Gender Reveal!!

Since we are all out of order with summerly posting, I thought I'd just jump in post the fun photos and story of our Gender Reveal party we hosted earlier this summer.  It was such great fun!  Memories to treasure forever!!

We decided to find out the gender of this baby since everyone had such a strong preference, hope, prayer, longing, and were *convinced* this baby is a boy.  I wanted to have some time to work through any issues that would come up if the Lord had chosen otherwise for us, so I talked everyone into finding out gender before baby arrived if it was possible. 

Because I knew that most of the family was so eager to see blue this time around, I thought it would be a good idea to find out the surprise with our friends at our side. After all, you can't be too disappointed when you have some of your favorite people surrounding you, right? ;)

First, the ultrasound went great and we saw one adorable, healthy little baby.  We used a tech that hosts her clients in a lovely, spa-like suite.  Two of the girlies came along and we spent a lot of time looking at baby and all the parts we could see. Because we don't have ultrasounds routinely, no one in our family was able to identify gender on our own. However, the tech said it was quite obvious to her and, per our request, she wrote the gender down and put it in a sealed envelope for us to open at the reveal party.  Boy, was it HARD for me to not sneak a peak in the envelope!



 

It was a little last minute, but we put the invite out to anyone that was able to come for some food and fun.  We served foods for the theme and colors of the night, red and blue.  We decorated and put out red and blue ribbons for people to cast their vote.  Wear a red headband if you are voting girl and blue bow tie if you vote boy.

Watermelon Baby Cradle made by big brother, Joshua

Baby Veggies

Red and blue punch and yummy desserts

Mini chips and pretzels

Taco Bar!!

We decided to reveal the baby's gender with a bang.  Since letting off real fireworks isn't allowed in our town, we opted for lighting colored sparklers.  Red for girl and blue for boy.  We gave the sealed envelope to one of our friends and she and her husband went in to collect the appropriate colored sparklers to hand out to everyone.  David and the guys fired up the propane tanks. The children were armed with sparklers and at the count of three they were all lit together.

 

We saw a bright glow of....well...we didn't know!!  The sparklers all looked white for the most part and no one was sure just what color they were seeing.  The sparks falling were orange, so I was pretty sure we were welcoming another little girl.  That's when my sweet friend tugged at my arm and said, "Well, then the sparklers are wrong because LOOK!"  and she held up the card that said, "BOY!!" 

 

I screeched and held up the card for everyone to see...IT'S A BOY!!!!! BOY!!! BOY!!!"

 

 

Pretty much I can't fully describe the joy, chaos, and craziness that followed.  Cheers, hugs, laughter, and the lighting of more boxes of sparklers in a ten minute time frame than you've ever seen. The teenaged boys made sure that this little guy was celebrated in style!! 

 

 

We are so grateful to our friends that joined us. Everyone helped to make this event an amazing celebration for our family.  Of course, we would have celebrated a new little girl. But, I have to say that seeing the Lord answer the many prayers of many months from this little guy's siblings for a new baby brother, well, it just makes my heart swell.  Knowing I'll be snuggling a little bundle of blue in just another couple of months makes me giddy.

 

It's been over 12 years since we had a baby boy in our home.  In so many ways, it feels like starting over again. And, really, it is in a special way. We've never had a ninth baby before, so this IS a brand new adventure!  Welcome Little Boy Blue!! We are THRILLED and love you to bits!!

Juice On!

This past year has been a life-changing year for us.

There are a lot of details to share, but I'll stick to the highlights for now. Starting in June, our family completed a 21 day Daniel Fast, seeking direction from the Lord regarding our health and diet. After completing our fast, the Lord directed us to tranform our diet from a meat and dairy based whole foods diet to a plant-based whole foods diet.

During those early weeks, we also watched the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead starring Joe Cross. What an inspiration that film was to our family. Just days after watching the movie, David and I began a juice fast. I only lasted a few days, even though I kept trying intermittently as the weeks went on. David, however, completely 6 weeks of a full Reboot Juice Fast, resulting in about 50 pounds of weight loss. What a transformation!

From there he joined us in our plant-based diet, following many of the recommendations given by Dr. Furhman in his books, End of Diabetes, Eat to Live, and Disease Proof Your Child.  The results have been amazing!  From July to February, David has lost 100 pounds and I lost 60 pounds.  My many health struggles have disappeared, our cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar results are all showing we are healing and thriving now.

We are so thankful to the Lord for directing us in this path. We are also thankful to him for using various people and resources to help us understand and make the needed changes in our lives.  Joe Cross is one of those people.  When we found out that he was doing a book signing in Boston, we couldn't resist the opportunity to meet him, thank him, and share our story.

 

 

We packed in a small café in downtown Boston with many other folks. We enjoyed a great presentation given my Mr. Cross and then excitedly shared our collage of before and after pictures with him while he signed it for us.  It was great to share David's story of his juice fast and then our journey into plant-based eating.  Joe was great and really enjoyed meeting David as well as our boys, who are aspiring film-makers. 

The photo collage Joe Cross signed for David

 

 

It was a great night of bringing many pieces of this past year together.  We met so many people looking for health and answers to their struggles. It's such a joy to share our journey with them and encourage them to try something new and watch and see what can happen. 

What we've learned in this all is that the Lord is the creator and sustainer of our lives.  Not only does he provide all we need for life and godliness in his word, but he is the one who provides what is best to nourish our physical bodies as well.  While we share our story of healing, we are eager to point others to the truth that the Lord is the one with the answers to every struggle we face.  When we build our lives on what He has created and given for us, we will find strength, hope, and joy.

 

 

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Peter 3:1-8

Christmas Day 2013

Another Christmas Day filled with good memories.  Thankful for the abundance of blessings and grace in our lives.  So fun to be able to give special gifts to one another as well as receive so many sweet hand made treasures from our children.  We are richly blessed.

The girlies were gifted a fun new kitchen set with a box full of fun things to go with it. Also a doll bed and new dollies and stuffies to fill it. They are thrilled!!

 

Joshua made a family of kitties for his little sisters. Benj made a bear family for them too. So sweet! 

 

Elizabeth and her Maid Marion cape made by her brother, Joshua. 

Josh in his chain mail that Elizabeth made for him.

Ruth also received a lovely new cape from her big sis, Elizabeth.

Josh made this super cool newsboy hat for Benj. 

Elizabeth customized a medieval dress for Ruth's Barbie.

My lovely wall hanging and table runners for my living room. They match my curtains!  Thank you, wonderful, eldest daughter! 

Susannah has been wearing this horsey vest every day since she opened it. Another great gift from Miss Elizabeth.

Susannah and her new doll from Nana. She loves it!

 

Joshua got his long-awaited dagger from Dad and Mom. 

 

And a Swiss Army Knife for Benj!

A set of cast iron pots for Elizabeth's hope chest. 

 

Benj wanted to make his own cape, so Elizabeth gifted him a "kit" for doing so.  

 

A tea set that actually bubbles. Kindy loves it, especially when Daddy plays with her.  

 

 

Josh modeling his Robin Hood gear. 

 

Happy Birthday, Jesus! 

 

Yes! Nice Cream Cake for BREAKFAST!! 

 

Ruth made a new diaper bag and changing pad for me. So sweet! 

 

New dolls from Nana and Grandma, new stuffies from brothers. Such fun! 

 

Super cool medieval puzzle that Elizabeth couldn't resist.  

 

A day very well spent. :)