While in Florida we got to work in a childless evening with Clay and Rebecca, that was a ton of fun.  I suppose they are probably two of our favorite people to just hang out and visit with.  We squeezed in a visit to "Cousin Heather" for haircuts.  I managed to score some good prices at the Beals outlet store and consignment store for Britt's summer clothes.  We dyed Easter eggs with all the grandkids.  We visited with our Church family and then Gary's family.  I got Gary off to the airport after he played the meanest April Fool's joke ever on his mom, by telling her that he got a job back in Florida.  (We got a few others with it too.)  Then right before leaving for the long trip home I got to meet Miss Evelyn.

















This was Rebecca's first Easter.  She smiled at her Daddy when he told her about the candy in her basket.  I don't think she would have though if she had known he was planning to eat it all.  Ruth beat him to it though.  We found her under the table with alot of wrappers that night.  I'm still not sure where she found so much, I suspect she finished off not only her own but most of Britt's, Rebecca's, and Lilli's as well.














The kids really enjoyed hunting eggs this year.  Britt was big enough to roam and find some without help. He still doesn't get the point of trying to find the most eggs, because he shared a number of his.  /giving them to Julia or Jessica, and telling them I found one for you.  I followed him around some, and he gave away almost every other egg.  Julia and Jessica shared some back with him too though.  Ruth didn't need too much guidance from Gary, though she did make him tote her basket.  She was thrilled with all the colors. Gary was holding Rebecca and said it was crazy to think that she could be walking and hunting eggs next year (she'll be about 15 months then).  It really is amazing just how much they grow the first year.

Britt told you a little about us going to see Grumps and Ahna while Momma and Daddy went to Pennsylvania.  Well, after they got back, we went to Florida for Easter.

















"I like eggs, they are pretty.  I like egg hunting.  Daddy help me, and we got alot, alot.  I want to do it again, but Momma say we have no more eggs.  Eggs all gone.  Eggs sad to be gone."

I don't normally like to post more than once a day, but I have a funny story to share, that just can't wait.  Britt, as you might have gathered from his post earlier is crazy about Angry Birds.  Ahna found a couple of boxes of Angry Bird band aids while she had the kids, so she got him some.  Britt saw them last night, as we were unloading the car, and he wanted one before bed.  I told him he didn't need one and though he wasn't thrilled, he headed off to bed.  This morning, he tried to convince me that his week old scratch that is nearly gone needed one.  He also manufactured several "accidents" this morning, that left terribly painful, invisible cuts, in an attempt to get an "Angry Bird bandage."  He didn't get one.

We went off to conquer our day - speech therapy, doctor's appointments, lunch, landscaping appointment, scheduling other things for the next week.  This evening, Britt was playing outside with Kita.  He takes a stick and runs around the yard, dragging the tip.  Kita bounds along beside him, trying to catch the stick and then take it from him.  Sometimes she gets it and goes tearing off in the opposite direction for a game of keep away.  Sometimes she gets aholt of it, and they play tug a war.  Sometimes Britt throws it and she goes after it.  She will catch it, play a little keep away, and then drop it by him for another round.  Today, we had one of those moments, where I really wish I had my camera rolling.  Britt was running, and dragging the stick like usual when Kita dove for the stick and instead caught the hem of his bluejeans.  As always, she whirled around to take off with her stick, but instead Britt went down on his behind, and she went flying across the yard, with his pants flapping in the wind.  See he didn't have any shoes or socks on, and I suspect he hadn't even buttoned his pants from the last trip to the bathroom.  Kita got all the way across the yard, before realizing that she didn't have the stick after all.  She dropped the pants, came back and got her stick.  Britt meanwhile is laying on his back howling about how Kita tried to eat him, and how he is hurt.  For all of that, he had a small cut on his wrist.  So we went inside, I washed him off, got him dressed again, and let him pick out an Angry Bird band aid   He is really proud to be sporting it, and with in 5 mins, he was back out chasing Kita in the yard.

