He's still employed!

I totally hit the jack pot at Once Upon A Child today.
I got so many cute winter things for my kids, for so cheap, it's not even funny.
This is literally the first time I've had to go shopping for my kids since they've been born because we've always used hand-me-downs. But, for once we actually don't have enough to get us through the winter for Ethan.

So I got to go shopping.... and well little girl's clothes are so cute, I couldn't help myself.
It's so exciting to buy your kids clothes! I know it sounds cheesy, but I've never done it before!

On to something less fun...
So every one who marries, marries the blessings and curses of the in-laws right?
So, I've officially decided that one of the curses I've married in to is the Malefyt's bad luck with cars.
You mention cars to any Malefyt, and the first thing they'll say is "I hate cars"....
because it seems like no matter what kind of car any of them buy - they'll have problems with it.
Well, in true fashion our car has stopped working again.
Our fuel pump's completely out.
This is probably the 6th time since Karl and I have been dating that one of our cars completely pooped on us.
So, we're carless - yes completely, since we share a car.
Bummer.

Even more bummer - Karl's going backpacking this weekend and leaving me with the kids, and no car all weekend!

But once again I am reminded of that verse after I got an awesome phone call from Karl this morning...
He's keeping his job! FOR SURE!
They have moved the middle school manager to the High School,
and they've moved Karl to the Middle school (over the next couple weeks),
and he's going to keep his job for as long as he'd like it!
Of course there is still the stress of a new(ish) job - but I am so happy he's got one!

Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 is starting to present itself as my "life verse" the past few years.
I don't have time to sit and recollect every time, and memory that's attached to it right now...
But, it seems like every season in my life it becomes relevant, prevalent, and comforting all on it's own.
I don't seek to find it, but it finds me.
A few quick memories that come to mind are at a youth leaders' retreat with Mars, we put it on clay pots as a visual exercise.
When I was stressing over Karl's job security, it popped up randomly.
I thought about it randomly the other night, and seriously contemplated what it meant to me, my family, and my life...
even seriously considered getting it tattooed at a sweet reminder.
Then today as I wrote in my journal about my heartache and excitement (yes, you can have both!) about Evelyn spending the first part of the night in a play yard next to the bed, instead of snuggled tightly in my arms... it was on the bottom of my journal page for the day...
I just love that verse and what it does to my type A mind when I can't figure things out myself and be a future-fortune-teller...

Jeremiah 29:11, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Anyways, moving on...
I spent Saturday and Sunday in Indiana at my grandma's family picnic.
It was nice.
Ethan swung back and forth between angle and devil child.... as to be expected for this age, ...right?

Evelyn had a go at solids again this weekend, and I think she's crossed the threshold as far as being developmentally ready to start trying a little here and there. She no longer makes faces, and spits the food back out. But, she's starting to grasp the concept that when a spoon comes near her face, so does food. She braces for it, and actually swallows now! She also has sufficient enough head control to be in her exercauser for short amounts of time now.. which is really cool! I think she really likes it.

Today I am going over to my mom's with the kids, returning Daniel, helping them to get settled and possibly taking my sister School shopping in exchange for my dad to come over and finish painting the font of our house that is driving me crazy! I need to take advantage while I can before he gets a job! I think he's going to take care of some leaking issues we're having with our shower doors too before too much water damage is done...

I have to babysit Tuesday-Friday this week - so I'll be back to my usual business here soon....

Oh, and we have our first social worker interview Tuesday at 10AM for Fostering! YAY!

So, that's my craziness

My parents officially moved to Michigan. 

We spent the better part of this last weekend helping them move. 

I'm so glad that they're finally here!

Evelyn had her 4 month visit earlier. 

Let's just say she's my little porker!

Almost 14 pounds!

She's about the 60th percentile for weight, and get this - 96th% for height!

We have a super model on our hands!

We didn't do the DTaP vaccine this round, and she had absolutely no adverse reactions to the vaccinations. She ran a fever for a bit, but that's about it. 

Before vaccinations: Nice and calm

 

After vaccinations, and just as calm!

Doc said for how often she eats, combined with her developmental mile stones and weight that we should start introducing rice cereal, and apple sauce. 

We tried Organic Rice Cereal first...

She wasn't having it.

We tried Organic Stage One Apple Sauce next, she wasn't having that either.

I don't think that she's ready for solid foods. 

They go in, and then they razz back out. 

We'll try again in a week or two. 

I am in no rush. 

The other day I had a photo shoot up in Rockford, 

So Karl and the kids came along so we could eat at The Corner Bar. 

It's one of our favorite places, but we don't ever go because it's so far North. 

But, we figured while I had to be there anyway...

might as well go. 

I also took advantage of their cute little down town, and did a mini-session with Ethan. 

 

I can't believe how big he's getting. 

I think I love this stage the most. 

I guess I really love every stage...

but toddlers are just so full of personality!

Last night I got a good amount of time to watch Evelyn sleep, 

and to actually do some reading. 

It was really nice. 

