Enjoying the sunset on Papa's beach.

Hard to believe July is coming to a close already. We've done a lot already this summer and still have lots more planned. As far as home projects- i've just given up on that. :) We did get a new dresser from the Bush's and so we've re-arranged the furniture in our room and moved an empty dresser into what will be the girls room... for now. The baby will be in both our room and in a crib in the girls room until spring when we'll get Grace moved into a big girl bed and probably move all the bedrooms around. It's nice to be able to say one room is organized and clean. Sadly it's the one that is organized and clean the least- our room.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time at the Haywood's house where the kids got to play with their friend Marta and I got to visit with Kathie for the first time in a very long time. It was also fun to have Steph there visiting with Paula and all us girls catching up while the kids "watched" a movie. It would have been fun to swim but weather kept us indoors which worked out really well too. Marta and Tyler just love each other but Marta is very careful not to leave Grace out which is so sweet to me. I also got to hold Caleb who is 3 weeks old. I was encouraged to find i remembered how to hold a newborn and even was able to get him to sleep once. The sensation of my baby kicking him was a bit funny I will admit!

Gary's mood has improved 100fold this week as two major school projects are now done and finally done right. I've learned he's moody when things don't work out he's responsible for but he's also moody when he's relying on others and they can't seem to get it together. :) Human nature at it's best. :) His moodiness in no way compares to mine. I feel as if I must have a serious personality disorder these days. I know though, that one of the things that tests a marriage more than pregnancy is the newborn stage so i'm really really trying to enjoy my "freedom" and sleep as much as I can... which isn't much since when my body is tired my brain won't stop and when my brain is tired it's daytime. :) heehee!

This weekend we'll be going to my dad's again to try to get in one last visit to the beach before the craziness of school and baby and holidays and winter are upon us. I'm excited but also nervous my heart won't be in it. So many things going on have my heart in prayer constantly for those I can't be with. Even though I know the power of prayer and trust fully in the Lord, it's sometimes a helpless feeling to only be able to pray.

That being said, please continue to read the updates on our church website that Sue is leaving. I beg you to join us in prayer for her and her family and her doctors.

Tyler riding the 4 wheeler.

Grace swinging on our swing set.

Happy Anniversary to Dan and Sue Michaels!

We love you both so much and continue to cover you in prayer.

http://gccofalliance.org/index.php?page=family-updates

Our favorite book of the Bible as a couple is the book of James. It's one of those books that in part or in whole impacts us in every area of life. One of my favorite verses is
James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
We believe wholeheartedly in the power of prayer. I think I could spend all day praying for the things going on in my life and the lives around me, and still not cover all the needs and praises there are. It's incredible to know that even without doing that, God knows each circumstance, and in so much more detail than any of us. Our pastor and his wife, Dan and Sue Michaels have been extremely important people in our lives as a couple and in Gary's life as a youth. Dan was Gary's youth pastor and a great part of who he is today was impacted by his faith that grew under Dan and his parents. The Michaels are also very close friends of the Bush's. Dan married us and the two of them as a couple have been mentors in our lives. We often find ourselves, when in struggle, wondering how the Michaels would respond. There are many other couples we look to as well, but Dan and Sue hold a special place in our hearts. It's a great blessing that even as we moved here, away from so many wonderful friends, we moved closer not only to family, but also the opportunity to grow and serve under Dan as our head Pastor at Grace Community Church.

Last Friday Sue was diagnosed with Leukemia at our local hospital. She was immediately transferred to Cleveland Clinic and on Saturday was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She has been updating the past few days on our church website. The link is at the top of this page. Click on "meet the pastor" and then "family updates" to read her story. Please keep Sue in prayer. Also her husband Dan, son Kyle, daughter Deneal, and mom and siblings in prayer. I know there has been an outpouring of prayer from our church family- keep us all in prayer as well that God would lead us in the best way to support the Michaels family and that we would be diligent in prayer and petitioning God with thanksgiving. Sometimes friends can be closer than family, I know the Michaels are loved beyond what they know.

In family news I wanted to update on our Mansfield House. We had a roof leak a week or so ago, and this week we're getting an entire new roof put on. We're so grateful that our homeowners insurance will cover all or almost all of this expense. This will be a huge burden off of our shoulders to have it done and know we will no longer have to wonder at every storm if the attic is exposed! :) We're grateful to have wonderful renters in the house and pray they will be able to secure a loan to buy it from us in the near future. (the nearer the better!)

I am now 26 weeks along in my pregnancy and feeling wonderful. I get tired easily and have to really watch what I eat but considering all that could be happening, I"m feeling great. A little moody (ok, a lot moody) so pray for Gary on that one. :) I had an appointment today and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. There's less anxiety going in because I can feel her moving CONSTANTLY, but the joy is the same. Indescribable. I also had my glucose test so fingers crossed for NO diabetes!!! Three months to go and I can hardly believe it still....

Last weekend we joined some of our friends from college on a camping trip in New Castle PA. I hope to post more about it and photo's another day this week. We had a wonderful time and I LOVED having a cabin!

