My Poor Attempt to Update.......!

                                                               12 Weeks! (2 weeks ago!)
Tom and I are excited about our expectation of TWINS to our family but no doubt that this reality comes with a little anxiety at least for me!  When I think naively, as a new mom does, of having two little precious babies to cuddle I am very excited!  But when I think of all the work, as an experienced mom, I become overwhelmed in my thoughts of caring for two vs one and still wanting to be the best mom I can be to my first precious gift from God!  At times I have cried over the overwhelming thoughts of it and yet I don't want to be unthankful for these precious gifts!  My husband ALWAYS lovingly reminds that God has provided these two babies and blessed us in that and He will provide for us in our needs for them and our strength and our patience comes from God alone.  Another dear friend reminded me over tea that God would never bring anything into our lives that would be detrimental to Titus as I worry about being a great mom to him while caring for two infants.  It is funny to me how many women have told me "I always wanted twins!" and I think "Really?, the reality of it just seems a bit overwhelming to me!"  We both have always thought that twins is something that happens to other people but we wouldn't have them ourselves!

My pregnancy with them has been one of feeling great thus far!  My biggest challenge has been sleeping and I think from not getting enough sleep at times I seem to have minor headaches now and then.  But I have been blessed in both pregnancies to be able to eat what I want whenever I want and not suffer from morning sickness!  I am naively excited about getting a little further along when I can feel them both moving, I say naively cuz I am sure at some point the size of my belly will just be an unbearable discomfort and I will just want them to be born.  But I always have thought pregnancy and feeling that life in you is one of the most amazing gifts God has given to women!  I have felt them move now and then already, starting around 11 weeks was when I first knew it was them moving and not something else!

Titus continues to just grow up so fast!  He is gaining in his vocabulary with words like "ca" for car, "ball", "Pooh" when he sees Winnie the Pooh, "tee" for teeth and a few others but those are his most used!  He understands so much like "time to brush your teeth" and "time for a nap or bed", he runs to those places to 'do' those things!  Last night he slept with 3 balls in his crib with him!  He loves to watch both basketball and football, and practice those different 'throws'.  Even from watching hockey he likes to find something to push the balls around on the floor with like he is playing the game!  He loves to eat just about anything, veggies are his biggest struggle while fresh fruits are his favorite, but he will eat or try just about anything else you put in front of him!  I tried to get him onto drinking cows milk by putting Nesquik in it, the least amount I could and it still taste like chocolate and that lasted about 2 weeks and then he didn't really enjoy it anymore.  But he loves water so that is great!  I haven't even desired to introduce him to juice, he can discover that on his own, his Pediatrician said it doesn't really do anything beneficial for them and eating fresh fruits is much better because of the fiber than drinking the juice alone so we'll just stick with that as long as we can!

Well obviously we are going to have to move from our 2 bedroom place before these babies come!  We feel most comfortable and at peace continuing to rent a place, we already have to buy a car that will fit all of us with the 3 car seats we will have and with the twins coming this year we feel that those two things are big enough to take on without a house payment and all the responsibility that comes with owning!  We feel we would have a little more financial freedom if we continued to rent rather than own.  We have looked at a few places and none of them either seemed big enough even as 3 bedrooms or they are too old with things outdated that we are not comfortable with with small children around!  We have one lead that we are waiting and praying for!  A man in our church approached Tom about a split level house him and his wife rent out in a nice location of town near our church!  It has 3 bedrooms plus a bonus room with 2 bathrooms, a gas fireplace downstairs, a dishwasher and lino on the dining room floor!  We currently have carpeting in our dining room which is ok with 1 child but I don't think is so wise with 3 and I have not had a dishwasher in the last 6 years I've been in this place!  It also has a nice yard and is on a quiet street!  We haven't seen the inside of it yet and they currently get $1000 for rent plus the tenant pays all the utilities but he said they would be willing to negotiate on the rent!  Our current budget only allows for around $1000/month to put towards all of that and we would be living pretty tightly for a while til Tom gets a raise.  He was going to find out what is paid in the current utilities and set a time for us to look at it and then we can talk!  We probably wouldn't be able to move in there until July as the current renter is staying until school gets out for her kids.  So we are very hopeful on this place and looking forward to see what God has for us no matter where it is!

