Moving into the "baby" stage

Micah is 4 months old now and is not an infant anymore.  He is cuter than ever, although we hate to say goodbye to the newborn stage of life.  Everything goes into his mouth at this new stage of babyhood . . . his fingers, fists, collars, burp rags, blankets, you name it!  The other night on the way home from Gospel for Asia, he was bundled up in his car seat sucking away on his blanket.  I could hear him sucking so hard that it sounded like he was getting lots of juice out of the fabric!  You would have thought he had a popsicle! 

This is one of my favorite sleepers on him.  It's a classic pooh bear outfit with faces of Winnie the Pooh on his feet.  I also loves the stripes.

This is called a "Bumbo" seat.  They are the latest and greatest invention for babies who can't sit up yet on their own.  They retail for about $40 but I got mine at a second hand sale for $10!  It looks like it's plastic but it's really a very smooth spongy material with lots of give to it.  It's heavy too so he can't tip over.  I love it because he can look around better than laying flat on a blanket and he can't go anywhere when he is in it.  This is an everyday sight when I put him in the middle of the room and go off to do the dishes or work in the kitchen.  When I look over to check on him, I find him staring back at me like this!

New Christmas traditions

This is our second year observing Advent.  Last year I was on a hunt to start some Christmas traditions that would help us to focus on Jesus, the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  I'd heard of Advent but didn't really know what it was all about.  After reading some books on the subject from the library, I found that you can celebrate Advent in all kinds of ways.  The definition of Advent: the arrival of a notable person, thing or event!  

That person is Jesus!  He is notable because he is our Savior and was born . . . to die for me! The event we are leading up to is his birth and that encompasses Christmas!  We chose last year and are continuing this tradition this year to celebrate every Sunday in Dec. leading up to Christmas by lighting a candle on our Advent wreath.  We read a prophesy from the Old Testament predicting the coming of Jesus and discuss it with the children.  It's really fun and the kids love to light the candle and watch it flicker as Rich reads.  It's a time of praise and peace as we stop running and think about the miracle of Jesus. 

There are three candles lit in this picture since yesterday was the third Sunday of the month.  The 4th candle will be lit next Sunday and then the white one in the middle will be lit either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  This is an easy tradition to start.  I simply bought a styrofoam base at Michaels Craft store and stuck the foliage in it along with 5 candles.  

Another tradition we started last year was memorizing the Christmas story directly from Matthew 1: 18-25.  We try to do this every night but sometimes miss because of our schedules. I separated the verse out onto 25 strips of construction paper, each strip stated a few words from the passage. Save these for next year so you don't have to go to the work of writing it out every year. We repeat them everyday, cutting another link as the days go by, adding more of the passage to complete the story.  Since today is the 15th, we should have 11 more links left (we haven't done today's yet) but there are 12 in the picture because we are behind a day.  Not to worry since we did this last year, the kids are picking it up again real fast so stuffing two days into one is no big deal.  I really like this tradition too since it helps us to hide God's word in our hearts.

The next few pictures are of our day yesterday at church.  Maybe this will be a tradition to perform in our church's Christmas musical each year?  This was the first year that our family has participated in something like this.  The children were so excited about it all and even loved to attend all the practices.  A.J. smiled the entire hour he was up there!  Our church only has about 75 people in it but there is a lot of talent in this small group!  Many can play multiple instruments, sing, and yesterday we found their acting abilities are quite good also!  Even little Reece had the courage to sing in a trio.  He almost always chickens out at the last minute!

Here is a picture of Reece in the red being his goofy self with all his friends!

Little Micah was all dressed up for the occasion in his new dress clothes.  Arthur begged to hold him for a picture.  He really loves babies!

This is the oldest member of our church, Mrs. Neesie Adams.  I don't say "old" to be insulting but complimentary! Our culture has made it a bad thing to get old or we speak of the elderly in hushed tones so they won't hear us calling them old.  But the Bible esteems the elderly and honors them because they are wise!  Mrs. Neesie comes to church every week and sits right up front so she can hear.  She loves babies and seeing Micah brightens her day.  She wasn't so sure she could hold Micah for this picture since one arm is paralyzed but she did it.  She proceeded to tell me that she was raised with 7 brothers and 2 sisters!  She is the oldest of her siblings and so has had lots of practice holding babies!

