Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to Chad Barr, Chris’ cousin. Tomorrow he is graduating from Law School! We will be going to the ceremony at 10am! We are so excited for him. He has worked very hard for this. He has already begun studying for the Bar exam which he will take in July. Please keep him in your prayers. He does have a job already with a law firm here in Orlando - which he loves!
Job well done!
Well…I can’t believe it…we are done with school - Caleb has finished 1st Grade! Woo-Hoo!
This has been a strange school year for sure. Just a couple of days before we started school, I found out that I was pregnant with Ella! Then for the next 12 weeks, or so, at least 1 person in the family was sick! It was a challenging way to start the school year (on top of the first trimester “yuckiness”). Our math books came in late, too, so it was a slow start to the school year.
But the Lord was faithful to help us push through the many obstacles. Even with sickness visiting us again for a few weeks and the arrival of a little sister, the Lord helped us through!
So we are all excited to have a bit of a summer break! Yay!
Caleb excelled in reading this year. He went from not enjoying it at all, to LOVING it! He couldn’t wait to read in his Bible Reader. (I loved that about this curriculum - his reader was only Bible stories. Starting in Genesis, he read about all the major stories in the Bible! What a great way to learn to read! Not only was his reading getting better, but he was learning about God’s Word at the same time!) Caleb now reads things everywhere (even my email sometimes!) What a reward it is to see him developing this new love!
Well, that is about it! Enjoy these photos! Congratulations, Caleb! 
We went up to Gainesville this weekend. This was Ella’s first trip out of town and her first visit at Grammy & Grandpa’s house!
We had the privilege of having my dad dedicate Ella. This was so special, as now he has dedicated all of our children! :) And it was even more special since it was on Mother’s Day! What a great gift!!
Dad prayed for Ella that she would grow to know the Lord and that He would keep her. As many of you know, we affectionately call her Ella Bella - Bella means beautiful. Dad had been impressed with the scripture, “Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news…” He sensed that Ella would be a messenger of the Good News!
It was a very special time! Here are the photos from the Dedication (but keep reading below):
We were also able to celebrate Mother’s day with our moms, as Andy & Emily (along with Anne MacLean) came up for the day. We had reservations for lunch, then we went back to my parents’ house for dessert and gifts! It was a great weekend!
As a note: Please pray for my mom. She has hurt her back - again. She couldn’t do much of anything all last week. She is getting better, but is still in pain and moving slowly.
Here are more photos:
Just for a moment since I don’t normally post on the blog. It’s Chris - I wanted to take a moment to honor my wife for mother’s day. She is not only a beautiful woman who has somehow managed to put up with me, the biggest of her children, for almost 10 years now - she is also a faithful mother who loves and cares for our boys with excellence day in and day out. Stephanie is a treasure to our family and a gift to me and my kids. The boys often will remind me that they love mommy more than me - even though this is an instant way to start a wrestling match in our house I can certainly understand why.
As a mother Stephanie proves everyday that she is a woman worthy of honor and today is a great opportunity to say to her - Thank you & I love you so much…
Well, Ella is 4 WEEKS OLD today! I can’t believe it!
She has officially grown out of the Newborn size diapers. It made me sad! For some reason, I love newborn diapers - they are so tiny - but I think they also represent such a special time - a time that is never repeated. Maybe that is why I love this first month so much. There are so many firsts and just the “falling in love with the baby” that takes place. Obviously it is not an easy time as everyone is adjusting, healing, etc. But it is a time that I wouldn’t trade for anything!
I continue to be amazed that the Lord chose to bless us with Ella! What a gift she is to us! I am trying to make the most of this time and enjoy every moment!
I heard that it is National Nurses Week, and I thought I would tell you about a very special nurse!
Many of you may remember Stacy (McGuffin) Butschek. Anyway, she was my labor and delivery nurse with Ella! It was so neat to see a familar face walk into my room! I had prayed for a good nurse, and the Lord answered my prayer over and above what I had asked for!
Stacy took amazing care of me all day! What a gift!
So, Stacy, THANK YOU for not only what you did for us, but how you serve families every day as a nurse!
Hope you are blessed today!
Okay, well, it has been a busier week. We are starting to get back into life a bit. So let me get you caught up…
Ella had some more firsts! First time to American Pie Pizza Co. :-), first shopping trip, first concert, first time to Liki Tiki, and first time at Metro Life Church!
I am so grateful that I am getting some energy back. Each week brings more strength, energy and a sense of getting back to normal. Thankfully, my recovery has been relatively easy. (Not that there hasn’t been pain involved, but compared to what it could be…I really can’t complain!)
