Guess What December Will Bring!

So Jay and I have been trying for over a year to get pregnant, and in that time I was pregnant twice and lost both of those sweet babies. It was a difficult year and by the time I got pregnant with this one I think I was in the process of coming to terms with the fact that there may not be any more babies in our future. Perhaps God had some other direction we were suppose to go and I needed to be totally surrendered to His will, even if it seemed totally crazy in my head that I would not have more babies. I happen to love being pregnant and I could not imagine not experiencing that again. But I also knew in my heart that if the Lord was closing that door there was a reason and I needed to trust Him and wait .

Somewhere in all that I really had this revelation that it was completely by is grace that we had Ava and it would be completely by His grace that I would have another one. I could not do anything, outside of being healthy and taking care of myself, to keep a baby alive and make it grow. That was God's department and I think that realization, while a bit frustrating because I couldn't be in control, also released me from being so incredibly stressed. So I did my best to give all of that to Him. All the thoughts and worry and disappointment and fear and just rest in the things I know are true about my Father in heaven.

So we found out in April that I'm pregnant and found out two weeks ago that December will be bringing a baby boy to the family! I feel so blessed that there will be another baby in our life and I'm thrilled we get to experience raising a boy and a girl. We would have been over the moon for another little girl, but it's pretty cool we get both.

Unfortunately my scanner is not working so no pictures this time, but I will leave you with the verse, or prayer actually, that became the cry of my heart during last year. I'm not sure any woman has ever said it better than Hannah and her prayer became mine!

O, Lord almighty, if you will look down upon my
sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a
son, then I will give him back to you....
I Samuel 1:11

And now....

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted
me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord.
For his whole life he will be given to the Lord.

I Samuel 1:27

The Kitchen Floor

Jay and I took on quite project a few weeks ago! We live in my Grandmother's old home and there are all sorts of things that need to be done to this old house, but the first on the list was the kitchen floor. The kitchen had brown indoor/outdoor CARPET!!!! Yes, carpet. It has been such a pain trying to cook and eat and live in that kitchen! I am happy and proud to say we did a beautiful job and never again will I have to clean up raw egg off of carpet. So here is the run down.

We started by pulling up the carpet and luckily this part was super easy. Under the carpet we found the old orange linoleum that I grew up with and that was not as easy. There were many days of sitting on the floor during nap time pulling that stuff up with a pry bar. I will NEVER touch linoleum again in my life. I hate it. It is worse than anything. Yes it is worse than wallpaper and the reason why is that under the god forsaken flooring that is linoleum was the paper backing that was on the back of the linoleum. That....there are not words to express the level of hatred I feel when I think of that paper. It covered the concrete floor when we got the linoleum up and the only way to get the paper up was to scrape it inch by inch with a wallpaper scraper. Yes, I mean the little razor scraper. So we scraped paper off of about 300 square feet of concrete. And by we I mean mostly me. We got tile and many months later finally started putting it down, which turned out to be easier than I thought. There are plenty of spots that are not perfect, but for our first project I am very proud. And after so long with carpet on my kitchen floor I couldn't care less about un-even grout lines. So here are the pictures!

Carpet

Paper

Concrete and purple chalk line

My man hard at work

Me hard at work

Last tile in!

Done

Still had to grout at that point

I feel blessed to have my new floor and proud that rather than go into debt to get it we sucked it up and did it ourselves. It was very hard work but we appreciate it even more I think because we did it ourselves.

There is no substitute for hard work.
~Thomas Edison

Snow

I think people who have not spent their entire lives in Texas can not truly understand what it is like for us when it snows. Normally we get yucky ice that we are not equipped to deal with so it just causes all kinds trouble. As a child I can remember going outside and playing in the ice. Snow that accumulates just does not happen here. Until this year:) We had snow on Christmas, which was just amazing, and then last weekend we had more snow than I have ever seen in Texas. Enough for a real snowman that was not brown in some spots. At some point Angela and I left to go to the store and we both noticed that everyone was smiling. Driving through the snow with big silly grins on their faces. It makes you feel like a child and I imagine we appreciate it so much because we never see it! I told Jay if Global Warming means we get snow in Texas I'm all for it;) Teasing of course...but not really. So here are the pictures!

Ava was cracking Angela up.

This was early in the day. There was a lot more snow when it was all over.


A very good friend, and very wise lady, told me once that when she sees snow that blankets the ground like this it reminds her of God's mercy. How we are covered, and no matter how ugly it is under there when God looks at us he sees white because we have been covered by the blood of Jesus. Blanketed by grace and mercy. I love that and thought about it a lot last weekend when I saw all that snow!


