Washing Machine Down

Seriously? Really?! I'm 4 days away from my due date, a birth in which we are praying will be at home, and if that's the case, it will produce LOTS of laundry... and a kid who's still in cloth diapers, so what decides to break...Our washing machine!!!

I'm having a hard time, friends, keeping my sense of humor in all of this...

For a label for this post, I've appropriately chosen 'prayer requests'!

In a Pickle

I'm in a pickle... NO, I did not say I'm craving a pickle, I'm just in one!

Andy had to take Sam to the ER because he fell out of his big boy bed and we think he broke his collar bone. So I'm sitting here heart racing worrying about my little Samoo... wanting to just get up and do a bunch of things to keep my mind off of my hurt little boy, but also finding myself contracting like crazy when I'm on my feet.

Yesterday we went blueberry picking and I got several things done around the house only to find my evening in utter misery wondering if this was it.

As you can clearly see, it was not.

I learned my lesson with Samuel's birth that as much as I try, I simply cannot make this baby come out any earlier than she and I am ready. With Samuel, I went on about 4 walks a day and even several runs, but nothing worked... the only thing those got me were horrible contractions, but did not actually put me into labor. So, I've resolved to not try and make this baby come out, but just simply let her come out.

I've realized that even though I wasn't even trying to get her to come, just by doing too much made my body miserable. Now, I've learned to just sit and be at peace with it. But, that is not at all easy for me. I hate to sit, especially being forced to sit while nesting is quite torture.

Well, I've found a way to do both. I research my next nesting type thing while sitting. Creative, I know! Let's see how long this lasts...

Since the boys moved into their new room awhile ago I've been brainstorming ideas of how to decorate it. This is my inspiration:

Image courtesy of Cluck. Cluck. Sew.

I've already got the letters and spray painted them blue, but I was looking for a way to do the garland and not have them two sided like in this picture.

Browsing through my favorite craft site, www.etsy.com ,I found a great solution... and it involves sewing on paper, which is something I love to do.


Images courtesy of wrenhandmade

So excited to try it out...while sitting of course.

Please pray I don't go crazy sitting/resting while I wait for labor to start. At least after Annabelle comes I'll have an adorable little sweetheart to stare at while I sit. And also pray for our sweet Samuel that he will be healed quickly of whatever they say is wrong.

Camera is Broken

I'm not gonna name any names, but some FROG in our family broke the screen to our camera last night. Good thing I bought some extra warranty on it. Problem is we can't leave our house to go to Best Buy and actually see if it can be repaired and even if it can be they'll still have it awhile before we get it back. No camera for Christmas... I'm beyond sad.

Please pray for a miracle!


***UPDATE***

We took the camera to Best Buy and they sent it off. It should take about 2-3 weeks they said, but no charge to us. We made the executive decision to buy a cheap back up camera last night so that we would (hopefully) at least have one camera working at all times. Not what we wanted to do, but not having a camera for Christmas wasn't an option. I suppose that it is our Christmas gift to ourselves this year. UGG.

Devastation in Martinsville

We were not affected by the flooding, but so many others in the Martinsville area were. Just one year ago we were living in the apartments that are in the very left of the picture. We lived on the first floor. The devastation has hit and it's hit hard. Please pray for the families of our community. We have some friends, Destiny and Tyson that were just married in October and their home is one of the homes in the photo. They lost everything. They have nothing. Please pray. Pray for the people who lost everything, but most of all pray for the hearts of those of us who have everything. Pray we will give, not just give what we don't want or give a comfortable love offering, but give sacrificially to these neighbors in need.

Acts 4:32-35 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

This is the Short Version!

Mid-April I got a call from a man asking for Captain Eckert. My heart dropped to the floor. I knew this was not good news. It was a man asking if Andy had received the notification that he was being recalled for active duty with the Marine Corps. I told him we had not received the letter and to call Andy to discuss this issue further. I was in no mood to be asked anymore questions. Andy called back in a few minutes and told me the news. He had a muster on June 2 and there they would give him orders to report 5 months from then to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan for 12 months.

