Havilah is Two!!!

Our sweet Havilah turns two today!!! It's so hard to believe how fast she has gone from an adorable little baby to an irresistible little girl. Havi is truly one of a kind and continues to blow us away with her dynamic personality. Every day with her is a real treasure and we praise the Lord for blessing us with such a priceless jewel!

If you want filled in on her birth story, just click here .

Christmas ( a little late!)

Well, I really can't blame the tardiness of this post on my mom. She got me the pictures about a week ago, but somehow I just haven't found the time to sit down here! Sorry if these are completely random and confusing. We actually gathered 4 times for different Christmas gatherings, so these are just a smattering of our times together.

The King family Christmas 2009

Opening presents with Boppa. Opening presents is a community event in our family. EVERYONE must be within six inches to see what is going on.

Checking out the calender with Nanna ( Great-grandma)

We are going through " The Great Toy Purge" at our home so this year we decided to invest in one nice baby doll for the girls. Something to focus on as we eliminate many unused things.

Lydia has been saying for weeks that we should name the new baby "Leah". Seeing as we just had a cousin named Talia ( pronounced Ta- leah), we've eliminated that option. She was very pleased however to bestow that name on her baby. "Leah" and "Ruth" are very loved! Havi was the recipient of a well loved hand me down doll from Lydia.

The girls weren't the only ones who got worn out!

It has been so fun having Peter join our family. The girls absolutely adore "Uncle" Peter! It's officially less than five weeks until the wedding!!!

My sisters and I on Christmas day. Anna is 14, Mary is 20 and Rachel is 16. Besides my husband, these three are my closest friends in the whole world! I love this picture. I could stare at it all day long.

We had a wonderful Christmas. What a blessed time to remember Christ's priceless gift that He freely gave to us, and how that gift makes it possible to have the love and fellowship that we enjoy every day with Him and with each other. Praise the Lord!

A Great New Year!

We have had a wonderful start to our new year! While we are incredibly blessed to live within five minutes of both of our amazing families, it sometimes is a struggle during times like Christmas when you would love to be everywhere at the same time! This year however, Jonathan and Laura decided that they would stay home ( Southern Oregon) for Christmas and come and spend New Year's here. It has been wonderful for us as we were able to have a much more relaxed Christmas and a fantastic New Year's!

Jonathan, Laura and Talia have spent the week with us, which is about the best time any of us could imagine! Jonathan and David are as close as can be, Laura truly feels like another sister and of course, Talia is a big hit around here!

(Bethany played all day with her nativity set from Uncle Jonathan and Auntie Laura)

Yesterday we went up to Boppa and Grammy King's house to have our King family Christmas. Plus it was Uncle Andrew's birthday so we got a double celebration in!

Blowing out birthday candles with Uncle Andrew! Bethany wasn't feeling very great, but she was Andrew's buddy all evening. What a great uncle!

( Youngest to oldest: Matthew, Peter, Timothy, Andrew, Isaac, Benjamin, David and Jonathan)

We actually took the time to get some brother and family shots this year which is something we NEVER do! Look at these great guys! All of them love the Lord and are serving Him with all their hearts. And talk about fun!!!

Of course they needed a shortest to tallest shot too! They wanted a muscle shot, but never got around to it!

What a blessing it is to be a part of such a wonderful family. I was talking to my mother-in-law right before this and she was saying how blown away she is by God's goodness and faithfulness. She originally didn't want any children!

Our Christmas Time Capsule

Daddy was on patrol this evening, so we girls decided to start a fun new tradition! I found this idea on a great "Children's" blog and thought it sounded like loads of fun! We made a Christmas time capsule! We kept it very basic. I had some blank cards that the girls decorated, then we all sat around and came up with things to write about each other. Things like, "Lydia has almost finished her math book", "Bethany hair covers her ears and is very curly", "Havilah sleeps with Lydia but still wakes up most nights", "Mommy's favorite names for the new baby are....". The hope is that next year we will remember to pull these out ( They will be put away with the ornaments) and be reminded of all that has changed in the past year.

The girls decorating their cards

Even Havi gets in on the fun!

Lydia's card

Bethany's card ( I understand the "B" and "E" as she just learned them for her name. Not sure about the others though!)

Havilah's card

I know that you are all envious of my artistic abilities at this point. Try to love me regardless!

The finished products! I'm so excited to pull these out next year. Then again, I'm loving these days! Maybe I will just go enjoy this time and know that next Christmas will indeed come soon enough!

Here it comes!!!

It's only 9 days until Christmas!!! That fact excites me to my toes and sends me into a panic attack at the same time! I've spent the entire morning looking for those "perfect" gifts that I still have to decide on. No divine inspiration as of yet, so I decided to take a break ( I feel much less on the edge of a nervous breakdown now!) and come and peacefully update here.

We LOVE Christmas at our house. Every single one of us. Christmas music started this year on August 25 as my husband announced, "Hey, only four months until Christmas!". We almost always get our tree and decorate the house the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year David took Lydia and Bethany on the tree hunt while I stayed home with napping Havilah and made homemade hot cocoa and muddy buddies.

They found the perfect one!!!

This year we decided to make a popcorn and cranberry garland. It was loads of fun to put together and an easy way for everyone to help.

Here's the finished product. Our tree would make any designer shudder, but we love it! The first presents went under it yesterday. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work. I think my blood pressure rose a little at that last statement, but I'm sure I'll make it!

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!

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!

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Lydia celebrated her fourth birthday last week. I'm finding this harder and harder to do! I could write a book about my sweet little girl and still not feel like I've given you an accurate portrayal of her! Nevertheless I will attempt to do my best.

I got pregnant with Lydia after being married for two months. I was so excited! I have wanted to be a mom all of my life! My husband, David, comes from a family of eight boys and one girl so I naturally assumed that we would have a houseful of boys too. We were positive we were having a boy and actually called her a "him" the duration of my pregnancy, but the Lord was working on my heart! I remember getting a bag of hand me down clothes, looking at the girl clothes and actually crying while praying " Lord, please give me a girl someday!". Maybe I need to reverse my prayer now!

My labor was incredibly long with her, lasting 49 1/2 hours, but finally Lydia Grace was born. I couldn't believe she was a girl. We were both overjoyed even though we both would have said previously that we wanted a boy.

Lydia has been a joy and a blessing every moment of her life. I am so amazed at God's blessing towards me in giving her to me. She is such a little mommy and loves taking care of her sisters. She talks about getting married all the time. She also loves to sing and always has a song in her heart. A few months ago she let us know that she wanted to pray to ask Jesus to come in her heart and she loves being a child of God and finding out all of the brothers and sisters in Christ she has!

I am so excited to see all that the Lord has in store for her. I also tremble at the thought of being responsible for raising her in a way that honors the Lord. What a challenge that is! It is so rewarding though to see the fruit in such a little life. I love you Baby Girl!