Our EXTREMELY tiny new home ;)

I've heard stories of people doing this before... Moving into an RV in order to get out of debt or build a house mortgage free. It sounded brilliant and crazy. Definitely not something I was considering doing!

But, then one day (after running the numbers,) Nick and I looked at each and said, "What on earth are we waiting for?! Let's do this thing!" 

Becoming debt free wasn't happening as quickly as we wanted, and our dream of building a house in the country seemed so far in the future... Who wants to build a house for their family just before they all graduate, get married and move away? If it was gonna take that long to accomplish our goals I really didn't see the point. So... We decided to sell most of our possessions, rent out our home, and move into a travel trailer on my parents property. 

Not having to pay our mortgage alongside the profit from rent each month is going to enable us to reach our financial goals about 10 times faster. It's exhilarating! (A feeling extremely necessary to inspire one to move their family of 5 into a 8' x 28' dwelling.) :D

We got a sweet deal on a used travel trailer and love it so much we have no plans of selling it after we build. The interior was so much more beautiful than anything could have hoped for- but the fabric was not to my taste, so, of course, I did a little remodeling!!! 

So, if you are like me, all you really want to see is PICTURES! Here are some before & afts:

Bedroom Before:

Bedroom After:

Having a window directly over my head while sleeping felt odd to me, so I removed the cornice and covered the window with a headboard I built specifically for this space. Tip: when building things for an RV, your goal should be to keep things as light as possible. I used thin pine wall paneling as opposed to 1x4's for this headboard. Total cost: $12.

Here's another view of the bedroom:

Kitchen Before:

(This kitchen totally sold me on this rv!!!)

Kitchen After:

The cabinets and flooring were already great (thank goodness!) so mainly what I changed was all the fabrics inside and the wallpaper border. I left the cornices in the kitchen and covered them with a blue geometric fabric. (I bought 1 curtain panel from Lowe's and cut it up to make all my curtains. I actually did no sewing on these- just gluing and utilizing the hems already present.

 I applied this border directly over the old one:

This is a paintable wallpaper border I purchased at Lowe's (which I just left white.) I felt it had a wood moulding sort of a look and really dressed it up without any added weight or difficult application. It was $7 a roll (I think) and I used a little over a roll. A friend if mine used this exact stuff on the fronts of her stairs and it's gorgeous! Can't tell at all it's not wood!

Here's the Living area Before pic:

(And my little cutie checking out the place :)

See all the green?? And tan?? And ugh?!

Yeah, I had to change all that.

Living room after:

I removed the cornices in here and put up small brushed nickel curtain rods (cheap ones from walmart.) I slip covered the dinette cushions with canvas drop cloths purchased at Lowes. That was the most time consuming part- but I'm glad I did it! Still thinking of changing that light fixture...

Here's what it looks like with the table in: (which we don't use all that much except for school. I just prefer it as an open couch type of space)

The table folds down and the dinette makes into a bed which is where the kids sleep. Most of time I just remove the edge cushions and they sleep like that with Gabe's playpen slid in that middle section (perfect fit!)

Here is another angle of the living space:

The toilet room:

And here is our bathroom area and shower (this is a before pic, but not much has changed in this area. I am considering doing a peel and stick backplash at the sink...)

And here is the outside:

(Which I was pleasantly surprised to find out after we had purchased it- has an outdoor shower!! Perfect for hosing off muddy kids pre-bath :)

Well, that is all. I may do a video in the future explaining where we keep our stuff and how we function in this small space. I've learned a lot from rv living Pinterest boards. 

Bye for now!!

Anticipation

Have you ever been excited, but not entirely sure why? It's kind of a weird feeling. I've been up since 4am. My 2 year old woke me up, but I couldn't seem to fall back asleep like I usually do. Probably because I had another dream. I've been having them for a week or two now. Lots and lots of dreams. God is trying to communicate with me about something- what I'm not entirely sure.

After trying for over an hour to go back to sleep this morning, it occurred to me that maybe I should get out of bed and pray. (Not sure why it took an entire hour for that idea to hit me :) Lord, forgive me... I'm a little slow sometimes usually.

