Introducing Chara Raine

She entered the world a week early and weighing in at a measly 6lbs 15oz. Although the 4th kid, she has already been very unique.





Her name - Chara - is pronounced Ch like "church" - are - a. It is the Greek word for joy and was inspired by the book "One Thousand Gifts" which changed my life last year. Our prayer for her is that she brings joy everywhere she goes.

This That and the Other

I realize I am far behind, but better late then never.
I have been wanting to post about Haddee's birthday party. She turned 5 in December and we made a pretty big deal out of this birthday. The most exciting part for her was she got to have her first friends party. She said it was the best day of her life and asked her daddy if he thought she would be able to remember this day forever. I have to admit she is blessed with pretty neat little girls her age. I hope they can be a godly influence as they grow older.





For her party we had her favorite meal - Shepard's Pie




Made jewelry



Painted nails (which is something our girls are not allowed to do until the age of 5 so it was a pretty big deal)



Colored princess pictures



Had a scavenger hunt & opened presents



And of course, ate cake



It was pretty fun. She is already looking forward to her next birthday and planning that party.

We celebrated Christmas with Scott's family the week leading up to Christmas and then had Christmas day for just us. That was nice. The Shetler family had our Christmas Jan. 6-7. So they were nice and spread out and kept the kids spoiled for quite some time.



One other random picture: The girls took a tumbling class in Syracuse that was fantastic. They loved it and loved the teacher. We will definitely do it again.



Next post - hopefully news on our new little baby!!!

Feeling Rather Large

Well the dreaded last 2 months have arrived. I know I really have nothing to complain about and am quite blessed to have the privilege of carrying a child without major complications. BUT... these last 10 weeks are always the toughest for me. I could post many ways in which I am miserable, but will spare you the details. The toughest one though is minimal sleep. I toss and turn all night never comfortable and barely sleep a few hours. I am tired all day and a little grumpy with my kids. It definitely gives me a chance to lean on God's strength in my weakness. Oh that these next 9 weeks would go by quickly.




I am posting some pictures from my niece's wedding a few weeks ago. My girls were flower girls. I have never seen them shine quite so bright.










With the girl cousins




And of course Justus was a handsome little man, sporting a vest Scott wore when he was a little boy.

Happy 1st Birthday Justus!!!

I lost my camera after Justus's birthday party and just found it this week in Scott's office. So even though Justus's birthday was 2 months ago I am just now doing a post about it.

My sweet little boy turned 1 on August 31. I adore my girls but this little man holds a special piece of his mama's heart. He loves to play ball, be outside and ride tractors. He loves to play chase and he can eat like no other. He also loves to cuddle and love on his mom. He laughs and laughs. He started walking around 12 months although he could walk long before that. His first words were "Dada" and "ball". Now he says, "Mom," "Grandpa," "all done," "kkkk" for drink, and "shh" for shoe. He makes animal noises for a monkey, lion, cow, sheep, goat, lizard, duck, horse, and rabbit.



He looks a lot like his Grandpa Shetler and has curly hair like me. He had 2 teeth at his birthday and now has 2 more. Did I mention this boy can eat? One day we went out to eat unplanned and I didn't have anything along for him. We were at steak-n-shake and I ordered him a kids meal. He eat his whole plate of mac and cheese, mandarin oranges, a banana, and half of Haddee's meal too. He rarely stops eating, we just decide he should be done. He's a big, healthy boy.


For his birthday I made a football cake for him and bought a Michgan cake for the family. I also got creative and made a "raw" cake because some members in my family had recently decided to "go raw" and I wanted to make sure there was some food they could eat too. Justus loved his cake.



He was also blessed by many birthday gifts from family.

Ever heard of it??

Henoch - Schonlein Purpura



I sure hadn't. But I will never forget it. Within days of my last post about Eva she came down with some pretty odd symptoms that all started with a sore throat and swollen ankle. It then became swollen eyes and what appeared to be a horrible stomach flu. She would just scream in pain and roll around on the couch or floor. She couldn't walk and wasn't eating anything. 5 days into it the doctor told us to make our first trip to the ER and test for appendicitis. The was negative and the ER doctor suggested a fancy word for gas. Are you kidding me???



A few days later her stomach seemed a little better and I was praying so hard we were coming out of that hellish week. Then she woke up with a swollen knee and again couldn't walk. She spent the day on the couch. The next day it was an ankle that was so swollen and bruised. I am FREAKING OUT!!! She was also covered in strange spots from her bottom down to her feet. The doctor suggested we make our 2ND trip to the ER to test for things such as Rheumatic Fever, Leukemia, Lupus, West Nile, and other names that arouse fear in a mom.



So on a Saturday Scott took her by himself because I didn't know who I could call to babysit and it was nap time. He tried to communicate with me, but as I found out later, he was pretty busy holding down a screaming child as nurses and doctors came in and out taking her blood and giving an IV. Poor girl. I finally talked with Scott (after he had been there along with her for 3 hours) and he said the ER doctor thinks it is Meningitis and is going to test for it soon. I couldn't take it anymore and called my brother-in-law Aaron (Renita hadn't been answering for hours) and I took the other 2 to their house and went on to the hospital.



