Service of Hope

Spence has been asked a hefty task. Tonight he will be speaking at a service that Pregnancy Support Services is hosting. We love PSS (I actually just recently gave up my volunteer position there). They do some amazing things with people who have an unexpected pregnancy. They offer counseling for people who are trying to decide what to do with their pregnancy. They offer counseling for women who decide to abort. They offer classes to help with preparing moms for when baby arrives. They give clothing and baby items away to those in need. They transport some of these women to their doctor appointments or even the hospital for delivery. This list doesn't really do them justice at all.
Anyway, back to tonight. Spence will be speaking to a group of people who have lost a child to abortion, miscarriage, still born, or early infant death. It is going to be heavy I am sure. But I personally am so excited about the opportunity to honor Rae. If you would like more info please check out his blog to get the details.

Diva Time

These ladies have been a part of my life for the last 6 years (WOW! did I just say that, girls?) They have prayed for our family and been some of my best of friends. They have walked me through some of my best moments and held my hand while I cried through some of my worst. I cherish them and always will. Since we stopped meeting together weekly, we have added 4 of the 5 kiddos. Here we are all together for the first time in I don't even know how long.

Crazy fun!

Ben teaching Calliah Grace

He was so obsessed with her!

CG wasn't interested

Group shot, Ben hiding

Retake!

word vomit

I know I use that phrase a lot. It seems to be once everything gets built up and then just explodes out. So, here we go again...

April 28 marked two months. It was a yucky day. It had been a yucky week with Zeke feeling bad and then Ben running a high temp. I was already kinda strung out to begin with anyway. Then the day came and passed and I grieved alone.
Saturday would have been 20 weeks for my pregnancy. Instead of celebrating being "half way there", I was reminded very much that I am not.
Some of our friends who are due around our due date found out what they are having now. And I do truly celebrate with them, but at the same time I can't help but feel a twinge of sadness.
If I had kept my schedule of dr appts on Wednesday, then today I would be having that fun appointment filled with anxiety and excitement.
It has become more difficult to see pregnant people. I think this is because I have been here an know what my body would be feeling and looking like.

I am not trying to get sympathy from people or make people feel bad in any way. I don't want someone to feel bad they are pregnant and I am not. I definitely don't want people to not want to be around me because of any of this. I am really just wanting to put these things out there as a way to educate people. I continue to feel like I need to apologize for my ignorance when friends have lost a baby. As a way to try to help people who were once like me, that is why I write some of these things. I do apologize if I have stepped on your toes a bit today. Come back tomorrow and I will have up cute pictures again.

African Cats

Spence and I decided to take Zeke to see his first movie. We asked our neighbor to watch Ben and the three of us headed out. Zeke was excited to be with just us with out Ben and we tried to explain about the movies. We got there early and got popcorn and a Sprite (his first soft drink ever as well). Zeke kept talking about the "big tv" and asking to watch "sports" (what he calls ESPN). He loved the popcorn. When the previews started he got so excited and then the Cars 2 preview came on. He literally was screaming their names. When the actual movie started, he was so sweet and cute I cried. I wanted to stand up and point him out to everyone there. He kept saying "Do you see that?" "What kind of animal is it?" "It's a lion!" We made it about an hour and ten minutes, but then the armrest became more interesting than the movie. He was not happy at all about leaving. We are pumped about taking him to see Cars 2 when it comes out in June, and he is still talking about seeing Lightning and Mater and the lions.

Getting ready for the movie

first taste of movie theatre popcorn

This was after our quick exit where he cried the whole way to the car

(PS I wouldn't recommend skipping nap to take your kid to see their first movie)

Colored Eggs

This was our first dyeing eggs experience for our family. The boys loved it. We did a dozen and they definitely could have done more. The boys are still talking about eggs and hiding different things all over the house to go and find.
What's more exciting to me though is that Zeke is still running around singing "God's not dead. No! He's alive!" and Ben tries to chime in as well. So thankful that we have been able to teach them the real meaning behind the chocolate and dyed eggs.

Ben's ready for dyeing eggs face cracks me up!

Zeke's fave color right now is orange
(yes I put the little colored things in the wrong cups)

Ben dove right in

It's hard to wait

Half way through

We only cracked one egg, not too shabby I think

Easter

We had a whirlwind morning with both boys waking up crying and us bribing them with their baskets. (we generally do baskets after nap because no bunny is coming to our house anyway) We went to church which as always is amazing. I love BC South and Matt Papa leading us in worship. My fave parts of the day were singing with my boys in kids worship, Spence baptizing, and finding out that sweet Caroline was baptized by her dad. Then we came home, the kids napped and I prepared myself for the chaos that was about to happen. We had 4 families over for linner/dunch (you know that time between lunch and dinner or I guess it could be lupper or sunch if you call it supper instead). It was crazy with 10 adults and 12 kids ranging in age 8 to 1 year. We ate great food and had a blast celebrating together.
Here is a picture recap of the day:

Zeke's basket

Ben's basket

6 am basket time fun

Notice that Zeke is still in his chair, but we put Ben across the room to avoid fights

The moms (aka "My Girls")

Jill, Michal, Keva, Abby, me

The dads

Chris, Heath, Chris, Spence, Trevor

Ben spent the entire time harrassing anyone and everyone he could get near

We shoved the big kids outside the ENTIRE time

Girls play so differently...

Z parked himself and people came to play with him

What happens at the Lairs, stays at the Lairs

We have some sweet friends who have 5, count 'em 5, boys. They range in age from 9 years to 1 month. We love adding to the chaos of their life. We have so much fun with them. Our boys do so well together and I have loved Cher since she was "marinating" Campbell (who is almost 6). When you put 7 boys together, things go go a bit awry. This past week, we lost Zeke's shoes and Ben had to borrow a complete outfit due to a water mishap.

RIP crocs

Crazy outfit that actually doesn't look too bad