Well Worth The Wait!

This is our wedding quilt from my Mom, it is so beautiful! I picked out the pattern, a fleur de lis, one of my favorite designs. This one was a true labor of love for my Mom, she appliqued each one! It is in dark brown and cream, the lady that does her machine quilting did the design manually, and it turned out perfect too. She also had it monogrammed, which I also really love! It is a custom size for our bed even. I love this quilt so much, as I've gotten older the handmade things from my Mom have become even more precious to me, I love to know that the things I use were hand-crafted with love by her, it makes me think of my Mom and smile. This quilt will truly be an heirloom in our family.

New Jersey?

I am usually so impressed by Grace's answers in all her subjects, but sometimes you really just don't know what to expect, like today when I was grading her Bible LIFEPAC and the question was "What lands did the world of the Old Testament include?" Her answer? "Africa, Egypt, New Jersey, and Canaan" Well, I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes! At first I thought she was kidding around with me, then as I looked over the reading part again, it said that Canaan is roughly the size of New Jersey, Aha! It was still the funniest answer I've gotten from her yet!

To Nap or Not To Nap

That is the question! Zach has been struggling to sleep through the night and we have considered the possibility that he needs to give up his nap, well, here's what happened one day that we tried this theory! He finally sat down for a moment and then he kinda just fell over, we had a good laugh!

Just Plain Cute

Hide the Baby

You may recognize this from a post a long time ago when Zach was a baby, Ethan used to do this to him! He piles up the stuffed animals all her, she doesn't mind!

Faith & Frogs

Most know that I color-code my kids, then, Zach got a theme too-lions. Well, Faith's "theme" is frogs! So, this is one of my favorite outfits she has. I had to share! Check out that smile, isn't she gorgeous!

Forgiven

I have heard it said so many times “God has forgiven us, now, we just have to learn to forgive ourselves”, why? When did we begin to believe that there would be greater peace in our lives if we could just learn to forgive ourselves. Why should we forgive ourselves, does this have some impact on our eternity? Isn't God's forgiveness of our sins is the only forgiveness that matters in eternity? Hasn't Christ has paid the ultimate price for that forgiveness (Acts 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.), and, by not “forgiving” ourselves aren't we truly just not taking the Lord at His Word, aren't we just doubting His complete and perfect forgiveness? The Lord has called us to forgive others just as God also forgave them (Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors), but if we don't, does that give us some power over them, to damn them to hell? We are not God! So where does this guilt, this shame, this feeling of unforgiveness come from? What better way than to trick us into believing that we are still in the bondage of sin than by riddling us with guilt and shame over our past (Acts 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'). We continually let our past sins follow us, all in this dream of one day we will be able to forgive ourselves, when we have already been forgiven and we are now allowing the enemy to convince us that we are like God, choosing who lives and dies and at what cost. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are forgiven, we must claim our forgiveness, and when we are plagued by shame, we must proclaim it to the the enemy and cast those thoughts away from us in the name of Jesus Christ's blood! For years I had been “working through” this ever-present pain of the past, but the Lord has told us we are set free in Christ Jesus, are you truly free, or do you allow the pain of sin and shame to keep you bound by Satan. You have been given the power through the Holy Spirit in you ( Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.) to cast out Satan, do you believe that? Have you used it? It took less than one week to show Satan that Jesus is truly the Lord of my life. A memory of a past sin would creep into my mind out of nowhere and my response was the same, saying out loud, “I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus, Satan you have no place here!”
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Mommy's Girl

Okay, so my wish has come true, but then there's the "be careful what you wish for" thing too! Yep, it applies. She is so much of a Mommy's girl that her Daddy thinks she doesn't like him! Yeah, it's that bad! Anyway, I'm growing very weary of being her one and only. It makes it very frustrating for all involved, well, mostly me. But, then again, who needs showers, or make-up, or painted nails, or shaved legs for that matter! I am getting very good at cooking dinner, and eating with her on my hip. I know, you're saying put her down, well, in a cage maybe to protect her from her VERY loving 2 year old brother!Then again, have you seen that smile? And...she is the last one!

Ready to Travel

Faith is ready for her first trip to Nana's! Her green Adventure Duffel arrived this week! Over Spring Break, I am going to take the plunge, by myself no less, and take Faith on her first road trip! Grace, Ethan and Zach are going too, so, it should be fun.
I am very nervous about this, but excited too, that could be a sign of the crazies setting in! Oh, wait, that was two babies ago!!!! You could pray for me, that'd be good!

Zach's the Boss

Around here, if you are out of line, Zach will let you know! He knows the rules and HE WILL enforce them! If Grace or Ethan tried to pick up Faith and I haven't asked them too, Zach will yell "Stop it" and come tell me, "Show you!", and tattle on them. I find this so funny, he acts like a first born, and doesn't seem to know he's the little brother! If you take something that's not yours and he sees you, look out! You won't have it for long, he will give you this look and use a tone, only a Mommy or Daddy should use and set you straight!

Zach Breastfeeds?

Yes, our two year old has attempted to breastfeed his baby lion! I was nursing Faith and Zach took his place next to me, to "help", but instead he placed his stuffed baby lion to his little nipple and told me that he was eating! It was so precious to watch him nurture his "baby", when he "finished", he took a tissue and wiped it off and said "all done" to his lion. I WISH I'd had a camera right then! He then burped his lion and proceeded to wipe his lions behind with a wet wipe, and then handed it to me saying "ewww, yuck!". I'm so proud of him!

