Luke in his big boy bed, finally!

Emmie's visit

Even Luke gets in on the fun.
Hi Emmie, thanks for my apron and bonnet!

I love my apron and bonnet, Emmie!

Beth is sure into this.

Hard at work in my dining room :)

We were happy to have Emmie come stay with us for a week. She is such a blessing to us and we miss her! Lord willing we will be going to TX in March when the Ledbetter kids are out for spring break. The Lord continues to be so good to our family, I am in awe of His love towards us. Here are some pictures from Emmie's visit. Thanks Grandpa Risse for sending Emmie to us. I know she was missed by you, but she was enjoyed by us.

Tomorrow Nov. 9..............................

Sisters
All the kidos

Thank you MeMe and PPaw

American Girl cookbooks

Cheese

Beth loved the cake.

Give me a chip please.

I love this girl!

Thanks Aunt Katie and Uncle Boone

Her cake

is my first born's birthday!!!! She is such a blessing to me, I love her so much and am so thankful to the Lord for her. Here are some pictures from her party on Saturday.

Oneday I want to print this out....

I have had the blog for over 3 years now, time flies :) I think I will print it out oneday as it has been a journal of my life over the past 3 years.

Mrs. Risse will be here on Sat. YAY

Sat. Anna is also having her birthday party, she is so excited.

Mike is away again for a funeral :( He will be home on friday if things go as planned. I miss him when he is away.

Beth's latest.....she is rolling over, says dada, still trying to cut teeth, eating baby food :) She is a good baby!

I am so tired, things are busy around this house especially when Mike is gone, he is such a big help to me!

Cast your vote please

This one has a green skirt.

This would have yellow sheets and a yellow skirt.

I think I will get one of these for Beth's bedding, will you help me decide. It will go on a white crib. By the way...what is up with facebook? Is anyone else having issues with it?

Atlast, I have my computer!!!!

I love this little boy!
I love him again !

Baby girl sleeping.

Homeschool field trip to the fire department.

The Matthew's family at our home.

With that being said, here are some past due updates of our family :)

#1 my sister is pregnant and due within a couple weeks of Hannah!!!! Lord willing I will be going to GA for those births. I am so excited and happy for the both of them. Congratulations to you pregnant girls in the family!!

#2 Mike is in Nebraska for school and will be back next Thursday or Friday, please remember to pray for him.

#3 Mrs. Risse will be visiting the 7-12 of November, we are excited about her upcoming visit. This also gives me a reason to do some much needed cleaning and organizing :)

#4 We will be in TX the 13-18 of November and I am very excited about our stay there in McKinney!

#5 My mom will be coming out for a visit the week before Christmas and staying until the 23, we are so excited to see MeMe!

Well that is just a quick run down of our busy life right now. Anna continues to do well with school and is enjoying piano. Naomi is making more improvements with her speech, we are greatful to the Lord! Luke and Beth continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

I feel like I am going through a "cleaning up" season in my life.....My house needs some major cleaning and organizing, my body needs some major attention and most importantly so does my spiritual walk with the Lord. Physically I am feeling wonderful and praising the Lord everday for healing from my headaches. So pray for me as I "clean up " some areas in my life. This should not be a season for my spiritual life as I pray the Lord is constantly cleaning and removing those things in my life that should not be there and adding into my life things that would make me more like Him.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah is pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to be an aunt again, I am just so excited and cannot wait to meet my new little niece or nephew! Lord willing we will be there! Congratulations Chad and Hannah, I am so happy for you!

On a sad note....my computer is still in the shop :(

Bethany's first taste of rice cereal!

Well today I decided to start Beth on rice cereal. I never started the others on any solids until 6 months since they strived so well on breast milk. Beth has been wanting more and more to eat and since formula unlike breast milk is not free, I decided we better add some cheap solids :) Anyways...she did GREAT, you would have thought she had been eating solids her whole life! The last pic is of the kids yesterday before church!

My little picture taker

Anna took this picture today of a bunny in our backyard and asked that I put it on my blog. I love her!

Happy Birthday!

To YOU Katie, I love you, miss you badly and wish I could be there to celebrate!! Love you

Update in Pictures!

Anna and Naomi making letters out of shaving cream. Anna was SO funny about this...she said"momma does daddy know you are doing this??? No Anna he does not know. Well do you think you will get in trouble???No Anna I doubt it:)

Girl Dinosaur picture of Anna's



Our Family portrait by Anna

Naomi working on her work, wow we are pretty relaxed..ON TOP OF THE TABLE:)

I am so happy, I wanted this Bumbo seat for Beth. The are like $35 without the tray. I got this one at our neighborhood yard sale for $7 and its new and has a tray!

Believe it or not, she does like it.