And of course I can't close without showing the newest member of the Reale family!

This is Frankie Angelo Reale! Named after my grandpa and great grandpa . He was born on January 2nd and weighed 7lbs 6oz. He is absolutely the sweetest thing ever and a very welcome addition to an already very large family. I don't think there is anything as truly wonderful as a new baby!

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~J.B. Priestley

Halloween!

It is amazing how much fun these little holidays are the older Ava gets. We carved a pumpkin Friday night, as well as drew on two mini pumpkins that Ava then carried around the house, dropping them on the hard floor every few steps.

Seriously LOVED the mini pumpkins

And this one is just because she is so beautiful

Then Saturday we went to Jay's parent's church for their Trunk or Treat. they had a petting zoo and pony rides and of course candy! Ava was Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" and her friend Jacob was a lion. And by the way, I made that gingham dress. I was extremely surprised that my mom's sewing instruction actually stuck as well as it did!

She loved the pony ride!

Jacob wanted some of that candy

Look at that sweet little lion!

And of course we have to look back at the first Halloween. There were no costumes small enough to fit my little tiny girl so she wore a pumpkin hat and mittens. So sweet!

It was a very fun night.

If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!

~ Dorothy

The Wizard of Oz

Ava Elizabeth Worley

She was a little beat up.

I can't believe my sweet little baby is two today! I woke up this morning and immediately thought about what I was doing two years ago at this time. In the hospital, in some pain, but still a few more hours and a lot more pain to go before it was done.

Ava came almost a month early and I remember the feeling of driving to Harris Hospital in Fort Worth knowing that it was the last time Jay and I would be just the two of us. I knew that I was having that baby that day because my water broke and I was so excited, but I also wanted to turn around and go home. I loved being pregnant, so I would just stay pregnant!

But of course that did not happen! She was born at 2:34pm on September 30th. Little bitty girl weighing in at 5lbs. She changed my life completely.

So here we are two years later. Ava is no longer that itty bitty baby girl. Every day she looks more and more like a little girl and not a baby and that makes me a little sad, but also very excited about the future. She has the greatest little personality and is so sweet and sensitive.

God gave us exactly the baby we needed right when we needed her. The word thankful does not do what I feel justice because it is so far beyond gratitude. I am completely humbled. Humbled that God, who has already given us everything, saw fit to give us Ava. Yep, totally and completely humbled!!

Minutes after she was born holding daddy's hand.

Big yawn! I love her little milk mustache!

Two years old!

How can it be that you are you?
He thought you up and so you grew,
Because you're mine it must be true,
That He was also thinking of me too.

-Michael Card,
Sleep Sound in Jesus

Labor Day Weekend

My Daddy !



Labor Day weekend is also my dad's Birthday weekend so my entire family came over to grill steaks and celebrate daddy's birthday. If you don't know my dad I'm sorry, you really should! Everyone should. My dad is the greatest man I know after my husband. And my husband is a lot like my dad:) I'm so happy he was born!! I am truly blessed to have my parents. So here are some pictures of the celebration. There was a lot of food, a little wine, and an amazing homemade German Chocolate cake my mother made from scratch. And of course plenty of sweet kiddos running around and making huge messes. And Cars on the TV. It's a big hit with Ava and Poppy!

Ava and Bella were the very best of friends all day! Holding hands and climbing into Ava's crib to lay down and look at books together. It makes me happy to think Ava will have a cousin she can be best friends with. Anyway here are pictures:)



Rocco And Noah

Beautiful Nikki

Noah and Rocky cuddling

Learning to walk

Long Day!

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

So I have wanted to plant an organic vegetable garden for a while now. I had every intention of starting this garden back in March but the weekend I was going to start working on my soil I had emergency surgery instead. Not anywhere near as much fun as a garden, promise! So I decided after talking to my parent, who know a lot about gardens, that a fall garden would be a good option. So over the last month I have been working on clearing my little plot and working on the soil and finally last week I planted. I don't really have expectations. I hope I get something out of it, but seeing as this is my first garden, and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing, I figure we will just see what happens! And if nothing happens I try again in the Spring! But TODAY I go outside to water and what do I spy with my little eye???? That's right, a little row of green leaves that hopefully will grow into beautiful cucumbers that will fill my salads this fall. And a few cucumber sandwiches! So I ran and got my camera:) Just so everyone knows, this blog will probably include pictures of things no one really cares to see. Like my little cucumber sprouts. So here we go. From beginning to now.

Before

Rows

Cukes!!!!

The Helper