Cousin Christmas and our Fun Day with Sam

Last Saturday all the cousins 18 and up on my mom's side of the family got together at Jeff and Angie's house to have dinner together, get caught up, and play games. The boys had fun playing Madden, the girls had fun talking, and then we ate and played two fun games together... we were there for 7 hrs. and it still didn't feel long enough! Mackenzie was so good... she played well by herself and interacted well with all the "big cousins" and then went to bed.... sadly waving "bye-guys" when she was told it was time for night-night! Here she is helping Aunt Amy make us yummy brownies! Dark picture, but it's all of us hanging out in the living room... so much fun to be together!!

The "Newest Newlyweds" couch

Matt, Katie (Matt's sweet fiance), and Kristie

I love the look on Em's face... I think they were trying to figure out who Mackenzie called when she got a hold of Ben's phone!

The Hottest Hunk and my handsome baby brother!

Today Sam came over for a visit... they were so cute together! It's a good experience for Mackenzie to see other kids playing with "her" toys... there is so much training to do in the area of sharing! He is such a sweet boy and could totally hold his own with the little mama even though he's four month younger than her!

They just couldn't have been cuter!

This morning she had a bath to get ready for her playdate with Sam and she started making everything her "at" as she calls "hats." Anything she can put on her head is a "at."

And I know I'm such a terrible mother for taking this picture and not helping her out right away, but it was just so doggone cute! It's not the first time she's gotten stuck in our magazine basket... I just thought this was so cute with her toothbrush in one hand and the other hand begging for me to get her out!

Not too much else to report... I'm still feeling good pregnancy-wise, just super tired and "needing" a nap almost every day just so I can function. We're still kinda feeling house bound and can't wait for all this snow to melt... it's not even good for playing in so what's the point? Last night Jake took "his girls" to Chic Fila so Mackenzie could climb in the tubes and then to the mall so I could stretch my legs and walk. And then we put Mackenzie to sleep at my parents and went to the movies together... it was all his idea... he came up with it on his way home and it blessed us so much!

This what she's been occupying herself with for most of the time while I've been blogging today... I love when she plays nicely by herself!

Our new roof and ceiling...

So it all started with a bang in the night... a branch broke off a tree during a storm and besides being awaken and quite bothered, we had no idea the damage it had done to our roof... until one morning after it rained and my dresser was covered in water! Jake poked a hole in the ceiling when he got home and water just poured from it! Apparently the branch not only poked a hole in our shingles, but it broke one of the trusses and two sheets of plywood. So the insulation was getting soaked and we had no idea until it finally started to seep into our bedroom. Oh what worked lay ahead... for Jake that is... I just stood by and looked pretty (not easy in my state you know... it did take some work!) We were so grateful for his dad's help over Christmas. He got up on the roof with Jake and did more than any man on vacation should ever have to do... but that is how the Moon men bond! He helped Jake so much and taught him so many things he didn't know about, it was such a blessing to have him here! They were up on the roof for two days in the bitter cold getting the old roof off and the new roof on... and it was REALLY, REALLY cold!

Jake then had the pleasure of ripping down our cardboardish ceiling that we've been dying to get rid of since day one, but it was nasty work!

After he ripped out the ceiling, he had to get rid of most of the insulation too, alot of it was damaged and had black mold on it. He threw it all out the bedroom window and instead of letting it sit there for days on end, he got right to bagging it up and throwing it away! I couldn't believe I didn't even have to nag him =) He really did work so diligently through this whole project!

Then he put in new insulation and a new drywall ceiling... I did help with this part a little... but the one time I was helping I broke a piece of drywall in half! He was so gracious even through that!

He then painted the whole thing by himself, he wouldn't let me get near the paint since I'm pregnant... so sweet!

All finished... it was so much work for a boring white ceiling! Now I know why people put glitter on their ceilings, after all that work you feel like you need something beside boring old white... but he promised we could live with it for a while before adding sequins and glitter and glow in the dark paint =)
What a hunk! And he's really godly too... I can't believe I get to be married to such an incredible man and my best friend too!

Here's our little sick girl... eating jello for the first time! It was so funny and messy and won't happen again until she's at least 5 years old... everything was dyed red!

Here she is showing off for Uncle Andy who came over for dinner on Monday night. She climbed into the basket that we keep our water bottles in and did a little dance.

Then she started rocking it back and forth...

whoops...

climbing back in...

so cute...

being a little more cautious this time!

I have to write a huge THANK YOU to my dear friend Sherie who watched Mackenzie for us while we went on a marriage retreat this weekend! I thought Mackenzie had recovered from her stomach bug, but it went from her stomach to her intestines and Sherie had to deal with messier diapers than I've ever had to deal with! Mackenzie went through so many diapers and didn't sleep well at all and Sherie served through the whole thing... and then her own daughter got the stomach bug on Friday night and she herself got sick after we picked Mackenzie up Sat. She is a champion servant, doing things for my daughter that I don't think I could have done for anyone else's kid but my own! We benefitted so much from being away on this retreat, but we couldn't have gone if it wasn't for my heroic friend who served through sleep deprivation and countless diapers and laundry and made us feel like it was her joy to do it! Thank you SO MUCH Sherie!! Words can't express our grateful hearts for your sacrfice and for the kind way you took care of our sick little girl!

