{ Welcome to our Family Baby Wret }

 William Ronald Emerson (Wret)

was welcomed into our hearts back in July 2012, 

when we found out he would join our family

and into our arms on March 14, 2013

at 12:01 pm

6 lbs. 10 oz.

18.8 inches long

We are so in love with this little bundle of blessing.

It was our hope to have him at home, but after a long and tiring day and night of on-and-off labor, I made the call that I was ready to go the hospital.  We were so blessed by a wonderful team of our midwives and the doctor and nurses.  It was a difficult but beautiful birth and we are so blessed that God took care of us every step of the way.

 Isn't this amazing?  He was born with a perfect knot in the cord!

 The day after Wret was born, my parents brought Oliver and Katy Grace back home to meet their little brother.  Their reactions were priceless.  They LOVE him so much and are completely in awe of the whole thing.

Tim and his little tribe.  How I love this man!

  We are a family of FIVE!!!!!  Wow!

{ Loved }

The other day I was watching Tim spreading bark on our flower beds in preparation for spring.  I was absolutely overwhelmed by how much this man loves me.  I mean I've always known he does, but it still gets me when I see him in action like this, doing things I didn't ask him to do, just because he loves me.  He tells me all the time he is trying to take good care of me, and he does.  I realized I need to be more proactive about recording these "little" things because it is exactly this kind of love in action that keeps a marriage strong.  It is service and it is laughter, and he's good at both.

 We talked about love languages recently.  Tim's is overwhelmingly "Acts of Service".  It has helped me a lot to recognize this, because I am much more likely to think of writing him a nice card, sending him an email at work or putting my arms around him, and he likes those things, but it is service that makes his eyes light up.  I distinctly remember when we were dating he had mentioned wanting to get a portion of the driveway swept.  I took on the project one afternoon, while waiting for him to get home from work.  I could tell it meant the world to him when he drove in and saw me there, covered in dust.

He prays for me all the time.

Spends hours in the cold doing maintenance on our vehicles to help make ends meet.

Washing loads and loads of dishes.

Meeting me at the grocery store to do the lifting and loading.

Putting the kids to bed because by then I need a break.

Getting me out of the house as much as possible during the winter to keep me sane.

Carrying the laundry up the stairs.

Spending time with the kids when he gets home from work so I can finish dinner.

Washing the cloth diapers.

Opening doors for me.

Making me tea.

He says it is so little and that he is just trying to take of me and it doesn't seem like much.

I pray he sees that it is a lot to me.

Saturday morning he helped with the very overwhelming project of uncovering the bassinet for our soon-to-arrive baby.  It meant pulling everything out of the guest room closet, sorting the clothes by sizes into totes and putting them back in.  There is still a long way to go, but it is so much better in there.... and our baby will have a place to sleep :)  Silly Oliver tested out the new bed!

Then there are the many hours Tim puts in at work to provide for our family.  He is doing his job to please God.  It is his greatest desire and it humbles and excites me to witness his faith in action.

This past month and a half, on top of work, he has plowed through mountains and mountains of paperwork and hours of phone calls in the aftermath of the medical emergency with Katy Grace.  I've seen him discouraged, clinging to God's provision.

I've seen him praying.

I've seen him tested.

Challenged.

I've seen him grow.

And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much he loves all of us and how far he'll go to show it.

{ We're all crazy about this guy }

Today he took to day off to spend with his dad who is visiting for a couple of days.  It has been a cold and rainy day and this afternoon both grandpa and kids were down for naps.  Tim suggested a fire in the fireplace, just the two of us.  Then he made us afternoon tea.

How did God ever decide to bless me so fully from head to toe with this man who knows so well how to love me?

We have our struggles.

We get overwhelmed.

We don't always get along.

But because of God and His love, we're keeping at this marriage and it is beautifully rich.

{ A Very Merry Christmas }

It seems a little odd to do a Christmas post at this point, but unless I had posted Christmas night, I guess I had to run into this problem! So, here goes one more look back at 2012!

Tim and I both agree that this Christmas season was the best we have ever spent in our lives thus far. That is a bold statement, I know, but it is true! It was truly very rich and fulfilling. I think what I loved most was that we stayed busy with Christmasy things. We were doing something every weekend up until the weekend before Christmas, but it didn't feel busy or hectic, just festive.  Another element that contributed a lot to the richness was having our two little children really beginning to appreciate all that Christmas includes.  There is something truly magical about children at Christmas!

{ this picture is a little fuzzy, but I love it because I think it captures that wonder }

The first weekend of December we spent getting our Christmas tree and decorating.  We also attended our first Christmas party. 

 ~

The following weekend we spent a family Christmas day in the city {here}.

