Frills!

Solid Rock Cafe

First girl purchase

I couldn't resist. I went out and bought something girly. Greg picked out the first one. I picked out the second one.

It seems like we have been waiting forever to find out who our little one is. I'm now 20 weeks pregnant. Friday was our BIG ultrasound day. I went in totally expecting a little boy. When the dr. told me it's a girl I about passed out. She went back and looked 4 times. I wanted to be sure! It's for sure. We are having a little girl. Her name will be Ruth Ayelen. Ruth after my granny and after Greg's grandma. My middle name is Ruth too. I had a dream yesterday about a Ruth Eileen. When I woke up I went to my baby name book and started going through it. I started with the A's. A logical place. I came across the name Ayelen. It is a Mapuche name. These people live in Chile and Argentina. Since Greg grew up in Chile he immediately loved it. It's very important to me that the name has a good meaning too. Ayelen means joy. Perfect. So our little girl is Ruth Ayelen! We can't wait to meet you princess!

The joy of being mommy.

Today marked another momentous day at my house. Nate lost his 2nd tooth. The first one was lost about a month ago. Today the 2nd bottom tooth came out. He was so excited! We called grandmama right away. I went to get a baggie to put the tooth in and label it so we could leave it for the tooth fairy tonight. Nate had been carrying it around with him for about 3 minutes. I told him about 1200 times in that 3 minutes "Don't drop it". I held the bag out to him so he could put the tooth inside and what does he do? DROPS IT!!!! Right into the couch. I tried to recover it, but it slipped further down beyond where I could see. I stick my arm into the couch hoping it will be there, but no luck. What do I do? Like any good mother I proceed to tear apart the couch so my crying 6 1/2 year old can leave his tooth for the tooth fairy. After a good 20 minutes trying to locate the tooth I give up. My arm is now red and scratched up, but what else could I do? I reassured Nate that he could leave a note for the tooth fairy and I'm sure she will understand. Ugh! If only he would have listened to me! Anyway, here is a picture of Nate and his new hole.

It's time to fight back.

I've been reading a wonderful book called "Bringing up Boys" by Dr. James Dobson. With a house full of boys I thought it couldn't hurt. I am so glad I decided to read this book. It has changed my life forever. In this book Dr.Dobson talks about how we as parents have an obligation to our boys (children really, but his book is dealing mainly with boys). It talks about how our society and culture have had a horribly negative effect on our boys. I was starting to question if I would be homeschooling next year, but after reading this book I have never been more convinced that homeschooling is the right choice for my family.

Here are a couple paragraphs from Chapter 14 of this book entitled "Predators". "First, let's give priority to our children. In days gone by, the culture acted to shield them from harmful images and exploitations. Now it's open season for even the youngest among us. Let's put the welfare of our boys ahead of our own convenience and teach them the difference between right and wrong. They need to hear that God is the author of their rights and liberites. Let's teach them that He loves them and holds them to a high level of moral accountability.
Second, let's do everything in our power to reverse the blight of violence and lust that has become so pervasive across this land. Let's demand that the entertainment moguls stop producing moral pollutants. Let's recapture from the courts that system of self-rule that traditionally allowed Americans' to debate their deepest differences openly and reach workable solutions together. Radical individualism is destroying us! Postmodernism is a cancer that rots the soul of humanity. The creed that proclaims, "If it feels good, do it!" has filled too many hospitals with drug-overdosed teenagers, too many prison cells with fatherless youth, too many caskets with slain young people, and caused too many tears for bewildered parents. Finally, let's vow together to set for our children the highest standards of ethics and morality and to protect them, as much as possible, from evil and death. Our families can't be perfect, but they can be better - much better."

I have to fight first for my boys, but I am also obligated as a Christian to fight for those boys who don't have anyone willing to fight for them!

Baby #4 Belly

Just wanted to post a quick picture of my ever growing belly. I look about 6 months pregnant, but I'm only 13 weeks 3 days. Guess my body just remembered what to do.

