She's Here

Abigail Grace is here. She arrived at 2:24 pm today by c-section. She wieghs 7lbs 14 ozs and is 20 1/2 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair that is kinky curly when it's wet. She has a set of lungs on her that she demonstrated the first few minutes of her life. Her apgar was 9 out of 9. She looks alot like her big sister with a rounder face.

Mom is doing well, tired and itchy (the meds). We had lots of family today which is always wonderful to visit with. Adyson loves her new sister and I mean loves her new sister. She wants to hold her and take her blanket off to see her hands and feet. She is already protective of Abigail and who can and cannot hold her. She went home with Nana and Papa for a nap, then wouldn't eat dinner b/c she was so busy talking about her sissy. Then they came back to the hospital and they got her to leave by saying they were taking a walk, hopefully all went well when she saw they were going home.

Feel free to come and visit!

Our life

We are scheduled to have Abigail Grace on Dec 29th at the same hospital at 11:30am as long as my doctor doesn't change it this week. (Come visit we are there about 5 days) She wants to do another ultrasound this Thursday to see how big the baby is because I am measuring way ahead. So far I have gained about 10 pounds, 5 of it in the last two weeks. I had to take my ring off today bc I am starting to swell and retain water.

We are moving rooms around. We are giving the girls the bigger bedroom that use to be the guest room and moving the guest room to Addy's current room. Sue and Al are painting the girls room for their Christmas present. It is about halfway thru and looking good. One wall is purple, the other three walls are white on top with a green stripe/border that will have flowers and the bottom is pink. Then one wall is going to have a picture rail with knobs that we will hang pictures from ribbon, sounds like something out of pottery barn doesn't it? I will post pictures as soon as it's done.

My grandma's health has spiraled out of control. It started with the heart, then went to the lungs that have never recovered from her smoking 32 years ago, to losing 15-20 lbs in 2 weeks. We are still waiting test results, crazy time.

Rufus is hanging in there. No updates on him. We switched him to wet food and double doses of meds a day. He is the same, some days are better than others.

I would say that Addy is 85% potty trained. I have not taken her out in public in undies bc I am scared of not getting to the potty in time.

My little girl is getting big!

eating fondue with G-pa

















cake batter
















































she likes latte's

























































at Thanksgiving
























































at Zionsville parade








































helping daddy clean the driveway and sidewalks
































eating corn on the cob

Another girl

We are having another girl. Haven't picked a name yet.

Our yard sale went great and we got our first unemployment check! Yeah.

Yard Sale

We are having a yard sale!
This Friday the 19th 7am-12pm and Saturday the 20th 7am-1pm
Tell your friends!

We find out tomorrow what we are having (or we are suppose to since it was suppose to happen a month ago but we are trying again this time) This time I am going to drown myself with water so they can see better in the ultrasound hopefully.

Still looking for a job, had an interview - I can work anywhere but as a parent I would not want my child so it's out. We'll keep trying. It will come.

New pics of Addy

Addy at the State Fair with cheesy face

B-day coming

I turned 30 today. Kris has had fun with that today b/c he is 29 today (yes we have the same b-day). He and Addy made me breakfast in bed and then said there was not enough wax to safely light my candles (ha ha). Kris has this week off. He only had to take two days off since Monday is a holiday and his birthday on Wednesday is considered a paid holiday.

We visited Kris' sister Saturday and Sunday. She made our b-day cakes, German Chocolate (K) and yellow with chocolate icing (mine). Addy decided that she wanted to potty train and sat on the potty. She tried but nothing has happened but she is excited about sitting, flushing, and washing hands. It is all we do now :-)

Friday Addy, Marsha and I went to Stuckey Farms to pick apples and corn. Addy loved it. We have more groceries right now then we have ever had. Kris's aunt took us shopping and bought us everything under the sun.

Rufus is acting better. My grandma has to have a sleeping test next week to see how her lungs are and then they are setting the date for surgery for her heart.

Smiling

I was talking to a friend this week and she was saying how people don't know her, only the ones she trusts. She is this beautiful woman that always has a smile on her face, you would never know or imagine what she has come thru, she's amazing.

So brings the question, who are you behind the smile? I am a pretty open person and strive to be the same person at home, work, and church. Yes we have different roles but I want to be the same person. But I think my defintion of being open means if you ask or if the info pertains to the conversation at hand. Not everyone knows my parents are divorced, i have had 2 stepmoms, 1 stepdad, a brother, half sister, stepsister, and at one time 2 stepbrothers or that I held my dad's hand the night he lost his battle with cancer. Sounds strange but I wouldn't change any of it, I like who I am b/c of my life experiences.

