Our CG

We love our Community Group. These people have become so dear to us in the past two years... we cherish the friendships we have with each family. We have laughed with them, cried with them, and shared our sins, struggles, and our victories in Christ with them. We thank God for giving us such an amazing group of people to walk through life together with. We look forward to raising our kids with their kids, strengthening our marriages together, and all becoming closer to the Lord with them. As Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." We pray we will be able to sharpen these people as much as they have sharpened us, and moved and encouraged us on towards Christ. We love you CG!!

Andrew's Birth

My contractions started in the evening of the 12th after a walk to the nearby CVS to rent a movie. Marci's small group was meeting at our house and we were glad to leave the girls in bed while we got out for a bit. The contractions were stronger than normal on our walk, and continued but were less intense, through the entire Harry Potter movie we rented. At bedtime, Justin fell fast asleep, while I was half asleep, still feeling contractions. At about 1am I got up, unable to sleep. It was about two contractions later (at about 5 minuets apart) that I woke Justin up. I flipped on the light and told him it was time to go. We called Hannah, who came right over to spend the rest of the night with the girls. We got to the hospital at around 2am. I was dilated to 5cm. I got an epidural at around 4am. As soon as I got the epidural, my contractions slowed down and became less intense. I was extremely worried that the epidural might cause something to go wrong with the baby or the labor. I was thinking of having them turn it off. Justin was very calm and, in his typical fashion, was trusting fully in God. His wise words were helping to ease my mind. The baby's heart rate dropped for a short time and the nurse came rushing in to reposition the monitor. I was worried once again. Justin came to my side and said "Lets pray." He prayed for the labor to progress and the safety of our sweet baby. At once after he said "Amen.", my water broke! It was amazing. It was as if God was reassuring me that everything was fine. After that the labor progressed very quickly, and our sweet son was born at 5:48am. About 45 min after we prayed.
God is powerful, and this is yet another lesson for me to learn to trust him. He is in control no matter what happens. This reminded me that i still have a ways to go in learning not to worry in hard or scary times. I thank God for my faithful husband who is such a wonderful example to me in so many ways. He has tremendous faith.
I was reminded of these two verses during labor:
Phillipians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
I have the confidence that I know God enough to really love Him... and I do... I really love Him. So therefore I can claim and hold to this promise that God gives. If we love him, no matter what happens it will work out for our good. Thank you God for this promise, and my your peace that surpasses all understanding guard my heart and mind!!

It's A Boy!!

On July 13th we welcomed Andrew Edward into our family! He was born at 5:48am and weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/2 inches. We love him so much and can't wait to add some blue to our household of pink. God has been so good to us once again. We praise and worship Him for his kindness and this blessing of little Andrew! We don't deserve this life or any of our sweet kiddoes, but because God is overflowing with mercy for those who love him, we receive His grace and blessings.

Thank you Jesus, we are speechless before You.

18 Months Old!!

Katelyn: AKA: Katie, Sugar, KK, Baby-Kate, Katie-Cat, Katie-Pops

Sweet Katelyn is now a year and a half. She is now not just walking and climbing, but trying hard to run and keep up with her sisters. She has really started to say a lot of words recently too and has started to put two words together like "More Please" and "Hi Daddy!" She adores her big sisters and calls Sara "SAAAA", and Kalena "Na na." She has a lot of energy and is a very loud, vocal child, but has a sweet soft cuddly side too. Katelyn is our most cuddly baby, never missing a chance to snuggle her face into Justin and I. She will just sit motionless on my lap for what feels like hours. So often I think she is sleeping but she is wide awake, just snuggling.

Katelyn's favorite foods are fruit (of any kind) and meat (of any kind). She would also eat every bag and box of raisins in the entire house if I let her. She loves books and balls and running free outside. She also loves bath time and really anything that has to do with playing with water (occasionally this includes the toilet, which unfortunately I have to discipline her for).

It has been so fun to watch Katelyn in the last few months. She seems to understand more and more of what I say to her. She has started to understand the words obedience and patience, and it won't be long before she will start to be able to understand biblical concepts such as "selfless" and "peacemaker". I am so thankful for the Bible, and it's clear guide to parenting. Scripture gives me hope and peace when in the midst of these amazingly impressionable years of my children's lives. I think without God and His word to us, I would feel completely overwhelmed at the task of training my children's hearts. Instead I feel the opposite. Excitement... joy... eagerness... and confidence in Christ alone as I "train up my children in the way they should go."

Katelyn brings us more and more joy everyday. Her developing capability to show love to me by hugging my neck and repeating "Mamma" in an affectionate tone is something I will always cherish about her and her sweet, tender heart and are my favorite moments each day with her.

Kalena's Larvae!

