20 Weeks Down, 20 Weeks to Go

We've hit the half way mark in our pregnancy with Annabelle. What a milestone, but yet also realizing there are 20 MORE weeks left! I can hardly stand the excitement some days in anticipation of meeting her. It will be a true test of my patience waiting until mid-June.

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Not a great picture, but a picture of our sweet Annabelle!

The boys are completely in love with her. They have both now transitioned from calling her 'Baby Pig' to calling her 'Annabelle.' Quite a feat. We thought they would never do it.

They are always trying to include her in our activities. While painting one day they wanted to make a painting for her.

And here we are at exactly 20 weeks. Our first official belly picture large and in charge!

Unlike most people, I LOVE little boy clothes. I think they are so adorable. And, I am not a huge fan of girl clothes. The pink EVERYWHERE is just too much for me. So, it's going to be a little bit of a transition for me from plaids, blues and stripes to ruffles, pinks and bows. So, bear with me.

But, I'm getting there! Look at some of these adorable clothes that either my mom has bought and sent or some friends have given to us. I'm slowly yet surely warming up to the idea of pink every so often.

Okay, now onto the cuteness!

THIS outfit screams 'Annabelle' to me. It's exactly what I have always envisioned my little girl to wear. Soft, understated with a little ruffle. I just love it!!!


And, for memories sake I just had to include the magazine page that we found her name on. And what better item to be named 'Annabelle' than a quilt :) It's just perfect!

As impatient as I feel sometimes for her to arrive, I am reminded that with her birth we will have 3 kids under the age of 4!!! That is definitely going to be interesting.

I think I am in for quite a roller coaster, friends.

Care for the Orphans Video

Russell Moore Defines Adoption and The Call To Care for the Orphans.

My First Uganda Quilt

In dozens of ways the Lord has placed Africa on our hearts. One of those ways was through the Nelsons. It was after we decided to support Special Hope Network did we find out that one of the countries they will be traveling to is Uganda. There along with several other countries they will be helping out orphans with intellectual disabilities.

Holly, the wife, is an avid sewer and is leaving behind her most valued possessions (her sewing things) with me. I thought using one of her fabrics was so fitting to use as my first quilt.

So without further ado... my first quilt for the precious babies of the Sanyu Babies Home:



In Quilting for Peace, a woman's words brought balance into my perfectionistic world and made me really focus on my objective:

"Think about what the goal is," Susan says about making binkies. "If the goal is to comfort a child, take all the other stuff out of it. Take out the 'I want it to line up, I want it to match this picture.' Bring it down to the simplest goal you have: What would comfort a child?"

It feels great to finally have one done. 1 down, 49 to go! With my goal of making one quilt a month I'm on a good start with finishing 9 days early. Woohoo.

I am thrilled that this project has inspired so many of you to join in. I've already lost count as to how many have contacted me saying that they want to make a quilt. I can't wait to see how all of our talents come together to bring such joy to these children. Keep up the sewing friends. We'll be there before you know it!

The Birth of Joeisms

Joseph is hilarious. He says the cutest things. I have not done a great job documenting them so I'm here to start my list now in hopes that it motivates me to keep it up.

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Joseph almost always refuses to say Annabelle's name. He still calls her Baby Pig. Another reason why I was so determined to give this sweet girl a name as soon as possible. He keeps thinking her nickname is Annabelle, but her real name is Baby Pig :)Joseph is always talking about her.

Most of the stories out of Joseph's mouth go something like this:

"Mommy, Baby Pig chase Daddy. Baby Pig wrestle Daddy. Baby Pig knocka Daddy down. Baby Pig happy."

Thankful Thursday

It's been awhile since we've done a 'Thankful Thursday' post. Not sure why. The weeks seem to just fly by these days...

