Changes

 Easter morning
Nehemiah age 4
Virginia age 3
Jana age 1

 Love this girl

 My Mom's French Bulldog Solomon passed away awhile back.
This is her new Frenchie, Precious

 How adorable is a small child with a puppy?

 Nehemiah has been enjoying this warmth

 Working on lots of new crayons
Below is a photo of a set-up at a recent show

The biggest change my family has had recently was that was husband was asked to pastor a church in Dayton, Ohio.
It's been kind of a hard change for us. There are 2 services every Sunday, and most Sundays Alex also preaches at a nursing home between services. We also have services on Thursday night.

It is an hour and a half drive. Makes for a long day with 3 little ones, but we're starting to get into the groove of things! :)

Any new changes in my friends lives?

Growing up

We say our kids grow up too quickly. 

Sometimes it's our fault. 

Yesterday it broke my heart to force my son to grow up just a little more. 

We were in the Dollar Tree and he wouldn't leave a yo-yo alone that I'd told him I'd buy him. 

A typical 4 year old boy, he was pulling the retractable string out, and wrapping it around himself. 

He wrapped it around his belly, 

around his finger, 

then around his neck. 

He doesn't know why it upsets me to see him put things around his neck. 

I got on my knees and told him, 

"You cannot do that."
A typical 4 year old boy, he wanted to know why. 

I explained to him, his Uncle Jason died by doing that exact thing. 

Trying to explain to a 4 year old happy-go-lucky boy that his uncle chose to die. 

That his Uncle thought life was that bad that he didn't want to live. 

It was more than a 4 year old could understand. 

Hopefully he DOES understand why I will not allow him to put things on his neck. 

Not a day goes by that my brother is not thought of, not a day goes by that we don't grieve for him. 

Sorry to have a depressing post......

Here's an update on my life. 

Nehemiah is a very smart 4 year old boy! He adds and knows his numbers, he counts forwards and backwards by 2. He spells some, and knows his letters.
When he grows up he wants to be an astronaut.

Virginia is very "motherly" she loves to mother all the little babies at church. She loves to hold her new baby niece Eliana. She loves to help around the house and is getting so big!
When she grows up she wants to be a Mommy with babies. 

Jana...well Jana is something else. She's a busy little girl who I am an no longer am allowed to call a baby. She talks non-stop and is a very good listener (Unless she decides not to, then she lets me know she's still a baby :P) She also loves to hold any baby that will let her and is always carrying a doll and her blanket. 

Alex is ministering full time. Saturday will be his 30th birthday. When he grows up...well, we'll just see what happens ;)

Me??? I'm all grown up. ;) I've recently added my crayons to a museum gift shop!! I still do shows and have them in a local bakery! I'm having a lot of fun doing them!

I have a blog?

Life has been busy! Just the way we like it! Alex has been preaching some, he wasn't able to keep his job and go to Uganda in May. We've learned to lean on Him. 

In Oct my brother-in-law Cory got married! 

Nehemiah was the ring bearer and Virginia was one of the flower girls. 

 

I've been doing a few craft shows with my crayons. I've made a lot of friends along the way!! It's been a lot of fun! :) 

 

Sorry it's been ssoooooo long since I've last updated, hopefully I don't go months without an update again, but I cannot make any promises ;)

 

 

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We spent ours at a parade then later went to my sister's house. 

We've had an exciting couple of weeks, last week we were heading up to Defiance to my SIL's birthday party and soon after leaving town we were in the middle of a terrible storm. Alex pulled into a church parking lot for some cover, but even then our van was going up and down and back and forth. We went home after the storm let up, and we had a tree down in our yard, and no power. We were without power for about 24 hours. We were pretty blessed that it came on so quickly, my parents were without power for 6 days, and I'm not sure if my in-laws have power yet. 

Tomorrow, my baby will be one! I'm still not sure how I feel about this! I love watching each new stage!

She gets into everything now, and is a very busy baby. She's still the happiest baby I know! She knows some words. She says "Hi" and Baby, sometimes she'll say Jana, she says "happy" and will clap her hands. The funniest one to me is when she sees a camera she'll say "Cheeeeeeeeeeeese!!" 

