Memorial Day Memories

Like most of you, we love celebrating Memorial Day!  It is a chance for us to remember those in the military past and present who serve our country and protect our freedom.  If you are a current or past member of our armed forces, we sincerely thank you for your service!

Every year, when I was growing up, our family would attend the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade with some families from church.  The tradition continued this year, and we were blessed to spend Sunday afternoon at the parade with the Ball family.  The Balls are a part of our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship, or as I will always call it, Sunday School) and it has been a tremendous joy to get to know their sweet family.

We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and the kids had a great time seeing all the bands, military floats, animals, and, of course, the candy throwers!

 Ethan and his pal, Arthur!  He just loves babies!

Emma and Ashley, discussing jewelry.

Oreos!

The whole gang.

Siblings

All my babies!

We rounded out the weekend with a trip to our local Urgent Care with baby Eli, who's cold gave him a very severe and scary cough.  He was tested for whooping cough and pneumonia, but, mercifully, the tests came back negative.  Since then, his cold has gotten a lot better, but he is still coughing - so much so that the poor little thing has lost his voice.  As much as we want him to be better, we really have no control over it!    Though we hate to see him sick, it is such a great reminder of how dependent we are on God's grace and mercy.  We also would appreciate your prayers for little Eli and will keep you posted.

Happy Memorial Day!

Emma Says the Darndest Things

One of my favorite parts of Emma being in school is that she brings home special projects for holidays.  Recently, she did a special Mother's Day project that she was so excited to share with me.  I loved it, and I am sure you will too!

She actually was not too far off on most things.  I told her that her answer to number one made my year after just having a baby!  And if you are wondering why she misspelled her own name, she didn't - she is experimenting with different nicknames that she wants us to call her: Emm and Emmie are the frontrunners so far.

It is hard to believe that she is almost done with Kindergarten!  She has loved every second of it and is already talking about how she is looking forward to first grade.  It is every parent's mantra, but I'll go ahead and say it - she's growing up too fast!

 

Eli's Here!

Eli's here!  As most of you already know, we welcomed Eli into the world a few weeks ago.  He was my tiniest baby at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches, but he was also my most challenging birth - he was what the nurses call an "optimistic baby" and was born face up (they are supposed to be face down).  Although my labor was totally not what I was expecting in a lot of ways, he was born healthy, so we are very thankful!

Emma and Ethan are absolutely loving their new baby brother and are both being big helps to Mom and Dad.  The only issue we are having is reminding them they cannot constantly be kissing and hugging him, which is not a bad problem to have!  We have also been very blessed by family and friends who have visited, made meals, and helped out in so many ways.  This is the first time we have been able to be near family for the birth of one of our children, and we cannot describe how incredibly wonderful that has been!

We wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and for rejoicing with us in the birth of little Eli.  We are truly blessed beyond what we deserve and we have been so humbled by all the ways we have been shown Christ's love in such tangible ways.

Here are some photos of our new little guy for you to enjoy!

 Big brother Ethan!

Big Sister Emma!

All my babies

Mommy and Eli

Already being silly with Nani & Papa

My boys!

Daddy and Ethan watching out for Eli

 Can't get enough kisses!

 

On our way home to start our new adventure