Lucy Grace - 5 1/2 Months old!!

In some ways it seems that she has been here for years and in other ways I can't believe we're coming up on 6 months...that is half of a year! Yikes!! She continues to be such a sweet joy. She has the most content and laid back personality. She is just precious. She is eating great (LOVES solid foods), sleeping well (napping great in the day...not sleeping through the night yet...come on Lu!), playing with toys and engaging with us, babbling, and more. We are so thankful for her and can't wait to keep getting to know her more and more as the days and weeks go by. I thought about taking a picture of her in every dress that she owns/wears. That may be a post this summer. I LOVE dresses for her. We have so many hand me downs, that she has an over abundance of precious dresses. That has certainly been fun for me! Here are some pictures. If by some, I mean a lot :)

Fun in the exersaucer!



Sweetness!



Daddy made Lucy into a mighty fortress...she loved it! Might be the best way to keep her safe!



Watching some TV with the boys



Enjoying her ball.

Not to be forgotten...

I am about to post A LOT of pictures of Lucy for her 5 1/2 month post. I realized the other day that I generally take only pictures of Lucy these days. If you are not Lucy and you are in a picture, it is because you are in a picture WITH Lucy. The other day I snapped a few of the boys. The main reason that I don't have many pictures of the boys right now or Matt and I for that matter is that it's been a very rough season for the boys...and for us in response to the boys. LOTS of rebelling and craziness and anger and yuck has been residing with us the last few months (or more!). The bad news is, it's still here. The good new is that God is at work! He is taking away their yuck and ours, and He is making His Gospel very real and near and needed for ALL OF US!! We know more today than we did yesterday that we are sinners who need a savior and who have just that in Jesus. The good news is all that more "good" when you see how bad things are in your heart and your kids hearts.

Looking ahead

This week in our Wellspring Bible Study, we are looking at Psalm 145 and we are reflecting on how we have seen God at work this last year - how He has been faithful to us. The things that came to mind were bedrest (was that really this year?!) and day to day parenting. I couldn't help but look ahead as well as I was reflecting. I am at a point with thinking about homeschooling Owen for Kindergarten where I feel a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility of it all. God has been so good to bring me much joy and excitement and peace about it and lots of great ideas and plans are already in the making, but it's a big responsibility! This Psalm was a great reminder of my central task next year - to exalt the name of the Lord before my kindergartener and to trust God to be trustworthy and faithful and near. So as I plan out our math and phonics and reading and writing, and as we consider what sports or other activities he'll be involved in, and what school things I'll prepare for Baxter as well, and what ways to best love our sweet little Lucy, it is SO helpful to remember that I am to be in the word and to be remembering who God is and that I have the privilege of commending those things to our kids as we learn together at home. That is so life-giving to me, and I know it's what they need more than anything else!

I think that I will need to revisit this Psalm very often - maybe even post it on the wall of our school room. God is good to speak to us through His word!

Psalm 145:2-7

"Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness."

Just some sweetness...

Easter 2011

"Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:4-5









It struck me this morning at church how ironic Easter Sunday is. Everyone is all dressed up fancier than normal - putting on the new Easter dress or shoes or bonnet...The ironic thing is that in Easter, we are celebrating Christ's death on our behalf and His resurrection. We are saying " I am so deep in sin that Jesus had to die for me." We rejoice that He loves us so deeply that He did die for us, but if we weren't so bad off we wouldn't have needed it. I have been thankful this weekend to know that He has in deed born our sin and He is in deed at work. We have been struggling quite a bit with Baxter and Owen the last few weeks. It's left us feeling so frustrated and helpless about their sin and ours. Today we celebrated that our hope is not in what we wore to church and how pretty or handsome we looked, but that God is at work in the deep junk in our hearts and He is making all things new. The Gospel changes everything is something our church talks about a lot and we are thankful that it is true!

Boys

The boys were not in the last post, here are a few of them. They have enjoyed each other more recently - which is huge!! I'll post some more thoughts soon, but here are the pics for now.

4 Months Old!

It's almost been a whole month since I have posted anything on our blog...yikes! I was telling Matt tonight, I feel like every day is so fast and I can't keep up with it! We are still partially in "survival" mode as we continue to learn what it is like to have THREE children (sometimes I am still amazed that we in fact DO have three kids. Yikes!). So I apologize for the lack of posting! This one will have LOTS of pictures of sweet Lucy to make up for that. She has changed so much in the last month, it's neat to see!

Lucy is now 13 lbs - she is in the 45% for her weight and 50th for her height. It's so great that she is growing so well - she started off at the 15% at her one month appointment. It is good for me to know she is healthy and growing! She is just a very sweet and content little girl. She is not quite sleeping through the night, but she's getting there! I look forward to a full nights sleep sometime in the not so distant future! She still LOVES her brothers very much and gives them many smiles throughout the day. She was just given the green light today to start on solid foods, so we gave her some rice cereal and sweet potatoes tonight - she loved it! She is rolling over from her tummy to her back and looks like she'll flip the other way soon too. We are so thankful for how she is growing and look forward to what the Lord has for her this month! Here is an array of pictures to enjoy!

