Hope

Last night Andy and I decided to go to Lifegroup...his track practice was cancelled due to weather so he was home early and we were able to all go together! (and get there on time!) Apparently this was all God-coordinated. Let me explain...

Yesterday morning Andy's mom called him to tell him she had been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. I was unaware until Andy called me that afternoon. Without many details yet, we were just trying to process the initial news. Although we were both exhausted we felt like being with our friends, so we headed out to Lifegroup. It was good to be with our group again and just hang out. After dinner we watched a Louie Giglio film called "Hope." The message was awesome and perfectly timed with the news we were trying to digest. To sum up, Louie's message was that when the bottom drops out of your life, when things look really bad, we have to go back to the cross. When we feel like maybe God doesn't care about us, when we question why things are happening to us, we need to go back to the cross. Because the cross is where Jesus proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He loves us. What could be more proof than to die for someone and to secure their future? He has experienced all kinds of pain and can relate to the trouble we have in our lives. Jesus told us that in this life we would have trouble...but in Him, and Him alone, we can find peace. That is where you go when life gets hard...really hard.

Wow! So am I saying that God coordinated the weather so that practice was cancelled so that Andy came home early so that we could go to Lifegroup and they picked "Hope" to play that night...just for us? Well...maybe not just for us...but He sure is good at working things together to give us exactly what we need when we need it. How great is our God!!!??!!! We ended the night with the support of friends and prayer...and we couldn't ask for anything more.

We are still waiting to find out more information about Andy's mom. As we come to mind, please pray for her and whatever treatment lies ahead. As Louie said, we have freedom in this life, but life is NEVER out of God's control.

random

She is smiling now...hard to catch her at it, but this one was a start!

Skinny little bean.

The past few weeks have been busy around here. We've been working like crazy on the house and now are getting to where it feels really clean and nice! Its a good feeling. As soon as I get a flyer done, I'm putting out the for sale signs! And for those of you who are wondering...we are sticking around. Our plan was to live in this house for 2 years, then sell and build again. Although the market is not great, we thought we'd at least give it a go. If it doesn't happen, we are still in a great place and a great house. As Brady might say, "no biggie."

Last night I took Brady to kindergarten round-up. It was just strange. There are a lot of things we are thinking through for next year. I always thought I'd home school for the first three years...but his school is small and he would have a nice small class. However, kindergarten here is 5 full days this coming year and I don't like that. Five years old seems very young to send him off for most of his waking hours. I am a stay-at-home mom because I believe strongly in the value of home time for young kids...and I'm not ready to give that up completely. Anyway, there is much more to this, but I won't go into it now. Please pray for us as we consider everything involved in what to do with Brady next fall.

We recently ran out of diapers for Luke and decided not to buy any more. It seems that potty training him has seriously dragged out for a year, so we are going to torture ourselves for a few days and see how it goes. Needless to say that means more laundry and cleaning for me. I'd say he's at about 80%. His birthday is this coming weekend and it has really snuck up on me. With no trip to Denver planned, and no presents, we might just have to postpone his birthday for another weekend...not that he would know. We'll see.

The boys have a new skill. I'm going to have to get it on video. There is a book that they love right now, "Roar of a Snore." They both know it so well that between the two of them they can quote it from start to finish...with or without the book in front of them! It is particularly amazing and funny when they finish each other's lines....for example: Luke might say, "I'll be hornswoggled!" and Brady says, "Jack Huffle cried." And they continue like that through the book. Great memories!

Jolee is doing great. I am so addicted to her smiles. She is kinda in that awkward stage where she wants to be awake but can't really do anything...I think sometimes she cries out of boredom. Although she really doesn't cry much at all. She is great!

Birthday weekend

Andy's birthday was last Thursday. I invited my parents over and when he got home from track practice we grilled steaks, had cheesy potatoes, green beans, and birthday cake. It was good! Andy opened his presents...a movie, some grill utensils, and a few new Wii games. It was a fun evening together. Although Andy thought that was it...we had much more planned for the weekend.

Friday was a busy day with Jolee's two month checkup...she is doing great! Although not yet on the chart for weight, she is gaining and looking good. She has yet to catch up to either of the boys' birth weights though! I thought it was funny when the nurse called her petite...we just don't hear that in our family, but I loved it! I got permission to start "stretching her out" at night...so hopefully soon we'll all be getting more sleep. After her appointment (45 minutes away) we came home...it was a beautiful day so I grabbed Brady and we went for a walk. Luke and Jolee stayed with daddy. It was a fun time to talk with my oldest and enjoy him by myself. It was good exercise for my still pathetic muscles too. Next came naps and daddy had to run off to his dentist appointment. When everybody got up we rushed off to the soccer dome for Brady's soccer clinic. It is so fun to watch him...he is doing great for a 4-year-old! We left a few minutes early to get the boys to the church for Awana. Andy, Jolee and I headed home for some free time. Its always nice to have a little time to ourselves. What a busy day!

Saturday Andy was up and gone to the track meet before we woke up. It was a super long day for me with the three kids...Jolee was fussy from the 5 shots she had on Friday. Brady was throwing a fit at everything I said to him...and Luke was his normal up and down self. It sure felt like all three kids cried ALL day. I put them down early for naps...actually Brady got put down for two naps (it was that bad). When they got up I fed Jolee and we rushed off to the church to finish the derby cars. Andy joined us about 45 minutes later and I was soooo thankful. We stayed at the church until about 7:30...working on the cars, had a yummy spaghetti dinner, and watched a movie. Thankfully the distractions helped the kids behave a bit better. In between all this I kept trying to clean the house without attracting too much attention. I knew what was coming up!