While Momma and Daddy were gone to Pennsylvania to find our new house, "Roof" and I stayed with Grumps and Ahna.  But not Rebecca.  We were in Alabama, and Ahna let us play Angry Birds on her "leap pad."  I like Angry Birds, they beated up the bad pigs.  Momma says, Ahna has created a monster.  I think it's a fun game with Ahna.  Sometimes I play Angry Birds by myself, I set up block towers and put my farm animals on it, and run and be the bird, and knock them down.  The other day there were bad pigs in Ahna's bushes, and I made gumballs be angry birds, and threw them and beated up the pigs.

It's been a bit insane around here lately.  Gary got the job and like that we were trying to knock stuff off his honey do list, and organize for the move.  We needed to go to Pennsylvania to find a place for us to live, and Gary some temporary housing until we could all move.  To do that we had to do something with the kids.  Plus we had already planned to go to Florida for Easter, for the big get together with Gary's family.  Then they arranged flights for Gary on April 1st, so that he could start immediately.  So, nearly 2 1/2 weeks ago, we loaded up carried the kids to my folks, and then traveled up to Pennsylvania.  It was mostly to handle work things, but since we only had Rebecca with us, Gary kept referring to it as our "vacation."

Thank you Lord, Jackie (who Gary will be working with) found a farmer with a house, that we could rent.  It's an interesting story.  The previous renter, turned off the furnace in January and a pipe in the bathroom on the second floor busted.  It ran so long before anyone caught it that there was 7 feet of water in the basement.  As a result they had to completely trash the kitchen that was beneath the bathroom, pull up all the carpets, pull out all the dry wall and insulation.  What's even worse, is that they completely redid the house 5 years before.  It was nice stuff too, we saw it.  The guy apologized and offered to help make it right, but then found out that because he wasn't actually living in the house and because he didn't have any renters insurance, and they hadn't made him sign a contract, that he wasn't "legally responsible" for the damage.  It is a terrible situation for the farmer, and they weren't going to rent anymore.  However, they talked with us, and are going to let us rent from them.  It's just terrible for them, but the one really nice part for me, is that they are going to let us use whatever colors we want, and they asked what my preferences were and would get what I wanted for the house whenever it was cost effective.  Especially after everything else we saw, I was very excited about this farmhouse.

3-28-09, Britt 2 months old, at the hotel on Saturday morning.

On our way down to Florida last Thursday, we stopped off at the Gulf Coast Fellowship Meeting at Bethel Church in Bonifay, FL.  This Church has a little bit of a special story in relation to our little family.  The first time we attended, they were hosting the Gulf Coast Fellowship Meeting back in 2009, and Britt was 2 months old.  When Ruth was about 2.5 months old, St. Andrews had Bro. David Montgomery in for a meeting the 5th weekend in October.  Bethel Church also had him over for Saturday night service, and we visited them again.

This past Thursday, with 1.5 month old Rebecca in tow, we again were able to visit Bethel Church.  We heard Bro. Jonathan Wise (son of Eld. Larry Wise) speak first.  He had been exercising about 7 or 8 months.  His thoughts centered on Psalm 31 and Genesis 45.  He spoke about some of the types and shadows of Jesus in the old testament.  He brought out several good points.  His delivery is still rough, but I think with time and practice he may prove to have a gift.  He was followed by Elder Ronnie Loudermilk.  I was excited to hear him, because he's suppose to be with us at our annual meeting in July.  I've heard of him, but never heard him preach.  He had a very good message on enduring, which he took from Acts 14 and Paul's experience in Lystra.  He healed a man and preached a great sermon, but they totally missed the point and started worshiping them.  Then he told them to stop, preached again, and they stoned him.  He supervised  and went back to preach to them again.  That is a picture of endurance.  I really enjoyed his sermon, he is very passionate when he's in the stand.

