Baby Blessing Numero Tre

10 weeks

Less than 6 months ago...if you asked me if I was interested in expanding our family with more kids, you would have heard that I was content to be done...accompanied by many rational lies like "we agreed to only have 2 kids", "we don't have the space", "I don't have the energy..I'm getting old", "John will be deploying again soon...I'd be alone caring for 3 kids, plus I have to keep up with homeschooling."  But with my husband open to having a third baby; it left my heart a bit uneasy with a sense of disunity in our household.  I started praying that if it was God's will that He would change my heart to want a third baby or that He would change John's heart to want to adopt.  After connecting with about a dozen older, wiser, godly women within my church and asking them how they decided on the size of their family....I learned what convictions they gleaned in this area according to the Bible and their relationship with God.  Each response they gave me resonated in me in one area or another, forcing me to search my heart to see if I'd find...fear or faith.  I had to admit I was making a choice not to have anymore kids based on mainly fears and not a strong leading from God.  But boy was I stubborn and God was going to have to get busy changing my heart!

Through more influence from an online Christian group that encourages women as wives and moms, an old missionary friend from Germany telling me that I was a great mom and should have 3 kids, and then our pastor at Lighthouse preaching on trusting God for what He's called us to do...at last! the stack of bricks in my heart crumbled and I shared with John that I was open to being blessed with another baby if He chose to.  John was overjoyed of course!  What a miracle and adventure--God was taking my heart and enlarging it to include more kids to love!   
 
November 22nd, we got the exciting confirmation that we were having a BABY (one baby seen at our first ultrasound on December 15th)!  We had so much to be grateful for at Thanksgiving this year.  We told the kids that they would be big brother and big sister on December 14th.  Ellie was especially excited and exclaimed in hushed wonder, "That is amazing!"  For Joel, slightly unimpressed, perhaps thinking it was the most natural of things to happen in our family...took it all in stride.  We decided it would be so much fun to tell the news to our families during our trip home the end of December/January IN PERSON, which we never got to do with Joel and Ellie.  It has been extremely hard keeping such an exciting, great big secret!  It will be fun to see everyone's shocked, happy faces...as I'm sure they never really expected we would have a third baby!

Our official due date is July 27th (summer baby!), but with a scheduled C-section probably around July 20th.  We'll see if Grandma Kathy gets a birthday buddy since her birthday is on the 18th!  I'm thankful for such great timing as I'll have a month to recover and adjust before we start the homeschooling season again.  For now, I'm just trying to get through all the first trimester challenges (i.e. throwing up, nausea, tiredness, etc.).  For now, John and the kids are doing great at picking up my slack and give me grace when I need it.  It is much appreciated.

Christmas 2011

Courtesy of Larissa.  Thanks you dear friend.  We are sad you are moving and will miss all our good walks and talks.

Our Fun Fridays

Sonlight's kindergarten curriculum has been going really well so far...today we are finishing up week 22 assingments!  Hard to believe in less than 3.5 months we'll be starting up Core B (for ages 6-8 or 1st or 2nd grade)!  It's been really fun watching Joel's math and reading skills progress.  He has really nice handwriting for a kid his age, according to Mr. Mauw, his advisor...which doesn't surprise me since he's really into drawing and coloring.  He loves hearing Bible stories and other great books...he usually builds with Legos quietly the whole time!  I ask him questions after each chapter/story to see if he really was listening and he almost always has the correct answer.  Mom's happy, he's happy(=  Fridays are usually our day to play games and do science experiments (when I'm organized enough!).  Today we tasted and tested out different foods and beverages to see what was sour.  If the purple colored cabbage water turned pink, it confirmed that it was acidic..if it stayed purple or green, then it was not acidic.  We also put some old, dirty pennies in some cola for a day...we will take them out tomorrow and talk about the results.  Well, we're off to eat lunch and meet up with a friend at the playground...hoping the weather stays sunny for the next few hours!  

Eat. Breathe. Legos.

Ever since Joel got his first Lego set for his birthday, he has been hooked!  And his Lego Creation class has really been a highlight of his week.  The kits they go through in class are pretty high tech too...with motors and the ability to hook them up to the computer and interact with them.  He really does spend a good chunk of his day building things.  Artistic pursuits have taken a backseat over the last 2 months...but who knows when that interest will have a resurgance of popularity?!   Even if we buy him a particular set with instructions, he'll have it accomplished within the first 30-60 min and then he moves onto building it again, this time from memory...then by the next day he's coming up with his own unique version of some vehicle, house, or whatever!  He is always excited to show me and tell me (and his Lego class) all about what he's made.  Once in awhile he sits and does some girlier projects with Ellie...what a good big brother(=

Clone Trooper & Fiesta Dora