This is Landry and Micah together.  Landry's whole family was in the musical so he asked if he could sit with Micah and I.  He has the most adorable face and looks like an angel but he keeps up with his brothers, sword fighting, wrestling, and all the things little boys are made of!  He is only 3 yrs old but he has a big "roar" when he gets mad!

Well, I hope you have some family traditions at this time of year that help keep Christ the center of Christmas.  It's way too easy to leave Him behind trying to keep up with all that we think is expected of us.  Shopping, Christmas cards, cookies, parties, decorating, and so much more keep us from giving Jesus the honor he deserves.  

And really . . . what is most important?

Pioneer girl at Thanksgiving

This is the dress that I told you about that Olivia was working on last week.  She finished it just in time for Thanksgiving and isn't it appropriate!

 
 

Look out!  This is a modern day Squanto with a bow and arrow that A.J. hand crafted!

 

Our children think Thanksgiving is a time to dress up like pilgrims and indians.  We were getting ready to spend the day with our church family.  One of the girls from church called before we left and asked our kids to bring any costumes they might have because they were planning to do a skit!  We were already prepared!

 

Who is this "turkey"?  Oh, it's Rich!  Guess he wanted his picture taken too and didn't want to miss out on all the fun!

"More turkey please!"  Micah looks like a bird waiting for papa bird to drop something yummy in his mouth!

 

We gathered at our church for a big feast.  This is after the feast when we are all full and happy!  This is Faith Rohlin and my friend, Jenna.  We were about ready to break out the games!

 

This is Tenecha and Akeem (I hope I'm spelling their names correct).  They  just moved here from New York and are enjoying a warmer Thanksgiving than they are used too.  We had fun teaching them how to play Skip-Bo and Uno Spin.  Although we never did figure out how to play Uno-spin!  Akeem is from Nigeria originally.

 

Ok, I have no idea what this game was all about but the guys seem to like it.  I think it's a game that tests your logic skills.  Landry (little blond boy) probably could beat them both! Matt and Rich work together at Gospel for Asia.  Matt and Jenna have 3 boys and are waiting to adopt a little girl soon.

 

This was the skit that we dressed up for.  The kids reenacted the first Thanksgiving.  

 

A.J. played Captain Standish and Julia was a pilgrim girl.  A.J. is getting into acting these days and is becoming uninhibited up front.  He will be in two separate plays this Christmas too.

 

This is Arthur Rohlin and Reece Lodi.  Arthur is a "ham" just like Reece!

 

Olivia and Grace Rohlin playing Monopoly.  

 

This is Hope Rohlin, Julia, and Harmony Rohlin.  If you haven't noticed, the Rohlin's have 8 kids and so there are at least 4 that are the same ages as ours!  

 

Meet Christianna, the youngest Rohlin.  She can talk your ear off and is always full of questions!  She and I have great conversations every Sunday.  Last week she asked me why Micah was wearing his "house shoes" to church?  I had to explain that babies wear slippers when they wear shoes since they don't walk yet. She seemed pretty perplexed by this and just didn't think it was right that he had his "house shoes" on at church!

 

Olivia really wanted me to get a picture of her and Hope Rohlin together. This is a new budding relationship.  Hope is 11 and Olivia is 13 but you'd never know they were 2 years apart.  

Our Thanksgiving was very special this year.  We have a new church family to celebrate with and appreciate them very much.  I only wish I had more photos of them to show you.  We have been blessed and honored to fellowship with this little Baptist Church for the past 3 months.  

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Kristin

Ok, here are the pictures I promised from our recent photo shoot! I'll never go to JC Penny's or Wall-mart again for family photos. No more appointments and waiting in line for us. These pictures were very spontaneous and fun. Not every hair was in place but that's ok, this is who we are! The great part was that we were done in an hour and never had to leave our house! I mentioned it in an earlier post that our friend, Tony Rizzo, took these pictures of us. He has a really cool camera and talent too with the art of taking pictures. We are very pleased with how these came out! Hope you enjoy them too!

