It's a...

My sweet friend made this plate for me before she moved to Texas because she wouldn't be here for the announcement the gender of the baby.  I love this and as much as I wish she would have been here to tell in person, I do love this!  So, our sweet baby is...

THREE GIRLS!  What are we going to do?  I really thought it was going to be a boy this time and I expected to be disappointed but surprisingly I was just as excited!  She looks great and healthy.  They even moved up my due date one week so we are now due December 13!!  Everyone keeps saying get ready for three weddings but I can't stop thinking about three teenagers in the house at once!  Poor Chris!  We are so thankful for God's blessing and that we are expecting another healthy baby girl!

The sonographer even let Ella help her push the buttons and print the pictures.  She was all about that!

"What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, And everything nice, That's what little girls are made of. "

                                       

Three. Years. Old.

I am a week behind but our big girl turned 3 on Monday!  It is hard to believe that three years ago this week was my first glimpse of motherhood.  I remember how unsure about things I was.  How each little thing made me question if I was a good mommy.  I am so thankful that God has blessed us with three incredible years with Ella.  Although her first week of 3 has proven to be almost a trying as her whole second year.  The Lord is teaching us together.

We celebrated with family a week early with a "Jessie" (from Toy Story 2) Party.  Ella has been asking for a Jessie party for a while.  We didn't do anything big.  We had a small party at Chris' parents subdivision pool and it was a blast.  Ella requested there be Jessie lemonade which was a new one for me but somehow we came up with something suitable.

On her actual birthday we spent the day as a family doing some of her favorite things:  going to PetSmart to see the cats and dogs, going to the Disney store and getting a pretzel at the mall, and her number one thing, Comfy Cow, where she got a sprinkle cone.

Other favorites of Ella's include:  painting, playing in the sprinkles (sprinkler), fruit snacks, My Little Pony, anything that has to do with Jessie or Bullseye, reading, playing hide and seek.

Party of Five

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That's right!!  We are expecting Baby #3!  Lord willing this little one will join our family sometime around December 19, just in time for Christmas.  For those who like to keep up with weeks/months that means I am 12 1/2 weeks.  We are beyond thankful that God has blessed us with this priceless gift.
It has been fun being able to tell Ella about it and she tells everyone "theres a baby in mommy's belly".  She also says "there's a princess baby in Mommy's belly", so I guess she thinks its a girl (which she named Abigail).  She said if it is a brother his name is "Woody" (because of her love of Toy Story).

lately (in pictures)

We have been one busy family lately!  And, there is no sign to point that things will be slowing down any time soon!   I will post later on all that has been going on with us.  For now pictures will have to be enough!

 When our families came up for Ava's birthday, Chris' dad "Pop", brought a surprise for the girls.  He built this swing for them!  They love it and it sure has blessed our days to be able to enjoy this!

  Spending some sweet time with Jude.  They love each other!

  This is so precious!  We are gonna miss this family.  So much.

   I can hardly take the cuteness in this picture.  I love this little face!

Ella loves to read to her sister.  I love these moments.

The seminary now has icees!  This is a must for me in the summer.  I introduced Ella and she agreed.  

Outside fun in the sprinkler!

Ella was a flower girl in our friends, Blake and Haley's wedding a few weeks ago.  Prettiest flower girl I've ever seen!

Helping mommy pack for our travels!  

This was a first for Ava and she thought she was such a big girl!

It is such a help when your child can pull their own suitcase!  haha

 Visiting Nashville.

What's a cow girl without her horse?  We stumbled upon this really cool Agricultural Center and they had a ton of horses and this one walked right up to us!  The girls loved it!!

Can you find Ella?  Yes our playroom was this messy.  It is clean, for now.

  I just love this picture.  So much sweetness.

Be blessed!

