It has been a busy few days around here.  I had my 38 week appointment on Wednesday and our son was born on Thursday afternoon.  All went well and both baby and I are doing great.  I am glad that he was NOT born this past Saturday.  Our last baby turned two years old on Saturday and I wanted so much for each of the children to have their very own birthday.  Thank the Lord for granting that request.

So, the baby was born on Thursday the 11th at 3:14 pm.  He weighed in at a tiny little 7 pounds and 8 ounces and was 19 inches long.  He is beautiful and just perfect.  He is so laid back and is just as sweet as can be.

We came home from the hospital on the 13th ( my 2 year olds birthday) at about 4:30pm.  She is sick and was running a fever and had been waiting so patiently for her birthday party.  It was just a short family birthday and she felt pretty miserable.  A few hours later my hubby ended up taking her to the ER.  She has pneumonia AGAIN and an ear infection.  What a way to celebrate your birthday, huh?  She is starting to feel better.  A lady at church this morning gave her a big batch of helium balloons for her birthday.  I think that was wonderful.  It extended her birthday a bit and she was feeling better and able to enjoy it more.

As you can see it has been a bit crazy around here.

So here are a couple of photos to share with you………………….

First, here is our new son, Nathan Asher.  He’s a handsome one if I do say so myself!!!

Here is one of the birthday girl!

And a shot of them together………

I am abundantly blessed!!

I am soooo ready to have this little bundle!  I am used to delivering early by a week or two and I am hoping that will be the case this time.  I am more than ready to pop!  I wonder if after reading the list below you will agree with me.

You know it is time to have your baby when:

• You notice that people no longer look at you but at your belly.
• You have practically outgrown every maternity outfit you own.
• It takes either help or five full minutes to roll over in bed.
• You notice 80 year olds walking better and at a faster pace than yourself.
• People have been asking for two months if the baby is due any day.
• People comment about HOW big you are and that you definitely LOOK ready.
• Walking up the stairs makes you as winded as running a marathon normally would.
• After only being home  for 12 days (from a seven month deployment) your hubby says it is time for you have that baby because it seems like you have been pregnant forever!
• You use your belly not only as a table but it is a very stable table.
• You begin to believe that getting out of the bathtub should be considered an Olympic event!
• When you step on the scale you wonder why your husband’s weight is registering!
• You have at least one moment a day when you cry because you just don’t think you can carry this heavy weight even two steps longer.
• You start having the recurrent pregnancy nightmare of delivering in the car and ruining the interior of the nice vehicle.
• You begin to think you could breath fire because the heartburn is winning out over that bottle of Tums you carry everywhere with you.

MOST OF ALL:

• Because it would be so much better to hold that sweet baby in your arms, see what he looks like, caress the soft baby skin, and be able to breath once again!

Just so hubs isn’t too shocked when he gets home.  Here is how the belly *uh hum* I mean baby has grown.  This is my seven month shot.  Well, actually 32 weeks 5 days to be exact.

Back and forth, back and forth.  If you have been following along you will know that I have been trying to guess the sex of this little bundle that I am carrying.  My gut instinct has been that we were having a boy.  I have guessed all but one child correctly.  Testing the heart rate has always worked for me.  Even the one I guessed wrong had been confirmed via ultrasound.  Only when I was told the heart rate later did I tell the doc that it could not be what I had been told.  The heart rate actually did win over the original ultrasound.  So I am convinced that for me heart rates can tell you the sex of the baby.

This baby has had me a bit confused.  The heart rate was high, then borderline, then high again.  All over the board.  My gut was saying it was a boy but I just couldn’t believe that it would be so.  After all, we have so many girls and my boys are now 19 and 14.  The odds are against us and the heart rate was not something that had been very consistent.

I went in for my ultrasound last week.  The heart rate was at 138.  I began to get a little excited thinking that just maybe my gut feeling was right after all.  The tech asked if I wanted to know the sex it was all I could do to keep from saying, “Heck yah, why do you think I’m here!?”  But instead, I very politely said, “Yes, I would love to know.”

He scanned over my belly and before he even said a word, I KNEW!  I responded before he could even tell me himself what we were having!  If you know much about pregnancy ultrasounds you will understand this….

There were no three little lines!  There was a turtle  instead!  Yes, indeed, my gut was correct!  We are having a little boy!!!!! Oh boy, A BOY!!  And isn’t he the cutest little guy ever?

A friend shared this article and I thought it was definitely worth the read.  It is written by a Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.  Here are a few excepts.

A funny thing happened to me the other day when my wife and I had, thank God, another baby (a boy). Many of my friends didn’t seem all that happy for me. Sure, they went through the motions of smiles and congratulations. But it was evident that many thought me insane. Why would a young man and his wife ruin their lives with eight children?
_______
Indeed, the contempt shown to parents of many children is the last acceptable prejudice in our society.
_______
How strange to live in a world where loving children casts one in infamy. Having a family with many children implies a backwardness and primitivism that is deemed unbecoming in the developed countries of the West. Large families, it is thought, exist only among religious weirdoes or the teeming hovels of the Third World.