I have been a little burdened over the past month. Just different stuff piling up in my spirit. Stuff I was developing grudges over, stuff I was sad about, stuff I wish I could fix... I had managed to get a pretty stinky attitude over all that STUFF. I was still doing my "usual" Bible reading and praying each day, but I needed what I like to call a "soul recalibration". :) So I went to embassyinstitute.org and resumed watching some seminars. It had been awhile since I'd been on. I can't even describe how grateful I am for the IBLP ministry. My attitude took a shift almost immediately. The washing of the water by the Word has a potent effect!

You know, whenever God wants to tell us something or do something with us... Satan seems to show up out of nowhere and start attacking us. I should have known. I should have figured with all the crummy stuff happening with me that it was just the enemy trying to distract me from something awesome God has planned!

I watched a talk from Doug Small about the road to Bethlehem. Each time I recall the things he said my insight seems to deepen a little more. He began to explain how difficult life must have been for Mary- explaining to her father she was pregnant... thinking she may be stoned since her betrothed was about to break things off and she wouldn't even have a husband... having to travel on a donkey at nine months pregnant! (I can't EVEN imagine!!!)

You know, we have heard the Christmas story SO many times and we have SO many preconceived notions and mental images set in place regarding it. We just picture Mary with a contented smile on her face as Joseph says, "It's okay that there's no room at the inn... this is God's plan anyway- for you to give birth in a stable. It's going to make the cutest little nativity scene! I know you may be a little uncomfortable during your labor tonight honey- but don't you worry. It's all gonna be worth it- because we're gonna be famous!"

Lol. Yeah... let's get real. That is probably not even close to what they were thinking! Unlike us, they had never heard the Christmas story. :) The Scripture doesn't say that Mary knew she needed to go give birth in Bethlehem in order to fulfill some old prophecy. She was probably thinking, "You are kidding me! I can't travel like this! I sure hope this baby doesn't come until we get back home!" 

Think about it. Have you ever experienced things continually going so "wrong" in your life... and you just keep trusting God even though you are completely backed into a corner... only to discover you have backed right into God's will?

So often, that is how God does it. We are so incredibly close to the pain and the sweat and the uncertainty... that we can't see the big elaborate plan God is accomplishing in us at that moment.

I don't know what God's doing exactly right now, but I get goose bumps just thinking about it! Satan has been working so hard... so that gives me a little clue that what God's got planned is pretty cool. :)


I'm feeling renewed... I'm feeling anticipation... and I'm ready to get God's attention and let Him know I'm ready and waiting. :)

Happy February!!

Just thought I'd write a little update on the fam and let you all know what we are up to here. I am almost 32 wks. pregnant now with our little Gabriel James. 

I can't wait for him to get here!!!! Well, I sorta can. :) I still have a few things to get done before he arrives. We are setting up the nursery area in our room this wk. And next wk, I'm planning to do the 3-day potty training with Addy.

She's already been introduced to the potty. But firmly tells me, "Uh-uh...no!" when I ask if she wants to use it. :) I'm afraid I have my work cut out for me AGAIN!!!

So... moving on from bodily functions....

We had a fantastic holiday season as I hope you all did as well. Here's the kids making Christmas cookies:

And... I do believe that's flour in Benjamin's ear there...  ha

We decided against doing the "Santa thing" with our kids. Don't worry- if you give my children a piece of chocolate shaped like Santa Claus, I will NOT freak out :O) We just talk about Santa like we do Mickey Mouse- reminding Ben that's He's pretend. We are trying to establish some healthy rules to keep us grounded when it comes to Christmas. It's so important to make Jesus' birth the center of attention, so we sang the "Happy Birthday" song to Jesus quite a lot in December. We also made ourselves a rule a few years ago that we would not exceed 3 gifts per child on any given year. That was hard this year- but no less enjoyable for the kids on Christmas morning!