Silly Sam!

Happy 5th Birthday Elijah!

I can't believe it's been 5 years since you were born. Amazing how fast time flies. I remember sitting in the car on the way to the hospital saying, "March 11th, Elijah Montgomery's birthday!" Seems like yesterday. I love you so much buddy and I am so proud of the big boy you are becoming. You have a fire in you and God is going to use that! Follow God sweetheart and you will succeed in whatever you do. I love you so much!!

Baby #4 Update

On March 10th we went to our regular OB appt. Since our specialist appt. got moved to the 19th my dr. decided to do another ultrasound to see if she still saw anything or not. In her words "I still want you to go to the specialist to get the official ok, but unofficially your baby is perfect!" That was music to our ears. We are so thankful for all the prayers that went up for our little baby. We know God has answered them. We will be going to the specialist next thursday. We are confident that we will recieve the same news then. Here is a picture of our little one.

Pregnancy Update

I've been pretty sick this pregnancy. More sick than I was with the boys. Very tired too. I have had to take naps in the afternoon and then I still end up in bed around 9:00 at night. I have realized that going to bed earlier at night helps the morning sickness. I will be 10 weeks tomorrow. I feel like the sickness is starting to ease up. I feel pretty good today. Only have a headache. I've had a lot of those lately.





Two weeks ago we went in for our early ultrasound. We got to see our beautiful baby and see the heart beating away. My dr. was concerned with something she saw on the ultrasound. She said the umbilical cord or the area around it looked a little different than she is used to seeing. She mentioned the word Gastroschisis. It is a type of inherited congenital abdominal wall defect in which the intestines and sometimes other organs develop outside the fetal abdomen through an opening in the abdominal wall. She has referred us to a genetic specialist who will do a more detailed ultrasound and run some other tests on March 13th. From research I have done I have found that the possibility of her seeing that particular defect on ultrasound that early is next to impossible. We are believing that all is well and come March 13th the specialist will send us away saying we have a perfectly healthy baby. I will be 12 weeks on March 13th. According to more research I have done that is the earliest point possible where we might be able to see if we are having a boy or girl. I'm hoping the detailed ultrasound can reveal that for us. We have pretty much decided on names although I am having second thoughts on the girls name.





If we have another boy his name will be Benjamin Gabriel.


Right now if we have a girl her name will be Zoe Ruth. Zoe is the name I'm having second thoughts about. Personally I would love to use the name Mabel Ruth, but Greg hates Mabel. Says it sounds too old. I love the meaning though. Mabel means "loveable". So cute! In my opinion anyway. We'll see.





Nate, Eli and Sam are doing good. When going to bed Nate always says, "Good night to the baby!". Nate has decided he would like to try the "big school". I have a call into the school here to see if he can visit sometime next week to see how things really are. We'll see! I think Eli is really dealing with the thoughts of having to compete with another child. So far I think he is having the hardest time trying to figure out what adding another baby means. I can feel his mind going all the time. We are going on a date tonight! I'm excited! Sam is a non-stop chatter box. The kid never quits. His new favorite phrase is, "What you doing?" It's so cute and so annoying at the same time.

Until later! Love and Blessings!

FFFB

FFFB= Fourth and Final Fish Baby



That's right, I'm having another baby! I've always wanted 5 kids and Greg has always wanted 3, so when we got married we decided we would compromise at 4.



