#12 IS ON THE WAY

Thank you for all your kind congrats from our riddle post! Life has been full and busy around here. Never have I been able to welcome a grandchild home and announce a pregnacy all in the same week! What fun it has been :)

Our life is feeling somewhat normal again...the new normal. Mark is very happy to have his helper, Joshua, back! It always amazes me how you just make do when you don't have....but when you have someone back....you wonder how you ever did without. Only God's grace!

As for the riddle.....YES, we are very exctied to announce that we are expecting our 12th child around the beginning of August.

I have often wondered if I would one day be a pregnant Grammy! And the Lord saw fit to make that a reality. I am over the morning sickness (or rather all day) now.....so things are going pretty well. I am having a bit of a struggle with high blood pressure though. My blood pressure has always been kind of borderline high in most of my other pregnancies.....and we have been able to keep it under control without medication. But never has it gotten this high.....and never quite so early. So I found a Dr. who is willing to work together with my midwife and let me monitor things closely at home with my own cuff (which she checked out with hers to make sure it was accurate) and for now I have been able to stay off of medication. So if you think of me could I ask you to please pray for my blood pressure........that it would stay in the normal range.

Other than that everything is going great! We heard the heart beat on Thursday. That is always exciting no matter how many times you experience it! A little miracle inside.....a precious gift from God. Never do I want to take for granted this experience, because I know there are so many who have never been able to experience this or desire to experience it again and haven't been able to. I often wonder why God allows some women to conceive and not others, or some who would like more who haven't been able to conceive again. But then I have to remind myself that God is God, His ways are not my ways, He sees the big picture.....and He is in control....not me!

So that's the latest news around here. EVERYONE is very excited to have a new brother or sister, Lord willing, in the summer. Jennifer thinks he/she would be a wonderful birthday present (July 30). We have Brooke working on names. What she has come up with so far? "Lil ol Fella" :) Kind of has a nice ring to it don't you think!

And of course Josiah is ecstatic for a new little playmate! Here is a picture of him when we told him the wonderful news (ok....not really!)