A Study on Proverbs...

We were looking through scripture to find some verses to help the children in their speech, quarrelling, and obeying...how could we not come to Proverbs?  As we poured over the scripture looking for verses their small hearts might understand, we of course found a ton that apply to us and our daily living.  How can you not love Proverbs?  Talk about getting convicted and getting so excited!  I even found a verse on caring for animals-how many times have I read this book and never realized that verse before?? I am more in love with this book than I ever have been before.  I am thrilled to start studying this book more closely.  We wrote down a ton of verses to write on index cards-easy reference for the family.  I'm awful at remembering references which is where the index cards will come in handy.  As we were writing down verses and looking up different topics-I just kept saying I think we just need to memorize this whole book, every other verse applies exactly to what we are talking about.  I may not be able to memorize an entire book of the Bible-although I would love to try! I will start with just a study.  I have done a lot of studying before but none quite like this, and I'm so excited to begin and to see everything this book has to offer-and maybe in the process memorize some(all???) of the book! 

I am going to begin a study on Proverbs.  I'm going to start with reading through the book and making a list of everything it says a foolish man does and everything a wise man does.  This will give me a quick look into my life to see if I'm more like the foolish man or the wise man and will help to hopefully point out what I need to work on.  I will make sure to post my list on here when I'm done-for anyone who is curious, or you can do your own study with me and we can compare lists!!

I'm then hoping to read through it again and make lists of what everything applies to-again so I have something for a quick reference.  This will be more by topic-such as money, generosity, anger, patience.  I know some of the verses will overlap or cover a couple areas, again this is just so I have a couple of quick references to go to when I feel angry, or impatient or when I need to point my child in the right direction.

I also love a good word study(English was always my favorite subject in school-although admission here I never got commas! They say inserting them when you breathe is a good starting point.  I must not breathe.  I always forget to insert commas and am amazing at run on sentences so please don't judge me, just because it is my favorite doesn't mean I remember all the rules!) I would love to unpack the verse-maybe I will start with the ones that mean the most to me(not sure yet, will decide when I get there), and write down meanings of words and different words that can be substituted, this has always helped me really get to understand the verse and what it is saying on a deeper level.  I did this with James and absolutely loved it, and yes I rewrote out every verse in James this way(since it is a small book), and I had such an amazing time unpacking all that had to offer!  I would like to do it again.  It is time consuming yes-but it is worth it a thousand times over, and it is fun-if you like English!

I write this on here so that I may be held accountable.  This is not an area that I can slack in and I feel at this point in time in my life I need this book so much as it is chalked full of guidance and help! I know the whole Bible is full of advice and I hope to unpack some other books as well-but Proverbs is my chosen starting point.  Again if you would like to join me PLEASE DO!  We all need as much help as we can get, and a good partner is always crucial.  Feel free to comment, and feel free to ask me questions, and also PLEASE help to hold  me accountable!

Vacation

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation and trip back home!! It is always so good to get to see family again-and even better when you are bringing home a new little bundle of joy for everyone to enjoy and love on!

We started the vacation by going to my friend Sarah's wedding!  We were so blessed to be able to share in your special day and we wish you the best in your new life and in all your adventures!  We had a wonderful time and got to see friends and family!





















My mom was wonderful and let us crash at her place both times we were passing through Chicago.  This is great in helping break up our trip so that it is a bit more bearable.  Thank you so much Mom and Darwin.  We love you so much.  We wish we could have seen more of you!! Hope to see you both sometime soon. (I have no pictures of you guys :( sad day!)

Sunday we got to spend time with my dad's side of the family.  It is always so good to see all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. What a wonderful family they are.  We love you all so very much, thank you for coming over and spending time with us! Dad and Annette-the meal was amazing! Thank you Auntie Sissa for taking Elijah swimming-he had such a blast, what an amazing Auntie you are!

We even got to meet a second cousin that is just 6 days older than Avery. 

Such a wonderful day spent with family!

My sister Lauren came over Sunday evening after we were all at my dad's and hung out for a bit!

 She even got to feed her namesake a bottle!

