24 Weeks

I am 24 weeks pregnant now and feeling so good. Finally no more sickness and the placental tear that I had must have healed because I haven't had any complications with that either. I am now getting heartburn every couple of days and lots of cramping in my legs at night. I am not complaining just saying what I am going through. :)

This pregnancy has been so interesting. I think if there is a symptom to be had I have either had it already or will in the next couple of months! :) And I will gladly go through them all to have our little girl.

I just wanted to post a picture of my belly because it has changed quite a bit since the last picture that we took.

What a difference a month makes!!! Just a few more and our sweet Addy girl will be here!

In Transition

Wow, we have been pretty busy since moving from Tennessee back to Florida. We spent the last week or so at our friends Jon and Christie's. We are so thankful for them and for the time they allowed us to stay at there home. We felt so comfortable and enjoyed every minute of it! Now we are staying with our friends Larry and Terri until the house we are renting becomes available which could be the week of Christmas. It is so fun getting to stay with your friends but I am ready to have our own home. :)

I am now 23 weeks pregnant and showing quite a bit. I still can't get over how fast I started to show with this little girl. She is one active little thing, actually kicking as I write. I will post a new pic soon. I am still having a hard time sleeping. The combination of pregnancy and getting up with Andon every night a few times a night is starting to wear me out. In the last week he has started having a lot of nightmares about strangers. I am sure it has to do with all the moving around and getting reacquainted with old friends. So we have him sleeping on a mattress on the floor where we are until we move into our house. Sweet little thing.

We went to see our families for Thanksgiving and took a couple of pics before heading out. We are in desperate need of some family photos but I figure we will just wait until Adelyn comes. Here are a couple pics of my handsome boys and one of me and Andon.



Andon goes in for surgery on December 29th to have (hopefully) his final palate surgery. This will be the big one where they take bone from his hip to fill in his palate and gum line. We have been talking to him about it to prepare him as much as we can. That has been the hardest part about this surgery. In all the surgeries he has had (10) he has always been so small. Now he is old enough to talk about it and have some sort of understanding. We were taking a walk one day and he said "Mom, when will I be be able to stop having surgeries?" It was so interesting to be talking to him and explaining this to him. He is such a precious boy. I couldn't be more thankful for him and the experiences that his life have brought to mine. We would be so appreciative of prayer for him on that day and the week following. Recovery will be quite a bit harder than in the past because not only will he have a lot of mouth pain but also hip pain and trouble walking.

Other than all of that, Andon and I have been having so much fun hanging out with all of our friends again! We actually had a beach day last week and I think we are going again next week. Bummer I didn't take any pics, I was just relaxing and enjoying the scenery way too much. :)

20 Weeks

It's early on Saturday morning and I am having the hardest time sleeping. Last weekend I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday and 6:00 on Sunday. I think because I have a lot on my mind with the move it is affecting my sleep. And the fact that I can't sleep on my right side because my ear falls asleep and when I wake up it kills!! Or the fact that I can't sleep on my tummy because someone else is sleeping there. :) I don't know.

Today we are finishing up packing the apartment. We leave out of here this Friday around 5 am. This last week here in Tennessee will be pretty busy between Dr. visits, last minute packing, picking up records from our Dr.'s here and so much more. I am a definite list maker. I've had one going for two weeks now. Some things get crossed off and more added but I don't think anything will be forgotten.

I just wanted to quickly update on where we were and what we are up to. I am 20 weeks pregnant now and if you aren't friends with me on facebook then you don't know that we found out that we are having a GIRL!!!! We are so excited around here! I haven't gone a bought anything yet but I have been SO tempted! :) Jared took a picture of me yesterday so I could post here. Not the greatest pic but at least you can see my belly.

Last week we went and had dinner with our friends Jeff, Elizabeth, Peggy and Ian. We had so much fun hanging and letting the kids all run around. We took some pics and I said I wouldn't use them anywhere but I lied. I just love these girls and am gonna miss them both so much.

