So, yes, it has been two years since my last blog. That is a more than a little ridiculous. In my defense, baby number three was a shock to my/our system.  Not because Aaron was a difficult baby, by any means, but three three and under was. And we have moved two times in those two years.  One of those moves, was quite devastating to my little Texas soul. Thus, the Blog name change.

I have been wanting to blog for a while, but am just now getting to it.  Maybe all the studying Daniel is doing for his first round of finals is getting to me. I have made all the crafty things I can think of, watched my entire collection of Anne of Green Gables, and read a book. I could be doing laundry, but this is so much more fun!

So, a quick update.  Most of you who will be reading this already know the details of our life. So I will make this brief.  After Aaron was born we moved into what was going to be my dream house. And it was a glorious 11 months!  However, after having been there only 4 months, the Lord began to work in Daniel’s heart and mine, and called Daniel to seminary in Minneapolis, MN! This is quite an amazing story of the Lord’s work in our lives.  But, I think I should’ve blogged about that a long time ago. Through some incredible acts of God, we sold our “dream” house, and by June 1, 2011 were moved into our rent house in MN.

During this time of grieving because of leaving our family and overwhelming excitement about our new adventure with the Lord, we found out baby number 4 was on their way!  This one was planned.    As a quick sidenote, I was hoping to be due in September, before Daniel started his first semester in school.  But God, in his infinite wisdom, decided my due date should be in December.  And, I cannot tell you how perfect this has been.  Hopefully, we will get to have Annaleigh (that’s her name), in Texas surrounded by family.  Plus, Daniel will be on Christmas break for an entire month.  How gracious of the Lord to think ahead and to know better than me.  I wish I could remember these acts of kindness from Him more often.  Especially on days like today, when I had small pity party because of my huge belly, the snow and cold, and missing my family.  How ungrateful I am most of the time. That turned out to be a long sidenote, huh?  Well, Daniel kicked off the summer with a nice shocking round of a year of Greek in just a month and half.  He did amazing.  Can I just say, my husband is really very smart? He is.  Plus, i think he is super cute. Ok, moving on… Now, we are in his first semester’s finals.  And, boy am I glad.  I knew this was going to be an adjustment, but whew.  Much harder than I thought.  Not living here, that has actually been really cool, until recently.   But, just having Daniel be stretched so thin and be so busy.  I have heard that each year it is supposed to get easier and easier, but who knows.  Not if we keep adding babies, right?

I could make this an incredibly long blog, I’m afraid.  I guess that is what happens when you haven’t blogged in two years and a lot of life happens. I should probably tell you guys, that I love commas.  I’m pretty sure I over use them, too.  Sorry, if they bother you.  (mostly sorry to Kelsey, who is probably cringing at my declining grammar skills.)  I have been doing a pre-K reading program with Josiah to test my hand at home-schooling.  So, right now I am brushing up on my phonics skills.  I imagine in a few years, we will get to commas and my blogging will drastically improve! Ha!  In, the, mean, time,,,,,,,

Here are a few pictures of the babes.

Claire on her second birthday

Aaron on his first birthday. And unlike me, he prefers his thumb to his cupcake!

a little photo project to say, "Happy Father's Day". check out the amazing flowers in the back yard. MN summers are awesome! also, isn't it crazy how much she grew in 8 months?!

my jo. i love this little boy.

Aaon is hard to get to sit still.

silly kids

Josiah turned four this summer. It was Spiderman overload. This face of enthusiasm continues still. Boys.

and.....summer is over. just like that, people.

see, it is already snowing. this is the best picture i got of our first snow. i wasn't willing to go outside. eek!

Ok, so that’s it for the update.  We plan to head back to TX in a week or two.  Hopefully, Annaleigh will stay put till we make it home.    I will try to get one more blog in before we go.  And then I will probably wait until we get back to post pics of our new, sweet baby girl!  Josiah has been praying for her to have green eyes!  He thought of that all by himself. I pray the Lord will answer his prayer to build his faith in the God of details.  What an amazing God we serve!

 I look pretty terrible, but it was the best one of me and Aaron together so far.Aaron      Josiah 

In the car seat about to come home.

My sweet baby girl.  She is so wonderful.  I love having a girl.

Claire with my Uncle Brian.  This is the problem with girl clothes, every time you pick them up in a dress you show every one their undies.

I think I mentioned she is walking now?  She is such a big girl!  I thought she was so little, until Aaron came.  Now she seems so big.  She turns one on the 2nd!!!  Happy Birthday to Claire!!