For the last week I had been noticing some pregnancy symptoms. A little bit of nausea (thankfully not too extreme), tiredness (I was falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the afternoon), more headaches, and just a general feeling that there was a baby growing inside of me. Well, yesterday at 4am I woke up and took a pregnancy test. This is what I saw. Can't get any more obvious than that. I was thrilled. I ran in and woke Greg up. This Christmas we got a card from a lady at the church. Inside it said "To Greg, Emily, Nathan, Elijah, Samuel and Baby Fish." At first I was offended and figured I better lose some weight. Then Greg said maybe the lady was a prophet. Turns out he was right and so was she. So that is how I broke the news to Greg. "Honey, turns out _______ is a prophet." Greg:"What?, Whatever." Emily: "I have the test to prove it. Wanna see?" Greg: "Whatever." Emily : "I'm serious, this is not a joke." It was pretty funny though. We are thrilled. He wasn't thrilled however that I woke him up at 4:30 am and he never got back to sleep. Oh well! We told the boys yesterday too. Both Nate and Eli looked at us and asked, "Really mom?" When we asked them if that would be ok, Nate said "yes", Eli said, "I dont' know yet." Guess you have to give white some time to process it. Sam just laid his head on my shoulder. Later I was helping the kids get ready for church. I was wearing drawstring shorts and had my shirt pulled down over the strings, so you could see the bulk from the strings though the shirt. Nate looked at it and pointed and said, "Mom, what is that?" I told him it was the strings and he said, "Oh, I thought it was a baby's foot." Too cute!

The baby is due to join our family on Sept. 25th. We are praying for a normal pregnancy. NO BEDREST! NO EARLY CONTRACTIONS! Health and happiness for everyone. We are so excited to meet the newest member of our family. I have my first dr.'s appt. next Wednesday at 1:40, so I'll update when I get back.

It's a conspiracy!!!

Please watch this short video. I could change your life!

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/


Greg and I have decided to join the advent conspiracy this year. So many things have changed in our lives over the last year and it's only getting better. We are really becoming aware of what is going on around the world. Things that so many people would rather ignore. I'm so excited about this. I guess some people will think of us as freaks. I don't care! I'm not buying Christmas lights this year. I will use the ones I already have, but I won't be buying any more.
I recently saw an interview with a chinese Christian who was abused at a factory in China while making Christmas lights. It is wrong the way these people are being treated and some are very young children.
"No company has come under as harsh a spotlight as Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, which sourced about $9 billion in goods from China in 2006, everything from hammers and toys to high-definition televisions. And so while American and European consumers worry about exposing their children to Chinese-made toys coated in lead, Chinese workers, often as young as 16, face far more serious hazards. Here in the Pearl River Delta region near Hong Kong, for example, factory workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every year, according to a study published a few years ago by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "At Wal-Mart, Christmas ornaments are cheap, and so are the lives of the young workers in China who make them," the National Labor Committee report said. "

I'm not saying stop buying gifts, I'm just saying instead of buying 6 gifts per person, buy 3. We have started with our kids. Each child gets 3 gifts. That is how many Jesus got, so that is how many they get. We also go through their toys a couple times a year and give away some to kids in Matamoros, Mexico. It is a way for the kids to sacrifice. It isn't easy for them, but it's good for them. Giving is not always easy for adults either, but it is good for us.

We always hear that if you give God will bless you. Today Greg and I had proof of that. While I was in Joplin the window on my van broke. It is rolled down a little bit and won't go back up. We have taped it up with duct tape. We know it needs to be fixed, but other things have priority since the tape is working fine right now (like giving). We decided to partner with http://www.kiva.org/ It is a micro loan organization that gives loans to entrepeneurs around the world so they can start providing for their families. We gave $150 in loans yesterday. 7 $25 loans to 7 different people. These are loans. We will get the money back when the businesses of these people become profitable. When the loans are paid back you can take your money or put it back into the progam for more people. This is what we will be doing. We also gave more cash to our church this morning beyond our tithe. It was a little bit of a stretch for us, but we felt we needed to do it even though we needed to fix the window. The spanish church threw Greg a surprise birthday party after church. They presented him with an card. Inside was $250 and a gas card!!! See how God blessed us? Now we have the money to fix the window and our giving didn't suffer.
All because we stepped out in faith. God has taken care of us everytime we have needed Him. When we worship God by trusting Him amazing things happen.


