Peaceful Summer

Its time to talk about this new season. And I'm not just talking about the weather.

Kate was born on the first day of summer. June 21st. And the culmination of her birth, our new home, and the summertime has taken me into a completely new season. And oh, how to describe this new season? Its just. Peaceful. {Searching my heart...} Yep. That's it. Peace.

If you were listening at my front door it might not sound peaceful. There are still 10 little feet stomping running through the house like a heard of elephants, Electric Company blaring from the livingroom, squealing kids flying down the slide in the playroom, doors slamming as the girls come in and out from riding their bikes, the constant running of either the washing machine or dishwasher, and a baby crying because its time to nurse for the umpteenth time today. Even at night, the deafening sound of "rain" is coming from the sound machine in the upstairs hall. But despite the decibels... there is peace.

We're home.

Is it hard juggling 6 kids? Two with special needs and tiny newborn? The answer is actually no. Comical? Usually. ;) Tiring? Yes. But hard? No. Its been pretty smooth. But over and over I keep thinking, there's no way we could have done this in our old house. In this house, we all have our own space. We fit here. And everyone can feel the difference. Its wonderful. :)

And it feels so good to build new routines. I knew that between moving and having a baby this summer, I could not over commit myself. So I didn't. Which means- I have no where I have to be. And it feels great. :) We wake up, have breakfast, the kids play while I clean up/do some laundry/nurse my baby. Then we have lunch, the little ones and I nap while the girls play in their room. When everyone is up, we have snacks, play some more, have dinner, go to bed, and do it all over again the next day. With so much routine, I find myself thriving and growing as much as the kids.

I'm anticipating a smooth transition into the school year as well. While we're enjoying a peaceful summer, I know the kids will be so ready for school when it starts. And I'll be ready too. How sweet it'll be to have time alone with Mabry and Kate. I'm looking forward to lunches and shopping with my Grandmother and my mom... diving back into couponing... soaking in the Word at morning Women's Study... taking my time decorating each room of my beautiful new house... its gonna be awesome. :)

Now, understand me. I fully believe that my home is in heaven. This is temporary. Never do I want to become so comfortable and complacent that I grow stagnant, not growing in my faith or being effective for the Kingdom. I hope that I can always say that I'd give up all that I have if that's what the Lord was calling me to do. But I also know that I know that He's blessed us with this house and I'm grateful. There are seasons of refreshing and we draw from those for our times in the fire. Sometimes we stand up and fight, sometimes we lay our heads on His chest and just soak Him in. And you never know whats around the corner.

And right now I'm thoroughly enjoying this peaceful summer. Sipping some sweet tea, watching my kids play, smelling my new baby. Aaaahhh, peace. :) Thank you Lord, You're so good to me.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."

A 7 year olds prayer

This is just too sweet not to share.

A few weeks ago Jake took the two big girls to church while I stayed home with the little ones. Ashley wanted to stay in service with him and I'm not sure what the message was about that day but at some point, she wrote this prayer out on the back of a visitor welcome card. She saved it, brought it home, showed me, I cried, and now she keeps it on our kitchen table because she likes to read/pray it before dinner. :)



Translation just in case :)
God I thank you for my Dad my Mom my sister's and brother and I thank you for my life and for my friends and family and I pray for all those that are in beds all their life without food til they die and those at the dump and at Ukraine that need to be adopted and Jesus name Amen.

The prayer for "those in beds without food" is referring to Eastern European mental institutions. She's really soaked in the reality of what Micah's life would have been like had he not been adopted and is very concerned for the other children with special needs in those countries. Seriously.

"Those at the dump" is referring to the large communities of people living at a trash dump in the Dominican Republic, where Jake was last summer. Her little heart broke when she saw his pictures of people getting all that they had from others' trash.

(And she still can't quite pronounce "adopted" yet, hence her confused spelling of it. ;))

Its so hard to read kids sometimes and I never know how much of what we teach them and share with them is actually soaking in. Until I see something like this. And I don't have to tell you how incredibly good it feels to know that something is getting through and my kids are aware of the hurting world around them. Reading my seven year olds prayer of thanks to God for her life is one of my most amazing experiences as a parent, to date. Thank you Lord for my sweet girl!!

Meet Kate

She's here!

With as much joy and pride as can fit in one mommy's heart, I'd like to announce the arrival of Miss Avery Kate Spencer born on June 21, 2011, via induction. She was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. And she's got a head full of dark hair!