We went on a field trip to the zoo last week with their cousin Kara:

Some of the things Benjamin is currently learning in school:

letter sounds

complex shapes & number of sides they have

counting to 50

to identify states on the US map

 Here's the craft from our "Eagle" themed day:

HERE is the template to this craft

On a different note, Nick FINALLY got on day shift!!!! Hold on just a sec while I shout GLORY HALLELUJAH!!! We've been waiting almost 5 years for this change and I'm loving it!! Finally... normal bedtimes for us and the kids, and I get to see my hubby during weekday daylight hours!! Yippee!!!

So... here's what's been happening with me personally over the last 6 months or so:

God has been so good and so faithful to us. I had a long period of severe morning sickness this time around, (even worse than the last 2 times) and then we had a huge scare around the 3 month mark. I started bleeding heavily and cramping. Having experienced 3 miscarriages in the past, I was CERTAIN that was what was going on. 

When it all stopped and nothing happened, I went in for an ultrasound and we found out that my placenta was just very close to my cervix. It wasn't previa, and the tech didn't see any tears.... so I went on bed rest for awhile just to be safe. We've had 2 ultrasounds since and everything has looked great, except for the fact that the placenta hasn't really moved away. BUT, most of the uterus growing happens towards the end, so we're hoping it has grown upwards by now. We'll have another look in a few wks.

During the 3 or 4 days when I thought I was losing the baby, the peace God gave me was so astounding. I knew I had made a break through spiritually after the 3rd miscarriage I experienced, and this was a little bit of a test for my faith. But, I know that I passed. Even though my heart was breaking, I was able to speak praises to God and say, "Lord, even if you let me lose this child, YOU ARE STILL GOOD." 

Sometimes those words are very difficult to say when you feel like something dear is being ripped away from you. But as soon as I surrendered and spoke those words, that incredible peace that passes all understanding flooded over me. I didn't feel depressed or oppressed. I was grieving, yes. But I had shut the door in the enemy's face. He couldn't lie to me while I was speaking those words. I feel like God has shown me something so huge through these experiences of loss and near loss. I don't want to ever forget the lesson. Praising God is powerful!!!

I'm so grateful that everything turned out fine and we'll have another baby boy in a short time! I've been catching up on scrap booking lately (finally got Benjamin's album done) and this page of my labor with Ben gets me so excited for Gabriel's birth!!

We'll be going to the same birth center again this time. Although, I'm thinking of turning to home births from now on since my birth center most likely will not be accepting my insurance any longer.

Bringing a new little life into the world is one of those miracles that nothing else really compares to. I'm getting excited just blogging about it!! :o)

Can't wait to meet baby Gabe!

Hypocrisy

About a month ago, Nick and I watched a seminar video on www.embassyinstitute.org titled "Openness and Brokenness" by Paul and Jenny Speed.

Mr. Speed tells the story of how years of hidden sexual immorality had crippled his ministry and oppressed his family. God convicted him to be open with his wife about his problem- despite his fears that it would hurt her too much. He came to a point of brokenness about his sin, and realized that by covering up these "small" failings; he had unknowingly given Satan an entrance into his family; to bind them and limit their effectiveness for Christ. Was his wife hurt? Of course. Was it embarrassing for him to confess to his children? Terribly. Was it worth it? His powerful testimony leaves no doubt in my mind that it was. As the spiritual leader of his home, he knew his "umbrella of protection" over his family had some holes in it. Perhaps they were small compared to some other fathers he knew... but they were still holes.

He gave an illustration that greatly impacted me: Imagine a thief arrives at your neighbor's home to find the front door wide open. He plumages and wrecks the entire place; stealing everything of value. When finished, he proceeds over to your home. When he tries the front door, it's dead bolted. Having no luck there, he walks around the back; spotting a small crack in your bedroom window allowing him to enter.


Does the thief do any less damage to your house than he did your neighbors?? Of course not. He got in. That's all he needed.

Sometimes we brush off what we think are "small sins" in our life; (those "little cracks") believing they are insignificant in the scope of things... that we can "deal" with them secretly.