This was absolutely the last thing that we thought our future held. We had felt the Lord leading us to move back east more and more and within the weeks prior to the news Andy had been applying for jobs in the Charlottesville, VA area. We have attempted the groundwork for a move to head east a few times, but the Lord had never allowed such a move. We truly felt like this time it was the Lord who was leading. But, now what? Were we totally off base? We didn't think so one bit. The Lord had confirmed it in our hearts that he was preparing the way for us, and now it was time to go.

But, now we had an enormous roadblock. Not only could we not focus our attention on job applications and house hunting, we had to face the fact that just around the corner our family would be separated for an entire YEAR. So far from what we saw the future holding.

Andy has a contract of 3 1/2 years active duty and 4 1/2 years reserve time. He had just pasted his one year mark in the reserves in February. They can not recall you for active duty when you are in your first year of reserves and they cannot call you up when you are in your last year of the reserves. They called him up after 13 1/2 months! We don't have any friends that this has happened to, so we were clueless as to what to do, and where to go from here. Did we have options, or did he just have to go?

As time went on we started to find some alternative ways to avoid him deploying. He had to get another job in the reserves that would satisfy them enough so that they would allow him to do this alternative job instead of going. But, he had to find one quick. It had to be found, applied for, accepted all before this muster on June 2.

Time was not on our side.

While doing his research, Andy found a particular job that would allow him to finish up his reserve time here in the states and not have to deploy! There were plenty of jobs across the country so he contacted the persons in charge for the ones in Virginia. There were 3 openings in Virginia. He interviewed for the position and was offered the one in Roanoke, Virginia. This would allow us to live in Charlottesville and Andy would only have to commute 2 hours once a month. This seemed perfect. But, God had even a better situation in mind. The point of contact emailed Andy back and said that he had changed his mind, he was going to put him in the Lynchburg, VA position instead. This job is even closer to Charlottesville! It took a few weeks for everything to go through officially, but now we are on the other side of that mess. The sergeant that Andy was going through to help him out with this process said he had never seen an application go through so fast and that he was very lucky because he's heard that they are trying to not let this particular job be an option anymore for people to get as an alternative to deploying, since there is no chance of deploying! God was in every detail!!!

It went from thinking he had no way out of going, to now having a job in VA that would secure that he stays stateside for the remainder of his contract. Plus, now we have extra income as well from this job. And we just realized we can now have military health insurance coverage again as well. A huge blessing! Charlottesville is not a cheap town to live in so this will allow us to live close the the University of Virginia comfortably.

Andy's last day of work in Indiana is June 6. And if all goes well, the next week he will spend it in Kansas City, MO for a week of training with the USMC Reserves, and then the week after that he will be in Lynchburg, VA for another week of training. There are still a few unresolved issues about his week of training in MO, so please pray that he is allowed to go that week. We are discussing the option of me and the boys driving down there to Virginia with him so that we can start moving into our house.

A house?

Oh yes, the Lord provided an adorable house to rent!!! What seemed like the impossible, we found an affordable house close the the University of Virginia. This is practically unheard of this time of year, considering it's so close to when the students are leaving to go home for the summer and have already secured their homes for the next school year. Pretty much all of the decent houses and most of the not so decent places have already been taken. In our searching there was not much to choose from at all, but this house miraculously was available. The landlord said a few weeks ago the current tenants contacted him and said they were moving, totally unexpected. So he had to put it up on the market. He is faxing us the lease tomorrow so we can look it over, but if all goes well, it's ours!

We were originally thinking I would be looking for housing the week Andy was working in Lynchburg, but God had an even better plan! We are going to sign to start the lease on the 15th and by the end of June we will be residents of the town of Charlottesville.

Now.. why Charlottesville?

Andy went to school there and I went to school in Richmond, an hour away. We absolutely love Charlottesville. We spent as much time there as we possibly could. Since leaving we have always wanted to go back. It is a perfect location from SO many of our family and friends. And it is an absolutely perfect location for a million outdoor opportunities that we love. These are all sidenotes though.

