family pictures at Thanksgiving

These pictures are pretty much self explanatory for all the chaos and fun we had at Thankgiving this year. Our whole famly hadn't been together all at the same time in over 10 years!

Soooooo much fun!

oh the things you say...

You are a ham Julia Jane. We never know what's gonna come out your mouth and have learned quickly over the past 6 months that you have become "peat and repeat".

Some things I don't want to forget that you say or do frequently:

• You talk to your toes. Your usual conversation with them is: "Hi toes! How are you? Good toes? I'm glad!"
• "Thank you so much!"
• "Praise da Lord!"
• out of the blue while playing you come over to one of us and say "I wauve (love) you!"
• "I need a wuave"
• We wake up in the morning to you singing "Happy Birdday (birthday)!" in your crib at the top of your lungs.
• "I need a sticker, honey."
• "oh goodness"
• "Skunnay skool!" (Sunday school)
• "I need my big girls" (I need my pull-ups)
• "yaadybug" (ladybug)
• "Be bery careful with baby brodher"
• "Where is baby brodher?!"
• "SQUEEZE baby brodher!"

You are so loving and full of life. Even though it's challenging at times (ok a lot of times) I love how God gave you so much character. We see your heart growing and changing already when you talk about Jesus and we pray you become a woman after God's heart.

You're not physically a baby anymore, you're growing into a little girl...but you'll always be my baby (I understand what a mother means when they say that now that I am one).

Love you sweet girl!

(hair do compliments of your father)

sono results

Today has seemed like such a looooong day.

Not sure why, it just has.

We are overwhelmed beyond words for God's love, grace and protection/health of our little boy.

During the sono this morning they still found the same spot that was seen at the previous sono. We saw it this time too, last time we couldn't see anything wrong.

Today it was obvious. There was a little white spot on the screen after his little left ventricle pumps. As the doctor spent quite a bit of time looking him over, head to toe, all his little organs and looking for any other markers that would indicate any chromosomal defects (i.e. down syndrome-which doesn't run in either side of our families but with a heart marker like they saw, that can be an indication of down syndrome) he feels that what is going on in his heart will heal itself and there won't be a need to deliver in Wichita or Kansas Ciy and no need for any surgery. By birth the spot they're seeing now will mostly like be non-existant and he probably won't need a sono of his heart after birth unless the pediatrician hears something abnormal. He offered us the option of having an amniocentesis done in the office today to have a full genetic panel done. We declined since there is a 1 in 200 chance of miscarrying after an amnio is done...and the thought of a needle going into my abdomen, through my skin, muslces, uterus and then being so close to my baby and putting him at a harmful risk didn't sound too appealing to us.

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We knew delivering in Wichita might be an option but had no idea KC would be.

The doctor said that some women he's seen, he has to send over to KC because the babies need a neonatal heart surgeon immediately after birth which there isn't one here in Wichita.

After hearing that, we feel beyond blessed for such a healthy baby.

We've become more excited throughout today and will hopefully enjoy the rest of the pregnancy a lot more then we have been the past month.

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I just can't wrap my brain around how gracious our God is.

How such a heavy burden has been lifted from our chests.

That a situation that could have been so scary and harmful has seemed to be improved and how drawn to God I feel. When we got in the car after the appointment and were driving home how perfect it was that every song, the whole way home, had a theme to it that God has created all things and how deserving of my praise's He is.

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My personal goal is to continue to grow deeper with God through His word, frequent communication (prayer) and finding ways to actively praise God for big and small blessings on a daily basis. Thank you SOOO much for all of your prayers and encouraging notes with verses to help us. We are a part of an amazing body of Christ and have witnessed HIS hands and feet the past several weeks! Bless you!

A Pink Butterfly and News

Juju was a "flutter-bye" for halloween. We made four stops that evening and she came home with way more then enough candy for the rest of the year! Not joking.

I tried to get her to sit still next to the pumpkins but she is constantly on the go...sorry for the blurry pictures. She was so excited!

She told the pumpkin, "I wuve you punkin"

We ended the evening at my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Ledean's house. Cousin Addy was there and Juju LOVES Addy (and Tresa too!). Thanks for playing with Julia Addy!

Update on Baby Boy Ekeland: Can't believe it's been a month already! Things have started to move way faster then expected. We found out more what they saw in baby boy's heart at the last sonogram. It has to do with his cordinea tendineae in his left ventricle. Cordinea tendineae are what help "operate" the vavle and keep it closed tight after blood passes through. My doctor is sending me to a high risk pregnancy doctor in Wichita who will do the sono. The Wichita office called yesterday after my appointment and scheduled me for next week. We were planning to have to wait for 4-6 weeks yet! We're both nervous for Monday to come but at the same time are a little relieved that we will get to see our babe again and will know sooner what's going on. The two biggest things we'll be finding out at this appointment is:

1. If they see anything, what are the possible long term effects after birth

2. If it's safe for us to deliver here in Newton or if we'll have to go to Wichita.

We're still praying that whatever it is has healed itself by now or will heal itself as he grows and there won't be a need for surgery. My doctor did indicate yesterday that with the other information from my sono he's obtained it's not as "scary" as what we first thought which is a huge relief for us. We're still nervous but know that he is in God's hands and worrying won't change the outcome so we try not to let ourselves (myself mainly) get worked up about it.