It has been a great year here in Tennessee. I am looking forward to moving back to Florida to be close to our family and friends but will really miss it here. It is a beautiful place to live and raise a family and who knows we may be back. :)

Where the Wild Things Are

The boys love going to the movies together so today after church they went to see "Where the Wild Things Are". Andon loved it and as soon as they got home he asked Daddy to make him a crown like Max's.

Trying it on for size.


He loves it and hasn't taken it off yet. :)

I got a comment on my last post about giving a recap of all that is going on here. I absolutely will! Just give me a day or so and I will catch you all up to speed on our crazy lives and post some pics of this belly of mine. :)

Andon turned 6 today!

At 8:15 a.m. 6 years ago today my sweet little Andon Chase came into this world. I can't believe he is 6 years old!! I was talking to my Dad tonight and he said it feels like we were just at the hospital. I have loved and am thankful for every up and down of the last 6 years with this sweet boy!

We don't really have many birthday traditions around here yet but this year we started a few. Since he was born in the morning we thought it would be so fun to do his cake in the morning. He LOVED that idea as well! If you know Andon you know that he has a major sweet tooth! :) Here are some fun pics of our morning.





After breakfast Jared headed to work and Andon and I headed out to the trails. We have these great walking trails near our house with a fun playground. The weather was just beautiful today, high 60's, sunny and lightly breezy. We had so much fun we were gone for a couple of hours and didn't even realize it. Then we came home and got showered and went to lunch with our friends Elizabeth, Lukas and Avery. Thanks again for lunch E! After lunch we came home and relaxed until Daddy got home from work. Another tradition we want to do is let the birthday person pick where they want to go for dinner. So we let him decide and he chose.... McDonald's. Not my first choice but not my birthday. :) We had fun playing in the playground and meeting new friends there. There was this little girl that was following Andon around the whole time he was trying to play. So Jared told him to introduce himself and he did. Once he did that the flood gates opened and she told him all about herself. When it was time to go Andon said goodbye to Anna and she put her hands over her face and said NOOOO, I don't want him to go!! It was so cute! I told him he had a girlfriend and he just rolled his eyes at me. :) We had such a fun and relaxing day celebrating our boy!!

I think this weekend we may go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. There are a few things we still want to do here in Tennessee before moving back to Florida. Oh yeah have I not mentioned that yet? We are moving back in a couple of weeks! More on that later. :)

Fun Fall Festival

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to the Crosspoint Church County Fair. It was held at a local farm with all kinds of fun things to do. The kids all had a blast! Of course I took some pics of our time there.
This picture just makes me laugh. Andon loved this little donkey and it seemed to really like him too. He stayed there petting that thing the whole time we were waiting to ride the hay ride. So cute. :)

Uncle Jared and Kylie. We miss having her stinky self around.

The boys leading us through the corn maze. They loved taking turns leading us around. A couple of times one of them would lead us close to the end and then the other would get a turn and turn us back around. :)

The kids at the end of the corn maze.

My dare devil boys. :)


And he found another animal friend...

It was such a fun day at the farm. The weather was perfect and there really was so much to do. Just a week before we went there we took the boys to pick out pumpkins. They both got to pick out a face and help Jared carve it out. Their pumpkins turned out so neat and I did take a bunch of pictures but I somehow erased them of my card!! I was so bummed but at least it was just that!

My sister and her kids are now back home in FL. We are enjoying having a quiet house for the time being. :) We really do have so much going on that I can't wait to talk about. We were supposed to be headed home this weekend for Andon to have surgery next week but I am rescheduling it for December for a couple of reasons. I think we will be headed that way the week of Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see everyone! :)

Kylie's 1st Birthday!

Last weekend was my niece Kylie's 1st birthday. The whole house was decorated in pink and white balloons and streamers, it really was so sweet! I loved being able to celebrate this with her and my sister and nephew. The weather was beautiful so we grilled hamburgers and spent some time playing outside.

Here she is opening her presents, don't you love the sweet bow i got her! I almost bought two in case I have a girl but I didn't. :)

Here is her cute Care Bear cake...

And blowing out the candles with mama and her brother...

The fun part! Getting to tear up your very own cake! :) She loved it!

Posing with the boys.