Most importantly since attending UVA the Lord has continued to grow in Andy a desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the students there. He came into a personal relationship with Christ as a student and has seen both sides of how to live life, with and without Jesus as the center. He wants so desperately to share that gift of eternal life with the kids there. There are several Christian fellowships active on the campus and he intends on getting involved with a few of them and possibly interning with one next year and possibly being on staff with one of them.

That is our intent as of right now, but we all know, life changes. And what we thought the Lord was bringing us there to do, might not be. Kinda like our move to Indiana.

We moved to Indiana right after Andy got out of active duty in NC. We didn't know what exactly he should do as a job, all we knew was that we wanted to get away from the Marine Corps, far far away. It's not that we hated it, but after 2 deployments overseas and him missing the first 20 weeks of Samuel's life, he wanted nothing to do with an organization that would take him away from his family for so long. We moved to Indiana with all intentions of only staying here for 3 months. He always loved log homes and decided to take a course to learn how to build them. We thought it might possibly lead to him wanting to go into this profession, but after the course he realized that he loved the art, but did not want to pursue it as a career.

We were kind of at a loss. We knew we shouldn't just move somewhere just for the sake of moving, because we did not feel God directing us anywhere else but where we were. Andy got a job doing carpentry and we decided we would just sit tight here for as long as God wanted us to. The carpentry job was great. He learned a lot of skills and really enjoyed himself, but he missed working with people. He is a huge people person and he knew he wasn't using all of his talents doing carpentry. We found a job as a career counselor that seemed so up his alley. And after 6 months later, it really truly is. He loves it. He is so good at what he does. He has truly found a place where he is using the gifts that God has given him to benefit others.

I write all of this for one thing... Well, I guess two, to inform you, but also to share that there is a career counselor job available that we just found online right at the University of Virginia. This job seems like it is the perfect job for him. It says a master's degree is required, which he does not have, but he of course applied anyways. Please join us in prayer that the people reviewing his application will choose to interview him and then eventually hire him, despite a lack of a master's.

It seems like this strange move to Indiana and us being here for a year is starting to make more and more sense the more we see things unfold. Andy was able to get a career counselor position here in Indiana with little experience in the field. We know that was no mistake on God's part. He now has some background to apply for this job at UVA and coming out of the Marine Corps, he probably wouldn't have ever had a chance at getting the job, much less the realization of how much he would have loved doing it.

We can start to see how God's master plan is unfolding little by little. It's an amazing experience to see God working things out even better than what we could have ever imagined.

If Andy doesn't get this job, it will be alright. We will be disappointed, but we know it's for a reason. But, bottom line, this job or not, he needs a job. It is the last piece of the puzzle for our relocation. A big piece, yes I know, but we are confident that this is where we are being called, so we are confident, he will also provide a job. Until he gets a job he can work in Lynchburg in his Reserve job. There's a ton of flexibility with that job allowing him to work more than once a month if he desires.

I realize this was not a short version to say the least, but just be glad I didn't give you all the long version! Sorry to keep most of you out of the loop on all of this, but it was a tough situation and things were changing literally by the hour some weeks so it would have been hard to keep everyone up to date.

To say the very least we are thrilled that this move to Charlottesville is in fact in God's plan and that this reactivation threat only allowed him to move us there much quicker than we had even imagined moving. We could not be more excited about what God has in store.

Please keep Andy's job situation and our packing and settling in process in your prayers. Packing and moving with 2 babies under 2 sounds like quite a challenge to me. I can't say I'm looking forward to it! But, I sure am looking forward to being on the other side of this move!

Giving Thanks

We are so easy to shoot up a pray to the Lord asking him to meet yet another need or want. But, how often do we take the time to sit down and truly thank him when he meets that need or want.

God has answered the prayers of thousands across our world. Tricia was released from the hospital yesterday! Praise the LORD.

