A Kid at Heart...

...that's what my husband is. I think in order to be a good children's pastor you have to be. Although Seth is not only a good children's pastor he is a great children's pastor.

The last Sunday of every month Seth does a thing in Kidz Express called the Hoogle Boogle Express Test (Yes, he did make up the name, but don't tell the kids that.) When Seth asks the kids what Sunday it is they all yell, " It's the HOOGLE BOOGLE (and then they whisper) express test." It's really cute and the kids love it! He tells the kids that it's the greatest game show in all the world that's played across continents and the kids in Lima, NY are privileged because they get to play it. Although, I don't think the kids believe him.

Every Sunday the kids earn points for different things and they are tallied all month long until the Hoogle Boogle Express test which is the deciding day on who, boys or girls, wins that month. The Sunday of Hoogle Boogle is set aside strictly for games and a whole lot of fun. It's always boys vs. girls and after a child wins a game Seth asks them a question, from the previous 3 Sundays about something that he preached on, if they answer the question correctly they win more points for their team. At the end of the day which ever team is ahead wins a prize, the next week it starts all over again.

In the video Seth is playing for the girls and Mr. Alex (one of Seth's leaders) is playing for the boys, this week this game was the deciding factor of who won because the points were so close. I'm so proud of Seth winning it for the girls!

Seth does such a good job making Sundays fun for the kids while at the same time making them think, memorize scripture, and gain biblical principles. I love watching Seth with the kids from church; he does an amazing job!

All Smiles

Good Music

Derek & Heidi Jo

Our good friend, Derek Levendusky, held a concert last night which Seth and I attended, talk about good music! Derek is a part of the band Isaiah Six, but just released his first solo album called Prophets & Princes. His wife, Heidi Jo, opened for him and then sang back up. She also has a CD out called The Way Home and is in the process of recording her 2nd album. Check out the music and then go buy the CD's! Seth and I have Isaiah Six's Jealous One, we also have Heidi Jo's The Way Home and we plan to get Derek's Prophets & Princes.

Baby Feet

Since I did a post on baby hands yesterday I thought I would follow up with one on baby feet. Because I love baby feet as much as I do baby hands, especially when they belong to my baby! I thought I'd share a little bit about Jericho's feet and what they have been up to.

When I look at Jericho's feet I often wonder where life's road will take them. Where will she take her first steps? Will she want to run barefoot or want to have shoes on? Will she enjoy running and playing sports? When will she walk down the aisle? So many questions and soon enough I will know the answers, but for now I enjoy carrying her places and knowing that these feet go where I choose. I'm not afraid to let her go, I'm just glad it will be a while before that time comes.

Seth has a tattoo of Gideon's footprints on his fore arm, they are the actual size that Gideon's feet were. They were so little, yet compared to his body they were kinda big, that's my fault. It was cute though. I remember telling Seth as I pointed to his tattoo, when I was 26 weeks pregnant for Jericho (that's when Gideon was born) that the baby in my belly had about the same size feet as the feet on his tattoo. It was kind of cool knowing what size the baby and her feet were as I looked at my belly.

I love this picture because it shows that Jericho is such a combination of Seth and I. She gets the pinkie toe that curls way under from Seth. From me she gets the size, which tends to be a little on the bigger side, and the fact that she can spread her long skinny toes. She will probably pick things up with them one day, it's not a bad thing it saves you from having to bend down, trust me I know.

Jericho wore her fist pair of shoes to church this Sunday. Daddy kept asking when her feet would be big enough so she could start wearing all the cute shoes she has. Well, they're still not big enough, which is somewhat surprising, but Seth thought they were cute and wanted her to wear them, so she did, and it was cute! You cant get blisters from shoes being to big if you're not walking around in them. Right?

The girl has more shoes than her mommy and she's only 8 weeks old and her mommy is 24 years old, it's sad, but the shoes are cute so she'll wear them. Plus, it will make her Moni happy.

Baby Hands

I love baby hands! How they hold on to your finger so tight with no plans to let it go. So trusting and in need of you. How their little fingers tickle your back as you hold them close as if they are thanking you for the snuggle.

I love the little dimples on their chubby hands where knuckles will one day be. Baby hands are so soft and small. They are so innocent. Having done no wrong yet. When I was little there was a song that my mom used to sing to me and one of the verses said, "Oh be careful little hands what you do." What a good song to sing to your children the other verses say oh be careful little eyes what you see, ears what you hear, mouth what you say, and feet where you go. I now sing the song to Jericho and as I sing it to her I pray that she makes wise decisions in what she says, hears, sees, where she goes, and what she does.

