while we wait

Life has been going on like normal while we wait for baby to arrive. My kids still enjoy Wednesdays with their cousins.

Ari has taken on the roll as "coach". He spent lots of time running around and showing Elias how to play football.

Ari still continues to be a ham. He wants his picture taken, but then proceeds to make the silliest faces. It's hard to get him to be serious. (I think I took about 5 above before getting that one.) But I suppose those pictures capture his personality the most. He's excited for Selah to be here soon. He is constantly asking if certain things "hurt" Selah. When I was working on our tile floor, I was scrubbing it with a toothbrush and he asked if it hurt my belly to sit like that. I just laughed because I'm sure I looked extremely uncomfortable. He will give her hugs and tell her he loves her.

I'm always finding Evangeline with something on her head. The "hat" above is a knitted sleep sack for the baby. The one below is a t-shirt for a Build-A-Bear. She doesn't necessarily think she's being silly either, she will just randomly wear different things on her head as if they were supposed to be there all along.

Her favorite time of day is when daddy gets home and they get to play on our bed. She loves to balance and walk up and down the edge (with assistance of course).

We still have two weeks until I'm due. An ultrasound from two weeks ago showed that she was about 6 lbs 12 oz already, so I'm not concerned about her being too small. My other kids were 8 lbs and 8 lbs 5 oz. so it will be interesting to see if she will be any bigger. I haven't had any contractions but she is extremely wild in there so I am always concerned that she is turning. The ultrasound showed her head down, but none of her movements are in the same place and neither are her hiccups. Some days I have fake contractions all the time and other days I don't have any. She seems pretty high right now so I'm not anticipating anything happening this week. Of course we are looking forward to her being here the most, but as far as not being pregnant anymore...I think I am most excited about not waking up at night to a full bladder every few hours. I also feel like I move as slow as a slug, it will be nice to be mobile again!

 

some statistics {Kisses from Katie}

It's no secret that AJ and I are open to moving across the world, completely changing our lifestyle and giving up the luxuries here in the US.  God had been working on our hearts long before he went to Uganda last year, and after that experience we were sure that our future would take us somewhere outside the US. At that point we knew we were willing to go. The question left to answer is when? Alongside that we have been trying to figure out when to adopt. We don't need to know all the details on how it will work, but again we were willing, able bodies to open our home and love another child like our own. We might not have all the logistics figured out yet, but we do know that we have love and we want to share that with other children who might not ever feel that.  Our hearts break for children who don't have parents to kiss their boo-boos, or tuck them in at night, but most importantly share the love of God with them. God the Father longs to show us His love. How can children understand the love He has for them if they don't have any tangible love on earth to help comprehend that? There is no doubt that AJ and I both are passionate about families and children.

I randomly came across this blog/book/ministry on the internet. Katie Davis just happens to be from the US and who happens to live in Uganda now (the same town AJ visited), and has a heart for loving children. I ordered her book KISSES from KATIE, and if I wasn't already convicted about loving on some kids...oh my. I haven't even finished the book but I wanted to quote a section from her diary she wrote on May 7, 2008 that she included in her book.

The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left.

Ahhhhh!

Here's another excerpt from her book.

But the Lord had also planted in me a desire to share the truth He had shown me in Uganda to the people who surrounded me now in America. I wanted to share with them the truth that while their children were alive today, more than sixteen thousand other children are not, because they died of hunger-related causes in the last twenty-four hours. I wanted them to know that another three thousand children in the world, mostly in Africa, will die of malaria today--malaria, which is both preventable and treatable. I wanted to share with them the truth that many of us seemed to have overlooked--that God wanted us to care for the poor, not just care about them, but to truly take care of them, and many of us were not doing so. God told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, but so many of our neighbors were starving to death while our tables were filled with abundance.

I keep thinking back to one part where she said a meal they splurge on costs about 60 cents a person. Wow. As much as I try to be mindful of how we spend our money, we still live in ridiculous luxury. I don't think luxury is necessarily bad, but what would happen if we tightened our budget and lived just a little bit more simply. Even if I couldn't physically love on a child right now, but us living more simply could save another child's life...wouldn't it be worth it?

Here's a question I keep asking myself...

What is it going to take for us to be proactive in our convictions?

Katie, as a young woman in her early 20's now, has a way of expressing the truth of God's Word--not just about how we should be taking care of "the least of these", but how our life can be turned upside down if we are just willing to say "yes" to Jesus. Of course I highly recommend reading her book, but if you want to look more in to her and what God has been doing through her life just read some of her blog.

some (overdue) projects

I've finally gotten around to cleaning the grout between our tile. I really had no idea how bad it was until I started doing it. I had cleaned it before with white vinegar and it seemed to work well. But then I decided to see what some baking soda and water would do.

Seriously. It's like I have a whole new floor! You can see the part I hadn't cleaned yet next to the nice white grout. It's amazing, well and gross at the same time. But still, amazing!

Another overdue project was to replace the fabric on our kitchen chairs.

You see...this table and chairs were given to us before we had children and they came with fabric cushions. Extremely comfortable, but not conducive to little ones eating yogurt on...or anything really.

These chairs have been through the ringer the last four years and were in desperate need of a redo. I had a major hold up for the longest time because I could not find fabric that I thought would work. But then my husband had a brilliant idea.

Our duvet on our bed needed to be replaced because of a growing hole in it, but I could not let go of it for the life of me because it was the perfect duvet. After about 6 months of looking for a new duvet we found one and finally replaced the old one. So...his idea was to use the old duvet to cover the chairs. I tell you...my husband is a genius! We also added a clear vinyl over the top so there will be easy clean-ups after meals. No more stains. No more stress.

the last of January

It is the last week of January and I am so thrilled because as of the 31st I will be 36 weeks! We are ready and very excited for Selah to be here. Maybe I'm being naive but I am not anticipating a 3rd child making life more difficult. I've heard many women say that going from two to three was the most difficult. I suppose there are a lot of factors that go in to that but right now I am not stressed about adding a baby to the mix.