I haven't found much she won't eat (honestly, I can't think of anything off the top of my head!!) 

She loves to pat and rock baby dolls, it's so sweet!! 

Strange to think that one year ago I didn't know what was in store for me as I got ready to go into the hospital. From being rushed into surgery, to watching them work on my blue baby, them not telling Alex, and finally seeing her take that first breath of air, and watching that little body turn pink, I don't think those images will ever leave me. 

Happy 1st birthday Jana (meaning God's gracious gift) Renee (meaning: reborn or born again)

Stitches and Sundays

Sunday morning did NOT start out the way we intended. Alex had taken Nehemiah into church to go to the bathroom and I followed behind with the girls. 

When I walked in I heard Nehemiah screaming. If you've heard him when he's hurt, it's not a pleasant sound. 

He'd ran ahead of Alex and hit a metal pole in the basement. With his face. 

Alex had blood on his hands, and Nehemiah had it on his face. He had a nice sized hole on his jaw line. 

Alex and Ben Erickson both thought that taking him to ER for stitches would be best, so off we went. 

We did the usual signing in and they got us to a room pretty quickly. 

Then the waiting started. They were good about checking on him and keeping us up to date. 

After all the paperwork and everything was filled out they said it would require some stitches. I was kinda hoping he'd have glue, or even the dissolving stitches, but no luck there. He got the nasty black stitches. 

They put a numbing thing on his face for about 30 mins, and then put him on the bed. As soon as that needle touched his face, he shot up and screamed!! He looked the doctor in the face and said, "THAT HURT!!!" They called another nurse in to hold his head. The doctor tried to tell him that his face was numb, he couldn't feel it and started again. Miah screamed, "I can feel that!! It hurts!!" 

They swaddled him, his legs and arms were strapped down and got the needle to give him a shot to numb it. By then Jana was upset so her and I walked in the hallway outside the room. I could hear him screaming, "No more medicine!! That hurts, no more medicine" 

He finally calmed down, and the shot must have worked. They were able to put the stitches in. Let me tell you, watching them take a needle and thread to your child's face, is really gross. 

He got a blue teddy bear and I informed him that I do NOT like this birthday tradition that he's taken upon himself to start. Last year he'd stuck a crayon up his nose and that required surgery. So he got a teddy bear then. Next year....we'll buy him one. ;) Even going to Build-A-Bear would be cheaper than the bill we'll get from this stunt.

Now...for the pictures

They aren't very good, because he didn't want anyone looking at the stitches. BTW...he got four

Life as we know it

For two and a half weeks the kids and I were on our own as Alex was in Uganda. If you asked my kids where Dad was, they'd have told you, "He's in Africa, helping people learn about Jesus"

We stayed busy visiting friends, going to the zoo, and just having fun together. :)

June 18th Nehemiah will be 4!! He says he wants to start school because he's "big enough" 

We're going to wait another year to send him to school. I want him to stay a little boy just a little bit longer!

Virginia has been a big helper! She thinks any baby doll she sees at a thrift store, garage sale, or even at a regular store needs to be "rescued" by her!! Her hair is getting so long!!

Hard to believe that last year this little girl wasn't here yet!! She's such a wonderful addition to our family!

She is a very busy baby! She's a very fast crawler, and pulls herself up with anything. She's a Mommy girl at the moment, but that's subject to change ;) She loves to eat!! If she thinks someone is eating and she's not, she will get upset!!

I've scheduled a few craft shows! One is June 9th in Lima! Please pray I do well. :)

April

Easter 2012 Nehemiah age 3, Virginia age 2, Jana age 9 months

All dressed and ready to go hear Daddy preach

I recently had a Pampered Chef party, I got each other the kids a knife ;) The two older ones think they're cool! (Jana's is put up for now)

My Pretty Princess

 

Prince Charming. Sorry, I don't know how to flip it on here!

The Round Up Gang!!

Because everyone needs a smile :)