Looking Forward to the Weekend!

Ahhh!!!  This feels nice!  I'm up by myself this Saturday morning.  This never happens.  But I was totally exhausted lasted night and made myself go to bed after putting Josh down just after eight.  What happens every night is we put the boys to bed and I feel like I could fall into mine, but then after getting the house picked up, talking with Matt about necessary things like plans, budgets or just decisions that need to be made about something seemingly important, purposeful and also useless time on the iPad, more time chatting with Matt as we get ready for/and lay in bed, feeding Josh because he has woken up hungry...it's usually not until midnight (or later) until we fall asleep!  With the waking again of Josh another 3-4 hours later after I fall asleep, and then again in another few hours, I have determined I am sleep deprived.  And it's slowly taking me down!

Anyway, so this is where going straight to our room for a shower and getting ready for bed came in last night after putting Josh down.  Of course, Nathan was crying for me to rock with him a few minutes around 8:30 and Matt came came in our room to do his work by me in bed because he knows sometimes I just can't go to sleep until he does...so by the end of it all I might have fallen asleep by 9:30.  But this is still REALLY good for me!  We determined to have Josh sleep last night for longer intervals as every time we have gotten him on track, life happens with having visitors, late nights after small group, taking an Ikea trip, etc. and his eating and sleeping schedules are thrown off.  It's so hard for me to let him cry (actually, it's blood-curling screams now) when I know he is hungry.  But last night he woke up at 10:30 (yes, right after I fell asleep) and we let him cry for probably 45 minutes until he fell asleep.  Then he woke up again at 1:00 screaming bloody murder once more.  This boy has some LUNGS!  I fed him then, since it was the 5 hour mark.  And then he actually slept another 5 hours and I fed him at 6!  That is when I couldn't go back to sleep as I felt more rested than I have since, ummm, since I can remember?  Probably since I was around 8 months pregnant with Josh as the sciatic nerve pain began then and started interrupting my sleep along with the frequent restroom visits!

So, that is the long story as to how I find myself up, and enjoying a peaceful Saturday morning alone while all 3 boys in my life snooze away!

I am so excited for the weekend before us...3 days of promised sunshine!!!  Matt worked last weekend so I convinced him to take this coming Monday off.  So excited for some family time and a date tonight!

Okay! On to some pictures from the last few weeks:
Nathan playing baseball with daddy.


Matt showing him how to swing the bat.




It's hard to know when to swing!




It looks like he hit it here, but in actuality, I think he swung before the ball got to him!






Mommy & Josh watching the action.


Nathan sharing his baseball with Josh.


We decided we needed a tee.  A makeshift tee (from Daddy's leaf blower) until we got one at Wal-Mart.


Spotted something.




Looking at something on the iPad.


He makes me smile even when he's not trying to.


Helping daddy fix a leak from a pipe that froze in the sprinkler system.


Good work guys!


After some failed naps (for all 3 of us!) one afternoon. Kids tend to wake up early from naps when they're coughing.  This was a sick week for us. 




Nathan took Josh's rattle. He doesn't look too sick, does he?


Daddy & Nathan going out somewhere in their boots.  Maybe Sam's?


Josh likes to play with Nathan's toys while Nathan is still napping.


Yum! Tastes better than my toys!


Totally destroying Nathan's train track!


Watching basketball.


Looking cute in his shirt from Nana.


We went into the new office this week!  It's about 5 minutes from the old one.  Jim hanging out with the boys on the nice leather couch.


Josh was quite content with Liz while I got a tour of the office from Denise and Jim kept Nathan occupied.  Nothing like going to work and getting a break!  So grateful for this organization and the people that are a part of it.



You can see Brayden (and Parker) in a picture behind Liz.  I wrote about him in October 2011.  Liz had twins almost 2 years ago (in July) now.  Parker was born healthy and Brayden was born with some major heart complications.  He lost his fight at around 3 months old.

Three youngest at small group.  Landin, Jonah and Josh!


Lunchtime!


Nathan's expressions are funny.  He's just asking me a question here.  Nothing distressing at all.


Josh is getting better at sitting up.  But he can't be left on his own or he falls as he's playing with things and totally not paying attention to sitting up!


Well, my whole family is up now and eating breakfast...it's almost 9am!  Better go.  Looks gorgeous out.  Looking forward to a weekend of fun!  Hope you all are well!

Almost 7 Months

Happy little boy. This was on Monday (April 8th), the day he re-learned to roll from belly to back and was going back and forth on the play mat. He was so proud of himself! And much more content on the floor for longer periods of time!
 

Hopefully this wasn't a mistake!  I put Nathan in Josh's crib to greet him this morning!


They both loved it.  Until here, Josh looks ready to get out!


