OUR FAMILY

We are so excited to be expecting a new baby in July. I had a doctor appointment this week and they said that everything is coming along great. I kind of feel weird since I am not really sick this time around (was sick nearly the entire time with our daughter).



The baby's heartbeat was 134. According to the old wives tales, if it is below 140, it is a boy and above 140 is a girl. So, according to that, I'm having a boy. But another one says if you crave sweets, it is a girl, and if you crave sour, it is a boy. Since I cannot get enough sweet stuff (although I am eating a lot of pickles this time around) - that would make it a girl.....

According to babycenter.com, here is the status of the 15 week old baby. :)

How your baby's growing:Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

Needless to say, we'll find out (if the baby cooperates) on Feb 5th if we will be reusing the pink dresses or running out to buy some blue clothes. :)


Of course, our daughter is insistent that the baby is a girl. She looks at you funny if you even suggest it could be a boy. :) I guess she'd be the expert in the house since she got a doctor kit for Christmas. lol!


Other than feeling good - we are just a little anxious about finding room in the house for another child. We are hoping to expand our living room into our current attached garage later in the year, but for now, we will have to make due with the space we have. Maybe we can just put the baby in a drawer? :)



Speaking of our daughter, she loves to dance, especially to her VeggieTale Pirate Movie songs. Here she is dancing to Rock Monster - she gets a little surprise when someone else wants to dance with her. Watch to find out more. :)

Christmas Season

It is Christmas time again this year. What a great time to think about the sacrifice that God has provided for our sins with His Son! How can we be anything except thankful and humble at the thought of that. And yet, we go about carelessly sinning and taking for granted the grace and mercy that God bestows on each and every one of His adopted children.

Especially this time of year, the focus should be on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Christ and the ransom He paid for our sins and how WONDERFUL that gift is. Despite the fact that we have received the most wonderful gift in the world, and on a daily (minute by minute some days), receive continued forgiveness and grace from God for the numerous sins we still commit...... yet we still have wants and desires that we think NEED to be met at Christmas. How could we want for more? Except maybe to share the truth of God's saving grace to others?

So when you think about what your most fond Christmas memory is.... do you ever question the reason it is the most fond memory? Does it have anything to do with Christ? or just the commercial / material Xmas that the seems to dominate our thoughts this time of year?

My most fond memory as a child was at my Grama Pollard's house on Christmas Eve (we used to always be at her house on Christmas Eve evening). Nearly the entire family was there. I remember reading the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke (pretty sure my Aunt Melissa read it this year) and then someone started up some music and we all began dancing (jitterbug, square dancing, twist, we did it all). :) It isn't very often that so much laughter errupts from the house when the entire family is present, but it did that Christmas Eve. It was a FANTASTIC memory, and I don't have any idea what I got for a present that year.

That is the type of memory I hope to pass along to my daughter. Pray with me that we can change and take the commercialism "X" out of Xmas and put Christ back into Christmas.

Motherhood

I have to say that I love being a Mom. It is a hard job, but the rewards that I get are priceless. To see the lessons that I am teaching my darling daughter actually sink in. The lessons that come to mind that I have witnessed lil E understanding and using in conversation are:

• God created everything


• Memorizing scripture
  
• Happiness is a choice -- choose it.
  
• Cats can't talk (she said this after I asked our cat a question)
  
• It is better to share even when other kids take the toys you had first

I know she is not a prodigy or even much different than other kids her same age, but she is the example I have to witness on a daily basis and I am so thankful to God for this opportunity.

She is already starting to read and I think this is an amazing process. It is great to hear her read outloud signs, cereal boxes, mail and products we see at the store. Although today, as we were passing through the feminine hygiene department, I was glad she didn't use that opportunity to read outloud any words. lol!

Here are a couple of pics we took this past week. One is of lil E when she kept her jammies on all day long. After her bath that night, she was confused why she was putting different jammies on again....and not clothes. Confused, but happy! :)

And this is one of the two of us on the couch watching her favorite letter show (Wheel of Fortune).

And here she is dancing to one of her new favorite songs, Waves of Mercy. She is doing the motions they taught her at church. :) Here are the words to the chorus in case you can't hear it very well:

Waves of mercy, waves of grace
Everywhere I look I see Your face
Your love has captured me
Oh my God, this love, How can it be?