1 week old

Its only been 1 week since our sweet Ella Joy made her appearance and I'm already finding it difficult to remember what our life was like without her.

Last Friday my amazingly talented friend Beth came over and, in about 10 minutes, snapped these shots of our littlest daughter.



You should totally hop over to her photography blog and see some more photos of our sweet Ella and even one she snapped of our precious Olivia.

Thank you Beth for loving my children so much that you go out of your way to capture these moments for us. I am so blessed by you.

How it's going

This post may mean nothing to any of you but I know that if I don't write this stuff down I'm going to forget. I forgot so much about the twins being babies because I didn't write any of it down. So, here goes. If you're a guy, you may wanna skip this post because I talk about boobs and breastfeeding...a lot.

We are doing well. Ella is such a sweet baby. Really, there is no other way to describe her. Just SWEET. The 2nd and 3rd night home were rough, with Ella pretty much staying awake from 1-5am. Then, Saturday night she did fabulous, waking up every 4 hours to nurse and going straight back to sleep. Last night was okay, since she woke up about every 2 hours.

I'm not a schedule person. All of our babies have put themselves on a schedule within the first couple weeks and I just nurse on demand and watch as they schedule themselves out. I'll help them transition from day to night with a warm bath and usually swaddle them at night and for long naps. It seems to have always worked well for us in the past, so I'm gonna stick with it until I need adjust.

Speaking of nursing, my milk came in very quickly. Very, very quickly. And a lot of it came in. I wouldn't go so far to say that I was engorged but I was close. I had to pump once to relive some pressure and I considered using ice packs one night (but didn't). Since I'd had milk supply issues when nursing Elizabeth and nursing the twins, I really didn't want to do anything to hinder my supply. Unfortunately, my body took over and starting yesterday my milk supply dramatically decreased. I'm sure it is just my body over compensating for the over abundance and within the next day it will all level out. Or at least that's what I'm praying it is. I know that breastfeeding doesn't make me a better mother but I truly LOVE to breastfeed and I think I would be crushed if it doesn't work out. So I'm drinking tons of water and praying it resolves quickly.

We went to an Easter egg hunt at church on Saturday and also to regular church services on Sunday. Everyone was so astounded to see us there. But, I can honestly say that I feel great. I'm tired but physically I feel fine. And, truthfully, it's more work to keep our people at home than it is to go to church and send them into their Sunday school classes. And, our other children need life to be normal as well (and so do I). Keeping them cooped up at home wouldn't help them with transitioning to our new life with a new baby.

I wrapped Ella onto me with a khanga that my friend Lindy gave me and gave people the stink eye if they acted like they were going to touch her. I'm not afraid to tell people that they need to keep their hands off my new baby. And I tell them nicely, of course.

I will post about my birth story sometime soon, in case anyone out there cares. But for now, I'll tell you that I can honestly say, with assurance, that I believe Pitocin is extracted from the veins of the Devil himself and and slowly dripped into the blood stream of laboring women to give them a taste of what hell must be like.

And Epidurals are like God's gift of salvation. And, I'm totally not kidding. Except that I am.

Das Not Funny! Friday: Baby Ella Edition

It's Friday! What an awesome week we've had! Welcoming our sweet Ella Joy has provided us with some seriously hilarious moments courtesy of Lucas and Ashlee. So, welcome to this week's edition of Das Not Funny! Friday: Baby Ella Edition

For the first one, let me set the stage for you. After Ella was born, our wonderful baby sitter brought 4 of the 5 kids to the hospital to meet their littlest sister (Aaron was still napping and missed all the excitement). When they arrived, Luke and Ella were already in the nursery. Luke snapped the following photos of the 4 kids seeing their baby sister for the first time. My friend Lindy provided us with the commentary from the other side of the nursery's glass...

Luke tells the kids through the glass that they have a baby sister. See the smiles on their faces?

(click to enlarge)

Also be sure to note that there is another baby laying up there near the windows, close to Ashlee. Clearly this isn't Ella since Luke is nowhere near that baby. As Luke snaps photos of the kids smiling and waving, Ashlee's eyes wonder over to that other little baby. See her eyes in the photo below?


Suddenly, she realizes it's a REAL baby there, points at said baby (see the photo below)...

...and squeals..."Wook!! MOMMY HAD TWINS!!!"

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Lucas was clearly smitten with his littlest sister the first time he saw her...

...even though he REALLY wanted another brother so that he wouldn't have "4 sistas and still just one brudder."