The delivery truly could not have gone any better. The doctor that delivered her was the same doctor that delivered Ashley, one of my favorites in that practice. :) The nurses were wonderful. The day was smooth. My mom and my grandmother were in the room for the delivery which was really special. And because Jake's never been a cord-cutting kinda guy, my mom even got to cut the cord, which I'm pretty sure made her year. :)

We went in at 6am, got all set up with pitocin by 8. They broke my water soon after and a bit later did my epidural. All went totally smooth. Not long after the epidural, I was at 4 cm, then all we could do was sit back, visit with one another, and wait for my sweet baby to make her arrival. At some point, I think around 2pm, I was blissfully painless (thanks to my epidural :)) but knew from four other deliveries that the time was getting close. ;) So we called in a nurse and sure enough, 9 cm! Almost time. The great team of nurses and my awesome doctor got everything all set up, and after 3 pushes our sweet 5th baby girl entered the world. It was beautiful.

Not long after, Ashley, Emily and some of our family and friends came in to see her. The girls got to watch the nurse give her the first bath, which was cool. Our good friend Kory was able to capture some of it on his camera and put together this awesome video that we will forever treasure....

The next day, Jake brought the three little ones up to the hospital to meet her. And yes, it was a little crazy having 6 kids in that little postpartum recovery room, but I think all things considered, they did pretty good. :) Here's my very-long-much-less-glamorous video of that experience. :) I don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing, I'm mostly posting because I think the grandparents will get a kick out of it. :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Disclaimers: 1.) Poor Micah had some bad experiences in hospitals before he came home and still gets really stressed when he's in one. Hence the look on his face for most of the video. 2.) Fixing little girl hair is not one of Jake's many fatherly talents, so please excuse the back of Abbys the girls' hair :))

Today is her 1 week birthday.

She's doing great, nursing great, sleeping... some... ;) and I have to say that I really feel great too. I certainly don't feel like I had a baby a week ago. For some reason I thought that each baby would be harder and harder on my body. And while each pregnancy is NO walk in the park, the postpartum time with Mabry and Kate have been much easier than I've anticipated. I kinda feel like a normal person again, and its wonderful. :)

And yes, Kate. We'd tossed around the idea of calling her Kate before she was born. When we saw that little face and as we're getting to know her little personality, she feels like a Kate. :) So baby Kate it is.

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Now that we are more settled into our new house, and now that baby Kate is here, I'm getting the first tastes of our new family rhythm. And I'm loving it. What a great new season. My heart is so thankful for the many blessings the Lord has showered (and is showering) over us.

This busy but blessed momma of six will check back in soon. Until then I hope you all are enjoying your summer!!

happy fathers day jake

im going to attempt to blog from my phone in honor of fathers day. for those who only keep up with me in blogland... yes we are finally in our new house and its amazing. yes i survived a week alone while jake had summer camp and no ive not had this baby yet. but in keeping with tradition of the last 3 an induction is planned for tuesday the 21st because this little girl is quite cozy and has decided she doesnt want to come out.

right now we still dont have internet at the house which hasnt been too bad because of our smartphones. but it is the reason for my blogging break. but lo its fathers day today and i cant pass this opportunity to brag on my amazing other half. even if for whatever reason my phone wont let me use capitalization or punctuation lol

aaaahhh jake. what can i say about this man. how can i express how truly incredible he is. jake was made for fatherhood. he has a sixth sense for it. he stepped into parenting almost 8 years ago just expecting to get his hands dirty and hasnt looked back.

sleepless nights.

a bzillion diapers.

baby food.

car seats and baby gear.

jake embraced all of it.

and did it all looking pretty hot in my opinion.

then came abby.

emotions.

confusion.

searching for answers and trying to figure out what life would look like now.

leaning wholy on the lord.

he stepped up to the plate.

supported me in all of my emotions.

loved our little girl with a fierce daddy love.

took on new challenges like they were nothing.

next challenge adoption.

a faith test in raising funds and traveling to the other side of the world.

lord knows what he went through over there. alone.

a new son.

the challenge of loving a child thats not yours by birth.

again lord knows the battles that have been faced with this um... busy little boy.

two more baby girls.

more sleepless nights.

more diapers.

meanwhile ashley and emily are leaving the baby phase and have become little girls.

naked barbies everywhere.

lip gloss.

ballet recitals.

spelling tests.

car pooling.

sisterly bickering from the back seat.

drama.

tears. lots and lots of tears.

and his job isnt over by a long shot.

hes got a house full of kids to help with math homework

teach to drive.

protect from boys.

marry off.

and two to help navigate life as adults with special needs.

and ya know based on what ive seen so far hes going to do it with amazing intuition and wisdom. a gentle loving firmness he could have only learned from his father... and heavenly father. what an incredible dad. not because of the things that have been thrown his way but because of the way he receives them. his passionate love for his kids. his determination to raise them to love the lord.

jake i love you so much and i continue to stand in amazement. im humbled and honored to parent along side you. our kids might be too little to express their gratefulness for you on fathers day but i see it in their eyes daily. you are loved. and appreciated. be blessed today. happy fathers day.

