A catch up

My oh my! I think I got a new batch of pregnancy hormones! I asked Dr. McCann last week if its really true that pregnancy hormones can bring on heightened emotions or if its something people have exaggerated or even used as an excuse for their behavior. She reassured me that its perfectly normal to feel extra emotional during pregnancy, especially when your chasing after a toddler. Well, that explains my exhausted, sad & weepy mood last week. Ahhh; I sure hope that's over! I'm looking forward to May- Mother's Day AND my birthday! It's the best month of the year :) Okay enough about that... here are a few highlights from the last week:

Last week I was sitting in the office chair & Eli was standing behind me. (He likes to play w/ my hair.) Eli noticed a one of my scars on my back from a mole that was removed. He gently rubbed my back & said, "Ouwy, Ouwy." (sp?) Then Eli leaned in, kissed it, moved to my lap & folded his chubby little fingers together to pray for my owe. (We always kiss & pray for his bonks & ouwies.) It was so sweet!

One more sweet moment... I was laying on the couch while Eli was playing w/ his toys. I said out loud, but to myself, "Burr, I need a blanket." Eli stopped what he was doing, walked over to our basket of blankets, reached under the top blanket to grab my favorite blanket beneath & brought it over to me. I LOVE sweet moments like that- they make the fit throwing, disobedient moments tolerable.

Then this weekend we took Eli & his best bud, Russell (Ro-Ro) to the park. Then they enjoyed a bath together....

Monday Eli dropped his bink over our balcony right when the gardeners were mowing the lawn... yah, his bink got chopped up!

Yesterday morning I caught Eli playing in the pancake mix, of course when I'm trying to get us out the door on time. Once again, I was late to bible study.

Prego

My good friend Grace & I are pregnant together again!

Pregnant (Eli & Zak) 09/06.

Pregnant 04/08.

In 2006 Eli was born on Sept. 22 & Zak was born on Oct. 11. This year Grace is due May 7th & I am due June 7th.

At my doctor's visit this week, Eli did really well. (Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to keep him quiet on my lap, especially since our stroller broke!). As soon as we walked in the back towards our room, we saw Katie, the midwife who delivered Eli. She immediately stopped to greet us. Of course Eli smiled & flirted w/ her like he does w/ everyone. Katie thought he's looking more & more like Jonny. I agreed. Its hard to see me or Jonny in him sometimes, b/c I'm so used to seeing Eli that his face just looks like Eli (if that makes any sense), but lately I do see more of Jonny's features shining through. Our appointment was w/ Dr. McCann. I really like her. If she's the one on call for the big day I'd be very pleased. She just adores Eli. When I laid down so she could measure me & listen to the baby's heart beat, I laid Eli down right next to me & Dr. McCann listened to Eli's heart beat, too. He loved the attention! He's not at all scared of doctor's offices yet. Anyway, it was really cute. I wish we could have got a picture.

Passover & The MONSTER!

I meant to post this last night, seeing as how Passover began last night...
I wanted to share how I love that our church celebrates Passover. Different families celebrate in different ways- some having more of a traditional Jewish celebration & others doing a simple New Testament celebration or even just a simple time of recognition by taking communion as a family. Some people open up their homes & celebrate w/ other families. There are even resources available that share children activities related to Passover which are a great way to teach young children about Passover. Every year our pastor encourages everyone to start some sort of tradition in our homes- not out of legalism, but out of remembrance of what God has done for us. Remembering that Jesus is our Passover lamb that was sacrificed for our sins & makes us right before the Father. He basically just suggested it'd be a good idea to acknowledge the event & teach our children what its all about. Pastor Rob reminded us that God has grafted, or adopted, us into his family; therefore we inherit these old traditions & maybe we should at least know what they are about. Anyway, if you're interested in listening to a message on Passover you can look up your favorite pastor...maybe they have a Passover message. Our church website has some old messages from Pastor Rob. The Passover stuff is in Leviticus 23 (you know, the part of your bible where the pages are all crisp from never being flipped to!) :)

Off subject... Look what I caught Eli doing!

BUSTED!

SNOW???

ITS BEEN SNOWING THIS WEEKEND!!!

April 20 & its snowing... where are we, Klamath Falls?!

Home Sweet Home

This is our new home! Turns out the offer made on our lot was too low (lower than we initially paid for it) & the bidder refused to budge. We didn't feel a peace about rushing into buying a bigger house just b/c we could get some money from our lot. We'll just wait some more & continue to take baby steps in the housing arena. :)

Meanwhile, the Lord has opened the door for us to rent this lovely little home. The owners thought we were the 'perfect' tenants. Apparently the house has been vacant for over 6 months, waiting for just the right tenants. They even lowered the price $45 for us. I gave our 30 day notice yesterday... & oh yah, the baby is due in 50 days! Yikes! It's nesting time!

Ben Stein's Movie

Ben Stein's movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed comes out tomorrow. Check out the trailers. It's about Intelligent Design, or more specifically, how people with that view are discriminated against.

The cutest monster you'll ever see:

cousins

Eli got to visit four of his cousins today. (Ruby, Reid, Lily & Joshua)

They are so cute together!

guinea pigs

We're Moving!!!

I just got home from bible study, & I should be in bed taking a nap w/ Eli but I just had to post this real quick.

This weekend Jonny & I found a nice little house for rent. It's about 1200 sq. ft. & the rent is only about $160 more than what we're paying for our apartment & storage garage. We made an appointment to look at the house for Monday night & spent the weekend praying about the situation. To make this short & sweet- we liked the house, they liked us, it felt right. Jonny told me to give our 30 day notice today.

