5 days...Or 15?

This is Grace's first night of Cubbies a couple of weeks ago. Isn't she sweet? She's getting so big! She really likes her Cubbies class, and her teachers had very nice things to say about how well-behaved she is. Good girl!

We had a great time visiting the apple orchard last Friday. The four of us and Emily headed out to DK Orchards in Conklin after work and enjoyed picking lots of apples together. Emily got a bushel and we got a bushel and a half. Then we came back here and made lots of pie filling and applesauce. The peeler / corer / slicer from Mom Rumley was AMAZING! I can't even believe we did it all by hand last year! Thank you, Mom! It really made everything go much faster.

Luke and Caleb on the tractor / wagon ride. I think I made the driver nervous because I'm so pregnant, and I said I hoped the bumpy ride put me into labor. Poor tractor driver.

Luke taught Caleb how to throw apples. Isn't that wonderful? : - ) I think Caleb liked that part the best. Oh, he also had fun taking apples out of Emily's baskets, taking a bite or two, and either putting them back or throwing them. Sorry, Emily!

So, that's all for pictures, for now.

No baby yet. We're 5 days from our due date, and on Monday I was only dilated between 1 and 1-1/2. That's pretty much where I was at this point in my last pregnancy. I hope that doesn't mean this baby will be 9 days late like Caleb was, but who knows?

Today I was blessed to get a prenatal massage as a birthday present from my amazing hubby. It was wonderful! And for part of the hour, she (the masseuse) did reflexology on my feet. It's basically putting pressure on different points in the feet. It was still relaxing, even though the baby was pretty excited about it. Supposedly it can put some people into labor. I'm not counting on that happening. But I figure it can't hurt, right?

Nothing more to say right now. Pray for a baby for us soon. I'm sick of being huge and uncomfortable. (But praise the Lord for cooler weather on the way!) Okay, bye now!

9 days!

The countdown is on. We're in the single digits, folks. Well, I guess I should say, we're in the single digits until the due date. We're probably still in the double digits for the actual until-the-baby's-born countdown. But still, we're getting there! This baby will be born within 19 days! Is everybody ready? (Am I ready?)

In other news, Grace is in Cubbies this year! She's doing a fabulous job so far! Last week she said her Cubbies motto ("Jesus loves me") and the key verse (1 John 4:10 - "God loved us and sent His Son.") I was worried that she'd have a hard time memorizing verses since she's still only 2 years old, but so far she's done great! I'm excited about that. We haven't pushed her to learn the references to the verses yet (which isn't required until her second year of Cubbies), but we might start. If she can do it, we might as well, right? I just find it exciting that she can start memorizing God's Word at such an early age. It challenges me, too - because I very rarely take the time to memorize Scripture. If my 2-year-old can do it, can't I do it?!

We've also been pretty busy at church lately, although I'm on a break from my ministries. A couple of wonderful ladies took over Cubbies for me this year, which is great. And then I'm not doing nursery duty until January. Base Camp stuff is here and there, but nothing to stress about when the new baby arrives. The biggest thing at church right now is our switch to two services - coming on September 30 (our due date!). No one at church is really excited about it, but if we're going to move forward, it's necessary for us. So, I'm hoping and praying it goes well. And I'm glad that we're all on the same page, thinking that it's only temporary until we grow enough to afford our next step (building on, or moving, or building new...whatever God has for us).

Oh, and we got to go see Erin play volleyball last weekend! GOOD JOB, ERIN! Honestly, they did an amazing job! They went undefeated (5-0) in the tournament. I'll be honest - I hate Chicago traffic. I never, ever want to go back there. Especially being 8-1/2 months pregnant and worrying that if I go into labor I'll have to deliver in the car in the middle of a traffic jam. However, it was so worth it to be with the whole Rumley clan and see Erin be amazing at volleyball. I do love my in-laws a lot.

And we get to see Emily again this weekend! Tonight we're going apple picking! YAY! We've been looking forward to this for a while. We'll go to Vince Brown Farms in Conklin to pick some yummy apples, and then we'll come back here and make pie fillings and applesauce to freeze for the coming year. What a fun tradition! This is my third year picking apples. (And thank you to Mom Rumley for the apple peeler/corer/slicer - this year's birthday present. It will be greatly appreciated this weekend!)

