Early Morning Walks

Who likes early mornings? 

I don't. Well, let me rephrase that. I don't like the thought of getting up early in the morning. But once I do, I actually enjoy it!

 There is something about early mornings that is peaceful and calm. Could it be because all the kiddos are still sleeping :) I think it's more than that. 

When I can, I try to go for early morning walks. Having had little ones in the house for years, that has not always been possible. Babies can be kind of unpredictable as to when they wake up. But right now I am in a season of my life that my mornings are pretty flexible. If I want to get up early and walk, I usually can.

 When I rolled over this morning and looked at the time, 6:30, I was pretty sure I wanted to get up and walk. When I actually got out of bed, I wasn't so sure anymore. Because of a late night last night I was feeling a little weary. But I pushed that feeling away, put on my running shoes and headed out the door. As soon as I got out the door I knew I had made the right decision. Hearing the birds, feeling the warm sun on my face, smelling the fresh air, just does something to my soul. I feel closer to my God Who created me. I feel peace. I feel relaxed. I feel refreshed. I think this is the way it was meant to be. 

We all need a time to get away from the busyness of life and just refuel. To spend some quiet time with the one Who renews our spirit. God says in the Bible to be still and know that I am God. This morning was a way for me to do that. Today I encourage you, find a place to be still. You will not regret it! 

Our lane

Beautiful fields of green

My walking buddy, Teddy

Me, just so you know I really did go on a walk :) 

The podcast I listened to today.

 It was amazing! 

My favorite. Wildflowers. When I was a little girl I used to spend hours picking wildflowers. Sadly there are not as many around here. 

Wild strawberries. Hopefully we get to eat them before the roadside sprayers do! 

It's been so windy lately that even the road signs blew sideways. 

Here is the stop sign where I turn around. It does say stop after all!! 

 And besides, this is what it says beyond the stop sign. Once I've walked/ran those 1 1/2 miles I am definitely wet with sweat... so I just can't go there :) Cheesy I know... Sorry!

Oh, and there was a bear following me!! 

Its Saturday!

Saturday is one of the favorite days around here. 

Not because it's the weekend, because when you farm that doesn't really mean much! 

Not because they can sleep in. Because in the summer any given day may end up being a sleep in kind of day. 

Not because it's the day before Sunday, even though that is a very nice thing.

Not because jammies seem to be warn a little longer on Saturday mornings.

Not because it's left over day, even though it's real nice not to have to make a meal. 

It's because it's SMOOTHIE DAY! 

And oh, how we like our smoothies. Every Saturday our home is a buzz in the anticipation of the thing they have waited for all week!!! Yum, yum, refreshing, smoothies! 

Here are a couple of our favorite smoothie recipes. 

One for the kiddos:

1 frozen banana

Enough milk to cover banana

1 Tbsp. Baking cocoa

Enough sweetener to taste yummy. (we like to use honey, cane sugar or coconut sugar) 

Blend together until smooth. 

Pour into a smoothie type cup, put a straw in it (cause it's not a smoothie without a straw!) and enjoy :) 

And this is my favorite. In fact I have this smoothie every morning! Because I don't really like coffee by itself, this is the way I like to drink it.... Every. Single. Day. 

1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 cup cold coffee

1 Tbsp. baking cocoa

1 scoop protein powder

1 cup of ice

Sweetener of your choice (I use stevia) 

Blend together. Put in your favorite smoothie cup and enjoy! 

I got my favorite cup here! 

Let's Talk About the Weather!

As I said yesterday, I love my life. I love that we can raise our children to see the hard work that goes into sustaining our family. I love that we can work and sweat together on the farm to make dreams into reality. I love that we can experience the busy seasons and the less busy seasons together. I love the feeling of satisfaction when a season is over and we begin to see the fruit of our labor. 

But there is one thing about farming that I have a hard time loving. It's the fact that our whole livelihood appears to depend on one thing. The weather. 

This may seem, to most people, like a weather forecast. But to a farmer it is so much more! It is often an indicator of how we need to do things on the farm. 