Yesterday we witnessed Micah laugh for the first time. We were driving home from church and Olivia was playing with him in the back seat of our van. She had his attention from his car seat. He began actually laughing out loud! Rich and I just looked at each other and smiled. We couldn't see him but could hear him chuckling and cooing at her. It was sure cute. He is 3 1/2 months old now.

"Look at me, I can wear Micah's hat too and aren't I cute!" I didn't even realize Tony had taken this picture of Julia. She must have been goofing off when I wasn't around! Julia will be 9 years old in January!

" Look at that nose!" !

Rich just adores babies especially ours! One day Micah will appreciate him. Right now he doesn't know what to think of his crazy daddy

I know it's hard to see but I just love to see Micah's little eye lashes!

That's it for now. I don't want to show too many pictures and ruin our postcard to ya'll at Christmas time! Hope you enjoyed our sneak preview!

Kristin

Separation Anxiety!

Last night, we put Micah in the boy's room to sleep for the first time.  I don't know why I let my boys talk me into this but I did!  I'm not ready to part with my baby sleeping in our room.  We received a crib from a friend yesterday and A.J. put in all together (by himself, I might add) and then proceeded to convince me that it was time for Micah to join the boys!  He is sleeping through the night now and normally I would be fine with this plan.  But for some reason, when I returned to our room and saw the empty bassinet next to our bed, I had some strong mixed feelings!  I complained to my husband and said, "I don't like this, I think I'm having separation anxiety"!  

I think it hit me!  Micah is growing up too fast and I'm not ready for him to move out of the infant stage yet.  Being a mother of five has really taught me a lot and one of the life lessons I've learned is that babies change too fast!  Before you know it their 13!  

 

I'm savoring every  moment with Micah because I don't know if this will be our last baby or not?  God's ways are not my ways many times and He knows what's best for us.  If this is our last baby, I want to take it all in and enjoy him to the fullest!  I love to hold and gaze at a relaxed baby and it's an added bonus when they are sleeping in your arms! I know the picture above is not of a sleeping Micah but doesn't he look cute and snuggly! He is gazing at you with those big dark eyes of his!

 

Yesterday our friend, Tony, came over to take pictures of Micah in honor of him being 3 months old.  One of his hobbies is photography and I love looking at his blog to see the pictures he has taken of his own baby girl!  He really knows how to capture the moment and the unique qualities of little ones.  He took over 100 pictures of Micah yesterday and sent us a few to preview.  What do you think so far?

 

These pictures will be for Christmas so I wanted to dress him in red.  He is my little elf for the month of December!  All 6 of us, plus Tony, were hovered around Micah trying to make him smile.  He sure gets plenty of attention!

Well, that's it for now.  I hope to post more of this photo shoot later when I get the rest of this hour of Micah's life on camera!

A Mom's perspective about her daughter

It is a wonderful thing to watch Olivia change and grow-up.  She is our first-born and fits the profile of a first born to a tee!  That means she takes charge of her siblings, has perfectionist tendencies, is very organized and can almost run a home without me!  As you read this list, I'm sure you can see the positives and negatives of being a first born and daughter, no less! I'll focus on the good attributes in this blog entry since I'm sure writing about her weaknesses would be a little too personal!

Olivia loves to give gifts especially home-made things.  She loves to draw and sew!  Just this week she finished a baby blanket for a friend of ours who just had a little boy, cut out the fabric to make herself a dress from the early 1900's time period, and is now working on embroidering a pillow for a friend for Christmas!  These projects keep her busy in between school subjects and on the weekends. This year she and her brother, A.J. are excited to take an art class on Saturdays twice a month.  A friend of ours who works for Gospel for Asia, used to be an art teacher.  He is giving lessons to a group of about 10 students. It's so neat the way God provides as we were praying about this!