Wow! Hello December!

Man alive, I have gotten terrible at keeping up with the blog and I blame Facebook!  I apologize for those of you who actually may enjoy reading this and I have not posted recently!

Our family is doing great, all is pretty much healthy besides the normal cold here and there!  Titus and I both have that right now but that is minor compared to dealing with health issues on a daily basis.  Tom's work at Allegiance is going well, he just changed shifts again from 7-4 to now 6-3pm!  He is still adjusting to this change, his lunch is now at 10am and I don't think he feels like he is actually hungry at that time for a 'lunch'.  And usually Titus is napping at that time so he can no longer come home for lunch otherwise 99% of the time it wakes Titus up early from his much needed nap. 

Titus just reached the 18 month mark and will have a well baby check on Monday!  I am actually in the process of weaning him right now!  Since about a year of age I would say, he has only been nursing first thing in morning and then naps and bedtime (4 times a day) but since this last Saturday I have only nursed him twice a day and yesterday I tried to get away with no nursing at all but he was very upset at his nap time in the morning with this and therefore no nap occurred!  Today so far a success, no nursing and nap is being enjoyed right now!  We will see!  I am excited at the possibility of being free of that but sad too because that means he is growing up that much more and needs his mommy for one less thing.  But I think emotionally for him is it better now than to wait from things I have heard from other moms who have continued past 18 months.

Titus is getting two more teeth in, making it 14 teeth now!  He looks more and more everyday like a little boy and no longer a baby.  And he has an arm on him and loves to 'play catch' the best an 18 month old knows how!  He loves gadgets and electronics and the toilet right now.  Thankfully he has yet to flush anything down it but he loves watching the swirl of the flush!  He continues to love his bath time and splashing mommy or daddy as much as possible!  And he loves climbing anywhere he can get!

Our Thanksgiving was eventful!  We were expecting to spend it alone or with maybe some college students  who had no where to go since Tom's parents already planned with us to come for Christmas!  But what was going to be their trip to WA to spend with their other son and his family turned into all coming to Missoula for a better part of their trip to spend with us and my sister-in-laws family who lives in Lolo and Bozeman!  It all worked out and was much fun for Titus with his cousins, aunt, uncle, grandparents and others and we will get to see the grandparents for Christmas again!  It would be nice to see my parents for Christmas and the invitation is there but I don't think they will make it considering the long drive on possibly very scary roads!  I have to admit that I felt very upset when I found out that one side of the family was getting us for both major holidays and felt that no one had thought about how I would feel about that.  But the Lord calmed those angry feelings one day and although I wasn't really looking forward to Thanksgiving it went a lot better than I expected and all the things that I get very anxious about when it comes to in-laws never really transpired.  Which I keep finding that 90% of the time that is the case, all my anxiety is for nothing!  Praise God for that!

Anyway I think that is all for now!  Hope you enjoy some of the new pics and music I changed out on the blog!  We have a snow covering here in Montana, how is the weather where you are?  

A Kindling of the Heart...

Yesterday I made it to my weekly women's book study called Koinonia where we are studying through the Beth Moore study on Daniel.  It was a miracle that I even made it because I was up til 3 am that morning working on a 'project'!  I am one of those people who when I start a project I have to finish it 99% of the time before I stop, and this wasn't even a fun project!  We still get the paper version of our monthly bank statements and so I try to keep up on making sure our account is balanced each month with that and that all our $ is accounted for, call me old fashioned but that is what I do.  Well last month I had started it, which is normally about a 2 hour job and didn't finish and then we just got the one for this month so I sat down to finish the old one and do the new one to catch up, which was not till like after 9 pm Wednesday night to begin with!  Crazy, I know. 

