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!!

Off to the farm! :)

We’re going to head out in a little bit to go to camp.

We decided to have the puppies “fixed” while we’re gone, so they’ll be at the vet’s until Monday.  Would you mind praying that they do ok?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Quick update!

I’m starting to feel better, so that’s a huge answer to prayer!!

We are all 5 headed to the Finca (farm), like a camp-type place, Thursday to Sunday morning for our “end of summer debrief” with our summer missionaries.  The Finca is only about an hour away and the boys always have a blast there- there is a soccer field in the middle of the campground- fun times- and a cool playground.

Sunday morning we head back to our house, I do some crazy loads of laundry for John because he heads out Sunday night to go to Atlanta, GA in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA for a week!! Ahh!! I am so excited for him and kinda sad, too, that we don’t get to experience that first “re-entry” together, but no worries!!  He is going for a REAP training event.  And his parents and sisters, I think, are coming down to visit him the last day or so- fun!! And he will bring back our Kindergarten curriculum- woo-hoo!! This boy is READY to get after it!! Me, too!!

So, please pray for a good time at the Finca this weekend and please pray for safety for John traveling to/ from and during his week in Atlanta and that he will learn a lot! Also, would you please pray for the boys and me as we are holding down the fort without our fearless leader?  Thanks!

Hope each one of you is doing well and has a great week!

Hello cutie-pie!!

Dr. Del Riego has a sense of humor (see the writing?) and picks on me that my husband doesn’t really exist- I told him today, “Trust me- I couldn’t do what I do by myself!”   So, the baby gave us quite the show today- still too early to know the gender of course, but everything looked absolutely PERFECT!!! And that little rascal was just a movin’ and  a groovin’!! So cute- just stretching and bending his/her arms and legs! I mean, it just gets me every time- I came home and told John, “I’m in love!!” Just seeing that little person actually LIVING and growing so hard inside of me is just truly a MIRACLE! God is just amazing! I am so glad I’m a girl so I get to experience this- what a gift!!! Join us in praising God for this sweet little life!