One week with our precious daughter

Welcome Little Katelyn Grace!!!  Her name means "pure, unsullied" which I love.  Her life verse is "blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God."

A couple of minutes old...

Born April 19th

Weighing 7lbs., 6oz.

22 inches long

Her birth story:z

I thought I might be in labor at around 10 that morning, but wasn't sure because I was induced with Benson, so I didn't know what to expect exactly...

I was at a mother's time at a friend's church hearing a lady teach on Raising Spirited Children (which Benson just might be :)) and I started timing my contractions.  I was having them every 4-6 minutes but didn't want to miss the talk :) I think I made my friend Kim nervous...  She told me I should probably go home...  I texted Nate to tell him this "might" be it but not to worry or leave work. I got home around 11:30 and called my midwife after feeding and laying Benson down for a nap.  She said I was too chipper to be in labor and I told her I'd asked God to keep me full of joy so I might not get cranky :)  She told me to call in an hour.  So I kept timing contractions, cleaned, finished packing, called Nate's parents and told them "probably not today, but maybe in the next 24-48 hours" so they could prepare to get Benson.(Remember, I didn't know what to expect!)  My contractions were around three to four minutes apart, I called again, they said I still didn't sound cranky enough, so they told me to call in an hour.  So I kept timing, then they were about three minutes apart so I called Nate and told him he might want to wrap things up at work soonish and come home. I think I was still pretty calm at this point :) and called his parents and asked them to come, too.  Nate's parents got here around 2:30 and my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, sometimes 3 and definitely a bit more painful.  When I called again, the one nurse wanted to talk to me since I was so set on being happy through it.  She asked me to explain the contractions and so I did.  I told her they were "toe curling" and she said that's it - come in.  Nate got home around 3, and we checked into the hospital around 3:30.  I wasn't very dilated, but thankfully they kept me in.  I labored for another couple hours and when they checked I was only 5 cm and thought there was no way I was going to make it the five more hours they estimated it would take.  My midwife who I now officially LOVE to pieces, told me to try this certain position.  Within minutes, my water broke and I really wanted to push. I told Nate it felt like I swallowed a semi and it was trying to come out.  I think that's a helpful description for our hubbies, no? Can I get an amen???  Within 40 minutes of being told it would be five more hours, I was done!  After just three hours at the hospital and less than five minutes of pushing and a pretty intense labor...

She emerged.  Beautiful.  Healthy.  ALIVE.

The midwife and nurse told us she had a knot in her cord.  They didn't make a big deal of it.  But when the charge nurse (also Nate's cousin's wife) came in and the shift changed to a new nurse, both were in tears that she had a knot and she was ALIVE.  I cry each time I think that God spared her little life.  Apparently some babies with true cord knots die in utero or during delivery or have some problems.  But not our daughter, and we are SO GRATEFUL to God. So many times a day, I hold her and just thank Him for letting us know her and love her.  Our miracle baby.  Our daughter!

Meeting big brother for the first time - just a couple of hours old!

She does have a minor heart condition - an arrhythmia called PVC, but we are told it will probably self-correct.  We are trusting God that it will and will have a follow up with a children's hospital in the area in the coming weeks.  We are at peace with it.

She was born on Passover.  The significance of that is amazing to us.  We look forward to seeing God protect her for her lifetime just as He was faithful to do when we couldn't even understand or see that she needed it.  (Isn't that so like Him???)

With her "duckling" hat I made for her.

We are home and adjusting to life as a family of four.  We are so blessed - Benson is gentle and loving towards her.  It's the cutest thing!  We are also incredibly blessed as Nate has paternity time with MDS, so he's home with us and I think that is really helping the transition go much more smoothly as we can focus on both kiddos.  He's been an incredible blessing to me and to Benson and Katelyn.  We are so blessed to have him as a husband and daddy.

All of our friends who were pregnant together have now delivered and it's so surreal that we are all done.  That we are all now holding our precious ones on the outside.  It's really incredible.  The last three who were pregnant all went three days apart.  One on Saturday, us on Tuesday, and then one on Good Friday.  We all missed being in the hospital together but it was still so fun! We were due two days apart from one of the gals and on the same day as the other and all delivered late!

With her 3 day older buddy Colson

I'm doing great, too!  I can't believe how great I feel, actually. Throughout the pregnancy I asked God to keep me full of joy and peace and I think it worked!  I am amazed at how good I feel, except a few little things that are tough, like sleeping and very minor issues.  I'll be home for a month or so before returning to work part-time.  I wonder if I can really stay away that long??? I have to admit I've cheated and checked my email a number of times already :)

  

With her cousins and the hat they made for her

Getting ready to go home!