The First Wednesday in May

Are you familiar with Senior day at Kroger?  It is the first Wednesday of every month and the senior citizens get discounts at Kroger.  They come by the busloads (literally).  When we moved to Louisville (2 years ago this month) I went to Kroger for the first time and it happened to be the first Wednesday of the month (which coincidentally was also May).  I was excited about a big nice grocery store with lots of options!  I had my list, I had my baby and off I went.  I was not prepared.  At all.  There were more people than I had ever seen in a grocery store in my life!  I loved that each and every elderly person we passed wanted to admire my little girl ( and tell me to enjoy this age).  I couldn't blame them.  She's precious.  But after the first...say....ten admirers I realized this grocery trip was turning into a marathon. Add in not knowing where anything was in the store and a ten month old and TWO HOURS (not kidding) later we left Kroger.  I was defeated.

Typically I do my shopping on Monday but because the lovely stomach bug hit our house this weekend, it got pushed back to today.  Imagine my reaction when walking up to the doors of Kroger, two kids in tow, I realized what day it was.  I put the girls in the cart, said a quick prayer and went for it head on!  Honestly it was not as bad as I had anticipated.  Maybe because it was lunchtime. Maybe because of my prayer.  Maybe I have grown in two years and can handle more (probably not).  We made it through in WAY less than two hours! And other than Ava melting down after she took her last bite of cookie there were no major setbacks.  There were still several admirers and we enjoyed them all.  I have a better outlook on the first Wednesday of the month now!

Oh...and they were giving out samples of Derby Pie, which had to make things better!

One Year Old!

We celebrated Ava's first birthday this weekend. I still am in awe that this year went by as fast as it did. Her actual birthday was on Easter Sunday so we decided to have her party the weekend after.   We had such a fun time celebrating with family and friends. I looked at everyone who was there and realized how each person/couple there had been there in some way for us the past year.  Most everyone had made a meal for us when Ava was born or baby sat our girls so we could get away for dinner of coffee.  Their love for our family and especially our girls overwhelmed me.  It made me so thankful for the friendships that we have made and how God places people in our lives, whether for just a season or for many many years.

Ava loved all the attention and was so much fun to watch.  She is much more expressive than Ella was at this age.  She is such a joy and we are blessed to be her parents!  Here are some pictures from the party and a picture of her the day she was born. We love you Ava!

Hello April!

I can't say that I am sad to see March go.  It was a rough month of sickness in our house so I felt like when I wasn't taking temperatures or administering antibiodics I was trying to catch a nap from all the lost sleep.  Chris had bronchitis to start it off and then Ella got sick and the day she finished her meds Ava was sick and started hers.  She finished hers yesterday and I am praying that we are done with our round of sickness around here for a while.  Praise the Lord that I stayed well through it all so that I could care for everyone!  Before all the sickness hit we enjoyed having company a couple of weekends.  Chris' parents were here for the first weekend in March.  It was great to spend some time with them.  The following weekend our really good friends (who are praying about church planting with us) came up from Mississippi.  While they were here the girls snuck off and got a manicure and pedicure.  Boy was that nice!

I love April and the Easter season.  I love to reflect on Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.  I enjoy teaching Ella about the cross and our sin.  My hope is that when I think about this season that it isn't just a "good feeling" because of what Jesus did for me but that it stirs something in my heart that will cause me to share this hope with others who do not know.  

7 Beloved, jlet us love one another, for love is from God, and kwhoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 lAnyone who does not love does not know God, because mGod is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that nGod sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, onot that we have loved God nbut that he loved us and sent his Son to bepthe propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11

This verse is a great reminder of God's love for us.  I taught Ella a condensed version of this a couple of months ago.  The other day we were out shopping and right now Ella loves asking everyone "What your name is?".  Well she asked the cashier and the lady responded with "Cyn, short for Cynthia"  and said "can you say Cyn?"  I knew exactly where this was going.  Ella responded, "Sin in my heart."  I wasn't sure what to say or how the lady was going to respond.  But, she said "what did you say, sin?" and Ella responds with, "God loves us and sent Him son."  The lady was taken back and said "do you take her to church?"  It was such a neat example of the gospel through the eyes of my 2 year old and a great way to engage someone who we didn't know with the gospel.   I jokingly told Chris later that it was like carrying around my own little tract, much cuter too. 

I pray that this week as Easter draws near that it will cause us to reflect on God's goodness and His love for us.  And in return we will show others his love!  Happy Easter!!!