SECRETLY. That's the key word. Proverbs 28:13 tells us, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

Satan is a liar and a deceiver. He loves it when he can convince us to deceive as well. Keeping secrets is an open door for him to oppress us. And we usually don't even realize we have just let him in. As children and teenagers, he tries to get us to keep secrets from our parents. As married adults, he wants us to keep secrets from our spouse.

I can't begin to tell you how big of an impact this message had on our marriage and our home. But the reason I'm writing today, is the subject of hypocrisy. Mr. Speed traced back his moral failings to the week before he got married. He viewed pornography, and kept it a secret from his then fiance. Something changed between them. He was no longer able to lead in their relationship. At the time, he wouldn't have dreamed of telling her the truth. He was raised by Christian parents who were in ministry. He knew he was supposed to look a certain way at church. He knew there were some things you didn't do in front of "church people". They thought they were raising him to be godly- but really, they had raised him to be a hypocrite- To pretend he was righteous, when really, there was sin in his heart that needed to be confessed. His father had never been open with him about his own problems of lust or immoral thoughts.... so he felt ashamed to admit to such things as a teenager.

Being open with our children, is one of the most important tools we have against the enemy. It cripples him. He has no entrance. 

Paul Speed related to his crowd that he believed the biggest problem he had faced was not lust; it was the desire to cover it up. It was hypocrisy. I began to pray that God would guard me and Nick against demonstrating and passing on a spirit of hypocrisy to our children.

Fast Forward 2 wks.

I'm sitting in Chick-Fil-A with my kids eating when I hear the man sitting behind me begin to raise his voice at his son. I couldn't help but glance back, (he was sort of making a scene). His eyes were boiling with anger as he started hissing out a stern warning through his teeth. "My Lord!" I thought. "I can't believe he's talking to his kid like that in a public place!"

Then, the light bulb went off.

If it's not okay to speak to your child like that front of people, it's not okay in private either. Do I yell at my kids in public? Never. Do I yell at them at home? .........   Let's just say I would be terribly embarrassed if all my training sessions were broadcast to the masses. I do lose my temper sometimes. I do discipline in anger sometimes.

It hit me like a brick. By disciplining them differently in public than I do in private; I am teaching my kids hypocrisy! Now, I'm not talking about spanking. It is important to be wise when spanking in public- although if the situation merits that action, I most certainly will do the job- (my child's soul is far more important to me that fearing what those around me will think or say.) But, God showed me a HUGE area in my life that needs altering. I do not want my children to learn a double standard from me- in ANYTHING! If I have to pretend my life is a reality tv show where people are always watching- so be it. By God's grace, I want my attitude towards my kids to be the same at home as it is in front of my pastor's wife. Always loving, always patient- while giving the correction they need and shepherding their hearts.

IBLP Seminar- God's Reward for Scriptural Disciplines

For those of you who haven't heard: the IBLP seminars (and a lot of other great videos) are now available to stream online.

The website is embassyinstitute.org

The fee is $9 a month, or if you can pay $99 for a whole year.

This is such an incredible blessing to be able to access these great seminars and videos anytime we want, for a really small price- NEVER having to leave our house!

If you have never been through any of these seminars: I urge you to check it out! The Scriptural truths shared by Mr. Gothard have made a huge impact on my personal walk with the Lord, and my entire family. If you've been through them, but it's been awhile: I encourage you to do it again.

Each time I go through one of these seminars, I'm at a different place in life, and I am always challenged by the new things God reveals to me about myself and His Word.

Nick and I just started going through the Advanced Seminar today.

