It’s the first Friday of 2019! We got some beautiful fresh snow this week, but I’m pretty sure we’ll spend the weekend painting baby Hudson’s room, making a Costco run, and hopefully relaxing!
First up, we shared our December 2018 newsletter on Monday and posted a video version of it to YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on Instagram, you saw one of our outtakes! It seems like our first take filming is rough, then we get the giggles and say silly things, then we finally get it down the 3rd or 4th time. There were plenty of outtakes this time around (like when Allen randomly waved at the camera and I forgot what month it was) and, if nothing else, we get a kick out of making these little videos. They’ll be fun to watch in a few years, to see how we’ve changed.
We shared last Friday about how Allen’s truck bit the dust. It is in an auction tomorrow morning to be sold (please pray that goes well!) and we had planned on being a one-vehicle family for a while. We were approved for an auto loan but don’t feel settled about taking it, so we’re just praying about what to do and saving some money. In the meantime, we are SO THANKFUL for our Pastor and his wife loaning us one of their SUVs to drive until I go on maternity leave! God truly meets all of our needs.
I had my 38-week appointment this week (baby boy is due in less than two weeks!) and was so jazzed to find out he is in an optimal position for labor and delivery. I labored for nearly 24-hours with both girls so we are praying for a *much* faster labor this time around! It’s a little sad to think that these baby kicks will be ending soon, but so happy to imagine that first moment we hold him and see his little face in person. In the meantime, I’m eating all the pineapple and dates, drinking raspberry leaf tea, and sitting on my yoga ball whenever I can.
The other day, we were fixing to run an errand and as we started putting on shoes and coats, we called the girls up to the front door. Ruth came running in her normal fire-cracker way and Clara came up behind her, holding a baby carrier and baby, a blanket, hair in a pony tail… she looked just like a little mama and my heart almost burst. She is so sweet. Clara means “light” and we can see how she is such a light in our home and family.
Ruth met Olaf at lunch on Sunday but, like at Frozen on Ice, she wasn’t too sure about him. Then I showed her how she can poke his inflatable tummy and it just bounces back out… and she was way into that!
And lest you think these two darling pictures of our children paint the whole picture of our lives, know that we are in a constant battle-of-wills with Ruth, especially around 2:00am. This girl has single-minded determination, which is such an admirable quality… but we need to teach her to harness that and partner it with obedience to God. Parenting is tough, y’all.
That’s all for this week, friends! We will be back on Tuesday with some new praises and prayer requests. But if you think of us over the weekend, please pray specifically for the truck to sell well at the auction tomorrow and for Hudson to come in the Lord’s timing.
Have a fun weekend!