Okay, this is a lengthy post. I'm sorry I hardly ever blog anymore. Blame it on the dial-up. For now, this is my update. Maybe next time I write, it'll be about our new baby!

Long time, no see

A big thanks to our good friends - Kay, Shannon, Shane, and Molly - who take such good care of us! We're at their house right now, drinking their Caffiene Free Diet Pepsi, eating their pizza and ice cream, and using their high-speed Internet. Wowsers. We don't deserve you four!

So, it seems people might be curious about why we're selling the house...Sorry, Michelle, but we're not moving to Wyoming. I guess the short explanation is that we're trying to serve God better with our finances, and we want to move closer to Luke's work and/or church. We're at church SO much; it would be lovely to be closer.

So, we're hoping and praying for a buyer soon. We know that it'll have to be a God-thing, especially in this market. We're okay with that.

That's probably all I should say for now, so I can go enjoy our friends and stop staring at their computer screen! Hope all is well with you, friends and family!

Sleep? What's that?

Caleb has been up half the night (or more) a lot lately - Saturday night, Monday night, and last night. I don't know what the deal is with him. I really hope it's just some teeth coming in, because that means there would be an end to the insanity. I'm so afraid he's going to keep doing this when the baby's born, and I don't think I could handle that! I'll already be so sleep deprived! Augh!

Church picnic and dinner out

These pictures are from our church picnic on Sunday afternoon. It was held at Cascade Park, which has a pavilion and playground. The first picture is Grace with her friend Karisa. Notice that Grace's leg looks completely normal. She's even walking just fine now, which is a relief.

The second picture is, of course, Caleb. I couldn't get him to stop running or look at the camera, so that's all we've got. He's still cute, I think.

We had a great time with our church family, even though I was SO warm the whole time. It was fun to see our friends, the Prewitts, who moved to New York last summer. Not a whole lot more to say about the picnic, I guess.

Luke and I watched "Click" last night. I couldn't really recommend it to anyone, because it has all the typical crude / sexual humor that Adam Sandler is known for. But it was actually a really touching story with a good message. I never thought an Adam Sandler movie could make me cry! (Although, it could be partly the pregnancy hormones, too!) : - )

Tonight is prayer meeting at church, and then tomorrow Luke and I get to go on a triple-date with two couples from our church! I'm excited! Kevin (an elder) and Craig (a pastor) were the two people who did the bulk of the planning with me for Base Camp. (They were the other co-directors.) So, Kevin is treating us to dinner out, I think as a celebration that we got through our first try at Camp! It'll be a fun night out.

This has been a really random post. Sorry. And that's all I have for now.

It's official...

...I'm waddling.

A pool and a wedding

We're home again!

We had a great visit with my family, including some quality time in the pool. I asked them if they'd move closer to us and bring the pool with them, but they said no. DaRn. It was relaxing to spend a few hours in the water. And we even got some color on our pasty white skin!

Oh, and Grace loved being able to swim now that her cast is off! She's doing really well, besides favoring that leg when she walks. I don't know how long it'll take her to get completely back to normal, but I hope it's soon. And I hope it works itself out on its own.

Jana's wedding was beautiful, and not as scorching hot as I expected it to be. She was, of course, a gorgeous bride. And it all seemed to go really well. The dinner was HUGE. I've never seen that much food at a wedding buffet in my life. Wow, I was stuffed! And the wedding cake was actually moist. Yum. (Notice that even though I was already stuffed, as previously mentioned, I still made room for some cake. "Move over, Baby #3, I've got some eating to do!")

This week will hopefully be quieter for us. We all need to get some rest and get back into our routine. I'm still exhausted! I have an OB appointment Monday and I'm throwing a baby shower Thursday. Other than that, I'm hoping to spend most of the week catching up on life.

I'm thankful to have the year off from Cubbies (even though I loved it), because I would probably feel overwhelmed if I had to switch gears right back into Cubbies. But now I can spend a little more time evaluating Base Camp and finishing up on the loose ends with that. That's a nice feeling.