***just a tip: if you want to do a seminar from start to finish, I've found the easiest way to access the videos is type in the search box: "advanced seminar session 1" and it will come up.***

We'll be doing the sessions slowly. (He has to listen to the audio on his iPhone while driving & on breaks at work.) Here are a few notes on the session today and some things God has been dealing with me about:

God's Reward for Scriptural Disciplines

-Daily Bible Reading

(growth) 1 Peter 2:2

-Memorizing

(purity) Psalm 119:11

-Meditating

(success) Psalm 1:2-3

-Application

(answered prayer) John 15:7

-Fasting

(health & discernment) Isaiah 58

-Praying

(power) James 5:16

-Early Rising

(productivity) Psalm 57:8, 63:1

-Reading Revelation

(blessing) Rev. 1:3

-Witnessing

(eternal fruit) Proverbs 11:30

There are many promises in Scripture. God delights in honoring His own Word. He simply wants us to take Him up on it and try it out. The list above are just some of the principles He's laid out for us and the rewards of following them. Nick and I have started some new things lately in our home and it feels so great to see the fruits of those things. But while Mr. Gothard read and explained this list in the session today, I not only recognized the things we WERE doing; I was painfully reminded of all the things we NEED to be doing!

With the intention of hopefully helping someone, and allowing all of you to hold me accountable... I'd like to share with you my successes and failings with this list of Scriptural principles.

-Daily Bible Reading

If you asked a mother, "How often do you feed your new baby?" and she answered, "Oh, about once a weeks or so..." You would obviously be appalled. I think God created our natural bodies to need food multiple times a day for a purpose. I think it's a parallel to our spiritual lives. We should be DAILY, and CONTINUALLY feeding on God's Word. When we do, the spiritual growth is apparent. I can completely tell a difference in my day when I do my devotion vs. when I skip it.

So, here's a small tip for you mothers out there: Me and Nick like to do our family prayer and Bible reading together and the breakfast table every morning... but sometimes it doesn't happen. If we oversleep a little or he has to go in earlier, I tend to just skip it altogether. God convicted me of this recently. It's better to do our morning "wisdom search" separately than not at all!

So- here's what I do. If Nick is already gone, I still (pray first) then read OUT LOUD the Proverbs (number of the day) and at least 1 Psalm. I let the kids eat while I'm reading and if Ben finishes before I'm done, I let him stay in his seat and color. (I tell him to draw words he hears me say.) I feel this discipline is not only great for their self control, but also trains them to sit quietly through church. Not to mention they are hearing the Word of God frequently at a young age. By the time they can actually understand what it means and read along, it won't be a new concept to them or a boring exercise.

-Memorizing
This is something we JUST started. I told Nick, "Honey, I used to memorize Scripture ALL THE TIME when I was in school, but have really slacked off since finishing my studies." So we decided to keep each other accountable and make if a "couple's exercise". We pick a verse or passage each week, write it out on a flashcard, stick it to the front of the fridge and ask each other to quote it at the end of each day. First we just picked a random verse in Eph. Then we did "Roman's road" (the verses you need to know to lead someone to Christ), and next we're gonna do fruits of the spirit, the beatitudes... etc. Some verses we learned as kids are coming back to us rather quickly. But each night we quote the entire list of what we've worked on thus far so we won't forget them again.

***I recently made Benjamin a Scripture Memory book. (I looked for one to buy, but couldn't find the right thing so...I just wrote the verses down, drew pictures for them and stapled the pages together.) I noticed he had a great memory when he started quoting some of his favorite books to me... so I figured it was time to put it to good use. :) I made up hand signals to the Scriptures so it's more fun for him and we say the reference at the beginning and the end of the verse.***

-Meditating

It kinda goes without saying that if you're working on Scipture memory, you'll probably end up meditating on those verses. But, of course, I can easily fall into just memorizing something mechanically... so I do try to take time and really say the words... think about them... and pray them. Actually, sometimes I even sing them. There are so many praise songs written verbatim from the Psalms. The Maranatha singers do a lot of them. Check them out on Pandora. :)

*By the way, at the end of my devotion with the kids each morning: we end with songs- usually Sunday school songs with hand signals that are fun for them.

-Application

Well, I'm sure it's clear to all that I need to work on applying these things I'm reading, memorizing, & meditating on in Scripture. But, I must say, it is MUCH easier to apply these things when they are on your mind CONSTANTLY!!

