Surprise!

We just got back from my dad's surprise 60th birthday party. It was really fun, especially since the biggest surprise was seeing us, as well as my brother and his fiancee from MD. My dad had no clue! To top it off, we went home and watched the Red Sox win the 3rd game of the World Series. The next day, they swept the series. Icing on the cake, and great surprises all 'round.

Something Old, Something New

Something old: the "old" kitchen.

Something new: FRESH PAINT!!

We have finally begun to paint the "old" kitchen. We painted the ceiling, as well as the walls and what a difference it makes! I decided to get a peachy tan color (which, alas, doesn't show up well in these photos...) because it will go with pretty much whatever other color you want to throw at it. I am hoping that the next family that moves in here will be pleased with it.

My stepdad also fixed the front door so it is more secure. We still need to strip the paint off of it and repaint it. I admit that I am skittish about that, especially since there are many, many layers of old paint on the door (think "Gobstopper"!) and who knows if there is lead paint in there. Maybe I have been reading too many reports about lead paint from China, but I know it is a concern when you buy an old house, and old house this is. We are debating about using a natural paint stripping liquid. Hopefully, that will work just as well.

Then, it is off to put flooring down, do molding around windows and doors, etc. Who knew ONE room could take so long! We are also looking at finishing up the pantry... Whew!

There is a man who might be interested in the house. He is up for the hunting season, and might be stopping in this week to take a peek. Please pray that this goes without a hitch! We would love to avoid a realtor, yet we also would love to sell this place to someone who would take care of it. The housing market is already so saturated!

Gossip

Our church recently split. I got the most recent Vision Forum catalog in the mail yesterday and found this quote to be quite fitting:

"Don't be the Devil's bellows any longer to blow up the fires of strife. Leave off setting people by the ears. If you do not cut off a bit of your tongues, at least season them with the salt of grace. Praise God more and blame neighbors less. Any goose can cackle; any fly can find out a sore place; any empty barrel can give forth sound; any brier can tear a man's flesh. No flies will go down your throat if you keep your mouth shut and no evil speaking will come up. Think much, but say little; be quick at work and slow at talk; and above all, ask the great Lord to set a watch over your lips."

-Charles Spurgeon

Decisions

It is something that we have been thinking about and praying about for some time, but, finally the decision has been made. We are heading back into the military. It isn't an easy decision. It is bittersweet. There are many things which we will miss about this area (family, country living, etc), but we realize that there are great opportunities awaiting us and it doesn't mean that we cannot ever have a country life again!

As of this time, we do not know when Dave will be leaving. He was accepted for officer school in August (shortly after Rachel was born!), and is heading down to MD for his flight physical today. If he passes that, we have to wait for a class date for Officer Training School (OTS). That will be 3 months of separation, with him in AL and us up here in PA.

The military will pay to move our things down to FL, which is where we're heading after OTS. We will be on the Panhandle. I am praying for no hurricanes during that time! :)

That is about all we know right now, but if you could please keep our family in your prayers, we would appreciate it!

I am Back

I thought about closing down this blog since I don't have much time to post and I have vacillating thoughts about postings pics of my children. In the back of my mind, though, I must admit that I like these goofy blogs. I enjoy writing on them, no matter how sporadic I post, and no matter how few people actually give a hoot and read and/or post comments.

Rachel is growing way too fast. This is perhaps the first baby I have had where I enjoy nursing. In fact, last night Dave suggested that I feed her then put her down in her pack 'n play in the other room instead of having her in bed with us, and I was actually sad. :( However, I did get a nice 5.5 chunk of sleep, uninterrupted! She will sleep that much when she is in bed with us, BUT only if I sleep completely still, in one position. Lately, that has been killing my hips, so I would try to gently roll over onto my back in hopes that she would still sleep. No dice. Each time, she would wake up and start "snuffling" around for me. Hmmph. While it is cute, it is not too cute at 3:30 a.m, especially when I just fed her at 2:30 a.m! :P
So, we'll see how this new set up goes.

Rachel at 2 months

Babies sure grow fast!

The Boys Love Her...

It's a Girl

The balloon says it all...

Rachel Jewell

It is 2.5 months late, but:

Introducing Rachel Jewell
Born: August 11, 2007 1:59 a.m (why do they always want to come in the wee hours?!)
Weight: 8 lbs. 7 oz.
Length: 22.5"

Crazy Busy

Things have been so very busy around here lately. My stepdad has been coming over when he can to help Dave work on the old kitchen. It is really starting to look impressive now! We have some sheetrock and outlets and lights up now. The insulation is almost all done. That seems to take up a whole lot of time.

