9 weeks

Your new resident is nearly an inch long -- about the size of a grape -- and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form -- as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.

8 weeks

Your baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. His arms have lengthened, too, and his hands are now flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart. His knee joints have formed, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways.-from babycenter.com


So this growth spurt would account for my being extremely sick, this being the sixth kiddo, my husband has been awesome at helping me and cooking when he can. I have been absolutely exhausted and am dealing with carpel tunnel (which is no fun!) But this baby is worth it!!!

7 weeks

I thought it would be fun to do a week by week update on my babies growth, to watch my belly grow. So here I am at seven weeks. I don't normally dress up this fancy, but it just happened to be our anniversary and I was dressed up . So far, as feelings go, I'm feeling pretty darn sick and really tired. The first trimester is not my favorite to be sure!

Eucharisteo Moment: new reader

Eucharisteo - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember as thanks to the Lord.

a tiny little miracle

Standing in the shower, letting the hot water pour over my head, knowing the older kids were quietly reading and the younger ones down for their naps, the words kept echoing in my head "You're pregnant!" "With your sixth child???" " Six kids, under the age of eight???"and I look up and sigh "how are we going to do this Lord?". And the memories come flooding back: of being in the store with five kids and all the un-lovely and un-gracious comments I hear. Of the relatives who just couldn't understand why you had your fifth child and the comments "I hope your done!" to follow. Of all those sleepless nights, the millions of diapers, and getting up not only for that brand new baby but the other babies waking up from bad dreams or needing cuddles. I remember how hard the labors have gotten, the last one was 24 hours of intense labor before Soeren came. I remember the anguish of such a heavy baby in my womb, labored breathing, waddling, cankles, being sick during the first trimester and how was I going to homeschool all these kids while spending half the time sick in the bathroom? You think of the finances, the grocery bill, laundry for one more person, one more person to fight over a toy, and get into an argument. You think of those times when you have to keep the perfect image with your brood of children. "If I don't keep them clean and acting perfect or if I complain about having a rough day someone will remind me that I chose this life and it's my own fault".

But then...

The Lord brings His words into my heart. "happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." "like olive plants thy children compassing thy table round". And I think of Thanksgiving and Christmas and all those shouts of glee, and of making special treats together and reading lovely books by candle light snuggled under blankets. And of Mother's day when those trembling hands carefully give me my tray of specially prepared breakfast, a handmade card, a vase of little flowers. Of playing at the park and all those lovely faces, shiny hair, happy giggles are your responsibility and if you were any prouder, you just might pop. When they're coloring and humming hymns to themselves. I think about how wonderful family worship is, all those readers, reading back and recalling the word of God... and those prayers!!! My how those little warriors pray! I think about the future, when they are all teenagers and we sit around the table to discuss theology, or my sons helping their father with the yardwork; getting my nails done with my girls. Of the grandbabies to come, the legacy that our family has built and it puts to shame all of the stupid words people said when my children were little while we were all out and about. And I say "thank you Lord, this is going to be awesome". 

And I get out of the shower and hear my daughter pounding on my door "Soeren woke up and took his diaper off and he's spread poop everywhere!!!".

"Wow Lord, help!" and He puts an extra dose of peace in my heart and I know it's only one of many crazy days to come, but the rewards are bountiful and His mercies are new every morning!

a little vacation...

Sorry, I've been unfaithful for a bit to the blogging world. So much going on lately, and trying to catch my breath. I was in a car accident, luckily I'm fine, but my poor car was not and after a month, I'm just getting it back from the shop. Also, we've discovered an allergy that we didn't realize was making the children worse and worse. Poor Gennevieve was so miserable, I would find her on the floor, rolling around and screaming "I itch!!!" So it's no more gluten and no more seafood. Both of those things cause a reaction, although the seafood is way more severe. We're trying to be a "gluten-free" family as it's helping all sorts of problems we didn't realize were linked. Although Jake and I find ourselves cheating sometimes... 

We recently had the joy of having a mini-vacation: The Grand Canyon and camping at Oak Creek Canyon. It was magical, it was perfect, we didn't want it to end. Here are some pictures to share.

 I think I had 10 mini heart attacks that day. So many places with no railings, which is so scary having five adventurous kids!!

This little guy was in train heaven!!!

Our view from our tent at Oak Creek Canyon. It was so beautiful!

Me and the fall leaves. Oh how I love fall!

Hair pretties

Here is something fun I've been working on.  They are SO MUCH fun to make! My girls feel so feminine wearing them and it's nice knowing I'm saving money making them versus buying the expensive ones in the store. There are so many different ways to make flowers, hair pretties, etc. Here are a few of mine.

 I curled this little one's hair with pink spongy curlers the night before. Oh and.... recognize this dress mom??? It's the dress I wore when I was her age. It fits her perfect and stayed in nice shape. Oh how I love...vintage :)

busy season

We are in a busy season in our lives right now. It feels like a circus constantly in motion: some scary, some joyous, some crazy. But we're here, we have our eyes on the Lord and His faithfulness is good!

We had our first ever garage sale. Man was it a doozy, we plan on doing that again this weekend. It felt so good to purge our "stuff". With five kids, it is absolutely incredible how much stuff you acquire in a short amount of time. I couldn't believe we have moved with some of this junk from place to place...and why didn't I notice it was junk until now? Better late than never I suppose.
We decided to let the kids get in on the action and said it could be a garage sale and lemonade stand together. We had so much fun as a family!

The "crazy" and "scary" part of our lives happened last night. A certain little baby boy decided to run full speed into a table with a gash in his eyebrow to follow. Luckily urgent care was around the corner and he was "glued" back together instead of  having to get stitches.

In the mean time, I'm in enjoying this...

Russian Tea. One of my favorite things about fall. It is delicious, easy to make and so very comforting.

1 c. instant tea
1 c. Tang
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves

Mix. Store in airtight container in a dry place. To serve, place 2 heaping teaspoonfuls in a cup. Fill with hot water! 

Happy Fall to all of you and may your circus of life keep your eyes on the Lord.

Eucharisteo Moment: Devotions

Eucharisteo - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember as thanks to the Lord.

Fall in the desert

Well, I decided to put up the fall decorations today.. you see, I love fall!! Everything about Fall just leaves me excited and joyful and kind of like a kid. Pumpkins, cinnamon and cloves, candles, leaves, crisp air... I love it! Well, we don't exactly get an Autumn here in Phoenix, but you make do! So here are my "fall leaves" and my "pumpkins" and for us, it works!

(Abigail helped me cut out all of these leaves!)

as I change what goes on the "gather" branches, I also change the birdies. Owlies are perfect for fall.

What special things do you like to do for fall? What are your favorite things about fall? I'd love to hear it.