I'm headed to bed, so that's all for now, folks. Enjoy the pictures. Have a great week.

We're alive, sorta...

Base Camp is officially over today, and it was great. Check it out here. But now we are all officially dead tired. Exhausted. Beat. You get the idea.

Here's what's been going on in our lives (the short version)...

1. Grace got her cast off on Monday. YAY!

2. Base Camp attendance was great, ranging from 57 to 68 (or something like that) kids.

3. Tomorrow we head up north to go to Jana's wedding on Saturday evening. It's at a place called Frog Pond Village.

4. Next Thursday I'm throwing a baby shower for our neighbor at our house.

5. Now I'm going to bed. I'll try to post more next week after I catch up on some much-needed R&R. (That's "AAAARRRRRR and AAAARRRRRR" for those of you who attended Base Camp and heard all the wonderful pirate jokes.)

Bye.

Adorable

Urgent Prayer Need

Please pray for our Pastor's daughter, Maria. She is 8 months old and was just diagnosed with Bacterial Meningitis, which is causing pressure on her brain and spinal cord. The infection is also in her blood stream, which is not good.

We are praying for a complete and total recovery, though there are many other sad possibilities, such as hearing loss or worse.

Our church spent the entire morning service, Sunday School hour, and evening service praying and focusing on God's sovereignty and goodness. It is powerful to pray together, as well as to read promises like the one in Isaiah 40:11...

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Grace Update

Our little patient is doing well. We had our follow-up appointment on Friday (July 6), and it was pretty quick. The doctor told us to watch her to make sure her leg doesn't slip inside the cast, because it could cause injury to her skin if her heel got out of place. Other than that, we set another appointment for Monday, July 30 (less than three weeks from now!) to get the cast off if all looks well.

Grace is getting around well and not TOO restless. She's enjoyed the gifts that friends and family have sent along to occupy her time. THANK YOU for that!

Interesting side note - The orthopaedic guy we saw (Dr. Jabara) used to work at OSS, where I worked until becoming a stay-at-home mom. He actually started working there after I left, but I believe his move was in the works while I was still around. I wanted to see Dr. Hotchkiss sometime, even just to say hi, but he wasn't around at the ER and doesn't work for the same group as Dr. Jabara (I don't think).

Anyway, we had a great Fourth of July week. Luke had Wednesday through Friday off work, which was lovely. Both kids did really well with the fireworks, and they liked the parade. It was a good time. And Erin, Betsey, Tobin, Micah, Emily, and Dan all came over on the Fourth, too. It was lots of fun to hang out with them, and especially good to get to know the boyfriends better. Thanks for making the long trip, you four!

I had my 28-week OB appointment yesterday, and all is still well. I feel good still, except I feel more tired now that it's the third trimester. (Or maybe it's just from all of life's events going on around me! I'm not sure!) But the baby's heartbeat is still strong, and all my measurements and everything are good. 11-1/2 weeks to go!

OH! And Caleb moved into Grace's room! I'll have to say more on that later! Kinda crazy!

Bye for now!

Down with "jumpolines!"

Our little girl has a "brokeen leg" and a "big band-aid," in her own words.

On Friday night, all four of us were playing on the neighbors' trampoline. Luke bounced, and Grace must have fallen wrong. She cried and cried, and wouldn't walk on her left leg. So, we took her to visit the doctor. Honestly, Luke and I didn't think it was broken. We both thought it would probably be nothing (or a pulled muscle, or something simple), but we took her in anyway.

The long and short of it is that she broke her tibia, not far below her knee, all the way through. The good news was that it wasn't her growth plate that was broken, and it was still aligned, so they didn't have to set the bone before casting it. The sad part is just seeing my baby girl in a cast!

The first picture is on the way home from the hospital sometime around 11pm on Friday. She had a really rough first night, then a fairly hard first day of adjusting. It got better yesterday, though, when she was able to play on the floor with Luke and Caleb. And she is now crawling around, so it helps that she can be a little more independent. I think it helps her not feel too claustrophobic.

