Happy Halloween!

Seriously, I have been AWFUL at keeping up this blog:( As with everything else lately, I blame the pregnancy:) I have about one more month to do that, so I will take each chance I can get! Soon, I will post another belly photo, since the last one I posted was at 24 weeks!! Just look up at my ticker and you will see that I am waaaaaaay behind! My fundal measurements were about 2weeks ahead and at our sono almost two weeks ago Ben was measuring 2weeks ahead. He measured right about 5pounds at 31weeks! Which would put us at about 10pounds if we went to the full 40weeks. My doctor is graciously going to induce at 38 weeks...and I can't wait to get my name on the books!!

Enjoy our photos from Halloween. The kids had a TON of fun and received a TON of candy...and they have shared a TON with mommy and daddy:)

Cross My Heart...

A sweet friend of mine is making and selling t-shirts. She and her husband are adopting a precious little girl from Russia. As you may or may not know, it is quite pricey to travel internationally:) Jennifer has come up with a creative way to raise money to cover their traveling costs.
Her company is called "Cross My Heart Designs". The name comes from the fact that there is a cross on every shirt. The "heart" comes from the fact that their little girl is already in their hearts.

Jennifer makes shirts for all sizes. She makes them for men and little boys as well. She also has baby onesies and bibs that are just adorable.

This family is so precious and we are so excited for them to meet their daughter.

Please visit her site(below) and purchase a shirt!! Tell her that Keri sent you;)
CrossMyHeartDesigns

A moment~

Would you please take a moment and visit the link to the left under "Pray For..." labeled "Jessi's Mom"?
Jessi and Dustin Bynum are some of the most amazing folks we know. We are abundantly blessed to call them our friends.
A little over a week ago, Jessi's mom was in a serious car accident. She has been in a coma since, but is making progress.
We were able to drive to Austin today to visit with them. It was a sweet time for our family to be with our friends in need. It is so hard to be here in the DFW area and not be able to physically be there with them through this.
Please pray for Cindy, for Jessi and Dustin, for her other four brothers, and for the doctors.

Psalm 30:1-51 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Almost 24 weeks:)

It is very obvious to me and everyone else that there is a sweet child growing in my belly. (I know, I know he is not actually "in my belly". But, it doesn't seem as cute to say "in my uterus")

I feel little Ben kicking and punching all the time. I am growing to love it. Of course, I loved the first couple of flitter~flutters that I felt, but as this guy has been growing he is getting much more aggressive. There are times that I am so engulfed with appreciation of this baby that I want to feel him punch me, I love to feel him hiccuping, I long to feel him twist and turn. This may be our last biological baby, and I don't want to take any of this time for granted. Sadly, I think I may have done that in the first two pregnancies. Knowing that I would have another. Then, when we had a miscarriage and the thought of maybe not having another became a reality, something switched in my mind. A true desire to appreciate and be thankful for every single day and minute swelled and became my desire. How grateful I am that the Lord saw fit to grant me the desires of my heart. Because of Him, these precious desires are becoming part of my reality.

The kids are getting more excited everyday. I think seeing my growing tummy has made it more real to them. It is a sweet time. They always come up and talk to their baby brother, telling him about their day and that they love him. It is fun to watch their love for an unseen baby brother grow. I can't help but be reminded of our Heavenly Father. We can't see Him, but we can see the works that He is doing. It is undeniable that He is here, and we can feel His moving at times, just as the children can reach up and feel Ben moving. They can't see him, but they know he is there. At first, it was a trust that what we were saying was true. That there was indeed a baby growing within me. Now, as we have continued to teach them and they see with their own sweet eyes, the progression of their trust has turned to a full on knowledge. And with wide eyes and joy in their voices, they tell others of this life that they are hoping for in December. Speaking of Ben is something that we do everyday. Talking to him, singing to him and telling others of him. It is such a beautiful picture for them of who our great God is. It is such a joy for David and I to show them Jesus in everything that we do. To talk to Him and sing to Him. To be drenched in His love and share that with others. To speak with open eyes and true joy in our hearts of the Hope that is to come.

Thank You, sweet King, for the chance to show our children who You are. Thank you for the many opportunities that you give us daily to see You, to talk to You, to sing to You and tell others of You and Your amazing love for us. Because of you, we live. Because of you, we have hope for things unseen. How great is the love You have lavished upon us!

Waiting...

These two precious children are patiently waiting for their sweet baby brother to be born! We are blessed beyond words.

Boy or Girl?

19 weeks!

Wordless Wednesday

(Ok, not so "wordless". Jacob had a horrible encounter with a Treadmill.:()

We're Goin' on a Trip:)

Since you are enjoying all the videos, I thought I would send out one more:) See ya in a week!

The Kids Can Dance!

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Watch David's Moves

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Cardboard Testimonies

What would your cardboard testimony say?
If you feel comfortable, I would love to know.

16 Weeks Down!!

If you have been blogging for a while, or know someone who has, you may have come to know how small this world really is. My friend Brittani wrote a great post on this here. She is much more talented than I in the realm of writing.

While at the pool the other day, I met a cute mom and her precious boy. Have you ever had the feeling that you "know" someone that you just met? I kinda felt that way when I met Laurie. Honestly, I thought I recognized her as a speaker for Proverbs 31 Ministries, but I just wasn't sure. When I got home, I googled her name and found that she is the author of the blog Tip Junkie. Not only do I love this blog, but I used a "tip" from it just a couple weeks ago for Emma's birthday party. How fun to learn that Laurie and her family live in our neighborhood.