I think he changed his mind when he finally got to see Ella because before he left the hospital he leaned over to me, patted me on my still-numb right thigh and said,

"Momma, you take care of that baby. Okay?"

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Finally, last night Lucas was holding Ella. He started to raise her off his lap and Luke corrected him, "Oh no Buddy. Don't raise her up okay? You might drop her."

To which I add, "Yeah. You just hold her until either Mommy or Daddy come and take her, okay?"

He looks at us and asks, "To jail?"

Y'all have a great weekend. I KNOW we will.

Ella, Day 2

Perfection.

It's a GIRL!

Introducing....

Ella Joy

7lbs 11oz, 21 inches

4:17pm

The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with JOY.

~ Psalm 126:3

42 weeks and 1 day

That's how long this baby will have been inside me when he/she finally makes his/her debut. At my 42 week OB appointment this morning, Doctor D took a look at Baby #6 via ultrasound. The fluid around the baby looked good but the Doctor did say that there was a little bit of calcium beginning to form on the placenta. He assured us that there was nothing to worry about but that we also shouldn't wait too much longer for this baby to come out.

So, tomorrow morning, bright and early, Luke and I will report to the hospital for a scheduled induction.

Why have I tried to avoid an induction so far?

I was induced with Elizabeth AND with the twins. And while both of those labor and deliveries had great outcomes (healthy babies and a healthy mommy), I did have some seriously difficult contractions during the twins' delivery and I feel that Pictocin was responsible for tetanic contractions (contractions that have extended durations, last for several minutes at a time, and have little or no break between them). Ashlee's heart rate dropped dramatically and there was talk of an emergency c-section (after I'd already delivered Lucas vaginally). Thankfully, Ashlee was also delivered vaginally with no problems...a mere 2 hours and 24 minutes AFTER her brother. (She began her life of drama early people.)

The plan tomorrow is for the Doctor to break my water then give me 2-3 hours to start labor on my own. If after 2-3 hours my body is not having regular contractions, then they will begin Pitocin in small increments.

I am excited. And nervous. It's so hard for me to believe that within 24 hours I will most likely have a baby in my arms and not in my belly.

I plan on updating (or having Luke update) via my Twitter account tomorrow. You can see the last 4 updates on my right sidebar or you can click here to see all of my updates.

Next time you see something here on the blog it will probably be a photo of our NEW BABY! Yay! I'm so excited (and nervous)! Thanks in advance for the many prayers I know you will all be praying. Y'all are the greatest friends and readers ever.

Das Not Funny! Friday: Lucas-esque

I know, I know, it's been weeks since I've done a real Das Not Funny! Friday. But I just had a little something that I wanted to share with you all...

I think I'm going to be pregnant forever. Either that, or maybe I'm not really pregnant at all.

Let me explain.

About a year or so ago one of Olivia's social workers sat with us in the courtroom for a routine hearing. The social worker, Ms. L, was very concerned because Olivia's case was being pushed until after lunch and Ms. L's dog was at home in labor, about to give birth to a litter of puppies. Naturally, Ms. L wanted to be there with her dog while she labored and delivered her pups. Ms. L is probably the best social worker I've ever seen, so don't let her concern for her dog mislead you.

This dog is her baby.

Anyway, I saw Ms. L a week or so after our court date and asked her how the puppies were doing. Turns out, Ms. L's dog WAS NEVER REALLY PREGNANT. Apparently, the dog only thought it was pregnant and went an entire gestational cycle with her abdomen growing and displaying all the symptoms of a doggy pregnancy but was never really "with puppy."

Ms. L stated that her veterinarian confirmed that this sometimes happens to dogs and Ms. L shouldn't be worried.

I think if I've still not had this baby by the time my doctor's appointment rolls around on Monday, I'm going to see Ms. L's veterinarian for a second opinion.

I'm just sayin'.

And now, onto your regularly scheduled laughs....

Last week, you may or may not remember that we got a stomach virus. It doesn't really matter if you remember though, because we did and it was NOT fun.

We have the coolest baby monitor on the planet and it allows us to monitor 3 rooms at once, with each room cycling on a 5 second interval. The point in me telling you that is so that you can understand that really you don't need 5 seconds to discern what is happening in a room when you hear the sound of someone puking. Really, the 1st second of sound tells you all you need to know.

On Thursday night, I heard that sound coming from the boys' room, where Lucas was sleeping. His footsteps on the stairs confirmed what I knew to already be true.