3-31-13, Rebecca 5 weeks old, Easter Sunday the same weekend of  meeting

We've been having fun at Memaw and Mister's house this week, playing with all of our cousins.  Yesterday, we went to Chickfila and got a balloon, I really liked that balloon.  I wouldn't let anyone else see it, after all Lilli let her's go outside, and Britt popped his in the car.  I wasn't going to let them mess up my balloon.  I liked bouncing it off the ceiling, and I took a nap with it.  After playing with it all day.  I took it outside and said, "Bye-bye, balloon.  I love you!" And let it go.  It flew far away, higher and higher, we watched it till it was all gone.  I'm going to visit Sis. Rebecca this afternoon and talk to her like I do Ms. Leah.  Then tomorrow we are going to get on the road.

Rebecca almost 5 weeks,on the airplane.

Gary B. almost 3 months, at Bro. Ronald's house in N. Carolina.

"These are nursery rhymes.  Humpty Dumpty was an egg and horses don't know how to put him together.  Momma's favorite one I say is "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.  She made a beautiful house and was very little.  She had so much kids she didn't know what to do.  Then we all played outside."  It was too late for the aligator.  It goes "Hey diddle, diddle.  The cat and the fiddle.  The gator got hit by a car. And he got killed."  The itsy bitsy spider is not a nursery rhyme, it's a real song.  You have to know the difference.  It's not like Twinkle, Twinkle.  I'm not little boy blue, cause I sleep in a house.  I'm Britt."

So this week I finished up reading Deuteronomy and according to the chronological bible reading list I followed that with Psalm 91.  I'm not really sure why they put Psalm 91 next, according to what I was able to find online, no one knows who wrote it, or exactly when, but it's an older psalm with some of the same themes as the song God tells Moses to record in Deuteronomy 32.

I've always had trouble getting through Deuteronomy, by the time that you get there it's the third time through some of the material.  I know it's important, but it's hard to get stuff out of the law service sometimes when we know it's been fulfilled.  Chapter 32, and then Psalm 91 really stuck out to me this time.  They both have some pretty imagery to describe God's relationship to us.  He is our rock, our steady, constant, dependable God.  He is nothing like all the false "god." Both talk about how when we don't obey that he punishes His people.  The great part is toward the end though, where we are told if we turn back to Him,repentent, and seek Him, He will always avenge and protect His people.

There is something about Psalm 91, that I think I'm missing.  I read it through several times the other night, but I think I'm still missing something.  In the beginning it sounds like the "thee" is a child of God speaking about how he takes care of us, but then at the end it sounds like the speaker, the "thee" is Christ.  I'm still trying to puzzle out exactly what it's saying.  I don't see where the voice changes in the psalm, but it's been on my mind lately. Even if I don't completely understand the meaning, I really like the 14th verse, "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name."

Rebecca,

It's hard to believe that you are one month old today.  Of course, I could point out that February is such a short month, that of course, it doesn't feel that long.  Yesterday we missed your doctor's appointment because she had her little boy the night before.  I'm guessing you weighed in about 9 lbs now.  At a little over 2 weeks old, I packed up your newborn clothes, because you had already gotten too long for them.  You are wearing 0-3 month stuff now.  When we finish up using the last of the newborn diapers, I'm going to go ahead and put you in size ones.  You could still wear the newborn a little while longer, but I don't want to buy more, and waste them.  I think the size 1 will be more uncomfortable for you, because you have such a noticeable outtie right now.

We still don't have much of a routine around here, and probably won't for a while yet.  For the first week Ahna was here to manage the other heathens while we tried to sleep when you were sleeping (and they weren't).  Then Grumps, Grandma, and Unca Benji came to pick her up.  After that I was on my own for a few days with the three of you while Daddy went for interviews.  I locked down the house, and we survived.  haha.  Then Memaw and Mister came, and Memaw stayed almost a week.  This past week we got ready for Alabama, and now we are here visiting Grandmother and Granddaddy.  We are going down to Florida for Easter, and getting ready to move to Pennsylvania, some time soon.