After bible study I got back in the car to drive home & write up our notice. As I'm driving out of the church parking lot, checking my voicemail, I get to a message from our realtor in Klamath.... someones made an offer.

What are you saying, Lord!? The same day we were going to give our notice so we could rent a small home, we find out someone has made an offer on our lot! So...do we buy a home instead? We have 7 more weeks before the baby is born.... We think we're moving- we just don't know where or when. If you think of it, pray for us!

Eli's Exciting Week

Eli has had a fun week visiting family & friends. Last weekend Grandma & Grandpa Oelkers came up to visit & then drove Eli & I down to Klamath w/ them. (Eli was wonderful for the ride down.) Then he got to visit Grandma & Grandpa Wilson; Aunt Becky; Nana & Papa Ted; & we stayed w/ Aunt Patty & Aunt Juju. It was a week of adventure for Eli & exercise for Mommy. Eli will go, go, go when he's in a new environment; he's not the least bit timid. He will investigate & get into EVERYTHING! Yesterday Grandma Wilson drove us back home & Eli did great during the 4 hr car ride. So... to share some of our adventurous week...

Some exercise moments for Mommy:

Catching Eli...

*splashing in the toilet

*pooping in Aunt Patty's bathtub

*finding a box of matches & using them as Q tips

*eating dog food

*playing in the dirt of Nana's potted plants & spilling it in the entrance of her house

*playing on Aunt Patty's (the transcriptionist) keyboard as she was trying to work

* trying to pull on an outside electrical cord (we managed to stop this one before it occurred)

*attempting to put a dirty broken piece of glass in his mouth

*walking the dog by its tail

*standing up on a chair to try to reach a huge grandfather clock

*and all the regular no-no's & don't touches (poor kid!)

He did get to have some fun. Here are some of his fun moments:

*pony rides from Grandpa Oelkers
*playing in Grandma Oelkers' purse
*playing a game of chase w/ Grandma Oelkers

*Aunt Becky (yah, just Aunt Becky. For some reason she's like a bowl of sugar to Eli.)

*Walk along the river w/ Aunt Patty

*raking pine needles w/ Aunt Patty

*piling sticks in the wheel-barrel w/ Aunt Patty

*petting/playing w/ dogs

*petting/playing w/ cats

*watching the geese swim

*trying to get the cat to talk on the phone (it was really cute, but we didn't get a pic in time!)

*playing the piano

*dancing & singing

*taking long baths in Aunt Patty's big bath tub

*bouncing on the big exercise ball

*playing a game of catch w/ Grandma Wilson

*blueberry pancakes @ Nana's

*drinking carrot juice naked on Aunt Patty's kitchen floor

Grandma Oelkers & Eli

Aunt Becky & Eli
Mommy & Aunt Juju
Nana & Eli

Grandma Wilson & Eli

Contentment

I just came across these verses on contentment, & since my last post was this subject I thought I'd share them w/ ya'll.

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." -1 Tim. 6:6-10

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " -Heb. 13:5

The things of this world can be so distracting. Although there is a place for enjoying what the Lord has given us, our focus, my focus, can be blurred or thrown off course. Happiness doesn't come from the pursuit of material gain. The truth is I have nothing w/out Him; everything else is temporary. He is all we need. Isn't He enough?!

Joke's On Us

Three years ago Jonny & I made an offer on a little building lot down in Klamath Falls. We thought there was a good chance we'd move back down there & if not, we thought it would be a good investment. Huh! Maybe we should have thought twice about making such a big financial decision on APRIL FOOLS DAY! The Lord did not have us move back there, & now it won't sell! We put our lot up for sale ten months ago & have had ZERO offers! We lowered the price twice, so now its listed for just a little more than we paid for it. We've been waiting in our little two bedroom apartment for the day we sell our lot & get enough money for a down-payment for a house for our growing family. Did I mention ZERO offers?!

Okay, okay... reality check... So many people in the world live in far, far worse conditions than we do. We really are so blessed, but b/c of the abundant culture we live in there is always something better to fix our eyes on. The truth is that we do have a home. It may not have a garage attached to it, or a private back yard, or an extra bathroom, but it's a home. It's where we spend time as a family. Its where Eli has grown into a toddler. Its where we will bring home our second child. It would take too long to post all the things God has taught us in this season of waiting, so to sum it up, it has been good & it is for His glory. We've been humbled. We are called to fix our eyes on Him, not that 'something better' in the world.

I was talking to an awesome lady in our home group about our living situation & she shared her family's story w/ me. They lived in a one bedroom apartment until their first child was 9 mos. (same as us!) Then they moved into a two bedroom apartment & stayed there until a couple months before their third child was born. Their next home is thier current home of 900 sq. ft. (!) They now have a fourth child, who is Eli's age. I was completely humbled! What the heck am I complaining about?! And the best part is they are an incredible family. Her husband leads our home group (in someone else's home :) ) & she home-schools all their kids. The fruit of their family is so rich. They love the Lord w/ all their hearts & live to seek after Him, not the things of this world. I know I said this already, but I was totally humbled. Later that night they shared that the Lord has opened the door for them to make a big addition to their home this summer. Isn't that the way the Lord does things? He often has us in a season of 'waiting' so He can work out something good in us for His glory.

There's another fruitful family at our church who live in a three bedroom apartment w/ four teenagers! Again, their life is focused on the Lord. Their teenagers go to public school, but are completely sold out for God. (Not to say that people who live in 1500+ sq. ft. homes don't love the Lord... these families just minister to me b/c of our situation.)

The people who make up the body of Christ come in different shapes, sizes & colors; live in homes of different shapes, sizes & colors, & are called for so many different things. But oh how we need them all! (paraphrased by Jessica) ~Romans 12:4-5.