After cleaning up the mess, I told Lucas that I heard him over the monitor and I knew that he was sick. He leans into me and says,

"Yeah, but Momma you prolly just though it was a dinosaur in my woom. And the sound of me growin' up you thought was the dinosaur growlin'. Didn't you Momma?"

Sure baby. Whatever makes your little tummy feel better.

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Lucas has been so sweet to me lately. Like, seriously sweet. Like, coming over to me just to give me a "hug and tiss" sweet. I don't know why, and frankly, I don't care why. It does this Momma's heart good.

However, he's also learned how to break wind on command. Often, his new found affection is coupled with his new found wind-breaking skill, which he finds hilarious and I find disgusting.

Choose your battles I guess, right?

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Luke and I really try to limit what our children watch. In the past, we've learned the hard way that JUST because a movie is rated "G" and JUST because it's animated doesn't mean that it contains appropriate words or messages.

Lucas has learned this first hand and freely explains it to me on multiple occasions. "Momma, we don't watch All Dogs Go To Heaven anymore because they say words like 'shut up' and we don't say 'shut up' do we Momma?"

Me: "No baby, we don't."

Lucas: "Yeah. 'Shut up' isn't something nice to say. We also don't call people 'stupid' or say 'I will kill you.' Dose are not nice fangs to say."

In his dissertation on "Things we don't say" he has inadvertently said each of the things we don't say approximately 15 times a piece.

Good job Mom. Goooooood job.

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We are all riding in the car the other day and Lucas pipes up from the 2nd row, "Dad?"

Luke: "Yes Buddy?"

Lucas: "What are people made of?"

Luke: "What do you mean?"

Lucas: "What are people made of? Are peoples made of meat?"

Luke: "Yes Buddy, people are made of meat."

Lucas: "Oh." (insert 5 seconds of silence) "Hey Dad?"

Luke: "Yeah Buddy?"

Lucas: "Dad, don't tigers eat meat?"

Luke: "They sure do Buddy."

Lucas: "Oh. Okay. Thanks."

Luke and I are trying so hard to stifle our laughter we can hardly address the fact that tigers aren't on the prowl looking to eat meaty-humans. But we managed to set the record straight. Eventually.

I am SERIOUSLY hoping to have a baby this weekend. Seriously. I'll keep you updated on Twitter if my body ever decides to make that happen. In the meantime, y'all have a great weekend. Happy Friday!

Q & A: Past your due date style

Oh how I love loathe the questions that I hear being a woman at/past her due date. Some of them are laughable, others are....how shall I say...annoying.

In a world where God has not taught me the value of holding my tongue, these might be my responses. In a world where one-too-many people ask me the same question for the bazillionth time, these might be my responses.

I'm still working on acquiring a gracious spirit people. Cut me some stinkin' slack.

1) Are you EVER gonna have that baby?!?

"Why no. I thought I'd just stay pregnant forever. Babies easier to take care of this way."

2) WHEN are you going to have that baby?!?

"I'm not. Actually, I'm not really pregnant at all. APRIL FOOLS!!"

3) WHY are you here and not at the hospital having that baby!?!

"Because I thought it would be a much better day if I postponed meeting my child and instead spent some quality time with you, answering questions about my cervix and the enormity of my stomach."

4) Are you still pregnant?

"No. I thought it would be fun to have the baby then wear a fat, pregnant belly suit and fool everyone. The baby was sleeping when we left so we decided not to wake her and left her at home."

5) Man! You are huge! Isn't your doctor concerned?

"Yes. In fact my doctor told me that I was a gigantic blimp and he couldn't believe that I hadn't spontaneously exploded yet. I'm a medical marvel, really."

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Regardless of whether or not you are 41+ weeks pregnant, I find that people tend to ask questions that are generally baffling/crazy/funny/annoying.

So, what crazy, stupid or otherwise annoying questions have people asked you lately?

The Initial Cry

In February of last year I began a private blog. I omitted it from appearing on my profile and told myself (and my husband) that it could be our private journal, documenting what we felt God pressing deeply upon our hearts. As I promised in this post, I plan on making public the desires and promptings that God has been revealing to Luke and I over the course of the last year or so.

Trust me when I say that opening up these things to you all isn't easy. It isn't something that I'm necessarily excited about either. I mean, after all, it's going to make us look even crazier than we already do. It's going to evoke questions from people and, at times, probably make it uncomfortable for us in certain social settings.

