MORE COUSIN FUN:)

SARA BETH AND ANNA
CALLIE AND LOU
CALEB AND LINDSAY
GODMOTHER LEAH AND JOJO

These are just more pictures of the kiddos with some of their cousins and their time together over the 4th. Last night we had our first visitors to Oklahoma, our dear friends the Stocktons. We had a great but short visit. They will be coming back through next weekend and will spend a couple of nights with us. I will post some pictures next weekend. We are getting ready for church tomorrow and Greg's induction as the vicar. They are having a potluck at church to welcome our family. I always love a good old Lutheran potluck:)

BABY SHOWER AND BUDDIES:)

My dear sem girlfriends

Trying to stay cool in Oklahoma

I just wanted to post a bit about our last couple of days at the seminary. We headed back there with a truck packed with all of our Wisconsin stored things We pulled into St. Louis at around 4:00 on Thursday. We had all our friends coming the next morning at 8:00 to help us pack. Ahhh, there was lots of loose ends to tie and pack up. Early the next day we awoke to rain. Rain and LOTS of cardboard boxes don't mix very well. I immediately prayed for the rain to stop. My dear neighbor Margie fed the kids breakfast so they were out of the way. And her gem of a husband, Louis the master packer, was the engineer behind trying to get all of our stuff in the truck. We had loads of help, we were so grateful. The rain did stop, and they got all of the boxes and furniture out on the lawn. We had a strong feeling we were not going to get it all in. So I was setting aside things that could stay and be given away. Around noon I was calling to see if we could add a trailer to the moving truck. With the trailer we got it all in. I was amazed. I had lots of great lady friends who helped me clean the whole apartment. They did all of the hard and messiest jobs. They were awesome.

That night we headed out to the park for our last BBQ, which got rained out as we ate. It was pretty funny to see everyone scatter. I was disappointed because I really wanted to get a chance to visit with everyone. Little did I know my upstairs neighbor had planned a little baby shower for me. It was a total surprise. She called me upstairs and her hubby, Greg, and all the kids hung out in our empty apartment. All my dear friends came over and made lots of yummy chocolate food and they blessed me with lots of fun stuff for the little one. I think it actually hit me for real that we are having another sweet baby. I had been so busy and certainly hadn't been focusing on that. It was even more special to just spend time with all of these ladies who have been so important and such a support system over the last 2 years. I was crying before everyone even showed up just holding my sweet godson Asher thinking I wouldn't get to spend time with him or them like I had been normally. It had already been a long week of saying goodbye to family. I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

The next morning we finally got all our bedding and air mattresses out and were out front of our apartment. There we gathered with 30-40 of our dearest friends from sem. They had all come to say goodbye to us. They surrounded us and prayed for us before we left. I was a mess. That meant so much to me to have them pray us out of there. I had never imagined what a blessing our time at the seminary would be. I knew we were going there for Greg's education for ministry, but I never imagined how much the kids and I would love it, or how many special, wonderful friends we would be blessed with. It was a very special last 2 years for us. Now I am excited to continue to pray for all of them that will still be at the seminary or out on vicarage and to see where the Lord will place them in the future. They are very dear people!

FUN IN WISCONSIN

THE BIG KIDS AT THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

CALEB AND THE ARTISTS HANNAH AND ELLA

THE LITTLE SQUIRRELS ON THE PORCH

THE LADIES ON THE DOCK

GRANDPA AND THE BOYS

Hello long lost friends. We have been busy. AHHHH! But praise the Lord we are in our home in Oklahoma and things are getting somewhat settled. I will share more about our move and leaving the seminary in my next post. But for now these were all pictures from our time up in Wisconsin. We had to go up to rent a truck to move things from my parents basement that we had stored there during our time at the sem. So we figured we would spend a little time with family. Twice a year we all (my 5 siblings and 17 grandchildren) try to converge together at my parents cabin. Of course Grandma and Grandpa come along too, and I must say that they handle all of the noise and commotion quite well, all things considered. So the 29 of us all spent a few days together up in the north woods. That was the best part of our trip. It is vacation. There really isn't much that you have to do, unless it is your day to cook for everyone. So we spent a week hanging out at the lake, visiting, and just enjoying each other. It was a blessing to have that time with family. As you can see the kids had lots of fun with all of their cousins.

