Date Night PLUS Luke!

John and I went out tonight with Lukey!! We’ll take a turn with each boy for the next 2 weeks so each one gets a special night out with Mama and Daddy!! Well, we had so much fun! It was so nice- I told John I don’t think I’ve ever just gotten to look at Lukey for so long! I loved just watching him enjoy all the attention and his huge green eyes light up as he giggles!!

We ate dinner in a fun restaurant with a train car you could sit in to eat! We found a couple things for Hope and then enjoyed some yummy ice cream!! Lukey was such a blast! Oh, and we started off the night buying him some new shoes since he got his new inserts. We went to this Adidas store, like an outlet, with last year’s models and stuff.  He found his pair (a cool black and gold pair of soccer-style shoes) and didn’t take them off until he hopped into bed!! Luke is so much fun to buy for!!

We ended up the night by letting him pick out a Christmas present for Caleb and Elijah- he picked out some cute snowman toys (like his)!

We are so blessed with these sweet children! We can’t wait for our turn with Caleb next week!

Don’t freak out . . . 2 blogs in a row! :)

I really don’t have anything exciting to say, just working on getting some consistency back!

Thanks for your sweet comments on my last post! That is so encouraging!

OK, well I’ll share this bit of exciting news- we got confirmed today for our mission house for our Stateside Assignment next year!! Yeah!! What a blessing! So, the house is in Apex, NC- just 35 minutes or so from all our families!!  The dates are mid-ish September to late-ish January! They will be more firm as we get closer and see conference dates and stuff! We are so excited, though, and so thankful for the house- the church (Apex Baptist) sounds so wonderful, too! Oh, and they have Awanas!!!! So, our boys will get to enjoy that on Sunday nights when we’re in town!!! God is so good!

OK, off to bed! Night Night sweet readers!!

Long time no see (or hear from)! :)

I figured I would celebrate the start of December by breaking this horrible run of no blogging I have had! I am so sorry for being such a slacker.  I honestly just fell right out of the habit.  My sisters inspired me to get back on the trail!!

So, here’s an update on us:

John is just as amazing as ever- such a patient and loving husband and father. I thank God for John every day and am so glad that our boys have such a wonderful example to see as John lives out each day seeking to glorify God! And don’t even get me started on Hope and how blessed she is to have John as her Daddy- I already told John to be prepared for me to be in tears a lot seeing the two of them together!! We are so blessed by John every day in our family!!

Caleb is doing GREAT in Kindergarten.  He is reading- short vowel words for now, progressing well in Math and Handwriting, and learning a lot of memory verses and Catechism questions in Bible time.  He is such the extrovert (JUST like me and John) and is just like me, wanting to share every moment of life with every human within a 5 mile radius.  It is real sweet and gives me a new appreciation for my own mom and listening to me recount to death the events of the day!! I do find it real endearing, though! He is getting so much better in soccer and is making some friends there! He is so much fun!

Luke is just as compassionate as ever and has this amazing sensitivity to others.  After a check-up with his orthopedist (for his flat feet- just got some new inserts), I took him to Wong, the grocery store, and bought him a little snowman ornament that he fell in love with, you know, for doing so well for the doctor and all.  Well, he has asked at least 3 times if we can please buy one for Caleb and Elijah, too, so they can have one! So sweet! John and I are hoping, if our babysitter is able, to take each kid out one at the time, over the next 3 weeks before Christmas, to have a special date with Mama and Daddy and buy a gift for brothers! Lukey was our inspiration for this idea!  Luke fell in love with some “Spanish friends” at a playplace recently and cried so hard when we had to leave!  He is a precious kid!