We spent a lot of time at my in-laws house.  Always a wonderful treat.  For one they let us crash there and give us our own basement suite!  What wonderful parents you are, we are blessed beyond words!  The children have a blast getting to play with all the aunts and uncles around the house!  Mom and Dad have a blast having a lot of free babysitters.  I think I only changed like 5 diapers while I was home(when you have 3 kids in diapers that is a pretty good deal!!).  We all love the extra attention that everyone gets and it really made it perfect for my recovery.  It gave me a much needed break and the extra hands and help that you need after a C-section when you are limited as to what you can do.  Again a major blessing! We can't thank you guys enough for all the help and the wonderful meals.

Athaiah hanging out with Uncle Aaron!

We had lots of friends over for dinner on Tuesday night-which was so much fun to see everyone! Thank you to the Turley's for hosting such a wonderful get together!

Uncle Tyler and Avery!

Tuesday during the day my Grandpa and Grandpa Loper came over to the Turley's house.  It was so nice to see them especially since the last time we came home we were unable to get to see them. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for making the drive up to see us!  We love you so much and are blessed to have such wonderful examples in our life!












Wednesday Grandpa and Grandma Turley with Sydney and then Aunt Melanie joined us for dinner.  We had such a good time with them and are so blessed to have you all as part of our lives! 

Thanks to Grandpa for standing on his head to get Elijah to smile for the family picture! We couldn't have done it without you!

This was a reenactment since we were busy getting our picture taken the first time!

 

Saturday we went to the Toledo Zoo with the Turley's and my dad and Annette! It was so much fun.  It kept going between pouring rain and nice and sunny.  The kids had so much fun! Elijah was a bit under the weather-but the next day he was talking about all the animals so he must have been more alert than we thought.  Thank you to everyone who helped push the kiddos around that afternoon and ran with them in the rain!  We had so much fun getting to spend time with everyone and doing something that I grew up doing! The Toledo Zoo was a huge part of my growing up and it meant so much for me to be able to go and spend time with 2 sides of our family together there! So thank you for helping making wonderful memories for my children there!

Watching the otters!

We just experienced a down pour! All wet!

Snuggle time with Grandpa!

 

Sunday we got to spend time with the extended Turley family over lunch! What an amazing lunch.  It was so good to see all of you and get to spend some time with you before we had to head out of town!

 

Well that was our trip in a brief(very brief) nutshell.  We had so much fun and can't wait until we can see everyone again-hopefully real soon!

Comparisons

I was curious to see how similar my pregnancies and my kids are to looking like each other, so I did a couple of comparison photo collages.  They are below for you to enjoy if you like that kind of thing, I love seeing them all side by side.
In each of the pictures the one on the left is Elijah, middle is Athaiah, and the right one is Avery!

 Heading to the hospital

 Right out of the oven!

Newborn photos!

 

Well there you have it, there are my 3 babies and me at full term! I never felt small with Athaiah-I guess now I have the proof, she was much smaller!



Road Trip!

I'm so excited...we got to take Avery on her first road trip.  She, well let's face it all of the kiddos, did excellent.  I do think, unfortunately, the car seat rubbed on Avery's umbilical cord a bit as it had a bit of blood around the edges-but other than that everything went amazing!

We decided to go back home, for a friend of mine's wedding-something I wouldn't miss unless I absolutely had to. Soo back to Michigan we went-me 1 week post C-section, with our 1 week old baby, a 14 month old baby, and our 2 year old.  Yes, some days I think maybe we must be crazy.  But everything was amazing and so smooth!  We had a total of 2, did you see that 2!! meltdowns, 1 from Athaiah due to being over tired and tired of being stuck in a car seat, and 1 from Avery during a stop when we were changing diapers-the car had been turned off and the poor girl was dripping in sweat, once she cooled off she was back to being our little angel.  For a 16 hour car ride,split between 2 days I think that is extremely amazing.

We got to watch Cars, Cars 2, and a Veggie Tales movie.  The kids and I had a blast.  I even brought one of those splash water balls-and we played catch just the 3 of us in the backseat.  I know it sounds a bit dangerous, but they were in the way back and I was in one of the back captain chairs.  Also, please remember they are 1 and 2 so they do not throw very far-in fact most of the time it hit the floor by my feet.  All that matters is they had fun and it kept them entertained for about 30min(great in my opinion for killing time).  They also read books- to themselves and had so much fun looking over them and pointing at all the pictures.

