Poor Eating Habits

Madelynn has a different way of eating. She prefers to allow all air out of her mouth as the food enters in, creating a fountain effect...

My First Christmas (Some Madelynn fun)

A Merry Christmas to All!

Behold the Light of the World!

What we've been waiting for!:

Making a Snow "person"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mary

Welcome to the Stable, Mary!

I want you to notice that she is sitting down and that she is not slim and trim. She just had a baby (or will very shortly)!

A Cow (moo)

Here's a cow for the Nativity. It took awhile and I'm not terribly proud of it, but it will do.



Next, I hope to make Mary, then the angel and then!!! Baby Jesus! Stay tuned!

Saturday Morning Fun

Jack (10), Kylie (4), and Kevin (6, in the middle in photo) came over today to play. What fun! What noise! They played all sorts of things, we had pancakes for lunch and then they made puppets and had a puppet show.

Same lineup in this photo, except that Kylie and Rachel traded places.

Now they are home and everyone here is asleep, except for Joshua and I (Renee). Joshua is reading and is content to be quiet and, well, I don't nap anymore.

Later, we will frost and decorate cookies, give some to our neighbors, eat some stew from the crockpot and then go caroling!

Happy Winter Season and Merry Christmas!

Baa Baa White Sheep

So here's some sheep. They were fun to make. They are just like little puff balls, so cute!

Joshua and Rachel's Artwork

Joshua drew this Christmas tree. Mommy helped with the boxes and star.

Joshua drew this at Preschool.

Rachel drew this one of Joshua and Mommy hugging Rachel.
Rachel is in the middle (brown ink) with Joshua (blue ink on left) and Mommy (green ink on right, Mommy drew mommy).

A Shepherd

I would like to do at least two shepherds, but we shall see. Here is the first one:

Joseph

Here is the honorable man, Joseph, earthly father of Jesus:

Another Video of Madelynn

I have the grandparents in mind as I post this, but all are welcome to watch even though you may find it long and boring. :)

Two More Kings

These two kings are for the Nativity Scene I am making. (I mentioned the first king in a previous post) It's turning out to be fun, but quite time consuming- It takes about one hour (or more) to do one person.

Here is the second King:



Here is the third king:

(I love his hair, don't you? He's my hippie king. Just seems like he's groovin', I almost made him some shades)

We Three Kings...

Of Stables, Doc Visits, Christmas Trees, oh what else?

I think these are the best kind of blog posts: a little bit of everything. In my opinion they are more interesting, something for everyone. So here we go, but be prepared, some of it might be random...

So what shall I start with first?
How about some Christmas tree shopping?

Our family likes to cut our own tree down. It's cheaper and, (I think) way more fun.

Yes, that is Madelynn in the car seat on the sled. No, she didn't tip over, Joshua did a great job of holding onto her. :)


The Perfect Tree


Since our house is pretty small, we put our tree on the piano.

Since we are talking about Christmas I will go onto the next item of business:
In a previous post I mentioned making a nativity scene. It is coming along and I am enjoying it immensely. Here is the Stable:

And the first king:


Of course once Joshua and Rachel saw this, they wanted to play with it. So I made them a little "doll" for each of them. Joshua got to choose what colors he wanted, hence the blue hair and black arms:


Of Doctor Visits:

Today Madelynn had a doctor's visit. So for Grandparents' sake I thought I would mention everyone's height and weight:

Joshua: 35.2 pounds and 41 inches tall
Rachel: 29 pounds and 36.5 inches tall
Madelynn: 13.4 pounds and 24.5 inches long (tall?)

I want everyone to notice Rachel's weight. Now compare it to one year ago before her Celiac Disease diagnosis: 22 pounds. Yes. Rachel gained SEVEN pounds this past year. Amazing. I don't remember how tall she was last year, but she is now in the 38% instead of in the 10% on the growth charts. Hallelujah!

Madelynn is not gaining weight as much as she should but she did grow a whole inch over two months. She is not rolling but she is sitting with support. We shall see what the Lord has in store for our dear Madelynn...


Of Vicks and Feet

Joshua has had a cough lately. I think every parent knows about 2 am coughs and trying to be patient for that cough syrup or honey to kick in. Well, how about this?:

A friend from long ago emailed us a forward explaining this great benefit of Vicks. (You know, the petroleum jelly/vaseline with menthol and other essential oils?) Apparently if you rub a generous amount of Vicks on the bottom of your child's feet and place socks on, it will stop a cough in a matter of moments and will also prevent the child from coughing for hours and hours. I have to admit I was very skeptical. But Joel wanted to try it, so...

And you know what? It worked. Joshua did not cough at all the whole night. He did start coughing at the breakfast table, but Hey! 12 hours? no coughing? wow. So we tried it the next night on both Joshua and Rachel (Rachel had a stuffed up nose and was starting to come down with a cough also). Same thing, no coughing, and they slept great.