Me playing the piano:)

Luke and Beth (notice Luke's GA hoodie, I love it!)

Sisters

The first week of school, Anna learned how to tie shoes, she was so proud of herself.

This is my favorite picture...me making Low Country Boil.

Happy 52 Daddy!

My daddy, his daddy and Luke who was 6 months.

Yes this is why Luke is an Earnest:)

I am so proud of...

my sister Katie, she finished Orthodontic Assisting school today! I love you Katie and am so proud of you!!

Anna's first day of Kindergarten

Well my first born will start kindergarten today. I am trying to find other homeschool families on base. I have found 6 other families and we are going to the park on friday, I am excited about that!

MeMe and Emmie, this is for you!!

Yes, I have put on some weight since the last time you have seen me.

Hold on Luke!

2 years ago today...

The Lord blessed us with a baby boy! Happy birthday son, we love you and are so thankful to have you as our son. You sure make things fun around here!

Central States Fair Parade

Naomi's First Dentist Appointment

Mrs. Becca made a turkey with her glove, she was so good with Naomi.
Open wide!

Naomi did SO good!!

Staying Busy!

Just a quick update while I have just one minute:)

Boy are we busy, trying to get things together for Anna's school this year. Anna started piano lessons yesterday and her teacher is such a sweet Christian she is 28 and has a 6 month old boy. She will have piano lessons once a week on Tuesdays after Naomi's therapy. Please contine to pray for Naomi's speech, while she has made alot of progress, there is still much to be made...we continue to pray for the Lord to loosen her tongue and that we would give Him all the glory! Luke will turn 2 on sunday, we will have a small party here with just us. Beth is 12lb 11 oz and 23 inches...she is in the 25-50 percentile for both. Oh yea, sweet repeats is this weekend, go if you can and think about me:) Wish I could go!!

It's about time!

Dakota, Naomi, Anna, Emily and Luke at the zoo in the cool outfits Aunt Brenda bought us.
Anna's first swim without her jacket, in MeMe's pool

MawMaw and Beth

Aunt Katie and Uncle Boone with Beth

Last cookout at Momma's

MeMe and PPaw with their grandbabies

PawPaw and the grandbabies

Katie, Beth and Conner

Uncle Chad and Aunt Hannah at their house

The Crew at Callaway Garden's Butterfly House

Rebecca and Brady, Me and Beth, Mandy and Nolan, Tabitha

Anna in Paw Paw's garden

A much needed update!

We are all well, very busy and trying to get back into routine since coming home from Ga. Naomi will start back with her therapy today.Naomi has been wearing big girl p*n*t*es (with the exception of at night) we are thrilled about this! We are getting ready to home school Anna again this year. Mike has a date with Anna tonight to teach her how to ride her bike without training wheels. Luke will be 2 on the 23rd and Beth is a few days shy of 3 months!!! WOW, hard to believe. Luke is into trains, animals and firetrucks at this point of his life:) Beth is rolling over and must have hit a growth spurt as she really has put on some weight since Ga (well who did not put on weight in GA??? We ate so much good food!!) My headaches are back and I need your prayer. I will leave you with a picture of Beth after her bath this morning.

We made it safely home.

Thank you again, Lord. I will try to post pictures later, I am so tired. Love you all!

We are here!

Thank you Lord, we arrived in GA late last night. We will be at my MawMaw's tomorrow but after that call me so we can plan to get together. We are going to the Zoo next thursday and to Callaway Gardens sometime this week, let me know if you are interested.

Happy 4th!

Here Katie, since I am bad about keeping surprises!

Beth's 8 week check up today..

She is 10lb 8oz and 22 1/2 inches......all looked good!!!

Counting down the days until GA!!!

GA date change...

We found out this week that Chad will be in Missouri on the dates we had planned for GA. We have now moved our dates to July 13-27...this could change if Chad's dates change. I am SO SO SO SO ready to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bethany 6 weeks

My favorite!
Big blue eyes

Rebecca reminded me to add more pictures of Beth, here they are. Thanks Aunt Sarah for my outfit.

Happy Father's Day Honey!

Yesterday Naomi turned 3!

Her only request...purple icing!
Licking the spoons, the best part!

Making cupcakes

Opening gifts

Happy Birthday Naomi!

Friday night we had a small party at the house with some little neighbors. Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese!

Just a random post...

Bethany Hope at 5 weeks old, such a sweet and easy baby girl!
Naomi with her speech therapist Amanda. Naomi has been in therapy with her for a year now and the Lord has truely used her to help Naomi. The only thing we are working on now is her articulation. She is talking sentences and even singing some short songs, we just need to work on making those words clear. Naomi just had an evaluation and still needs therapy but falls on the very cut off point for needing it!! We are thankful for her progress! I have been teaching the girls some piano and while feeding Beth the other day, Naomi sat at the piano singing her ABC's I was impressed!