Let's take seeding for example. If we are seeding and it is dry we may plant the seeds deeper so that they  reach the moisture. But if there is rain in the forecast we may plant the seeds shallower. But if there are thunderstorms and hot weather in the forecast we may not want to plant too shallow or the seeds might wash away. But if it rains hard and the sun bakes down, that will make the ground crust and that may change things again. 

Then there is the dilema of planting seeds that are sensitive to frost. When will the last frost be. Should we plant or should we wait? For if we get a late frost it could mean we have to reseed. 

And then comes harvest. What if there is rain in the forecast? Do we combine so the quality of the grain is still high or do we sleep and hope the rain holds off. If it's getting later in the season do we harvest the grain, even if it is a little wet?

And the questions just go on and on. Often I think of all the decisions the guys have to make on the farm and I have a whole new respect for them. This is not easy folks!! 

I've often wondered what life would be like if we didn't farm. Like, would I ever look at the weather forecast?? Or would I look at it only when I wanted to have a barbecue or go to the beach. Or would I just poke my head outside to see what the weather was like? Maybe. What would it be like to be able to really enjoy the sound of thunder without having to be concerned about damage to the crops.  

But even though there is so much humanness, and so many decisions to be made that we really don't know what the outcome will be, God is in control! And our livelihood doesn't just depend on the weather. No matter what the weather, He's got this! And so we don't have to worry, we don't have to fret, cause He's got us in His hands! And because of this we can rest, even while looking at the forecast! 

So on days like today we trust. When the wind is blowing and drying out the land. When there is rain in the forecast. When there are severe thunderstorm watches.  We trust. We trust that God knows what He is doing! 

And so there's another reason I am so thankful for this farming journey. Through the years I have learned a deeper level of trust and reliance on God. And even though things seem hopeless to my human eyes, I trust.

Because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, He's got this, He's got us! 

Now excuse me while I go check on the weather forecast 😊

 

 Little soybeans poking through.

 Wheat field nice and green

 Canola plants well on their way

 It's always a relief when the crops start to come up! 

HELLO JUNE!

So, our daughter Jennifer and daughter-in-law Becca put out this challenge to blog every day in June. They have done this for a couple of years now and I thought they were crazy!!! :) But.... Since they keep doing it over and over, it must be fun. So I must join! So if you were sick of me before... Get ready to be really sick of me now because June blog posts, here I come!

I was going to do a different post today, but the way my day is going has made me change my mind. Because you see, I am a farmers wife!

Let me tell you a little about a farmers wife. It's a very interesting journey with never, ever a dull moment and never a shortage of things to do!

You see right now I am sitting in our jeep waiting. For what you may ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. It went something like this. I call my wonderful hardworking hubby (who has been hard working since the wee morning hours) and I ask him if he needs a lunch. He says yes he does, but to just wait until I come (field is half hour away) because I may need to bring something. So I wait. Then he calls and says he needs a bolt. An inch wide and at least 5 inches long. And it's in the cubbies in the shop. No problem right? Well.... That's in the perfect farming world. In the everyday farming world.... Not so easy! But after a bit of searching I do find a bolt, and a nut that fits! So I jump into the jeep with bolt, nut and requested tools in tow, just hoping all the way that I didn't forget anything!! And off I go!

One thing I don't mind about these parts runs to the field is that I have a good amount of time to catch up on some of the messages on podcast that I haven't had time to listen to. So I drive and listen. Listen and drive. I get to the field. 

Today all goes well. I remembered everything. Everything fit. And within a few minutes I am on my way.

And it just so happened that this particular field was only a couple of miles from a greenhouse! So I got to do one of my favorite things, shop for flowers!!

And that was a peak into the life of a farmers wife. 

Always unpredictable, always challenging, always busy, 

but oh so rewarding! 

I love my life!!!

Vlog Alert!

Hey everyone! I've decided to start vlogging. Please watch below to see how you can help me out!

