School Update, A Kitty and a Blessing from God

I thought I would take a minute before dashing off to bed to ramble on about our life a little. This blogging is one of those things that overwhelms me a little, so the way I deal with it is I just don't do it for a while. I don't even turn the computer on, I don't check e-mail etc. Then I sit here for a crazy long amount of time catching up on everything when I finally do decide to turn the silly machine on. Scrapbooks are the same way. I really enjoy doing the pages and they don't look half bad...but I wonder WHY IN THE WORLD DID I DO THE FIRST ONE FOR ANTHONY? Now I have guilt if I don't continue for everyone. My college girlfiends gave me an amazing gift when Gideon was born. They bought a scrapbook, dispursed the pages among themselves (literally all of the Country) then they each scrapbooked pages and left places on the pages for me to put in pictures and writing. Then someone assembled the whole thing and mailed it to me. (They thought of everything too. There was a labor and delivery page, first visits, bring baby home, first Christmas etc.) It was unbelievable. Even with all of that help I didn't get Gideon's all the way completed until just before Evie was born! This time around I've been totally on my own and Evie's is still at the pages of people coming to visit her in the hospital WHEN SHE WAS BORN! (I have only done the first year for each of them, but now I have pressure!) I don't want to have two unfinished scrapbooks hanging over my head! So like all things that overwhelm me, I'm just avoiding it...until summer. We won't be doing homeschool then and for now I am satisfying myself with the thought that come June I will scrapbook like crazy to have Evie's done before August!!! You all wanted to know all about my scrapbook plans didn't you?

Okay, on to the things you might actually be interested in like updates on the kiddos--let's see...
Anthony is breezing right through first grade. I am still amazed at what kids can learn and retain. He has quite the problem solving mind just like his Dad and he's always saying "Hey mom, I just figured out..." I never know what it will be. Anthony has just started playing Upwards Basketball the last part of January and he really, really looks forward to his practices and his games. It has been a good experience for him. He tends to be a little shy and timid in new situations without us, but he has sailed through this experience great. (Which is why Jon didn't coach on purpose, we wanted to push him out there a little.)

Gideon is doing great in preschool. He is almost all the way through the alphabet and can write his own name. He already knew colors and numbers and stuff but he has learned some things too. Like rhyming words. He totally gets rhyming words now and has a lot of fun with them. What else about Gideon? Recently we got a kitten named Belle. She was supposed to be an outside cat, but through a series of events involving losing and finding the cat and the weather which has been absolutely freezing night and day, she has come to live indoors. She still has to sleep downstairs in her box in the furnace room at night...she doesn't have total free roam of the house but she is upstairs with us most of the rest of the day and evening. Anyway, Gideon is the one that enjoys the cat the most. He loves to curl up in a chair or couch with her on his lap and just pet her. Oh and he takes her for rides on the big wheel type bike Evie got for her birthday. (It is still in the house right now.)

Evie--whew there's a fun little ball of energy. Evie just makes us laugh night and day. She is so much more vocal than the boys and very tuned in to everything going on with the family. Recently Anthony prayed before dinner and in his prayer he thanked God that he and Gideon had a good day. When he said "Amen," Evie (with her lip pouted out) looked at him and said "you didn't pray to ME!" Jon and I exchanged confused looks and I asked Evie what she meant. She turned her pouty face to me and said "Anthony didn't pray to ME!" Suddenly I realized she meant he didn't pray ABOUT her! Anthony is pretty much always a loving big brother and was quick to bow his head again and thank God for his sister Evie when we asked him to. After that she was fine again--all smiles and no pouts!!!! (Jon swears females are born with a inclination toward manipulation!) She loves to sing and actually has quite the range of pitch. It is adorable to hear her sing Jesus Love Me. She gets the first verse but the second verse is a little hazy although the tune is there. She loves the cat too, but the cat does not return her affection. Probably because she carries it around in a strangle hold anytime she can catch the poor thing.

Okay, it hasn't been a few minutes, it's been several and is there a limit to the length of a post? See, this is my problem. Oh well, before I go I have to quickly tell you our most recent "Praise"... On Monday January 26th, I woke up and really thought I had wet the bed (not cool, I haven't done that since I was very young) upon dashing to the bathroom I discovered my pjs soaked halfway to my knees in blood (even more not cool when you are ten weeks pregnant!!!!!!!!) I think I almost threw up from shock more than anything. To make a long story shorter, after a doctor visit that included a wonderful ultrasound in which we got to see the baby and that beautiful little heartbeat on the screen we found out that I had late implantation bleeding and that is was also a larger area bleeding than normally does. However it has since quit and seems to have corrected itself just as the doctor assured us it should. He did give some strict instructions for a couple of weeks of rest and I have taken it seriously. (Just ask Jon:) Anyway it was quite a crazy day complete with Papa Herb watching all three kiddos alone (go DAD!) and a surprise visit from my sister and brother-in-law who made us dinner and then slid back home to Springfield barely ahead of the horrible ice storm we got. During family worship that night it was so cool--the chapter in Psalms read something like "You turned my sorrow into joy and my mourning into dancing" (that's Angela paraphrase--but you get the point) That's truly what happened that day because I really didn't see how things could be okay first thing of the morning. Anyway, I am feeling much better and have a check up tomorrow. I also must send out one more hoorah for our amazing small group and friends. We weren't going to call anyone but our parents to start with because we didn't want to get everyone upset until we knew what was going on. However, my mom (in her wisdom) suggested we call our small group to be praying for us in the mean time because that is what they are there for and I'm so glad we did. They prayed and our families prayed and we could feel the strength! Our small group and a few other friends also brought us some amazing yummy meals this past week!!!!!!!!!!! It is truly a blessing to be surrounded by so many people who care so genuinely about us! God is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!