You are quieter than I remember the other two being.  When you are awake you just stare around as if you are watching the world in wonder.  You are actually noisiest when you are sleeping, and you still sleep alot.  You grunt constantly, unless you are good and asleep.  You regularly go 3.5 or 4 hours between feedings.  We get a 5 hour stretch out of you from time to time, normally between 4 and 10 am or 9 and 2.  You are most alert between 8 and midnight or 10 and 2am.  I would prefer you sleep longer at night, and be more alert during the day.  Right now we are staying up till you eat at 11 or 12 and then trying to go to bed for the night, so that we only have to wake up once to feed you.  A couple of nights this week you have slept from about 1:30 or 2 until 7:30 or 8.  It does make it easier to get the other two going in the morning with you still asleep, but I will be happy to get more night time sleep out of you.  We are still having mixed results with you sleeping in the cradle.  You sleep during the day in the swing quiet a bit, and like to sleep upright in the car seat.  At night you seem to do better in the bed with us.  I think part of the problem is that the cradle doesn't have a real mattress, because you don't seem to have a problem with the crib.

You are holding your head up really well, for your age.  You never really went through the bobble head stage that Ruth did.  You would lift up your head for a little bit, and then sit it down.  You are holding it up longer and longer.  You seem to know where your limit is, and lay back down before you falling/bobbling all over the place.  Daddy managed to get two real smiles out of you last week.  I haven't yet, but I did get to see one of them.  I tell you a baby smiling, is infectious.  Britt loves to sing to you and kiss you.  Ruth likes to push the swing when you cry.  They both smile at you and talk to you.  You seem to be easier than the other two were for me.  Your latch isn't as rough, you seem to be pretty quiet and content, and I'm not feeling as zombified from lack of sleep.  We are enjoying life as a family of five.

We love you, little bit,
Momma

Last Tuesday Ruth, started her speech therapy.  Because she is dropping both beginning and ending sounds, not using tenses, using very few descriptive and action words, and because she has so few consistent consonant sounds - because of all of these, they qualified her for a one hour session each week.  They don't have enough speech therapist at the moment, so a developmental therapist, who has also has speech training is coming to the house on Tuesday mornings.  They mostly play a variety of games where Ruth is suppose to identify objects.  As far as Ruth is concerned she has a "new fwiend to pway wiff."  The first Tuesday Ms. Leah worked mostly on B and P with her.  She said, that she knows the sound because she says "peas" (please), but words like open come out owen or owwee.  She would make her sing O-Pen stressing the different syllables and making Ruth look at her mouth.  Then they would open the toy together.  They also worked on B because Ruth can say "Bit" (Britt) but ball comes out "all" (additionally so does anything that rhymes with ball, like small or call, or doll, hence the problem we have in figuring out what she is saying).  Yesterday, they worked on animal names and sounds.  She was able to give us some homework.  To help Ruth hear and see what she's missing, Ms. Leah wants us to make her watch our mouth when we are talking.  Part of her problem is that she's being lazy, and doesn't move her lips much when she talks.  Also, sing-songing and over enunciating is suppose to help her hear the sounds she's dropping, so she will start mimicking them.  Her only two constant consonant sounds are m and c, and she should have alot more constant sounds at this age.  Britt gets to play some too, but he gets in trouble for telling her the answers when she is suppose to be identifying objects.  Ms. Leah said that he can be a big help in teaching her how to pronounce things, but the problem with him telling her the answers is that often she won't then try to say anything, but rather says "uh-huh" or "yep" agreeing with Britt, rather than telling us what an object is.  We've already seen some improvement, and we better know how to help her, so I think it's a win-win.

