Jonathan Video

Alright, as previously foretold, I am now uploading the video of Jonathan. I will try to get even more pictures and videos at a later date.

4 Months Old

Jonathan turned 4 months old yesterday. I wanted to post a video I took of him but dial-up would not allow it. So I decided to just post some pictures today. The first one is the only baby picture we have of Scott. I'm not sure how old he is exactly but I'm guessing he is at least 3 months maybe 4 months. I am guessing that age because of how well he is holding his head up. If he were younger, his mom would have been holding him differently. So i think that is about his age. I am also putting on here a picture of Jonathan. I thought it was neat to see their resemblances. I need to get a good baby picture of me on our computer. Sometime I'll try to put pictures of all 6 of us at about the same age. So stay tuned for more pictures.

And as soon as I get batteries in my camera, I'll take a better recent picture of Jonathan. The top picture was taken yesterday and the bottom picture was taken in January. Sadly I didn't take any digital pictures in February. But I do have some film that needs to be developed. So I'll eventually scan those pictures of our Zoo field trip onto our computer. I know everyone will be waiting in anticipation now. So I will definitely blog again soon.

Much needed Update

It's been a few months since I've written. Jonathan has now entered our lives and Scott and I have agreed we can't imagine life without him. He is only two months old but he adds so much to our family life. I mean homeschool lessons wouldn't be the same without the occasional "Isn't that right Jonathan?" He just loves it when any of us talk to him. He usually returns a big smile in response.
He also loves the attention of his doting brother and sisters at least until he gets a little overwhelmed by them. Then they all say, "Oh, Oh! We're making him mad!" then they run away from him. He usually calms down again when I pick him up.
I'm getting fairly proficient at typing one handed as well, being as the only time I really get to get on the computer is while I'm holding him.
Scott and I are very proud of our children. Every time I bring all four of them to Jonathan's doctor's appointment I receive compliments on how well behaved they are. The doctor told me that it is very unusual to have a room with that many children that quiet.

We are still waiting for a church to call Scott as pastor. We have been to several churches in view of a call but none have called as of yet. He is not the only preacher waiting for churches to call. We have friends who we go to church with on Wedneday's and we ask them, "Have y'all heard from ___ church yet?"
And they say "No. How about y'all? Have y'all heard from the church y'all went to?"
"Not yet."
So many churches say that they are praying for God to call more men to preach and yet there are men called by God waiting for churches to accept them. I don't know what these churches are looking for. My husband has preached some really good sermons and has the salvation message in each one. He answers all their questions honestly and makes sure everyone understands the answers. He has even stated he is willing to take a part time while pastoring if needed. But he still has yet to hear from anyone. I think these churches should hear a man at least twice before assuming he's not the one for their church. I don't know though. Someone suggested that it could be Scott's beard causing churches not to call him. That seems rather petty to me though. I personally like his beard and I don't think it should matter as long as he keeps it neatly trimmed.
Scott said that a lot of churches are looking for Saul when they should be looking for a shepherd. The other preachers in our church seem to agree. I'm tired of church politics. It's almost like preachers have to run for office in order to preach.
Anyway until God sends us to the church he wants us to be at we will continue to do our best where we're at. I'll continue to fulfill my purpose taking care and teaching our children and Scott will continue to work hard at his construction job and continue to organize materials for the house he intends to build for us. We will also do our best to help with any local ministries we are able to help.

Well, I must go for now I need to buy some more homeschool supplies. It's amazing how fast pencils disappear when it's time for writing lessons. Until next time!

One Month Left!

I just realized today that I'm on the last Baby on my Baby Ticker! For those who don't know what the ticker is it's the picture at the top of the page that shows which month the baby is in. It updates itself. I'm officially at 35 weeks! The baby can come any time this month and still be fine. I guess that does make me a little nervous but I'm ready. I'm really not afraid of labor being as this is my 4th child. All of my other children were born past their due dates so I half expect this one to throw us off and come before the due date.

This weekend my husband and I took our kids to the park. It was a lot of fun! We had a little picnic and then the kids all played on the playground while we watched. They are all getting so big so fast.

