Atlanta Trip

Liam modeling his new Star Wars Jedi cape made for him by his loving Aunt Jana. Don't be confused by the Batman pjs underneath. They are not actually a part of this costume, it's just what he happened to be wearing when it was time to try on the finished product.
This picture was actually taken on our way to Atlanta. We stopped for lunch at Steak 'n Shake in Dalton, GA which is always a treat since the closest one to us is a couple of hours away. I always have to get a "real" cherry coke and the kids say their hamburgers are the best. Dresden is enjoying a famous Steak 'n Shake saltine cracker!
I love this picture! It is the desktop on my computer right now and it is really cute full size. Dresden and her only girl cousin, Mara Kate, were having fun on the sleeper couch in their diapers. I think they will be best friends some day, once they can both walk and talk, or run and scream, as the case may be. Dresden is already proving to be much like her Aunt Jana, with two speeds- HIGH and OFF. If Mara Kate is anything like her mother (Jana), family gatherings will prove to be quite interesting! Grant, the other 2005 baby, may get roped into all kinds of shenanigans with these two!
Here is a picture of Liam sleeping in the Barker's bookcase. His head was actually on the shelf and he was actually sleeping there.

These are just a few pics of our weekend in Atlanta. It started out early on Thursday morning when my kids and my mom and I headed out. We stopped for lunch and arrived in Atlanta around 3:30 or so that afternoon. I had not seen Mara Kate since Christmas so I was looking forward to seeing how much she had changed and grown. She is a cutie! We relaxed at Jana's for awhile, drank some yummy tea she had ready for us, and discussed what we wanted to do with the few days we had there. We decided that we would do our Atlanta shopping on Friday to try to avoid the Saturday crowds.

Jana fixed Parmesan Chicken for dinner and it was very good. After dinner, Jana and I went to a fabric store to try to find a pattern for this Jedi cape that Liam wanted. (A friend of his has one and he wanted one, too. I told him that maybe Aunt Jana would be willing to use her sewing machine to make it if we could find the pattern and fabric at a reasonable price.) The trip was successful...we found the right pattern for 99 cents and a "Jedi brown" bolt of flowing, cape-like material.

Friday morning we got up and around and then headed out to the Farmers Market. It was an interesting place! I got a great deal on spices, sliced almonds and loose tea. If I lived near there, I would do alot of my shopping there. They have all kinds of things, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, and organic everything! Jana bought a loaf of sourdough bread for us to have chicken salad sandwiches on and it was wonderful!

After returning to Jana's apartment to have lunch and do a little work on the cape, we then went out to IKEA. IKEA is one of my most favorite stores in the world and I had a gift card that I got for Christmas from Jana that I needed to use. We spent a couple hours going through the showroom and the Marketplace and the kids even braved the kids play room for 45 minutes. (Alley was a little hesitant as the last time she tried was a few years ago at the IKEA we went to in Germany and she couldn't understand the workers very well!) Alley and Liam were together this time and they enjoyed it. I found several "treasures" as well as the mirror for my bedroom that I planned ahead to get. On the way out, mom and Jana picked up some hot, fresh, cinnamon rolls from the IKEA snack bar to save for breakfast the next two mornings, so we had to endure that delicious smell all the way home, knowing we couldn't eat one til the next morning!

Jana made taco soup for dinner and we relaxed and visited that evening, after our busy day of shopping.

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast Saturday morning and then we worked on the cape a little more. Mom and I decided we wanted to go back to IKEA to get a few more small things we had been thinking about and since IKEA is several hours away from here and we don't get to go very often, we went. Of course, with the Saturday crowd, it took awhile just to get the things we wanted in the Marketplace. We got back to Jana's and a little later, the kids left with Kane to go to their church for a pizza and movie night. They watched the new Veggie Tales "Lord of the Beans". Mom, Jana, me and the two baby girls went out to Willy's (like Subway except with tacos, burritos, and quesadillas) for a girls night out. It was very good food and a nice treat. When we got back to the apartment, we started getting ready for bed but also re-packing for our return trip. Jana and Mara Kate were coming back with us so Jana could visit a few friends in Bristol so Jana was packing too.

Sunday morning, Mom creatively packed the van to get all seven bodies in as well as all of our goodies from the Farmers Market and IKEA and our suitcases, too, of course! We headed out (after eating another cinnamon roll for breakfast). We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch and got back to Mom and Dad's around 4 pm. Michael and Jeph, Heidi and Grant came there and my dad grilled hamburgers for us all for dinner.