Rich countries, by contrast, prefer to increase their standard of living rather than the number of the living.
________
I am often asked by women dating men how to tell whether they are marriage material. I tell them, “See if he enjoys children.” A man who loves children is playful. He will spend his life joking with his wife because he loves to see her laugh, and will flirt with her because he loves to see her smile.

Take a moment to go and read the entire article then pop back over here and let me know your thoughts. Those with large families, have you felt this prejudice? Those without larger families, have you ever found yourself displaying this type of prejudice? Please, just share with me.

I forgot to put the link!  I guess that would be helpful!  So, here it is…

The Contempt Shown to Parents of Large Families.

OK, I can’t keep quiet any longer!

I have known for a whole week!   The news has leaked out here in Alaska but now we are going public.  I found out two days AFTER my hubby left.  It would have been nice to celebrate together. I would have known sooner but just misread the physical symptoms as pre-deployment stress.   Obviously, that was not the case.  I can now literally say my I have my hands full.

Baby number ten is on the way.

I am feeling pretty good so far considering how sick I usually am.  I am nauseous, sleepy, having a few migraines, and I can no longer stand the taste of my regular diet coke, but thankfully that is all.  Of course, that is ALWAYS open to change!  I would love not to have months of the usual vomiting and dry heaving though!

We already have a boy’s name and have narrowed our girl name down to three.  Due date as of now is November 23.  We will be having a very thankful Thanksgiving!

Psalm 127:1a Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,the days that were formed for me,when as yet there was none of them.

Praise the Lord with us! And please pray for our family.

May the Lord continue to open the eyes of those who promote death.  Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director who now protests against the horrific procedure of abortion.  This is an interview with Mike Huckabee.  May the lives of these unborn children be saved!

Visit Cindy at Life-Learning in a Family Enviroment to read about their journey in her blog post, Letting God Decide the Size of our Family.

Visit Christine over at Live to Learn to read her story.  Her family has traveled the road of sterilization and reversal.  In her post, Our Vasectomy Reversal Story,  she shares about the amazing way that the Lord has worked in their lives.

Lady Why over at Where the Kudzu Grows has an amazing story of going through sterilization and reversal two times.  The Lord has worked in many amazing ways and she lists miracle after miracle in her story.  To read visit: A Testimony of the Lord’s Patience, Grace, Miracles, and Faithfulness.

Kerri has a unique way of sharing her beliefs.  Read her Arrow Story on her blog, Life with Full Hands.

Audrey, has taken the time to show the effects living this lifestlye has had upon the generations of her family.  If only more would stop and consider the great impact they could have for the Lord if only they would be open to the blessings of the Lord.  Read her post over on her blog, So, This is Heaven on Earth.

The last link in this carnival is for the Peterson Clan blog.  The post is a short one but touches on a topic that many do not see.  The fact that not all who live this lifestyle are blessed with many children and that there must be contentment and trust concerning that as well. 

I hope you are blessed and encouraged by the links included in this carnival.  Please take some time to browse the blogs listed, leave them a comment, and please come back here and share your favorite link, something you learned, something that encouraged you or made you think.  For more blogs of quiverfull minded families go to the quiverfull page.  Have a blessed day!

I know the title of this post is an older and seemingly overused phrase but that is exactly what this post is about.  I saw an article come across on my Facebook page today that saddened my heart.  A boy 13 and a girl 15 delivered a healthy baby girl.  Neither seem to have any idea of what is involved in raising a child.  The road ahead will be hard not only for them but for this little girl.  I do, however, commend them for not aborting this precious child and seeing the value of life.  Even amidst sinful circumstances God does often bless with a child.  Yes, even a child in this situation is a gift and blessing from the Lord not merely a physical consequence.  The saddest thing, so many do not realize that the view of sex has been so distorted by society that there is little value and purity left.  This situation is a symptom of what so many young adults have been being taught.  Maybe it is time to begin teaching them something other than contraception.  Maybe we need to replace that with value, purity, and abstinence. 

Where are the parents of these teenagers?  I wonder what kind of relationship these youth have with their parents that they are seeking effection elsewhere.  Was there any guidance, discussion, confidence in their own parental authority?  It just makes me wonder.  Yes, the teens are ultimately responsible but some of the blame may be laid at the feet of their authority (lack of) as well as the culture of devalueing.

 There will always be those that fall into temptation and end up in these situations.  My main point is that we have so lowered the bar of expectation we should not be surprized when things like this happen.  Let us raise the bar back to where it should be and expect children to live up to it.  Put value, meaning, and purpose back in place. 

Here is the news article: Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13

Your thoughts??????

When you decide to only deal in the grey, why are we surprized that things like this happen, it was only a matter of time!  Now it isn’t just the desire of the mother but what those around think was her desire! The question of life is now totally irrelevant apparently!  I wish that the world cared as much for life as they do for death.

So, What’s the difference?

 That’s certainly what was on the mind of the nurse that decided when a mother birthed her child in the waiting room of an abortion clinic.  She figured—the mother didn’t want the child before, so now it’s easier to kill the baby now that it’s out.  So, she cut the umbilical cord, put the baby in a red biohazard bag, and threw the breathing baby in the trash.

Excerpt from MInTheGap: Read More

The lawsuit article is HERE.