Now for the sad part. Laurie posted about our meeting on her personal blog. She also put a link to mine. For all the readers that are here via Laurie's blog, I am sincerely sorry. I am boring. I am not a talented writer at all. I hope that you are not so extremely outraged by reading this blog that you go back and write profanities on her's:)

Welcome, nonetheless. This is who I am and who my beautiful family is. I am blessed beyond words and hope that my blog conveys that!

Happy 4th!

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July! We saw amazing fireworks on Thursday night. I mean A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I told the kids about 5 times that I think this was the finale. They loved them too.
Then, yesterday we spent the day at my aunt and uncle's house. The kids swam all day, literally rubbing blisters on their poor little feet. We ate homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, many different salads, fruit, homemade peach cobbler, and so much more. It was scrumptious! I didn't want to leave because I was so stuffed!

I hope the day was fun for everyone and that you enjoyed the freedom we have in our country!

I have zero pictures of our fun, patriotic event. I was too busy enjoying the fun to play photographer!

English Rules

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually)unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used unless you don't want to seem too formal.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not always apropos.
13. Do not use more words, phrases, sentences, or other linguistic elements than you, yourself, actually really and definitely need to use or employ when expressing yourself or otherwise giving voice to what you may or may not be thinking when you are trying to say how many words you should use or not use when using words.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, i.e. etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill excessive exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others elude to them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate distracting quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson is said to have once remarked, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.And finally...
34. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out

Father's Day

Father's day was wonderful this year. We celebrated early because David had to fly out to California on Father's day. (phooey!) If you read my husband's blog, you know that he has lost a great amount of weight and has developed a much healthier way of living. Well, this is awesome in most areas. But, if you go to the pool in a swimsuit that you wore 25 pounds heavier, you might experience some issues:) Let's just say, after sliding down a water slide with one of the kids, he discovered that a new swimsuit was a necessity not a luxury.

Emma thought of it first, to give him one for Father's day. She is a sensitive soul and didn't want her daddy feeling uncomfortable at the pool...her favorite place to frequent:)

We spent the day together as a family and gave David his new suit and some other clothes. We had a yummy dinner and a fun time. The next morning we ate breakfast at Einstein Brothers. A Sugar cookie for Jacob and a cinnamon twistie thing with frosting on it for Emma:). (Don't worry, they had "real" breakfast at home before we left!)

Here are a few pictures of David and his kids. They are so blessed to have David as their father. He loves the Lord, loves me, works super hard at his job so that I can stay home with the kids. We are so thankful for him in our lives! I love you honey!!

Wordless Wednesday

"The Past and the Pitcher"

This post on Angie Smith's blog really spoke to me. You just have to read it...

Prayer for the Chapman family

I am sure most of you have already heard about this tragic accident. I just think we need to unite in prayer for this family, especially the son/brother that was driving the vehicle. I just can't imagine what he is going through right now. You can leave them a comment or prayer here.

Happy Mother's Day

Before reading the following, check out my husband's last post. regarding the thankfulness of children:)


"Someone must see the family as worth fighting for, worth calling a career, worth the hard work of training a child in godliness, worth the relentless tasks involved in running a home...This 'someone' is the wife, the mother, and the homemaker and that, as such, she must embrace a life of being the giver. That's our role as mothers." ~Elizabeth George

"And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up."
Galations 6:9

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

No painter's brush, nor poet's penIn justice to her fameHas ever reached half high enoughTo write a mother's name.~Author Unknown

Birthday Celebrations

Last week we had the privilege of celebrating the birthday of my sweet twin nephews and my sister-in-law. It was a celebration at the zoo. What could be more fitting for four little kids under the age of five?!? It was great fun and perfect weather. The animal that I most enjoyed was the toddler gorilla. Man, they are cute. And, although I have two cuties myself, I would NOT turn it down if someone came knocking on my door to give me a baby gorilla. L-O-V-E them!

After the zoo we went to a little hamburger place in Ft. Worth. It was yummy and the cake was too. If you don't know about Texas Star Bakery, you better get there as quick as you can! Jacob and I have "cupcake dates" there often. They are delish. And always cute.

Here are some pictures from our day. Denise, if you ever get online to read my blog I want you to know how very loved you are. You are the sister that I always prayed for. I am so thankful for you in this family. Seriously, what would we do without each other?!?!

And Mark and Charles...we prayed for you two little miracles for so long. It has been such a joy to be your aunt and watch you grow into the handsome little men that you are. I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for your lives!!

Memoir

My friend Lauren invited me to write a six word memoir. Here is what I came up with:

Sinner

Wife

Mother

Laugher:)

Friend

Dreamer


Now for the rules:

The instructions are to write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere.Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Brittani, Sunni, Christa, Caroline, and Kristi...now it is your turn!!

Vanessa Whitwell

Please be in prayer for Fellowship Church...

Wordless Wednesday

Will you pray again?

The last post I made mentioned Tricia, Nate and Gwyneth. If you did not check up on them, the lungs were not a complete match for Tricia.
They got another call today, on Nate's birthday. This may be the day she receives her double lung transplant. I can't even begin to fathom all the emotions they may be going through.
I will be lifting them up throughout the day...will you join me?

PRAY!!

I don't know how many of you have been following the story of Tricia, Nate and Gwyneth. If you have or have not, I urge you to visit their blog. Tricia has cystic fibrosis and has been awaiting a double lung transplant. They have a precious baby girl, Gwyneth, that is a micro-preemie in the same hospital as her mommy.

They got a call today that they may have a match for Tricia's new lungs. Please, if the Lord prompts you, pray for this sweet family.

And, for the donor family that has lost a loved one.

Wordless Wednesday