I've always thought it was cute when baby's would suck their thumbs or fingers. I always wondered if any of my kids would suck their fingers or thumbs, I was a thumb sucker myself. Jericho was 5 days old in the picture above. Whenever her hand would come close to her mouth, which she never did on purpose, she would always try to suck on it. Now she is bringing her hand to her mouth purposely and trying to suck on it. It's so cute!

What do you think, do I have a thumb or finger sucker on my hands? Or maybe a fist sucker.

Preparation

We only have one car, praise the Lord that it's working right now, and on Sundays Seth likes to be at the church at 7:00am so that he can prepare for Kidz Express, our children's program that is very good, in case you were wondering, and I'm not bias at all. Back to being there early, I wouldn't have to be there until 9am or really even 10:30am, if I only went to one service, but because of the car situation Jericho and I head in with Seth at 7am. Sometimes it's tough getting up and getting ready, especially now with a baby, but I actually enjoy being there early and getting to see everything that goes on for those 2 hours before the first service begins. One of my favorite things to do is to sit in on the worship band's dress rehearsal.

This Sunday before the band started practicing the man that was leading worship started to pray over his band members and the service. He said something to the effect of, Lord we come before you, as the priest use to in preparation for a sacrifice, and we cleanse ourselves, prepare our minds and our hearts and may your spirit rest upon us as we prepare for the service today. He also went on to pray for the actual service. As I sat there and listened to this prayer I started to think about all the preparation that goes into a service.

I have told Seth many times, I think almost every Sunday, that I love the fact that Pastor Mike, our head pastor, is always there before us. I don't know if he is there 2 minutes or 2 hours before us, it doesn't matter, what matters is that he takes his position seriously and is the first one at church preparing himself for service. I love it! As a member of Elim Gospel Church I enjoy knowing that my head pastor doesn't just throw something together minutes before service begins; he prepares a message and he prepares himself. To me that shows that not only does he think my time is of value but that his message is also.

So as I sat there and watched all the hustle and bustle of the band practicing, the tech guys working on the lights and slides, the ushers setting out offering buckets, and the many other things that take place. I smile and think this is why I love my church because they prepare for me. Preparation is a major part of success.

Yesterday

We had a wonderful day yesterday. It stared by sleeping in till 10:30. Well sort of. I fed Jericho at 7:30, then she peacefully played by herself for an hour and a half or more, then she took a nap till 10:30. If you count that as sleeping in (at this point I do). After we got up and got going we decided to go to the Rochester Public Market.
We'd never been before and thought it would be fun to walk around and spend some time together. I enjoy looking to see if there are any good deals. I was also hoping to pick up some pumpkins so that I could make some yummy desserts with them. My friend Andrea has some recipes that I'm excited to try.

While we were at the market I was amazed at all the diversity that we saw and heard. I wish I could have counted all the languages that were spoken. It's was neat to see so many different cultures in one place buying and selling from each other, all with the same purpose of providing for their families whether it be the food they bought for a meal that night or the money they received to help pay the bills that month.

It had rained at the tail end of our visit to the market but as we were driving home the sun started to shine again. I love when there are clouds in the sky and the sun is shining but you can't see it, all you see are the rays streaming through. It always makes me think that that must be exactly where God is sitting at that time and the rays are His Glory shining down. It was a beautiful sight. If you look hard you can see the rays in this picture. We were driving while I was taking this picture so it was a little hard to capture what I wanted to.

It was the 20th yesterday, Gideon was born on the 20th, after Gideon died we decided that on the 20th of every month we would go to the cemetery to visit him. I guess it's our way of honoring and remembering him. We went out right as the sun was setting and the pictures above and below is the view from where Gideon rests. There have been many tears shed there but it has also been such a place of comfort for me. Life stops where we're there. I need life to stop sometimes. I need to be able to think of nothing else except my son sometimes and I get that once a month. Every time we go I'm amazed at how peaceful it is. When you think of a cemetery you usually don't think peaceful, but it is. Can you feel it when, you look at the pictures? I can.