She is just the sweetest little baby. Jared and I have really enjoyed having her here for the last month. Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

ABC Mall Scavenger Hunt

After reading my friend Brittani's blog last week I saw that she took her kids for an ABC mall scavenger hunt. I loved the idea and had to take Andon and my nephew Cody. I went online for ideas but really couldn't find anything so I made my own list of things from an Apple to Pizza to an X-Large shirt. It was so fun running around looking for each letter and sounding them out together.

Here are some of the fun pictures I took of the boys. This is them standing under an apple. I didn't know how easy it was going to be to find an apple in the mall but as soon as we got there we saw this in the food court.

Here they are on the Escalator.

Looking so cute in these Hats.

My sister Jodie and my niece Kylie also came along. Kylie was so good the whole time, here she is with her sweet little self. :)

And here are the boys going over their lists to make sure they both got everything.

They both really enjoyed our first homeschool "field trip". When we were all done their prize was an icee from the pretzel place. :)

Matching Jammies

Just a fun post with pics of Andon, my nephew Cody and niece Kylie. Mostly for my Mom, my sister and her kids live with my parents and she is missing having them around so I told her I will try and keep the blog updated. (I'm not always the best at that :))
Here they are in their matching jammies...




The boys have been having so much fun getting to playing together and do school together. And Kylie is just the most precious thing. I have some really cute pics to post soon of her and her big grin. Too cute! :)

Rainy Week at the Cabin and Other Stuff

I know I have been a terrible blogger lately. I have had quite a bit going on and sometimes it's not always easy to write here. After my sister Jamie didn't come back to Tennessee with me I had a really hard time trying to understand all that happened with her. I am still struggling and heartbroken about it especially now knowing how long she may be in prison.

I am 12 weeks pregnant now... Today was the first day I didn't have to take the Zopran for nausea. I did start to feel sick around dinner time but once we ate I started to feel better. I would love to not have to take it but it is totally safe and since it helps so much I will if I have to. I do have a pooch I guess you could call it. :) I didn't show with Andon until around 20 weeks but this time around it's a little sooner. I don't have to wear maternity clothes or anything but my clothes feel tight. I think I will start taking some pics soon to post here. :)

We spent last week at some of our favorite people's cabin in the mountains in Georgia. It was such a nice relaxing week. It did rain the whole time we were there but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. I did take a few pics of what we were up to. Here are some of Jared and Andon putting together a Lego airplane.

Andon made a small one while Daddy was making the big one.

The finished product.

We spent a lot of our time at the different creeks and rivers nearby. One of the places we stopped had a rope swing that we couldn't get Andon off of. He loved swinging out over the river. I decided to do it also and as soon as I left the land the rope came out from under my foot and I was just hanging on! I had to hold onto this knot while I swung way out over the river and back. Needless to say I didn't do it again! :) Here is my little guy on the swing.



Here is my sweet guy just looking out over the water. :)

Now we're back home and have company once again. My other sister Jodie called us a few weeks ago and asked if she and her kids could come and stay with us for a little while. She is going through some really hard things and we are trying to help her through this. Please pray for her. I do have some fun pics to come of the kids. My sister has a 5 year old boy and a 1 year old little girl. Andon is loving having them here! We got a fun idea from my creative friend Brittani to go on an ABC Mall scavenger hunt. The boys loved it and I took tons of pics to post here soon.

9 Weeks

I still can't believe we are pregnant!! :) Our due date is April 7, 2010. It has been a long road to get to this point. But after 3 and 1/2 years God chose to bless us with another baby. I am truly thankful and absolutely amazed at His perfect timing.

Let me tell you though...

This pregnancy has already been totally different than my last! I think I got sick once while being pregnant with Andon. And with this one, I have been sick for the last 4 weeks!! It has been so hard. Not only dealing with the nausea and vomiting I also got a sinus infection and a chest cold. And then after taking a walk one evening last week I returned home and blood just started pouring out of me (sorry if that makes anyone sick) but it was pretty scary. We headed to the hospital and found out (after waiting for 6 hours) that I had a small tear in the uterus. The baby was totally fine. They said I should be on bed rest for a week or so to let it heal. Needless to say my sweet husband has been doing everything around here. I am SO thankful for him. He cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped, took care of me and Andon and all the while worked.