Behind my smile is a girl who loves God, who loves to sing worship songs for hours, who loves her family, desires to be the best wife ever to the most deserving husband, and a great mom. Sometimes we forget what we are because we are so busy with life or with smiling.

My old BRSMers will understand this. Life was so easy in the middle of revival, we lived in hope and faith, we met people all the time that God touched and changed, we started everyday at chapel and ended the night with the ushers blinking the lights at us after midnight. I like to look back to see how I have changed and if I like the change or not. Right now I don't like it in certain areas so I'm going to fix it. My desire is to teach my children what I have learned so our morning routine is changing. Can you tell that I have spent the night listening to Mike Motley, Jessie Rogers, and Jason Upton?

Ok enough thinking for tonight, I'm exhausted and going to bed.

The longest blog ever .... really

Ok so we haven't updated in awhile and I have not answered the emails with complaints, sorry.
We went to the doctor and they couldn't tell us the sex of the baby, the baby wouldn't open it's legs and just wiggled the whole time. We are having another ultrasound in September b/c they couldn't see a clear enough image this time of all the organs supposedly b/c my bladder wasn't full enough.

Kris got to go to Michigan this weekend on a unsuspected paintball tournament. The SPPL called and asked why his team was not signed up. They explained that they went to the Chicago tournament this year and did not have the money to go. So he waved their fee and the camping fee and they went. Kris had a great time and they lost two and won one. It always takes them two games to warm up it seems. The big thing was that Greg Hastings was there to start his second paintball video game. So they took all the teams photos and their info and they will be in the game!! It's on X-box and the Wii. So check it out next year when it comes out and you play as Gideon Force and be Kris!

My grandmother Rose was in the hospital last week. She is not doing so well. Three bad valves to the heart, blood clots in her lungs, and clogged veins in her legs, not to mention the extra passage way to her heart that they have been trying to fix for years but other problems keep rising up that are more important. They did a million tests, told her that stress has damaged her heart and to get the stress out (easier said then done) It killed me that I wasn't there with the whole family to support her. My family is great, all four of her kids were there everyday and some of their kids too. I wish they were closer. We were going for a long weekend this coming weekend but it's not going to happen now (sorry guys). My mom hasn't seen Addy since Christmas, it sucks.

Rufus is not doing well either. He is 14 going on 15 and for a chocolate lab that is pretty old. This weekend he was trying to get up and kept falling down. Addy would go over and rub his head and talk (I think she was praying for him, she knows) I doped him full of meds every day since but I don't know what to do really without taking him to the doctor and what are they going to do except charge us 300 like they always do? We are starting daily very small walks around the cul-de-sac to try to keep him up and moving, that's about all the walking he can stand. Is it silly that I love my dog and this upsets me so much? I never thought I could love an animal like I do him, oh how we change over the years.

Well the most stressful thing, I was fired today. Yes, take a deep breath (I had too). Addy has been sick all weekend, sleeping in late, taking 3 -4 hour naps and just laying on top of me. I am pretty sure she has a sinus and ear infection b/c she has pinkeye, which is what happens every time she gets a sinus infection it comes out her eyes (the doctor couldn't see us till tomorrow). So I called in today for work, got my friend to cover my shift, and called the guy in my room so he knew what was going on and wouldn't worry if she was slightly late. Of course Addy didn't sleep in today so we got up and did the mom thing, she also had to scream herself to sleep for a nap b/c she wouldn't sleep and was exhausted, having major meltdowns, so I put her in her bed and she screamed until she fell asleep. Which if you know Addy you know that is not her, she is the easiest child to put to sleep, put her down and walk away (we are so lucky). Anyway I get a message from my boss that I am a no show no call. I call back I explain I get fired. Ok, so me being pregnant and emotional, I cried and was in shock. I have never been fired. Of course my wonderful husband talks me thru it, gets out our budget, revamps it, and starts getting info on unemployment, what would I ever do without him?

So we are dropping my college course and cancelling our cable, Internet, and phones. So if you want to get ahold of us, come over to the house, it's like junior high again :-) We will walk to Kris's parents house (thankfully they live .7 of a mile from us) and use their Internet and Kris will check stuff at work on his breaks. We are still short 400 dollars a month for bills. I tell you this so you can pray specifically for that. The funny thing is that we were at church the other day and during worship a song was playing about trials and tribulation and I was thinking how lucky we are. We haven't anything real major lately. Low and behold all in a week... but it's good, I feel so relaxed and God will take care of us, he always does. I think I was starting to forget that, forgetting all the times I didn't have college tuition and someone paid it, I didn't have a car and someone gave me one for free, or when I said to God if you want me to move to Florida then you have to provide a house and a job and just so I know that it's you I want the house to have sage green walls. It happened just like that too, girl sits beside me at a restaurant and says hey do you know anyone who needs a job and place to live and of course the bedroom had sage green walls. I love when he does things like that.