She was a trooper in church yesterday. She was in her stroller the whole time, and did really well. I was glad she didn't have to miss her class, since I know that's a highlight of her weekends.

Just to clarify, this third picture shows where Grace's broken bone is located under the cast. Luke drew that pretty little (jagged) line there to show Grace where it's "brokeen."

So, please pray for our baby girl to heal quickly! The doctor said to count on four weeks in the cast, but it'll be three if we're lucky and six if we're not. So, three to six weeks! I'd much rather have it be three! It's pretty overwhelming thinking about keeping a 2-1/2-year-old happy in a cast for that long. Not to mention carrying her around while being pregnant. (She was almost 37 pounds before they put the cast on!)

Anyway, on a happier note, Emily and I had a wonderful time with our strawberries on Saturday! I think this will become an annual tradition, just like apple picking! It was the last weekend of strawberry season, so some of the berries were tiny and yucky. But once we got further into the strawberry patch, we got some better berries and the picking was faster. In the end, she bought 10 pounds of strawberries, and I bought 15 pounds! Wowsers!

And the freezer jam was so easy! I tried two different kinds of pectin this year - powder and liquid. I definitely liked the powder better, as far as ease of use and ingredients. Get this - the powdered one takes four cups of mashed strawberries and 1-1/2 cups of sugar. The liquid is almost the opposite - 1-3/4 cups strawberries and 4 cups of sugar! I'm thinking the powder is just a tad healthier for us!

So, we made our jam and then bagged sliced strawberries to freeze for future use in breads and smoothies and whatever else we feel like! And I even had some fresh strawberries left over just for eating! It was a fun time!

Oh, and the last picture is just a random one of Caleb and me. He's a sweetheart! (And we didn't want him to be left out of this blog. After all, Grace has been getting more attention than him recently!)

I'll go - but if you have any ideas for keeping my little one occupied, let me know! Or if you want to come visit and entertain us for a while, call me! Otherwise, just have a great week and a happy Independence Day!

Excuses, strawberries, weddings, and a big belly

Wow, okay, I admit it. I've been majorly slacking in the blogging arena. However, I feel like I have good excuses. And they are as follows:

1. I've been working my hiney off trying to get Base Camp stuff ready. I FINALLY got the curriculum done (completely - written, printed, bound, and tabbed), and now I have to focus on the smaller details. We had counselor/teacher/game leader training last Sunday evening, and will have it again this Sunday evening. Camp is in 4-1/2 weeks! Augh!

2. It's summertime. People get married a lot in the summer. We like to visit family in the summer. Church is still busy in the summer.

3. I'm tired. I'm almost six months pregnant, and I happen to chase around two little people all day long. Not to whine. I love my life. But I am still tired.

So, there you have it. It's all I can think of right now.

This weekend promises more busyness in the lives of the Rumleys, but I'm excited. I think it'll be a fun weekend. I guess we really only have plans for Saturday (besides church on Sunday), but it's a full day. I'm SO excited to go strawberry picking with Emily in the morning (bright and early - 8am!), and then we'll come back here and make our first attempts at strawberry freezer jam! YUM! Luke says he could eat 200 jars of that stuff, so we might spend the better part of the day in the kitchen. Still, I'm psyched. I don't know what the normal price is for u-pick strawberries, but we'll be getting them for $.80 per pound. And that is tons better than any sale I've ever seen at the store.

Then, after we make our jam, Luke and the kids and I are going to a cookout at the Sturmans' house, in honor of some church friends that moved away about two years ago. There are supposed to be a lot of people there, and it should be tons of fun.

After that, Luke will have our kids, and I'm going to Jana's "personal" shower downtown! I think it'll be fun. I got her present yesterday, but already have to go back to the store, because they didn't take the ink tag off of it. Isn't that brilliant? Her wedding is in just 5 weeks from Saturday! Crazy!

And the pictures on this post are from Tom and Ashley's wedding. Isn't the scenery amazing? You can see their actual wedding photos here. It was a perfect day, and they eventually had a perfect sunset over Lake Michigan. (Yes, the sunset in the pictures is real! It almost looks like a backdrop, but it's not!)