Thank you Lord for answering prayers.
Thank you Lord for caring for the needs of your people.
Thank you Lord for your unconditional love.
Thank you Lord for knowing what is best for us.
Thank you Lord for turning what satan intended for evil, for good!

April is Organ Donation Awareness Month

It is 4:17 am. I cannot sleep.

As I sit here holding my precious, incredibly healthy child, I weep for a mother who has never been able to hold her baby without multiple tubes and medical devices between the two of them.

Her life is about to change...

I have been following a family through their blog about the mom who has Cystic Fibrosis and had to deliver their baby at 15+ weeks premature. This mother, Tricia, is as I type, going through a double lung transplant.

All because of someone who was willing to commit to donating their organs to be used after they pass on.

I am humbled at this concept. I have always been an organ donor, but am now such an avid believer when I read and hear about all of the statistics associated with organ donating.

Please, please, please consider this important decision and act. It takes just a few minutes of your time, but you alone could save multiple lives!

Click here to learn more about organ donation. Let's celebrate with this family by joining the list of organ donors.

Some statistics:

Although there have been advances in medical technology and donation, the demand for organ, eye and tissue donation still vastly exceeds the number of donors.

* Almost 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.

* Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.

* An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

* In 2005, there were 7,593 deceased organ donors and 6,895 living organ donors resulting in 28,108 organ transplants.

* In 2005, 44,000 grafts were made available for transplant by eye banks within the United States.

* Approximately 1,000,000 tissue transplants are performed annually.

* According to research, 98% of all adults have heard about organ donation and 86% have heard of tissue donation.

* 90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor.

Please join me in praying for this family and for all of the other families that await an organ to save a life of a loved one.

Trying to Stay Warm

It's been quite cold here. Poor Samuel has a rash on his ever so sensitive face due to the cold weather! Now all we need is some snow!!! Since our apartment is heated by a wood stove we need to stay on top of it to ensure we are warm enough. It's tough sometimes, but Andy is doing a great job keeping on top of it and making sure we stay warm. And, that's not easy with a wife who's body temperature seems to change with the minute hand. We have never been so thankful for a warm home before now. It's amazing what we have taken for granted up until recently.

Andy got a head lamp from his parents for his birthday and it actually can adjust to fit Samuel. He loves this thing. It's so funny to see him running around with it on.

My mom's brother and one of her sisters were taking each of their boys to see Cedarville University in Ohio this weekend and to visit one of my cousins. Since they were going to be so close, we decided to meet up for lunch. We had a great time. It's always way too long between visits with my family since they all live in New York. But, when we do get together it's always a wonderful visit. Wish you were there mom! Uncle Steve and Samuel were the best of buddies. Uncle Steve let him sit on one of the horses in Applebee's. And, if you know anything about Samuel, he is obsessed with horses. I mean obsessed. It made his week!


And just a cute picture of Samuel with his adorable vest on from REI playing with one of Daddy's fighting sticks!

Andy is enjoying his day off by hiking with his buddy, Patrick, and I'm at home nursing a hurt ankle. Yup, that's right, a hurt ankle. I fell down the stairs on Saturday. Smooth huh? I'm totally fine, and so are Samuel and Joseph. (I was carrying Samuel). We were all so blessed to be kept so safe. It didn't even phase Samuel. He started vroom vrooming the second he saw the farm equipment downstairs. I didn't hurt anything but my leg and ankle and both are healing very quickly. Continued healing prayers are requested :)

Monday is Weekend Recap Day!

Please take note, I beat Andy at something! We played Mancala this weekend and I crushed him. At one game at least. I take just a tad bit of pride in this, because, well, he's good at EVERYTHING. I rarely beat him at anything. We played best out of 9 and he came out on top 5-4, but if we were counting by points, I would have won, so I don't know, let's consider it a tie :)

Bagels have been on the baking request list for quite some time. And this weekend I finally bit the bullet and made them. They were initially intimidating to make, not sure why, but I have avoided making them. I made no promises as to their taste, but surprisingly enough, they were delicious! We made cinnamon raisin, plain wheat, chocolate chip, parmesan/oregano/crushed red pepper, and blueberry. I have committed to making everything with whole wheat flour and honey instead of sugar, so I don't feel quite as bad baking so much.

