A "Melissa" Friend

History seems to be repeating itself. When I was three years old, I met a lifelong friend, Melissa. We lived just down the street from each other and our mothers were and still are good friends. Our friendship ebbed and flowed over the years, but now she is one of the closest sisters in my life. I can't predict the future, but I think Emma may have just made a "Melissa" friend. She lives just down the street, her mother and I are becoming good friends, we have breakfast together with several other women and their kids in the neighborhood every Thursday morning. Yesterday, Emma and Mira were deep in make-believe for nearly 4 hours. Both firstborns, both little smarties, oh and did I mention dramatic and feminine? Well, so far, they've hit it off beautifully, as you can see by the picture. It sure makes me feel old to see my daughter where I was 25 years ago, but it's almost like I get to live my childhood all over again.

p.s. I love you Melissa! Thanks for all the precious memories!

24 Weeks and a New Do!

Here I am at 24 weeks. As you can also notice, very obviously, I chopped my hair off! Call it temporary pregnant insanity or just a need for change, but I think I've now officially convinced myself that shoulder length hair or longer is best on me. I've never cut my hair this short, so I guess now I know it's too short instead of always wondering right. Plus, it will be nice and cool for the summer, being pregnant and all. Little Sawyer is giving us lots of visable movements these days. We can just stare at my belly and see little limbs dancing around, it really is the best! It makes us more and more excited to meet him and hold him in our arms, but not for 14 more weeks at least, we want him "well done". The summer is under way and we couldn't be happier. We just bought a grill yesterday and sod will go in next weekend hopefully. There are plans for swimming lessons for the girls in June, VBS in July, and Tyler and Kim's wedding in August. We're hoping for some fishing/camping trips sprinkled in there, perhaps a trip to the zoo, and many park and backyard excursions to be sure. I hope this post meets you all well and enjoying the beauty and joy of this season! Hope to hear from each of you soon!
Love, Sarah

p.s. Notice the new age/birthday tickers for the girls in the right column.

Two Week Break

To all my lovely blog readers, I am saying farewell for two weeks...at least. This means, no checking blog comments, no reading other blogs, no new posts for two weeks. Call it a spring break for spring cleaning and projects, call it some time to refocus on priorities, actually call it both. But know that you are loved and that I will still be checking my email in limited doses, so please do email if you'd like. Blogging has become a distraction lately and I'm feeling the need to break some bad habits. Thanks for understanding!

Love, Sarah

Mother's Day

We've had a full and fun weekend! On Friday, I took the girls to Old Town to walk around and, of course, throw a penny in the fountain. Then we headed over to Grammy's and helped her hang clothes on her clothes line. Chloe is getting more and more brave with Grammy's dog Sissy.

My sprinkler princess! She just can't resist a chance to get wet.Friday night, we brought dinner to our friends Ben and Lauren who just had their second baby, Ava Belle, about a month ago. We brought steaks and chicken to grill and some side salads and rolls. The steaks turned out amazing, heavenly would be a good word to describe them!Chloe and Vanessa, who are only a few months apart, had a rough start in the sharing department, but thankfully by the end of the evening, were playing nicely. Emma and Vanessa, on the other hand, made fast friends as you can see here. Emma is the universal good big sister, little ones adore her! It was a wonderful, and much overdue time with good friends!

Yesterday was spent doing chores around the house, the girls and I inside, Travis with the fence outside. I'm happy to report that the pickets are 95% done! Now we just have the finish work, gates, and of course the treasured sod!

I had a very happy Mother's Day indeed! Travis and the girls made crepes complete with strawberries, bananas, butter, powdered sugar, and whipped cream for breakfast. If it weren't for the sausage I would have thought I was having dessert for breakfast, yum! Thank you my sweeties! We then headed to a local nursery where I picked out flowers for my hanging baskets and front porch pots. Nothing like freshly planted flowers to make me feel good! Then it was out to my vegetable garden plot where I planted my tomato and pepper plants. Here's a shot my neighbor took of me in action.

After starting these plants from seed, it feels so good to finally have them in the ground! I'll be planting the rest of the seeds during this next week.

After a good water break, the girls and I headed over to Grammy and Papa's house to "help" them with their gardening projects.

The expert soil mixers at work. Taking a break. Say "cheese!" Ah...This mama is SO blessed! This squirrel in Grammy's tree agrees!

A Sanctuary For My Little Ladies!

Spring is in the air! And so is my motivation for organizing and decorating. We have a three bedroom home, so naturally when Sawyer arrives the girls will be sharing a room. They are very excited about this, which adds to my own excitement about creating a beautiful, feminine sanctuary for them to share. I will try to paint a picture for you with words and a few sneak peeks. Imagine two shades of pale green, alternating in large vertical stripes around the bottom third of the room. Just above this, chair rail painted the darker shade of green. The lighter shade of green covers the remaining two thirds of the room. Now picture an antique white, distressed, feminine dresser and matching night stand between two twin beds. Here's the bedding.

Now picture, in the place of headboards, two shabby chic 8x10 picture frames hung by floral ribbon on decorative white pegs with these pictures in them.

This one, of course, above Emma's bed.

This one over Chloe's. Above each of these pictures will be their names, in wooden letters, painted in delicate pinks and greens. Additional wall and dresser top accessories are building up slowly. Here's what I have so far. The shelf I just found yesterday at my favorite antique store. The sign and frame are from Hobby Lobby. The frame is what will hold the pictures and will be hung similar to this. Beyond decorating the girl's room, their closet will need to be organized to accommodate both of their clothes and shoes. I will be getting a second closet rod that hangs from the first one so they'll each have their own rod. And of course, only two season's worth of clothes will be hanging in there at a time. Baskets will organize the top, shoe racks and storage drawers the bottom. Call me crazy, but it gets me just giddy thinking about all this decorating and organizing! I'm just one of "those" I guess. I'll post about my plans for Sawyers nursery next, so stay tuned!