I have been having some major headaches ever since we moved here and thankfully today at my 6 week check up, we found out the cause.......low estrogen levels. I have been to so many dr's and Mike and I were just about to pay out of pocket for me to try the chiropractor(tricare covers nothing!!). Anyways the can be very severe at times and I have them most everyday. My dr said she could give me some estrogen and they would go away but the estrogen would dry my milk up. I am not ready to do that so she gave me some ideas on some more pain medications to try. Hopefully one of those will work, if not I may have to look into weaning Beth and taking estrogen but I want to try these other meds first as I LOVE feeding her and she is doing so well!! I am SO SO SO thankful to have a diagnosis for my headaches. I have spent many tears over them and was starting to think I was just going crazy!

8 Years Ago....

I married the most WONDERFUL man in the world! I could not have asked the Lord for more in a husband than what Mike is. He is so good to me. I honestly do not believe there is any wife more blessed then myself. Thank you Lord for Mike and our marriage and thank you Mike for being so wonderful to me!

2 months

Tomorrow will be 2 months since my sister lost Conner.

Our Dates have been changed...

We are still coming to GA, just a week later. Lord willing we will be in GA the 9th of July. Beth needs to have her shots before we come and they will not do them early, that is the reason for the date change.

My Dirt Boy

Well here you go...While I was feeding Beth and the kids were outside playing, Luke made bestfriends with the dirt. He was really alot more dirty then the picture shows. Does he look just like his uncle Chad or what???

Thank you MeMe and PPaw

Fun!

Sure lets go down head first....Momma does not have anything else to do besides taking me to the ER to sit all day for a head injury:)

"MeMe you deserve a hug for this one." Only 2 screws!!

Happy 2 weeks Bethany!!

Proud big brother.
Kisses!!

Cheese!

Sisters!

Beth had her 2 week check up this morning and she is 8 lb 10 oz 21 1/2 in. Here are some pictures of the kids in the shirts Tabitha got for them.

The dates are set.....

Lord willing we will be in GA the 2-16 of July!!!!

Our Surprise Shower!

Today was Beth's first Sunday at church. Our church has been so kind and helpful in bringing us meals ever since Mrs. Risse left. Today at our fellowship meal they gave us a surprise shower. We thankfully were given tons of diapers!! I had my camera in the car, here are a few pictures.

One of my favorites, thank you Mrs. Risse

I love this one!

Momma, I have a baby with hair, and it's dark!!

As you can see, she is lacking affection!
Proud big sister, Anna could hold her for hours.

I just love her hair even though it is not too evenly spread out.

Happy 1st Week Bethany!!

All the kids got to have a part, things started out nice and calm.
Then things got a bit more intense.

She never wants to do that again!

What she is doing at the moment!

Today Beth is one week old, the time has passed by so quickly and I am so sad:( She has jaundice so every morning this week has been spent at the Dr. having her blood drawn, hopefully tomorrow will be the last time. We are busy and tired but loving our new little girl and the kids are enjoying their new little sister, they are so good with her. Mike's mom went home this morning, I am happy for her! Thank you for all your help Mrs. Risse. Mike will go back to work on Monday. I am trying to get alot of phone calls returned. I love you all and miss you, thank you again for your kind e mails and calls. Here are pictures from today.

We are home!!

We were able to get home today, I am so happy to be here. We had planned on coming home yesterday but Beth has jaundice so we had to stay another night. We have to take her back to the Dr. in the morning. Here are some shots of us getting ready for the ride home. I miss you all and wish you could see here, she is so sweet. We will be there soon momma!!

The Kids!

More pictures and a quick labor/delivery story

Anna is so proud! Luke is all over her, he loves her! Naomi has better things on her mind:)

I had my dr's appt. yesterday May 5th, I was 5cm and 75% effaced, so she stripped my membranes which was not too bad. Mike and I went walking last night. Around 1:00 this morning I was feeling some discomfort and started having regular contractions at 4am. When we got to the hosp. at 6am I was 7cm, I was completely dilated and ready to push about 9am, she was born at 9:33. We are so thankful to the Lord for His mercies. I was 8cm with no epidural and having strong painful contractions about every other minute, it was so painful!!! Her heart rate went from 150 to 80 to 40 to a few seconds of hearing nothing. The nurse yelled out and a ton of people ran in our room, they threw me on all fours, we were ready for an emergency c/s but thankfully her heart rate picked back up. Come to find out her cord was around her neck and having those contractions would make the cord tighten around her neck. We are thankful to the Lord, thank you for your prayers. I love you all and wish you were here cannot wait to see you this summer!

She has arrived!!