Well, we are here now and are looking to such an amazing week relaxing and spending time with our families. It is always so good to get to see everyone since we don't get to see them that often.  A blessing to have technology such as Skype so we can keep in touch with family and the kids can see their faces.  Wonderful because then we come home and they know who is who and go right to them giving them hugs and kisses.  Although, my children are pretty friendly and I'm sure even without it they would go right to them and give out lots of hugs and kisses.

I will post an update when we get back! Oh and I am posting this from my computer! Yeah-thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa! I am so thankful to have my computer back and in working order.  That means I can start adding pictures again! The post when we get back should be full of pictures-may have to do several, so I don't overwhelm anyone with our amazing trip home.  Well off I go to go play with the kiddos and spend time with the family.  Just couldn't resist posting about what a special thing we are able to do!

Thank you God for watching over us on our trip home.  Thank you for letting the kids behave and do so extremely well, especially for their ages!  Thank you for allowing us this special time to be able to spend with family.  Thank you for letting everything go well with the delivery of our new little one, so that we were able to go home for this wedding and to get to see all of our wonderful family members! Thank you for providing everything that we needed, and just when we needed it.  What a wonderful, giving, and caring God we serve.  One that has perfect timing in everything thing that He does!

It's A...Part 3

I promise this is the last post(at least I think it is), it is a long birth story, but it is something that I learned a lot from and I just feel so refreshed and I feel like a new person.  Something I was not expecting to feel like after going through surgery and being on an emotional roller coaster!

It's time for surgery! Yeah.  I'm getting prepped and everything is going into place.  Epidurals they are a wonderful thing-but they hurt like crazy(in my opinion) going in when you are not currently in labor because you feel everything.  If you are having contractions then guess what, you feel the contractions and not the extra pressure on your back, no contractions equals a lot of pressure and pain. I might also add here that I am a total wimp when it comes to pain.  I absolutely hate pain in any way shape or form and can be a baby. Plus today I seem extra emotional since I am learning so much, and have been told we can't follow through with the plans we had made. I think that makes the pain a bit worse and something I didn't really want on top of everything else.  But trust me, so worth it, because then you are awake for the birth of your little one, and when you are done they give you some morphine through it so you are nice and numb for a good while after surgery.

I'm laying on the table-relaxed as can be(honestly really relaxed, the medicine tends to put you in that state of mind).  The anesthesiologist leans down and says "baby time, are you ready?" I told him yep!  He keeps his eyes glued over the drape so he can let me know as soon as it arrives.  I love that they give you a play by play if you want them to.  I always like to know what is going on.  I don't necessarily want to see it as it is happening, but knowing is kind of fun.  Maybe it's the medical person in me.  I then hear the Dr say "that's not a foot, that's a head" I look up to the anesthesiologist, and then I look over at Greg-just to make sure I am hearing things correctly..a HEAD, no that should be a butt or a foot, this baby is breech remember, you should not be pulling out a head first.  Then I hear the other Dr say "ha, and it's face down" WHAT!  My baby is head down and face down-exactly the position that we needed it to be in so we could induce that morning, but that morning this baby was breech.  Again I am a bit taken a back but everything happens so fast, I mean this is surgery and they do hurry to get the baby out.  Greg looks at me and says "what did they just say?" I look back, smile and shake my head "the baby is head down, face down, it is ready to be delivered naturally, it is how we needed/wanted it to be this morning-go figure huh?" God does have a sense of humor doesn't he.  I am reminded of this quite often especially with little ones running around.  I'm glad I had accepted the day the way that it was and was fine with the surgery, and over the disappointment-otherwise at this point in time I may have just broken down and cried. 

It's a girl!! What fun words to hear(honestly it would have been fun either way), I love that this baby was a surprise it made the suspense so much fun and all the waiting so very worth it(although, it is worth it even when you know what it is)!  We are so blessed to welcome this wonderful baby girl into the family.  Greg got to go over and take some pictures while they were weighing her, they even asked if he wanted to cut the cord. He quickly said no and came and sat back down behind the curtain with me(blood and him don't quite mix)!  He said "Ashley she has a lot of hair and it's dark." I say "well all our kids had dark hair when they were born and they were born with hair they just lost it all" "No really," he says "it's really dark."  Here she comes, my baby girl.  I got to give her a small kiss and hold a little hand, the took off her hat and OH my goodness! She has a lot of DARK hair, I mean like black hair.  I have no clue where that came from. What a sweet bundle of goodness she is!  8lbs 7ozs and absolutely perfect, chubby little arms, and jet black hair! There is no denying she is ours, she looks just like her older siblings...she has the same tiny little facial features like her big sister Athaiah, and she has chunky arms and thighs like her brother. A perfect little combo is what we got for baby #3.