Thank you for those of you who have been praying for us. We feel we've been drawn closer to one another and God and both desire to lean on Him to meet all our needs. Not saying leaning is easy, but the fact that we desire Him more and are releasing our "need for control" over our concerns has brought us to a deeper level in our faith.

Ending on a happy note my sister is getting married tomorrow. I'll post pictures next week, it'll be a wild time with an expected 45 kids running around!

We found out we're having a...

...sweet baby boy in February!

We are so excited and feel blessed beyond words.

Jeremy was able to make it to the sonogram with me yesterday

afternoon which made me SOOOOO excited!

It was sooooo evident it was a boy!

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I LOVE seeing my baby through a sonogram.

The skeletal system is so defined.

You can see each little, individual disc that connects to another one

forming the chain of his spine.

His little tongue was moving in and out of his mouth

and he kept putting his little fingers in his mouth.

He flexed his muscles for us and we saw the outline of his little arms and legs.

His little heart beat steadily and there were 4 chambers in it.

It's hard to wrap your mind around how tiny they really are.

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After my sono I went to see my OB doctor to hear the report.

Jeremy had to get back to work by now so I went to this appointment alone.

This is nothing out of the ordinary, going to an appointment alone,

I thought that our baby looked so perfect and there

would be nothing "out of the norm" to report.

When my doctor's assistant came in she told me that they found two

abnormalities in his little heart. Two spots in his left ventricle.

My sweet baby boy's heart is no longer perfect like I thought it seemed to be.

They aren't able to tell yet what these abnormalities are foresure so the first part of December we will be sent to have a fetal cardio-echo-gram (a high tech sono) done with a pediatric cardiologist right their reading the sono. This will determine what is wrong and how this will affect him (long or short term),

the delivery and care after he is born.

They didn't say that it's not nothing so they've indicated that it is something.

They aren't able to tell at this point if this is something he will grow out of or medication or surgery for him will be required.

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My heart aches at the unknown.

Waiting two months to find out what is wrong will be hard. extremely hard.

I feel helpless for my little baby boy but not hopeless.

God's hand is in this situation and this we are 200%

positive that God has a purpose.

We have placed baby boy Ekeland in God's hands completely.

That is something that I find myself doing over and over throughout the day.

My brain and emotions are exhausted tonight from going to work today and fighting back the worry about the little one inside me.

I have to keep on moving through the day even though I just want to make time stop and hit a fast forward button to hurry up and get to the outcome of what this could be.

We would love for his little heart to heal between now and the sono and that they wouldn't be able find anything wrong.

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We feel God drawing us closer to Him already as a couple and a family and

we're praying that God's hand of healing will be on our baby and

ultimately HIS will will be done.

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Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

~

Prayers Requests:

*for growth and strength for baby Ekeland

*that Jeremy and I would release all fears and worries, continually, to God

*for our families as some of them are having a difficult time with the unknown results at this point (as Jeremy and I are too).

pickin' pun'kins

This was our first year going to a pumpkin patch. Julia had a BLAST!!!

The weather was absolutely beautiful and I found out that the sweet nurse I use to work with and who was my labor nurse when I had Julia owns the pumpkin farm! We went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch out north of town close to Goessel.

Julia loved helping pick out the "pun'kins" and loved the maize of the patch

(even though every other step she took a tumble!)
The corn was her favorite part, she played and played and played and didn't want to leave. Poor girl, atleast she settled down when we gave her some bar-b-q chips.

I'll post pictures of all the pumpkins we got later.

I highly recommend Papa's Pumpkin Patch, the admission is free, the pumpkins are VERY reasonable and the owner is pretty sweet too! Thanks for the fun afternoon Kristi!

family reunion 2010-labor day weekend

My mom's side of the family has a reunion every 2 years and this was the year.

Here's my family...everyone. That's kind of weird that we got everyone in the same picture. Doesn't happen often since we're all kinda spread out.

back row: Aaron (soon to be brother in-law), my dad-Greg, hubby,
brother Brandon and brother Devan holding Kinsey.
front row: sister Marla, my mom-Joy, me, SIL Shelly, SIL Katrina
Kids on laps: Garrett, Gavin, Juju, Carter, Clara, Macie, Ethan