Introducing Bethany Hope born this morning weighing 8lb 7oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She looks just like the other kids. She has big brown eyes, black hair and a very small strawberry on her forehead. Everything happened so quick, I will write and post more later. Thank you for your prayers, love you all! Mike's mom is bringing the kids up this afternoon.

My last Doctor's appointment update!

Here is another quick update, I will make this quick:) I am 5cm and 75 % effaced for all of you wandering :) I let her strip my membranes which sounds horrible but was not that bad. Mike and I went on a long walk tonight. My induction was scheduled for Friday at 6am but they had a bed come open for Thursday at 6am, so my induction was changed for then if I do not go before. I am very tired, love you thank you for your prayers, please keep praying.

40 weeks!

Beth and I at 40 weeks
One last picture of just the 3 of them!

I am SO ready but Bethany is not:(

So here is the run down on my appointment today.....

I have made no changes as far as dilation and effacement since last tuesday, still at 3cm and 50 % effaced. Were were going to schedule an induction for Tuesday May 5 but the hospital only does 3 inductions a day and the first available to me was Friday May 8! So....if Beth has not arrived by Friday May 8th, we will go in at 6am to be induced. I have my next appointment on Tuesday May 5th. Well I was so ready, I had all my bags in the car, the house was clean.....but my little girl was not ready. Please pray I might can go on my own before the 8th as I do desire to not be induced. The only reason for the induction is to make sure she does not get too big from the diabetes. Thanks for your prayers.

Here you go Momma

Our new living room furniture

Wed. April 8, 2009

I am so very thankful the Lord cleared the weather, I was able to go to Ga and He brought Beth and I home safely last night. Please remember Katie in your prayers as she has this loss upon her and Daniel is leaving Monday for Mississippi. He will then leave for a 10 month deployment to Afghanistan.

I did get to hold my nephew, he was so so sweet and peaceful. I love him, he is beautiful.

Daddy and Momma with Conner.

Please Pray

Conner Ian Williams

3lb 6oz 16 1/2 in

April 5, 2009

I am leaving in the morning for Georgia to be with my sister and my precious nephew Conner Ian. Please pray for protection of Beth and myself and also for my sister Katie and her husband Daniel. I will write more later about this precious baby nephew of mine that the Lord has choosen to take. I did see some pictures and he is beautiful. Thank you for your prayers.

Snow

Drift from our kitchen window
Drift from dining room

Outside our house, that's me in the garage

our neighborhood

Here are some pictures from today. I may take more later, it is too cold and windy now.

Well.........

Will this be the month of Beth's birth?? We shall see:)

Mike has had a couple more days off this week as we had another blizzard and more snow is on the way. I have never seen so much snow, it really is crazy. I am excited about the summer:)

Mike's mom has her ticket and Lord willing will be here the 25 of April until the 13 of May. I am feeling a little better about things now.

Not too much going on here, just staying busy.

Welcome Baby Nolan

Last night (this morning) right after midnight GA time, little Nolan entered the world!!! The only details I know at this point are he has a head full of dark hair and was 9lb 5 ounces!!! If you are reading this and have pictures, please e mail them!! I am sure Mandy is so tired yet so happy to finally have him here. Love you Mandy and Congratulations!!

34 week update

I had my 34 week appointment today and all went pretty well. I am measuring 34 weeks on the dot and she said at this point she does not think Beth to be a big baby and as long as I keep watching my sugar we should be able to avoid that. Because she is measuring right on, she said she does not feel like she needs to do another u/s at this point. My sugar levels have been pretty high but she was also not too concerned about that. She says Beth is low and head down and her heart beat was in the fast 170's!! She did tell me because of the diabetes I have the option to be induced at 39 weeks and that if she is not born by my due date she will not let me go over. SO..... I think we will schedule an induction the last week of April when I am 39 weeks. However... if I go to my 39 week appt and I am not favorable for an induction I will not do it. This is all if she does not come before then, Luke came at 38 weeks so..... We will see! I had WONDERFUL as wonderful can be labor and delivery with Naomi and Luke and I am sure praying for the same.

We have a bad stomach bug at our house. Mike has been so good about taking over the house and the kids, he is such a help to me!!! I am so so thankful for him!

Swing Set

Mike and I have been wanting to get the kids a swing set, so the other day we bought a swing set a Toys R Us for almost $300. We had plans on spending all day today putting it together. Well....our neighbors were having a yard sale today and Mike stopped by as he was out riding his bike this morning. They are moving to Alaska and mentioned needing to sell their swing set since there will not be a need for one there. Mike asked how much and they said $50! They have only had it a little over a year. So needless to say here it is now in our back yard!! We could not justify the $250 difference. Mike and the neighbor carried it over to our backyard, no assembly required:) I took back the other one to Toys R Us. We did have to buy Luke that little baby seat, that cost half as much as the swing set:) All that being said, we are getting a blizzard monday of a possible 2-4 feet of snow! Maybe summer time will eventually hit us.