Avery Grace you are a wonderful gift from God.  We pray you will grow up to know the Lord and that you will be strong and courageous for him.  We pray you get along well with your older siblings.  Your brother has already taken on the role of the big protector.  If you start to fuss or cry he demands we get you a binker.  If you are squirmy, he says you need a blanket.  If your big sister gets to close, he holds her off and says "careful with baby sister" Your big brother screams if we try and take our turn holding you, because you are HIS baby sister and he just wants to rock you and smooch on you all day long! You are blessed to have a good big brother who loves you.  Your big sister, well she is still pretty little.  She comes and gives you kisses, she looks at you, but mainly she is busy all the time and doesn't have the time to sit and hold you.  She did just learn to walk, so give her a break-we know she loves you, she just wants to explore.  She is interested in you, and not quite sure about you at the same time, after all, you do get a lot of mommy's attention, and she is a mommy's girl.  You fit in so perfect and add so much to this family!  We all love you and couldn't have asked for a better or sweeter baby!

It's A...Part 2

The decision has been made-this new baby will come via C-section because God knows what is best and we are going to go ahead and do it today, rather than wait until tomorrow.  We are all excited.  I was hoping they would let me go home for a bit-no such luck.  I get to hang out in the hospital all day.  Good news-no one is scheduled for any surgeries so we can go in whenever everyone can get here.  Bad news- I obeyed Dr's orders and ate a light breakfast, this means we have to wait 8-10 hrs from my last meal before we can go ahead with the surgery. This will put the surgery somewhere between 3 and 4 in the afternoon.  Not too bad-but what on earth am I going to do in a hospital all day.  Greg decided to go home and relieve our wonderful friend-who got up at the crack of dawn so we could go in for the x-ray.

Here I am stuck in a hospital all day by myself.  I decided to look on the bright side. By this afternoon I would have 3 children 2 and under, so today would be my day of rest and relaxation before the chaos begins.  God gave me a day of rest-what a wonderful thing and what wonderful timing.  Working full time and having small children can really drain your energy some days.  I dozed off and on all day and really enjoyed the time that I had to myself.  I really didn't do anything all day-how often can I say that.  I will tell you how often NEVER! There is always something to be done, but today my job was to eat nothing, rest, and then go in for surgery and have a baby.  My anticipation grew all day...we waited to find out what this baby was going to be and it made the day seem long at some points as I would daydream about what it would be or who it would look like.

I was reminded all day long that God was in control and that He knew the plans for my life and for the life of this new little one.  He knew why we needed the surgery.  He knew I needed a day of rest.  He knew I needed some naps uninterrupted by children or phone calls from work.  He knew!  That was all that mattered.

I talked on the phone with family, I got to know the nurses a bit better, and I got rest.  Notice I am so excited about the rest.  I thought I would be bored out of my mind and go stir crazy, especially since I am the type of person that likes to stay really busy all the time. But I didn't, it felt so good to just do nothing all day, and to know that I wasn't expected to do anything.

Thank you God for allowing me to rest.  Thank you that in your perfect plan YOU alone knew a day of rest for me would be beyond needed.  YOU knew it was what I needed.  It was in your perfect plan that you allowed for me to have a day to spend just the two of us.  Reflecting on life, on decisions, and on where we are going.  You are so good to just reveal one step of the way at a time. You never give us more than we can handle and you give us enough information to get us to the next step and that is it.  We don't need to see the big picture, and although I love to see the big picture, I know it is sometimes best to just trust in you and your wonderful promises. You grant us a peace like no other, a peace that can only be found in you, and I could not be more thankful to you for that wonderful gift of peace!

