Easter Pics

I'm still here, sorry for the absence. My internet has been out. Actually, I could get a connection here and there for a minute or two but not long enough to post anything. Here's pics from last weekend and I'll update more when my computer is well.

Caleb, Noah, Isaac

Egg hunt at the park

Isaac and Easter Bunny

My Easter blessing...

I found out last Easter that Isaac was coming.

Noah and Charity

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. We did. Today started early, at a sunrise service on a pond, with good friends, snuggled up together in the cold, listening to a traditional Easter message about Jesus' death and resurrection. Then we warmed up with breakfast and came home to watch "The Passion of the Christ". Oh, how difficult to watch, but so important to be reminded of what He endured for us. Thank you Jesus for your willingess to suffer and die so that we may live!

Later in the day the Joshua, Caleb, and I hid eggs for Noah. The egg hunt turned into an egg fight, with Bo and the boys throwing eggs at each other. Someone got the tennis rackets from the basement and then the poor eggs didn't stand a chance. Our 54 eggs multiplied into 108 at least.

I'm feeling quite outnumbered by testosterone.

May Your Wonders Never Cease

There are a few songs I could listen to forever and never get tired of. One is "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. Another is "Now Behold the Lamb" by Kirk Franklin. And right now I can't get enough of "May Your Wonders Never Cease" by Third Day. I did two photo stories to this song last year. One was for a sweet family in Colorado that lost their beautiful son to an undiagnosed, terminal illness. I am blessed that the mom uses the video when she does speaking engagements, and testifies to all that God did in their lives through their sweet baby that only lived for seven months. If you care to see it you can visit her blog, http://noahsteven.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html (Note: This mom loves the song so much, she has it playing on her blog. You'll need to turn the music off, then click the video so it's not playing twice!) I also did a "year in review" photo story for a new church in Albany that Bo and I were a part of establishing. Although that ministry is no longer a part of our lives, I am proud of the video. You can probably tell by the sheer volume of photographs, that I poured hours and hours into making it. It also blesses me to see photos of my husband and my son serving in ministry. (I can't take credit for the photos, though. They were taken by Heather Ristau and Art Johnson.) Here is the video. Click triangle to start. If you like it, let me know and I'll upload more!

Isaac. Iva. Israel. Ivy.

Apparently I've led the pack amongst my group of expectant friends to name our babies "I" names.

My friend Angie just delivered her seventh baby, Iva. This family names their babies with vowels and in that order. Her previous "I" baby was a boy and they named him Isaac! Iva was 10 pounds 1 oz. She has long black hair with a little patch of white hair in the back. Cute!

My friend Heather is due to deliver Ivy in ten weeks. She is the little princess following three adorable boys. I just accompanied Heather to an ultrasound appointment yesterday. Ivy is three pounds, seven ounces. We listened to her bounce around under the monitor for a while. The baby looks great. :)

My friend Sudana is four months pregnant at 43, with a much desired son they will name Israel. She has two sweet girls and was surprised to discover she was pregnant while training for a cancer marathon to run in her mom's honor.

Every baby is a miracle and a blessing from the Lord. Please keep Ivy and Israel in your prayers. Both have had complications to overcome while in the womb. Their moms are faithfully trusting the Lord with the little ones that only He can see.

Heather.

Sudana.

My Jaw Isn't Right

I've had this TMJ thing happening with my jaw the past few weeks. My jaw and ear hurt and my teeth don't line up right. Whereas I usually chew on my right side, now it feels better to chew on my left. I hear a pop when I move my mouth side to side. I was complaining about it last night to Bo. Here's the conversation:

Me: I think my jaw is dislocated.

Bo: You thought you were a boa constrictor and dislocated your jaw to swallow something bigger than your mouth.

Me: Yea, that's right, you figured it out. I thought I was a boa constrictor.

Caleb walks into the room.

Caleb: They yawn. They yawn real big and that makes their jaw pop back in place after they swallow their prey.

Me: Oh, do you think I would work for me too?

Caleb: No mom, you're not a snake.

Me: Oh.

Toes!