Elijah is just as big a mess as ever! He LOVES to dress up (superheroes) and tonight in his blessing thanked God for Mama, Daddy, Uncle Brian, Aunt Jenn, Trevor, Gordon (Jordan) (our friends, the Penningtons, who are here with us for Thanksgiving and medical appointments), Batman, Superman, Flash, and Hulk. We had to prompt him to mention his real-life brothers!   He prays real sweet, though, and always ends with an enthusiastic “In Jesus, Amen!”  He is always up for a game, his favorite being “Chase Me!!” and is still quite attached to “Montey”- his monkey lovey.  He is talking more and more each day and he cracks up all of us on a daily basis!

Hope is such a good baby- moving all the time, reassuring us that she is okay!! We got to see her, for a regular ultrasound, last Monday, and she is so cute- all folded in half with her foot in front of her face (I’ll try to get the picture scanned and put it up)- she’s breech, just like Caleb and Elijah, but no worries- she was already going to be a c-section anyway (just because I’ve had 2 now).  She is doing well, though, and we cannot wait to meet this little gift from God!!

I’m doing well- just having a little harder time getting up and down 100 times a day! I am just loving home school and look forward to our Circle Time each morning- that’s with me and all 3 boys- and I’m really enjoying seeing Caleb learn so much.  We got to host Thanksgiving this year- a first for me and John! And I made the turkey- another first!! And I made my first pie crust and a Pecan Pie!!! We had so much fun fellowshipping with 3 other precious families- the Holemans, Penningtons, and Bredbenners- a total of 8 adults and 10 kids.  It was s blessing to have them, such an incredible family away from home!!

Well, it is crazy late and I’ve got to go put me and Hope to bed!

Hopefully, I’ll do better about staying up to date now and get back in the habit!

Thanks for being patient with us and supporting us and loving us so faithfully!

They all survived, and even thrived!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a gift from God Karin, the babysitter, was!! She was so great and confident and get this: we had told her we’ll be back at 8:30 to lay the boys down, you know.  She calls me at 8:23 just to check and see if we were headed home or did she just need to go ahead and lay them down!!! Wowzers!!! What an answer to prayer! We have sorely missed the extended network we had of caregivers in our former life in the States and have prayed for someone we could trust and was available and all these things! And God just showed off tonight by providing Karin!!!!!! Thank YOU!! We already asked her for next Friday! Why not??

Oh, and the boys had a BLAST! Luke, when I came in all excited to see them, told me (with his little hand up), “No, Mama, the teacher’s not done yet!” They all 3 loved her!!

Thanks again for praying for our family!! Love you all!!

Wow! Praise God!

Thank you all so much for praying!

God has answered so many prayers already!

My uncle is being moved to a regular room today and he is breathing just fine on his own (after having been taken off the ventilator).

PRAISE GOD- His vision in his remaining eye was PRESERVED!!!!!!!

Also, another huge praise is that the graft over the affected area (where his right eye used to be) is “taking” and is getting the right blood flow and all!!

Of course, he has a pretty intense recovery ahead.

Would you please pray for continued blood flow of the skin graft, his pain to be manageable, and his peace as he begins to accept his “new look.” And please keep praying for his wife, Cheryl, as she cares for him!!
John and I are getting ready to go on a date this afternoon! Please pray that the babysitter, Karin (Luke’s teacher’s assistant from his old school), will take good care of our boys and there will be no “playing with knives/ eating whole bags of Tootsie Rolls” incidents.- Did I tell you all that story here? Ay, ay, ay!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Thanks for praying!

My uncle made it through the surgery- it was even more intensive than they had originally thought.

I haven’t heard yet about his vision, but am thankful that he made it out of surgery!

Praise God!

Some tidbits!

• A couple peeps had asked, so:  Hope’s due date is January 25, 2010.  However, we already know she will be delivered c-section (since 2 of my 3 were also c-sections), so we will probably get to meet her a bit before, maybe a week or so, I’ve not asked my doctor yet.
• It will be right in our summer here in Lima when Hope is born! Fun little sleeveless dresses- I can’t stand it!!
• Week 2 of school is going well. We are really enjoying it!!
• Would you mind praying for my Uncle Bubba (my mom’s brother)?  He has a tumor on his right eye and is having a very serious surgery tomorrow, scheduled to last 8 hours.  The outcomes are quite scary as his life is in danger as well as his vision.  So, please pray for my uncle, Sam Tinsley, tomorrow.  His surgery will be in Richmond, Virginia.  Thank you so much!