Sunday morning we were all up early and headed to the early service for church. The boys did well in their class and Jolee slept through the service so it was all very enjoyable and good for the soul. After church we made our usual grocery stop and then headed home. I was scurrying around cleaning and trying not to be too picky...thankfully Andy didn't think anything of it. We put the boys down for a nap and at 2 things started happening. People started showing up at our house...Andy was completely surprised and didn't know what was going on! After about 15 people had gathered I said happy birthday! This is all for you and they are going to keep coming! He was so surprised. We had cake and hung out for about 2 1/2 hours with friends and family. Tons of people came and the house was hopping for the entire time. It was great to see so much love for my hubby! When the party wound down, we packed up the Wii and headed to part 2 of the party. Our friends opened their home and I had invited a few guys to join Andy in a Wii competition. The boys went to my parents' for the night. We had pizza, pop, and cupcakes and played the Wii until about 9:30pm. It was awesome! Then Andy and I headed home and watched a movie. It was a great day.

One prayer request for the week...Brady is having some unexplained bleeding so he is going through a bunch of tests this week. I also have a friend undergoing a double mastectomy on Thursday...she has 3 kids and is very young. Please pray for her!

April happenings

Awana cars

Well, let me start with a request...Baby Jolee could once again use all of her prayer warriors out there. She has developed a yucky cough and a low-grade fever. Since she is still so young and so little this is a little concerning. I took her to the pediatrician yesterday (Monday) and she tested negative for RSV...PRAISE the Lord! The bad news is that there really isn't much to do for her except comfort her the best we can. Her cough is fairly persistent and when she gets going her whole body is involved. She usually coughs until she gags, and then spits up. Its so sad...please pray that her immune system would work the way God designed it to, that her cough would ease, and she would be able to keep her milk down. Poor baby girl!

Now for the family update...

Last week was spring break for Andy and it was SO nice to have him home with us all week! We spent the week mostly inside since it snowed until Friday. Our plan was to work on the house...my job was to go through pretty much everything and weed out stuff for a garage sale, clean closets, move the boys' room to the basement and set up Jolee's room, and generally clean the house. Andy's job was to work on finishing the house...trim, grout, etc. We did pretty well...still have a ways to go, but we had a few interruptions during the week. One major one was taking the boys to the doctor for coughs and sore throats on Monday. Then Monday night Luke was breathing so poorly he started thrashing around and panicking. Andy took him to the ER around 11pm and didn't come home until around 4 am. It was a long night for everyone. Luke ended up with x-rays, a steroid shot, nebulizer treatments, and sent home with oxygen. Poor Andy had to pretty much pin him down at the ER so he could get the medicine. Not fun! That kind of knocked us out for the next day...we were exhausted and Luke was still needing a lot of care and attention. Thankfully he is doing much better now...just has a lingering cough.

During the week one of our fun projects was to work on the boys' Awana Derby cars. They each had picked one of their toy cars to duplicate. Andy did the woodwork and I was amazed at how great they came out! I did the painting with some help from the boys. It was a fun family project. We get to race in a couple weeks.

Friday was a fun day because we got to take Brady to his first soccer practice! A friend had passed us their old shin guards and soccer socks, and his cousin gave him his old cleats. I found a shirt with a soccer ball on it and Brady was all decked out! He wasn't too sure at first, but once he got all his gear on and got out there, you know he loved it! It was fun to see him in a new situation...learning to follow directions, do practice drills, and interact with players and a coach. He could actually dribble really well and of course he loved to run. A bit like his dad :)

The week came to a close on Sunday when we made it to church (yahoo!) and then to the playground. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day...warm sunshine...its amazing how the weather can put me in a good mood. We played for over an hour and saw several friends there too! It was the most social thing I've done in awhile!

Now I'm adjusting again to caring for the kids by myself during the day. Things are getting much better...and if the boys would be little angels and obey all the time it would be a piece of cake! :) I am really looking forward to warm weather where we can get out more and release some pent-up energy.

Resurrection Sunday!

Perhaps she likes dresses as much as her mom does????

Is that a dimple I see?

Our little baby doll.

How our day started...in warm PJs

Brady in his Pj's...playing the Wii (we borrowed a new game)

Our hard worker...shoveling the snow this morning.

Dipping eggs

Today did not start out as planned...as we woke up to yet more snow and the boys had coughs and bad sore throats. Luke pretty much screamed until the Tylenol kicked in. So, although we were up in time we did not make it to church. Instead we watched Dr. David Jeremiah on TV while eating cinnamon rolls and wearing our Pj's. I had a ham in the crock pot and had bought some other pre-made items for dinner. I did make apple spinach salad and an apple pie. The boys colored some Easter eggs and we read The Legend of the Easter Egg...the lesson being that just as a chick breaks out of an egg, so did Jesus break out of the tomb! We also got out the children's picture Bible and read the crucifixion through the resurrection. After a good meal we all settled in for a good nap. All in all its been a good day. I even gave Jolee a bath and played dress-up to take some pictures!