I can't believe I am saying this... but the girls and I had been on edge every day last week... waiting for some larvae to come in the mail. Yes... it is ladybug larvae and it finally arrived this past weekend. It was really a huge deal in our household. Kalena and Sara have never been too entertained by the thought of a pet dog or cat... but for several months now Kalena has been begging me for a pet ladybug. When we saw the beloved "Ladybug Land" at Lakeshore, it was all she could do to contain herself. For months I had been telling her that she can't have a ladybug as a pet, and that God made them especially to live outdoors. I was wrong. We now have about 5 large, thriving ladybug larvae living in our Ladybug Land. They should be fully developed ladybugs in a few weeks. Kalena was so cute when they finally arrived... hyperventilating and dancing around the house. She even asked to sleep with them right beside her head (yes, they are still just ugly larvae) along with a flashlight to check on them.

Our four and a half year old Kalena has really made some educational strides this past week too! She has finally began to read, which has been so exciting and something she has looked forward to for the past year! It was an amazing moment when she first began to read her first words. Her face lit up and she gasped, and literally I saw the lights go on in her eyes...and something click in her little brain. It was a moment I will never forget. She was overjoyed, and so was I. We hugged and giggled for a while before we continued. It was so sweet. We are so excited for her to start Kingergarden this fall, and we know she will love school so much.

Kalena has been growing more and more in love with the coming baby. She is constantly wrapping herself around my belly, and trying to feel the baby move. She presses all over it to try to feel a foot or a hand and gets so excited when she feels a kick. She would love it if the baby was a girl, but I have finally convinced her that if it is a boy, she will still love him. She was not sure for a while if she could love a brother. She says she loves baby boys and grown up boys like daddy, but she doesn't like kid boys except for Judah Wenslawski and Luke Loving.

My favorite recent Kalena Quotes:
"Daddy, I love you all across the sky (waving hands in the air enthusiastically).... Daddy, I love you until my loves BOOMS into Heaven! (Jumps up excitedly)"

"Mommy, If I were as old as you, I would marry daddy."

"Mommy, you shouldn't have told me about Heaven because I am so sad that I can't just go there now." (puts her face in her hands dramatically)

"I hope I have 10 sisters." She tells the ultrasound technician.

(Kalena commenting about my very pregnant belly) "Mommy, it looks like you are going to need some more skin." (I quite agree with her :)

If the baby is a boy, Kalena wants to name him John or Thomas, and if it is a girl, she wants to name her Lemma.

I love Kalena so much, and I love watching her grow. More and more she has an awareness of sin and God's grace in our lives. I pray she will continue to develop a love for God and want to serve Him more and more!! I am desperately trying to think of new ways to help her and Sara fall more in love with our Heavenly Father. I am excited to read Elise Fitzpatrick's book "Give them Grace" this summer. I want my girls to become obedient for one reason... because they love our Savior and want to please Him alone... not for anyone or anything else this world has to offer.

Having said that... and on a lighter note... I just might bribe Kalena with some sort of material possession if she can hold back her hysterics when we go to get shots at the Dr. later this afternoon. :) No matter how much she wants to obey and have self control, she completely looses it and has a frantic breakdown in the Dr. office when the shots come out. I am praying this afternoon might be different!

Sweet Sisters

Bonded to a Baby

God has created, within a mother and a baby, an amazingly fierce bond that develops into feelings that are stronger than I have ever felt. Some would call this something like a "maternal instinct" but really it is an act of God, who pours into a mothers heart, an extreme love for her infant. Recently I have realized how this bond changes as our children get older. I know that I am in a unique time right now with my babies, and that later in life I will look back on and try to remember the feelings I had during the infancies of my precious girls. As my 4 year old Kalena becomes more independent and more intrigued by the world around her, I feel the mother baby bond slipping into a new developed mother child bond. While the feelings are no less intense, in fact probably are increasing in intensity, it is just different.

I am going to try to describe these intense, maternal, God given, feelings of love I have had with Kalena, Sara and now Katelyn. I always want to be able to look back on this special baby time and remember these amazing feelings.

When bonded to a baby, you feel as though every part of the baby is a part of you. They are more of an extension of your own appendages rather than a separate being. When she cries, something physical happens in my heart and mind, drawing me to her with an intense desire to sooth her. Holding her close to me never feels close enough, and if I could hold her all day long I would. When she smiles and giggles, my heart fills with joy. I would sacrifice anything to keep her safe, even my own life. I wouldn't think twice before running into a burning building or into any sort of harms way to protect my baby. I often imagine the fight I would put up if any stranger tried to pull her from my arms. It would be messy, like something out of WWF. Probably the most intense feelings I have for her, is at night when i watch her sleep. my heart aches for her future to be a worshiper of our Great God. I pray with fervency that the Lord will have mercy on her and draw her into repentance and salvation.

I am so thankful for the gift God has given me in these precious little girls and I wish I could freeze time and keep them cuddled in my arms forever.