Anyway I was so thankful that I made it to the study despite my lack of sleep and lack of coffee before I left!  I don't know if you have ever done a Beth Moore study but this is my first and let me tell you she is an amazing speaker/teacher.  This particular study of hers is dvd session driven, so you watch & listen to her teach then go home and do your lesson and come back the next week to discuss your lesson together and then watch the next session with her.  She was teaching on the section that all of us know if we know anything about the book of Daniel, where Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego are thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they would not bow down and worship the gold statue that he made of himself for everyone to worship!  They believed and knew that 1) it is wrong to worship anyone or anything aside from God and 2) that God would deliver them in the fire for taking their stand for Him even if it meant deliverance directly into His arms as their bodies burned in the furnace.

She camped out on 3 different scenarios we face as people of God when we go through fiery trials and I just loved all of them but especially the last one. 1)  God can choose to deliver us from the fire where our faith is built in that scenario. 2) God can choose to deliver us through the fire where our faith is refined. 3) or God can choose that we be delivered by the fire into His arms where our faith is perfected.  And as she talked about this last one which would be death, sometimes we are not healed through our sicknesses like cancer and what not the way we think we should be healed, she gave this picture of it that just made my eyes water because it was a new way to look at facing death.  As all of us will someday die, we are doomed by it, and I don't think I've ever wanted to avoid death or been super afraid of it since I am assured of my destination but it was just a fresh way to look at it.  She said passing into death is just like shedding a coat and you keep walking.  I got this picture of a person walking and as their physical body passes away they just take off this coat as they walk, like it falls to the ground but the person just keeps walking and there is just this bright light in front of them that they are headed towards because heaven is ahead and the Word says that no sun is even needed in heaven because the glory of the Son fills all heaven with light (see Revelation 21:23)!  Like I said as she described facing death in this way I just got teary eyed because it makes sense and sounds inviting to me when described that way.  Our spirits don't die, just our physical bodies, just our tents that our spirit lives in, and we get new bodies when we reach our destination, ones that are perfect and that I will never feel frumpy in again because my body could use a good working out right now!  I've known this but just putting it into that picture, I don't know, just made it desirable for the first time in my Christian walk.

I just wanted to share that beautiful picture with you today.  And for those of you who don't know how that story ends of those 3 brave, courageous souls, they were delivered through the fire with Christ (or some believe to be an Angel) standing with and protecting them in the furnace, they came out not even smelling like smoke! (Read Daniel 3 for full story!)

So Thankful!

I'm so thankful....

that Tom and I have finally joined a Life Group in our church body.  What is a Life Group you ask?  Well  it is like an in home bible study that is held at some one's house who is willing to open up their home to other believers in the church.  We study the bible together, in our churches case, our Life Groups study over the passage that the Pastor is going to or has just preached on the following or past week.  It gives us a chance to explore with others what we are all learning together on Sunday.  There are about 6 other couples in our Life Group that we get a chance to get to know and grow spiritually together.  Plus our kids all get to play together while being watched by a sweet babysitter!  We also get to enjoy dinner together that evening and there are even chances for us to go out into the community and serve together and be God's hands and feet to our community!  This is exciting because our church is so big and can be overwhelming to try to get to know others plus we are connecting with others who are in the same stage of life as us, young parents!

I'm also thankful that I had joined a mom's book study this summer, not only was the book very enjoyable that we read: One Heartbeat Away, Your Journey Into Eternity by Mark Cahill, but I met many other mom's my age and now am part of their group book study at our church on Thursday mornings called Koinonia where we are studying through Beth Moore's study on Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy.