When I got there they were just finishing the spinal tap. I could hear her screaming way down the hall. When I got in the room her eyes were glazed and I could tell she wasn't with it. She was very excited to see me, but did tell me later that she can't remember when I came. It's a good thing. She was so traumatized by those needles and them taking her blood she still talks about it almost every day.



Anyway, all the tests came back negative, which was a good thing, but that sent us home not having any idea what was going on. They also took x-rays of her lungs, heart, and swollen knee and ankle. The doctor said the thing that worried him the most were spots on her legs, but that he felt like he ruled out everything life-threatening and that we should take her to our family doctor Monday.

So Monday came and we went to the doctor and she mentions this Henoch - Schonlein Purpura as an option, but wanted to research it more. Of course I came home and googled it (which I had been doing all week with all her symptoms and every disorder or test that the doctor had mentioned). And BINGO. I knew immediately that is what it was. I'm not going to go into great detail of what it is, I was just so relieved to have a name and understand what is going on. It usually lasts 4-6 weeks, but hers pretty much cleared up in 2. Although she still complains of stomach pain from time to time. And about 50% of the time it comes back, but we are praying it is one and done for her. As you can imagine, it was not a fun experience for any of us!

My Middle Child

I dedicated an entire blog to Haddee not too long ago and there will be one for Justus coming up since he will be turning 1. I thought it was about time I did one for my middle child.



Eva is Hebrew for "full of life." I love how fitting the names of our kids are. She is always on the go and has been since she was born. She started crawling at 7 months and never looked back. She is an entertainer and energetic. She has the craziest imagination. I love listening to her when she plays alone. She likes to play with little people or animals. Her favorites are barbies and polly pockets. She makes up conversations and uses different voices for each person. I have got to get it on video.



But with that imagination, I am never quite sure when she is telling the truth. She makes up stories all the time. Grandma could call on the phone and ask what she is doing today and without even blinking or thinking she starts telling her all kinds of things that we definitely have not been doing that day. I wonder what kinds of things she says in Sunday school or what she will tell her teachers in school when they ask what she did for summer vacation. :) Scott has been trying to teach her about lying and the consequences of that. I think she will catch on pretty quick.



There have been so many crazy things coming out of her mouth lately I just had to document them. I don't do well with scrapbooks and I don't journal - so this is it to have for the future when she will find this as humorous as I do.

- "Mom, your hair looks like a Weeping Willow."

- KP was telling the girls about all these barbies she found that she had when she was little. She was trying to hint that she would give the barbies to them but they weren't really catching on. KP said, "I don't play with them anymore and my nephews won't play with them. I don't know what to do with them. Can you girls think of anything I could do with these barbies?" And without missing a beat Eva says, "I know! You could put them in the bushes." What??? Crazy.

-"Mom, did you know you are driving on God. Since Jesus is everywhere then he is on the road and you are driving on him."

-Me "Eva, does your throat hurt?"
Eva - "Yeah, it's kind of nervous because my head hurts."




Every day she asks Haddee to play Prince and Princess. And she always wants to be the princess. She also always tries to take 5 barbies and give her older sister only 1. She pushes Haddee out of the way to run past her to beat her wherever they are going. (We are working on what it means to be a bully and that she doesn't want to be one.)

She is hilarious. Haddee often stops what she is playing just to listen to Eva as she plays. She opens a book she has heard many times and flips through the pages making up her own completely different story. She is smart without trying and has confidence in who she is. She is quick to say "I'm sorry" and sticks up for her sister when others come around.

Her energy is contagious, her smile infectious, her laugh can lift the heaviest of moods. She is a ball of fire and has a mind of her own. She doesn't care what people think. She is dangerous and daring. She is precious and loving. And I love her with all the love in my heart.

The Journey

Some things I have learned the past 3 months:
(for those of you who don't know, I went back to work teaching high school Spanish)

5. High school students haven't changed a bit. Some are so bright and wonderful, and some have not been taught an ounce of respect and think the world should be handed to them on a silver platter. I hope I said something in the past 3 months that would give them a little wisdom and direction for their futures.

4. I am not super-woman. This was REALLY hard. I was not a good mother for the most part. I had less patience and more stress than when I stay home with my kids.

3. Talking about the job itself - it is easier to teach than to stay home. I get down time, adult interaction, and brain stimulation to name a few. At home there is always a little one that needs me for something. There is whining and messes and fighting and poop. But I LOVE it!

2. I should have listened to my husband. There have only been a few times he has advised me against doing something. This was one of those. He said, "I don't think you should do it, but I will support you if you do." And every time I have gone against his advice, I always regret it. Maybe I really learned that lesson this time.

1. There is no pricetag on staying home with my kids. I took the job because I knew it was temporary and I just couldn't get past the money we could make in 3 months. (another thing my husband advised me against) I thought "the money will be worth the sacrifice." But let me tell you, someone could offer me one million dollars to come back for just one more year, and I would say -No way! Not a chance!

Today is my last day at work. I am grateful to my co-workers and administration. This is the best school to work in and they have been wonderful, but I am SO EXCITED to get back to what I do best - being a full time mom and wife.

Just a disclaimer; this is about me, not about any other woman. There are many woman that enjoy working or have to work. More power to you woman!