Esther is holding her own bottle!

~I'm a proud and crying mom!~

Stepping Heavenward
Babies

House
Spiders
baby food
couponing

I've just finished the book "Stepping Heavenward" and it's amazing! I"ve always tried to find joy in the Lord no matter my circumstances. I've always tried to "praise him in the storm" and obediently submit to his will for my life and trust Him knowing that he knows far better what I need than I do. This book, though it's about all these things, still challenged and encouraged me immensely. It's a journal of a woman beginning at the age of 16. She pours her heart out in a way that is entertaining, and yet still challenging as you see how her faith grows throughout her life. Pastor Dan always talks about being in the Word and in prayer and how our faith should be growing, and evident that it is growing. In this book- you see it. In this age of texts and blogs and emails we tend to just write what we think without much thought. I try to put thought into my blogs but this woman writes so very well, and in a time when writing is a luxury. Now that I've finished this book, my next quest is "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis. I'm also of course reading the Bible and I started a novel yesterday so I might just squeeze that in before I really get too deep into Lewis. I highly recommend Stepping Heavenward and hope if you pick it up, you'll enjoy it too!

Babies Babies Babies!!! I love mine beyond words, and it seems that having one is the thing to do this spring/summer! To all my many friends who are trying, pregnant, or have new babies, I'm praying for you!! It's so neat to see how babies change lives. :) I'm very excited for my niece to come in a few short months! She's already gotten some clothes from her cousins Grace and Esther, and we hope to find little ways to continue to spoil her! As for my Baby, she's perfect! She turned 6 months last week. Her stats confirm my choice to keep Grace's old 12mo summer dresses within easy reach! On April 23, six months, she weighed in at 16lbs 4oz, 27.5 inches long.
At 6 months her sister was 16lb 5oz, and 25.5 inches long. Isn't that funny? one ounce difference, and TWO inches! Tyler was 19lb 11 oz at 6 months. No length recorded, but a month earlier he was 27inches.

I LOVE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT OUR HOUSE!
I love my dishwasher. I mean LOVE it. I now cook again, and might even get back into some baking in the future! I just love that I can load it up and run it and it WORKS SO well! I love our water softener too. I know it's not quite working right (still have iron in the water), but well water/water softened water is so wonderful. I"m already seeing how our soap is going further. My mom told me of this when we moved, and I thought it would be no big deal, but she was SO right! Even with my super long hair, I need half or less of the shampoo and conditioner I did before. Sometimes I don't condition at all. We use much less body wash, the bubble solution in the bath goes further... hand soap, dish soap, dishwasher soap (I only use the tabs if it's FULL), and even laundry soap. I can just feel that things are cleaner and softer and i use less and less. It's funny, I'm getting into couponing, but the way i'm using shampoo, the 6 bottles I got for under a dollar each will take us YEARS to use! Don't be surprised if you get Heath and Beauty items as gifts this year from us! I also love our windows. I just love love love being able to open them (those few days of warm weather we had) and the breeze. I love that we can leave the lights off all day,even on a cloudy day and we barely notice the difference. Let's see... I love the seperate tub/shower. It's more to clean, but so wonderful to know the kids won't get into our stuff. I don't have to go hunting for where I hid my razor every time I take a shower! Such little things in life... I also love the laundry chute. This is an awesome reward for the kids- if they are good they get clothes out of the hamper upstairs and run them down to the bathroom and throw them down. No more carrying baskets of laundry down, the kids get to have fun running up and down the stairs, and they use up extra energy on cold dreary days like today so that they will NAP! It's also nice that the hamper is always in the same place. I also love my stove. Thank you Gary for letting me spend a little more to get these great features- I love it.

I'll have to add more later, this has already taken me HOURS to compose! Many wonderful inturruptions in my day!

I'll leave you wiht this interesting question: When do we lose the ability to caress our own cheeks with our feet while we drink our milk? Do we lose that when we start to use a cup?

OUR CLASSES ARE OVER!!!!!!!!