So pay attention Parents! Write that one down. Try it. And get some sleep!


Of Children Books


This book, The Little Blue Truck, has been a favorite ever since a friend gave it to the kids. The book has a fun rhyming rhythm and is about friendship. I highly recommend it.






So I believe that is all. I look forward to sharing with you more of the Nativity as it comes into being and our daily adventures here at home.

A Little Christmas Joy

This is a "catch-up" post, so I will begin in chronological order. First we will start with the kids. Madelynn is nearly six months old now so I thought it would be a good time to introduce the backpack we use for hiking. She fit just fine and seemed to enjoy watching dinner being cooked over Mommy's shoulder.

Joshua and Madelynn

Rachel and Madelynn

Madelynn

A few weeks ago, Madelynn was eating solids after each feeding. She ate a lot too, several Tablespoons of cereal and veggies each time. She has not eaten any solids for at least a week now. It seems it was just a growth spurt. But since this is a "catch-up" post, here are some photos I wanted to share of Madelynn eating some baby cereal from a few weeks ago.




Just this last weekend Joel and I had a dear friend come to visit us. We met Beth in Turner Valley, Alberta during our SBS(School of Biblical Studies with YWAM (Youth With A Mission)). She was one of our teachers. Four years ago she joined OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and has been a missionary in Thailand serving the Shan people. (Please pray for the Shan, they are a people group that desperately need Jesus, yet only a small percentage of them know Jesus as Lord and Saviour). We had a blessed four days catching up with her. Beth even cooked us some real Shan food. It was delicious!

Beth reading to the kids

This last week I finished up Madelynn's Christmas stocking:



And decorated the house for the upcoming Christmas season:

This is a paper nativity scene that came from a book my dad grew up with.

My next project is to make this nativity scene (to replace the paper one we have- the wise men keep falling over!) out of yarn, cotton balls and pipe cleaners:

Beth gave me the idea and so I googled it and I found the instructions. I am quite excited about trying it.

Have a great week as you prepare for the advent season!

Interview with Nick Vujicic

An interview with a man born with no arms nor legs. Take a few minutes to listen to a story of true hope.

givingThanks

The last few posts have been updates on our four children. This time the update is about Joel and Renee. For some reason, it is more difficult to give updates on myself and my best friend. But for the sake of friendship with you and "keeping in touch", I will do my best.

If you haven't heard yet, God provided a deer for us the Saturday before last. Joel was in the stand for about two minutes and this small doe walks up and was looking in his general direction. He shot her straight in the heart (another blessing- minimal suffering and doesn't damage the meat). So now this deer is in our freezer, meat for the winter. But we were both kind of sad - having killed this animal, this mother deer. It seems that the circle of life is more like a circle of death. Someone or something has to die to keep someone else alive. "All creation groans..." (Romans ch. 8)
Even Jesus had to die, so that we could live eternally.

The November here has brought a longer Autumn, for which I am So thankful for. After a cold winter, a looong spring, and three days of summer, I was just about ready to pack things up and pray for God to move us to British Columbia. But it's been great, we've gone on a few walks (It's harder to get three kids AND myself out the door in time before someone has to eat or go potty or..). Just seeing the sun shining through my living room window is enough to brighten my mood.

Joel won a turkey yesterday. Yes, he did. A dead one, thankfully. Several places in town have a turkey drawing and Joel's name popped up in one of them. So now we have a turkey certificate and are automatically entered into another contest for all the fixings.

Joel continues to go to work each morning. Hallelujah! (pardon me, but sometimes I just have to belt something out) They are getting seamless rain gutter jobs all over town, and also have a few big projects for the winter. They are not overly busy- it's still a struggle to get at least 40 hours a week, but it's still full time and we are still able to pay the bills. So again we are thankful.

Renee continues to grow as a mother, to express her creativity through this blog, and to maintain her friendships.
I am involved in two different Bible Studies at the moment which I will share with you:

The first is a Beth Moore study entitled, Living Beyond Yourself. It is a study on the Fruits of the Spirit. It's actually my first Beth Moore study and I am finding it pretty good. Mrs. Moore takes you through different scripture as a foundation on Who the Spirit is and what His role is. Then at about week three she settles into Galatians 6 (where it talks about living by the Holy Spirit), and spends a whole chapter on the first fruit: Love. That's where I am right now.

The second Bible Study I am doing is a study on Grief. This specific study is for women and I haven't even finished the first chapter. But so far it's been really, really good. I've really connected with it. How can I tell? Well, I actually fill in all the blanks, look up all the scripture references, write notes in the side margins and complete the chaos with little pictures that help me remember my thoughts.

One of the evenings this week I started looking through my crochet books and pulled out a Christmas stocking pattern. A few days before, I was telling Joel about Madelynn needing a stocking, seeing as this will be her first Christmas. So this was another thing to be thankful for! I could make Madelynn a stocking in time for Christmas! I have really enjoyed sitting down and crocheting again. I think the last time I crocheted something was at least two years ago, just before the diagnoses of Emily's heart.