 I am completely in awe that God is entrusting two of His precious children to our care. What a privilege and honor.

Thank you for praying for us, for standing with us and for cheering us on!  We are grateful! 

And... some pics of our cutie pie Benson at Easter :)
  

9 Days and Different

NOTE:  This was written 12 days ago. How funny to read it as I post it with pics finally. God is so cool...  Our little girl is no longer nine days away, she's 21 hours old now and we love her heaps and heaps. I'll post soon with info on her story so far :)
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Nine Days.  That's all (plus or minus some days in there).  That's all until we meet our precious little girl.  We are excited and ready to meet her in some regards, but so not ready in others :) God knows that and knows the perfect timing for her to come.  I've continually prayed for contentment and God has been so faithful in giving that to me.  I haven't been wishing this time with Benson away or been antsy for her to come.  Now, that doesn't mean I haven't had my days where I feel like a whale, where my back hurts, and where I think it would be FUN to not be HUGE anymore.  But for the most part, I've really enjoyed this time. 

I cut back my hours at work last week in preparation for the delivery and to have some time to hang out with Benson, get our house ready, and just rest.  I'm so grateful I can stay engaged at Global Disciples and continue loving God and His people. 

I have been thinking so much lately about the differences in boys and girls and I'm sure I'll be amazed at just how different my little guy is from my baby girl we're waiting for.  I thought for my sake more than anything, I'd make a little list of the differences in my pregnancies for memory's sake :)

Boy:  Lots of hair growth during pregnancy
Girl:  Little hair growth (even on my legs - oddly enough - like you can't even tell if I've not shaved them in three or four days - so weird) - hopefully this means I won't lose as much after she's born as I did with Benson.

Boy:  Gained about 50ish pounds (honestly I'm not sure what the final was, but it was around there somewhere)
Girl:  Gained about 30ish pounds

Boy:  Was super cranky (not sure if that was stress of working full-time, 2 car engines blowing, moving, etc.), but still
Girl:  Less so for sure, pretty happy really, a little weepy here at the end.  Defiinitely in touch with my emotions a bit more.

Boy:  Had intense desire to eat something, only to never ever want it again.
Girl:  Not so much

Boy: Slept a lot, especially in first trimester (went to bed at 6:30 most nights)
Girl:  Sleepy, for sure, but usually could make it to 8:30 or 9.  Ha.

Boy:  Sore back
Girl:  Sore back but less so

Boy:  Not too nervous about raising a boy
Girl:  Very nervous about raising a girl (until my two showers where we were prayed over, now I'm definitely less nervous)

Boy:  Hair stayed the same
Girl:  GRAY HAIR OVERLOAD

Boy:  Massive swelling
Girl:  Barely any at all

Boy:  Arms constantly fell asleep at night
Girl:  Rarely

Boy:  Drooled when I slept A LOT (nice, right?)
Girl:  Not really at all

Boy: Snored like crazy - would even wake myself up
Girl:  Rarely (verified with Nate)

Boy:  Tried all sorts of stuff to get labor moving
Girl:  Haven't tried much, just trusting God and waiting for His perfect timing

Boy:  Had the best, most supportive hubby ever.
Girl:  Well, this is no different!  He wouldn't even let me scrub the floors last night because I'm too pregnant and did it for me.  It's love.

This pregnancy has been extra fun in that I've experienced almost my entire pregnancy with three close friends.  One of my dearest friends is due the same day (Palm Sunday) and I'm so excited to see WHEN we both go. Wouldn't it be wild if we both had our kiddos the same day??!!  One of our friends delivered the end of March and one is hoping to go any day now. 

Overall, I've really enjoyed both pregnancies (except for the stress of the first) and have been so grateful for this gift.  So many people would love to be able to be pregnant so I don't take this privilege lightly. 

I really am looking so forward to seeing/meeting our little lady.  I am excited to see who she is a person - what she'll be like - I'm looking forward to learning a whole new side of God's love for me, for her, for our family, and for all of His children. 

We finally have a verse for our little girl and it fits what we've been hoping for her so well...  It's from Matthew - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

Thanks for praying for us, anticipating with us, and loving us - even from afar.  We'll keep you posted!