33 Weeks

Anna tried to take some pictures, sorry they are a bit blury!

Projects and more projects!

Beth's bed in our room. She will stay here until we take Luke out of the baby bed this summer and move him to a twin bed. Here is Rebecca's quilt and the blanket is just like the one Grace got for Naomi, just purple!
We have a ton of girl things!! I did buy those little socks that look like shoes, I thought they were too cute!

Here is Beth's dress that she will wear to her first Sunday at church. She will come home is the same dress that Anna, Naomi, Katie, myself and even uncle Chad came home in. Is that right momma?? The bonnet and bible I had bought for Katie's little girl who turned out to be a little boy:) She gave them back to me to use for Beth!

Mostly Anna's and Naomi's baby clothes, I bought 2 winter outfits as it is still cold here.

Material for the quilt.

burp cloths, just cloth diapers with ribbon.

I finally feel as though I am accomplishing something. I have been having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions and many are pretty uncomfortable. I believe Beth to be so so low. Saying that to say...I think that has put me into nesting somewhat:) I am still having blood sugar issues and go back to the Dr. next Thursday. I finished Luke's scrapbook and put pictures from the last year and a half into albums. Beth now has a closet full of clothes and her bed is ready! Tonight I made these burp cloths and tomorrow I hope to start on her quilt and finish it by next week. Anna should be done with school in about a week. She is so excited as I told her when she finished school, she could start piano lessons. Here are some pictures of those projects that I wanted to share. Love you all!

can you come momma?

Can't you come to SD momma? I know you can't but I wanted to ask, we need you! love you

32 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

Beth is such an active girl!! Today was my 32 week check up, all looked good except for the gestational diabetes. Even with this very strict diet of 30 carbs breakfast, 60 carbs lunch and 45 carbs dinner...my blood sugars are still very much high after meals. I am testing 4 times a day. I thought that would be hard, but that has been the easy part, the diet is a bit harder. I can say I have been very faithful to follow this diet. I meet with the diabetic counselor again on friday and my Dr. said today that if my blood sugar levels are not down by my 34 week appt, I will need to start insulin. She said some women do not make enough insulin during pregnancy no matter how much they exercise or what they eat. I can say that I am feeling much better now that I know how to watch my carbs, no more shakes for the most part. I do have to eat 3 snacks during the day of 15 carbs each and can have all the sugar free jello I want as there are no carbs there:)

Days are busy here. I am finishing up school with Anna, I hope to be done before Beth arrives. I am finishing up Luke's scrapbook and hope to start Beth a blanket and have it finished before she arrives. So much to do before she gets here and the time is getting closer!!

Luke is a new boy!

Luke got his first haircut, he needed one BAD! He did not do so well for the first minute, but after I gave him a push pop he did much better. Thankfully Mike was there to help. I think Luke looks like a new little boy and I think he is happy with his haircut. You should have seen the push pop, it was full of hair:)

Good News

Mike made it safely home from Denver. I am thankful to the Lord once again for his mercies.

Guess what he brought me all the way from Denver?????????????? YES YES Chick Fil A!!

My new living room set was expected to arrive the first of April, we just got a call that they will deliver on Tuesday!!!

My Dr.'s appt.

Today was my 30 week appt. The results came in from yesterdays 3 hour glucose and I do have gestational diabetes. I have to take a gestational diabetes class that will teach me about my new diet and I have to start taking my blood sugar several times a day. I am still feeling very sick from yesterday's test so I was not surprised at those results. All else looked pretty good. My B/P was great, my weight gain was none and I am measuring about 2 weeks behind, she was not concerned about that though. Luke was born about 2 weeks early because I went to the Dr. and was a 6-7 so they just broke my water. If they get concerned about Beth's size and I am favorable for induction, they may break my water early with her, we will see.

What is new with us?

Well...Mike is in Colorado until Thursday doing an active duty funeral. I had my 3 hour glucose test yesterday and have felt sick ever since then. I have my 30 week check up today in which I will be taking all 3 kids:) Mike's job is so flexible that this seldom happens, so I try to have a good attitude when it does, I mean they are my kids:) Hopefully this will be one of those regular quick in and out appointments where you hear the heartbeat and then you are out! I feel Beth move so much. I have tried walking 1-1/2 miles a day on the treadmill and that has helped slow down some sudden weight gain that I was having. I think I may have to quit the treadmill and walk inside at the pride hanger here on base. I have never walked too much on the treadmill and being 30 weeks pregnant is challenging to me, I just feel as though I will loose balance and am becoming unsteady!

