twenty five.

We are closing in on Blueberry's due date. Our official due date is December 31st, but babies come when they're ready. In all honesty this mama is ready. It'd be super nice if Blueberry decided to make his/her appearance in December and not January. Everything about this pregnancy has been different and that's leading all of us to believe this baby will be a boy. If we were placing bets that'd be the route most people would go. That is most people except Little Love. She is faithfully proclaiming this baby to be a girl because as she states, "I want another sister." Little Love promises that if Blueberry is a boy she'll still be nice and sweet. She says she can't wait to sing and hold the baby. I strongly believe she'll make a wonderful big sister. The two older girls are adamant that Blueberry is a boy. However, that's probably mostly wishful thinking on their part. They love each other very much, and Little Love too, but they're desperately wanting a baby brother. 
W and I know that the sex of this baby doesn't matter. We know that God has big plans for this unborn child. We feel so strongly in this because we knew about this baby in October of last year. He had given me (the mrs) a vision of this baby. I awoke with my heart pounding

twenty two.

The weekends get so busy for us and it's hard for me to find the time to update the blog. I am currently on day 11 of the Whole30 and doing awesome, if I do say so myself.  The last day I updated was on Friday, which would have been what I had eaten on the previous day, Thursday. It's now been a week!! We've eaten a lot of yummy food and also a lot of the same foods. I have found what I like to eat in the morning and kind of eat it every day or most days. For breakfast I eat a lot of scrambled eggs with mixed organic baby kale's and baby spinach. I usually have a little fruit with it or other vegetables and occasionally a monkey salad. 
I have also discovered that I really like sweet potatoes pan sauteed in coconut oil.

twenty one.

I am truly one of the luckiest women in the world. Last night, after dinner, W went to the grocery store for us. We still had food but nothing really for breakfast the next day. He's been trying to follow the Whole30 with me and even went so far to go upstairs and look up paleo information. He didn't know all the rules of the Whole30 but even still he only brought home 3 things I can't eat! He is such a magnificent husband. He does little things like that for me all the time. It makes every day special instead of him waiting around for an anniversary or holiday. I am a blessed woman.

The three things he bought that I cannot eat during the Whole30 are bacon, corn and honey.

fifteen.

I sat this morning talking to my Heavenly Father telling him how I felt, but what I really needed to do was think about how others felt. After a day like yesterday how are our daughters going to wake up feeling? I may sit and think, "Ugh, I still feel grumpy and upset by their behavior yesterday," but why do I still feel that way? Is it that I wake expecting the girls to misbehave again? I think deep down I do. I wake up, although not often, thinking about all the "wrong" the kids are going to do today. What a miserable way to begin a new day! And really, it's not even that they're doing anything wrong, it's behavior, lashing out, frustration, annoyance. I yearn for them to wake up with bright expectations and a renewed sense of self, so why don't I do the same? I will. 

eight.

I've started writing this blog entry about five different times each time starting out with a different subject. I want to write what’s on my mind but can't find the words. (I probably could if there weren't three loud elephants upstairs screaming at each other and pulling each others hair.) My heart is bursting with words that I don't know how to get out. Life is not perfect; yet I’m content. We have money in the bank; even if it’s only dollars. God has been speaking to me lately. I do wonder if that’s something anyone ever gets use to? There are signs pointing in the direction He wants to lead our family. They are small signs that others would think crazy but to me they are signs nonetheless. When I think of things He’s calling us to do I'm almost certain HE might be crazy. ;) Although when I needed some reassurance a verse came to me, and I don't mean that I thought about this verse, I mean it was sent to me, literally, from an iPhone app. See what I mean? Crazy.

seven.

I've been feeling completely overwhelmed lately; overwhelmed with being a parent, a homeschooler, a facilitator, etc. I know many bible verses'  that tell us to give our burdens/worries to the Lord and he'll take care of us (Psalm 55:22) but why is that so hard?

four.

Our favorite day of the week in this family is Sunday. God has done an amazing job of having W home on Sunday's since we started regularly attending church. If you know anything about W's schedule you'll understand how awesome it is that he's home to enjoy church with us girls. We have found a church home that we love... It lifts our spirits every Sunday and leaves us wanting more of God and His Word. I love getting up before the kids in the morning and spending some quiet time reading daily devotionals. When W is home we'll sometimes go sit out back together before the girls are up and we'll pray together or just sit and read our bibles in silence. I will happily admit that our faith has brought us closer than we ever thought possible. I never knew it was possible to love my husband more than I already did but God has shown be otherwise. Our relationship is not only growing in Christ but it's also growing with each other and our children.
Yesterday we began our Sunday like most other Sunday's... me scrambling around thinking I have plenty of time to get myself and three girls looking presentable. Ha! I never seem to have enough time. W is helpful but there's only so much a guy can do to help girls.

one.

Haven't you had a blog before? Yes, yes we have. Did you update your previous blog often? No, no we didn't, in fact it's been about three years since the last time. I could have started posting on that blog again but I feel like we'd all like to start anew. In fact, lately we have started some very important new adventures. W and I have both been saved recently as we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We've started attending a wonderful church regularly and definitely feel the Spirit of God working within us both. The other major adventure and change we're all embarking upon is homeschooling the three girls. Mess, Big Mak and Little Love are extremely enthusiastic about this change. I'm pretty sure that the big girls are excited about homeschooling because they can wear their jammies all day long if their mood strikes and because they get to sleep in until whenever they feel rested, but they do like the idea of mom helping them learn all day long. Little Love is enamored with her big sisters being home all day to help entertain (annoy) her.

The decision to homeschool didn't come lightly. The idea was actually sparked within me after watching a news program on a large family who homeschooled, and no it wasn't the Duggars. Anyway, I was amazed at how well this large family got along and how everyone seemed to help out everyone else. It certainly got the wheels spinning in my mind. I rolled the idea around my head for a while before really considering it an option. I mean, come on, the kids can really drive a woman crazy! However, the more I thought about it the more I was warming up to the idea. All of this homeschooling business really started happening around February of this year. I tossed the idea around to W and to a few friends of mine. They all thought I was crazy... no doubt, but they all said they'd support me in my decision. I read books about the subject to educate myself. I wanted to see what all would be involved and how difficult this task might be. What I found was surprising! I was overwhelmed at the amount of information out there! It reminded me of when I started researching midwifery during my pregnancy with Little Love. The more I read about homeschooling the more and more I became convinced this is what we should do.