Love, for all of us,

Jenny

18 month Benson stats, some pics and less than 7 weeks til baby girl!!!!

Benson continues to be an awesome little guy to parent.  He's so full of life, joy, love, and for the most part is very obedient and cooperative :)

At his 18 month appointment, he was 32 3/4" tall (66th percentile); 26lb.9oz. (60th percentile); and his head was in the 66th percentile.  He's growing and changing so much.

He doesn't speak a ton, but does say cute things like "SHFEW" for shoe, "mMMm" for Milk and has said some very advanced words only once or twice.  Like one day he said pretty when he saw a flower, but that was one time only.  I think he likes making me think I've lost my mind ;)

Not sure if it's a boy thing, but what he lacks in speech, he most definitely makes up for in motor skills.  His very favorite things are being outside, playing catch, kick, and throwing his ball (he really can kick and catch), he likes to "vroom" as he pushes his cars around, and playing with his Christmas blocks from Auntie Gretchie also ranks right up there with the best of his world.  He still loves to read and most times, when he's being very quiet, and you think he's being naughty, he's hunched over a pile of books in our living room reading away, pointing and saying "dis" or "oooooh".  I love that kid!  He definitely keeps us busy, but is such a good mix of calm and active! 

One of his very favorite things to do is go to his "safe" corner in the kitchen, running the whole way,

then when you say, "come here, big guy" he races towards you like this:

when he reaches us, we scoop him up high in the air, and kiss him like crazy, then put him down for another round!  He will do this many, many times.  You know he's tired when he starts slowing down and runs at you with less enthusiasm.  Ha.

Lately, when he sees a bug, he gets a little agitated... He doesn't seem to be too sure of them.  He points and grunts this strange grunting "ooh" sound and looks nervous, pointing the whole time to make sure you see it.  Here he is with daddy in the bathroom checking out a boxelder bug.  We eventually convinced him that touching it is okay :)

This is a great example of trying to get him to hold still for two seconds to get a pic :) Not happenin' mama!

We are definitely excited to meet our little miss, but we are also not wishing away this time with Benson and being a family of three. I'm so grateful that I've had two healthy pregnancies and this one is so much easier than B's was.  We are anticipating our little girl and look forward to becoming a family of four!  I can't believe she'll be here in under seven weeks (give or take).  I'm uncertain of the delivery as I won't be induced and definitely no sleeping pill this time, so I kind of feel like I'm going into the whole thing for the first time again!  There are four of us due within two weeks of each other, Allison and I are due on the same day, so it's going to be so fun to see when we all actually go :)

Thanks for checking in on us even though I'm a dilinquent blogger.  But TWO, TWO in one day!!!!

Love to you all!

Jenny (for the rest of the fam, too)

Christmas-time and birthdays

I think I was supposed to blog a while ago, but.... Life sometimes doesn't deem this as a top priority, though it should be a little higher on our list!

Christmas-time was fun, but busy.  We enjoyed a visit from my sister and her new fiance Thomas.  We missed having mom with us this year. We enjoyed ice skating, wedding dress shopping, sister day out, lots of time eating and cooking, and of course celebrating Christmas with Nate's family and with Gretchen and Thomas.    Oh, and did I mention planning a wedding for Finland for Christmas this year?  For those of you who aren't quite sure, but think maybe, just maybe that's a very far-off and COLD place, you would be correct.  It's where the arctic circle is, and the town they chose is considered to be Santa's hometown.  How about that?  It'll be dark there most of the time and COLD.  Did I mention it will be COLD???  I'm so excited though, for the adventure and for loving on my sister as she gets married - it's going to be something!

Gretchie and Thomas skating

Benson sledding with grandpa and cousin Annika

The first part of February, we got to celebrate our birthdays with Nate's family - we celebrated Nate's birthday, Dad's birthday, and my birthday all together.  Nate's sister is taking an online cake decorating class and she made the cutest cake for us (which was also delicious!).  We were spoiled with many wonderful cards and gifts.  One of the things I asked for was a "how to" book on crocheting.  I am making some baby blankets - in new designs and it's fun!  We also asked for money towards a weekend away at a marriage conference.  My sister had given us tickets to a hockey game for date night. It was only the third game I'd ever been to and there was a LONG fight between two players. It kinda freaked me out, but the game was fun and it's cool to learn about a game I don't know much about.