But, I can't believe that God has called us to life of comfort and ease. I can't believe that by truly following His plans for our life that we will get a free pass and get to just settle in and take it all in with excessive comfort. I can't believe that He has allowed us to experience Him in these profound ways so that we could keep it all bottled up and NOT proclaim His goodness.

So, it's with lots of prayer that I share these posts with you all. My plan is to simply copy and paste most of the original posts from our private blog onto this one. Where I make modifications or clarification I will use {these fancy brackets}. If you see {these} you can know I've used them to clarify something that might have otherwise not have made sense.

My sincere prayer is that you clearly see how God has worked in our lives and know that there is nothing extraordinary about our family. We are not "super Christians" nor do we have more of a direct line to God than anyone else. In fact, if my post on being lost in the dark is any indication to you, you will see that this journey has not been a smooth one. In fact, I've questioned God so much that it's laughable and yet He has still chosen to bless us time after time after time. So without further ado, here is the first of the posts. I pray that my words then, and my words now, scream out to you the goodness of God and you see through my flawed thoughts and straight into the face of Jesus.

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Originally posted: February 3, 2009

Almost three years ago I traveled 4 hours away to witness a commissioning service of a friend of mine who was heading to the mission field {through the International Mission Board}. As I sat in a vast auditorium watching family after family boldly announce their plans to serve, I felt hot tears spring to my eyes. As I saw the commitment of each of these people, the tears were impossible to hold back. Streams of tears flowed down my cheeks, yet not for the one person I was supporting, but for the almost 100 others that were laying aside their lives, losing them, to follow Him.

I saw families with multiple children, newly married couples and expectant parents, families with newborns and singles all being commissioned to go where the Lord was leading them. I mourned for them in a way that I did not understand. As I watched the extended family members of those journeying onto the mission field I saw joy, hope and tears. I wept, loudly, as I saw grandparents and grandchildren embrace, knowing that it would all-too-long before they saw each other once again.

Even now, remembering that day brings tears to my eyes. It evokes in me an emotion that I cannot explain. And even now, I wonder where the mourning comes from.

Am I mourning because I know, all too well, that one day WE will be that family, forsaking everything to follow the calling of our Lord? Am I mourning because of the loss I know we will have when we move away from my parents, losing our comfortable life so that we may bear the cross He's assigned to us? Am I mourning for the souls that may never know Him if we choose not to obey?

Right now, I'm not sure. All I know is that my heart is being pulled to a place that is not comfortable. My mind drifts to a people group who are hurting and in desperate need of hope. My heart is breaking for my children because I am afraid that they will have to spend parts of their childhood, separated from their beloved grandparents.

And yet, I know that unless we are willing lose our lives for His sake, it will never truly be a life consecrated to Him.

Matthew 16:24-25 says:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

So it is with a tear stained face that I begin to document this journey. I do not know the end result or location, but I know the One who is faithful and merciful. I know the One who rescued me from a life doomed to eternal death and I know the One whose love is everlasting.

It is for Him that I am willing to lose my life.

As we attempt to interpret if we are being called out of our life of comfort, our life of normalcy and a life of this world, I have no doubt that we are being summoned to a life that is truly saved and life that is being lost, one cross at a time, for His glorious sake.

(untitled)

This is the face of...

...silly...

...ambivalence...
(with a side of goldfish)

....goofy....

....seriousness....

...pure joy.

How I love her.

The perfect stormy cocktail

Well, I went back to the Doctor this morning for my 41 week check up.
What's that? You didn't know that a 41 week check up was part of a routine OB package?

For the general population it's not. They reserve the extra long gestation periods for special people. Or maybe just for me. The latest update is that my cervix has not changed since last week and I am still 2 - 3 cm dilated. He did say that he thought the baby was in a "good birthing position."

Good to know.

Also, and possibly the thing I have the most anxiety about, is that my OB is leaving to go out of town on Wednesday and won't be back until sometime on Saturday (I think). Normally, in an OB/GYN practice this isn't a big deal. Another doctor you've previously visited within the practice just delivers your baby and all is hunky-dory.

Well, you see, I switched from my previous OB/GYN's office (which had a 5 doctor rotation) to this new office because this Doctor had a Midwife. And, truthfully, she was the big draw for me. But, about 2 months ago the Midwife left the practice and moved to another city. So that just left the 1 doctor. He is supremely nice and very laid back. But, for the last few months he's be doctoring it up solo. Which means if Baby comes Wednesday through Friday (or possibly Saturday or Sunday) a doctor from a "partner practice" will deliver me.

A stranger.

Someone that I've never met (which is the definition of a stranger, isn't it?).