Words

Lately, as a family, we have been learning an important lesson about words.

Words can lift up and words can tear down.
You can never take back a word spoken, so speak it carefully.
You don't always have to say what comes to your mind so think before you speak.
Consider the feelings of the person you are talking to.
Harsh words stir up anger. A soft answer turns away wrath.
If your words are not full of grace, don't say them.
A word hastily spoken can cause a lot of damage to someone's reputation.
Only speak words that build up and encourage others.
Sometimes it's better to just say nothing..... Nothing at all.
Your mouth speaks what is in your heart.
We will give account to God for every careless word we speak.

Words are so easy to speak yet they have so much power.
Put a guard over my mouth O Lord!
Help me to only speak words that will bring glory to You!

Take the Time

I don't know it's because I'm getting older? It's definitely not because my nest is getting empty. But the last little while I have been made more aware of time. How time is spent. How you can never get time back. How time goes by so quickly. How time is here today and gone tomorrow.

Today as I sat on the deck eating my lunch I was reminded of time. Moments with the ones that I love. I sat there eating, no device in my hand, no book to be read. Just sitting and eating. As I sat there I was visited by all ages and sizes of some of my favourite people. They shared their dreams, their fears, their goals, their accomplishments, their passions, their joys...the deep down things that mattered to them.

I don't know about you, but around here there is ALWAYS something to busy myself with. I am the kind of person that has a real hard time just sitting and relaxing. Usually as I sit I can't stop thinking of all the things that I could/should be doing. But after being a mom for 26+ years I realize that the work is NEVER done. It just isn't. There is always another floor to be swept, another dish to be washed, another toilet to clean.....and so on. But lately I have had the revelation that those things will wait, but my children will not be around me forever. Time is precious. And time spent with my family is invaluable.

One thing I have kept reminding myself over the years in my motherhood journey is that I don't want to wake up someday, have our children all grown and our nest empty, and regret the things I did or didn't do with them. I don't want to feel that the years were wasted.

I have had many wonderful conversations with those who are "wise" in their years tell me, "Cherish the moments. They go by so fast." When our first four children were little, I felt lost somedays. Lost in the pile of laundry, lost in the never-ending cycle of cooking, cleaning and caring for our children. And somedays I remember thinking, "When will they grow up and be able to do these things on their own?" I realize now that I probably missed many precious moments with my children because I was looking ahead rather than then redeeming the time that I was actually living in.

And now with the wonderful life we live, having adult children, young adult children, young children, toddlers and grandbabies our perspective has changed. Why? Because we are no longer just hearing the words "they grow up so quickly", we are living it and seeing it with our own eyes! How many times have we said, "It seems like just yesterday!"

Today as I sat on the deck I was reminded that these kind of moments will not last forever. And I cherished them deep in my heart. I thanked God for every child that He has placed into our family. And I asked Him to help me remember daily that I can always take the time. Even if it's just 5 or 10 minutes. I just have to be available and willing to listen. And they will come, they will share their heart and time will be well spent.

It's a Matter of Your Heart (Marriage Series)

I'm not sure what has happened around here except that I have really fallen off the bandwagon with this blogging stuff!!! I am not actually sure if I even have any readers left?!?!

Well this again is a post that was stuck in my drafts and I decided to dust it off and actually publish it! And I also realize that I said I was going to give you 25 marriage posts since we were celebrating our 25th anniversary. Well that milestone has come and gone and we actually celebrated 27 years a few months
ago. And no...I am not going to even try to write 27 marriage posts...but I will try my best to write more of them:) So here is the long lost marriage series post!

Let's face it. If you have a spouse, no matter how much you love him/her, there are going to be things that they do that give you a slight (maybe more than a slight) feeling of annoyance. It may be a habit they have or maybe just it's something they do in their daily routine. But when they do it you get that slight feeling (or maybe more than slight:) of annoyance! And perhaps when that "something" happens yet again....you feel like you might like to say or do something nasty!!!!