Hope Morgan McLamb

This will be Baby Girl’s name!! Do you like it?

Hope is my middle name and Morgan is John’s middle name, so that’s where it comes from!

Another fun note is that I have doodled this name since I was 15, seriously! I have been in love with my John Morgan since then and I would doodle John Morgan McLamb, Jennifer Hope McLamb, and then write out our kids’ names, always Hope Morgan and the others would change from time to time (and always 4, by the way!):).  Another favorite back then was also Luke Alexander (for my then sister’s boyfriend, now my brother-in-law- sorry, Alex, that -it didn’t make the cut)!:)

I am feeling her move all the time and am getting more excited by the SECOND to have a daughter!! I cannot wait to meet this little one! We’re watching Monsters, Inc. right now- I am in love with the little girl character.  Anyway, you remember her cute pigtails, well, tonight I couldn’t stop grinning picturing the first time Hope’s whispies are long enough to do pigtails!! Too cute!

Another good day of school today- getting better at the whole timing! It is already fun to see what Luke and Elijah are capturing.  Elijah regularly walks up to our number posters and counts.  He actually says, “I count.  1, 2, 3, 4 . . ” Lukey is still totally interested and I am making up things he can do at his desk for times I only have the one worksheet for Caleb.  It has been a lot of fun!

Thanks so much for your prayers! We always appreciate your support in this way!! Love you all!!

School news!

Ugh- I just realized I haven’t taken a single picture of our school time! Bummer! I’ll try to remember tomorrow!

We started School yesterday.  I finally chose (after much debate) Bob Jones curriculum with Handwriting Without Tears for letter formation and the Science book/ DVD from Sonlight.

I had all these rosy-colored ideas of how the day would go and well, I guess that wasn’t so realistic.  It was a success, though.  I am trying to include Luke and Elijah as much as they will allow me/ want to.  Lukey has hung in there with Caleb quite a lot.  I also have other activities for them planned for certain parts of the Kindergarten time, like wooden toys, alone trampoline time, or Legos.

Today, our flow was a lot better.  I told myself I wouldn’t judge anything based on this week because this week is more about seeing what works for our family, how to modify the Bob Jones to home school (it’s really more for a Christian school setting with a class full of students), identifying what character/ obedience issues are screaming out for help/ correction, etc.  So, we’re taking it one day at a time, tweaking the schedule as we go.

This adventure has reminded me of the countless opportunities children give you to grow in godliness.  Parenting is not for the faint of heart nor for someone who isn’t willing to repeatedly sin and fail.  I am just so thankful for God’s forgiveness and mercy, new every morning.

I am so thankful for all the prayers and encouraging emails I’ve gotten as we begin this journey of school! Thank you so much!!

**Oh, and I can’t stop calling the baby, “Baby Girl!” I’m afraid I’m falling in love with this little girl.  Yesterday was dangerous at the store- good grief- those little baby socks with all pink and flowers!! What is happening to me?? I had to buy Baby Girl some tiny socks.  My word!

What do you think????

It’s a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GIRL

In the words of our helper, Luz, “What do we do now??”

John and I just died laughing when she said that! We said, “That’s the question!!”

Praise God! She (Ahhh- I have never written ’she’ about our babies) is totally healthy and perfect size and everything!!! What a blessing!!  The boys are super excited- we all 5 went to the ultrasound!!

We are excited and somewhat in shock!

We’ll let you know her name soon- we’re 99% sure, just want to make sure we’re 100%!!

Thanks so much for all your prayers!!