Your weekly update: Uncreative juice

I've really been wanting to blog. Well... I guess I do blog. I should say: I've really been wanting to post. And to write. Something creative. But alas, my creative juices... aren't creative. And that just leaves juice. Yeah I don't know what that means either. Whatever.

Ok, so anyway, there is no lack of information and happenings to share, so I'm just gonna throw 'em all out there and hope you enjoy the update.

(This is in no particular, significant order by the way.)

The kids are done with school.

Ashley is officially a 2nd grader, which freaks me out a lot less than I thought it would. On the other hand, I'm totally an emotional wreck over Emily graduating from Kindergarten. (And I'm too tired to figure out the difference in why.) Micah and Abby will officially be changing schools next year because our new house is just inside a different county. I have mixed feelings about that too... I don't really want them to have to go through the process of new teachers/friends/routines/etc. but I also know the schools in this county are generally much better, so maybe in the long run it'll be a great thing.

We move into our house in 3 days.

While the nesting mother in me has been completely appalled and quite honestly, discouraged, by the previous nastiness that was in that house... I'm starting to get really excited watching the walls all be painted and the floors put in this week. Bye bye gross stuff that I won't even share on my blog; hello clean, new, big house!!! :) We paid someone to paint the whole house. If you know me, you know how painful that is. I LOVE to paint. Love the colors, love the smell, love that it creates something clean and new, love the satisfaction of results. But, I had to come to terms with the reality that I'm 35 weeks pregnant and that house is 3500 sq ft. Yeah.... not so much. So I picked all my colors, hired a friend, and its looking awesome. I also hired a friend to clean the bathrooms because of previously mentioned-- well... unmentioned I guess-- funk. Yuck. But as with the painting: weird to pay someone because I'm a mom and thats what I do. (I also used to do it for a living.) But again- 35 weeks pregnant, a strangers nasty bathroom germs, and hardcore cleaner fumes don't mix. And as with the paint- really happy about awesome results. :) :) :) And tomorrow all of the hairy, stained, royal blue carpets are being replaced. One word: Hallelujah. By Friday it'll be like a completely new house. It almost feels too good to be true.

Avery.

Ok, its time for me to start making my predictions. I think she's going to be one of my bigger (if not biggest babies). OR she'll be like Emily... small but muscular. Abby was, of course, the smallest at 5 lbs 5 oz. Mabry was the biggest at 7 lbs. 12 oz. Emily was 7 lbs. 1 oz. but had incredibly muscular legs (to no surprise by me). Avery kicks every bit as hard as Emily did if not harder. Hence my prediction: she'll either be big or just muscular. I also think she's going to have lots of hair. I had the most heartburn with Ashley and she had the most hair. I have more heartburn with Avery than EVER and she MIGHT come out looking like Rapunzel.

But of course now that I've said all of that she will come out at like 6 lbs and bald. What do I know. :)

I did have one little scare about a week ago. I felt this huge movement, not just a normal kick, and then a ton of chest pressure (but only when I would lay down) and then almost no movement from Avery for the next few hours. It really worried me. But I went in to see the Dr and she did a quick ultrasound which showed a healthy Avery Kate in a head down position. So we're gonna guess that big movement was her finally turning head down (maybe she was breech before?) and that the pressure was from her new position on my diaphragm. And of course she said that if I ever don't feel movement like that again, to go straight in. So that was the end of that and now she's back to her crazy strong, kicking self. If I post soon saying she actually broke one of my ribs, don't be surprised!

Ok well, thats my life right now. Shopping for light fixtures and doorknobs with 5 kids who are no longer in school, while being kicked in the ribs and breathing fire. Yeah, that sounds about right! ;)

Counting down

I kind of feel like my whole life is in count down mode right now.

1 Day until we close on our new house

5 Days until all four of my school kids are officially done for the year

8 Days until we move into our new house

5 1/2 Weeks until my due date

I was thinking in the car the other day that I don't want to live life in countdown mode. I want to live each day to the fullest regardless of what things we are waiting for. Knowing that each day my kids are still growing (and will never be this little again). Knowing that each day is bringing me closer to the end of this pregnancy (and unless God intervene's in some miraculous way, I won't ever carry a baby again). Knowing each day is bring me closer to the return of my King. Oh please, Lord, come!!!

Its not been easy to have that kind of eternal perspective lately. When everything in me wants to be done with this very difficult (yet short) season. But thats my goal. Not some huge, groundbreaking information, but thats my thought for the day. :)