It was a fun weekend but it was even more fun because we got to bring Jana and Mara Kate home with us for a few extra days of visiting. I hope I can do it again before too long.

Jana, I need the Parmesan Chicken and the Taco Soup recipes!

Our Little Valentines

The top picture is me and Heidi at the 2005 Valentine Dinner at church, carrying our babies. The bottom picture is me and Heidi at the 2006 Valentine Dinner at church, holding our babies.

I remember thinking at last year's dinner that the following year, this year, I would have a nine-month old crawling around and that seemed so hard to believe when I still had two and a half months of pregnancy at that point.

Michael was in his last few weeks of being in Iraq on Valentine's Day last year but this year he was here and we went out for a casual (aka "cheap" :) dinner at a nearby restaurant and did a little shopping at a Christian book store, where we bought a book called I'll Love You Anyway and Always by Bryan Chappell as our Valentine gift to our kids. It is a very good book to help kids understand parents love for their children and God's love for us.

We went to the church Valentine Dinner on February 15 where we had a delicious spaghetti meal cooked by a woman in our church named Kelly. She does an excellent job every year. Some of the children participated in a talent show after dinner, some reciting Scripture and many playing instruments. Alley has been taking piano lessons since September and is doing very well but she did not really have a piece ready for performance but her friend Rachel was playing a song from the same book so at the last minute, she was able to be added to the roster and she finished the show by playing one of her practice pieces. She did a good job and of course, loved being in the spotlight!

Atlanta trip post coming soon!

Remembering

Dear Baby,

Today marks two years since the morning I woke up with the horrible certainty, after six days of agonizing wondering, that you were not going to be born into our family the following September. I will never forget that day or the way that I felt and I will never forget you.

I woke at three in the morning to the unmistakable sign of miscarriage, the one every pregnant woman dreads. I had been alerted to the possibility of this several days earlier, not long after a sonogram that did not show what it should have shown. The sonogram itself did not worry me much because I thought it was a little early to be doing one anyway but I knew something was wrong a few days later. For six days, I watched and worried, rested and prayed. During that time, your Daddy called from Kuwait where he had been deployed 10 days earlier in preparation for going to Iraq. I was able to tell him my concerns and warn him of what might happen to you. He told me to take it easy. I was glad he knew and could pray for me and you.

Your older sister and brother and I were staying at Mimi and Grandpa's house in Bristol since Daddy had gone back to Germany after Christmas and we weren't going to move back into our home until March. Mimi and Grandpa got up with me and Grandpa called Dr. Andy, our family doctor. Even though he was not on call, he listened and answered my questions over the phone through my tears. When I was ready to hang up, I told him I was sorry (about calling him in the middle of the night.) I will never forget what he said back. He said, "I'm sorry, too." It wasn't anything profound really, but I could hear the compassion in his voice and I knew that as soon as he hung up, he and his wife, Deaun, would be praying for us.

February 22, 2004 was a Sunday and I stayed on Mimi and Grandpa's couch while most of the family went to church. After church, our pastor's wife, Mrs. Sharon Leuzinger, came over to see me. She had suffered two miscarriages and knew what I was feeling. She read a few comforting Scriptures and prayed with me. Over the next few days, many others shared their stories of babies they never got to welcome into their homes and many sent cards, food, and even flowers. Of course, remembering that God is sovereign and that He wanted you to be with Him in heaven now, instead of many years later after living through the trials and toils of this earthly life, was a comfort as well. I also hugged Alley and Liam alot!

The only way I could let Daddy know about losing you was to send a Red Cross message since he was in Kuwait and possibly already traveling by convoy into Iraq. The mesage was finally sent on Monday afternoon after the Red Cross people were able to verify it with the doctor. Just a couple hours later, my cell phone rang and it was Daddy. We were only able to talk about 5 minutes on a satellite phone but I was glad he knew and he was glad that I had so many people around me to take care of me and help me when he could not be here.

You were due to be born on September 19, 2004. We knew Daddy was not scheduled to leave Iraq until March of 2005 but when I was expecting you, we were all praying that the Stop Loss would be lifted and that Daddy might be back home with us before you came. That was not God's plan and even though it doesn't make sense to us, we know that His way is best.

