week our very first NEPHEW Caleb Jerry. Did you hear that?  They still make boys around here!  This little man has stolen our hearts!

 
We were able to celebrate again this Fall as David's brother Benjamin married his beautiful bride Melissa.
 

Having Benjamin and Melissa live near us these last few months have been a joy and we are going to miss them soooooo much as they move to WA for seminary!
 
Not long after having Melissa join the family, we were blessed to meet the next beautiful girl to soon become a King. 

Andrew met the love of his life down at college and we have been DELIGHTED to get to know dear Hannah more.  They are planning a summer wedding and we could not be happier to watch what the Lord is doing in their lives!

Some of the blessings have not been as clearly defined.

Most were just a part of every day life,

But they were all special nonetheless!

Being the parents of our girls is more of a blessing than I ever could have imagined, and it only gets better every day!

Oh yes, and then there is this guy!

It amazes me to look at this past year, see where we are now and say with all my heart, as honest as can be, I love this man more than I ever have in my life.  He's amazing. A M A Z I N G.  I cannot even begin to tell you.  Not only is he the man I respect more than any man alive, he's the man who holds my heart.   Completely.

2011 looks good. 

I know that there will be many surprises.  Some so good they will blow my socks off.  Some so bad they could break my heart.  But my God is good!  And 2011 is in His hands!