First Family Photo

Thankful Thursday - Birth Day

Welcome Baby Mary!!!!
She was born at 10:15am,
is 19 1/2 inches,
and weighs 6lbs. 8 oz.

Thankful Thursdays is hosted by Iris please join us every Thursday!


Today Iris posted this verse at her site:

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” ~ Psalm 28:7 (ESV)

How appropriate for my day ... I'm packing up to leave for the hospital to have our baby girl! She is almost here ...we can't wait to hold and snuggle her!!!

Give thanks with us on her Birth Day! Here is a verse the Lord gave me for her when I was 26 weeks along:

David's Psalm of Thanks

7 That day David first committed to
Asaph and his associates this psalm
of thanks to the LORD:

8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.

9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.

10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

11 Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.

12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

1 Chronicles 16:7-12

Word Filled Wednesday

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

The purpose of Word filled Wednesday is to share God’s word through
photo’s & a Bible verse!

download it,
read it,
print it,
share with others!

If You’d like to join us for Word Filled Wednesday, please visit:

Wordless Wednesday

If you would like to join us or just see more W.W. posts,
please visit Tiany's Blog


In honor of this being the last 12 hours of this pregnancy my dd took a few more "Belly Photos":







Please join us in praying for a birth experience that glorifies
God tomorrow morning.

Blessings~ Heather

Uh-oh ... someone asked ...

Someone went and asked me to post about my favorite carriers ... this could be a long post;-)

Oh how I love babywearing! And I can't wait to start wearing our newest little one, once she is out.

My stash at this point is a bit "boyish looking" since my last three babies have been boys, so I'm looking forward to investing in some pink this time around ;-)

Here are a few photos of some of my favorites:

Probably what I consider my "most comfy wrap type carrier" is
My Storchenwiege Woven Wrap (plus I really like the colors)






After Zeke was born I discovered Mei Tais for the first time, thanks to another LLL Leader ... Love my mei tais now! Not sure how I lived without them.
My first mei tai was a Freehand Mei Tai:
This one turned out to be my dd's favorite one to use when she wears her brother



I have purchased and used a Sachi Mei Tai:
(yep we really were standing in our snow filled back yard)



But the Mei Tai I ended up using the MOST was my Maya Tie:



I do also own a Didymos Wrap, and though its not as comfy as my Storchenwiege Wrap, I like it bacause I got the one with the LLL logo on it. Had to have a friend of a friend pick this up in Germany for me:





And then there is my tried and true ring slings ... thats where it all started for me. I was first introduced to ring slings and babywearing at a LLL meeting when we lived in WA. I'll have to try dig up a photo of that one and scan it in (that was pre digital cameras, you know). Since then I have continued to get one brand new Over The Shoulder Baby Holder (otherwise known as OTSBH) sling for each new baby. I like the OTSBH in the newborn and tiny infant stage, then I tend to move on to Maya Wrap ring sling. Over the years I have learned to do about anything with babay or toddler in a sling, including tie dying!

Here are photos of my favorite Maya Wrap ring sling:




If you check back I'll post a few photos of some of our travels with our OTSBH slings ... but gotta scan those in :-)

Also soon to come, I'll add photos of new baby in her pretty pink floral OTSBH ring sling. But have to wait till she is actually born and I feel like having my photo taken :-)

And I should probably add:

A great place to read reviews on each kind of carrier is www.thebabywearer.com

My favorite place to order new slings and wraps
is Attached to Baby

My wraps are:
Storchenwiege
and Didymos

My Mei Tais are:
Freehand
A Maya Tai
and a Sachi

My Ring Slings are:
Maya Wrap Ring Sling
Over the Shoulder Baby Holder

And if you would like to hear from other babywearing mama's and see some of their favorites please visit: Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing

Child spacing in my life ....

I was thinking today about how our 5 children are spread out in ages over almost 13 years. All the different stages and ages we will have filling our house. As I'm washing teeny tiny baby clothes and stocking up on diapers and wipes, I'm also helping my eldest to write and type a missions support letter for her first mission trip. Its only 6 days long and they will only be about 5 hours away, but ... wasn't she just the baby I was preparing for? And in between those two I have other children learning to read, trying to learn to ride a two wheeler, longing for a deer hunting licence, and the two year old with a never slowing vocabulary explosion :-) Ahhh, the chaos and joy of it all ... I can't even begin to find adequate words.

I enjoy each age and stage immensely. I just wonder how we will juggle it all. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such sweet spirits, such growing and such love!

Blessings on Memorial Day!

Answered Prayers

The last few days have been terribly miserable and uncomfortable for me (8+ months pregnant will cause that). Yesterday I asked some online friends to pray for me this weekend. To pray that I would find a way to be more comfortable or that God would simply improve my attitude and mood. And that's what He did! Thanks for praying Ladies! I'm still huge, on bedrest and uncomfortable, but I've had tons of time to study His Word as I lay here today. You would think a mom on bed rest should have tons of time for prayer and reading everyday, but that has not been true as I still have 4 other kids (2 doing homeschool) who need their mama, even if she is confined to the couch. But God has blessed us with beautiful weather today and my husband is off work, so I've had hours to read and pray (as they have all been outside for hours) and WHAT A DIFFERENCE in my attitude! God has lead me to several verses about enduring. After some online searching He also blessed me and lead me to a few sites for Christian women that I would like to encourage you to visit:

Thirsty for Him

Internet Cafe Devotioans

Forever His

These sites are hosted by some amazing women of God! I found encouragment and great scritpure there. God bless you ladies!

Romans 15:13

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Thankful Thursday and Friendships!