Things we are especially thankful for this week:

~ Annabelle is growing great and we're having a nice and simple pregnancy.
~ We leave for Colorado to visit Nana and Poppy in 19 days. We are so excited.
~ Our church, our pastor and his family.
~ Our friends sold their home and are getting ready to head to Africa in a few months.
~ Our new life groups that are starting this week at church. I can't wait to grow closer to a new group of women and share all the joys and trials that come our way.
~ We got a deep freezer! This may not seem all that exciting for some, but for a mom who is pregnant with her third, having an extra freezer to be able to prepare meals ahead of time is worth its weight in gold. I'm still getting over the fact that it's in our KITCHEN, but if that's the price I have to pay to welcome another child into our family and keep myself sane, then I'd do it in a heartbeat. (Thanks to Papa Bear and Oma for getting it for us)!
~ The boys are just as delightful as ever. They are becoming better friends every day. Hearing them play together makes us want to hurry up and give Annabelle a sister :) How could a girl grow up without a sister?!... It's a crime, I'd say :)
~ As horrible as the earthquake in Haiti has been and the horrible stories that are coming from the area, we are thankful that God is still in control and that He is working things out for his GLORY. It does not make sense to us, but we are thankful that we serve a God who's ways are higher than ours and who cares about the least of these more than we could ever imagine.

Andy Turns 29

We celebrated on the 14th, which was his actual birthday and then on Saturday when his sister, dad and stepmom came to visit. Lots of great memories were made. Here's to many more, sweetie. We love you dearly!

Quilts for Uganda Details

You have have been awesome. I am so encouraged by all of you volunteering your time and talents to this cause.

I have decided on the babies home we will be sending our quilts and blankets to and they max out at 50 children and are usually right at that number. Their children range anywhere from 1 day old to 3 years old.

So, the size of the quilts they need vary. They said they will take any and all blankets we are willing to send.

There has also been the recommendation by several to do some no-sew fleece blankets. I think that is a great idea for those of you who don't sew. We can send some of those over as well.

The link to the orphanage if you are interested is: Sanyu Babies Home.

Is there anything else I haven't covered?

Thanks so much my friends. I am eager to see the Lord work through us all while we labor for the least of these.

She Has a Name

Early in this pregnancy I asked the Lord if he would show me whether our baby is a boy or a girl. Over the course of the month that followed I had four dreams that we are having a girl. We knew that this was a clear answer to my prayer, and we are so grateful to God for his willingness to respond in that way.

We found it difficult during each of our previous pregnancies to get very excited about any particular girl name, but since we had a boy both times, we never had to press the issue to an actual decision. Of course, this time we are having a girl, and we are faced with the need to make a decision.

I searched through the Bible, flipped through numerous baby books, and exhausted baby name websites. But even weeks after building a long list from these resources, we were unable to settle on any one name. We've wanted to give our daughter a name that is strong, feminine, and graceful, but not overbearing. Certainly there were names on our list that fit the bill, but we simply were not able to decide and commit to one.

Well, several nights ago we did commit - having found her name in one of the most unlikely places... a Pottery Barn catalog! Strange, I know. I've always thought they had great names in that magazine, but when I picked it up in bed that night I really hadn't considered it would be a source of inspiration for naming our daughter.

As soon as I saw the name, I asked Andy what he thought and we both fell in love with it. Minutes later we went to bed, but I woke up at 2am needing to know exactly what this name we loved so much was all about. We had never even heard of it before.

As it turns out, this name holds so much more meaning than we could have guessed. At first we just loved the name at face value, but now that we have done some research we love it all the more. We continue to find it so much like God to have placed the name before our eyes when we least expected it, when we weren't even really searching for names.

It is a combination of Anna and Belle. Anna is a Hebrew name meaning 'Grace' and 'Favor'. Belle means 'Beautiful'. Bell is also a nickname for Isabel, which is Hebrew for 'God's promise'. But when the two names are combined it most likely is a variant of the name 'Amabel' which means 'lovable' - also the meaning of 'Amy'!

On top of that, my mother's name is JoAnna, and my great-grandmother's maiden name is Bell. I have always wanted to use Jane as the middle name, which is my grandmother's middle name and means 'God's grace'.

This little girl's name holds such lovely meaning and is permeated with a wonderful heritage of four generations of women that have gone before her. It's just perfect:

A Few More Pictures

The new year didn't start out so great for Joe. He pulled his elbow out of his socket again. Here is is waiting for Daddy to come home to fix his elbow.

Moments later he's back to playing construction man!