When we got home from the cemetery we took a walk around our yard. Sounds kind of funny I know but we have 3 acres and if you walk around a few times it makes for a nice walk. Jericho wasn't to interested in our walk though. She slept. She was so uninterested she pulled her hat over her eyes so no one would bother her.

The reason we walked our yard instead of somewhere else is so that we could continue to train the puppy. We put in an invisible fence for him. We are at the end of the training process to where we are taking up the flags a little at a time to see if he will try to leave our yard. I don't think we are going to have a problem. Gamba has been such a baby when it comes to getting shocked. We've had to drag him into parts of our yard so that he knows he can go there without getting shocked. He's been doing better about exploring all parts that he can go but staying away from the spots that shock him. Now we have to figure out how and when to teach him (when he doesn't have the collar on) that he is "free" We have fields behind us that the farmers said we could walk Gamba around and want to, but how do we do that after we just taught him to stay in our yard? If you have any ideas let us know.

This is how I ended the night, a little to late if you ask Seth. I did end up getting my pumpkins and I cooked and pureed them so that today I can make a pumpkin roll and maybe some pies. Thanks for the recipes Andrea!

Yep, we had a wonderful day yesterday and it was followed by a good night sleep, Jericho slept 8 hours straight and on a Saturday night no less (we need a good night sleep on Saturdays because our Sundays are so long). I couldn't get any better!

I Tried!

I was going to blog and tell you all about the wonderful day that we had today but in order to do that I had to show you pictures and for some reason it was not letting upload them. I think it is because it's getting late and the Lord wanted me to go to bed tonight. Tomorrow is Sunday and I do have to be at the church at 7 am. Ahhh, the life of a Pastor's wife, I wouldn't change a thing! Maybe tomorrow the pictures will be working and I can tell you about the day we had. Good night!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I love this book! I don't know how a silly (non christian) children's book can be so full of truth, but it is. I wonder if my Grandma Rayanne, who gave me this book for my high school graduation, realized that when she gave it to me. Oh the places I've been since high school; it's crazy how just a few years can change a person so much, good or bad, but in my case I think the changes were good.

This was one of the few books that I took to the hospital to read to Gideon. When I would read this book to him I would wonder about all the places he would go. I never thought Heaven would be one of his first destinations; although as a christian mommy I prayed it would be his last. I'm sure Gideon didn't mind that it was first on his list!

Now as I read this book to Jericho I wonder about all the places she will go. When I was pregnant with her, Seth felt like the Lord told him that Jericho would, "Go to the nations." So, I guess we need to start preparing ourselves for her to be away from us. Seth already got a chance to practice as Jericho and I went to Chicago, the first of many places she will go. While we were in Chicago we visited a few different people but first on the list were the Goodson's and that is what the slide show below is of. Next up (hopefully I'll get to them tomorrow) is the DeWulf's and then the Truesdale's.

Oh the pictures of the kids in white was our attempt at "Putting Olen Mills out of business" as my mother in law put it. We were planning on taking the kids to get their pictures done professionally but it didn't work out. It's a long story and was frustrating enough the first time around that I'm not going to go into detail. Anyways, I think we did a pretty good job of getting some pictures ourselves, who needs professionals.

The 2/3's turn 2!

The Rockefeller Family

Sunday we went to a birthday party for Reece and Tristan. They were babies that were in the NICU at the same time Gideon was in there. We ended up becoming very good friends with their parents and have kept in contact with them; although we don't get to see each other as much as I would like. I can't believe the 2/3 are 2 already, they are getting so big! It was so good to see everyone, catch up with Brett and Lisa, and mess with Kyle their oldest son. We had a wonderful afternoon. If you are wondering why we call Reece and Tristan the 2/3 here is the story behind it.