Let me tell you something that I have learned (and am still learning) over the past 26 years of marriage. It's something that can be used in your marriage every day, all day long. It's something that once you make it part of your thinking and your life....will change you and most likely your relationship with your spouse. In fact it may even change your relationship with other people. If you are a husband, wife, sister, brother, grandchild, friend...this is something you can use in any relationship. Am I starting to sound like one of those "Too good to be true" ads that we see all around us???

It's about your heart! Simple....your heart. When your spouse does that thing for the umteenth time that just drives you up the wall.....I have one question for you....How's your heart???? Never mind how many times you have asked him/her not to do this particular thing, never mind the inconvenience it may cause you, how is your heart????

I remember a particular time when I was annoyed at something that Mark had done, it wasn't anything big, just a habit that he had that caused me a few seconds of inconvenience. But in my mind I had made it out to be such a big deal! And I had let it affect my heart. I remember the moment like it was yesterday, God spoke to my heart, "What if you would lose your husband today? What if you no longer had a husband to do this for? What if....." And at that moment I realized that I was letting something so insignificant, so silly, eat away at me and cause my heart to be discontented with my husband. And I realized I was sinning.

God doesn't ask us to make everybody else perfect around us, He only asks us to have a heart that is pleasing to Him. He asks us to reflect on our heart daily....in those moments of frustration or annoyance...and ask the question, "How is my heart?" Because I know that I can't change my husband or the people around me (even though I may try:) I can change one simple thing....my heart. And in changing my heart, in seeing that I don't have to fix anyone but myself, my attitude changes....every time!!!

My husband didn't change that day, but I did. And it is amazing that even though my circumstances didn't change my heart did, and I felt free. Free because it's never fun to be miserable and discontent! Free because I knew my calling wasn't to change my husband, I just had to concentrate on changing me! I went from a person who was easily annoyed at the little habits and inconveniences to a person who realized that I only needed to work on me.

Try it! When your spouse does something that bugs you, annoys you or causes you some inconvenience....check out your heart, and change what needs to be changed. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results!

Joy

I chose this picture for several reasons:

1) Children and joy go hand in hand. 

They enjoy the simple things in life and laugh, giggle and have fun!

2) They enjoy life to the fullest and are not worried if they have a little 'dirt' on them! 

3) They take time to relax....even if it seems like there isn't time :)

JOY

JOY....a short little word with so much purpose! A word, that if practiced in everyday living, can change your attitude about everything!

It's so much more than just being happy. Happy is that good feeling when my circumstances are going according to my liking. But joy? Joy is deeper, more real and more fulfilling.

I have learned a lot about joy over the years. I think my joy learning journey really started about when we had our 1st child, Josh. If you have ever had a baby you know that having a new baby is such an exciting time of life, but with it comes challenges that have never been faced. Sleepless nights, juggling time to get the simplest of tasks done, the responsibility of a little human being and so many other new things! And through it all I realized that my circumstances were not always going the way I wanted. And instead of being upset and discouraged when this happened, I learned I needed to choose joy.

Now choose joy. Easy right??? Well maybe not! In fact in the circumstances where I have to choose joy, it not usually easy at all. It's just plain hard! And usually goes against how my flesh wants to react.

And since then I have been learning about this tiny little word with so much power. It's not something that is learned overnight, and I don't think it's something that once learned just comes automatically. It's a daily choice, and hourly choice, a minute by minute choice.

I have days where I am victorious and my day is filled with joy. And then I have days where I go to bed and realize that when faced with the choice, I chose things other than joy....discouragement, discontentment, bad attitude are sometimes the things that steal my joy.

So what have I learned on my journey? Like I already said, joy is a choice. I have never met anyone who is naturally a joyful person all the time. I have met joyful people, but I know that they still have to choose joy. Every day I have many, many, MANY opportunities to choose joy. As a mom of lots of kiddos my day begins and ends with giving all day long. Giving my time, my energy, my love, my guidance, my prayers, my encouragement, my grace, my.....all day long. And through these times, if I don't have joy, I really become quite miserable. Because without joy, I would not naturally function in a manner that would be pleasing to the Lord. Instead I quickly become selfish, lazy, angry, proud and discouraged.