-Fasting

I have really slacked in this area the past few years. I've used pregnancy and nursing as an excuse a lot... but truthfully, it will not hurt for me to skip at least 1 meal now and then. There are also other forms of fasting that I've felt convicted to start lately. Namely, television. My kids only watch clean, educational "good" programming & videos. But, it can still be on WAY too much if I'm not very careful. I have found that having the TV on all the time creates discontent in children. (i.e. if it's not on, they become bored quickly.) Fasting a day or a week here and there is something I am going to start doing regularly to keep us in check.

-Praying

Sometimes a light bulb goes off in my brain while experiencing a delay or "boring" duty. "You could be using this time to pray," I feel the Lord say to me.

I just experienced this last night while standing by my baby's crib. She had been a little distraught, so I was standing where she could see me while she drifted off to sleep. Standing there with nothing to do, driving down the road with no other adults to talk to, or sitting beside my toddlers bed when he's having a rough night... those are all really good times to pray.

-Giving

I do practice giving, but I need to do more- and not just when it's convenient for me.

-Early Rising

Definitely need help on this one! "Early Rising" for us wouldn't be the same as most people due to our different schedule... but I know going to bed earlier and waking up earlier encourages a more productive day. I can always see the difference when we're up an hour before we "feel like getting up". Punctuality (one of the 49 character qualities Mr. Gothard talks about) is related to this one. I have completely lost my punctuality since having children and God is really dealing with me to work on this.

-Reading Revelation
Not something I expected to be on this list, but Rev 1:3 says, ^"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."
I tend to gravitate more to other books of the Bible- ones that I can understand. :) But, there is spiritual blessing promised to those who read this book. I haven't read it in it's entirety in a long time, but I'm going to start this week.

-Witnessing
This has been such a strong conviction for me personally for awhile now. It's a scary thing to really initiate a conversation about the Lord with someone if you've never done it. I'm trying to start small and work up my courage: like saying "God Bless" or making reference to how good God is when I having small talk with a stranger. I really need prayer in this area because I KNOW I am not yet making disciples like Christ called me to do.

Just last night me and Nick had a conversation about reaching out more to our neighbors. The Lord layed it on both our minds the same day that we could be doing more to get to know our neighbors and witness to them. Nick was like, "I know we've been taught that everyone is our neighbor... but if we aren't willing to befriend our physical neighbors that live right next to us... that's pretty bad!" I agreed, saying that God was dealing with me on that very issue. I admit, I don't even know all the names of the people in our cul de sac. Being a better neighbor is on our "to-do" list. Inviting them over when we have a game night with friends, bringing over some homemade baked goods to get to know them.... that's the plan. :)

What we did in July

We went to the Ringling Bros. Circus...

Benjamin was a little "stinker" that night, but he sat, mesmerized,

through the ENTIRE thing!

(3 hours, people!)

We played at the Woodlands Mall...

Adalynn and Daddy surfed the web...

Benjamin colored at his desk...

 Benjamin held "baby Addy"...

We watched a really pretty sunset from our backyard...

Baby Addy stayed super cute!

We had a work day at church to get ready for VBS!!

We had a blast all week and dressed in our matching shirts with everyone else

for program night...

When VBS week was over, we SLEPT!!!

Bye July!

New Addition...

Ladies and Gentlemen: she's here!!! FINALLY!

Miss Adalynn Grace Mofley was born Friday, April 15th at 3:53pm

THE BIRTH STORY

(If you don't care to know all the details... then just don't read it ;)

I had some pretty serious braxton hicks for a few nights prior to labor. I know what real labor is, and let me tell ya- they really had me fooled a couple of times... so I'm sure I made some progress with those. But at 7am on Friday morning I awoke with contractions about 10 min. apart- & this time they didn't subside. I tried to rest for a couple more hours and finally woke Nick up at 9:30am. I told him I was in labor and had him call his parents to come get Ben (who was still sleeping soundly between us.) (For those of know who don't know: we go to bed and wake up pretty late due to Nick's work hours so I'd had about 5 hours of sleep- but hey, better than NONE which is what happened with Ben's labor.)

