The Rumley Family

Five years ago today we committed ourselves to each other, in front of God and our families and friends. I’m so thankful for my amazing husband. He is a consistent, faithful, dedicated man who works hard at everything he does. (His life verse is 1 Cor. 10:31 - “Do all for the glory of God.”) But he also loves to laugh (and make us laugh) and have fun. Many evenings after dinner, you’ll find us in our living room, with Luke playing praise music on his guitar or the piano, all of us singing loudly, and the kids dancing or running around the house to the music. Without Luke, I’m sure my life wouldn’t be so loud and happy! I love you, sweetheart!

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!

We’ve been listening to Christmas music for weeks now. I’m trying to remember if I started popping it in the player in October or November. Either way, we’re actually still enjoying it! Grace made a jingle bell thing at church this past week, and now every time it comes on the CD player in the car, she shakes her little bell and sings…

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

It makes me smile.

It’s a…BABY! No, I’m not kidding. They couldn’t tell the gender. (Baby wouldn’t cooperate.) Figures!

Grace and Caleb are both in this group, singing “Away in a Manger.” The video captures the “Be near me, Lord Jesus…” verse. Grace is in the upper left corner (third from the left), and Caleb is in the very bottom right corner. They did a great job! Grace actually sang the words, though not as loudly as some of the kids! Caleb was more preoccupied with his spiffy, new tie and the doll he was holding.

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?

We have a sick little boy on our hands. I’m not sure why Caleb always seems to be the one to get the barfy flu, but it has struck again. He was awfully snuggly this morning, and then he tucked himself into bed and fell asleep. And he didn’t want lunch. So, obviously something was wrong! We checked for a fever - it was 101.7° last I checked. And then a little while ago, he threw up. Poor guy.

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!