I wanted to post a couple of pictures from the hospital and give you guys an update on Josiah.  As of today, he is doing SOOOOO much better.  He still has some joint pain affecting his gait and some seriously cracked lips, but his attitude is much improved.   He is sleeping much better and would be making it through the night if we didn’t have to wake him up to make him take his aspirin.  We should only have a couple of more nights of that.  He has his first cardiologist appointment next friday.   We are fully expecting a good report.  I will post and let you all know how it goes.

Daniel and I both agree this has been the hardest thing we have ever gone through.  It was very scary and we felt extremely helpless to spare our child from such a painful disease.  Even though we knew this disease was completely curable with modern medicine, we still felt very much at the mercy of Christ for Josiah’s healing.   We are so grateful that God has heard our cry for help and healing and answered us with mercy and grace.  Our faith has been grown in a way it never has been before.  And just like the bible tells us that all trials are painful while you are going through them, but produces deeper faith and  love of God when over.  This has been true for us.   This trial has definitely left a mark on our souls.   Thank you, Jesus, for being near us and for healing our son. 

Here are some pictures from the hospital stay and some of my beautiful baby girl.

This was taken day one at the hospital.  It’s hard to believe that he actually looked worse than this at times.

I know this is a sad picture, but the red you see on his face was all over his body.  His forearms, hands and legs were the worst. 

This was taken day 4 at the hospital.  One small bright spot for the day.  He just found out we were going home.

As cute as you can be in a hospital gown.

My sweet sissy girl.  She is trying her best to walk.  She can walk about two or three feet all by herself.  She just still prefers to crawl at this point.  I think her brother scares her from walking.  He is unpredictable and not very helpful when it comes to her walking.   She sits down as soon as she sees him coming!!
Oh, and she is 11 months old!!  She is growing so fast!

Cousin time.  They play really great together!

Big bows!  A friend made them for Claire.  So cute!!

My boys watching the storm and drinking hot tea.  Only, Josiah’s was not hot.

Thanks Laura for the hat!  She is wearing her brothers shirt, because at Wal-Mart the only sweat shirts for girls had silly glitter and puff paint all over them.  I figured robots were better.

Trying to walk.  She is getting close!  My guess is by Dec. 1st.  Daniel says Nov.29th.  We shall see…

Sweet daddy time.  She is really falling in love with him these days.  It’s so adorable!

I LOVE them!!!!

Speaking of sibling love, I walked in the living room last night after I finished washing dishes and Josiah was on the couch and Claire was standing by him and he was leaning over with his arms around her neck giving her kisses.  When I walked in the room, they both turned and looked at me with HUGE smiles on their faces!  I am trying to store memories like that in my mind, so that when I am overwhelmed with the other side of sibling love, the hitting side, I won’t totally lose hope.   I pray so often for them to truly love each other and encourage each other and be to each other what my sisters are for me.  I know God will honor that prayer, and I can’t wait to see those things take place.  In the meantime, I will have to keep disciplining and training in that area. 

There has been some drama while Daniel has been gone…  I only work one half day a week and the day I had to work this week is when all the drama takes place.  Seriously.  Isn’t it funny how it all seems to happen at once?  Josiah always helps me cook breakfast in the mornings.  He sits on the counter by me and stirs stuff, and cracks eggs and usually does awesome.  Well, yesterday he helped me scramble some eggs.  Daniel called to check in and say good morning right as the eggs were done, so I took the eggs off the burner, turned it off, went to get a plate (while talking on the phone) and I look back at Josiah sitting on the counter… and he reaches out his tiny hand and puts it right on the burner that I had just turned off!!!!  Because he helps me cook all the time, I have told me him a HUNDRED times not to touch the burners, and I have even let him get close to touching it to demonstrate just how hot it really is.  Well, he got to experience it first hand. He scorched his second, third and fourth fingers pretty bad.  I put them under running cold water until the screaming stopped, gave him some Tylenol, and got some ice for him to hold. There were no open n wounds just HUGE blisters. We put some Dermoplast on the burns and turned on a movie.   My mom thankfully, came to babysit that morning and she did AWESOME with him.  She held him and got a glass of ice water for him to put his hand in.  I am not sure how, but Claire slept through the whole thing!!  I finish getting ready for work, go to my car  to leave, in the pouring rain, and my battery is dead.   ARGH!  I left the door open a bit and the light was on for like a day and a half.  So I had to drive my mom’s car to work, which is a stick!!  EEK!  I haven’t had to drive one of those since I was 16!!  But it turned out pretty good, I only died twice on the way to work and none at all on the way home!!  Needless to say, it was a crazy day!!  I have a good pic of Josiah’s hand to show you guys.  It is doing really great now.  The blisters are still huge, but the pain is WAAAYY down, Thank You, Jesus! 