15 weeks 6 days

So we are 15 weeks and 6 days along. We had a doctor's appointment today and they couldn't find the heartbeat with the hand held machine just like last month so we had another ultrasound, that makes 3 so far for this pregnancy. Each time the baby looks great 152-158 heartbeats each time. Today the baby was really wiggly and moving around. In one shot the baby was waving it's hand at us, very cute. We find out on August 21st what we are having!!! Wait for a blog that day, I will definitely be finding out and telling!!

We are doing well. Stressed at work right now but it will get better, it always does. Adyson is growing like a weed, working on a full mouth of teeth and trying to put sentences together (even though you can't understand half of it :-)

About two weeks ago we were pretty sick, all three of us at the same time which has never happened before, it lasted around a week but really strong on the weekend. High fevers, vomiting, rashes, stomach issues, body aches, and just major fatigue. Kris actually called in one day which you know it's bad when he doesn't work, usually I have to convince him that he is sick and the world will survive for a day without him and he always say well I can do some work at home and maybe go in later, that man I love his work effort. Thankfully he already had the Friday and Monday off but unfortunately he had those days off so he could go to the big paintball tournament in Chicago with his team but he didn't even get out of bed until 2:30pm on Friday and still sick on Saturday. There was no way he could have survived camping and playing, he was really really bummed. He kept saying if his fever (that was 103 on meds) would break then he could drive up there and meet them, yea like I would let him do that :-) Well we are all better now, hopefully it will stay like that for awhile.

Our surprise after the vacation

So I was a little sick while we were in California, almost threw up on the plane a few times, and the guy beside me kept tapping his foot which just made me more sick. We got back and Addy and G-pa met us at the airport and she ran into our arms, it was wonderful to see her. So Friday a little sick again so we decided to investigate this round of sickness and found out that we are going to have another baby!

We had our first ultrasound today since we had no clue how pregnant we are. We are 8 weeks and 1 day along. The baby looks great, strong heartbeat. Our due date is Jan 8th but we are scheduling the c-section for the last week of December. We will keep you updated!

Legos galore at the Lego store

The Ocean

CA continued....

So we went to In and Out burger Sunday night. The menu is great, it consists of a double burger, cheeseburger, or hamburger, would you like it in a combo, OK. It is so simple and good. We ate outside which is something I miss from Florida. Eric showed us the beaches, told us what houses cost around here which are really expensive, and we saw how impossible it is to park by the beach area. People will buy the lot beside them for an insane amount just to have parking, crazy.
Yesterday we went out for breakfast before Kris had to go to his conferences. I spent the day by the pool reading "Wanted Extreme Christians" by Steve Hill. We have had the book for years and I have never read it. It is excellent, it is definitely a reread. So I was so into the book that the hours flew by and I am a little red today from the sun. So when Kris got back we went to Disney Downtown with Eric. We ate at an Italian pizzeria and shopped a little. I got Addy a Minnie Mouse shirt and my little cousin a Lego mug with his name on it for his b-day. I don't know what we are doing tonight, maybe go to Del Taco which we have been told is a must or El Pollo Loco. Then tomorrow we will visit the beach and just sight see. Then early on Thursday we have to be at the airport - the John Wayne Airport, then back to Indy. I can't wait to see my baby. Next year this conference will be in DC.

Leaving Adyson

This is Adyson playing with G-pa at the airport yesterday before we went thru security. She loves phones of anykind.

So this is the first time we have ever left Adyson. I don't count taking her to school because I'm teaching on the other hallway from her. And we have only went out twice since she was born and Kris's parents watched her at our house when she was almost asleep so we didn't miss any time with her. So I cried a week before, I teared up twice before we got to the airport, and then cried cried when I said goodbye and went thru security, the lady in security asked if I was ok and Kris had to answer for me.

Adyson on the other hand was distracted by someone taking their dog in a carry-on bag so she didn't notice us leaving which was better for me b/c it would have been worse for me if she started crying. I am better now and Kris's parents have already sent two pictures of her helping with dinner and playing in Nana's makeup, so I know she is fine.