So how do you choose joy? Let me give you some examples that have happened in my life.

It was a Sunday morning (can you say chaotic?) and I had few extra things to do that I really should have done the night before. Funny thing is that as I sat there Saturday night, not wanting to get up, I convinced myself that I would have lots of time in the morning to complete these tasks. And so I left them undone. I got up in the morning in plenty of time to get accomplished all I needed to before we left for church. I HAD THIS!!!! And all was going well...it was just the normal Sunday morning chaos. And then I heard these words, "Mom there is water all over the floor in the back part of the basement." WATER, ON THE FLOOD, ON SUNDAY MORNING!!!! And so going downstairs I came to the realization that not only was this water....but it was coming from the sewer that had backed up!!!! Let's just say that from that moment my Sunday morning got even more chaotic, panicky actually!!! We have a lot of things stored in the basement where the water was. Clothes, freezers, boots, shoes, sports stuff, books.....and more! Well at this point there was nothing to do but clean up!!!! So everyone got to work and within a short time we had basically cleaned up what needed to be and left the sanitizing until we got home.

Now I'm not sure how I actually did in the area of joy while all this was going on. I know that my words were not all joyful, but I was able to find good things in the situation. Like I was actually amazed at how many things were in waterproof containers and off the floor just enough not to get wet! I haven't consciously thought of doing this since this has never happened to us. So I chose joy in thanking God that it only a few things that got soaked, rather than most things! Joy.  When Mark went out to check what was going on with the sewer he came in with the news that it was working again. So there was some sort of glitch that caused the pump to fail, and then it started up again. I call it grace! And I gave thanks to God for it. Sunday morning we have showers....therefore we use LOTS of water. Had it kept not working, we would have had to deal with way more water on the floor...thank you God....joy. After everything was under control I continued to get ready for church and even though my hair wasn't perfect and I just threw on what clothes I first found, and I gobbled down my breakfast....we made it to church....and only a couple of minutes late!!!! And we enjoyed fellowship with our church family! JOY!

But then there are days that I don't choose joy. They happen more often then I care to admit. It's the days that I let life's circumstances get me down. When I look at life in a negative light rather than look at the blessings I enjoy moment by moment. Our pastor often says on Sunday morning, "You woke up this morning and took a breath, that's a reason to praise God! JOY! It's not looking at things according to what we don't have, but instead choosing to look at what we do have!

A couple months ago when I was in the hospital being induced with our son Michael, I was kind of frustrated with the way things were going. I was praying so hard that I would go into labor naturally and not have to have all the medical intervention, but God had other plans. And as I walked the halls trying to get things "going" I walked past people who were struggling with their health. And I chose that moment, instead of feeding on my own disappointments, I would pray for the people who were actually struggling for their life, or people who didn't know if their loved ones would make it until tomorrow. Yes, things weren't turning out the way I wanted them to, but I had to trust in the bigger plan and the One Who holds my future in his hands. And in that moment I chose joy. And it was amazing how quickly my attitude changed from "woe is me" to "I am so blessed!!!"

So every day I wake up and determine that I will live this day with joy in my heart. Not a fake happiness, but a true, deep, lasting joy. A joy that no matter what my circumstances I will look at the blessings that are all around me. They are everywhere, I just have to open my eyes....and chose JOY!

May the God of hope 

fill you with all joy and peace 

as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope 

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Michael Gideon

It's a boy!!!!

Michael Gideon

April 15/15

6lbs. 15oz.

Brother Love

 Nephew Silas getting to know his Uncle!

For more photographs check out Megan's Blog.

Spring is Springing!

Spring is finally springing!!!! It's been a LONG cold winter and so we are quite excited about this! The weather was still very cold last week and then in a BANG spring weather was here! But we are Canadian enough to know that in this season of the year we could very well still have some more cold weather....and yes, even snow. In fact we would probably be quite surprised if spring actually decided to stay! So for now we will enjoy these melting days and soak up all the warm sunshine we can!