I started working on a baby blanket but haven't been the most faithful at doing it every day. I guess I need to get busy! I hope Jonathan likes yellow. The yellow and white yarn was so pretty to me. The yellow looked so bright next to the white! So I'm crocheting a pretty yellow and white blanket. Maybe after this blanket I'll crochet a more masculine color one for when he gets a little older. I know that yellow is suppose to be a neutral color but my older children all thought I should do blue. Oh well, I like the colors and will have a lot of fun making it.

I've been giving the children homeschool assignments. One of the things they do is memorize a bible verse for their class on Wednesday nights. They were told to pick one on their own for this next couple of weeks. Of course they were wanting to pick an easy one, but I'm insisting they rememorize Psalm 23. They still have it partially memorized from before but were starting to forget some of it. So I told them that they were smart enough to memorize a longer passage. Of course I've taken the fun out of their getting to pick their own verse but I'm sure they will thank me for it one day. Hannah is proud to be memorizing the verse 1. She says my turn after the other two are done and I help her quote the first one. She quotes her verse with a smile on her face.

I've also been printing off worksheets for them. Joshua is able to read his assignments real well on his own. It's been good for them to practice reading and following the instructions on their own. Ruth isn't quite as far along on her reading as her brother but she's not too far behind. She just doesn't seem to understand why I have her read it, when I'm right there and can read it for her. She'll eventually understand I'm sure.

Hannah has to have the same number of papers as her brother and sister. I have a table for her as well. She sits down there with her pencil, paper, and crayons and brings me her work just like her brother and sister do. When they finish a worksheet or have a question, they bring it to me and shortly after them comes Hannah saying, "Look Mom!" And I tell her what a good job she is doing.

Jonathan is even showing signs of being athletic. :) Hannah has a small soft football. Today she had the ball and I was sitting on the bed with her and the other children and my husband were sitting around the room. Jonathan started kicking and I took the football and sat it on the top of my tummy. We all had a good laugh every time Jonathan would kick the football and it fell off. It was so funny! Our little football player and he isn't even born yet!

Well, it won't be long and I'll have to get a sideways picture of me. We always get a picture of me sideways. It's also our family tradition to take a picture of my husband and children all standing sideways with pillows in their shirts. We always have a good laugh over those pictures.
It makes a nice memory over the years. I can see us telling Jonathan, "This is what mommy looked like before you were born. And this is what everyone else looked like."

Only 4 1/2 more weeks to go or so. I'm looking forward to getting to hold Jonathan in my arms. I'm also looking forward to letting my husband have a turn carrying him. I'll try to update pretty regular this month and let everyone know once the baby comes.

Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want."

I'm back!

Sorry about the long delay in posts. It seems that summers are already so busy and then to add moving to the summer just made it busier. We managed to get moved about 2 months ago. Everyone made it safe and sound. My husband has settled into his new job quite well, and now that he is being reimbursed for his gas mileage we are actually able to start saving up a little bit for clearing a spot and building ourselves a new home to live in. That will include getting electricity run and water hooked up.

My husband has sure been learning a lot about construction. He comes home just about everyday telling me of something new he has learned. Which will be real handy for getting our new home finished.

Since my last posting in May, the baby has been kicking up a storm. He stops and rests of course but he seems to be a night owl at this point because he especially likes to kick when I either sit down to rest or lay down to sleep. Oh yes, and we found out that we are having a boy! We are naming him Jonathan Paul.

We have had a good summer. I started taking a writing course in June. I really have been enjoying it. So far I have turned in two stories to my instructor. I read them to my older two kids, since the stories were written at their age level. They were actually impressed. Joshua told me, "I didn't know you could write like that. It sounds like a real story." I'm not sure who they thought wrote the other "real" stories. I guess they just didn't think that mom could write real stories too.

Our other 3 children have been having fun. I'll be starting Joshua and Ruth back to homeschooling next week. I found a homeschool group that do activities together in a nearby town and we joined the group. I'm hoping that our kids will be able to have some friends that are also homeschooled and still get to learn a lot in the process. As long as we can keep our vehicles going, I plan to take them on a lot of field trips and activities. Hannah of course won't be left out.