California

So Kris has a conference in CA so we decided to make it a mini vacation. We flew out of Indy to Denver yesterday, had a two hour lay over, grabbed a bite to eat, and then on to Orange County. The airport was easy to maneuver, grabbed our bags, rental car (new Pontiac G6), and jumped on the highway. We were warned about how Californians drive and they were right, it was like we were in a race :-)

We arrived at our hotel, smelled the most beautiful flowers that are everywhere, admired these huge purple trees, and watched the Disney fireworks at 9:30 (12:30 our normal time) from our balcony and went to bed. We got up this morning at 6, cruised around to find a place to eat. Since Kris had to get to his conference and it needed to be a little fast, we decided on Carl Jr's/Green Burrito, which is the west's version of Hardee's/Red Burrito. It is pretty much the same except they put guacamole on some of their burgers and the ham is really thick for the breakfast sandwiches. We dropped by the Big K to grab some snacks for the hotel and Kris walked to his conference b/c we can also see the conference center from our balcony too. I sat by the pool to get some much needed sun, read a book, put my feet in the pool, walked around, and I may take a nap before Kris gets back at 4. We are going to out to eat with a friend from Indy that use to live here and he may take us to the beach, I'm looking forward to it.

The pictures are of course of our room. We will take many more and post them later.

Earthquake

Did you hear that we had an earthquake? Kris and I were laying in bed after our alarm went off, not wanting to get out of bed so early and our bed/house started to shake. Kris jumped up b/c he thought that our dog was have a seizure and was laying against our bed making it shake. But he was across the room. We said what was that? When we got in the car the announcer said that it was a 5.4 earthquake at 5:39 that was in Illinois and was felt thru Indiana, Michigan, and up to Chicago. No damage reported. The last one we had was in 1987, which I remember. I was playing softball and didn't feel it but the parents on the bleachers felt it.

Children today....

Kris dropped Addy and I off at 6:20 yesterday at school b/c I had a parent teacher conference with parents who did not want to meet with us but we said we could not continue care if they did not meet with us about thier child and come up with an action plan, just this month he has had 25-30 incident reports where he has hurt teachers, students, or broken resources. Something has to give.
This year has been the toughest year ever for me teaching. I have 22 students, more boys than girls and very dominant, I want to be in charge, and not made to do anything personalities in my room. I have been bit, hit, kicked, spit on, head butted to where I saw black then stars, scratched till I bled, and had to hold them in bear hugs so they could not hurt others or me. Our school prides itself in working with children and not kicking anyone out, which I agree with. Have you seen the stats of children that are kicked out of preschool and how it spirals the rest of thier lives? It is shocking. We have to teach them self coping skills/anger management now instead of dealing with it later when they show up with guns. I have always had one maybe two strong personalities that I have had to work one on one with but not so many in a class that feed off of each other like this class. Only a month or so, then we are splitting them up for the summer when the offical school year is over. It will be less stress on them and us.

An injured Kris

So we were going to have an art auction/show at my school. I have been showing my students different art pieces and they have been really excited about painting and creating. Kris had an idea that we should make them framed art canvas for them to paint on, so we did. Well we had to make 22. I helped him with most of them but I had to give Addy a bath and put her to bed while he was finishing up the last of the frames. Well long story short, Kris shot a nail thru his thumb on the second to last frame with the air nailer. He pulled it out by himself and almost passed out from the pain. He didn't tell me until I came downstairs and saw blood on the kitchen floor so I cleaned it and wrapped it up for him. The next day he got a tetanus shot, which made him run a fever, feel horrible, and not able to lift his arm up, he even took a half day off of work. Then after all that the art fair was cancelled. He wasn't happy but we are going to paint them for the summer social so it was all not for nothing. We made some longer canvas pieces for Addy's class to paint on and they did theirs yesterday.

Our 100th post

Our neice Maddie is 11 months now and not crawled. She will scoot herself backwards but really has not shown an interest in tummy time until last week. She was in daycare for her first week and by the end of the week she started crawling. Isn't is amazing what children will do when they watch other children? On Friday Maddie couldn't go to school b/c she had a fever and pulling at her ears. Sue took her to the doctor and she is on her first antibiotics for her first ear infection. She has been really healthy but whenever children start daycare they get sick. But children that go to childcare in the early years have a healthier Kindergarten year.

Cars...

We spent yesterday car shopping from 11:30-6. I was exhausted afterwards. We drove 9 or 10 cars. We found some we like but trying to fit our bucket car seat in the back and still have room to sit comfortably in the front is hard. We will keep you updated with what we get, we are still looking and going to retry two of the cars again. There is no rush but gas is eating us alive so the sooner the better.

New car again?