The kids are well. We have been looking into this school year for Anna. Does it matter if you get the accredited curriculum for K5???? There is about a $500 difference in price for Abeka. I am not sure how to go about all this. This year she would start public school, so I have to see what steps I have to take to home school. Any advice from you homeschooling moms?

I saw pictures of Little Brady Joseph and he is beautiful, looks just like Rebecca. Maybe I will post pics after I talk to Rebecca. Katie has now registered at Target and Babies R US. She has a shower in March and is looking forward to that. Pray for her, she has a kidney that is not draining and they will have to put a stint in if it does not get better. Talked to Mandy and she is doing great at 34 weeks:)

Well enough of me going on and on.....................

Welcome to the World.

Little Brady was born this morning! Congratulations to Rebecca, Mike and Bryce.

Well what's new?

I thought I passed but the Dr. called this morning and I failed my glucose test:( I was excited thinking for once I passed, but no. So now I have to do the 3 hour one. The test is not bad. I have been trying to watch my sugar with the exception of when Katie was here, I should have done better then.

Katie is now in Denver on her way to Atlanta. Mike is in Sioux Falls doing a funeral and will be back tomorrow. Perfect timing, as soon as I dropped Katie off at the airport it started to snow a bit but now it is really coming down heavy. I am thankful she made it out before things got worse.

Hopefully today I can return some phone calls and relax around here.

Conner meet Beth!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful man in the world....

He is my husband, I love you Mike! I am so thankful to the Lord for you.

This is for you Momma.

Yes even Luke came to girls night out!
Girl's night out last night (really girl's night in). We have had this going for a long time.
At girl's night out we eat Oreos with milk and watch a movie.

Well here we are, our due dates are 6 days apart.

Here we are!

Notice how Luke would take part in the picture under the obligation that he could sit 10 feet away:)

We are enjoying Aunt Katie's visit!! We went to Spearfish the other day to eat at this really good mexican restaurant. I ordered new couches but they will not be in for 8 weeks:( We will see what comes first my couches or Beth!

Would you like to see weight gain?

Well I think the last time I posted a picture of me was at 20 weeks, I am now 27! I cannot imagine how much bigger my belly can get in 13 more weeks!! I do not think I was this big with the other 3. Well here in a bit we are headed to the airport to get Katie. Last I talked to her she was on the plane headed to Denver. Anna is my photographer, sorry it is blury!

Count Down!

Only 3 more days until Lord willing we pick Katie up from the airport!!!! We get her for 2 full weeks. MeMe you need to come up once more before the baby is born, please...?? People said that being away would become easier over time, it has become harder by the day. I am thankful for airplanes, internet and phones!

Luke's Scrapbook

Mrs. Batchelor (Rebecca's mom) made me this scrapbook for Luke. She did everything, all I had to do was add the pictures. I have had it packed away and decided I needed to get working on it before little Beth comes and I really do not have time. I am finished with putting the pictures in, but I do want to add a few pages of my own (like u/s, showers, pregnant pics of me). She is so creative and this was such a help!! Thank you Mrs. Batchelor!

It is snowing here and the roads are bad so we did not have church today.

Katie is coming to SD the 4th-18th of Feb!!!!!!!!!!!! We are just a little bit EXCITED about that. I look forward to spending time with her before our babies are born. We plan on making a trip to Ga sometime this summer. Lord willing by that time I will have Beth, Katie will have her son, Rebecca will have Brady and Mandy will have little Nolan!! Lots of new babies:)

An exciting thing is happening in our house, Anna is reading! Well you know those 3-4 letter words but we are excited and so proud of her!

I am almost 26 weeks!

Well....

I am getting a nephew!

Katie's Wedding

I think all of you blogging friends know, but Katie was married on Jan. 7th. Here are a few pictures. I think they looked really nice! Sorry they are so little, hope you have good eyes:)

Our Luke

The Lord is answering prayer!

1. Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but Naomi's second thyroid test came back fine. We will have it rechecked in several months.

2. We had an appointment yesterday with a Geneticist that comes to Rapid City from Sioux Falls 4 times a year. All went perfect, he was a great Dr and said he sees no problem at all with Naomi.

3. Naomi's speech therapist said today she no longer believes Naomi to have Apraxia but just a speech delay. Naomi has made so much progress with her speech in the last 4 weeks, it is unbelievable to us here. We have prayed for the Lord to hear our prayer and to loosen her tongue. We have been encouraged with the progress she is making and we know it is all of the Lord, praise God!

The speech therapist said if Naomi continued to make this kind of progress she would not need therapy when she turns three. She said we would be able to work with her and correct her on our own at home. This would mean no fighting the insurance!

Momma's visit

Making a mirror
Playing memory

Making sugar and peanut butter cookies

Girls night out( really in:)

Momma with the cross stitch I made her and the stepping stone the kids made.