The slogan for the advent conspiracy, "Worship fully, spend less, give more, love all."

DEFINATELY!!

I think the church needs to get ready. Our nation is going through some hard times, and it's predicted that it's only going to get worse. The church needs to get ready. It's during hard times that people turn to God. The church needs to get ready. People are going to be searching for something to give their lives meaning. The church nees to get ready. We have that something . The church needs to get ready. God is going to use what was ment for bad to bring about good. The church needs to get ready. I can feel a revival coming on. The church needs to get ready. Awesome things are beginning to happen. Church, are you ready?

Soccer season

I know this is my 3rd post today. I guess I'm just playing catch up. Soccer season is finally here. After a rough start (mainly with Eli), we are finally getting the hang of it. This is Nate's 2nd year to play. I am amazed how much he had improved over last year. He has become quit the player. He plays defense. He is always back by the goal and whenever the ball gets near he kicks it out. He has saved his team many times! I'm so proud. His team is the Scorpions.

Eli has scored 2 goals already this season. The first one was kind of accidental, but the 2nd one he ment to go in. It was great! We had a little trouble motivating him at first. His new favorite phrases are "That is soooo stupid!" and "It's so boring!". I can't stand it when he says that. Anyway, he thought soccer was soooo stupid and soooo boring! I tried it all to motivate him. Finally I came up with something. It worked and he has been doing awesome since. I'm so proud of him. He is actually enjoying it too. IMAGINE! Eli's team is the Cougars!

Happy Halloween!!

Tonight we went to "Boo at the Zoo". It was a lot of fun. The boys love it. Well, maybe not Nate so much. He hates the scary costumes. Eli would go up to the tables and say "trick or treat" 3 or 4 times trying to get more candy. Here are our little men.

I think the highlight of the evening was seeing the storm trooper from Star Wars. Nate and Eli both are big Star Wars fans right now.

Turns of life.

Lots of things have been going on lately. Some are great and some not so much. First of all, my mother in law was diagnosed with breast cancer. It really was a shock for everyone. She has now had a masectomy and is recovering. We should know today what stage the cancer is at. My grandparents have had cancer. I guess maybe I was in denial when that happened. Maybe I thought if I didn't really acknowledge it it would just go away. I guess now that I am a little older I am realizing just how devestating cancer can be. I used to walk past all of the pink ribbons without thinking about it. Now I have a pink magnet ribbon on the back of my van, a pink bracelet that says "hope", 2 different pink pens, and an m&m bag full of pink m&ms. Pink now catches my eye. My mom told me this week that I would be better off to just send $20 to the organization than buy all of this stuff. But to me the pink makes a statement. It's a reminder to me too to pray. To pray not only for my mother in law but for all those who are fighting. For all those doctors working on a cure. One day it will happen!

A month ago my in laws came down for a visit. It was a great time for everyone. Here are a few pics.

Last week my parents were here. They did another color code conference. Greg was a little worried at first because it didn't seem like we had many registered. We were so pleased when about 60 showed up. I think it was a great time for everyone. Here are some pics from that week.

Back to School!!

Well we have officially been back to school for 2 weeks now. The first few days was extremely difficult. I am homeschooling both Nate and Eli. Nate is in 1st grade and Eli in kinder. The first day Nate cried a lot and was telling me that he thought school was stupid. I told him he needed to get his attitude right. He has to go to school, so he gets to decide if he wants to go to school at home or go to the "big school". I found a great website for homeschoolers. homeschoolspot.com It has been a lifesaver. After our first day I got on the forum and told them about my horrible first day and asked for advice. They reminded me that the great thing about homeschooling is that we don't have to sit in a desk for 3 hours at a time. Some one suggested writing everything we had to do down on individual index cards and writing fun activities too. Then we choose a card from the work pile and do it, then choose one from the fun pile. Continue doing that until all the work is done. I adapted that into something that works for us. I have a chalk board in our office. I drew a line down the middle and wrote work on one side and fun on the other. Our fun things include: bingo, reading a book, playing with legos, video games (20 minutes), computer time (really counts as school but shhhhh!) and a coloring page. This seems to be working really well. We usually break for lunch around 11am. Our day starts around 9am when Greg goes to work. In that two hours we work until the kids starting getting restless then we pick a fun thing (usually bingo first) then we work a little more, then we have lunch. After lunch Eli and Sam lay down and Nate finishs school. He usually doesn't need a break in the afternoon. He is able to work much faster without Eli around. Then its free time for the rest of the day. Really its working out great!! I love that I am able to teach my children.