It's A.... Part 1

As many of you saw via facebook, we welcomed our latest new one into the family yesterday at 4:23, SHE came via C-section.  Yep, that is right we were blessed with another little girl yesterday!  Elijah and Daddy are going to have their hands full keeping the two of them in line and chasing all the boys away.  Avery Grace is a wonderful "little" addition and so far has been pleasant and an absolute joy to us all.  She came into the world making a lot of noise, weighing 8lbs 7oz and 20 inches long.  She is a chunky, healthy baby.  This makes her the biggest of our babies(by a whole 2 ozs), and she is right in the middle on her height!  We could not be more thrilled.  Now onto her birth story for those that care to know(this will be done in several parts as it would make 1 horribly long post if I put it all together), I'm hoping it is no inclination that she is going to be stubborn her whole life-but if she is may God grant us the patience!

We arrived at the hospital at 7am on Wednesday morning, we were supposed to get an x-ray to check fetal position and make sure she was face down.  Avery had been head down for a good 2 months, so we were not worried about her being the correct way at all, just wanted to make sure her face was down so she could come out the birth canal. IF all went well and she was face down-we were going to go ahead and induce that am(my Dr is going out of town this weekend and wanted to be here for the birth because of my history). All checked in and x-rayed we head up stairs to the OB unit to wait for the Dr to come in and tell us what is going on and how things look. Instead of waiting for the Dr's report they decided to start me on an IV right away. A small grip from me-I told the nurse what arm to go in because the vein in my left arm rolls, but not in my right.  Did she listen? NO! So now I'm in tears because she had to move that huge needle around in my arm.  Finally she got it in the vein, so she gets a new needle to insert the IV, and uses the old needle to hold the vein in place while she gets everything set-SO NOT FUN! Any way there is my complaining for the day-sometimes the patient does know best!
OK back to the story...IV is now in and I'm hooked up to the baby monitors so they can see what the baby is doing and how my contractions are and if there is anything regular with them.  In walks the Dr. laughing.  Now I don't know about you but when the Dr walks in giggling you know something must be up, right? She says "well God is laughing at us and with us today! You want to know what happened, that baby is breech." Yep you read that right BREECH-it has been head down for 2 months, it wasn't supposed to just flip over night.  I was just in the Dr's office and she was head down-how on earth is she breech.  Now what are we going to do.  I will tell you the truth at this point in time I just wanted to break down and cry-but I resisted the urge, put a smile on my face that I'm sure everyone could tell was fake, and said "so what are our options." She explained there were a couple of options 1. take the baby today via C-section, 2. take the baby tomorrow C-section, 3. go to a specialist in Wichita and see if they can turn the baby but not only was the baby breech it was also face up, so it needed to do a flip and turn 180 deg. NOT very likely that would be able to happen especially at almost 40 weeks pregnant.  She also told us that on occasions they can turn on their own but if they are turned the wrong direction 2 days before the due date it is HIGHLY unlikely that it will turn itself back around.  Now it is decision time, she tells us what she would do if it were her, and then the nurses and her leave.

Greg and I stare at each other-I don't think I quite knew what to say.  He had a smug smile on his face and I honestly just felt defeated!  You have plans and I wasn't set on having to have a natural birth but I had prayed all nine months to be able to have it naturally so Greg wouldn't have to take care of 4 people for a week or two until I can lift things.  Besides we were planning a trip home and you can't very well drive 16 hrs after major surgery. So now what? My wonderful husband in all in patience says I think we just need to do the C-section today.  We are already prepared and it doesn't sound like they will be able to get the baby in position any way.  We are here and God knows what we are supposed to do and at this point it looks like a C-section is our plan...so we then have 2 options today or tomorrow. I say today, I was in agreeance since we were already at the hospital, and I already had that darn IV in my arm that hurt like crazy-no point in leaving now.  I am finally excited...a bit disappointed that things didn't go as planned, but excited-we will have baby #3 by the end of the day and everything will be just fine! 

I am reminded of the verse in Jeremiah "I know the plans I have for you..." for some reason just that phrase really stuck out to me today.  God knows that plans and he knows what is best for us.  Who am I to question him? Who am I to not trust in what his plans are, and to put my own wants above what he knows?  I am no one-so I need to accept that He knows the plans and knows why it has to happen this way! I am finally at peace and excited! Thank you Lord for bringing me just the right scripture when I need it most.  You truly do know the plans that you have for me, and I can trust that everything will be ok, if I just put my trust and faith in you and YOUR plans! Thank you for being such a kind and patient Father, for letting me throw a mini tantrum and then reminding me of your truths and promises! Thank you Lord for blessing us with Avery's presence-may we raise her up according to your word.