Tristan

We were meant to be friends from the beginning, us and the Rockefeller's. We met before Gideon was born. When I was 24 weeks pregnant with Gideon I had to stay in the hospital for a week, during that week they gave us a tour of the NICU, just in case he came early. While Seth and I were on that tour we met Lisa. She was going from incubator to incubator, I knew you couldn't look at other peoples babies in there, so I asked the nurse if the lady had twins. The nurse said she couldn't tell us (good ol' hippa rules) but she would ask if Lisa would talk to us. Lisa graciously came over and explained that she had triplets Wyatt and Tristan, who were identical boys, and Reece their sweet baby girl. I remember praying for the babies by name and often wondering how they were doing. Well, I would find out soon enough because we were in the NICU with Gideon only two weeks later. Our paths continued to cross from Lisa walking by Seth remember him from our first meeting, when I was pregnant, to them saving Gideon's first foot prints after we accidentally left them in a diaper bag on the back of a wheel chair (that's what no sleep does to you), to the pumping room incident which I'm not going to mention. All this lead to a friendship that has seen both the best of times, them getting to bring Tristan and Reece home and us having Jericho, and the worst of times, all the sickness that our babies went through and then each of us having to say goodbye to a precious son. Gideon and Wyatt were buddies from the start. It seemed like they would talk to each other and decide who's turn it was to get really sick that week. They were never sick at the same time, some how they knew that when one was sick the other's parents needed to be able to be there for the sick one's parents. They even decided to go to heaven within a week of each other. It was like Gideon got to Heaven and said, "Hey Wyatt you gotta see this place it's awesome and so much better up here then it is down there." And Wyatt's response was, "Sounds good to me I'm on my way." And so the Rockefeller's only got to bring 2 of there 3 babies home. They are triplets but it's hard calling Reece and Tristan that when Wyatt is not here, but calling them twins is not an option because they aren't twins they are triplets. Another of our friends from the NICU started calling them 2/3 because they are the 2 of 3 that are here with us. It made sense and everyone liked the nickname so it stuck. That's how Reece and Tristan became 2/3.

Reece

The Gang

Sweet Dreams

Jericho had sweet dreams in her own bed, in her own room last night. Over the phone, last week, I told Seth that when I got home from Chicago I thought I would be ready for Jericho to start sleeping in her own room. She's always slept good, which her mama doesn't take for granted, but she's really wiggly when she sleeps and sometimes it keeps me up. Plus, she has a daddy who talks and sometimes walks in his sleep and I don't want Seth keeping her awake (or doing anything crazy to her, I have story's but I don't want to have any that involve the baby. I love you honey even when you do crazy things in your sleep!) I asked Seth if he was ready for Jericho to be in her own room and he said he was just waiting for me to say something. So, the night we got home from Chicago Seth asked if Jericho was going to sleep in her own room. I told him we could start that next week. Jericho did alright as we were traveling but we stayed at a few different places and were around a ton of different people so I wanted to wait another week and let things get back to normal a little bit before we made the transition to her room. Plus, she's only six weeks old. When I hear that a baby is six weeks I still think newborn, but seven weeks sounds so much older to me, I no longer think newborn. Yes, I was going to wait till seven weeks when I no longer thought of her as a newborn. Well, that did not happen her daddy gave me the "why wait" speech and it worked and Jericho did great. She seemed to take well to her big ol' crib that she looks so small in.

Now that we have her in her own room my next question is when do you start letting them cry themselves to sleep? Any of you parents out there let me know what you did. How long was it before your little one no longer needed to be rocked to sleep? Did you ever let your little one cry themselves to sleep? How do you know if they're ready for that? How old were they? I don't have a problem with still rocking Jericho to sleep she's still little, but I have a hard time figuring out what to do when I finally get her to sleep, put her down, only to have her crying 5 minutes later because she's not being held (she's been spoiled in getting held while she sleeps because of all the family that we had up here the first two week of her life, she was never put down, and going to visit everyone last week) When she does this do I pick her up and get her to sleep once again? Do I just let her cry, although I don't know how long I'd be able to just let her cry at this point, or do I leave her in the crib and try to comfort her while she lays there. Again any advice would be appreciated. I know everyone is different. I'm not stressing over it I know we will and are figuring it out as we go. These are just some things I'm wondering about as Jericho grows.

Finally smiling for the camera!

I have a ton of great pictures from the trip and I'm going to share some of them with you. I'm just trying to figure out how many and which ones because I took over 200. Here is one that I know I want to share; it's one of Jericho's first smiles on camera. Like I said before, she's been smiling for weeks now, we just haven't been able to get a picture of it. Well, I finally got a few and so far this is my favorite. How cute is my baby girl!

Home Sweet Home!