Greetings from Vomit Central

Well, I got hit with the plague on Sunday morning. Since Jake was at accountability when I got sick, my friend Sherie came and got Mackenzie for me and took her to church. Andrew and Amy held her for worship while Jake set up Sunday School. My mom pinched-hit for me in Sunday School and then it sounds like Mackenzie was passed to every member of my family after church so Jake could collect her things and give my mom the stuff I had made to take to my mommom's that afternoon. (unfortunetly, we didn't get to see the Small side of the family for Christmas this year. We had post-poned it till Jan. 11th, but I couldn't get off the couch without dying!) I was so blessed knowing that Mackenzie would be taken care of no matter who she was with and blessed to have the house quite for a few hours so I could sleep. When they got home, they both took really good care of me. Jake got me everything I needed and Mackenzie would come over and put her head on my arm, but she understood mommy didn't feel good. It really was a 24 hr. thing though, my mom was going to come get her early Monday morning b/c I thought there was no way I could care for her feeling like I did, but I felt almost 100% when I woke up, so I got to keep her! I kept praying and praying she wouldn't get it... but... that wasn't God's plan. She threw up just a little bit in the store yesterday and I thought I was just being paranoid and it was nothing b/c she was acting fine, but when we got home it turned into a huge something!! I'll spare you the details, but it was gross! I am so grateful that my first experience with baby vomit happened the way it did. Jake was home so he was able to handle clean up detail (barely, apparently daddy's don't have the same stomach for sick kids that mommy's do!) and get me all the cloth diapers and towels I needed and Mackenzie and I just cuddled together and she got sick almost every 10 mins. for 2 hrs. straight... then it tapered off and it was finally over in 3 hrs. She just laid in my arms and moaned. It was SO sad! But she went to bed and slept through the night and has been acting like herself all morning. She's only allowed to drink pedialyte and eat small pieces of bread and crackers today, but she's managing ok so far. She's down for her normal nap and I can't believe that she's acting better so quickly! She is a trooper, that's for sure... much more so than her mommy was! I am grateful that if she was going to get it, that she got it before we went on the marriage retreat. And I am so grateful to live in this country and in this century where there is so much we can do for little ones when they are sick! I was crying thinking about mom's in other nations that have to watch their children suffer, and here I have a pediatrician just a phone call away and a pharmacy down the street! And I'm so grateful she got it before Aubrey was born... I can't imagine having a throwing up child and a nursing infant at the same time... but I know God's grace would be sufficient if it happened.

Today in my devotions I read from Spurgeon's "Beside Still Waters" and it really encouraged me for the task I faced today (you should see the mountain of laundry staring at me!)"We have great demands, but Christ has great supplies... Do you sometimes feel so thirsty for grace that you could drink the Jordan dry? More than a river could hold is given to you, so drink abundantly, for Christ has prepared a bottomless sea of grace to fill you with all the fullness of God. Do not be frugal. Do not doubt your Savior. Do not limit the Holy One of Isreal. Be great in your experience of His all-sufficiency. Be great in your praises of His bounty, and in heaven you will pour great treasures of gratitude at His feet."

I know my greatest need for grace has been met, my sins are forgiven! How will my God, who has forgiven me the greatest debt ever owed, not also supply me with all the energy I need for laundry and all the patience I need for a sick child? Yesterday when I was being vomited on every other minute, His grace was totally sufficient for me. Today when I tackle the laundry and try to keep up with the crumbs from her crackers, His grace is totally sufficient. And even if the laundry remains at the end of the day, and crumbs are still scattered all over the floor, I stand forgiven before my Savior and that indeed is all that matters! I am so thankful for His amazing grace!

This week has been a rollar coaster of emotions. My life long friend Jamie started to see spots at church, so she went to MB's house to get her blood pressure checked. It was fine, but then she started to go numb on the left side of her body. They called her midwife, and she sent them to the ER. She had a few more stroke like episodes while she was there and they admitted her. They did two MRI's and she spent the night for observation. When the MRI's came back in the morning, they showed that she had a brain aneurysm. The airlifted her to Jefferson Hospital where they did more tests. They were able to discern that the aneurysm was small enough to not be life threatening, but big enough to mean she wouldn't be able to give birth at her birth center and would need a C-section for precaution. God walked Jamie and Alan through this with such amazing grace, I can't even imagine their emotions to hear that Jamie might die, then to hear she'll be fine, but that'd she'd have to have a C-section. I think in light of everything, this was a small price to pay, but going to the birth center was something Jamie was so excited about so it was sad that she had to have a C-section. The verse that has been running through everyone's heads the past week is, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." (Pro. 19:21) Obviously, nothing happened that Jamie was planning for, but none of it was outside of the Lord's purpose for her life and for little Liv's life! That's right... little Liv Finn... a.k.a. Elizabeth Mei Christina Finn was born Jan. 7th at 1:30 p.m.!! Here are pictures of this little sweetie!

This one is my favorite!

Angie, Jayme, and I went to see her on Thurs. She was just 26 hrs. old... and as pretty as can be! Every little thing about her is sweet, she's very dainty and petite. She was only 6 lbs. and 15 oz. at birth... so she was even tinier than Mackenzie was when she was born. Word on the street is that Jamie came home last night, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I can't wait to see and hold this little girl again... she is so sweet and I can't wait for our own little Aubrey to be here in 3 months!!