Big Sunday for Lucy

We had the joy of having Lucy baptized yesterday at church. Instead of having Matt do the baptism, we had one of our other pastors here, Pastor Greene (he and his family have loved us very well since we have been here, especially through our bed rest adventure!), baptize her. Matt was able to just be a daddy which was special. It was great to celebrate God's work in keeping Lucy safe and helping her grow as we saw her be baptized. We know that this baptism did not save her, but we trust that God has made promises to us AND to our children, and we look forward to the day where Lucy will call Jesus HER Lord and HER savior! Pray for that with us!






Our family of FIVE



Some of our family that were able to come for the day



Three generations of Gillan/Purdy GIRLS



Our good friends the Zollinhofers had their little girl baptized yesterday too - it was fun to have them baptized "together"

I love my brothers!

Change of plans

So, yesterday, Owen had FOUR shots at his 5 year check up. We had talked about it with him for about a month to get him prepared as much as we could. He did great! God really gave him courage and peace. He cried some, but over all he did great. We were so proud of him! The nurses were great too - they showered him with multiple lollipops and stickers AND a kindergarten work book. He was thrilled! We went to Chick-fil-A that night to celebrate a job well done.

Well, today, Owen was rather cranky and lethargic after naptime. I was getting irritated at him because it seemed he was in a funk! I was feeling like I couldn't handle a funk with two other kids to tend to (which is a matter of my heart and having compassion and finding strength in the Lord and not myself...but that is a story for another day!). I realized his eyes were looking pretty glassy and he was warm. He had a fever of 102 degrees! No wonder he was laying on the couch like a bump! The nurse at the doctor's office said it was normal given the fact that he had 4 shots 24 hours ago! Give motrin and if it doesn't go down, call back. We have given motrin and it's starting to go down.

We were supposed to go to church tonight for the monthly church dinner. We were going to stay for the nursery and adult education class that Matt is starting tonight. I wasn't going to have to make dinner. I wasn't going to have to have all three kids by myself. We were going to go and enjoy fellowship. We were going to go so I could just rest a bit. BUT, God had other things in mind for tonight. He had a change of plans. Not that he is against all of the things I listed above, but for tonight it wasn't what he had planned for us.

I had a choice. I could mope the rest of the night (which my heart is prone to do!) or I could choose to love and serve my feverish child and his two siblings. AND his daddy so that Matt could freely stay at church and be fully present there. I give all glory to the Lord, for I was able to chose the 2nd option. And it's been the sweetest night!! We whipped up some chocolate chip pancakes and strawberry applesauce - nothing like a sugar over load to heal a fever right?! We enjoyed our dinner together while Lucy took a quick little nap. Now, the boys are enjoying a movie night (watching Leap Frog Math to the Moon). Owen made a family rule (that is what he called it) that if anyone has a fever on a Wednesday night that we're supposed to go to church we get to stay home and have a movie night. That is one rule I can agree to!

I am writing all of this not to brag that I made a wise choice, but to boast in the Lord and His work and HIs providence. If only I could always entrust myself to Him like this - what sweet times would follow! I hope that tomorrow when something I have planned goes awry for one reason or another I remember this! Chances are I'll forget, so please remind me!

13 weeks

Today Lucy is 13 weeks old. This is a very significant thing for our family because we were on bed rest for 13 weeks. This is amazing to me. I have been processing this for the last few days. It's been interesting. New emotions have surfaced. Mostly gratitude. Some sadness. I think it's hitting me more and more just how long and hard that time was. But also just how good God is! The past 13 weeks have been so crazy and so rich at the same time. The 13 weeks prior to that were crazy in a very different way. We are so thankful for all that God has done in the last 26 weeks! Bed rest AND with Lucy - we see God's hand in it all and we can praise Him for being good and faithful in it all! (A friend pointed out today that that is 1/2 a year! No wonder we're a bit tired and ragged at times!)

Here is a picture of me on bed rest (start of 13 weeks), Lucy on her birthday (start of the new 13 weeks) and Lucy tonight at 13 weeks.

Three Six 2011

So,the big day has come and gone! Phew! It was really the big weekend, not just the big day. We started out Friday afternoon with free french fries at Chick-fil-A (they were introducing these cool new ketchup packets they offer). Saturday morning we had some time together as a family. Then we went to a University of Richmond mens basketball game with all four grandparents and our friends the Zollinhofers (Kylen and Owen have been pals since we moved here, the four of our kids really enjoy each other). It was just what we pictured - and just perfect for who the boys are and what they love this year. We had a picnic on campus and made it inside in time for the tip off (Owen really wanted to see that). After the game, we went back and spent some time with the grandparents. It was special for the boys and for us that they could all be there!

We woke up Sunday and made pancakes in the shape of a 3 and 5. Then we went to church and they received many Happy Birthday wishes from friends and teachers at church. After church, we drove on THREE Chopt Road (all holding up THREE fingers for Baxter) and went to FIVE Guys (all holding up FIVE fingers as we drove in the parking lot for Owen). After naptime, the boys opened gifts and I made an elaborate dinner of Mac n Cheese from the box (as requested by the boys!). We finished the day off with a basketball cake. I wasn't sure it looked like a real basketball, but when Owen saw it, he said "Mommy, it looks like a real basketball!" Phew!

It was a real fun weekend celebrating our sweet boys. We realized just how much we love food in our family and how central food is to how we love each other. I guess we're thankful God made so many yummy things to enjoy together! We'll have to watch that!