20 Week Belly and Other Spring Growth!

Well folks, we're half way there! I can hardly believe it! Little Sawyer gives me plenty of kicks and punches throughout the day these days. It's absolutely my favorite part of being pregnant. And calling him by his name now is such a treat. It always makes me feel just a little closer to my baby when I'm able to call them by name. In other news, our fence is coming along nicely. We've nearly reached the picket stage, which should go quickly once we start. We've gone back and forth about whether to do seed or sod and have decided on sod. It will mean waiting on a few things, like patio furniture, but I think it will be worth it to have instant lawn. My tomatos are bursting out of their little starter pots and are very ready to be transplanted. I'll start the hardening off process next week and hopefully get them in the garden by mother's day. We'll get all the other seeds in too and start watching them grow! The buds on our trees and bushes are finally blooming into leaves and flowers, ah the beginning of the best three seasons of the year.This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to a women's retreat with my mom and sister at Camp Elim. What a wonderful time of refreshing and challenge. Our speaker was Kathy Drown, daughter of Nate Saint who was one of the five men martyred in the Equadorian jungle bringing the gospel to the most violent tribe in the world at the time. One of the men was Jim Elliot, Nate Saint was the piolet. Anyway, along with her amazing family story of faith worth dying for, she shared some beautiful and challenging truths from the Word about our calling to pass our faith on to our children. She gave such practical suggestions, along with TONS of supporting scripture. The biggest point I took away from the weekend was the importance of being purposeful in this calling. And that without the foundation of a genuine, growing, and overflowing walk with the Lord ourselves, our efforts will be empty and fruitless. God really used Kathy to speak to me this weekend and I'm praying so hard that the change in my heart will become life change. To close, I'll leave you with a beautiful picture I took of Pikes Peak on our way down from the retreat. Such beauty!

IT'S A...

Well, our first idea was to share the video we took of us in the ultrasound room finding out "the news", but we've had the hardest time getting the video to upload. It may be too long. But here are some pictures of our precious one. You'll get the big news at the bottom:).

Side view. It was hard to get a profile shot because my placenta was in the way.
Face, arm and handsFlexing muscles
Boy parts between two legs.
Introducing,
SAWYER MICHAEL!!!

We Hope For YOU!

For those of you who don't already know, we're having our diagnostic ultrasound this Thursday and yes, we'll be peeking to find out if it's a boy or girl. Going into Thursday, I can't help but feel a sort of pressure that I just have to talk about here. When you have two girls, it seems almost inevitable that everyone assumes you are hoping for a boy, and vice versa if you have two boys. This seems to be especially true since this will most likely be our last, Lord willing of course:). Now while we'd be lying if we said we're not curious what a boy would bring to the mix, what it would be like to parent a child of the opposite sex, I can't say that we're "hoping" for anyone other than exactly who God created in my womb. In our own limited view of our lives, and in our simple human logic, of course we've thought, it would be nice to have a boy. As I've dialogued with Travis about it, we understand how natural it is to desire a child of your own sex, someone "like you", to teach and train in "the ways of man or womanhood". I know that if I had two sons right now, I would be diligently praying for a daughter, but again, that would be in my own wisdom and understanding of what fulfills my life. And don't get me wrong, it's not just Travis who desires a son. I too would love to know that special relationship between mother and son.

But all this brings me to where our hearts are at a mere two days before the big ultrasound. And please know that these are not just words we've convinced ourselves to believe. This is really, truly where God has us, and it feels really good, all glory to Him! We know, that before this little baby in my womb was created, every hair on his/her head was numbered. Every day of their lives was ordained for them before one came to pass. Our precious Father, in His infinite wisdom, even took into consideration our family dynamics. And here's the part that fills my heart to bursting! He decided that Travis and I, full of weaknesses and faults that stretch a mile high, would be just the parents for this little life. That we needed this baby in our journey of growth towards deeper intimacy with Him, and that this baby needs us. Humbling? Incredibly so! And so don't you see? To "hope for" anyone other than exactly who this person is, girl or boy, seems pretty arrogant and silly. Do we really presume to know better than the God of the universe? The God who loves us so much that He sent His own son to die for us? The God who loves us more than any human love can match? Certainly not! We already love this baby, for exactly who they are. Thursday to us is an exciting chance to get to know this little one just a little bit more, and we can't wait! And we can't wait to share our news with you as well.

Baby (insert last name), we want YOU! We hope for YOU! We can't wait to see YOU on that ultrasound screen! Love, Mommy, Daddy, Emma, and Chloe xoxoxo

Our Life in Pictures

It's been far too long since I've shared a nice, full slideshow with you all. Enjoy this little slice of our lives, through pictures.

Weekend Prayers

There is a special family that is facing one of the most heart wrenching things I've ever heard of and they could really use our focused and heartfelt prayers this weekend, and especially on Monday. To read their story, click on this link: Bring the Rain. You'll need to click on the January link under archives, then scroll down to the last post to get the story from the beginning. To the God of all comfort be all the glory.

And please continue to pray for Tricia, Nate, and Gwyneth this weekend as Tricia is beginning the tedious process of healing and recovery from her double lung transplant.

In addition, if you feel so lead, please join me in praying for all the childless couples we know and love who are struggling with infertility, simply longing for life to be created between them. The journey can be so heartbreaking when month after month, the answer is "no". Let's pray for a resounding and lasting YES!

Lastly, please visit my good friend Anne Marie's blog to read about and watch a clip that brought me to tears. In a word, I will not be watching Oprah anymore.