Her Time

I am finding that Faith and I have at least this in common, she needs her alone time! She enjoys being left alone on her blanket with a book and a few toys to look at, to just kind of decompress! It's so cute, if you stand outside the room that she's in you can hear her pleased coos and sighs (of relief, I'd guess!). She enjoys this for up to twenty minutes at a time too! She doesn't go to sleep, she's wide awake, just wants to be left alone. With seven in our house, I know I like to just be left alone every once in awhile-you know "me time"!

Dynamic

The family dynamic has certainly changed! First, I'll tell you about Ethan and Faith. Ethan loves to entertain our little princess! Anytime she is awake you can bet he'll be wanting to play with her. From the time she was three days old he was showing her all her toys and trying to get her to smile! He loves to talk to her and is always able to get her attention. He has successfully been able to burp her and is very proud of that accomplishment.


Grace aka "Mommy: The Sequel" is always there to rescue Faith from the slightest whimper of discomfort! All it takes is a little peep and there's Grace! Whisking her away to the rocker to soothe away anything that troubles her. She feels her greatest accomplishment is rocking Faith to sleep, a talent she discovered one day while helping me with dinner by holding her baby sister. She's a pro now. While she is also Faith fashion consultant, full of tips and compliments for her little princess protege!Now Zach, his perspective is obviously different from everyone else, he was the baby till six weeks ago, now there's a new kid on the block. He adores her, that doesn't mean he's not ever jealous, when he isn't trying to show us he can still be a cute baby, he wants to help-a lot! Which consists of holding her head while she is nursing, patting her back to burp her when Mommy or Daddy is holding her, and dashing to her side, pacifier in hand whenever she cries, yelling "Papes Pire!" which translates to "Faith's Pacifier" in English!

Meeting the Family

Catch Up

Okay, catch up, my Mom and Dad bought a condo here in town around Thanksgiving, so Rob and I went in and painted and bordered their bedroom and hung some new light fixtures for them for Christmas, that was a fun little project to get my mind of my miserable hugeness! This year our Christmas tree was somewhat exciting and different, for Zach, mostly, the kids wanted to decorate with their collection of ornaments, which I agreed to, I get them ornaments every year, but we only hang up the new one each year, and the rest is "The Pretty Tree", they call it, well, we had five casualties in the first day, so I decided that we won't do that again for the five or six years now! Back to the "The Pretty Tree" and this year I found plastic ornaments that look like glass, so we're good to go for next year now!

I had a family bridal shower of sorts for my soon-to-be sister-in-law (now is sister-in-law), that was fun, and she is definitely the best, I could not have hand picked a more perfect person to join our family!

Our wonderful small group had a diaper shower for us, that was so much fun! We played hilarious baby shower games, and since several of our small group members do not have kids, and some are even single, this was even more fun to watch their squirms at the "Dirty Diaper Game"! We have been supplied with enough diapers to last a long time (well, at least a few months, I can't get over how many a new baby goes through!).

I had my birthday, the 19^th of December and turned 29, this was fairly uneventful, one more year till, well, we're not talking about that. I did however get surprised with a, Italian dinner out and a movie to boot! That was fun, it had been awhile since Rob and I had gone out!

With budget restraints this year, Rob and I stretched the Christmas budget to the max, I bargain shopped, on eBay, and we went all over town and got a big bang for our bucks. Somehow, I think shopping early really made a difference too. Anyway, I was pleased to find that Rob and I selected some very pleasing gifts for the kids still, even though we stuck to our budget this year!

The Kemper Family Christmas was at our house this year. It went very well, I didn't cook or clean up, I just played lay on the couch hostess kind of! But, we all had a great time. The afternoon movie selection was WALL-E, a very cute movie, my sister cried, I kid not, she cried. Anyway, the girls were all excited to get handmade night gowns, one for them, and a matched one for their American Girl dolls, that my Mom made. Ethan decoupaged and painted small wooden jewelry boxes for his sister and cousins and Grace decoupaged wooden frames for her cousins. I like to make something with the kids for their Papa and Nana for Christmas, this year, I got an idea from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Wooden plaques, painted brown, shrunk profiles of each of the kids' busts and decoupaged them on, hot glue ribbons for hangers and viola! Beautiful!

Faith Has Arrived!

Yes, she's finally here! Just as scheduled, December the 26th, and she was pulled out at 11:55am. I had not dropped AT ALL! She was way up in my ribs still, instead of her head being right near the incision or even a little below, as is normal, she was way up, they had to go looking for her and even use a little suction and force to pull her down and out! She let out one small cry to let me know she was here, and then she was as quiet as she could be! The poked and prodded to get her to cry, because their was meconium in her sack and yet they couldn't make her, so they used the tube and suctioned her nose and throat, no big deal, she still didn't cry! She weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces, and was a short little 19 inches long! She's my smallest! She does have big eyes, that she flashed us very soon after she was born, she was surprisingly alert for a newborn! And, she has dark hair, that might have a curl or at least wave to it, we'll see. I have had a lot more pain this time around, but there has been no time for it, I pop a pain med and keep on going! We came home on Monday and went to my brother's wedding rehearsal and dinner the next night, followed by the wedding and reception the following night of course, and I'll tell all about that later. For now, we are doing fine, Faith is an excellent eater and has almost reached her birth weight again, she is giving us a good five to six hours of sleep at night already and is a tremendous blessing to us all!