So we are leaving in a few minutes to go car shopping again. I love my Explorer but I don't love the gas mileage of 15 mpg in town with Kris driving a minimum of 50 miles a day. So we are going to downsize to a car with better gas mileage and a lower monthly payment. G-pa is watching Addy so we can test drive cars today b/c taking a car seat out of many different cars is not our idea of fun. We have narrowed it down to Honda (great car they run forever), VW (my favorite), Dodge (cute mini SUV), Nissan (Kris gets a corporate deal, no haggling over prices). So we will have a car for a few years but will go back to a SUV when we have 3 children. We are also looking at Hybrids, great gas mileage but a little more money up front. So wish us luck.

Lots going on and on and on

It's been a month since our last blog. A lot has happened since then. I don't have enough time to go into all of it. Addy has had a sinus infection with pink eye, then I got a double ear infection with the flu, then Kris got a upper respiratory infection. We were OK for a few days. Then on Friday, Addy ran a temp of 104.5 so we took her to the Urgent Care, they pumped her full of Tylenol, Motrin and an antibiotic. It was scary, she just lay in Kris's arms, not moving, not wanting to drink (which is what she needed to do), finally it went down and we went home before they put her in the hospital. She slept the rest of the weekend, was awake for almost 8 hours collectively for 2 days. She went to school on Monday and broke out in a rash all over her body. We had to go to the doctor again and we are trying different meds and it has cleared up. Needless to say we all have been sleeping alot to try to get better, with no energy, and our house it starting to show the signs of it too. (We really need to put away clean clothes and vacuum :-)

Sickness issues aside, one of Kris's paintball buddies was murdered on Sunday night, shot in the head for his wallet, ridiculous, what has our world come too. A friend of the family that are a couple that have been together 30 years have decided to divorce. Not to mention two sets of my cousins are getting divorced from their wives after many years of marriage.

Seems bad right? Well we have been doing 40 days of 24/7 prayer at our church and things have been changing with us and with church. Twice I have had to leave service to go to the prayer room and intercede for people. Once for a family member, which was uplifting for me to pray and I had lots of peace afterwards. The second time was different. I had to go find a girl's mom so I could pray for her daughter with her then I went to the prayer room and just cried, bent over a couch, couldn't stop sobbing, crying out to God. I haven't cried like that since..., I don't know if I have ever cried like that. I just kept getting that God's heart was breaking. You know when you are praying or interceding and God lets you feel or see a glimpse of what is going on, well that happened and it was horrible, his heart was breaking for this girl. I didn't know what was going on in her life just that she is not following God.
I keep thinking since then 'Break my heart with the things that break your heart Lord'. You see the world differently when you pray that, I have started to see what is wrong with things around me and the people and it saddens me. But then it just takes worship to make it better, not everyone gets what it is to be a worshipper. It is the most wonderful thing, to be in God's presence and tell him how much you love him, I wish everyone could take the barriers down and just worship. If they could know that freedom, that emotion, that love, that joy, if the world could just see his face.
The other thing that i have learned in this 40 day fasting and praying is how blessed I am. Kris and I were talking about marriage. Kris asked me 'do you think people are like us and love each other like we do?' I said I hope so, I hope everyone feels like we do for each other. Unfortunately we know that some have not married their best friend, or appreciate each other, or desire to spend every waking and non waking moment with each other, or talk on the phone every chance they get when they are apart, or simply touch each other all the time. We are sappy people who would be lost without each other and it saddens me that not everyone has that. I believe each person deserves it.
In the last five years Kris and I have not prayed together alot, we pray separately but that has started to change. We have had prayer time together lately and it has been great. I feel God is preparing us so we can minister together.
So that's our life in a nutshell right now. Crazy, busy, tiring, but full of love and God.
Good Night.

Addy's b-day party

Her cake that Nana Sue made

the cupcake tower

Nana, Maddie, and Addy

Jenny and Addy

kissing her babydoll

her cupcake

sugar rush!!

pink frosting in her hair, on her way to her bath

Maddie and her doll









Adyson's birthday was on Wednesday, she is now ONE. She is 23 lbs and 9 ounces, 31 1/4 inches long. She got to play hookie from school on Friday and got to leave early on Thursday b/c Mommy had to go home b/c she had a double ear infection and the type B flu. They put me on some great drugs and I feel great now, still don't want to go back to work tomorrow but I have too. So we had her party this Saturday. It went great. She got a babydoll, a raincoat and boots, a blue jean dress, shirt, and jellies, animal magnets for the fridge, a bath toy, a bear, a musical wagon, a striped hoodie with 3 pair of matching pants, and a house with people. She still has presents on the way from Aunt Chanda and Mama and Papa Fuller. Sue made the cake and cupcakes and Addy ate/wore her cupcake and had to have a bath afterwards. It was a great party. Jenny, Joey and thier two boys stayed with us so it was nice talking and hanging out with them as always.