Daniel Isaac has discovered his toes! He stares intently at them, and when they wiggle, his eyes get wide like "what the heck are those????" He has funny feet. We call them "monkey feet". He'll stretch his toes and there will be lots of space in between them (this will be great to grab the floor when he starts dancing :). I thought at first he had my "twin" toes, but look closely at the picture and you'll see he has "triplet" toes. The ones between the big and little toes all look the same, and they move together.

Sweet feet. They will carry the good news of the gospel.

Soothing Strings

Isaac is doing better, but Tuesday night he was upset and crying and neither Bo or I could calm him. We tried rocking, bouncing, nursing....none of it worked, he just didn't feel good. I had him lying beside me on my bed and called for Joshua to come (actually called, on the phone, from the home line to his cell...we do this all the time...Joshua and Caleb call each other from across the hall :) Anyway, I asked him to bring his guitar and play for Isaac. He laid down on the other side of the bed and strummed away. He had been working on new worship music (he writes intros, bridges, etc for the whole praise band) and played beautiful melodies to calm his brother's tears. It was sooooo sweet. Joshua played. Isaac settled. I cried.

Fever

My sweet boy is running a temperature. We are off to the doctor. Please pray for my little heating pad and I'll post again later.

Update: Doctor thinks Isaac has a cold or virus, but right now the only symptom is fever. He had his first dose of any kind of medicine today! I'm grateful to have made it past the newborn stage before encountering illness. I'd purposely avoided buying any Infant Tylenol until now, thinking that just maybe, if I didn't have it, I wouldn't need it! I feel so sappy, making a big deal out of Isaac's first fever! With him being my fourth child, I know how precious time is and want to enjoy all the 'firsts'! Anyway, he's fussy and pitiful when awake but he is sleeping a lot. He is going to get all mama's attention!

My Hero

This is my beautiful friend Stephanie, who proved to be my hero (or is it heroine???), last night. Our two families and a bunch of Joshua's friends gathered at a local restaurant to celebrate his birthday. After dinner I lit candles on his cake and we sang Happy Birthday. I was too far away from the birthday boy so I walked over to him, in the process pushing Isaac's stroller aside with my foot so I could get by. Isaac wasn't strapped in and when I pushed the stroller, it moved away but Isaac slid out. Stephanie was sitting beside him, saw him fall, and caught him by grabbing his arm as he was about to hit the concrete floor! I was completely unaware until I came back to cut the cake. I saw Stephanie cuddling my baby and Bo told me with big bug eyes what had happened . Hopefully Isaac never skipped a beat, but everyone who saw the rescue experienced brief cardiac arrest!

Thank you Stephanie for being an angel to my child last night. You were a rescuer! I am so thankful. I love you.

Isaac, Three Months

My sweet boy is three months old. His personality is starting to unfold and he is a lot of fun. I think God has biologically wired infants to engage their parents, ensuring care for their constant needs! He is an expert babbler. He smiles, coos, and "talks". He actually says the word "wah" when he's upset and "gee" when he's happy. He is finding his hands, and sucking his fingers when they aren't tightly balled up into fists. He also brings his hands together making it possible for him to hold his blanket or toys. Here is my little lamb with his little lamb.

He has also discovered his tongue. He sticks it out, which makes us say, "keep the piggy behind the gate" :). Here are my attempts to capture it.....

When Noah realized what I was trying to do, he offered help.....

Thanks, Noah!

Happy Birthday Joshua

Today my firstborn turns seventeen. I've decided to be happy, rejoice, celebrate and not flip out that he is so quickly approaching adulthood. I'm delaying my meltdown til next year.

I am so proud of my son, and the awesome man he is becoming. He's smart, cute, fun, creative, sensitive, honest, tender-hearted, and GODLY. He loves the Lord and is passionate about music and worship. We watch Hillsongs DVDs together and discuss ways to lead his youth group in worship. He always says "I love you" when we hang up the phone, and he's not embarrassed to give old mom a kiss in public.

Okay, I'm starting to melt.......

My budding photographer.....

I uploaded pictures from my camera to post new Isaac photos, and I realized Noah has done some photography himself! Here's the shots from his first portfolio..... :)