Our Baby Girl

We cannot believe it but we are actually going to have a little girl. The doctor said she was pretty sure at 17 weeks and then confirmed it again at 23 weeks. We are very excited and are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us in this way. Months before we found out that we were pregnant I wrote an email to a friend saying "I was thinking of asking for a daughter for Christmas but I think that I stand a better chance of getting my dining room chairs recovered". I took a pregnancy test on Christmas Day which confirmed that we were expecting #5 and my dining room chairs remain the same. I know that, whether we had a son or daughter, the Lord has designed this for our good, that he has fashioned this baby, and that all the days ordained for him/her were written before one of them came to be. We look forward to holding this little girl and learning how to be parents to a daughter.

Easter Sunday

So I am a little behind on my blogging! This Easter we were able to celebrate with a few other foreigners in the city. Not all of the foreigners speak English so our service was in the national language. In all honesty, that is still a little hard for me. Easter is one of my favorite times of the year and what I really want to do is to be able to worship with my whole heart. That is hard to do when you are speaking, listening and singing in a language that you are still trying to learn. At the same time I am thankful that though we do not all speak the same "heart language" the reason we came together to celebrate is the same - we have a relationship with a risen Savior.

He's a Mess!

A popular kid treat here is chocolate
spread on bread. Micah loves it and this time
he literally inhaled it (sneezing chocolate hours later).

Now that is some serious bedhead!

Micah has entered the "Terrible Two's" and while he is not exactly terrible he is causing a lot of problems. Just last week we had the hardest day ever with him. The day included him blowing his nose into the curtain, spraying cleaning liquid into his brothers pants drawer, pulling a shelf off the wall (breaking 5 of my Willow Tree figurines), and using a face cloth and toilet water to wet the bathroom. You may be wondering if anyone is watching this kid! I told him that he is lucky he is so cute or else he'd be in big trouble. Most of the time he is not that hard to handle but now that he can climb up to the top bunk and open the front door he needs someone to watch him like a hawk. I just hope that he doesn't learn any new, dangerous tricks.

Micah turns 2

Yesterday we celebrated Micah's second birthday. Micah has been talking about cake ever since Lucas' birthday so he was very excited about his birthday cake. He was so excited that he tried to eat the scraps off the parchment paper. His favorite gift was his blue tricycle - though he is still too short to reach the pedals.
Micah is a very sweet little boy. He still likes to sit with me and often asks me to hold him. I found myself thinking the other day that I really do not want him to get any bigger, but somehow I do not think that that is going to happen. He loves balls, jumping off of things, puzzles, being chased by his brothers, and playing outside. I love when he - hides behind something and says "you can't find me" - when he says "thank you mommy" - says "please mommy please" when I tell him to stop jumping on the bed - climbs up onto the back of the couch so that he can play with my ponytail - puts his finger on his nose and says "shhh" - runs to say "you okay?" when his brothers are crying.- plays with his hair when he is tired and wakes up with a mohawk because he fell asleep holding his hair. Basically we are so blessed to have this little boy!

Lucas' 4th Birthday

On Monday we celebrated Lucas' 4th birthday. It is hard to believe that when we moved here he was only 18 months old. Suffice to say, he has grown a lot. I was able to take a birthday cake to Lucas' school and he celebrated with his classmates. I'm not sure why, but Lucas was out of sorts on his birthday. At school he barely said a word and never smiled. Once we got home and he opened his presents we were able to get him to smile. His favorite thing was his guitar. He also requested to ride the small train at the mall, but ended up crying for most of the ride. In hindsight I think that he had not completely recovered from his illness the week before. He is back to his old self now - though I told him that once a kid turns 4 he can no longer do naughty things!

Merry Christmas

It is a little weird to be living in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas. There are Christmas trees for sale and even some decorations - but those just hit the shelves last week as those are considered New Year's decorations here. Nonetheless, our boys still get excited about the holiday and for a month we read portions of the Christmas story for family worship and sang Christmas carols. Last night we had some friends over for a Christmas Eve dinner and we all really enjoyed that. The kids played different parts during the reading of the Christmas story - Josiah was a wise man, Caleb was Joseph, Micah was baby Jesus and Lucas decided to be a sheep. One family built a pinata for the kids which they really enjoyed. This morning the boys woke early to open their presents - Caleb and Josiah's centered around football, while Lucas' gifts were mostly car related. Micah's favorite things were his cell phone and punch balloons. We had a great day and are thankful that the Lord has poured out his grace on us in allowing us to understand and celebrate the significance of this day - the birth of our Savior.

Thanksgiving

I realize that it is really close to Christmas and I have yet to post the pictures of Thanksgiving. We were able to travel back to our old city to see friends/family this Thanksgiving. Our boys, especially Caleb, had a wonderful time. We saw friends, ate a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, and the boys were even able to play football. It was nice to spend time with those who have become like family to us since moving overseas.