So all in all, Jesus is our All. He is our Provider through family, friends, strangers, acquaintances, His Spirit, and even our children. We are so thankful.

I know some who read this have already celebrated Thanksgiving (hello Canada!) we can all still be grateful together as we observe a day of gratefulness. God Bless you as you go about today, this day God has made.

Madelynn and Her Noises

So here's a great video of Madelynn. She just started blowing raspberries and scrunching up her face at the same time. It may seem like she's concentrating on something else, but really she's not, she just does this when she is starting to get tired.

Mostly Madelynn

Madelynn is a joy to our home and smiles quite easily now. She is so active- kicking, rubbing her feet together, spreading her arms out to either side, and sucking on her fingers-mostly her thumb. She loves to stand up and will get quite fussy if you don't help her stand when she wants to. No rolling yet.
Madelynn still has very blue eyes. About the same blue as Neena's eyes.
She is on a four hour eating schedule, sleeps through the night and loves her solid food. If she doesn't eat enough solid food during the day, she won't sleep through the night. So she is eating rice cereal, peas, carrots, and acorn squash. Today she had a tiny bit of applesauce mixed with rice cereal for breakfast. She is still nursing, but at the rate she's going, I don't think she will be for long. I'm sure she is over 13 lbs now- those thighs are something else!

She loves her bro and sis but especially lights up when Daddy walks in the room.

Enduring Emily

(If you know the words already and would rather see the music video go here.)


So it's been 1 year, 5 months and 18 days since Emily Grace was born.
It's been 1 year, 5 months and 9 days since Emily Grace passed away.

But she endures on.

When I walk down the street with my three kiddos and hear the endless comments on how I have my hands full, I want to shout. And then I don't because they don't know that I have four, not three. I walk on, ignoring my torn heart.

When I receive a letter in the mail from Children's Hospital Grief and Loss Center I struggle to suppress the memories of a sterile hospital with all it's beeps and strange faces.

When I see her picture in our living room, I remember how beautiful she was, so peaceful, so serene. And I am reminded that she is, right now, full of peace.

There are many stages of grief. Depression being one of them. I believe I am past that stage. Though I have moments of it, I do not experience depression as a way of life - anymore.

Now we are figuring out how Emily fits into our lives. Figuring out how to talk about her, when to talk about her, where to talk about her. Even how to think of her, how to remember her.

And so the path continues. This path God has led us down. But I look back often. And in doing so I am encouraged to continue on.

Emily Grace is our daughter. And we will see her soon.

Really Rachel

Rachel's imagination is growing everyday and it is so much fun to see her play on her own and see what she comes up with. The picture posted above is a day when Joshua was at preschool, Madelynn was taking a nap and Mommy was doing dishes. She lined up some of her toys (and Joshua's) and told me all about it. I told her what "all in a row" meant and told her good job and returned to my dishes. A few seconds later I heard Rachel exclaim: "I'm in a row! I'm in a row!" I looked and of course I had to take a picture because I thought it was so cute. I'm sure you do, too. :)
Rachel is really growing up, at times she seems very much like a three year old. Her fits (temper tantrums) are becoming less and we are able to talk things through more. She is a bubbly little girl who brings much joy to our hearts.

Just About Joshua

Joshua has just finished his First Quarter at Preschool. Yes I know: 'Already?' We had a parent teacher conference and he even got a report card. Yes I know: 'what? It's just preschool!'
He is doing really well. Actually, I think a better term would be: thriving. He just loves it and is learning so much.
As his fifth birthday approaches (yes not until March - but we mothers think of these things) I see Joshua growing up. He is becoming more independent, is becoming conversational and is very gentle with Madelynn. He is an eager helper and knows the ropes around home. Joshua loves to build, play with cars (Hot Wheels), read books with Mommy and/or Daddy, play with Madelynn, and play with Rachel.
Joshua is observant, practical, and quite intuitive. But he also loves to be silly, loud and wrestle with Daddy. We love him very much.

Happy Birthday Oliver! From your friends, Joshua and Rachel

So this post, yes, is for Oliver and his Mommy and Daddy. Oliver's birthday party is on Saturday. But alas, we are not able to make it this year. This party is a pretty special one. Oliver turns a big 4 years old and is a superhero. Yes, he is Oliver the Superman. So for the party, of course, Oliver invited all his superhero friends. Below, Oliver, you can see two of your superhero friends who are not able to come to your party but still love you very much and wanted to say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!


Super Joshua!

Super Rachel with her sidekick: Blankie!

The superheroes fighting evil!

Here they are again, in action:

Classic Bathtime Photos

In a tub, in the kitchen sink. Nice foot Madelynn!

Isn't she cute? The Baby not the dishes...

There she is!