Samuel has loved helping out with baking lately. But, he especially likes the taste testing!

And, in the world of baby Joseph, I have hit my 3rd trimester (26 weeks completed)! I have 97 days until I'm 40 weeks. Double digits, I can hardly believe it. Here's a not so great picture. The shirt I was wearing was not very belly revealing, so you get the fleshy, non-facial version of it all! The no face included might have also had something to do with the fact that I was having a horrible hair day yesterday :) But, when you hit 26 weeks, it's a time to celebrate, bad hair day or not!

I'm still feeling wonderful. Please continue to pray. I also have two blogging buddies that are pregnant too. So, while you're praying about my little bean, keep them in your prayers as well. Jackie, my good friend from high school, and Jennifer, an internet friend from NC. These miracles need as much prayer as we can give them.

And I just can't talk about friends being pregnant without mentioning a friend who just had her baby boy, Arden. He is absolutely adorable! Go see more pictures to get your baby fix!

Since I've had quite a few requests lately for posting some recipes, I am going to start posting some of my recipes so you all can try them out.

100 Days Left

I am uploading all of the November pictures of Samuel to our shutterfly account today and found some cute ones of the past week so I thought I'd come on here and post them.

While I was at it, I thought I'd check on the countdown to baby Joseph's arrival. Much to my surprise, there are only 100 days left! I will be the first to admit, I am no longer a due date fanatic. Samuel's due date was set for July 9 and he didn't show up until July 17 and was no where near 'overdue.' He was 7lbs 1oz and neither of us had any signs of being too far along. But, I have to admit, that 100 days left is sure an exciting day to celebrate! Tomorrow I will be down to double digits!!!

With Samuel to take care of, the months have flown by. I can only imagine what the next 3 months have in store. We are so excited for the arrival of Joseph and for the chance to attempt a homebirth. There are a few reasons why we would have to transport to deliver in a hospital, but as of right now, I do not have any of those signs or symptoms. So, please pray for everything to continue to go smoothly. But, most importantly, please pray that we continue to seek the Lord in all of our decisions.

But, for now, enjoy our latest Eckert Escapades:

Samuel loves my headband. He tries so hard to get it to stay on. And with a little help from mommy he gets it 'just right.'


We surprised Daddy at work yesterday for lunch. We hadn't been to his office yet, and since he left his lunch at home, we thought it would be a great day to surprise him and bring it to him. Samuel had a great time exploring his office and stealing the hearts of all the women in the office.

To celebrate the 32 degree weather yesterday I thought it was only appropriate to make some baked potato soup. Winter = Soup, soup and more soup!!!

We Are Staying Put (For Now)

After much prayer and conversation, we have decided that even though the door to Wheaton is open, we will not be walking through it this Fall. We do not have the peace about this possibility like we should if we were suppose to be going there. There are many reasons why it is either not the best timing or not even the best possible path at all.

It was a difficult decision to make since this option has been open to us for so long and has seemed like it was the best option for quite some time. Once we decided to pursue it without reservations we felt like the peace would follow. It did not. Since then we have discovered some alternative paths we could take where we would end up in a similar situation in the end. We are taking it slow and considering those options.

Please continue to pray for us as we are growing each and every day to discern where God wants us. Our hearts only desire is to be where the Lord wants us. This season has shown to be quite trying, but we've grown more in the past 7 months than we could have ever imagined.

The story seems to be unfolding slowly and that is fine with us. We are in no rush. We have learned so many lessons during this season that we most likely would not have learned if everything had gone flawlessly. We will only be stronger for it and have more of a testimony to how God has taken care of us through it all.

