A Thankful Thanksgiving from 2 Samuel

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And yet, this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can I say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Making turkey hand print name cards for the tables.

Lunch prep at Grandma Sue and Grandad Ray's house.

Back yard fun!!

Our own football game

Sorry about the few Murry photos...my camera ran out of batteries!

And who is like your people, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, who you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God...And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.

2 Samuel 8:18b-29

My Reader

Kate is such a reader. She loves books and will pull books off the shelf and just sit and read to herself for long periods of time. She is familiar enough with the books that she actually retells what is happening on the page too. I love hearing my little reader read!!

Early Morning Meditations of a Blessed Mama

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And yet, this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can I say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, who you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God...And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever."

T-Ball

I've always thought that soccer was in our future, but it may be T-ball.

33 Weeks (almost) and Nesting

I am approaching 33 weeks now and can hardly believe that I will most likely meet my baby girl in 4-7 weeks (and God willing no sooner!).
Jeff told me there was no need to "frame the belly" with my hands - yes, there is no mistaking the fact that I am pregnant!
I spent this last week at my mom and dad's house while Jeff was at a conference, and thankfully there were no contractions or any other complications. Before I left for my parents home I had attended a cute boutique with all kinds of fun baby and kid items at ridiculously crazy prices. I told my mom about some of the things, and we were able to make some really cute item on the cheap, like this crayon roll:
It has separate pockets for the crayons. You can roll it up, tie it closed and take it with you places. The girls L-O-V-E them! We also made two hair bow boards, an essential for a mom of three little girls:
I am so excited to have our hair clips organized and to free up some draw space. For baby girl we made a car seat cover:

I have a feeling that this baby is going to have to learn to nap on the go since she has two older sisters that will make it hard to be home every morning and afternoon for 1-2 hours at a time. The car seat cover will give her some privacy and a cozy dark place to sleep...or at least that's my hope.

I also got an advent wreath to get ready for Christmas, and I can't wait to light the first candle next week!! This is an exciting year since I know that this will be the first Christmas that Hannah really understands, and it's my prayer that both girls will learn the true gift of Jesus Christ and be able to celebrate the most precious gift of grace that cannot be purchased or lost but is freely given and freely received.
Let the good times roll!

Wait for it . . .

Baby Girl #3 (who still remains nameless) made us a bit nervous today, as Sarah started having contractions this afternoon. At their most frequent, they were only 3 minutes apart so Sarah gave me a call at work and called Kaiser for some advice. They suggested rest and a lot of water and by the end of the night, the contractions had subsided.

You may be wondering--how far away is her due date? We're only at 32 weeks on this Wednesday. This isn't the first time, though, that we have had this experience. Sarah went to labor and delivery in Cambridge 2 times with similar frequent but relatively mild contractions a few weeks before Kate was born. Fortunately, it should be a little easier for Sarah to rest this time because I went ahead and called in backup. Sarah's dad drove her mom down tonight to stay with us and help out for a day or two. We're definitely hoping that with a little extra rest, baby girl 3 will decide to sit tight for a few months and we are always glad for some extra prayer.

Princess Dance Party

Being a Mom is the most precious gift, and I treasure all these moments with my girls. I can hardly believe that Hannah is already 3 1/2, Kate 2 and that the baby is due in 8 weeks (and hopefully no earlier than 5 weeks!). I love playing with my girls!!

Shamelssly Cute Pictures

There's nothing more to say, except these girls are cute!!

Halloween

Hannah, Super Girl, quickly understood that Halloween meant candy. When people allowed her to take her own candy she dug in and grabbed a handful or two. Kate, a Flower, was often given a few pieces of candy for simply being so cute, and when people let her grab her own candy she took one and sweetly said, "Thank you." My girls really chose costumes that reflect their personalities!

McFad-tastic!!

The McFadden family. To know them is to love them, and I do, yes I do, and I do, yes I do, and I do. Their adventurous spirit has taken them to Thailand for two weeks, and they planned a two day stop over here in LA so we could hang out for a while. It was a short time, and we packed it full (hopefully not too full for their sake!). It was a fantastic time, and a blessing to see them for two days. We laughed, we played, we ate, we trick or treated and at the end of the visit we cried. It was so sweet to see such dear friends, and it makes me long for the good old days.

Jenny McFadden...what a friend!!

The two older girls had a great time playing together, which was a blessing to see.

Chris and Jeff took the kids into the water. After the kids got too cold and returned to the park Jeff and Chris body surfed for a while.

On Sunday we spent the morning at the San Diego Zoo just walking around, talking and looking at animals.

Dexter and Chris feeding the giraffe - look at how long the tongues are!!

Our Sunday was completed by trick or treating together: Frankie dressed as Sleeping Beauty, Hannah as Super Girl, Dexter as a Lion (but he did not like wearing the mane), and Kate as a Flower.

Looking through their candy loot - YUM!!

Here is where the tears began...the beginning of our goodbye. Thank you for coming my dear, dear friend!