(I put the second picture on here so that Chaeli can see my baby belly, as of June 9. Kisha's on the left and I'm on the right. I'll have to take another one soon, since I'm sure it has grown.)

I will stop now, since it's getting loooooooong. I'll have to leave out the rest of life that you missed while I was on hiatus. Sorry! Hope all is well in everyone else's busy summer lives! Bye for now!

Tampa Trip!

Well, we're back! Luke and I had a lovely vacation / business trip to Tampa last week! We left early Saturday morning (June 2) and got back late Wednesday night (June 6). So, it was a pretty full five days of sun, good food, and relaxation. Thankfully, the kids did really well with Grandma and Grandpa Rumley, Zach, Elyse, and Betsey. You can see all the fun they had here and here.

It was really hard to leave them, and I missed them a lot at times, but it was also a wonderful break for me before Baby #3 arrives. It was our first time away since we had kids.

We were also blessed to attend Tom and Ashley's wedding this past Saturday. It was absolutely beautiful! More pictures to come!

Watch out!

There are predators at Meijer. Not the "typical" predators. These are far worse. These are Amway/Quixtar/TEAM predators. They look for you in the aisles, strike up a great conversation, and then BAM! Try to manipulate you into joining their "business."

Seriously, we were at Meijer last night after church (i.e. 9:30pm) when a nice-looking young couple stopped to talk to me and Grace. Thankfully, Luke showed up not long after. He's getting pretty good at telling Amway-esque reps to go away.

So, here are your tips for the day:
1. Never wear a t-shirt with a logo on it to Meijer. These people jump all over it. Once Luke had a Cornerstone Football t-shirt on, and an Amway guy used that as a conversation-starter. Last night it was my AWANA shirt that started it. ("What does your t-shirt mean? Oh, well what does it stand for? Oh, yeah, my husband here went to AWANA as a kid. He even knows that the key verse is II Timothy 2:15. Good thing I stopped to ask you about your shirt as if I've never even heard of it before.") Shameless.

2. As soon as someone mentions an "Internet business," turn around and run. Don't even say goodbye. If they can't say, "I'm a web designer" Or "I work for Google," then their "Internet business" is a pyramid scheme. Run away.

3. If you run into a cute blond couple at the Cascade Meijer named Nate and Amanda, do as previously stated - turn around and run. They look nice and all, but looks are deceiving.

Really, it makes me sad. Don't these people feel bad at all for pretending to be interested in a conversation, just to take advantage of unsuspecting people? We talked about AWANA, our respective churches, alma maters (CU and Calvin), etc. etc. Walking away, I thought, that could have been good fellowship between believers, but instead it was all a sham. Somehow, I always feel violated by these people. Oh, and lest I forget to mention it, this was at least the third time we've been approached at Meijer like this, and one time Luke was approached at a gas station. Shameless, I tell you.

On second thought, I might ignore my first tip and print myself a nice pretty t-shirt that says, "No, I'm not interested in your 'Internet business.'" Think that would work?

Fun at the park

We had a great time with Kisha, Tayler, Stephanie, and Macie at the park in Lowell yesterday. It was a REALLY hot walk, and Caleb dropped his hat somewhere (couldn't find it), but other than that it was nice to get out and have some time with other moms and their kids. Here are some pictures:

Caleb had a good time swinging! I spent most of that time hoping his little bald head had enough sunblock on it!

Grace was such a good girl and kept her yellow sunglasses on the entire time we were out. And she kept her flip-flops on most of the time, too, which is quite an accomplishment for this two-year-old!

Stephanie and Macie...That woman doesn't look like she's ever given birth, does she? Tall and slender...so not fair. : - )

Kisha and Tayler...It was Tayler's first birthday yesterday, so we were able to spend time with the birthday girl. She really is a sweetheart, and Kisha is a great friend. We're so fortunate to have been blessed with our church family! (Hey, did you all know that Kisha is pregnant, too, and due just 9 days after us?! I'm excited for our kids to be close in age again!)

That's all for now. Tomorrow is Tayler's birthday party, so maybe we'll get some pictures of that.