Answered Prayer

With moving in about 20 days, it's obvious I have a million things to do. But all I want to do is sit here and hold my precious blessing in the form of Samuel. Especially since two parents cannot do that today.

Today, our awesome God answered the countless prayers for our sweet boy. With our eyes flooded with tears & loving arms holding him close, today Isaac Jordan Leino went home to Jesus. At 5:10p, God healed our son & gave him a new body, free of defects, tubes, & alarms. While our heavy hearts grieve the loss of our precious child, our spirits find peace & hope know he now stands face to face with our Savior, worshipping in His presence. What a bittersweet joy is found in trusting him into the arms of Jesus.

My heart grieves for these friends as they are faced with one of the hardest things this earth has to offer. But right along side this grief is a joy that surpasses all understanding. They are confident that they will spend eternity with their boy when they as well pass on from this life to the next. What a great place heaven will be!

I have been so blessed to be a witness to this story and watch as God moves through so many around the world and brings people to a deeper understanding of him and his love. I cannot even imagine how many lives have been effected by this family.

Please pray for this family as they transition into the next stage. That they find an overwhelming sense of peace and that they find rest in God.

Preparing the Way

When we originally started this blog Andy and I decided I would post about the day-to-day issues and he would touch on the "Behind the Scenes" topics. Well, he has not been able to post nearly as much as he would like so he has passed the "Behind the Scenes" torch to me. I will gladly take the torch.

Most of my material is Sam-based, as I know this is why many stop by. But, Samuel is just as aspect of what is going on in our lives. And right now, so many other issues are on our hearts, and I would like to share a few with you.

Andy has the opportunity to attend Wheaton College's Graduate Program, Christian Formation and Ministry program in the Fall. He has been accepted since last fall and for quite some time we were always planning on attending. For awhile the path did not seem so clear and we did not want to take on such a big burden if it was not what God truly wanted for us. We always kept it in the back of our minds praying that the Lord would make it more obvious to us if that's where we should go.

We got out of the Marine Corps in Feb and since then have been eagerly seeking his will and seeing where he is leading. The path has seemingly been pretty mellow, simple jobs here and there, but teaching us so much along the way.

Our worst fear is that we would get to the end of our lives and not be able to say we did all that we possibly could to live our lives for God and to further spread the good news he offers.

We do not want to be conservative people when it comes to serving God. If he calls us to something, we are going to go. If he is calling us, then it is the absolute best path we could ever take. Nothing we could ever do would bring more pleasure than knowing we are doing what the Lord has created for us to do.

We could stay here in Martinville, Indiana and live comfortable lives or we could jump into a situation that would make us have to make some big sacrifices. God is leading us to do that!

Jesus always said that following him will not be easy. But he did say he would be with us through it all.

Please pray for us as we make this transition. Where God leads, he has already prepared the way. We believe God has already paved the way for us in Wheaton we just have to have faith that he has done what he says he has.

This will be a tough situation causing us to strain in different areas, but the blessings we know we will receive from following God with all of our hearts will be what wins out in the end. We are so excited to see what he has in store for us.

Stay Cool, God Loves You!

I groggily opened up our front door to take Gamba out to do his business first thing this morning and I hit a road block.

A huge box.

No glasses/contacts present I attempt to see what it's all about.

First thing I thought of was it was just another present that I'm going to have to find room for until the prince's birthday on Tuesday!

But it wasn't.

The box has a picture of an air conditioner on the outside. I'm assuming that inside that box is an air condition that matches the pictures.

With a note that read: Andy and Amy, stay cool. God loves you!

WHAT!?!

We need an air conditioner so bad!

God had spurred it on someone heart to give this air conditioner to us. What a blessing. Because of my nosey personality I would love to find out who that person was, but they obviously don't want to be found out. They gave it out of their love for us, but especially out of their love for God!

It's such a small thing, but it is a great example of how God's family works together to take care of each other. I love being a part of that family!

Now let's hope this isn't some sick joke someone is playing on us and there aren't a dozen cement bricks in there.

Now that wouldn't be too nice, would it?