We had a really good time with MeMe and are sad that she is gone. We will have to get you back once more before our trip to Ga after the baby is born. We LOVE you!!!!!!!!!

We are getting a visitor!!!!

Guess who is coming to SD? YES MEME (my momma). She is leaving very earling in the morning and her flight arrives here around 10am. We are so EXCITED!! Please pray for her as she travels by plane. You have to take 2 planes to get our house, so she has a long morning ahead of her. LOVE YOU MOMMA, THANK YOU FOR COMING!!!!!!!

If you like a sale.....

The Vision Forum has most of their preaching/teaching CD's for 70% off until the 31st. That is $3.00 for most of the CD's, they are regular $10.00. Mike and I have alot of them and plan on ordering some more at this price. You should check them out, they have blessed us.

www.visionforum.com

Merry Christmas

Naomi and her tricycle
Luke on his zebra

Anna with her baby

My mom and Philip got Mike this dehydrator

More signing time DVDs

Blanket Momma made Naomi

Baby from MeMe and PPaw

Camera from MeMe and PPaw

Anna got these 19 DVD's from Moody, looked pretty neat!

Luke with his fire truck.

Christmas dinner last night.

1828 dictionary that has biblical word meanings.

Kids last night

Me and Beth at 21 weeks.

Hello to all my family and friends in GA, I miss you and love you so much!!!!! I especially miss being home during the holidays. Thanksgiving is Mike's families big day and Christmas has always been my families big day. Since we were not home last year or this year I like to do some of the traditions my mom has always had. We ate Christmas dinner last night and this morning ate ham, biscuit and cheese grits. The only thing missing was the hot apple cider( I am so sad I forgot that, it would be so good right now). We are enjoying being here with our little family, Lord willing we will try Christmas in GA next year. Thank you all so much for the many gifts that were sent!! I love you all and wish I was with you today. Here are some pictures from Christmas in SD.

OK NOW.....

Does anyone else see 2 faces in my 4D ultrasound pics?? My mom and several others also do???? I sure see it, what is that face looking image in the pic??? Rebecca did yours look like this?? In my 7 week u/s pictures I always said I saw a baby behind the other. ?????????????????????????????

Introducing........

Bethany Hope (Beth)

Yes we are having a girl. All looked great and we are so excited!

The U/S lady printed me off these nice 4D pictures. They are really fuzzy here because I tried to take a picture of them instead of scanning. If you are looking at the real thing they are very clear and way too cool.

Beth's face

Face again

Face again

Feet:)

Profile

Thank you aunt Brenda and Dakota

Yes we were told we could open these early:) My aunt Brenda and Dakota found these birthstone ornaments. My granny got us all these for Christmas one year before Naomi and Luke were born and I think Anna was a baby?? So now we all have these pretty birthstone ornaments on the tree, very pretty!

Naomi's 2 thyroid test came in today and all looked good on that one, so no synthroid for now. We may have them checked again in a couple months. That is a blessing as she is so young to be on medication for anything. Thank you again for your prayers!

My New Bible

Mike got me this bible for my birthday. I was in need of a new bible and this one is absolutely perfect for me. I love it and am so thankful for it!!!!!!! Speaking of bibles, Mike is in the recovering bibles business, need your bible recovered? I think he has done 6 for different people and does a very good job! Need a new bible? Bearing Precious Seed have very nice bibles and they only charge you what it cost them to make them.

Friday is my big 20 week ultrasound!! We are excited to see boy or girl :) What is your guess? We guess girl:)

Happy Birthday Momma!

We Love you MeMe!

Yes this picture was taken in South Dakota.

MeMe is coming to SD the 2-6 of January, shhhh it is a surprise for the kids.

We are SO excited!!!! This gave us a good reason to buy new sheets for our twin bed in the spare room:)

Update

Debby (Tabitha's mother in law) did pass tonight. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to remember this family in your prayers as they face the days ahead.

Prayer Request

I am not sure if this is appropriate or not, I did not get a chance to ask Tabitha's permission to do this I am sure she would be ok with it. I have told some of you about the condition of Tabitha's mother in law Debby. Andy's dad just called Andy with news that Debby's blood pressure is dropping and the Dr's do not have promising news with this. Andy and Tabitha are throwing things together so they can head to SC. Please pray for Debby and this family right now. Please pray for protection of Tabitha, Andy and Lila as they make the drive to SC. We know the Lord's timing is perfect. Andy has a desire to be there with his dad and his mom. Please pray the Lord's timing might be after Andy and Tabitha have safely arrived to SC and have had a chance to see Debby. I can imagine their anxiety to make it to SC at this time.

