My first baby turns 19 today!

This was what I was doing 19 years ago today! My sweet baby girl arrived at 8:05 AM via planned cesarean section (due to breech presentation). I can't believe that it was so long ago that she joined our family and turned Mike and I into parents. What a blessing this beautiful girl has been to us!

 Daddy Mike was in awe. He looked so sweet but scared holding this little tiny sweetheart who weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz.

Yep, only a few minutes old and sticking out her tongue at the camera already!

Where has the time gone? We were only 20 when we were blessed with this wonderful gift. We'd not had any time to figure out what all being married involved before we discovered we were expecting, but I wouldn't have it any other way!  We were on our own, two states away from our parents and friends, figuring out what it meant to depend on each other for love, companionship, friendship, understanding, ... you name it! And then we have this beautiful baby--our love grew many times over! We often look back at our first year together and thank God that He led us down the paths we took. And sometimes we wonder at how it all worked out, and thank God even more for the love He showered on us. I mean, WHAT were we thinking?! We got married at 19, moved far away from everybody, had a baby 3 weeks before our 1st anniversary--God's grace is the only answer we have!

This tiny baby has grown into a beautiful young women who is attending college to become an elementary school teacher. She blesses us every day with her love, humor, responsibility, silliness, and laughter. I look at her and can just cry--how did we ever deserve such a wonderful daughter.

I love you, my little teddybear!

Joyous times!

Guess what! We are going to have another baby! So far things are going very well. This little one's debut will be sometime around the first week of October. We are so excited for this tiny little person. The kids are all excited, though I think our second son is not tooooo sure about how he feels about getting used to a baby in the house. He has a few months to get used to the idea, though. I'm sure when the time comes, he will all set to be a great big brother (again).

So, this brings our household count up to 7 children! I never considered that we would have a "large family," but it is just so "right." Our kids have had wonderful experiences growing up in a large family. I am so proud of our older children--they are maturing into fine, responsible, giving adults. Our younger kids have the benefits of watching their older siblings and learning from them. We are truly thankful for all the wonderful family moments that we share.  Our oldest daughter is now a freshman in college. Her little brothers and sisters really miss her when she is gone. This week she is home on spring break--it's been such a treat to have everyone home under the same roof! It's so fun to watch the dynamics between all the kids--even when they are not having their most "stellar" moments.

Ah, this is such a joy-filled season. God bless you all! Happy Easter!

missing someone you never met

If things had gone differently about 6 months ago, we would be eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new baby early in August. I thought I was dealing with the loss pretty well after the initial grief passed, but this week a friend's granddaughter was born--a baby that was due a couple weeks before our little one. I would not say that I am overcome with sadness, but I'm definitely missing the little person I didn't get to meet.

Good Morning?!

I am not a morning person. I truly enjoy staying up late--the quiet, the peace, the feeling of being AWAKE. That awake feeling is something I just don't experience in the morning. I've tried. I will make a week of so of waking up at a "normal" time and getting to bed before 11:00 PM. Then it's like all those days of getting up early catch up with me, and I fall apart. It makes me wonder how the awake-at-the-crack-of-dawn crowd does it?! My best friend is definitely a morning person. She's a sweetheart and apologizes if she has to call my house before 9:00 AM. LOL!

Now don't get me wrong! The mornings that I do get up early I thoroughly enjoy! And I absolutely LOVE sunrises--put me up north in a tent and I will wake up at 5:30 every morning and head down to the lake to see the sunrise or take a morning swim! What I don't enjoy is when it gets to be about 10:00 AM and I am dragging. Maybe the problem is that I don't drink coffee. Hmmm.

Well, I love the smell of coffee but don't like coffee itself (unless it's part of a super-sweet chocolatey cappuccino), so I guess for now I'm stuck being a nightowl in an earlybird world.

My New Blog

If you are on Facebook, no doubt that you have seen the "25 Random Things About Myself" notes that are going around. I love these type of things and really learn some things about people I know. I haven't written a list of 25 things yet, but plan to as soon as I find a moment (and I'm not blogging). LOL.

These lists got me to thinking about how amazing each of us is. That is what prompted me to start this blog. I delved into the blog-writing world last week with a gardening blog. I didn't realize how fun it would be to write about things that maybe I never thought about writing about! Then there is the knowledge that you are putting a part of yourself out there on the web--other people might actually read what you wrote! It is kind of exciting. I love to read comments and see what other people's thoughts are.

So, here I am. This blog will be a kind of journal for me to keep track of things that happen, but also a way to share some things about me to whoever wants to read them. I hope it will prompt some discussion on topics that we may have in common. If nothing else it's a way for me to keep talking even when everyone else has gone to bed.

As far as not being average--here are a few things I found myself doing today that illustrates a little bit of why I'm not your average April: This afternoon I was doing internet searches for scholarships that my oldest daughter can apply for. She will be graduating this May and starting her college career in August. That was not so odd. What I found odd was that at the same time I was doing that, I was making phone calls to arrange a playdate for my 5-year old daughter. Then this afternoon I made some bread, followed by cookies. So I just made this wonderful batch of delicious sugar-laden, chocolate chip cookies and now I'm going to put together an order to a natural food company. I laugh at myself sometimes--quite a lot, in fact.