Bob and Noah.
Grandma Butler with Noah tonight. She brought over a yummy dinner and Isaac's birthday gifts.
Yesterday (Thursday) was Isaac's 11th birthday. He chose an assortment of cowboy things: stirrups, pistol, holster, and a new hat (not pictured here). Anna and Daniel carved various weapons out of wood for him and the girls made birthday cards and his favorite dinner, chicken pepper pasta. He wanted rootbeer floats for his birthday dessert. It was a fun day for him. I took all three boys (that's a new phrase) to the mall so that Isaac to chose a couple of his own gifts from Grandma Brenda and Grandad Bill. He spent the afternoon playing with his remote control car and Lincoln Logs. Today, Grandma Butler came over with his new hat and a shooting game from Aunt Patsy. His daddy is still an expert shot even after all these years out of the Army. Anna's pretty good too.
Mary and Daniel are snuggling in the rocking chair. Now that Mary's two, and a big sister, she's talking constantly and expects us to understand every word and meet each request-now! Who could resist those beautiful baby blues anyway?
With warmer weather comes water fun. This was the first official, bathing suit-wearing day for our family. But there have been numerous unofficial soakings with the hose and buckets too! They all look like "Jack be nimble" jumping over the candlestick. I don't think Mary and Joy really liked all those spraying arms getting water in their eyes. But the mud puddles in the grass looked like fun. This one is of Anna. She watched the boys for a long while before she tried jumping over herself.
This is Isaac, with Joy and Mary watching.
Here's Daniel with Mary in the background.
Mary's all smiles and out of the reach of the water sprays.
Now that Noah is a month old, there are many more chances to get pictures of his eyes. They're blue of course. When we first bring home a new baby he always seems like a stranger. But then after just a few short weeks, it seems that he was always with us and can't imagine life without him.
Every night before we go to bed, Bob checks on the children in their beds. On this night, we went in together and found Joy asleep literally standing up. We couldn't resist turning on the light and taking her picture. Kendal woke up to the flash of the camera and Bob and I laughing hysterically. We're guessing Joy was too hot under this down comforter (go figure) and was trying to get it off but it was wrapped so tightly around her it was able to hold her up while she slept. Or maybe this was just another time when she was refusing to sleep and her fatigue caught up with her. Children do the funniest things!
After carrying a baby inside for nearly ten months, delivering him, and caring for him for nearly a month, it's amazing how rewarding a single moment of eye contact and a slight smile can be.
We're noticing how fat he looks and loving it! He weighed nine and a half pounds at his one month check up this week! So he gained two pounds in a month!
This is Joy and Noah. Mary, Joy, Anna and Daniel had caught a cold and a sore throat last week. Joy coughed alot on Saturday night and on Sunday Bob had to take her to the CHKD emergency room because she was getting into respiratory distress: breathing fast, wheezing, retracting and fatiguing. She had a few breathing treatments and was kept overnight to start IV antibiotics to make sure she didn't develop pneumonia. Isaac is the only child who's ever been to the ER in our family and that was for stitches both times. We all missed Joy and Bob terribly. Bob thought he was going to have to work a few hours on Memorial Day (also our 18th anniversary) but instead he spent it at the hospital with Joy. She was very brave and all the nurses praised her. She returned home by Monday evening looking much better and quite happy after spending 24 hours with her daddy to herself! She's still coughing today but definitely on the mend. Praise the Lord for our timely discernment in sending her, for having a great hospital nearby to care for her, and no worrisome bills to follow.
We have so much to be grateful for! When Isaac was a baby he had so many medical problems that we could not be sure there would be any birthdays for him. Praise the Lord for eleven wonderful years full of laughs with him. He is a true blessing to our family!Now Bob and I have been married for nearly half of my life-eighteen years. I was nineteen when we wed. It seems like yesterday that we made that covenant with God. He is so faithful and patient with us!
We love our girls. And quite frankly I don't know what to do with a boy except feed him, tell him to clean his room and send him outside to "subdue the earth" But I do sense that there is a very special blessing in being given another son to raise for God's kingdom. At the same time I kept wondering if the Lord would return before Noah would even be born. So every day with him here on earth is a gift. Regardless, we are all ready to meet Him at any time God should choose.
We're seeking the Lord in prayer and asking for His direction for how we should live our lives in light of the fact the Lord is returning soon. We have a stronger urgency to share the soul-saving Gospel with those who's eternity is not secure in Heaven. We pray the Lord will be pleased with our lives each day.
Tomorrow our family of ten will have it's debut at Bob's office picnic. There will be questions of all sorts. I pray we will be ready to give an answer about the hope that is in us! I Peter 3:15
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