We have been having a rat infestation in the old kitchen, too. They want our bags of chicken feed! There is really no other "safe" place for us to store them, besides in our house. I don't really care to have the inside of our house look like a general store, though... Dave has been setting traps every night and we have caught FOUR rats so far. Call me odd, but they are kind of cute. If they didn't possibly carry diseases and such, I would consider making them a pet. I know you can get them at pet stores, too, and they don't have diseases. However, with a fourth child on the way, my life holds enough excitement without a pet at this point! It will be nice when the boys are a bit older and we can have a pet that they can be responsible for.

As I type, Dave and the two older boys are driving to the airport to pick up his halfbrother and halfsister who flew in from Alaska. They are coming to help sheetrock/do whatever needs to be done out there and around the house and help take care of the kids and let me get some rest before the baby comes. They will be here until August 30th. I have to admit, it is a hard thing for me to do, although I know it will be most beneficial in the end and I will enjoy their company.

Things are progressing well with my pregnancy. I am now at 36 wks (tomorrow!), and am feeling quite icky. You know that feeling of "Just come on out so life can go on!" This is my first summer baby, so needless to say, Mr. Air Conditioner and I have become close friends! :D The baby is way past the cute little kicking stage and into the kung fu kicking stage. I feel grumpy and hot and huge, even though everyone says I am not. I have also been having quite the pelvic pains, and there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to them. I get them when I walk, when I stand up, whenever! I do have a support belt I have been wearing, but that only helps so much. I didn't go to church last Sunday, because I had been hurting so much the night before and Dave wanted me to rest! They are actually bad enough that I have to breathe through them. If only it WAS labor!!

Speaking of labor, the hospital that I go to now has installed ONE labor tub. My midwives say it is supposed to be ONLY for labor and that the powers that be would get rather upset if they found out someone intentionally gave birth in it. The midwives also said that a few women have given birth in the tub since they didn't get out in time. Now, I think to my self about how rickety I am with my pelvis and pain and such... I might just get in and not be able to get back out in time. I find my pain escalates so much when they make me get out of the shower and on to the bed to be checked! So, maybe I will have a water birth. Maybe I will have an epidural! It is hard to say right now. All I have to say is, I am not trying to be superwoman at this point. As little pain as possible would be excellent after months of this pain I have now!

So, this is why my dear husband felt that our relatives should come out sooner rather than later. My last labor was extremely exhausting and I had been worn out even beforehand, so he doesn't want that to happen again and neither do I! If his sister can take the boys outside to play and I can take a short rest on the couch, that in and of itself would be heaven! ;)

That is the update from northeastern PA! I probably won't have much time to update this while we have our guests. Have a great summer and I will be sure to update when there is baby news!

Mere Pittance

I awoke this morning with glee, knowing that it was my first berry picking excursion of the year! The boys were filled with excitement, too. I purposely didn't give them fruit this morning, knowing how they would stuff themselves with the sweet red fruit once we arrived. I picked up my mom and we drove to the berry farm. The first thing we noticed was a sign stating, "$2.25 per level quart". Ack! I had visions of the woman standing there with a ruler, shaving off the top of the quart boxes, saying, "No, no, missy! These few will have to go into another quart! You have too many!" The berries were also pretty small and not too sweet. Maybe we went a bit too early in the season?

I don't think I plan on going back, though, because of the price! I am now left wondering what would be the proper utilization of my 5 quarts of berries. YES. I only picked 5. You can only squat so much in blazing sun when you're 32 weeks pregnant! :) (I probably fed another 5 to my sons, though... Shhhh...) Jam? Shortcake? Freezing some for the winter (*snort!*)? Eating fresh? So many possibilities!

It was nice to get out for a bit, though, and talk with other people and just enjoy the sun before it got too hot. It only got unbearable toward the end... Timothy stayed in the stroller very nicely and ate what berries we brought him. He would even have his hands folded when I looked at him. Everyone who passed by had to chat him up, so that helped him not to get too itchy sitting there. He didn't like it when I got too far away, though, and I didn't want to drive the stroller into the rows for fear of mowing over what good berries there were, so I stuck close by him.

This makes me want our own berry plants and bushes that much more!!

Taming the Chickens...

Our chickens are going to be so very tame! They put up with a lot from three active little boys. Witness the torture one particular chicken we've nicknamed "The Falcon" goes through within the span of a few minutes!

Petting Zoo