Sweet blessings

Laura Cate is 3 months old (in this picture, June 24...I am a little behind)

Settled?

Lots of people ask, how are you all doing, are you settling in? I am realizing that the biggest adjustment is to life with two kids! They are such a blessing, but my time is different than with just one. I really have to pray about how to best spend my time and that the Lord would give Cameron understanding, patience, and love for his wonderful new sister. I often remind him that she (and he) are gifts that we need to take special care of. So far he has been sooo extremely helpful and loving on her. He loves to call her "sweetie", "baby", " cutie"and he always warns me when she is crying or might need her pacifier.

I will have to say unpacking and organizing is slooooow going, but I am learning to be ok with that...putting their needs above my own needs for order and control.

Indigenous?

So, I crawled into bed with Cameron for our time to sing and occasionally talk a little and I never know what is swirling around in his little brain. We started talking about Jesus and the cross and he said some things that a mother will never forget. He said, "If I died and went with Jesus, would you cry, like the Mary and Martha did when they saw Jesus on the cross? Would Laura Cate cry?" 5"If you went to heaven would you take Laura Cate with you? Who will take care of her?" (he observes that little babies need their mommies a lot!) Then started to get excited that he wanted to go to heaven and get a crown, but then I had to gently remind him that we don't have it for very long, but give it to back to Jesus and lay it at his feet. He ask what his crown would look like, maybe painted blue (his favorite color). "But how will we get paint and glue in heaven? How will I get to heaven...in a san lun che or a tuk tuk " (a san lun che is an Asian 3 wheeled little taxi and a Tuk Tuk is very similar in Thailand.) So, he gave me a new perspective when I think about adapting the Gospel to different cultures!

Moving...again

I have not written in a while because we were packing to leave the States with a three-year-old and a newborn. Then when we arrived back home we were furiously packing up our apartment (and getting over jet lag) to move...again. We moved to a different city, but this is our 4th apartment in five years and we really hope we are in this one longer than all the others. Now we are busy unpacking and asking ourselves "how did we get all this stuff?" We are still tired due to moving and a sweet baby girl who has colic (in laymens terms, she is gassy and uncomfortable a lot, but mostly at night and therefore she doesn't sleep well and she is tired the next day and it is a bad cycle).

I haven't taken many pictures recently, but here is one from right before we left of Cameron and Alan "camping" in his parents backyard!

We are so blessed to now live near many other families. Cameron is having a blast with lost of new friends and our new community has been so helpful to provide meals for us, have Cameron come over and play or come over to our apartment and hold Laura Cate. We are incredibly thankful for our new city.

Easter

With a baby only a few weeks old I wasn't sure how I would be spending Easter, but I that in the weeks and days leading up to Easter I would we would be able to focus on the Cross and the resurrection. God is so faithful and we enjoyed reading daily and teaching Cameron about the real meaning of Easter. It was a glorious day and Laura Cate and I walked to church and made it for the last 15 mintues and then left before the crowds came out. We had a wonderful afternoon with family and an Easter egg hunt with Cameron and his cousins.

Cameron loved the hunt in the front yard and made sure he had more eggs than everyone else...a little competitive?

Laura Cate arrived!

Our precious baby girl finally arrived March 24 at 2:41 p.m. After a long night at the hospital with lots of contractions, but no dilation we decided to take Pitocin, which helped things along, as well as an epidural. I was so excited when the nurse said I could start pushing at 2:15. She was born quickly after that, beautiful, healthy, and bigger than we expected, weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces, one ounce smaller than Cameron was.

Alan's parents took care of Cameron while we were at the hospital and brought him by after his nap. He was so excited to see me and his baby sister. Cameron said, "she is soo cute!" So far, Cameron has been super great adoring his sister, looking after her, and praying for her. He is such a sweet big brother.

The transition from one to two has been pretty smooth as we are blessed to be living with Alan's parents and they are a ton of help. Cameron has been very understanding when I need to tend to Laura Cate, which I am so thankful for.

God has answered so many prayers...I was not crazy about being induced and prayed that it would be clear whether or not I needed to do that and after a long night, we had no doubt that I should take the Pitocin.

I have prayed for Cameron to not be jealous and to know how much he is loved by us and by God. He continues to enjoy Laura Cate and even today called her "my buddy".

It is still hard to believe that we have two kids, but here we are!

Fun with family

While being in the States, we really desired to spend quality time with our immediate and extended family. We were able to attend a cousin's wedding in Lexington, KY, as well as go the the Gulf Coast for the weekend. It was so great to get special time with family and allow Cameron to know them as well. Here is a picture of Cameron getting into dancing at the reception...he was not shy!!





We had fun together.






Before the wedding we spent time on a horse farm feeding the horses...it snowed and was soo cold!