I (Heather) am so thankful to be done! Six weeks straight of both of us taking classes on line was incredibly stressful but will be very worth it. We're done for 4 years, and then we'll have a year to take more. I think next time I'll try to not procrastinate so long and spread them out a bit! It was great to take them together though, it really did help us both stay on task and keep each other accountable. It also helped each of us to understand how much work was really required so that we could not hinder each other. I"m so thankful to Gary for all his help, I certainly could never have passed without him. Even with him there were many tears, many thrown pens, and many
run-off-and-hide-in-the-bathroom-and-cry
moments! We get our final grades Sunday, and then we can have University of Phoenix send our transcripts. Then I'll send mine to the State of Ohio and Gary will submit for his reimbursement (he gets a certain % back from the school. Yay!) and then he'll submit his. By summer we should have renewed certifications!

I'm so excited to get into a routine. I feel like i've really not yet gotten to enjoy our new home! I've not gotten on a routine to keep up with (and enjoy) my responsibilities either. I'm hoping to do a little work in the nursery, some work in the yard, start a garden, continue to teach Tyler to read and write, as well as Grace's schooling. The basement has not ta all been unpacked and the summer clothes need to be brought out so we can see what we need to buy! It's also time to get my cleaning schedule, and chore charts for the kids established. Then there's the baby food making to be done and the potty training for Grace! I think I will appreciate more just being able to be "mom" and all that goes with that. I'll be able to just hold Esther and let her sleep like I did last night and this afternoon. I'll be able to email my friends and *gasp* spend time with them?!

I just feel as if I've been out of commission since September! I had my birthday and then we got into baby prep mode, Esther came, newborn months are stressful, then the holidays, the purchase of the house, packing, moving, unpacking and 6 weeks of classes! It's been a long winter indeed! I''ve truly tried to enjoy each day and the many blessings God has given me. I hope to be able to crawl out of my hole and be a blessing to others. The trial of business makes it difficult to have your heart and mind where it should be in the Lord, and I'm hoping to get back to where I need to be.

Psalm 54:4 says Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

I can't Praise Him enough for all he's brought into my life. Even those things that to my human eyes are "bad", can bring him Glory. I hope we, as a family, do bring Him glory!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter! We had our families over to our house and everyone but Lia came! It was the five of us, Sandra, Tim, Aunt Toots, Joshua, Shannon, Gary, Stephanie, Josh, and Pap. We missed you Lia!! It was wonderful to have the larger house to have everyone over, and the weather was beautiful. It was a lot of work getting ready, but the benefit was the clean house when everyone left, and we didn't have to do any packing or driving! Late in the evening I came down with the flu, or some other bug that has me still very tired and not feeling well, but improved. Gary's on his final "spring break" day and where is he? Yup! School! Lots to do when teachers and students are not around. The kids were very good all weekend until about an hour ago when they decided to color on the window seat cushion. They've never done anything like that before... well, actually I guess they did color with dry erase marker on the seats of the van last summer. *sigh* Kids are great aren't they? We're in our second UOP class, just as much work, but a little more concrete in the content. I'm beginning to see that the final project is going to be very very time consuming so i really need to start it now even though it's due in a little less than two weeks. We've been doing our best to get out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather! I can't believe its so nice all day and only rains at night lately. We have a screened in back porch which we are really loving. I'm anxious to put plans in motion to fence in the backyard for the kids and get some trees and limbs removed. Once these classes are over I will be so relieved! Gary's done a lot of work clearing out leaves from last fall from the gutters and flower beds. I'd guess he's about half done. We need to clear out what's dead and see what kind of plants and flowers come up the next few months. We also hope to put in a garden still.... The screens were all washed and put in by Gary a few weeks ago, the breeze is AMAZING!! I love it. We truly do love this house! And ina few weeks the ice cream shop down the road is going to be open!!!!! Gary is in his glory as his beloved Duke Blue Devils are National Champions again! It made the Tribe's Opening Day 6-0 loss a little easier to take... Esther is still growing and changing. She's almost sittig up unassited, she's grabbing and holding thigns and transferrig them from hand to hand. She's preferring her left hand at the current time and her grandma is left handed so we shall see! Should be interesting teaching a lefty how to write! She also prefers to investigate things with her mouth so we have to be very careful what we put within her reach. She's now a pro at eating rice cereal, pureed apples and pears. She rolls from side to side and plays well on her tummy but is not at all interested in rolling on her own. She's SUCH a happy girl smiling and blabbing and laughing all the time! She's just perfect and I love everything about her! We have three amazing and wonderful children and I thank God every day for these blessings he's loaned me!!! And their daddy of course. :)