 ~

Tim and I read "A Christmas Carol" together, the first time for both of us.

We watched lots of Christmas movies.

~

The following weekend was Katy Grace's first birthday party and our annual Christmas party.  Tim and I were also thrilled to see Handel's Messiah live for the first time!  It was spectacular.  We attended a performance at an historic Catholic church.  It was the perfect setting for such an event.... other than the very hard, wooden benches we sat on for three hours!  We had dinner out together before picking up our littles.  A wonderful Christmas date!

~

The Friday before Christmas we invited our long-time family friends over for an early Christmas dinner and presents.  Tim lived with this family for over 10 years in his bachelor days and is Uncle Tim to their kids.  Kurtis and Karli are pretty much the closest thing our kids have to cousins, so they're very special!  We also watched "A Christmas Story".  A must-watch Christmas movie for us.  I mean, we even own "the lamp"!

Then came Christmas!

December 23 will always be a very sweet memory for us.  We spent the evening as a family.  Fire blazing, listening to Bing Crosby on the Victrola, playing carols on my violin, snuggling on the couch, watching the kids play contentedly together.  It was a good old-fashioned feeling.  To top it all off, when we looked outside, it had begun to snow.  It was almost too good to be true!  We went to bed with it still falling and woke up on Christmas Eve to a white winter wonderland!  Truly storybook.

Christmas Eve day, my family came and spent the day with us, including my sister Bethany (Auntie B) who had flown in the night before.  I made brunch: baked omelet, cinnamon rolls, bacon, fresh pineapple and tangerines and of course coffee with plenty of egg nog.  

 Tim was happily able to use his new snow blower for the first time.

Yes, I dressed the kids up as elves on Christmas Eve... just because I could!  They loved it!

Then of course there was snowman building.

The guys started first, while sister watched eagerly from the window.  I love this picture of the little face in the window.  It looks just like last year when Oliver was watching from inside.

Before long, Katy Grace and I joined in the fun.  It was her first time to experience snow.  She thought it was pretty amazing.

{ Then there were naps and snuggles with Auntie B }

{ Snuggles with Daddy }

My family left in the early evening and we all went to our own churches for Christmas Eve Services and then spent Christmas morning at our own houses before joining up again Christmas day.

{ Christmas Eve, our neighbor's house all lit up }

{ Our house "

{ Christmas morning }

{ The day dawned beautifully with very cold but brilliant sunshine }

We drove down to my parent's house in the early afternoon.  We decided to take the long, scenic route.  Tim and I had driven it the very first Christmas we spent together.  That was five Christmases ago.  It hardly seems possible we have been together that long.  What a lot has happened since then!  That drive, five years ago, was when we had our "we are in a serious/exclusive relationship talk", when we knew that if everything kept going ahead, we were headed toward marriage.  That day was also brilliantly sunny.  Such a happy drive down memory lane and pretty special as we remembered it and kept looking in the backseat at our two little blessings with one on the way!  Wow!

{ Opening gifts at Grammie and Bapa's with Auntie B }

{ We finished the night off with a trip to the train park to see the lights }

{ Tim asked me to dance on the little platform there.  Again such sweet memories of our first time there together five years before when we danced and were falling in love. }

 A good end to a wonderful Christmas season!

Now on to 2013!

{ Katy Grace :: 1 Year Old }

Our little Katy Grace is 1 year old!
It is hard to believe, for sure.
I am amazed by the richness of this past year in so many ways,
but largely due to her sweet presence and development.
I can't imagine life without her, without a daughter.

I have never really been into pink,
but in this past year I have found myself rediscovering it
and appreciating it in a whole new way.
There are many days that Katy Grace is dressed head-to-toe in pink!

She loves all things girly.
She is obviously thrilled when she is wearing a party dress
and she is a shoes girl. No mistake!
If you're wearing jewelry, you're her best friend.
She already loves clothes shopping.
Nothing makes her happier than frolicking in a pile of clothes.
I can see we're going to have fun shopping for years to come.

She started walking a couple of weeks before her birthday.
She says a few words, mostly "mama" and "dada",
but she certainly practices her words.
She loves to eat.
She almost always out-eats her brother!
She likes to talk on the phone.
She started sucking her index finger about the same time she learned to walk.

We are beyond blessed that she is a part of our family.

We love you Katy Grace.
Have a wonderful year!

{ The birthday girl getting some help from brother }

{ Gifts!!!!!! }

{ All dressed up for her party }

{ Grandpa reading to Katy Grace before the party }

{ Birthday girl snuggles )

{ Lighting the candle }

{ She was quite dainty with her cake.  This was about the extent of the mess! }