Our weekends

Luke had a great time at the men's retreat he attended last Thursday through Saturday. It was at Lake Ann Baptist Camp near Traverse City. The speaker was Ken Rudolph, and Luke really enjoyed the messages. He was also able to play basketball, golf, and a funny prank on Pastor Craig. Fun was had! (Karl also went for part of it and had a great time. Hopefully they'll both go back next year!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the kids and I stayed plenty busy as well. On Friday evening, we had a great time with some of the wives and kids whose husbands/daddies were at the men's retreat. We got to play at the Burrs' house, which was lots of fun.

Grace and Caleb also got to play with "Miss Wendy" from church on Saturday while I went to a big garage sale for about an hour, and then volunteered at a carnival for a sick little girl. Her name is Lillian Evans, and she's only five years old. She needs a heart and double-lung transplant. The carnival was to raise money for her transplant, which could cost around $500,000. (Wowsers, that's a lot of money.) I don't know how much was raised that day, but there was a great turnout, and people seemed to be very generous. I hope they raised LOTS!

We were very glad to have Luke come home. It's always hard when he's away. The kids and I missed him!

This weekend will hopefully be pretty quiet, except for Tayler's 1st birthday party on Saturday. Happy birthday, Tayler! Oh, yes, and Mother's Day is Sunday. Since I'm a mother, we're going to go out to eat. I'm thinking Johnny Carino's or Olive Garden. Any suggestions?

Oh, and by the way, I found out they didn't have to put another stent in a different artery for my grandpa. They did just have to replace the one that was already in there. All went well, and he's home now. Thanks for your prayers!

Hope everyone's doing well.

Grandpa Update

Thanks for your prayers! My grandpa had a heart catherization this morning, and they found that the stent that's currently in there is fine, but a different artery is blocked. So, they will go in and add a stent in that artery. I believe that procedure is tomorrow, but don't quote me on that. No one has mentioned any damage from the heart attack, and it sounds like the procedure is pretty common. It sounds like it's not as serious as it could have been. Praise the Lord!

Prayer request

We found out today that my Grandpa Liabenow (my dad's dad) had a heart attack. He had a pretty major one back when I was a junior in high school. So, that was eight years ago. I don't know much, but last I heard, he was in the ER and they're going to have to run tests. They don't know how serious his condition is. I might end up going up there if it's serious; otherwise I'll probably stay home. Just please pray for wisdom for the doctors, and for safety and healing for my grandpa. He's a gentle, kindhearted man. I hate for him to be in pain.

Thanks.

Ultrasound results...It's a...

BABY! :-)

Sorry! We didn't find out the gender. True, I came incredibly close to finding out, but my indecisiveness worked in my favor. So, again, we will have our dramatic "It's a _____!" moment in the delivery room. Luke thought he saw boy parts, and I thought I saw none (i.e. girl!), but I wouldn't trust our judgment anyway. I thought a leg was an arm, and we both thought the "strands" in the umbilical cord were toes. We are just not qualified in the ultrasound department.

But the good news is that the baby is healthy! And very active - and that is the reason that the pictures aren't that great. He/she wouldn't sit still! No matter how many pregnancies you have, it's always exciting to watch the little life inside you. We are both thanking God for a healthy baby! He/she is currently 8 ounces (or half a pound). Not too big, but trust me, he/she will get much bigger before coming out. Since Grace was 9lb 12oz, and Caleb was 9lb 13oz, I'm counting on a 9lb 14oz baby this time around. We'll see if that theory holds true. (Oh, Lord, please don't give me a baby over 10lbs!)

Last thought on baby for today...Would anyone like to contribute some baby name ideas? I need some inspiration. We (obviously) need a boy name and a girl name, just in case. But preferably no neutral names! :-)

We had a great time at my parents' house this past weekend. It was lots of fun to visit Grandma, Papa, Aunt Alonna, Big Karl, Aunt Melissa, Little Karl, and Baby Emma. We also got to see the Lung side of the family at a retirement party for my grandma. She worked at her job for 39 years, and some of those were while raising the five kids she had in a span of seven years! What a woman! I'm pretty thankful to be a stay-at-home mom. I have no idea how working moms survive. I think I'd be stressed all the time!

That's all for now!