A Baby Shower

With baby number 8 you would never imagine someone would want to throw you a baby shower. Well I was wrong and we are very blessed to have a wonderful lady from church who offered to give us a shower. When she first asked me about it I thought, no way this is baby number 8. She went on to say, "but this is the first baby since you have been at the church." I still felt a little strange about it. This Sunday when I went to church the invitations had been made and handed out and I actually felt really excited. I guess there is no more being in denial. the pregnancy is coming to the final stages and we are going to have a BABY. Yeah!!! That is exciting and I am ready to hold another little one. Never thought this day would come and it has been a long year but I am ready. So I decided to share the invite with you all because I was so excited at how creative this lady is that I almost cried. The boys room is construction theme so that is going to be the theme of the shower.
Isn't it the cutest invitation. Thank you Kelly for blessing our family with this special day. It is greatly appreciated.

What a Blessing

I love it when my children bless me with their service. I feel very blessed right now. I just came home from the library with the 4 little ones and walked into a newly cleaned house. It smelled good and looked great. They wanted to surprise me and have it all done before I got home. The upstairs and basement is all that is left and they are working hard on doing that right now. What a blessing to have children who see when something needs to be done and puts there hand to it. I told them you will be blessed for this.

I sometimes struggle on a daily basis as to whether or not we are doing the right thing. Most days are very time consuming with homeschooling and just simple things as keeping Christ the center of all we do. It is on days like this I see the fruit and thank the Lord He took us down this path, and that we chose to be obedient and listen to his calling.

Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord. I often for get this is in our daily routine but it is so true.

What will 2011 Hold?

2011, what will it hold for our family? I am not really sure but one thing I am sure about is whatever it holds it will be what God has planned. With daddy getting ready to graduate in May he is beginning to do the dreaded job search and possible relocation for our family. I was a little anxious at first, but have taken this to the Lord and I am feeling confident that no matter where God takes us He will be with us.

Not many of us like change and I am the first to admit that I am one of them. I am content to live here where we are but I also want to be where the Lord wants us, and it may not be where I think it should be. At church on Sunday the men gave their testimonies for the year and it was amazing to see how God is working in people's lives. It is amazing to see how many of us struggle with the same issues, letting God lead us, trusting that God knows what is best, having hope when things are rough, etc. I see that we all have hard times but I also see one common theme we all get stronger through those times. So even though I don't know what this year holds, good or bad I know in the end God has a plan and I know it is a good plan. So right now I will Wait on the Lord and see where he takes our family. Like a friend told me one day look at it as an adventure. That is what I am going to do.

A Few Christmas Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. This is Reaghan and Creighton with their stockings Christmas morning. The three little ones with their stockings. Every one was pretty happy. Even mommy and daddy because the kids slept until 7:00a.m. That was our Christmas Present.

This picture is of the children picking out their ornament on Christmas Eve. Since we moved to Iowa I started a new tradition of buying an ornament for everyone and they have to try and pick which one I bought for them. I try to find something that will remind them of the year and this year was especially difficult. The kids love this and look forward to it each year.

These are just some pictures of the kids sledding. We had a white Christmas so the kids have been spending some time outdoors sledding and using up their energy that can really drive momma mad.

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas and enjoyed some special times with family and friends.

A Christmas Blessing

I have not posted about this yet because I am still in a little bit of shock. This is a good kind of shock, and I just wanted to praise God before I shared what he has done in our lives.

Tuesday afternoon I got a phone call from my midwife and she needed to re-schedule my appointment. No big deal I thought babies come and appointment get moved all the time. Well while we were talking she told me that someone wanted to give one of her clients a Christmas present and pay for their birth. I heard her say that but had no clue what she was going to say next. She went on to tell me that she had told them the moms she had who were due and that this person had chosen us and wanted to pay for our birth. A complete stranger doesn't know us just wants to bless us by paying for our birth. I couldn't even talk I just cried. As I was crying and trying to gain composure she went on to tell me that the rest of my transportation fees would also be taken care of. At this point I felt so overwhelmed that I couldn't even talk. I told my midwife thank you but I was crying so hard I'm not sure she could understand me. But I knew she understood, because she too is a woman of God, and we both knew this was God using another person to do His work.

Part of what is so neat about this story is just about two weeks ago my hubby's car really started acting up. We know we have an oil leak so until we can get a new car we are putting oil in it every other week to keep us going. I got a little nervous through all of this because I knew we still had to pay for the birth, which was going to come out of taxes. Well guess what God knew exactly what we needed before we even asked. As I write this I still can't believe how miraculous this blessing was. No one knew anything about hubby's car and no one knew what we needed but the Lord.

When I shared this with my mom the first thing she said," Was how can someone believe there is no God." There is a God, the one true God who loves and cares for His people. We are so blessed to have a saviour who came and took our place so we could spend eternity with our Heavenly Father. I pray this Holiday Season we all remember that this birth was the birth that brought us our salvation, and what a precious and priceless gift that is. If you don't know Jesus I pray you will have that burning desire to know Him and love Him just as I do. I have never regretted the decision to have Him as Lord of my life.

Merry CHRISTmas Everyone.

Boys

I am still learning about how different boys are than girls. This little guy seems to challenge me everyday, not in a bad way just a boy way. He is a boy who is very active and I am still learning that I need to let him get his energy out. I have had many moms tell me that boys need to be outside so they can run and play. Well it is winter now and having 6 girls we don't spend much time out in the winter. I am learning from this guy rain or shine he likes his outside time. The other day we took him outside to play and three of the girls went with him. He ran and chased them and laughed and screamed and did what boys do best. Well that night at dinner we all were surprised because he was so quiet and well behaved, we thought could it possibly be the outside time. The next day we did the same thing and guess what we had an enjoyable child again. Now we have snow on the ground and I am just going to have to bite the bullet and bundle him up for his daily outside play. This is from a mother who is still learning about boys after 6 girls, and in a few months, we'll have another little guy. I am sure my life will change again, but thankful that the Lord has chosen me for this path.

Quick Update

I just looked at my ticker and it says 80 days. I can't believe it. Where has this pregnancy gone?
I was just talking to my Pastor's wife and I was sharing with her that I still don't have that excited feeling yet, and that daddy hasn't even felt the baby move yet. can you say denial? I guess when I am holding my baby in my arms then it will be real. This has been a wonderful pregnancy physically and I am so thankful for that. God is so good after a storm he really blesses us with a beautiful rainbow and I feel like he has done that with this pregnancy.

So, onto other news. My oldest daughter turned 14 yesterday. I don't know where the time has gone. It is really weird because I always get emotional on her birthday. I was up in my room crying yesterday for no reason but I am sure it was because of her birthday. She had a wonderful day and got her special gift which was a camera. We sent her on a scavenger hunt to find it and the final stop was the oven. She was so excited. last night when I went to bed I am sure she had taken over a hundred pictures. Emily we are so blessed to have been given the gift to be your parents, you truly are a blessing and bring us Joy everyday.

Here is our Emily in all her glory. Her cake was decorated blue and she saved her frosting till last for this reason.