I'm watching the baby sitting kids plus my brother this week, 

Daniel until 9:30PM...

So, it was much needed and appreciated.

Weeks Just Fly By!

I can't get over how fast the last 2 week have flown by.

I have been consumed by babysitting, photo-retouching, and going mad trying to keep up with every day life.

Evelyn turned 4 months a few days ago - can you believe it!?

• She has shot up and gotten a lot bigger over the last month! She grew a whole diaper and clothing size in what seemed like a mere 2 weeks.
• She is wearing 0-3 and some 3-6 month clothing, and a size 2 diaper
• She is starting to get her "permanent" hair. It's slightly lighter than her newborn hair, but it's still darker, and I hope it stays that way.
• She loves chewing on anything, but especially her feet
• She's started sucking her thumb to self-soothe
• She occasionally takes a bottle of formula (I would have never thought I'd ever do that!) when we're gone.
• She doesn't take a pacifier much anymore
• She's still sleeping in bed with us
• She grabs on to rattles and anything graspable
• She does not like to stand up, she has a case of noodle-legs every time I try
• People compliment her eyes - she has very bright eyes with long lashes
• Se doesn't mind being on her belly and can hold her head up for a very long time before giving up.
• She's started "talking" a lot and she's started a new "fuss" cry that is different than her "immediate needs" cry.
• She can roll over, but isn't happy about it when she does

My parents are moving up this weekend.

I'm so excited! I think it's going to be very good for me and my kids to have them close.

We are also finishing up our applications for foster-parenting today, and turning them in at training tonight. We have one more class next week, and then we're done! We'll be assigned a social worker, and given a home-study, and then we'll know if we're going to be foster parents.

I am so excited about this.

Karl and I feel a huge calling to do this...

I know it sounds corny but when you feel God-led to do something, you step out and do it in faith, and things start to fall in place - it feels so good, and reassuring, and purposeful.

I am so excited about the prospect of stepping outside myself and my family, and actually doing something to (hopefully) genuinely change the life of someone else with out foreseeing any "gain" for myself. It's not often you get a chance to be excited about doing something self-less and life-changing. So, we're pretty pumped.

I'm done babysitting September 5th - and I should have significantly more time then.

I am excited to get to spend more quality one-on-one time with my kids for a while.

Looking forward to slowing down...

I finally got done processing a 1,000+ image wedding today.
Whew! It felt really good.
Now a family shoot, engagement shoot, and another wedding to go... humph.

Evelyn has started sucking her thumb. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.
I know I should break the habit before it even starts, but it's so adorable and conveniently right where it's suppose to be every time - unlike binkis!
She has been on a major growth spurt the last week.
She literally has grown an entire diaper size in the past two weeks alone.
She is now in 0-3 month clothing, and even some 3-6! and wearing a size TWO diaper!
I'm hoping in September, when I'm done babysitting, I'll get to spend a lot more one-on-one time with my kids.
And maybe then time will stop whizzing by.
Right now I feel like I'm in a whirl wind of "things that need to be done" all the time.
And I look forward to it slowing down a bit.

In fact, as I was reading that same book I mentioned before (Having a Mary heart in a Martha world) there was a couple paragraphs that really spoke to me again:

"Part of me is Mary. I want to worship extravagantly. I want to sit at his feet.
But part of me is Martha - and there's just so much to do!
So many legitimate needs surround me, compelling me to work. I hear God's tender call to come away, and I respond, "Yes, Lord, I will come." But then the phone rings, or I'm reminded of the check I was supposed to deposit - yesterday. Suddenly all of my good intentions about worship disappear, swallowed up by what Charles Hummel calls 'the tyranny of the urgent.'
"We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important," Hummel writes. "The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study can wait. But the urgent tasks call for instant action - endless demands pressure every hour and day."
Does that sound familiar? It does to me. The twenty-four hours alloted to each day rarely stretch far enough to meet all the obligations I face. I have a household to run, a husband to love, children to care for, and a dog to feed. I have church commitments, writing deadlines, lunch engagements to keep. And very little of this is what I would call deadwood. Long ago I tried to cut out what I thought was extraneous. This is my life- and the hours are packed full.
[...] So where do we find the time to follow Mary to the feet of Jesus? Where to do we find the energy to serve him?
How do we choose the Better Part and still get done what really has to get done?
Jesus is our supreme example. He was never in a hurry. He knew who he was and where he was going. He wasn't held hostage to the world's demands or even its desperate needs. "I only do what the Father tells me to do," Jesus told his disciples.
[...] That is the intimacy that Jesus invites us to share. He invites us to know him, to see him so clearly that when we look upon him, we see the face of God as well.
[...] In obedience to his invitation, we find the key to our longings, the secret to living beyond the daily pressures that would otherwise tear us apart. For as we learn what it means to choose the Better Prat of intimacy with Christ, we begin to be changed.
This is no cookie-cutter conversion. This is a Savior who accepts us just the way we are - Mary or Martha or a combination of both - but loves us too much to leave us that way. He is the one who can give us a Mary heart in a Martha world.