Today I went for a walk and was pleasantly surprised to see how much snow has already melted! I was so excited to see dirt!!! There is still a lot of snow on the yard so it's hard to tell how much it's actually melting until you go down our lane out into the open. Here is a picture I took on my walk today. I am hoping that the weather will stay half decently warm so I can say good-bye to the treadmill and have my daily walk outdoors. It is so much more enjoyable and I feel so refreshed afterwards. Nothing can compare to fresh air and sunshine!!!

Just down the road from our farm

And because spring is springing so quickly, this means our ice hockey season ended abruptly because our rink is quickly melting. This is always a happy/sad time of year as the daily fun of ice hockey will be missed! But already the gap has been filled by bringing hockey into the machine shop! As I write most everyone is out there playing a good ol' game of floor hockey. Not the same, but something to fill the time. It will be quite awhile before our yard is void of muck and mud and we will be able to play soccer, football, baseball and other sports outside. So for now this will do just fine!

This past Sunday we celebrated the life of our sweet little Elijah! It's hard to believe that it is already 3 yrs. since he joined our family. And we are so happy he did. Life would not be the same without our Eli!!! He is a little talker so it's a good thing he always has plenty of people to talk to. He is very opinionated and keeps us on our toes with his verbal freedoms in check. He likes to play with tractors and trains in particular. He doesn't like to be left out so when his older siblings are playing a game that he is too young for, his nose gets easily pushed out of joint. We are working on that! Eli loves to be outside (even when it is really cold!) and I expect that we will hardly see him once the yard is dry. Plus he is itching to go with his daddy in the tractor already! Another little farm boy :)

On Eli's birthday we had to bring Mark's parents into the city to catch a flight so we took him along and stayed in a hotel overnight (because their flight was early a.m.) It was very different to have just one child along. This rarely happens! Funny thing is....we were staying right beside the hotel we stayed in after we left the hospital the night Eli was born. We didn't want to stay in the hospital overnight, but it was too late to drive the 2 hours home (after being up all night and day!) so we opted to stay in a hotel. We told Eli this story but I don't think he understood :)

A funny story. We were checking out of our room and waiting for the elevator to go down to the lobby. One opened up and we told the other 4 people who were waiting that we were sure we could all fit in. The woman said, "Are you sure, we have a lot of stuff!"We assured them that we would be fine and piled in. On the way down she said, "Good thing our oldest son isn't here or we for sure wouldn't have fit!" She then proceeded to tell us what a lot of work it was to pack for all 5 of them when their oldest son came too!!! Mark and I gave each other an amused look as we listened to her go on! We decided against giving her the shock of telling her that if we brought all of 11 of our children living at home we surely would have never fit in the elevator! And packing for our family....well that's a whole different story!!!! This time we decided to just give each other "the look" and let her go on thinking that 3 children was a huge family :) It's times like this that we realize how different our life is than other families....and how much we like it that way!!!

Elijah Hudson

(1 day old)

Elijah on his 3rd birthday

We are still working strong on the school books but everyone is counting down the days until we are DONE!!! This year we did something a little different. We divided the years school work (for the oldest 5) into quarters. There was a goal incentive at the end of every quarter. If you got your work done, you received the reward, if not...you didn't :) I am happy to say that so far everyone has earned their quarterly reward. Some by the skin of their teeth...but they made it none the less!! We did this mostly to motivate some who were having trouble believing they could get a certain amount of work done. Our 4th quarter ends the 30th of March so everyone is seeing the end and some are putting it into an even higher gear and have gotten some subjects done already! We are all excited to have the bookwork part of school done for the year!

Josiah is our newest student. And what an eager learner he is! He really, really, REALLY likes math and is often found writing numbers or adding things in his head (out loud:). He is also having a lot of fun learning to read. I don't think we have ever had one catch on quite so quick! It's a very nice treat!