The Mofleys came to get Ben around 10:30 and my contractions were still only 5-6 minutes apart. I knew I shouldn't go in to the birth center until they were coming at 3-4 min. but these contractions were pretty intense & I felt like I was getting somewhere- I was right. Even at 5 min. I was having to  do some vocalizing and rock on my hands and knees. I couldn't talk through them. Nick just put pressure on my lower back for me and helped me breathe. I told him I'd labor at home for awhile longer. I called my midwife to give her a heads up since it was daytime, and she suggested that I get in the shower to encourage progress. I did, and it was a great pain reliever. When I got out, my mind kept telling me I should walk around the house or something to speed things along, but I just wanted to rest between those difficult contractions. So, instead, I stayed on the birth ball and my hands & knees (I knew her back needed to turn a little from my last exam and that position will do the trick.)

Me and Nick watched tv together between my contractions and at about 12:30pm I finally had one come after 3 minutes. It felt a little different and more intense. Even though I didn't have an established pattern at 3 min. yet I told Nick it was time to go. I did surprisingly well on the ride over. Maybe because I wasn't as freaked out as the first time. My contractions slowed back down with me in that sitting position- I knew they would. But, lo, and behold- when I arrived at the center and got checked- I was almost a 7!! I thought I was probably a 5, so that was a nice surprise.

I was glad my water still hadn't broken because I was GBS positive this time. I opted not to do the antibiotics and instead did a colloidal silver cleanse for about 7 days prior to labor and had Hibiclens ready for use during labor. (Turns out they use the Hibiclens for GBS in Europe quite a bit.) The midwife also sprayed a mixture of essential oils called Claraderm (w/ antibacterial properties) on her glove before checking me. (This was the first and only time I got checked.) I got in some side lying positions to continue turning her, then after having a contraction that pushed the pain to the next level, I headed over to the tub. That was the rough part. That last hour in the tub was the part where I really wanted to give up & wasn't sure if I could keep going- even though I knew I had to. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about... if you've experienced natural childbirth, that is :)

Then, during a horrible contraction, my water broke! It was the weirdest sensation for it to happen under water. (I realized later that this was a blessing from God. My water breaking in the tub when it did very much minimized any chances of her contracting the GBS- even if I had taken absolutely no precautions. He answered my prayer about this.) As soon as I could speak, I told my midwife. She let me know the baby's head would be descending with the next contraction due to that cushion being gone. She crowned with the very next one. The birth assistant reminded me that that (awful) pressure was there to stay. I was thinking to myself that I REALLY didn't feel like pushing for 2 hours like I did with Ben- when I heard the birth assistant saying, "Would you like to feel..." her sentence trailed off and I heard her say, "oh!" I knew she was going to ask if I wanted to touch the top of her head... "why did she stop?" I was wondering. Then, I realized I was pushing, and she was coming! "Oh my God! Oh my God! I'm pushing!!" I yelled. I very nearly lost control, but my midwife got close to my face and regained my focus. "Brittney, listen to me! We are going to blow this baby out okay?" I nodded in agreement, and with my midwife Rena on one side and Nick on the other coaching me to "blow, blow, blow" I was able to slow myself down and out came her head! "Her ears are out" I heard Rena say. And with the next urge to push came the rest of her. 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it! I had pushed her out in 5 minutes! AND... here's the clincher... are you ready for this??? I DIDN'T TEAR!!!! I did everything "right" the first time with Benjamin. I did my perineal massages, drank my red raspberry tea.... everything. And I still tore something awful even after blowing through the burning for like, 30 minutes. But this time, I wasn't as faithful with any of those things and I was sure I was doomed. And I didn't even tear.

Well, her head WAS 2 1/2 centimeters smaller, so that helped. As she slid out they placed her on my chest and she began to wail. I was in that euphoria state and kept alternating between saying "I'm so glad it's over!" and "I didn't tear!" :) She was totally covered in vernix (Ben was not.) It was so thick and sticky feeling I had this intense urge to scrub it all off, but they continued to tell me it was good for her skin and to just rub it in. We took our herb bath together about a hour later, and about an hour after that I was walking to the kitchen table to eat the food Courtney and Amy got me from Jason's Deli.