I mean, it's not like the doctor is in the delivery room for that long anyway but still, it's not my doctor. Oh well.

Add to all of that that we are tentatively set to close on our house sometime Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and I believe that is the perfect cocktail for a baby coming. I mean, if walking and sex and pineapple and pumping and bouncing on the birthing ball can't make this baby come out, then surely my Doctor being out of town and a major financial transaction should be the perfect storm, don't you think?

It's not funny this Friday

Oh holy smokes it's Friday again. I was sure hoping I'd be in the hospital this Friday holding a cuddly baby OUTSIDE my body. Instead, the stomach virus showed up full force at our house around 11:00pm last night. It continued to plague us every hour until about 5:00am.

So far, only Elizabeth and Lucas have been effected. We are praying they are the only ones, but these things usually don't just "skip" family members. So, it's actually a blessing that the baby isn't here yet. I can't imagine the panic I'd feel knowing the stomach virus was sweeping my house and my newborn was in the midst of it all.

There would absolutely not be anything funny about that. Not one thing at all.

Hope y'all have a great weekend. I plan on having a baby. Now, if I can just get the baby and my body on my plan, it will really be a great weekend.

From the darkness

So, I know I've been holding out on telling you all about how much God has blessed us lately. And, truthbetold, I've been holding out on you guys for a long time now. God has been showing Luke and I so much for such a long time and I've been pretty tight lipped about it all.

My reason?

Fear.

Fear that I will say something and then look like a fool when it doesn't happen or come to pass. Fear that maybe I don't know God at all like I think I do. Fear of the realization that what He has done for us is truly just a coincidence and that maybe, just maybe, this whole God thing isn't real at all.

I mean, what kind of real Christian walks around saying,

"Well, I think I've heard from God but, truthfully, I'm just not sure it's Him. And sometimes, I wonder if He really is who He says He is or if He even really exists."

I mean, after all, how can I stand here and tell you all day after day after day that Jesus is the only way, His grace covers all your sin and then question the whole idea myself?

Hypocritical much? I'd say so.

So, for the last 10 or so months (basically since I've found out that Baby #6 was growing inside of me) I've been on a journey of questioning God and His word and the authenticity of it all. It wasn't until the last couple of months that I've realized that through the questioning and doubting I've found out more about God and my relationship with Him than ever before.

But it hasn't come without it's fair share of hurt and pain. It hasn't come without some seriously dark days. It hasn't come easy. There have been days where I've known that God was desiring me to come to Him with my questions and yet I've turned the other direction and walked away, shutting out anything and everything about Him.

There have been deep valleys of intense pain because I thought that I knew myself and my God and yet in the midst of all of my knowledge, things didn't seem as they should. Where was my God when I was hurting and confused? Why was He allowing me to feel such pain and distance?

Looking back I can see that even during the darkest of my days, even when I questioned Him unlike ever before, He was there.

The thing about darkness is that it is consuming. Back when I was in college, my family took a trip to Niagara Falls for the 4th of July. We stayed on the Canadian side of the falls and enjoyed celebrating both the Canadian Independence as well as the American one. As part of our vacation, my parents and I decided to go into a haunted house.

Don't ask me why there was a random haunted house at Niagara Falls Canada. I don't know.

Anyway, here is how the haunted house worked: You went into a pitch black room, creepy and scary things popped out at you and all the while you were suppose to be searching for a small, red light. This small, red light was your clue as to where the entrance to the next room was hidden. If you got too scared all you had to do was yell, "SCREAMERS!" and they would rescue you and your time in the house would be over.

At first, the haunted house was fun, exhilarating even. My Mom, my Dad and I had many laughs as one of us would scream and shriek from a sudden lurching of a skeleton or mummy. We ventured from room to room following the little, red light. But then we got into one room. We stood there, waiting to be frightened by something creepy but all the room seemed to hold was darkness. We couldn't even find the little, red light.

Minutes passed and still no red light and no scary sights, noises or sounds. We all began to panic. More minutes passed and we still found ourselves standing in darkness, unable to locate this light that had become so instrumental in our journey through the haunted house. Panic set in. Irrationally, my Mom whispered to us, "Y'all, we are in a foreign country in a haunted house. No one knows where we are. They could do anything to us and no one would ever know."

In a moment of complete confusion and fear we all simultaneously yelled, "SCREAMERS!!!"

The lights came on and all we saw was an empty room, painted black. Standing no more than 4 feet from us was a worker with a headset who pushed open a door beside him. We stepped through the door, onto the busy, bustling Canadian street and walked away from the haunted house with our hearts still pounding within our chests.

