Family Update

I know. Its been ages since I updated last. As previously posted, I'm pregnant and I just haven't felt up to getting online and blogging so please forgive!!!! And since there are too many things to update, I'm going to condense everything into a family update instead of trying to post for different subjects.

First, we are ALL looking forward to Thanksgiving as we will be driving from Illinois to Ohio to visit my mom and dad. It has been years since my entire immediate family has been able to go to Ohio at all, let alone for a Holiday. We are all looking forward to it. Especially Daniel. He is ready to get away.

Daniel is doing well. Work had slowed down quite a bit but things have picked back up for the Holiday rush. BUT, things will slow back down dramatically once we get back from Ohio for Thanksgiving. I'm very intimidated for how things will go in December and January as that is our "slow" time and things have already been slow leading up to those months but we are praying the Lord will provide. BUT, to help supplement the situation, PRAISE THE LORD, Daniel has several basketball games scheduled. He started officiating volleyball and basketball this year and he is really enjoying it. I know he is enjoying the basketball more than the volleyball but both provide a nice supplemental income for minimal time involvement. As of right now he has 4 games scheduled for December and hoping for more. He is also considering applying for a driving position with a different company. I'm praying that will work out if it is the Lord's will for us.

Abigail is thoroughly enjoying school. She has some struggle with not arguing with her teacher and being too bossy with her friends but she is having fun! I keep telling Daniel, "I would be bossy, too, if everybody obeyed me like her friends obey her!!!" We are trying to impress upon her that nobody ENJOYS being told what to do and that eventually her friends aren't going to want to play with her anymore but I think she might have to learn this life lesson the hard way. She was also struggling a bit with reading but we have doubled our homework time and the extra work is really paying off. She is so excited and is doing much better!!!!!

Elijah is still our stubborn soul of the family but he is coming along. Unfortunately, I think he is transitioning out of nap time which means no nap for Mommy!!! He really misses Abigail while she is at school. She is his buddy. He is still just as affectionate as ever and I love it on the rare occasions that he will sit still long enough to let mom love on him. He crawls into bed and lays down with me almost every morning and has finally learned to lie still so that I can go back to sleep if needed. He has also started asking questions about salvation. He isn't quite 4 so it is very early but it is always encouraging that they are showing some sort of interest in spiritual matters at any age.

Miss Lydia, age 2 and family comedian, is just as ornery as ever!!! She is a whiner and we're working on it!!!! She has very definite opinions about EVERYTHING and wants to control EVERY situation. I think life is going to get tougher for Lydia as she finds out that we truly don't have control of most things in our lives!! Hopefully she'll learn how to surrender that control over to God because its His whether she acknowledges it or not. Anyway, she is completely potty trained but now just can't be bothered with actually putting her pee pee in the potty so we are working on reminding her that going in her underwear is not acceptable. Miss Lydia is also a little cuddle bug and is constantly saying "Mommy, hold me". I think she will have a difficult time adjusting to the new babies.

That's right. I said BABIES. We are having twins. He saw 2 sacs on the ultrasound that confirmed we had not truly miscarried. The ultrasound following that, we were able to see both babies, see one heartbeat and hear BOTH heartbeats. The ultrasound following THAT one, we were able to see both heartbeats. There is just nothing like that. The doctor told me that the babies were developing so well that I could go 4 weeks between appointments this time, I had been going every 2 weeks, so I don't have another appointment until December 9th. We are going to take Abigail with us to that appointment so she can see the babies on the ultrasound.

I'm very intimidated by this whole "twin" thing and I'm afraid I could wax eloquently about all my fears if I allowed myself. I'm working on exercising great mind control so that I'm not constantly worrying about EVERYTHING that can go wrong and all the things that need to be worked out. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that we are going to need 2 of everything OR that when I come home from the hospital that I'm going to have to take care of 2 newborns along with the other 3 children. I was already intimidated at the thought of having one baby but now 2?! Our biggest prayer request is housing. We are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment and things are already very tight. We were going to make do with a 4th child but a 5th child? In one room? I don't know. We really need a house. It doesn't have to be a fancy house but we desperately need a third bedroom. Plus, with the banking situation and the economy right now . . . . . . . . .

We need a miracle!