It was a hard adjustment to have a pregnancy end without a baby in my arms. I struggled for awile, especially dealing with Daddy's deployment at the very same time. It was a hard few months but all I could do was trust God. Daddy came home for a short time in the summer of 2004 and we soon learned that we were expecting another little one. It was a blessing but it was strange to know that we could only have this baby because we did not have you. You have a little sister and she is a fireball! She was born May 3, 2005 and her name is Dresden. She was a quiet, calm baby for the first few months of her life but now, at almost 10 months old, she is into everything! Sometimes when I look at her, I am reminded that God determined who would be born here and who wouldn't. In my human understanding, I don't know why we never got to see you, hold you, or kiss your sweet face. But I do know that God loves you and God loves us and someday we will get to see you but for now, I will rest knowing that Jesus is holding you and kissing your sweet face.

I love you and miss you,
Mommy

Spilled Milk

We all know how some days nothing seems to go right and everything seems to go wrong. Or we get several pieces of bad news in a fairly short period of time. My dad calls those days "earth days", which is a really good name for them since they are an unavoidable part of life on this planet but something that should cease when we enter eternity!

Today as a whole was not a bad day but I had about a minute where everything seemed to hit me at once. Michael was out running a few errands and the kids were at the table doing workbook pages for school. I was holding Dresden, trying to get her to go to sleep. My cell phone rang and I answered it. It was Michael saying that he had somehow locked his keys in his truck. Dresden was crying at this point because I had to get up to find my phone and that disturbed her in her quest for slumber. Before I could even say anything back to Michael, Alley yelled out that Liam had just spilled his chocolate milk all over the table and floor. I know the old saying about not crying over spilled milk but that's exactly what I felt like doing at that moment! I told Michael that Liam spilled milk and I would call him back in a minute.

I could not let splattered milk sit on my floor, walls, table and chairs, and school books even for a second. I tolerate milk in cereal and in cooking but I can't stand the thought of my kitchen smelling like spoiled milk. I handed Liam a rag and told him to wipe it up, partly because he created the mess and partly because I was still holding Dresden. I watched in frustration as he wiped each drip off the wall, completely ignoring the trail it made as it slid down the wall. I finally sent him out of the room while I cleaned up every speck of white liquid I could see and many I could not see . I am not exactly sure how he managed to splatter it so far and wide (although he did say something about laughing and not paying attention) but it is now cleaned up and Liam is not allowed to have milk until Thursday. Some might say that I should not take milk away from him since he needs calcium but rest assured, he is eating plenty of goldfish crackers to make up for it! Also, since milk is one of his favorite drinks, I am hoping the absence of it will help him realize that he needs to be more careful while drinking it. After all, milk costs quite a bit more per gallon than gasoline!

And in case you were wondering, a nice person gave Michael a coat hanger and he was able to unlock the truck with that and save me a trip across town. I was glad about that for two reasons-- one, I did not have to put shoes on three kids and load them up in the van and two, I did not have to cry over spilled milk AND wasted gas!

Silly Joke

Here's a joke for all those who woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. (No, I did not make this up...I read it in Reader's Digest last week.)

Two snowmen are standing in a field. One says to the other, "Do you smell carrots?"

I will try to post a "real" blog soon, complete with pictures from our recent trip to Atlanta. :)

Dresden

Dresden having fun playing on her "saucer" .
Dresden having fun taking a Sunday afternoon nap!

Dresden will be nine months old tomorrow, which is very hard for me to believe! Michael just told her a few minutes ago that she was growing up way too fast for his liking and I wholeheartedly agree! Of course, that is true of all three of our children. I really can't believe that I am the mother of a 7 and a half year old and a 4 and a half year old, too. I don't feel old enough for that but I know it is true so I am trying to always do better at enjoying the little moments.

Now back to an update on Dresden...she is getting her two bottom teeth and she is pulling up to EVERYTHING now. She may be walking before too long! She is eating more solid food, mostly Cheerios, Gerber fruit and veggie Puffs, and saltine crackers. She is attempting to learn to drink from a cup but hasn't quite figured out that you have to lift it up to get anything out of the spout. She has also been using the spout as a teething toy. She loves taking a bath and she loves standing up to the side of the tub and watching Alley play with the bubbles in her bath. She is an expert speed crawler now and loves to get into any toys or games or books left about by her sister and brother. She is a sweetie and we are so glad God blessed us with her.