Evangeline wants to wear this costume daily. Just from my last post her vocabulary has expanded even more. She says at least one new word every day and even says "ssssss" now.

AJ's bank got us free tickets to see Disney on Ice. Ari hasn't seen any Disney movies but we thought he would still enjoy the show. He has lots of Cars toys (thanks to my friend Laura!) and a Buzz and Woody that he also enjoys playing with, so he is somewhat familiar with the characters.

The Cars looked exactly like the cartoon, it was incredible!

We took my niece along and this time she stayed awake the whole time :) They enjoyed some flavored ice and popcorn.

I think Toy Story was the best. The little army men marched and danced around. Ari was glued to Buzz and waited in anticipation for him to come back on stage. Barbie and Ken were hilarious and they performed the scene from Toy Story 3 where he is trying on his wardrobe for her. There was lots of laughing from the adults in the audience.

We also celebrated my nephew's 1st birthday!  My sister-in-law made the cake herself. She is not a professional but you would never know it by the looks of this cake!

catching up!

I don't know how the last few weeks have slipped by without a post, but seeing that I have hardly taken any pictures that probably explains why.  

A while ago AJ helped the kids make a gingerbread house.

Evangeline first wanted to eat everything and finally she just got to where she was smelling it all, instead of consuming it.

Don't worry, that's just icing she managed to get in her nose while smelling.

After the house was complete Ari kept asking when we could eat it. I guess gingerbread houses aren't that exciting if you only get to look at it.

Evangeline was fascinated with this carrot. She sat around chewing on it for the longest time.

There were a few unusually warm days this January. I can't remember the last time we could go out in 60 degree weather and play in the snow!

We switched Evangeline to a toddler bed about 3 weeks ago. She has done surprisingly well. Every once in a while we have to put her back in bed but for the most part she enjoys getting in her own bed and sleeping there. She has officially gone down to 1 nap a day and even nap time is easy. She will literally march herself upstairs and put herself to bed.

The other night AJ and I came up the stairs to head to bed and I noticed her door was cracked. Once I got closer I could see her body on the other side of the door.

She was passed out! I guess she learned that coming out of her room was unacceptable, however we never said she couldn't sleep on the floor.  :)

She has finally started saying some other words besides mama and daddy. She now says gee (for geese), baby, uh-oh, apple, A-hee (for Ari), hi, bye, ew, nanny, ma-ma (for grandma) and pea buh (for peanut butter). She will try to say other words as long as it doesn't have an S in it. Our little girl doesn't seem so little anymore. Besides her lack of vocabulary and teeth (still only has 11), she is very independent and knows exactly what she wants. She will seem even bigger once the baby makes her arrival. Five in a half weeks to go!

Christmastime and snow

We got some snow the weekend before Christmas and Ari was thrilled to be able to go out and enjoy it with daddy.

AJ took him sledding for the first time, and of course they crashed on their first time down. :) But Ari was a trooper and wanted to do it again, even if that meant getting snow in every place imaginable.

When they got back from sledding he wanted to stay out in the cold some more. Evangeline and I stayed in the cozy warm house and just waved to the crazies who were out there freezing.

Ari learned two songs to sing for Christmas at church. The kids performed them during the church service on Sunday and also for the Christmas Eve service. There were two Saturday practices and Ari asked on the way to one "Why do I have to go to practice? I already know the words and motions." We are working on patience and being humble. :)

Aunt Erin, Uncle Chris, and baby Owen did a great job as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

Ari was looking forward to dressing up for the Christmas Eve service like he did last year.

Our traditional family dinner on Christmas Eve includes a trip downtown to Weber Grill. For it being past the kids bedtimes they did surprisingly well. 

Evangeline decided that the bouncer was not just for Owen but also for herself. 

Evangeline is such a little mommy and is constantly tending to her baby dolls. I'm excited to see her when her baby sister arrives!

Out of nowhere Ari has decided he is in to pirates. I really have no idea where this came from but he was thrilled to get this costume.

Great family photo except for my son who can't be serious in pictures and my daughter who was cranky and wouldn't put her blanket down.

We tried to spend as much time with this little guy as possible. I tried to get a cousin picture but Evangeline was not cooperating (still cranky), but this one turned out great.

The day after Christmas we got lots more snow. Ari was ecstatic, especially because daddy didn't have to work most of the day so they got to play some more. All he wanted to do with our big snow mound was to build a snow church. They dug an entrance and even made a cross for the top.

The pile was so big from the plow truck that he was even able to sled down it. I say if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow!

We did my family's Christmas the weekend after and it was a full day of eating, playing games, and napping (for some).

I'm pretty sure my brother was the only adult napping. We found him several times passed out even in the midst of kid chaos. Gotta love the sippy cup he cuddled up to. :)

Every year we go to Christmas at the Zoo. I thought both kids would really enjoy all the lights but it was hard to enjoy anything because it was freezing! We cruised through all the lights and stopped momentarily for a picture. We didn't even care if the picture turned out good because we were just ready to get in the van and get warm.

It doesn't really seem like the new year is already here, but it was fun to have AJ home another day off of work. He took me to Patachou for breakfast-my all time favorite place to eat! We are looking forward to 2013 because our new addition to the family will be here soon. Eight(ish) more weeks to go! Hope you have something to look forward to this year. Happy New Year!