Someone is Missing....

The Lord is blessing us yet again!! We are expecting.....soon enough that sweet little chair will hold a sweet little baby! It has been quite a year for us and to end it with the news of a new little one just makes us squeal with excitement!! I actually took these photos without the kiddos knowing the news yet-they just thought I was taking photos for Christmas. Fortunately they were distracted enough with all the chaos not to notice the sweet little empty chair and baby booties. There was a lot of laughter and a little bit of tears(good ones) at dinner tonight when Matt and I spilled the news. With Noah being 4 1/2 now, this has been the longest span without a baby in our arms- and we were quite certain we were done. But I sure love the Lord's plans, they are always better than our own!!

A Surprise For the Love of My Life...

I am just counting down the hours until I can pick my love up from his trip this past week. He has been at a conference with some of our Sr Highers from church. I have a BIG surprise for him!!! So often, I have these grand schemes in mind for while he is away, but most of the time it just simply does not work out, I usually come to my senses and remember that I have my little army of wee ones(and not so wee ones anymore) depending on me to have energy to keep up with them while Matt is gone, but this week, I decided to "NOT" come to my senses, to do the above and beyond, and to include everyone in it instead! Before Matt left, I secretly recruited my Dad to draw up designs for a small deck. We live in a ranch from the 60's that surprising the previous owners never put a deck or patio on. We have longed for a little deck off the back of our garage(the only door to the back yard) for years. But either time or money stood in the way. Matt and I had settled on trying to get a small deck built this year, nothing fancy or grand, just something to set a picnic table on so we could eat outside as a family. But, the time for Matt just wasn't there. That is when I began scheming.

One of the most precious things about my husband is his giving of time to others. I do not believe he has ever actually been home on a father's day. It always seem that one of his youth trips falls on Father's day. So, that one day, when he could be lounging or resting, is the day that he is usually driving a bus load of kids to camp, conference or missions trip. This year was no exception, but all of us this time were with him, taking kids to camp. And when he is not with the youth, he gives his time completely to our kiddos at home. I must admit that he is the better half when it comes to playfulness with our kids. He is always ready to wrestle, play games, or play in the pool with them. In the past few years he has even sold his little fishing boat because he did not want to take time away from his family while they are young. Then when the kiddos are sleeping peacefully, he turns his attention to me, either building my next project, cleaning things I just couldn't get to, cooking for us, and even helping me with all the shipping and cutting for the shop. This is without a doubt one of the most admirable qualitites about him that I truly cherish. And for the most part, he goes without any praise or encouragement.

So, he returns home today from his conference with the kids. After a crazy busy week of going non stop from 7am to 11pm with teenagers who far outweigh us on stamina, he is due some "days" of sleep! And what does he ask me last night when we spoke at midnight! "So, hun, we have the afternoon free, what do you need me to do?" Unbelievable, I was a bit speechless. But I know exactly what he is going to do!!! He is going to rest out on the deck that we built for him while he was gone!!!

Here is what we were up to while he was away! My mom and Dad came out on Tuesday morning. Mom held down the fort while Dad and I made a fun trip to the lumberyard!! I wish I had brought my camera with, but I was having too much fun loading wood into my van with my Dad anyways! It was pretty fun to work along side my dad! And I love watching him at work. He is still my hero! By lunchtime, he and Cole had the frame of the deck built and ready for Cole and I to start nailing down the planks! By dinner, we had the deck finished!!! A deck in a Day! Dad and I had to run out at dinner time to grab a few finishing things for it, and matt called me while we were out and asked what we were up to, and I almost forgot he didn't know -and i just about blew it! But I quickly averted it with the normal-"I needed ink for my printer"(I am always out of ink) and we decided to grab dinner out-"whew". It was so much fun to have Mom and Dad out here while matt was gone. Everyone just hung out in the backyard while we worked on the deck, even though it was a brutally hot week, we survived very happily!

Here are some of the pictures form our project.

Back from the lumberyard and ready to dig in.

Cole and Grandpa work on the frame.

Noah worked really hard!!!! On making a mess that is;)

All three of us worked together to get the planks spaced and nailed down.

And here is the finished deck for Matt. I can hardly wait until he is home! Here is one project he need not do but simply enjoy. Thank you dad for making this happen and helping me to honor my husband for all he does for us! And thank you to my strong, intelligent and growing boy-you are so deeply precious to me and your dad. I adore these three men deeply!

Poor Grandpa, tired from a hard days work for his daughter, but the kiddos just can't help but to climb all over him! Such a good sport!

And, yes, I have been enjoying the deck while Matt is away! This is the life! Quilting outdoors-the best of both worlds!

Here is matt enjoying the new deck! The kids made a sign to welcome him home.

And we all worked on getting the table all set nice for a summer picnic in the backyard.

Magic Garden Surprise

After a wonderful day of getting in some of the gardens, swimming in the pool(my kiddos braved the frigid water that was just put in yesterday!), and just some good old family game time, I had a chance to sneak away to the backyard and put up some magical lights just in time to have our family devotions outside under the apple tree just after dark. I had asked Matt earlier, to do me a favor, but not to ask why. "Please get me the Christmas lights up in the attic." He did ever so nicely even though going up in the attic is on the top ten list of "Things he hates to do". What a sweetie! Our devotions were appropriately titled "Limb climber or Branch sitter." It was a reflection on the limb God asked Joseph to climb out on in order to take Mary as his wife and raise Jesus. Trusting the Lord to do what he asks of us sometimes can be like climbing out on a shaky limb instead of sitting on a sturdy branch in which we have grown comfortable on. But it was mentioned in our devotions that no one knows that better than Jesus, who hung from a tree! It was pretty cool to sit out under the apple tree as we read. We actually managed to squeeze six of us on the swing(Noah is already of in dreamland). But I do not think that faithful old swing would have held up much longer than our devotions:)