Olivia has made many friends at Gospel for Asia through the intern program.  They are all much older than her (between 18-25) but she seems to fit in and have things in common with them.  I am so grateful as her mother that godly girls so much older will take time to pray with her, eat lunch with her and include her in some of their activities.  GFA has a year long intern program that attracts girls (and guys) from all over the U.S. in the age range above.  They serve at GFA and also visit the field (India) to see the work that God is doing there!  They spend a whole year growing in their walk with the Lord and serving in the ministry.  Olivia says she wants them to feel welcome and seems to almost always get close with the girls.  I think she is like the little sister that they miss from home! 

 Last weekend, she decided to cook dinner for a house of intern girls and have them over to play games and eat.  She cooked a fabulous spaghetti dinner all by herself (except I made the garlic bread) and A.J. made the dessert.  Julia and I cleaned the house.  The guys built a fire in the fire place and it was so cozy!  Turns out that two of the girls were home schooled so it was good to talk to them about their experiences with their families and education.  I'm always interested in what adult home schooled young people have to say about how they were educated! It was an evening to remember with a fun game, great conversation and it ended with A.J. and Julia performing a hysterical skit!  I wish I had pictures or a video to show you!  Oh well, you'll just have to ask me about it sometime!

Some of Olivia's likes and dislikes:

1.  hates melted cheese and mushrooms. 
2.  loves to vacuum but hates to dust. 
3.  rock music makes her cringe but she loves classical 
4.  the only pants you might see her in are pajama pants
5.  loves flowing skirts and dresses
6.  no desire to wear make-up and hates it when her cheeks are red
7.  likes to wear her hair down and curly in the winter but up on top of her head in the summer
8.  any type of mexican food is her favorite
9.  She adores children and wants 10 kids!
10.  She hates a messy room and loves to organize and get rid of stuff!

Anyway, these are just a few things I've noticed about Olivia lately.  She is at that in between stage of still being a girl but turning into a lovely young lady!  I feel like she is becoming something wonderful right before our eyes.  I'm sure many of you have been here before as moms, watching your children grow daily, changing in so many ways.  We are blessed and thankful for Olivia but also know that life is fragile and prayers are needed.  There are times of struggle that come with adolescence.  May God grant me wisdom to lead, train and disciple her!  The magnitude of it all is overwhelming and yet God is doing a work in all of us!

Renee is a GFA intern and has decided to join staff so she will be returning to Mariposa, California to raise support before moving back to TX to work at Gospel for Asia.  She and Olivia have become good friends since she has been here this year.

 

Our children with some of Olivia's intern friends that we had over this past weekend. Introducing Emily, Ruth, Carly and Renee!  I think you know the rest!

Playing in the river in one of the dresses she made.

This past summer we had Ruth, Sarah and Genevieve over before their internship was over.  We miss them!  Ruth (on the far left) is staff so she is a constant in Olivia's life!

 

Olivia and her good friend Sarah.  She interned last year and is now back in Ohio where she is from.  She and Olivia e-mail each other and call every now and then.  We hope she will come back for a visit soon!

 

Olivia will hold Micah any chance she gets!  She is learning so much about being a mommy.  She can actually put Micah to sleep better than me! :)

Terms of Endearment

Baby clothes are so creative and cute these days!  I had just nursed Micah to sleep the other night and put him down to bed.  I just had to get a shot of his little "hiney".  

I just happened to take this picture at the right moment!  Micah's tongue is always out these days so A.J. decided to join him!

Why do we feel the need to call our babies anything but their real names?  I think I do it because it helps me express my love for Micah.  As our pastor's wife would say, "There is so much sugar in those cheeks! I just need some sugar!"  Almost always when Rich is holding Micah he say, "I just want to squeeze you!"  They are so lovable at this age!  Micah is 11 weeks old.  He has a different name everyday!  Some of them are. . . peanut, Micah moo-moo (not sure why? I'm the cow, not him), snuggle bug, snort (he snorts as he inhales when he cries), Reece calls him bud or buddy, and Olivia calls him precious.  I'm sure there will be more terms of endearment in Micah's future.

Micah's First Day of School

When all the other kids went to bed, Micah got 

his first school lesson.  Not to brag or anything,

but I think he may be in the genius league (you'll

have to watch to understand why).