Naomi

I had some concern with Naomi's thyroids possibly being low so we had the Dr. check them last week. Alot of you asked about those results and we were sure all was ok as we had not heard anything. The Dr. Called today and Naomi does have decreased Thyroid (TSH levels). We are going back in today and have them redrawn before he starts her on synthroid.

Naomi Joy update

Most of you who read my blog will already know of this and thank you for your prayers. For those of you who do not, here is an update on Naomi. Currently Naomi has speech therapy once a week on Thursdays. This past Thursday the speech therapist said she believes Naomi may have Apraxia. This was not a surprise to me, I had suspected this for some time as she had most of the signs. Starting the first of the year her speech therapist wants to up therapy at home to twice a week. Once Naomi turns 3 in June we are told by our insurance that they will no longer cover our therapist in the home but that we must send Naomi to the public schools early intervention program in order to continue with therapy. I cannot find this in their policy and no one at our insurance company can tell me where to find it in the policy. I am very upset about this. Mike and I are in the process (which may be a long one) of seeing what can be done to have our insurance to continue the coverage at home. By the way the Christian Law Association seems to be a great thing! I am not sending Naomi to school for therapy. I believe with all my heart we have the absolute best speech therapist and that her individual therapy with Naomi in our home is what is best for Naomi. Please pray for these things..
1. That the Lord would loosen Naomi's tongue. That he would save her at a young age. That she would use her voice to glorify God. That this would bring glory to God.
2. That this would not be a battle with our insurance company as I have seen it be with other moms in my place. That the Lord would have this to be a smooth process with our insurance company.

Thank you again for all the love and prayers on behalf of our family. Just within the past week Mike and I have seen outstanding progress from Naomi, Praise God!

Pure sugar icing!

Tonight the girls and I made this really cute ginger bread house, the icing was 100% sugar!!

We are home!

Mr. Risse, Paul, Dan, Sarah, Mike, Grace and Mrs. Risse
Kaylee, Ian, Sarah, Anna, Mikayla, Naomi, Abby, Luke and Joseph with Emmie

Thankful to the Lord again, we are home. We drove 20 hours through and arrived home a bit after midnight. About 2 miles into the trip Anna became sick. She is a little better now. We had plans to stay the night but it did not work out that way. The kids were asleep when we had plans to stop and Mike was feeling good so we continued driving. Once we thought about stopping because the kids woke up and at that time there were no hotels around. When we finally came across a hotel we were only a couple hours from home so we decided to finish it out. The Lord was in all that as a winter storm hit today that I was not really aware of and so the Lord protected us from that.

We had a great time in TX where the Ledbetters gave us the master room and bath in their very nice new home. It was so good to have everyone together. Thank you all for everything.

Last post for a while..

Ok, Lord willing we will be leaving early tomorrow morning for Texas. We plan on arriving there Tuesday night. Lord willing we will be back in SD Tuesday of next week. Pray for us as we travel, God has always been so good on the road and in the air!

Naomi's Quilt

Here is a quilt my mom made for Naomi. I love this material, it was my granny's. Thank you momma for all you time and love for your grandbabies!!

I had my 16 week check up today and all was well, we heard the heart beat (150)!

Alot of Love and Time, thank you!!!

Naomi's
Anna's

Luke's

Baby Levi's or Baby Bethany's (Beth)

Here are 4 beautiful quilts that my very great friend Rebecca made for my kids. She was SO kind to spend that much time, love and money on my children. She is pregnant with a 2 year old, a pretty motivated girl with alot of Love! Pray for her and her baby boy. Thank you so so much Rebecca.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Chuck E Cheese

Cupcakes

Well tonight is Anna's big night. We are taking her and two friends to Chuck E Cheese. We made these cupcakes for tonight. Hope it all works out for us to go, it is snowing pretty hard here. We have still have a ton of snow from the blizzard last week.

Lord Willing we will be leaving a week from Monday to Texas for Thanksgiving, we are very excited about that!! And guess who we are staying with?? The McKinney Ledbetters (Grace, Dean and kids..) They are always so kind to us when we stay there. Last time we went to Texas, I moved in with them for about 2 weeks!!! I had a great time but I am sure they were ready for me to go:( Mike was in school in school at that time. Well it has been 9 months so maybe they have recovered:)

Enough...I need to get off here and go make lunch, clean the kitchen, put the kids down, home school (yes we have yet to do that today:(), ...... and all those other things that are calling me. Have a good day!

More Pics of my kids:)

We were all planning on going out to dinner tonight and Mike just called and said he is running about a hour behind:( All dressed up and no where to go:( Well what better thing to do than to take pictures of the kids and blog them, right? Speaking of going out to dinner....We NEVER do this anymore. I have been sick (which thankfully I can say Praise God, I think I am over that hill!!), it is alot of work and very very cold to go out too much.