After our time at the cabin we headed back to Dousman to pack up the truck. We had lots of help from family. And decided to leave the picnic table with our friends the Cecils in Watertown, thinking we probably wouldn't have room for it in the truck. Little did we realize how much else we might not fit in. Yikes! But I had started to think about it... When we moved to St. Louis 2 years ago with out all of the stuff in my parents basement we rented a 28 ft truck that was packed full. Now to move out we were renting a 26 ft truck and we had to fit even more in. How was this going to work? I will fill you in on that in my next post:)

21 WEEKS AND COUNTING

THIS LITTLE ONE IS FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE:)

MY EVER EXPANDING TUMMY:)

FOR YOU CREATED MY INMOST BEING;

YOU KNIT ME TOGETHER IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB.

i PRAISE YOU BECAUSE I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE;

YOUR WORKS ARE WONDERFUL,

I KNOW THAT FULL WELL.

MY FRAME WAS NOT HIDDEN FROM YOU

WHEN I WAS MADE IN THE SECRET PLACE.

WHEN I WAS WOVEN TOGETHER IN THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH,

YOUR EYES SAW MY UNFORMED BODY.

ALL THE DAYS ORDAINED FOR ME

WERE WRITTEN IN YOUR BOOK

BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE.

PSALM 139:13-16

WOW, GOD IS AMAZING!

TAKING A BREAK AND MAKING SOME SEMINARY MEMORIES

Greg, the kids, and the balloon launcher

Some Seminary Love:)

Jojo and the goats at Grants Farm

The kids outside the Clydesdale Barn

We are packing like crazy but still trying to take some breaks to enjoy our friends and the St. Louis area. The weather this week has been so much nicer than the last couple of weeks. It was so hot and humid before. So today we went to Grants Farm, on Monday we were out that way because of the ultrasound and stopped by but they were closed, so instead we visited Ulysses S. Grant's home. It is called WhiteHaven and is right by Grant's Farm. Monday was more educational, very interesting, even Greg and I learned a lot. Today was more just plain fun. Grant's Farm is one of their favorite places to go to in St. Louis. Greg and I got such a kick out of watching the kids and all of the animals. It is the home to the famous Budweiser Clydesdale's.

BABY HINTZ:)

We all were very excited today to get to see a close up view of the baby. The top picture was a 3-D and the bottom was a profile with the normal ultrasound scan. Wow, when we saw the top one we all thought it looked like my niece Hannah. She is 13 but for some reason this baby looks a bit like her. Jojo was disappointed when it was all over, he was thinking he would SEE the baby, he kept asking why the baby hadn't come out yet. He will have to be patient a while longer:) We were thanking God that everything looked good with the baby.

On Thursday I had gone to see a Catholic Dr. who is very pro-life, it was so refreshing to have the conversations about family and babies with a Dr. that is very openly a strong Christian. I laughed saying, that I was now considered advanced maternal age. He laughed saying that I was young and he seemed genuinely excited for us with this pregnancy.

Today was a different story. We were at the hospital so it was a different place with a different Dr. After the ultrasound tech came in she did the scan and said everything looked great, but that the Dr. would come in and talk to us. He came in and asked how old I would be when the baby arrived and then went on to give us the risks of having a down syndrome baby. That was all he said and then he did a scan. He didn't say a word for a few minutes just looking at the baby. Then he said it all looked fine so he would say that we have an even slightly lower risk but that we could still seek genetic counseling and an amniocentesis if we wanted. Boy did I feel old after that. And it seemed so sad to me. The Dr. just seemed to dwell on any negative possibilities. It just seemed to make more real the world's perspective on the value of human life. It was such a difference from the other Dr. I saw last week.

We are so thankful that the Lord has put this life inside of me, what a gift this child is, HOWEVER God made him/her. (The kids were begging to find out if it will be a boy or girl... Mom won out they will have to wait for October:) We don't at all take for granted God's miraculous creation in creating this human life. We all continue to pray for the Lord's protection over this little one and can't wait to get to meet him/her.

ASHER'S BAPTISM AND A TRIP TO OK.

THE BOGGS BUNCH

SWIMMING IN THE OK HEAT

We were blessed a few weeks back to witness the baptism and be godparents to sweet little Asher Boggs. He is the newest addition to the Boggs family, our dear friends on campus. He is such a sweet little guy and we really look forward to praying for this little one and his family in the days, weeks, and years to come. Every time I look at Asher he reminds me of my parents 1st foster baby that they took care of while I was in High School. He is such a precious gift from God.

We also were able to spend a week in OK house hunting. Praise God we found a place we can call home when we move there in 5 weeks. AHHHH, is it really that close? For months I have been trying not to think about Call Day or moving because I knew it might cause more stress and I know (being the emotional person that I am) it isn't going to be easy to leave all of our wonderful friends on campus. But I think it is time I REALLY start to think about it:) Greg and I are getting lots of packing done in the evenings so that at least makes us feel like we are heading in the right direction. It really feels good to know where we will be living. It brings peace to this mommy of the house. We again are amazed at God's faithfulness and provision for all of our needs.