In many ways, I feel like I've spent many of the last 10 months in that same, dark room. I've been waiting and waiting for that little, red light to come on and show me the way. At times, it has flickered in a direction that I didn't think was right, so I ignored it. Then it went pitch black. I've been lost in moments and days and weeks without any signs or direction and it's been fearful.

But then, something amazing happened. I cried out, screamed out actually. I begged God to show me something, give me some reprieve, shower me with perspective. Finally, the lights came on and I realized that I never really was lost at all. In fact, just a few short steps away was reality. A reality I've known for a long, long time.

Fear was gripping me, causing me to lose my direction. I allowed the darkness to take over and instead of turning to the One that already knew the outcome I settled for wallowing in the darkness and succumbing to my irrational fears.

As my eyes have adjusted from being in darkness and as my heart has slowly stopped pounding in my chest, I've realized that the direction I was seeking was right in front of me all along. He was there, standing nearby always knowing the way.

As Luke and I take our family to the next step of God's desires for our life I can look back and see that these last months were perfectly laid out before us. Did we know the outcome when we set out? No. Had we known it all beforehand would it have made things easier? Probably not. Probably harder actually.

So as I continue to unfold for you all the richness with which God has blessed us, know that it hasn't come without some serious growing pains. We are seeking to use our lives to earnestly obey God. I can't wait to let you in and show you all the ways that He has blessed us. I wish I could pour it all out in one sitting but I can't. So bear with me as our life gears up to be chaotic (if this Baby ever decides to show up outside my body). I hope you will see God as clearly as we have.

Not yet

No. I have not had a baby yet. Despite trying EVERY thing I know to do to make my body think it's time to be in labor.

I have had a terrible cough for about a week and, honestly, it's driving me crazy. I am wearing one of those post-delivery pads 24/7 because each and every time I cough I pee all over myself. And I cough a lot.

So far I've not found anything that will cause me to A) Stop Coughing or B) Have a baby. I'm tired from lack of sleep (from being up all night coughing) and I'm trying VERY hard not to be cranky and bitter that I'm up all night without a baby to cuddle.

My (step)Dad leaves for an extended business trip out of the country tomorrow and I was really hoping that the Baby would come before he leaves. Guess not.

I keep reminding myself that so, so, so many women desire to be pregnant and simply cannot be and that I should not complain about my current condition. But honestly, I just want to meet my child and hold him/her and it's less about not being pregnant and more about wanting to know if this baby is a boy or a girl and seeing who he/she looks like.

And that's where I am at today. Waiting for Baby, praying for Baby to come soon and wishing that my body would cooperate with my mind.

This isn't what I wanted to post today and it's probably not the post you wanted to read. But it's all I got.

Possible...not easy

I just heard from our realtor that it will probably be next week before we close on our house. As anxiety begins to creep into my mind, I am reminded that He is in control. And, I don't think it's an accident OR a coincidence that I found this little sign at Hobby Lobby yesterday.

(Faith makes things possible...not easy.)

When I saw it, I scooped it up and knew it was perfect for this season of our lives. And God has provided for us richly during the last few weeks. I'm sure He will continue to provide for us and through our faith in Him make things possible, if not always easy.

If you feel led to pray along side us for a swift and immediate closing date, we'd be very appreciative.

Thanks friends.

Did you miss me?

Well, I'm still here. Pregnant and alive somewhere amid the piles of boxes and junk that we call our stuff. We just got our cable and internet hooked up today. It was a nice break from "real" TV and the internet. But I'm glad to be back to 2010.

No baby yet. As of this morning at my Doctor's appointment, I was dilated 2-3 cm and effaced NONE. Yes, NONE. I love my cervix.

We are officially moved out of the "old" house and into the "new" house, which we are renting. However, we have NOT closed on the old house and hope that it happens sometime this week.

Otherwise, we are just doing life as normal. Well, as normal as life gets with 5 children aged 5.5 years and younger, with #6 due any moment now.

You know, normal, simple life. How are all of YOU? Chances are I won't have the time to read and catch up on your blogs. But I've missed you all and reading about your lives.

Hopefully, I'll be posting soon about the new baby. Don't hold your breath though. I know I'm not. I'd love to blog more but people are waking up from naps and requiring my attention. I hope to post quite a few things about the ways that God has blessed us in the last few weeks.

Some of them, actually most of them, are mind boggling. I can't wait to tell you all about it.