Here are some pictures for you guys…

Playing outside and eating dirt before the rain set in.  Her eye is watery because of allergies.  Poor girl.  This isn’t the prettiest picture of her ever, but I just wanted to share how dirty they get while playing outside!!

To the fair we go.  Like our new/used double stroller?

Petting goats, sort of.  I don’t think he wanted to touch them really.

On a ride.  Josiah was too small and Daniel was too big.  Haha!  So cute!

Blisters.  Poor baby. 

 This was taken this morning (10.17.09) 

Well, a few weeks ago, my cousin Jillian took some pictures of us.  She is starting a photography business and needed some people to practice on.   She did a rocking job!  She was so full of energy and made us feel super comfortable and did great with Josiah.  Sadly, though, Claire was horrible.  She is never horrible, but for pictures, she was.   She wouldn’t sit still, she cried the whole time, and she wouldn’t even take a nap!  So I had to take some of her later myself and I sent them to Jillian to edit for me.   I hope you will like them as much as I do! 

Oh!  and we decided to call him Aaron Mann!  We ordered our Christmas cards already and had his name printed on them, so we are committed.  I really like it.  I got him some new baby clothes for winter, and I have been imagining him.  I think Aaron will fit him perfectly. 

I don’t think we have any other news right now, so enjoy the pictures!!!

Didn’t they turn out so good!!?  She is awesome!  This is her website http://www.jilliangarza.com/ if you guys want to see more of her work.

We are having another boy!  We are super excited!  I was really hoping for a boy so that Josiah would have a brother close in age to him and so that Claire wouldn’t have a sister that close.  We are still trying to decide on a name we are about 90% sure it will be Aaron Mann, but Judah Steven and  Aaron Judah are still on the table.  I am waiting for Daniel to decide.  My favorite pick was Judah Steven, but Daniel had doubts about Judah.  Then he got me kinda hooked on Aaron, now he is back to thinking about Judah.  SOOOO… who knows but it will be one of these names for sure.   Mom and I went shopping in Dallas over Labor Day weekend and got the new boy some clothes!  It made it all seem so real and it also made me really excited.  I know my life will be absolutely crazy and so busy, but I am so thankful to the Lord for new life!  I have been feeling the blessing of the Lord over this baby and my personal spiritual life during the last couple of months, and it has been amazing!  I know not only will Christ sustain me, but poor out His mighty Spirit on me to overflowing  joy!   I know I will have my, “I think I might die.” moments, but I feel as I look over this period in my life I will always remember it being marked by joy unimaginable!

In order to accomodate the new baby, we have sold my car and gotten a used, excuse me, a preowned, minivan!  What?!   You heard me right, I am so not cool anymore.   But much to my surprise, I actually like it.  I think it will be a huge blessing and help.   Automatic doors are AWESOME!  Also, we are either selling our house or remodeling.  I think it will end up being a remodel job that will add a room and bathroom, and make the kitchen bigger.  We don’t have anything definite yet, but hopefully one or the other will have happened by December, before the kid gets here.  One day at a time, right?

In the mean time, Josiah has moved to a big boy bed!  He has done AWESOME  not a single problem so far!  So proud of him.  He is growing up so fast.  We left his crib in his room in case the new baby gets here before we have remodeled or found a new house.  If that happens, Claire will sleep in the room with Josiah and the new baby will get Claire’s room until he can share with his brother.

Claire is crawling and pulling to standing and cruising!  I know it will be just a few more months and she will be walking!  Crazy!  I did not expect my daughter to do things before my son!  It makes me wonder what this next one will be like.

Thanks for reading and catching up on us.  Here are a few pictures of my kids from the last week or so.

This is Claire.  Standing in her high chair.  Josiah never did this!!  I am having to train on a bunch of new stuff with her.  Thankfully, she is a fast learner!

Before CBS.  I had just woken her up to go.  Thus, the serious face.

After CBS.  Thus, the happy face.  My kids LOVE CBS.

SOOOO BIG!!!

Isn’t he changing so much?!

Josiah loves to feed Claire.  She just opens her mouth in total trust.  He tells me now, ” Just one at a time, Mommy.”!!  So funny. 

Being silly in his new hat.  He actually will wear it!  This is new for him.  I took a bunch of pics of him in the hat and this was the best.  He tries to pose for the pic and it usually turns out pretty bad.  No offense, Joey.

This is Josiah’s new friend Jack.  He is two weeks older than Josiah.  He talks as well as Josiah does, so they get along really well.  He is a super happy natured kid.  This was their second time to hang out.  They are also in the same CBS class and Sunday School class.  They play really great together!  Josiah’s first real friend!!  YAY! 

awww…

Washing dishes!! 