So we are starting to venture out a bit, as you can tell by Ella’s “firsts” this week! :-) She has done really well. She is sleeping well most nights and eating like a little piggy! (She is convinced that if she is awake that she needs to be eating!) I am still amazed that we have a little girl! But she fits SO WELL in our family!
She wasn’t all that crazy about her first shopping trip with me. :( I think she was just tired, but we went on Thursday night and got her dress for her first Sunday service. On Friday night, we went to the CD release party for Generation Letter. Chris played in a band with Kyle, Jonathan and David that opened for the other group. The guys did a GREAT job and had a blast! Ella slept through it (don’t worry, I kept her in the hall away from the loud noises!) Oh - Ella was 3 weeks on Friday, too! On Saturday, we went out to Liki Tiki for some fun in the sun and the water. Ella hung out in the shade of her stroller and slept most of the day! I think the constant noise of the water fall just helped her be so relaxed! The boys had a blast! They are little fish! Boy, you can tell summer is just around the corner - it is getting hot and the sun is getting more intense! Thank goodness for water! Finally, she had her first Sunday at Metro. She seemed to like the worship time! It was fun to be back and to see everyone!
Okay, enough with the typing…here are some pictures from this week!
Well, Little Miss Ella had her first “busy” weekend!
On Saturday, I went for a much needed haircut. Chris and the boys were working in the yard, so Ella made her first trip to the salon! (First of many, I am sure!) :-) Everyone “oohed and ahhed” over her! Ms. Rose loved her hair! Ella just slept through it all and let Mama have a relaxing time!
On Sunday, she had one of her first big outings! We went to Amber Sutter’s graduation party. It was at their home. There were many people from church there, so she kind of made her debut! It was a lot of fun showing her off! Again, she slept through most of the evening!
Then last night, we went to Kristen’s 30th birthday party! There was a whole other group of friends there, so once again she made her debut! It was great. The other fun part of the evening was seeing some of Ella’s newborn friends for the first time! We saw Sadie Cox, Winston Anderson and Danae Herron! They have all been born in the last 5 weeks or so. Ella, Sadie and Winston were all lined up on the counter - on the baby display! :-)
Ella has been doing pretty well. She has been a tad more fussy the past couple of days. I think some of it is because she is starting to be awake a little more. She wants to eat a lot still and she really likes to be held - a lot, so we are working on that! She loves for Daddy to hold her and they love to snuggle at bed time - it is so sweet!
Today we were pretty tired, so it has been a low-key day. I think the busy weekend wore us out!
Thanks for checking in on us. Enjoy the new pics!
Okay, this was just too funny not to share. Chris went in to check on the boys a few minutes ago. Alec rolled out of bed when he was in there. Look at how he landed and he was just snoozing away! Oh, and let me explain a couple of things…the blue mouth is from a popsicle earlier tonight (think it had some food coloring in it?) and the crazy hair…he tried spraying gel in it and fixing it on his own. (No telling how much gel is in his hair!)
How is it possible? My baby girl is already 2 weeks old! What a couple of weeks this has been. We LOVE having Ella as part of our family and can’t imagine life without her! What a gift she is!
Well, we started off our day at Ella’s 2 week appointment. She is now 9lbs, 6 oz. and 21.5 inches. (She has grown 1.5 in since birth!) Both her height and weight were in the 90th percentile! But I must say, I am a bit relieved - Alec started out at 8lbs, 13oz and was 10lbs by 2 weeks! I am grateful that at this point, she is not keeping up the same growth rate as her older brother!!
The doctor said she looked “perfect”! Almost all of her bruising is gone, and her skin is much more white/pink (instead of yellow!) The doctor couldn’t believe it when I told her that Ella started smiling in the hospital - I don’t think she really believed me until she was talking to Ella and our girl flashed a big smile at her! The doctor said she had never seen a baby this young smile like that! :-) She said she would have to write that down as a first…to later be compiled in her book! Ha! That’s our girl!
Tonight, we dropped the boys off at Gremmie & Dodo’s and Mama, Daddy and Ella went out on a date! Ella slept most of the evening, so we had a nice dinner. We stopped by the mall to look in one store and then when we came out, our car battery was dead. Exciting evening! We had planned to go one other place, but decided to cut the evening short. We went back to pick up the boys and visited with Gremmie and Dodo for a while. It was nice and relaxing - and a nice change of scenery!
I took these photos today. Enjoy!
PS - Happy 30th Birthday, Kristen! and Happy Birthday, Mandy!