As I was taking down the Christmas tree I realized I had yet to get a picture of the boys in front of it. What a great shot!

We were thinking about what to put on their Christmas cards and here's what we ended up with. A penguin for Joe and a snowman for Sam. Pretty much sums up the past year for them well :)

Welcoming In 2010

Our New Year's celebration happened at 8pm. We're night owls like that. We counted down and then toasted our special drinks. The boys were so excited to be having the drink. We asked them what their favorite part of 2009 was and they both said the special drink. Andy did the math, and their favorite part of 2009 was the last 1/36,000 of the past year. Pretty reflective kids we have!

Christmas In Maryland

Their first annual gingerbread house.

3 1/2 generations picture.



Blowing out Jesus' birthday candles.

B&O Railroad Museum

While we were in Maryland over Christmas we went to the B&O Railroad Museum. Wow, what a treat. They had such a blast. Dream land for little boys. They got to go on their first train ride there.

Snow Fort

In an attempt to catch up on the past month so I can quickly jump into all the 'new stuff' going on... here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Here's what we did with all the snow!

THINK PINK!!!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that...

Baby #3 is a GIRL!!!

Quilts for Uganda

As some of you might have known, we were in the beginning stages of adopting when we found out we were pregnant. We had been given this passion several months ago, but did not have many specifics. While attending an Adoption Conference in October the Lord spoke very clearly to our hearts about the need for families to advocate for and adopt the children of Uganda.

So, why Uganda? Why not another country or why not even right here in America? The answer is simply... I don't know... All I know is that we prayed that the Lord would give us specifics about what orphans we were to focus our energy on and the Lord answered our prayers. He placed Uganda so deeply on our hearts, we cannot help but feel responsible for caring for these children in as many ways as we possibly can.

The facts about Uganda and their orphans are staggering.

Uganda is one of the worlds least developed countries. It is resource poor with an estimated 90% of it population living in rural area’s. It has a current population of 24.7 million (census 2002) and an orphan population of over 2 million set to rise to 3.5 million by 2010 (UNICEF, 2002). This creates an environment in Uganda where 10% of their population are Orphans, and the percentage will only rise.

Orphans Know More.

Uganda has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans in the world. (UAC2001).

Knowing the circumstances surrounding traveling to a country like this pregnant or with a newborn are either quite difficult or impossible. We are once again convinced that the Lord's will is best and even though he placed this passion in our hearts when we were pregnant (but just not aware of this new miracle) he is in control and we simply need to follow his lead, whether it is down the road to adoption one day or another plan to care for orphans.

With that in mind, one of the ways we have chosen to contribute to the orphans of Uganda now is to combine two of my passions and fill a need where there is one. And the best part is, I'm asking you to come along side of me!

I will be sewing and gathering quilts for an orphanage in Uganda and once we have enough quilts for an entire orphanage, we will be shipping them directly to the children. I have spoken with several orphanages and they run anywhere from 30-50 children.

Why quilts? In Quilting for Peace: Making the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time, it explains: The world can be an especially frightening place for its youngest inhabitants. But simple things can have an almost magical effect on anxious children, and quilts seem to hold extra-special comforting powers. Linda Arye, founder of Quilts for Kids, explains it this way: "Somehow, when you get under the covers, the whole world goes away, and it's just you in safe haven. And I guess that's what the quilts do. They provide a safe haven for these kids."

I am aware that a quilt isn't going to change their lives, but many have said that donated quilts are often the only long lasting possession that orphans have to call all their own. So if I had to give them one item of comfort, I can't think of anything better than a quilt.

My goal is at least a quilt a month, so if you do the math, it would take me years to finish alone. So, in faith, I am starting my first quilt this week and asking my fellow sewers to join me. Even if you only make one, or just sent me a quilt top or donate some fabric or send a few dollars to help out with the supplies and shipping, it will help.

The future of our family is completely uncertain, but what I do know is we serve a God who has a heart for the orphans and widows and cares about their lives...and we should too. So, until we get a better glimpse of God's heart for our family, I will sew my love into some quilts for these children that have become so dear to my heart.

This is where the rubber meets the road and I'm beyond excited to see where God is going to take this. Will you consider joining me?