As you see in the post below, today is our wedding anniversary. It's now 2:00 as I write this and we've been officially married for 9 years. 9 years ago right now we were somewhere around the kiss in the ceremony. I can't put into words how emotional I've been today. So much has happened in those years and through it all I can clearly look back and see the Hand of God upon us. We never would have made it without His forgiveness and grace and His teaching us to be graceful and forgive each other! We've had lots of laughs and lots of tears. I"m ever so thankful that through it all Gary is still my best friend!

Happy Anniversary Gary!!

I Love you!!!

Daddy and Grace on top of the slide before she slid down by herself.

Grace climbing the tall slide by herself.

Grace riding the slide by herself.

Our van packed for camping trip already half unloaded.

Another weekend!

I should be sitting with the kids while they eat, I know they will not behave and make a mess, but I have so much to do!!! I thought I'd better sit down and write this out today in case I don't get to it again this week! I need to post photos also but that may be something to tackle in January when life calms down a bit! :)

Over the Fourth we traveled to PA to visit the Kelloggs and celebrate Faith's second birthday. We had a wonderful time getting to be with friends and it was nice for Grace to have a little girl her age to play with. We went to a festival of sorts Friday night and rode a hayride which the kids loved. It made me happy to see them get excited over the simple (and free) things in life. :) We also had a very yummy cookout dinner with Brian and the Kelloggs. Saturday was the family party and it was very special to get to be there with them. Jackie's brother's family has 5 kids so Tyler was in heaven as you can imagine. We were outside, new-to-him toys, and more kids to play with. We came home that night and enjoyed church, a restful afternoon, and dinner at the Bush's Sunday.

I"m very thankful Gary knows how to post photos on here with his phone so you can at least follow a little of what we are doing. We finally bit the bullet and purchased Tyler a bike. He'd been riding my brother's old trike and it was time. Turns out it was God's timing for sure! Gary's parents helped us pay for it and we're still helmet shopping. We are having work done on our car, about half of what it needs, we also know we have some work the van will need done before baby/winter time. Last week we put some money into the Mansfield House as it had some plumbing problems, and we're still in the process of getting the kitchen ceiling fixed/painted which will cost a little. Over the weekend some more shingles blew off the house as well. This is not the first repair since the roof was put on 3 years ago so we're looking into seeing if this will keep happening and what the best course of action is. We may just replace the entire roof again, and pay the deductible and be done with it.

This past weekend we spent on a little min-vacation with my dad at his place. He has an apartment right on Lake Erie in Huron which is very nice. It's 2 bedrooms so we sleep in dad's bed, with Grace in the playpen with us, Tyler gets the second bedroom, and my dad who does not sleep much takes the couch. Gary only worked in the morning on Friday so we were to my dad's by mid-afternoon which meant we got a whole day out of it rather than just dinner, and bed. Saturday it rained all morning, the kids needed to nap and we had Joshua and Shannon's engagement/meet the family party to go to. When I was invited to go dress shopping with Shannon I decided it would be a great opportunity to get to know her better and the kids would not be missing any time with papa since they'd stay with him. It was a very fun day and I even got to go to the mall and found Grace an adorable swimsuit cover up from the Disney Store. The party was a wonderful time and it was neat to spend the day not only with Shannon, but also with her sisters and get to know them all better. It was also a treat to get to see my grandparents as they were all there. Sunday was beautiful so we got a full day in at the beach before we left to head to Mansfield to check out the roof and deal with that. Thankfully our gracious friends Ben and Amy were willing to allow us to drop by very last minute so we could meet their new baby! Tyler and I even got to hold her. She's such a blessing and her life will always serve as a reminder of God's meeting needs and answering prayer. I'm extra thankful today that I got to see her because I will have to miss the baby shower this weekend. :( I thought our camping trip was the last weekend of the month, but it's not, it's THIS COMING weekend!! ahhhh!!! So even though I just unpacked last night, and have laundry in the washer now, it'll be all back in suitcases soon! I also have to pack food and other camping essentials. I can't tell you how excited I am that we'll have a cabin with a bathroom and kitchen this year. I'm 100X less stressed just due to those things.... not that you'd be able to tell to look at me because i'm quite stressed still!!! I"m sad about missing the shower but don't feel like it would be wise of me to drive 6 hours in one day to make it... decisions decisions....

Life is good and we love summer but i'm getting tired!! We have a lot to fit in before this baby comes and we are home bound for the winter. Once we get through the winter though we have one last summer before Tyler starts school and we know it will be a wonderful summer with TWO weddings in the family!!

Grace running at the beach.

Tyler caught a fish!