So happy!  I wish the love for bubbles would last until he can really wash dishes!

Sorry, it has been so long since I have posted anything.  We have been traveling and a million other things.  The kids and I went to Arkansas to visit my beautiful Laura Day and her kiddos.  Both of our hubbies were out of town, so we had to take advantage!!  But let me tell you it was CRAZY!  Three boys, 3, 2 and 1, and my sweet baby girl made quite a handful!  It was so crazy that we didn’t get any pictures!  We tried the very last morning we were there, but the boys would not stand by each other at all!!  It was funny.  We had an awesome time, though!  Laura is an AMAZING cook!  I’m hoping she will post her recipe for the waffles and pork chops (not served together…) we had while we were there. And this is me asking, Laura.   You guys can check out her blog here http://www.ohboydays.blogspot.com/.  We went downtown, such a cute square, to eat and look at all the cute shops.  I had the BEST chicken salad I have ever had!!  Wow.  I have actually been craving it since we have gotten home.  I’m thinking about trying to make it, if I can guess all the flavors in it.   We also took the boys to a park and let them run wild.   My favorite part was after all the kids went to bed, Laura and I got to stay up late talking, watching movies, folding clothes (which is way more fun with a best friend to fold with), and I watched Laura finish sewing me a FREAKIN’ awesome bag!  I need to take a picture of it and post it.  I LOVE IT!  There, seriously, isn’t anything she can’t do!  Laura, we had a great time!  Thank you for being such a great hostess!!  Josiah is still asking for Miss LaYa!!  We love you!

Laura was my inspriation for potty training Josiah!  She gave me lots of tips and assured me that he would catch on very quick.  She was right!  We started on Monday and by Wednesday he wasn’t having any accidents at all and telling me in perfect time that he needed to go, plus waking up dry from both nap and night time!  I don’t fully trust him at night or nap time, yet, so he is wearing pull ups for a while.   He loves it and looks so cute in “big-boy underwear”.  I have a picture, but he only wants to be silly in pictures these days! 

Claire is not officially crawling, by definition, but she is fully mobile.  She just goes where she wants.  I have a few pictures of her.  The other day I gave Josiah a graham cracker to eat and somehow it ended up in the floor (yuck, I know).  Before I found it, Claire did, and had eaten half of it before I found her!!!  I kinda freaked out; she is only  5 months old!!!  I had barely even started her on cereal yet.  Josiah didn’t have a graham cracker until he was probably 10 months old!!!  My poor third child!!!!!

Last night before Josiah went to bed, we were reading a Bible story from a new Bible we just got for him, Read-Aloud Bible Stories Vol.1,by Ella K. Lindvall.  It is awesome by the way if any of you parents are looking for a good version of the Bible to read your kids.  It takes several scriptural references and tells a story and the illustrations are really interesting.  Josiah is MESMERIZED by it.  We have several other versions of the Bible that we have read to him, but this is his favorite!!  ANYWAY, we read the story of how Jesus got in a boat with his disciples and while they were out on the water a big storm blew in.  Jesus was asleep on the boat and all his friends were afraid and woke him for help.  He asked them why they were afraid when He was there and then calmed the storm.  Well, as “luck” would have it, that night a HUGE storm came through town.  I’m telling you it was crazy!!  Some of you may have been through the same storm.  Daniel was driving home it for like two hours.  There was lightning and thunder and crazy hard rain.  Josiah usually sleeps through these with ease, but last night he woke up crying and scared. I went and got him out of bed and got to talk with him about the storm and how we just read that we didn’t need to be afraid, because Jesus was with us. I reminded him that Jesus told the storm to be still and be quite.  Then we prayed that Jesus would calm the storm we were in.  It was amazing the change that took place in my little boys countenance.  He was immediately calmed down and unafraid!!  By the time Daniel got home the storm had calmed down enough to put Josiah back to bed.  Josiah didn’t even cry!!  Thank you, Jesus, for being who you say you are!!  Thank you for loving us and being so faithful.  Thank you for calming our storms and when you don’t calm them, thank you for giving us the ability to walk on the water! 

I go back to the MD this coming Tuesday.  Hopefully, I will get an ultrasound and will have a more acurate due date.  If I find out anything good, I’ll post it.  I hope you guys are all doing wonderful!! Love you!!  Thanks for being interested in our lives!

Here are some pictures.  We haven’t taken many lately.  Sorry.

My Claire. Crawling!!

Later that day… after using her new found skills!

My big boy!!!!!

On the way home from Arkansas.  He just recently decided he likes sunglasses!