Josiah doing one of his favourite school things...

math drills

Over the years I have learned that in order to keep my sanity teaching school while having toddlers/pre-schoolers under foot, it is in my best interest to have a schedule of activities for them too. I have made up a 5 day schedule with 1/2 hr. time slots of activities for them. If they are playing well and still quite entertained by the time the 1/2 hr. is done, I will keep them at it a little longer. Some of our activities are lego, building blocks, play do, coloring, magnetic books, cars/car mat, playmobile, puzzles and looking at books, just to name a few. This has been a great help in teaching them to focus on one activity for more than a few minutes, to play together and also to clean up after themselves. There are moments when I feel that it is maybe more work than help, but in the end it keeps order in our day while teaching them some great character qualities!

 Building Blocks

 Lego

And of course with the soon arrival of spring comes something we have been looking forward to for months. Baby time!!!! Time is flying by and it won't be long before we will meet our sweet little one face to face. Things are continuing to go well in this pregnancy and I am hoping, because everything is looking good, that my Dr. will let me go at least until my due date. And hopefully I will go into labor on my own!!! 

5 weeks until due date!

Baby's growing!!!

And that is a quick update of what's going on around here! 

BLOG UPDATE: BABY #14!!!

I had to actually look to see when the last time was that I posted! Sad to say it was a few months ago! A lot has happened in the last few months. The most exciting news to share is that we are expecting a new little blessing in April!!! (You may have read this on our daughter, Jennnifer's blog but I never really made it official here:) After our 2 recent miscarriages we kept the news to ourselves until November. It almost seemed to good to be true! I think we had all resigned ourselves to thinking that Eli was going to be our last. But God had other plans....and we are thrilled! And now after being out of baby mode for so long (long to us anyway!) we are preparing our hearts and our home to meet this precious little one! For the first time ever we found out the gender of our baby on a routine ultra sound back in November. Our children know what the gender is so we will see if they can keep it a secret until baby is born! We revealed it to them through the color of Josiah's birthday cake in January. He is our baby lover and is super excited about having a new baby around and comes often to hug my growing belly and caress it :) It's so fun to see the excitement of all the kiddos, big and little, while eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new brother/sister.

And so now it's on to picking out a name!!! Oy....this gets harder and harder the more children and grandchildren we have! It makes it a little easier knowing the gender, but still :) I think we have nailed one down, but that could all change once we see this precious little face!

I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far except for high blood pressure issues which I am now on medication for. I have always been border line with my blood pressure readings during my pregnancies and have suffered with the "white coat syndrome" ever since our first. But now my Dr. thinks because of my age, it has been pushed into the "higher" range. Usually when I would take my readings at home they would be very normal...but not this time. We are just thankful it doesn't seem to be pre-eclampsia. My numbers have been very stable since I have been on the meds. And as much as I hate being on this medication, the other option was way to dangerous for me and the baby. I am still praying that after baby is born I can get off the meds. I am so thankful for my Dr. She is the best and is willing to work together with my midwife through this pregnancy and delivery. God has been so good to direct us to her!

I am now at the stage of my pregnancy where I am getting a little energy back. I think sometimes.....or always....my family grimaces when I get to this stage because the cleaning bug hits me. I don't know what happens exactly, except I see dirt in place that I never saw it before!!! My current project so far it washing all the white (or should be white) blinds in our house. And after that is done who knows where this cleaning bug will bring me! As long as I don't start painting we should be fine!!!

Many people make the comment that I must love being pregnant to have so many children. To this I smile and say.....I love to be in the will of God. And this is His will for us right now. To read more about our beliefs about embracing the all the children God will give us, you can read a blog post I wrote a few years ago when I was expecting child #11.

So for now I enjoy the wiggles and kicks within. I will dream about what this baby bumpkin will look like. I will take advantage of my cleaning bug :) I will look forward to the birth day of this baby and the sweet newborn cuddles I will have.  I will rejoice at the miracle that is living inside of me!