Tyler fishing with Papa

Tyler standing next to his new/first bike

Totally Random

The kids are playing with baby dolls and taking a trip in the "van" right now so I just had to get on here and blog. I've got to do it more often!! I find I can't keep up with anything- the blog, the journal, the baby books, the scrapbooks, the prayer journal.... There's always lots of gaps in time! :) So last night we went "to town" as my grandma would say. I needed to hit the Christian bookstore (see photo Gary uploaded with iPhone below) so Grace and I went while Gary and Tyler ran across the street to Giant Eagle to get some gift cards. We've decided that we need to start buying ourselves gift cards for eating out and at least earn some fuel perks when we waste money. They got back before I was done so thus the kids were reading their books. The bargain section had a couple kids books for $2 each. You know I can't resist a cheap book. We then went to Fazoli's to use our gift card and were VERY excited to find out Tuesday night is Kids night! The kids meals are $1 instead of $3!! Usually when we go Gary gets something random, I get a pasta meal with a slice of pizza and give the pizza to Tyler and some of my pasta (and.or some of Gary's) to Grace and we let them eat a lot of bread sticks. The kids meals are just not worth the money- occasionally we've gotten one for Tyler since he eats more. Well yesterday we got them each a kids meal so we had plenty of food to take home! I brought home my salad and Grace only ate half of her pasta. Gary was thrilled not to have to share I think. :) We then went to Toy's R Us. We've been doing some looking around for awhile now, over a year in fact, for a bike for Tyler. He currently rides my brother's old Tricycle and the thing is just old. He's fine on it but it's time to get him into a new bike, and he wants one. I never cared to have a bike and I had hoped he wouldn't either but he's become quiet obsessed about it. Living in a neighborhood where all 300 kids have one and ride them constantly probably has not helped my cause. :) So after looking online, at a few stores, and even at goodwill we broke down and bought a brand new one at 'R Us. We're having it assembled and Gary will be picking it up tonight after work. Tyler's asking me about every hour how much longer until he gets his bike. I wanted to get a size bigger so he'd be certain to fit it next year too but we ended up with the one that fits perfectly now. I hope it's not too small next summer because he's got to ride it about a thousand times to make it worth the cost!! We also have to find a helmet... I'm sure I can find one for less than the $25 'R Us wanted. I hope. While we were there I also made sure to use the $3 off card Grace got for her birthday. it expired at the end of July and I knew we'd not be there again till probably Christmas time. I found an adorable Princess Baby accessory kit. It was $15, marked down to $10, with an extra 20% off which made it $8 and I had the $3 off card so it was $5!! I was very excited. it's what the kids are currently playing with. It came play bottles, paci, sippy cup, baby foods, boxes of cereal, bowl, plate, fork, spoon, blocks, rattle, tissues (which I hid), plastic container and bath soap. They should make real kids like that to buy when you have a baby! They probably do actually. The kids are playing so cute together i just had to get on and record it. They've now moved on to reading books to each other.

We also last weekend got to spend the 4th with Josh and Jackie and Faith. We had a wonderful time Celebrating Faith's Second Birthday and the Fourth. Tyler even stayed up to catch some fireworks from their house. He was a bear the next couple days but it was worth it because he enjoyed them so much. we could tell because he talked through the entire thing.... This weekend we'll be taking a mini-vacation at my dad's place. He lives right on Lake Erie so we're going to spend the weekend with him and enjoy the beach. The weather better warm up by Friday!! And NO RAIN! (yea right) Then next week HARRY POTTER comes out!!!! I need to get a babysitter so we can go!!!

I also wanted to share how unbelievably excited I am for some friends of ours. We see God constantly answering prayers around us and we're SO encouraged by the way He moves in the lives of those we love. If you follow the Hammond blog you know they have tried awhile to have children, and then proceeded through the adoption process and now are the very proud parents of adorable Jonas. They love him to bits and it's been such a joy to read through their process and lives with him and see how much they love him. Imagine how overjoyed I was last night to read that Lisa is now pregnant!!! God certainly DID have it in his great plan for them to be parents! They've had Jonas for 8 months and in January they'll have a second child! I could barely contain my excitement last night after reading. It was pretty much the same as when I received a text from my dear friend Amy that she and her husband had been matched with a birth mom and would be adopting THEIR first child within days!! Several days after that text I received another of a picture of a gorgeous little girl Alice and i could not contain the tears. I've enjoyed every moment God has given me with my own children, in some part because I've watched so many women I love go through life not able to have children. These are two examples. When I wish I could sleep through the night or get some time away to myself, I think of those who would give anything to have a child keeping them up all night. And I choose to enjoy it. I choose joy, partly in obedience to how the Lord would have my attitude be, and partly because I truly do know and appreciate what a blessing from God my children are. The same holds true for marriage. I appreciate Gary more than I could ever describe here. My life may seem boring and trivial but I know that it's rich and full and more than I could ever have hoped for. God DOES answer prayer, he DOES have a great plan and he DOES desire to give us HIS best in our lives. The miracles God is laying on those around me show me again and again! God IS SO GOOD!!!

Tyler and Grace reading books at Berean Bookstore.

Playing in the sand at Faith's 2nd birthday.

Tyler riding his bike.

Mommy helping Grace ride her bike.