Jericho and I made it home safely and we are so glad to be back. While I was visiting my parents it made me think about what home is and this is what I came up with. My parents have lived in the same house for 23 years and I am 24, so it's the only house I remember living in. It use to be home, but not anymore. Home for me is where ever Seth is. I feel very comfortable in my parents house but it's not home. When I'm there, with out Seth, I miss home. I don't understand how for 21 years a place can be home and then all of a sudden I get married and what I use to call home is not home anymore. Well, that's what happened the day I married Seth. The home that I knew my whole life suddenly became my parents home, the place I grew up in, some place I am comfortable with but is no longer home to me. Home is where the heart is and my heart is where ever my husband is. Right now home is in Avon, NY. I'm excited to see where the Lord takes me and how many different places I end up calling home, but I know they will all have one thing in common - SETH - because he is home to me!

Me with the man who IS home at the house we call home at least for now.

In Chicago

Jericho and I have made it safely to Chicago and we have enjoyed out time with Seth's family. We are now getting ready to spend the day with some of my friends and then my family later tonight. Jericho has gotten to meet her Nanoo (great- grandma) she has also meat all of her cousins and her Aunt Charis and Uncle Heath for the first time, she still has one more aunt and uncle that she'll meet over Thanksgiving. Later in the week Jericho will meet her other great-grandma and great-grandpa along with her great aunt and 2nd cousins. She's enjoying meeting all these new people but misses her daddy like CRAZY, as does her mommy! We have some great pictures that I'll share with you when we get home.

Another Update on Joshua

Here is the latest update about baby Joshua that I have received. Please continue to pray for them.



We had Joshua's heart scan this week. Basically it was just another ultrasound that looked really closely at his heart. His heart is perfect - praise the Lord! The rest of his organs and things are fine as well.The sack is bigger, because his brain has been growing over the last 6 weeks. It appears larger than his head at the moment. From a scientific point of view - his cerebrum in the sack and his brain stem and cerebellum are in the skull. His skull is malformed, but the bottom of his head - from his nose and downwards are all fine. Because his brain hasn't grown inside his head, his skull had nothing to form around, thus it didn't hold the correct shape. In November we'll go back to speak with pediatricians at the hospital I'll have him in . I'll have to have a C-section (around Christmas), there's no way around that. I don't think he would actually engage correctly to have a normal birth anyways. After he's born (we don't know how soon after) he'll be transported to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland for neurosurgery. We were just informed today that because we did not have maternity insurance coverage through our insurance company (we didn't expect to be pregnant this year), Joshua will not be covered until 14 days after birth, assuming the underwriters do not decline his application, and anything that has been diagnosed before day 14 will be a pre-existing condition that will not be covered for 2 years. Basically that means his surgeries wouldn't be covered, because we already know he'll have an encephalocele when he's born, thus they'll refuse to pay for any of his surgeries.We're at a loss in that respect. If anyone knows insurance, insurance underwriting, or has experience with fighting insurance companies, please write us and inform us. I have a hard time believing that rubbish. Please continue to pray for his healing, and that he will have perfect health if he has surgeries. We've been told to expect that he'll be mentally handicapped and/or blind, without a sense of smell - etc. It's very hard to wait knowing that may the end result. We finish our school next Friday, and back to our email permanently following that. Thanks for all your support and prayers
Mr & Mrs S.

My Husband the Beat Boxer

I've been wanting to post about Seth beat boxing to Jericho for awhile but never got the chance. I thought today would be a good day because I am going to miss the beat boxing next week. Jericho and I are going to Chicago to visit family for a week, without Seth. I'm excited to see everyone and get to show Jericho off, but I don't look forward to being away from Seth for that long. To all those women out there whose husbands are gone on a regular basis for long periods of time - GOD BLESS YOU! - I don't know how you do it. I guess the Lord knew that I wasn't cut out for that kind of life. I'm so glad my husband has a job that he can leave after breakfast every morning and be home for dinner every night. Seth's job is very flexible, except on Sundays, and I'm very thankful for that. Anyway, back to what the post is really about. My husband, the beat boxer.

I don't know what made Seth beat box to Jericho for the first time, she was only a few hours old, but since that first time there have been many times in between and she has loved all of them! It amazes me how she can be crying and Seth will start beat boxing to her and the second he starts she stops crying and stares at him as she listens to his tunes. It melts my heart every time! What a special bond they have as daddy and daughter. I'm going to miss watching them together this next week.

Jericho has been smiling for 2 weeks now. I've been trying to get a good picture so I could post it but of course I've had no such luck. If you look close she smiles at the beginning of the video that's about as good as your going to see her smile for now. I'll keep working on the picture but so far she hasn't been cooperating.