Our day at the zoo!!!

Today the boys and I decided to go to the zoo. We were walking around enjoying the animals when a man from the zoo came up to us and told me that we needed to follow him immediately that there was a code red. I of course asked what that ment and he told me there was an animal loose. We followed him to the special events building. He got on his phone and asked someone to call him when the code red was over. A couple minutes later he walked us up to the front office. While we were up there I heard another worker tell someone that she was hearing two stories. She said she heard it was a ... (I didn't hear what she said) then the other worker she was talking to shhhhh!ed her and told her to come talk to her somewhere else. About 5 minutes later the all clear was given. They said the escaped animal was a Bongo Antelope. They are the 2nd biggest antelopes in the world. Here is a picture. I think it's a conspiracy though and it was a more dangerous animal. I talked later to another worker who told me the same story that it was the bongo and then told me someone got thier codes mixed up. Code Red is for a dangerous animal such as a lion or bear. A code yellow is for a non-dangerous animal like an antelope. I'm not sure I buy it. Anyway, what a story!! Nate also got stung by a bee for the first time. He screamed so loud. We went to the first aid station and we go the stinger out and I smashed the bee even though he was dying anyway. He is fine now. Here is a picture of my precious boys too.

Hurricane Dolly

Well it's been an interesting week. On Saturday I was watching the news and they starting talking about a tropical storm hitting the Yuchatan. I figured we didn't have anything to worry about. On Sunday I saw that the projected path was leading straight toward Brownsville. It was projected to make a Category 1 hurricane before it hit land. Monday I watched the weather channel religiously. Now they had it going a little bit south. Monday afternoon the path was Brownsville again. I decided to throw some clothes in a bag just in case. Greg was scheduled to leave Tuesday morning witht he praise band for a convention in San Antonio. Tuesday morning the tropical storm was picking up speed. Greg left around 7:30am. I called some friends who have lived here their whole lives and asked what I should do. They offered for me to come over there during the storm for a hurricane party, but said they understood if I wanted to leave. They said they thought we would be fine though. Around 9:30 I decided to go get plywood to board up the windows. I figured I was the only crazy on in Brownsville. NOT SO!! When I arrived at Home Depot there were tons of people. I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes to get the plywood. If my husband had been a little more concerned for his family this would have already been done. He thought there was no need for it. I am always thinking, "Better safe than sorry." (I still wasn't sure if I was staying or going.) While waiting in line to pay I asked a worker at home depot if he was from Brownsville. He said that he was and then I told him my situation. "My husband is out of town and I am going to be here by myself with the kids if I decide to stay. Am I ok to stay or should I leave?" He said, "If you were my wife I would make you go." DONE!! I went home and thanks to my wonderful friend Racheal and her awesome kids Asha and Isaiah we got the plywood up on the windows. Then I loaded the car and drove to San Antonio. Well, I think we did the right thing (no matter what Greg says). Tuesday afternoon Dolly became a Category 1 hurricane and Wednesday a Category 2. I would have been terrified had I been at home by myself. We came back to Brownsville on Friday. There was a lot of flooding about 30 miles north of Brownsville. We lost some shingles and the kids swingset looks like its a goner, but other than that we are fine. Here are a couple pictures of flooding and damage.