But the great news is that I have been feeling somewhat better the last 2 days! I even cooked dinner last night which was so nice. I actually miss cooking. weird. I have been taking Zofran and it really helps! I don't really feel normal but I feel like I can start to do things again. I had an appointment with my Dr. yesterday and she said the tear looks good and hopefully will just continue to heal itself.

Now that I am feeling better I plan to update the blog a bit more frequently. Please pray that I stay feeling better. I hope this isn't a little fluke!! :) Either way we are so thrilled.

And thank you all for the sweet comments on Jared's last post. I just loved reading every single one of them. I know so many of you have cried with me and prayed for me over the last few years and I am so thankful for you.

Love, Jen

He is Sufficient

I need to start off by saying that Jen and I are in a good place. Moving to TN propelled us headlong into a deeper relationship and understanding with each other and with God. I am not saying that everything is easy, actually everything that has happened or is currently happening is difficult. The job I have dedicated the last eleven years of my professional life to is coming to a close. As a family we felt led to serve Jen's sister with our time, talents and gifts (knowing the journey and outcome would be difficult) as well as the stress of leaving family and friends. This, oddly enough has been exactly what we needed. I will explain. Moving took away any safety net we ever had, it exposed the need to live life with no comforts of a home, not hiding in the comfort of friends and no idea what tomorrow would bring. Living this way reveals the need to not rely on anything but Him, and that's what we are doing. Jen and I often joke that today we are in TN, tomorrow we could be half way across the world and if that's what He wants then we will gladly go. Living this way also reveals where you are personally and spiritually. It forces you to take a long hard look at yourself and make one of two decisions. Either ignore what is before you and slip deeper into oblivion or face the reality willingly and be challenged to change. We chose change. It has been the drum beat of every decision, every conversation and every day. God revealed the need for us to depend on Him and grow. He also revealed that all we have is now, not our past or the promise of tomorrow but the here and now. This grants you the freedom to consider all things joy, even the things you felt you would have to do without. One of those things we had to let go of was the promise of having another child. For three and a half years we have tried and just recently let go. We accepted the idea that this might not be His will even though it is our desire. In place of that we chose Him and found He was sufficient.

Jen and I just started asking God "what's next?". With Jamie leaving we turned to Him and said, "ok, you asked us to do this with no guarantee of a positive result and we did, we served. Where else would you have us focus, who should we display love to like you have given us" and God's response was "In your family" needless to say He has chosen to bless us with another child. Jen found out that she is pregnant and I could not be more in awe and in love with God. Even as I write this I am crying with joy.

I want to thank everyone who has walked this journey with Jen and I, who have prayed for our family and the blessing of another child. Your prayers and ours have been answered.

Took a few photos...

After church today we headed out to take a few photos of my sister and her kids. She has been wanting to take them to the Natchez Trace Bridge so off we went. Here are just a couple of the pics we took.


And of course me and my little guy had to get in on it! :)


I really like this one! We just look like we are being silly as usual. :)

One week left of the kids stay. So we are planning a few more things and just trying to enjoy the rest of the time we have with them.

Cow Appreciation Day!

Yesterday was Cow Appreciation Day as all of you who read this know!! I know that because I saw all of your cute pics on your blogs and facebook! :)

We weren't really planning on going but I was on the computer in the morning and kept seeing stuff for it. So I went into my sister's room to see if she had any white shirts we could ruin and she did! We had fun coloring spots all over the clothes and getting the kids ready. Jamie decided to take them into the bathroom and draw black spots on their faces! They really loved that part, except for Jordan. He said he didn't look like a cow he thought he looked like a spider monkey instead!! I was dying laughing!! :) I don't know what a spider monkey looks like but I had to agree with him that he probably looked more like that than a cow! Here are a few pics of our sweet little cows/spider monkey...


And A. Jamie in the mix...


We actually had so much fun! When we got there the place was pretty empty so all the employees came over and were taking pics of the kids. Of course the big cow came out and all the food was free! I'm sure we'll do it again next year!