9.27.2009

For Our Friends...

I have a prayer request for our dear friends Ryan and Chelsee Jones. 
They are in our small group and are a few weeks away from having their first baby.

Just yesterday morning, Ryan's father had a massive heart attack and passed away suddenly, and very unexpectedly. 
I have no words and don't know how to express my sorrow for them --- but would ask that you would join us in praying for them and the Jones family. 

9.21.2009

What to do with Tomatoes!?

 I had an overabundance of tomatoes from our garden (as is everyone's story)--- so I made some spaghetti sauce!

Making Spaghetti Sauce
First you blanch the tomatoes (boil then put in cold water) and remove the skins:
 

And then you puree them in a blender --- sorry no picture of this.
Put tomatoes in a pot and add whatever you want (zuccini, carrots, spices, garlic, onion, etc).
And you let it simmer for ALL day! (I left mine there for about 6-8 hours).
(My house smelled so good!)


Of course this makes a lot, so I used some for dinner that night and froze the rest....


This past weekend, I wanted to use up more tomatoes, so we made home made pizza with fresh tomato sauce....
First I made dough for the pizza crust (is has oregano in it!)... this is before it is baked...

Then I washed tomatoes and put them in the chopper for a few seconds... a great "sauce!"
I added lots of cheese and baked it and ta-da!...a delicious pizza!!!... unfortunately I cut it before I took the picture (looked better in real life of course!)...

This and the spaghetti sauce were both SO good (to my amazement)
and I wish you could just TASTE a bite! :)

I absolutely LOVE Italian food.
Think I might be Italian?! 
Happy Cooking!

9.17.2009

Dreams do come true... or is it TWO?

I had a dream last night that I was pregnant with twins! Whoa! But then I woke up and realized it wasn't a dream at all. It was what the doctor told us at our ultrasound last week.

So now that you've gotten up off the floor, you need to know that this is completely 100% true!
Y-eeeeeah. I'm not even kidding!

I'M PREGNANT AGAIN! (not much of a shocker there)....
WE'RE HAVING TWINS! (h-o-l-y c-o-w)!

Here's the proof:

(In case you can't read it, it says TWINS in the middle!)

We've known that I am expecting since July 31st (it was my birthday present to Simon)! And we decided to keep it quiet until later. Being pregnant the 2nd time is SO different--- it's hardly ever on your mind and we would even forget to pray for little baby Henry at night. (how awful!). I finally made a doctor's appointment and went to have it confirmed that I was 8 weeks preggo. Yippy! :) Baby is due at the end of March, which was a little earlier than I had wanted, but all the same.

I went 4 weeks later for an early ultrasound to double check the due date and see the baby etc. As soon as the doc put the scope on my belly, I saw the perfect little baby!--- little arms and legs and that great big head. So wonderful! But the doc got a puzzled look on his face and said "hmm"... and then "there's one"...he moved the scope... "and there's the other one!"
He continued... back and forth, back and forth--- there's one, and there's two. He must have known he had to do that because we probably looked like we'd seen a ghost! Simon said he must be kidding--- but, no. Apparently this doctor doesn't joke about things like this (what a great physician). :) Even more odd, the doctor went on to say ... "and your new due date is April 1st".... are you joking me?! haha. But based on Christian being born a week early, they are estimating that twins may be born 3 weeks early... putting us at early-mid March.

I started bawling! Simon, who unfortunately was trying to control Christian at the time, was in shock and didn't know what to do. How is this even possible!??... we were both asking the question. Apparently, twins don't have to run in the family for you to have them... it can be completely random.

If you're not interested in the "body" details, you can skip this paragraph. I guess it can go down 2 ways. #1-- there is one egg that is fertilized and then splits, making identical twins. #2- there are two eggs that are fertilized and each is separate from the other, but still twins (fraternal). Unless they are different genders, there is no 100% way to find out until they are born.

So we weren't planning on finding out the gender of any of our children--- but this minor detail of having two babies at once sorta changes things. We are pretty sure we will try to find out the genders so that we can be more prepared for this radical life-shift from one child to THREE.
It's just that when we think about our lives and our family and the future, we never even considered the possibility of TWINS being apart of that. When I say it like that, it seems like I'm making having twins out to be such a big deal, really it's only one more child-------but it IS a big deal!

What will definitely be huge is my stomach! I don't even know what this is going to look like. :)
I am trying to enjoy my final days of trimness and being able to bend over. haha.

Now that I know there are two precious lives inside me, it's like being pregnant for the first time again! I've never done this exact thing before--- it's a new experience and I LOVE it! And just so you know, this was entirely natural and must be God-ordained. We know that this has to be a God-thing, so we're trusting Him that he has a plan for us and our growing family.

As far as "normal" pregnancy stuff, I've felt really good, just more tired than normal. I am 11.5 weeks along, so almost done with the first trimester. I thank God for the blessings of health--- we don't realize how much of a difference health makes in our lives, good or bad.

We are especially thanking the Lord for his double blessing of two little kiddos soon to be added to our family. Aren't you totally excited about this?!?!? We are so psyched! We told Simon's parents a over a week ago when they were visiting, and we just told my parents last night when they got to our house! So now the good news is out: tell the world!

9.13.2009

Movin' On

We have to be out of our house by October 18th! So where are we going to go? Well--- we found a new house! It is not very far away, less than a mile. :) The only thing is, we probably can't move in until around Christmas (happy holidays to us). I guess we need to find somewhere to live in between--- know of a place?
The house we're buying will hopefully be our home for many many years--- it is large enough for our family to grow into and make many merry memories.
Simon's brother Luke has been staying with us the pat few days and over the weekend... he's in Chicago for a U2 concert. It's been great having another playmate for Christian. :)
Christian is such a little rascal. He does a pretty good job of listening, but sometimes it takes a little persuasion... or discipline.
Simon will start traveling for his job soon, hopefully I can go along for the longer ones. Simon's parents were here last weekend (again, great times for Christian). And my parents will have a short visit later this week (they are looking at some job opportunities here in Indiana --- yay!).

We'll keep you updated about our house and moving situation! Blessings...

9.04.2009

Little Blurbs


This is the spot where Christian can spend much of his time: just playing in the dirt.
He LOVES it. He likes to find little rocks and put them in containers, then dump and repeat.
This area is right outside the back door, so sometimes I get work done in the kitchen while he sits right outside and plays.


"Oh Mama..."


It's been a while since I've taken pictures of Christian sleeping, but this time, I have TWO! We look in on him every night and it's our favorite time to adore him...




Christian was outside playing while I was in the kitchen, and I came outside to find him enthralled with the drying blanket...


"Where's Christian??" (his favorite game!)


Showing off how he can hold the sippy cup between his teeth--- no hands!


Uh oh, he fell down. :) (and he laid there for about a minute!)


Simon's parents are here for the weekend! And I'm SO glad because Christian needs some good wholesome grandparenting input. :) (and people who will marvel at his every move!)

9.01.2009

Lake Michigan 2009

We had a trip to Warsaw, then St. Joseph, MI with some of our college friends (Jon and Amy Bell, Adam and Ali Wren, and Nate and Staci Woods). It ended up being quite cold, but we enjoyed the time together anyway.

At the park where we had a picnic:




The wives:


The guys played disc golf:


Even on a freezing day, he was enthralled with an ice cube:


What a cutie pie!


Nate swinging with Christian:


Out on the beach (Christian wasn't sure about the cold):


Couple's Twister--- Nate and Staci Victorious!


Christian wasn't sure about Barkley... as long as he was being held, the dog was the greatest thing.
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