Life!

My three little ones are keeping me busy. Too busy to write on here obviously, but I thought I would take just a second as my groceries are calling my name to be put away. The kids are hungry, Sam needs to go down for a nap, but that all will have to wait while I do this. I know, I'm horrible. Although things have been busy they have been good. I am teaching the 3&4's Sunday school class, I am leading a women's Bible study on Wednesday nights, we have swimming lessons and fun summer activities that are going on around town, the Spanish service just got moved to 9:30 am on Sunday in the sanctuary, I have been helping out with Beth's kids since she had her 4th 4 days ago, scrapbooking, and all this on top of everyday normal things like laundry, playing with the kids, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, etc. etc. etc. Wow! I'm tired just thinking about it.

Nate turned 6 2 days ago! I can't believe it! Time goes so fast. When Greg brought the cake home for his party I fully expected it to say, "Happy 4th Birthday Nathan!" When I say Happy 6th Birthday my first reaction was, "They got it wrong!" Then it dawned on me that I have a 6 year old!!!!!! It feels so crazy. I guess 6 is kind of the magic number from going to a little kid to just a kid. Some days I wish I could have my little mouse back! Then I look at him and the wonderful little (see I'm still thinking of him as little) boy he has become and how he knows about Jesus and loves him and how most of the time he loves his brothers and how he still comes up to me for hugs and he just wants to be held sometimes and realized how blessed I am. The way he is tells me that I'm not a complete failure as a parent (although there are definatly days I wonder why in the world the Lord thought he could trust me with 3). I'm doing something right because he is a really great kid (most of the time)!

Eli is doing well too. He broke is collar bone about a month ago. He was playing on the window sill which he was not supposed to be doing and fell off. I think he hit a toy box on the way down. I was on the computer and heard him cry and ran in there. At first I thought it was just another one of those falls. I told him he would be fine and went on about my business. A couple minutes later he came in crying telling me it hurt. He has been grouchy all day so I told him to go take a nap (even though it was already 2pm). A couple minutes later he came in again and told me it hurt so I decided to take a look. After I had him lift up his arms so I could take off his shirt I realized his right arm looked a little funny. I immediately called Greg and told him to bring me the car that I thought Eli had dislocated his shoulder or something. Greg was home within 10 minutes and Eli and I headed to the dr. After 3 hours at the dr. this is what the xray showed. We were referred to a specialist who put E in a brace. 2 1/2 weeks later we went back and the brace was taken off. The specialist wants to see him back in 4 weeks to make sure it is completely healed. I knew with 3 boys that a broken bone was inevitable, it was just a matter of when and which child. Thankfully it wasn't worse. Eli has also been doing swimming lessons. He as so scared of the water at first. He would hold onto my neck for dear life. After only 5 days he is loving the water and wants everyday to be swimming lesson day.

Sam is well... Sam. He is so precious, but man is he a handful. This morning I asked Nate where Sam was and he said in the bathroom. Immediately I thought of Sam playing in the toilet. When I went in instead of finding him splashing around in the disease infested waters of the toilet I find him sitting in the sink playing with everyones tooth brushes. Oh this child!! Not 5 minutes later I come in and he is on top of the dining room table. He is by far my most curious and daring child. At swimming lessons the other day he got away from me for a second and headed straight for the water. If I had been one second further behind he would have ended up in the pool. The kid has no fear!! As much of a handful as he is he brings so much joy to this family. As our yellow (color code not jaudice) he is always making sure everyone is happy. He gives kisses andhugs spur of the moment and is always doing silly things, whether it be dancing in the middle of the floor of falling down on purpose to make you laugh. What a blessing!!

Greg and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on June 3rd. We were able to leave the kids with Beth and go on a date. We went to see a movie and then went to Texas Roadhouse. It was so nice!

Well, I better go finish putting away the groceries so I can get to ironing. UGH!!!