This past weekend we went on our first extended time away since Benson was born!  We attended the Weekend to Remember conference in Hershey, PA.  There wasn't a whole lot that felt like lightbulbs going off in our heads, but there were many instances where we were so glad to be reminded of how blessed we are to be married to one another.  The one speaker was so stinkin' funny I actually thought I might birth this little girl right there in the conference hall.  Seriously, so ridiculously funny. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!  As the different sessions were conducted, I continuously felt so grateful for the man God has blessed me with as a husband.  And blessed that our children get to grow up with him as their Dad.  He's pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

We are feeling so incredibly blessed by God right now.  That's not to say things haven't been tough lately.  Life has definitely been throwing some curve-balls at us, but it's been amazing to walk together and see God's grace in all of it.  I can boldly say I think we're learning and growing!  It's been a month of God answering prayers before we knew they needed to be answered and seeing His provision in the big things and little things.  We are so grateful for the chance to continue to step out as a couple and family even more.  I've been so proud to watch Nate in the past weeks step out more as a leader, encourager, and even as a pastor at his job. If you feel like I'm being vague, I am :)  I'm sure we'll have some updates for you in the future.

A few weeks ago I began co-leading a women's life group/care group through our church with an awesome gal named Julie. I feel so blessed to be leading with her, she's someone I've respected from afar for many years.  And I LOVE our group of ladies!  I couldn't have asked for a better group to journey with - what a joy!  I'm still teaching Sunday School for 5-6 grade girls every other week, but will be stepping back from that responsibility as we prepare for the birth of our little girl (less than seven weeks from now!).

For those who support the ministry of Global Disciples and me, you are probably wondering what my plan is after our little girl is born.  I plan to continue working at Global Disciples as the Grant Manager - which means I'll cut back some on my responsibilities, but will continue to track and manage grants, etc. for the almost 250 programs we now work with.  Tefera, Galen, and some others are traveling right now in Ethiopia for the meetings - they have already been to India, Ind-nesia, N-pal, Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya in the past couple of months.  It's a little strange not being there, but there are aspects of the travel I don't miss (ie parasites).

Last weekend, my coworker Crystal and I co-led a seminar and discussion time at Missions Fest Lancaster.  It turned out to be a pretty good time of conversation about unique and inventive ideas on missions. Hopefully the participants went away asking God for creative ways to reach the unreached.

I'm so grateful for all who pray for us and support us in this ministry. I'm so grateful, too, to be able to continue to partner with God in the nations even with the responsibilities of being a wife and mom.  We were laughing yesterday at work that with this cut in hours, I'll be making full support for the first time!  Thank you for continuing to pray and bless the ministry God has called us to!

I'll update soon with a post about growing Baby Benson and our little girl :)

Much love to all of you - we are so grateful for you in our lives.

Jenny (for the rest of the crew)

I leave you with this parting shot of Benson with his cutie-pie buddy Owie.  (and his little sister in mommy's cute tummy - seriously, is my friend not the most adorable pregnant woman???)

Hello? Hello? We're stil alive! Just haven't posted in a while :)

Hi everyone!  It's been a LONG time... A really long time!  So to space things out, I think I'll break the past almost two months up into multiple posts!

I guess this post will be everything between my last post and Christmas and then I'll go from Christmas forward.  Ha.

Thanksgiving weekend was super busy and super fun this year! 

Thanksgiving this year was a little different in that we celebrated with a small number of Nate's family.  Nate's parents were on a prayer trip to Israel and his brother's family was elsewhere for the day.  It was a little laid back with only five adults and three kiddos.  We had some different foods (fun!) and also some traditional ones, just to be safe :) 

A couple days after Thanksgiving, we hung out with the Sandersons and Weavers at Nate's mom and dad's farm.  We ate leftovers and tried not to blow away in the freezing wind.  The kiddos rode horses, some of them for the first time!  We were so proud of them!

We also got our Christmas tree at a local tree farm where you can ride a horse and wagon to the lot and cut your own down.  It's expensive to do that, so we just opted for a pre-cut one, but it was still fun!  They had a petting zoo and I think Benson would have stayed there all day talking to the animals :)

One of the highlights of my (Jenny) fall was to go to NYC to visit my mentor from Colorado and her family who were in the area visiting some family.  Nate gave me the blessing to go and took a vacation day off work so I could make the trip - what a gift!  Nate's little sis Ang went with me and it was SO GREAT to be in their presence, if only for a few hours. I haven't seen Wendy's husband or children for 5 1/2 years and that was a delight to my heart, too!  They spoiled us with a fabulous lunch and such great conversation.  It was worth the drive, and I left feeling so blessed and refreshed (surprisingly not as exhausted as I thought I'd be).  The time with Ang was also a blessing - I don't think we've ever spent that much time one on one!