I'm very thankful for our son, he just continues to grow and progress in his development.  He just had his 15 month check up at the beginning of this month and he was 33 1/4 in. long making him taller than 95% of the kids his age and weighed in at 22 lbs. 10 oz. making him weigh more than only 25% of the kids his age.  He continues to be just like his dad, tall and skinny!  And he is a continuous joy and blessing to our lives, of course making us want more kids but we are not pregnant as of yet!

I'm also thankful for my husband, I started a jewelry business in April of this year and he has been very supportive all the way.  I make custom made birthstone bracelets and earrings for moms, grandmothers etc. and when I started I was using silver plated pieces and components not really realizing the quality difference it is to Sterling Silver.  Both can tarnish but only Sterling Silver can be polished back to the shiny silver color you want it to be and therefore lasting for years to come over silver plated pieces.  So this last month in August he supported me to make a big investment in Sterling Silver to be able to offer my customers the best quality of product I can.  You can find my business on Facebook under "Adorned With Your Little Blessings", go here, or I have a business blog by the same name listed below to the right under 'Blogs and Sites We Follow'.  Soon I will be posting new pictures of the upgraded product to both sites and will be also selling it on Etsy.com, where you can find a variety of handmade things.

WOW! Where Have I Been?

Well, since I last blogged, forgive my slackness, I don't feel like we have had a busy summer but I guess we have had lots of fun!  My sweet cousin, Lauren Cross, married the man of her dreams at the end of July, which brought lots of family to Montana from IL!  My dad has 6 siblings including his sister Mary here, and basically 3 siblings and their families came out for the wedding plus my grandma!  That was a ball and all my family came except my dear brother-in-law, next year we are going to get his butt out here!  Pardon my typing!  My family and my cousin Laura were blessed to spend time up at Flathead Lake at the Cross' cabin.  Tom, Titus and I camped one night in the yard there!  We all went to Glacier Nat. Park from there and did an amazing hike at Avalanche Lake there!  I was so excited to show my family the beauty of Montana and to make sure they had a good time.  We came back to Missoula for the wedding and before they all left we did some bike riding and we took my nieces to a sweet park and the Carousel while my parents and sisters went rafting down the Alberton Gorge!  My nieces are 8 yrs. and almost 2 yrs. and both of their first times here and Titus had a great time with them.  Gracie was a great helper with the two younger ones and Bella said Titus' name with the cutest ring to it, I miss hearing her say his name!

We also went for about a 20 mile bike ride on the path along Hwy 93 from Lolo to Florence and back!  When we pulled up to Subway in Florence to eat, this is what Titus was doing in the bike trailer!  So cute!  I thought I was going to die that day and I WASN'T pulling the trailer, Tom was!

We have been enjoying all kinds of food and smiles this summer!

Including trout on the grill and zucchini!  Mmmmmm!  Go hubs!

We went for a hike along Cache Creek Trail down off Hwy 12!  Titus loved the water and loves throwing rocks in the water (or down the neighbors stairs).

We made our first homemade ice cream with the ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid (we have had it since we got married in 2009).  Mmmmm!  Homemade Flathead Cherry Ice Cream!  Go hubs!

Labor Day weekend we traveled over to WA and visited some dear friends, the O'Dells, in Spokane.  Titus is missing due to the fact that he had not woken up for the day yet and this was at about 9 am their time!  Yes these 5 adorable kids are all theirs!  (L to R: Acacia, Naomi, Adelyn, John, Justus, Joyalise & Beth)

Once Titus woke up that morning, we headed on to Richland where Tom's brother and family now live.  We enjoyed our time with them as well and the girls definitely enjoyed showing us their ballerina moves, thank you Zowee and Noelle for always being ready to entertain us :)

We got one night of real camping in, which was interesting, Titus woke up and it felt like he was awake for about 2 hours before I could get him back to sleep!  Like our Jumbo Marshmallows?  The smores that night were terrific to say the least!

Our campsite out at Trout Creek off I-90, yes we have a little 2 man tent, which we love and stay warm that way on the cool Montana nights!

Our little camper and his poking stick that he loved walking around with!