Struggling Community :(

Our community here in New London - Spicer is in some desperate need of strength and prayers for our youth. I am writing this with a sadness in my heart. Just in the last week there have been 3 suicides and two suicide attempts. One of them was a 29 year old originally from New London, then on Tuesday night a 15 year old freshman, then today another student from NL-S. Also, there were two suicides attempted, one yesterday and another this morning. I am just sick with sadness over this. This needs to be stopped. A friend of mine even received a phone call tonight from the school telling her to keep her kids home and keep and eye on them all weekend long. This is very serious and we as a community could use all the strength and prayers you can give to get through this. The school here is frantic and trying to figure out what to do about all of this. I'm sure that I have just rambled on and on, but I wanted to get this out there. Thanks for listening.

1st Taste of Cereal!!

I can't believe that the time has already arrived. Lately we have had Axel sitting at the table with us during supper time. He has really been watching us and taking everything in. I took this as a cue that he might be ready to start on some solid food himself. So last night Axel had his first taste of rice cereal. It actually went better than I thought it would. Not too many funny faces. He even opened up his mouth on his own just like he was an old pro at this. He did way better than the other two did when they were first introduced to cereal!!

Our Pretty Little Lady turns 6!

Six years ago today I met a pretty little lady that would change my life forever. Her name is Ella Hope!! Today our beautiful little girl turns six. Seriously, where have the last six years gone? She has grown so fast, and grown into such a remarkable little girl too! This past year has been a big one for Ella. She graduated from pre-school in May, started Kindergarten in September, welcomed another baby brother in October, AND lost her first tooth!! I'd have to say she has had a pretty good year, make that a fantastic year. I feel very blessed everyday to have her in our lives, she truly is a gift from God, and I love her to the moon and back.

We will be celebrating her birthday this Sunday, December 19 with friends and family here at our home. She has her church Christmas program in the morning then the party will follow. Can't wait to spend another day with family and friends, I enjoy every chance we get to be together.

Editor in Training

I love this one as a pencil sketch.

I am kind of behind the times when it comes to editing pictures on the computer. Last week I found this new program, picasa 3, and thought that I would take a shot at it. I would have to say that I think that I did a pretty good job, (according to me anyways). Now I just need to figure out to get a better quality picture, (resolution), because when I go to have any of these printed it will only do a 4 x 6 and anything other than that says to use a better resolution.

So if anybody knows how to do that and wants to let me in on the secret I would really appreciate it. I have so many ideas in my head of photos I would like to take, (one in particular) and edit so that I can have it enlarged a great deal.

I love how this one turned out!!

I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME AXEL AND YOU ARE MINE

On Sunday Novemeber 21st, we celebrated the baptism of Axel David. Other than the weather almost putting a damper on things, (we woke up to very icey roads), everything was perfect. All my family from Alexandria made it down, they are such troopers and I love them all. There was one close call though. My mom and Steve watched the trailer on the pickup in front of them start to fish tail and then roll several times into the ditch. They drove into the ditch (on purpose) and out again to avoid hitting anybody. Everybody was o.k. but very shook up.

We chose our friends, Tim and Melissa Hansen to be Axel's godparents, and what an excellent choice it was. They both love him very much and are always willing to help out in any way they can. We are certainly blessed to have such great friends.

.......And It's Out

After many weeks of wiggling, we have a tooth so loose that it's barely hanging on by a thread. The time has finally come to get it out!! Ella had decided that she wanted her dad to pull it out, which really surprised me. Is this the same little girl who thinks changing her earrings is going to hurt? Yep, it was, but after a little wiggle and a gentle tug, pop, the tooth was out. Now this was very exciting for all of us, as this is the first tooth to be lost in our house. Ella was right, she told us at the beginning of the school year that she can now lose her teeth because she is in kindergarten...too cute!!

Here she is, the toothless wonder! And just a side note, it won't be long till the one next is out also, as it is quite loose. Way to go Ella, and we love you lots!

Time Flys

I can't believe it, how fast time moves these days, that is. It seems like only yesterday that I was still pregnant, but it wasn't yesterday. It was one month ago today that I woke up feeling "just not right". There were no contractions or anything, something was just off. Call it mother's intuition or what ever you want, but some how I just knew that it was almost time to meet that new little being that had been growing and wiggling inside me for the past 38 weeks. It was a bittersweet moment for me, excited not to be sharing my body with someone else anymore, but at the same time sad that this will be the last time that I will ever feel that little person wiggling and kicking inside of me. I loved being pregnant, the miracle of birth, and how amazing the end result is when they place that tiny, perfect little miracle on your chest.

It was Sunday, 10-10-10, the day that I had picked out from the very beginning as the birthday for our new son. Never in a million years did I believe that he would actually decide to make his appearance on that day, but he did, and it was love at first sight. He was perfect, a perfect 10! I can't believe that Axel is 1 month old today, really, wear does the time go. I swear that with every baby the time just starts to move faster. No matter how hard I try to slow time down, I think it just moves that much faster in the wrong direction. So I have now come to realize that I must just enjoy every moment of everyday to it's fullest, the good and the bad.

So now our days are filled with the many feedings and diaper changes that a newborn demands, but I am enjoying every bottle and every dirty diaper knowing that we won't be doing this again. It is now time for us to just enjoy our children to the fullest. They are gifts from God and I love them with all of my heart.