We met Melissa, Karl, and kids at the GR Children’s Museum in the morning, and my appointment was at 11:40am. So, Melissa, Ava, and I went to the appointment and left Luke, Karl, and FOUR kids at the museum for a little longer. (Aren’t the dads great? I was proud of them!) So, Melissa and Ava got to see our baby BOY, but his daddy wasn’t there! I knew Luke would be okay with it, because he’s a pretty laid-back guy (and he was at the first ultrasound).

We stopped at Meijer on the way home to get a few groceries and had the bakery ladies ice the above donut to tell Luke the news.

We were also blessed to spend a couple of days up north at my parents’ house to celebrate Christmas with my whole family. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, and we enjoyed visiting with my parents and siblings.

It gets pretty crazy at times with all five kids running around, so one outlet for energy this year was sledding. It was fun, and it helped tire out the kids a little bit. Here are some pictures from that…

And I made Jesus a birthday cake:

We also spent a couple of hours at my aunt and uncle’s house on Christmas evening. In the picture below, from left to right: my cousin Jordan, my cousin Ryan (9 months older than me), my uncle Paul, my aunt Bonnie, my cousin-in-law Jenny (Brandon’s wife), and my cousin Brandon. It was especially nice to see Brandon and Jenny, since they’re stationed in Texas with the Air Force, and I rarely see them. In fact, they’ve been married for 1-1/2 years, and this was the first time I’ve met Jenny. She’s a very sweet girl.

Random other pictures from our visit:

Notice it takes multiple shots with these kids, and I didn’t even get a good one!

We’re looking forward to spending New Year’s with my sister and her family at our house, and then celebrating Christmas again with the Rumley side this coming weekend.

Happy Monday, everyone!

This is what my belly looks like at 20 weeks…

More posts to come about our blessed Christmas celebrations.

I’ll tell you why…

She successfully took THREE steps! YAY, AVA!

She has been refusing to walk, and now when she finally does it, she takes three small steps and doesn’t even fall over! Good girl! She’s much more stable on her feet now than she has ever been. It won’t be long before she’s off and running!

And this morning we were treated to donuts that Luke brought home last night. I was trying my best to feed Ava her donut without getting her TOO messy. But I do have two other children to tend to. So, I set the donut down (obviously too near her) and turned around. And when I turned back around, this is what I saw! She’s a girl after her mommy’s own heart!

If I had to describe the last five years in one word, the first thing I think is “busy!” We had Grace eleven months after we were married, and now we’re growing baby #4. I’ve been pregnant and/or nursing since February 2004 - and it’s been BUSY raising our sweet kiddos!

The next way I’d describe these five years of marriage is “blessed.” We weren’t expecting to be “expecting” so soon after we got married, but what a blessing all of our children have been to us! They have shaped and molded us into people we would not have been if we didn’t have them in our lives. God has perfect timing, doesn’t He? Also, about 9 months into our marriage, we found Forest Hills Baptist Church, and we honestly LOVE our church family. We’ve been blessed to be a part of that family for more than four out of these five years. Not only that, but God’s blessed us financially. We’re committed to serving Him with our finances, and even when we were dirt poor and very in debt, He’s taken care of us. We’re happy to see the light at the end of the debt tunnel, though! What a blessing!

Our weekend began with an adventure. Luke’s mom (and Zach and Elyse) were kind enough to come watch the kids for us, and they had to come early because of the snowstorm we knew was coming on Friday. Thank you, Mom! Despite the crazy snow, we were determined to enjoy our planned celebration, so we headed out. On our way out of the neighborhood, we couldn’t make it up the hill by our house. We had to try three times before we made it! Then, I needed to stop at the Alto post office to send out Christmas cards, and we got STUCK in the middle of Alto’s Main Street - TWICE! The snow was crazy!!!

So, what we did after that…

We usually celebrate our anniversaries with a dinner out, just the two of us. This year we splurged and spent a night away at the JW Marriott hotel in downtown GR. It was a beautiful hotel! The bathroom was probably my favorite part, with a garden tub and a nice, large shower. They also have cushy beds, and just really nice furnishings (not to mention great service). The hotel is situated on the Grand River, and almost the entire outer wall of our room gave us a view of the river. Beautiful!

Friday night, we had dinner at Louis Benton Steakhouse, also in downtown GR.It was great food, but very expensive. We enjoyed ourselves and practically had to roll ourselves back to the hotel because we were so stuffed!

Then we enjoyed breakfast/lunch on Saturday at Wolfgang’s in Easttown. WOW! They had a nice, clean atmosphere, really friendly service, and huge portions of their yummy food. We got omelets, toast, hash browns, redskin potatoes, and OJ…and we brought half of it home because we just couldn’t eat it all! If you’re looking for a place to have breakfast, I highly recommend this restaurant!

That’s all for now. Happy anniversary, Luke!

“Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jing them all the way!”

It makes me smile.

Luke was also in the program as a shepherd AND a wise man! He did a great job! This video is a clip of the first song they sang: “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.”

You probably already guessed that Caleb isn’t sick anymore, since he was in the program - praise the Lord! He was sick all day Friday with a fever and only threw up once, and on Saturday morning (bright and early), he woke up running (literally). Apparently it was a one-day virus of some kind.

Saturday, we had play practice at 9am, and then headed up to my Aunt Margie’s house for our Lung Christmas celebration. I’m so sad that I forgot my camera at home! This gathering is the one time each year I get to see my relatives on that side of the family, so it was good to catch up and sad to have zero pictures of them from this year!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned - our ultrasound for Baby #4 is tomorrow at 4:35pm…and this time we’ll find out the gender (if baby cooperates)!!! Anybody have a guess if it’s a BOY or a GIRL?

In this picture, his sweet sister was trying to cheer him up by reading books to him as he snuggled in his blankets on the couch. Notice she also got her purple sunglasses for him to wear, because the sun was shining in his eyes.

Pray for my little boy to get better…and pray that I don’t get sick, since he was giving me some nice smooches earlier this morning before we realized he was sick. (Mommies don’t get too many sick days!) Thanks!