Hannah, our 2 year old, has finally figured out that baby Jonathan is in my tummy. We had a 3D ultrasound of the baby, and Hannah growled a bunch because she thought that the baby looked like a little monster. She is also putting more and more sentences together. She still has a little trouble pronouncing every word right, but she is so cute in how she says things. I'll try to keep a post of her new anecdotes on here. I can't think of many examples right now, but if I were posting more often, I would have plenty to write about.

So I intend to keep up my blogs. I hope no one gives up on me too completely. I'm going to post some links on the side. Since I'm going to be starting the homeschooling again, I thought everyone might like to look at some links to some of the resources I like to use. I'll probably put more links up as I go along.

Two more weeks!

Well, only 2 more weeks, before we move. We have been in our present location for about 5 years or so. However we are looking for to living closer to family and friends. Thankfully my father and brother will be coming down to help us. We will have to move our travel trailer and a trailer with a car on it. I was really dreading that long drive with 3 kids in the back and having to tow a vehicle on the back of our 15 passenger van. But my brother is used to hauling trailers so I really am appreciating his taking time out of his busy schedule to drive all the way down here to help us. Isn't family a wonderful thing?

We have been getting ready. We plan to take our kids to visit some of the sites around here and kind of get to say "good-bye" to the places we will not be able to visit again. They are looking forward to the move though. Since we homeschool, they will not have to change their routines too much. I'm sure I'll give them some slack at first, but I've already made arrangements for them to start in the Library's reading program in our new hometown. So they'll be having fun learning again.

Today, we bought a "fancy" lawnmower. I was tired of our other lawnmower stalling all the time, so I talked to my husband about it and he agreed with my idea of a new lawn mower. We now have a lawnmower that doesn't require gasoline, no motor, no oil. All we have to do to start it is push it. My son is the most excited, since at almost 9, he is actually able to start this one. All he has to do is push. After plenty of warnings about being careful for the blades, he was able to mow one side of our yard by himself. He was so proud! I'm amazed at how big he's getting.

Violin lessons are going well for Joshua and Ruth. Our goal is to get them able to hold their violins up without groaning and moaning at their lessons and during practice. Hannah is doing pretty well copying her brother and sister with her little violin. She can groan and moan just like them. They're getting stronger though. These lessons have been good for them. Our next trick will be to find them a new teacher, once we've moved. By the end of this month they should be able to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". That would really make them feel good.

Well, the baby hasn't kicked yet, despite my coaxing. But who knows any day now maybe I'll feel something. It still a little early I guess.

We've picked names! If we have a boy we plan to name him Jonathan Paul, and if we have a girl we plan to name her Joanna Lynn. So now to wait and see which it will be.

James 1:3-4 "Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

I hadn't written in quite a while. I guess by the end of the day, I would be tired and just felt like reading other's thoughts, or chatting with my family. But now, I'm back and ready to start back where I left off. My thoughts may not always be as deep as they sometimes had been. I'm not going to be trying to think too hard at the end of the day, as I was before. But I'm sure my deep thoughts will just come out on there own without my having to think about it, right?

Well, some things in our home are the same, and some have changed quite a bit. We are still living in the Travel Trailer. We are still happy with our trailer, although the older our three children are becoming, the more cramped the space seems to get. We are in the market for a futon bunk bed, to hopefully help on our space. So as soon as we find a good one, hopefully that will take care of some of our space issues. Our son will be able to sleep in the top bunk, while the two girls sleep in the bottom bunk. Then we will have a couch by day and bed by night.

One of the changes that have taken place in our happy home, is that we are looking forward to having to find space for a fourth child. I just had an appointment with my Doctor this week and confirmed that I'm expecting a Baby. According to the Doctor, I am at about 8 weeks. We're so excited! My son, wants us to have a boy, my daughter wants us to have a girl, my 2 year old just thinks we're talking about baby dolls.

Oh, there is a lot to tell about, and talk about, but that can wait for another blog. My dear husband is home and I want to visit with him. So check back. I intend to be more prompt on writing. I'll try to keep everyone posted on how our lives are growing and changing.