Ang, Wendy, and Jenny - FAO Schwartz, NYC (photo credit to Wendy)

Nate surprised me with a cooking class in the area in mid-December.  Cooking is a passion of mine and I love learning more about it.  The teacher is the owner of one of the top 200 restaurants in the country and it was fun to learn from him.  He taught using methods everyone could use and used only ingredients from local stores, so the recipes are possible to re-create.  The class size was up to 18 and I was praying for less, so it would be more one on one, and when I got there, there were only two of us!  I learned all sorts of fun things and some recipes we've already used here at home - delicious!

Benson's a busy boy these days.  Very, very busy.  Like, leaves my head spinning sometimes, but is SO MUCH FUN!  We love watching him grow and develop and change right before our very eyes.  He's such a precious little guy.  I think I can officially say this is my favorite age so far (well, minus the whole temper tantrums business, but that's part of learning and growing, eh?).  His favorite thing to do is run holding on to daddy's hands sliding across the floors, reading his books, playing with his blocks, throwing balls, and being outside and interacting with people.  Right at the moment he is crying pretty hard because daddy needs a break from the running wildly.  Ha.

On the work front, Nate's company moved to their new, six acre property with offices and warehouse.  It's a beautiful building and with it, he got a promotion, so he's still the Project Logistic Coordinator, but he's now also the Facility Manager.  It's more work, but work he enjoys - he gets to be outside more and do some manual labor, too!

Work for me continues to move along at a busy pace, currently we're getting ready to send the guys to the Annual Meetings.  I can honestly say I'm only a little bit sad not to go - isn't is so cool when God calls you on to different things. I still remain as committed as ever though, just in a different sense.  I wondered if I'd be able to keep the passion for my job not being able to see the precious brothers and sisters from around the world, but it hasn't changed that calling and passion at all and I'm so grateful!  We are now working with 246 discipleship mission programs - can you believe it??? It's amazing.  I'm so blessed to be able to continue to serve God there and here at home :)

By far, the most exciting news of the fall was finding out God has blessed us with a baby GIRL.  We are excited to meet her in mid-April!  It will be a change of pace for us going from a house with a very active toddler boy to a house with a toddler boy and a sweet little girl, but we are excited for her to join us :)  Naming her is proving to be a bit more difficult than naming Benson, because no one is telling us to name her after them. Ha.  We're narrowing it down, though :)

Second most exciting news leading up to Christmas was finding out my sister is engaged!  She and Thomas got engaged on a safari in Kenya during sunset - they plan to get married in Finland, so we'll be traveling there for Christmas 2011 :)  Fun!!!!

I'll be back soon with a Christmas/New Year's post and plans for our year!  God is so good and we are so grateful!!!

With love,

Nate, Jenny, Benson, and Baby Girl

My cup overflows

Have you ever just sat down and thought about how much you love people?  Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, maybe it's a bunch of other stuff happening in my life, or maybe it's just a good dose of God lovingly showing me how blessed I am. 

Nate's a wonderful husband - I like what he stands for, how he cares for us, and how much we've grown together in a short time.  He's a great mix of strength and compassion.  I often think of how blessed I am and how glad I am I ended up with him over any other person in the world.

Benson's 15 month birthday was yesterday and for some reason, I spent the day in awe that God would let me parent such an incredible little person.  He has his moments where he pushes boundaries, tests the limits, etc. but for the most part, he is just a really incredible kid.  I like him.  I love him.  I'm SO stinkin' glad he's our son.  I often think of his life and how fortunate we are and what a privilege it is to have children and to be parents.

I'm getting more and more excited to meet our new little one, too. I am excited to see who he/she is and for our family to grow in love and grace together.  We get to hopefully find out the gender on December 1.  Yippee!!!!  So far, from our pool of April preggo ladies, one is having a girl, one is having a boy and two of us don't know yet.  It's really so much fun to be pregnant together!

I could go on and on at how blessed I feel by family, friends, coworkers, even strangers.  But I'll stop by saying that I know Who these blessings come from and I'm so grateful!

*for some reason, I can't upload more pics to this blog.  I'll try more later. I must go get ready for a girls trip to DC :) :) :)

Walkin' in the Woods

Please try your very hardest to ignore my "cheering" Benson on... Yikes.