It felt like a "drive-thru" baby to me. I still can't believe we were only at the center for 3 hours before she came! She nursed beautifully right away- as most alert, non-drugged up babies do. It was just awesome. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome the first time too, but trading a 21 hr. labor in for a 9 hr. one is pretty sweet. And, as you may have guessed, my recovery has been so much quicker and easier this time around. I feel so blessed and so in awe of these 2 gorgeous children God's given me. They are amazing!

Our first picture as a family. I look so sickly and pale here- my coloring has improved since was taken!

Love, love LOVE putting bows on her head!!!

Benjamin and his "baby Ahhh"

WE MOVED!!!!

Which is why I haven't been on to blog in awhile.

God is awesome. Throughout the last 4 months- well, the last 2 1/2 years actually... my faith wavered quite a few times. Initially I was very confident that He had a master plan and would work everything for good. But lately, I had really began to question if God cared where we were... if He was paying attention to the fact that Nick needed another job... if we would EVER find a place of our own to live...

Of course He knew exactly where we were all the time. My patience is so short sometimes and I so easily forget God's faithfulness. I would not blame God one bit for being exasperated with me. A few months ago, Nick looked at me and said, "You know, if I were God, I'd probably hit me over the head and say "What in the world is wrong with you?!?! Don't you get it?? I keep telling you the same things over and over!!!"" I smiled and responded, "Well, do you feel that way towards Benjamin?" Nick smiled back and answered, "You're right! I never feel like smacking him and giving up on him! I still just want to love on him and encourage him that he'll eventually 'get it'."

We're just human- and yet we have so much love and compassion for OUR children... can you imagine how much more God feels that way towards us? His patience is incredible.

Basically what's happened is: God has restored our house and Nick's job.

Nick transferred to a different location in GE (to be closer to home and have 1st shift hours.) The new location turned out to be a horrible work environment. He was so miserable while there and he ended up leaving. We were living on savings for a few months and wondering when Nick would find something else. He had a few offers out of town and we were praying about that.... we put out fleece after fleece about numerous jobs and God always let us know it wasn't meant to be. It's great when God answers you, but the answer "no" can get frustrating after awhile. Soon, I was wondering if anything was ever going to work out. Of course, timing is EVERYTHING, right? :)

God's timing was perfect. January came, and Nick's old job wanted him back. Since we have a baby due in 8 wks. I told Nick we HAD to get our own place. (We'd been living with my parents for about 9 months.) We were making arrangements to move into a rental within a couple of days when we got a phone call. The investment company we sold our house to wanted to sign it back over to us- for NOTHING. Nope, not kidding. Apparently, after buying our house 2 1/2 years ago, the economy had gotten worse and they'd had no luck getting a tenant's loan approved to purchase the property. Since the title was in their name a little too long for the bank's comfort, the bank declared fraud on them with our loan and they were forced to hand it back over to us.

Soooo... if they had called a few days later, we would have already signed another contract and been in a bind. But, God KNEW that, didn't He? He DID have a master plan- a WAY better one than I could ever think up. Now, we are in our house again that we OWN, it's exactly the size and location that we need, there's a great park for Benjamin, we have our own yard.... I am just so overwhelmed at God's blessings on us! He knew what we needed, and He knew what we needed to go through in order to appreciate it. There is a gratefulness in my heart now for my house and Nick's job that wasn't there before. The experience was difficult, but so worth it.


These days I'm just busy, busy, busy preparing the house for the baby's arrival. The cleaning, unpacking, painting, decorating... etc. pretty much takes up my days. I'm NESTING big time! *btw- if you have a Gospel Assembly church phone book from a few years ago, that's our address (again) :)*

Everything is GREAT with the pregnancy! And- gotta slip 1 more praise report in here: Would you believe this house is in the SAME condition as when we left it?? Better, actually. The guy who lived here built shelving in the closets and garage. The paint on the walls is even the same. I just can't get over how amazing God is. He really gave me the desire of my heart- and I honestly didn't even know what it was.

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

God really knows how to "press down" and "shake together" a blessing, doesn't He?

He is SO good.