City girl, Country heart

Lexi's daily farm chores:

 Gathering eggs

 Hugging and kissing all the chickens (yes, every day). Because of this, she's also the best chicken catcher out of all of us!

Giving lots of love to the baby goats

And being her wonderful, giggling, happy self. :-)

What can I say? This girl loves her life. 

I'm thankful we got into urban farming last year! If we have to live in the big city for a while, we might as well make it awesome!

22 Weeks and counting

Here's me in front of my smeary fingerprinted mirror (I love all my kids!) at 22 weeks pregnant with baby #3. 

We finally had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound this morning and everything is looking great! 

In the typical fuzzy grey of the ultrasound picture, you can see the profile of the baby's head and one of it's hands just peeking up over its chest. The baby weighs one pound and was extremely active (as usual) during the ultrasound, kicking and squirming and even delighting us with a cute little yawn.

And, since most of you are already wondering when I am finally going to reveal what gender we are having....................................................................................................................................................................................................[insert drum roll here].....................................................................................

IT'S A..............................................GIRL!!!!

.................................. or a BOY!!!!

It's definitely not a velociraptor (although some of the ultrasound pics had me wondering...), but it is definitely our baby. :-) Per usual, we won't know the gender until baby's birthday. In my opinion, it's one of the best surprises life can give and, for me personally, it is worth the wait!

Even with all the crazy of our household, I am so looking forward to meeting our newest little one in the beginning of July. God gives good and timely gifts for a reason. :-)

A little Mexican sunshine...on a cold winter's day

Today is Tuesday. Kids therapy day. Laundry day. Pack lunches day. Preschool drop off and pick up day. Short naps and crabby kids day. Cold day. But sunny day.

So with the lazy weekend behind us and the long week looming, what better day than to look at some pictures of Eric and my vacation last week!?!

If you think this post is mean, I truly don't mean it to be. Really. But when you have four kids four and under and are pregnant with the fifth and some lovely friends gift you with the finances to use specifically to pack up and take a warm tropical vacation with your best friend......well......you grab your passport pronto and get to the airport as fast as the taxi will take you!

Which is exactly what we did.

Welcome to Playa del Carmen, located in Quintana Roo, Mexico. 

Here we are looking rather terrible (I really never want to see this picture anywhere else, Mom....ahem), but quite happy to have all the time in the world to relax and do absolutely nothing. 

We spent a few days at a lovely resort right on the beach. It wasn't a long vacation, by any means, but it was perfect for being warm, having fun together, and taking the break from our daily lives that we have so desperately needed. Coincidentally, we were there over the weekend of my birthday. So on my birthday, to fulfill one of my dreams, we went snorkeling (for the first time) in a gorgeous reef out in a protected area. It was a truly unforgettable experience! I also took the opportunity to spend some birthday money on a prenatal massage (which was glorious) at the spa connected to the resort. I don't remember the last time I really did much of anything for myself, so it was a huge treat!

The resort property was huge and filled with all kinds of tropical trees, wildlife, walking trails, and ancient Mayan ruins. I LOVE seeing history face to face and was excited to find five or six different sites with identifiable ruins within walking distance of our room.

 As of last week, 21 weeks pregnant and rounding out quite nicely. ;-) And if you remember any of my stories from my last two pregnancies, this little babe is just as wild and athletic as the other two!

 And there were flowers!!!! Gorgeous big beautiful flowers!!! I couldn't help myself. This winter has been decidedly way too long and cold for my liking.

 Bougainvillea...my favorite flower of Mexico. It will forever remind me of home there.

Saying goodbye to the ocean was sad...

But coming home to my four girls (two of them not pictured) is always a joy as well.

I am so very thankful for our dear friends who have been walking alongside us throughout our foster parenting journey and who so generously blessed us with the finances to allow Eric and I to take a few days away together. It was so very needed. And to Eric's lovely mother, who drove all the way here and heroically parented our girls single-handedly while we were gone! We owe you a world of thanks!

Through all of our hardships this winter, we have been so blessed to see the Lord provide for us again and again through the Body of believers around us. When we walk in obedience to His call, He provides, always. And always more than we could ever ask or imagine. Our day to day life and parenting in this season is really really hard. But we aren't doing it alone. And for that I am thankful.

Remembering October

Hey, remember October?!?

I hardly do. But since I am going through pictures, I had some of my memory return. We went camping, and then a week later, Eric's folks came to visit. The day they left was the same day we got our foster placement, which explains my lack of cute pictures. So here's a flash back to a colorful, fun week in October, right before the chaos of doubling our family ensued. ;-)

 Planting our first pear tree.

 The girls loved to listen to Grandpa play his french horn every morning.

 We spent one morning at a gorgeous forest preserve just outside of Chicago.

 Alli and her bff.

 Lyla's reaction here is my favorite. ;-) I don't think she liked the leaves that much.

 Because Eric's folks were here right before Halloween, we did a fun little dress rehearsal with the girls. I'm glad I did (clearly Lyla is not!) because on Halloween it was dark, pouring rain and the girls abandoned their cute costumes at the last minute for their ballet tutus instead. Thankfully, I will no forever remember my happy ladybug and the disgruntled flower.

I mean seriously. It must hurt to be this cute. :-)

Thankful in remembering October.