Thankful Thursdays is hosted by Iris please join us every Thursday!

These last few weeks I've been especially thankful for my friends. God has blessed me with many friends who love the Lord. They have brought me great moments of joy and comfort! I can't possibly begin to name all of you who mean so much to me ... please just know how much you are loved! While searching for verses on friendship online I came across this wonderfuk site:

http://www.annieshomepage.com/friendshipbible.html



Please visit Annie's homepage for more great verses and encouragment


And in tribute to friends over the years I want to post a few photos of the friends I posted about yesterday

This photo is from 1995

... We've kept in touch for 20-plus years! I could not get my slide show to run here so please just click on the button below that says "view all images".
Heres to you ladies:

To read more Thankful Thursday posts please visit Iris

Word Filled Wednesday

To read more Word Filled Wednesdays please click HERE




Proverbs 17:17 (Amplified Bible)
A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity.

Proverbs 17:17 (New Living Translation)
A friend is always loyal,
and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Proverbs 17:17 (New International Version)
A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.


This was one of my favorite pictures of my niece and nephew (preemies - about a week old). I gave it soft edges and added the text box :-) They are almost one now! Amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

If you would like to post your own Wordless Wednesday or just look at a whole lot more, come over and join the fun HERE and remember to thank Tiany for hosting every week!



Almost 15 years ago at my wedding rehearsal




Just a few weeks ago at my house


Proverbs 27:9 (NIV)
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.


Proverbs 27:9 (The Message)
Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,
a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.


These three women in these photos with me have been my friends since 3rd grade! Over twenty years! Even though several of us have moved away over the years we all still have family in MN and make it a point to see each other once or twice a year.

I have been blessed by their wise and earnest counsel, kind words, shoulders to cry on, voices to rejoice with, and many many heatfelt prayers!

A few weeks ago I was blessed to have them all at my house. What a blessing to sit and chat and catch up as all our children played. We shared a beautiful time of prayer for each other, that really blessed me!. My thanks to you my dear friends for praying me though all these years. I praise and thank God for his gift of friendship!

Ahhh ... Spring!

How yummy does this look?
Top 10 Spring Vegetables
And truly my favorite is #10

But then I'm 8 + months pregnant, so THIS really looks good, too:

Chocolate Temptations - Yummm

Book Study - Assignment 6 Discussion

Many many thanks to Karen for hosting the wonderful study on Nancy Leigh Demoss's book Lies Women Believe And The Truth That Sets Them Free. Please feel free to come join in if you'd like! http://www.homesteadblogger.com/tagblog


Assignment 6

Read Chapter Four pages 91-114.

Questions
Karen decided not to give any discussion questions this week. This chapter was a bit lengthy. So, for our posts, we are to share what is on your heart at that time for Chapter Four.


---------------------------


This chapter was titled Lies Women Believe ... About Sin. Nancy DeMoss looked specificly at 5 lies women tend to believe about sin:

* I can sin and get away with it

* My sin isn't really that bad

* God can't forgive what I've done

* I am not fully responsible for my actions and reactions

* I cannot walk in consistent victory over sin

But for every lie God has a much greater, conquring Truth and that is what we need to focus on.

* Sin and lies are not the easiest thing to look at in myself. But there are certainly areas in my life where I make excuses or rationalize why this or that behavior is OK. But on page 97 Nancy wrote

According to Hebrews 11:25, sin does bring pleasure - for a short time. Ultimatly sin exacts a devastating toll. There are no exceptions.

How true that is ... we can make excuses, and explain all day, but if its wrong, its wrong and we will see consequences at some point. Easy enough to say, right? Still there are times its so hard to remember. I liked her idea about writing down a list of the consequences sin. Some of us just need a visual reminder (my self included there).

* God does not hold us up us up in comparisson to any other sinner ... sin is sin, I agree with Nancy's quote on page 100:

The way to see the truth about sin is to see it in the light of who God is

She followed that with a Puritan prayer that I think I will print out and hang where I'll see it every day:

Unmask to me sin's deformity,
that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it ...
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin
lies not in the nature of the sin commited,
as in the greatness of the person sinned against.


* "God Can't Forgive What I've Done" is another lie that Satan wispers or shouts
at women. I think Satan counts on women's "feelings" here, somtimes not "feeling" forgive or that perhaps we have not "done" enought to earn that forgivness ... But God longs for us to see the truth. I'm glad that Nancy included words from the hymn Nothing but the blood of Jesus, and Romans 3:25. From page 101:

It was at Calvary that God's mercy and love for sinners and the truth of His holy hatred for sin found a meeting place.

Consider this me hitting the pause button on my thoughts ... kids hungery and arguing ... need to go deal with ... will be back later




If you'd like to participate in this book study, please read the book study information by clicking here. After reading the information, you can join in with us each Monday

Thankful Thursday!

I am again thankful for the great medical community we live so close to!!! Tuesday was our day at the hospital for Zeke's tests ...We were so blessed and so covered in prayer ... My heart just continues to say "Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus!!!"

Our latest update is posted at:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zeke


He was not at all bothered by his IV



And he fell asleep cuddling his daddy 45 minutes before he needed to be sedated ... made sedating him pretty quick and easy :-)


Please click on this button to visit more Thankful Thursdays

Word Filled Wednesday

To read more Word Filled Wednesdays please click HERE


What a wonderful verse for the week, we've had!
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zeke

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Fun!

If you would like to post your own Wordless Wednesday or just look at a whole lot more, come over and join the fun HERE and remember to thank Tiany for hosting every week!

































And remember if you would like to post your own Wordless Wednesday or just look at a whole lot more, come over and join the fun HERE