I'm going to be 7 months old tomorrow!  I'm glad I got this rolling thing figured out :)

Julie Gaugler

Quite a few of you already know the story behind this name.

Mike Gaugler is my brother's pastor in Selinsgrove.  He was also my Bible teacher when I was a senior in high school.  Julie is his wife.  They have 3 children, in 4th, 5th and 6th grade.

I'm going to just share this link to a blog post written by another one of my Bible teachers from high school, Scott Fetterolf.  He is also a pastor of a church in Pennsylvania.  The post gives a brief summary of what has taken place this past month in the Gaugler's lives.

So why share this on our blog?  Because it has affected Matt and I both.  The email updates that have been sent out these last several weeks were written by Mike, and revealed a much deeper faith than I have ever seen before.  I know that in the same situation, my own faith would not be as strong. He truly has had, and has been striving the whole time to maintain an eternal perspective.  God used his emails to speak to us, and I know the emails spoke to others as well as we shared them with our small group as we prayed for a miracle.  My heart is still so sad and hurting for their children and Mike right now.  I'm still praying for a miracle.  But I also know while God has the ability to do anything, He doesn't always answer the way we want Him to.

Pastor Fetterolf's post reminds us of God's ultimate plan...for eternity.  And he reminds us again to shift our perspective.  In light of all of this, Matt and I are challenged in our thinking in our daily lives.  Sometimes I can't believe how foolish some of my pursuits and thoughts are.  As things come up in my life lately that irritate me or send me down a road of negativity, I think of this family, and I am able to shift my perspective.  Also, we feel challenged as a couple and as a family, by what motivates us, what are goals are, what we invest in.  Are we really living for God's glory?  I am humbled by God's grace as we fumble around down here, getting stuck on things that don't really matter at all.  I'm not saying that any of this makes Julie's sickness worth it.  But I do stand amazed at how God can use the faith of one man to inspire godliness.  I'm sure there are many stories already of this, and I have a feeling there are so many more to come.

Please pray for Julie and her husband and children.  They are all still in the thick of this and do not know what the future holds.  Hopefully, you read Scott's blog post so all of this makes sense, but best case scenario, outside of a miracle, is that Julie is stabilized and lives in a nursing home for the rest of her life.

Also pray for their church as they walk through this.  Pray for David & Age who want to help Mike in whatever way he needs right now.  They have been spending time with Mike & Julie's kids and are trying to allow them time to be serious and talk as well as be able to laugh and just be kids too.

So grateful for a God who is totally in control and who gives us the hope of eternity. Thanks for praying for this family.

Take a moment to listen to this song by Kutless if you have time.  It is so powerful.  In light of the Gaugler's story, it really strikes a chord in me. (Click on this link if the video does not show up on your apple device)

Sometimes I wonder what I would do if something earth shattering would occur in my life.  I've lived a relatively painless, comfortable life.  I'm not trying to say my life is perfect and no pain has been experienced at all (because that's not true), but overall, I've had it pretty good.  Matt and I both have.  I know this might just be a matter of time for life to happen and that scares me.  Fear of course is not productive or of God at all, so this is not what I want to dwell on.  But it is certainly food for thought for both Matt and I as we contemplate if we would be able to say:

Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful One
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come

What would you say?

It's April!

Here's a few pics from our first week of April.

Nathan always wanting to go outside now to play with his new toys.  Even if it's cold out!  I love that he can play in the backyard and I can see him from our living room, dining room and kitchen because of the layout of the house and all of the windows that look into the backyard.  When we chose this house over a year ago, this was one thing I had envisioned working well when Nathan would be old enough and I'm so happy it is actually working out the way I hoped!

Digging up dirt and loading it into his dump truck while mommy hangs laundry.

And of course there is the door that goes right into the backyard too.


Jonah & Brittney came over one afternoon!  Poor Nathan missed the whole thing while we napped!  Josh napped for most of it.  Isn't Jonah adorable?




Right before I left the boys home with Matt so I could go over to Karla's house for the evening.


Matt asking me if I've ever used Josh as a dumbell!

No, I haven't! But I guess it's a good workout and Josh loves it!  At least I'm leaving the boys in good hands :)

Nathan showing me how he efficient he is in his eating.  A bite of strawberries...


Time to chew...


And a bite of his mac and cheese!

What a clown.

Josh sitting up with some hand/arm support!


Isn't he cute?


Daddy home from work and multi-tasking!  I think he was talking to a patient.


Correction: Matt told me he was talking to Comcast trying to get them to either lower our bill or give us better internet at the current price.  Unfortunately, no luck!


I didn't think Josh would put up with this for long, but he seemed happy as a clam for quite awhile!  Probably because Nathan was entertaining him from his high chair :)


Sunday afternoon walk.

And backyard dinner!