Britt has added so many words to his vocabulary.  Of course, he doesn't know what some of those words mean, and other words he's just made up so we don't know what they mean.  He's pronouncing most things correctly these days too.  It's just further proof that he's not my baby any more.  I am not in a hurry to correct the few things that he still says incorrectly though, they make me smile.  I thought I would share a few today.

• "Mic-in-Donald's and Chick-a-way," known to the rest of the world as McDonald's and Chick Fil A.
• He often says, "P says 'pa-pa' like cacorn."  The rest of us just call it popcorn.
• "You're a bushy."  Best we can tell, this means that he is insulting you whenever you are angry or fuss at him.  He also uses it to mean you are crazy and silly when he is playing with you.
• "Roof" and "Abecca" are his sister's names.
• Abecca drinks "special milk."
• "Nuffan," which rhymes with muffin, is what he always answers when you ask what kind of trouble he's gotten into.
• On Mondays we go to the "lie-berry" for books and movies.
• "Sauce-shug" is one of his favorite breakfast foods.  (I prefer bacon myself.)

Does anyone see any similarities?  I don't.  I had no hair, she's got tons.  I had big wide eyes, she doesn't.  She's got a wide flat nose, I don't.  She's got a little round mouth, I don't.  I will admit that she's only 3 weeks in her picture, and I'm 3.5 months in that picture, but still.  I do think other than the nose, she looks alot like Britt.  In the picture below he is 2 days shy of a month old, and she is 5 days shy of a month old.  The picture of Britt was taken the night we moved from the apartment into the house on Pippin Road.

Today, she is 3 weeks old.  We took Rebecca to her weight check on Tuesday.  She's up to 8 lbs, 14.5 oz now.  Her cord fell off while Gary was gone for his interviews, so Sunday morning before Church she got her first real bath.  Gary has given all the kids their first bath.  In fact, as much as possible I let him handle bath time.  It's one of those almost nightly chores that I don't really care to do.  Before they can sit up, it's a pain to keep the suds out of their eyes, and keeping them from falling over in the tub.  Then when they are big enough, you still can't keep the suds out of their eyes, and they making a huge mess.  Then when they are actually the size of the other two you STILL can't keep the suds out of their eyes, and they make an even bigger mess.  Not to mention after 4 years of nightly bath time, your back is absolutely killing you.


Anyway, Rebecca got her first bath on Sunday, and she did really well, other than the initial shock of being put in water and Gary using my entire water pitcher to pour water over her hair she was quiet.  I don't know that she liked it, but she didn't seem to dislike it.  Memaw gave her another bath on Wednesday, and she didn't fuss at all.  Maybe she does like it.  In fact, it's unbelievable to me, just how quiet she is when she is awake.  Maybe it's just because Britt and Ruth are SO loud right now, but I swear she's alot quieter than the other two were.  When she's awake and alert, for the most part she just looks around so quietly.  Unless she's hungry, then she can get loud and mad fast.


Of course after bath time, Gary has to "style" her hair.  Rebecca's hair is alot like Britt's, she has two cowlicks up front, like he does, and it overlaps in the middle likes his does, so it sort of stands up on it's own.  Of course, just like Gary use to help Britt's mohawk out, he helps Rebecca's stand up on end too.

After almost 4 months, we got a job offer, which I accepted.  I'm really excited about this opportunity.  The position is located in Pennsylvania, and they've been fantastic so far.  Every time I've had a question, they have been able to quickly answer it.  They have been very understanding of having a family, and a newborn.  The relocation package is a dream.  They are willing to pay temporary living till we find a house.  The position doesn't come with a vehicle right now, but they have been very understanding of the fact that we only have one car.  They told us that they were willing to rent a car for up to two months, till I could get Danielle and the kids moved.  Then after we accepted the offer, they came back yesterday, and added a truck.  They said that they had found one for a good price and that they could go ahead.  Danielle is excited that they are paying a company to box, load, ship, unload, and insure our stuff.  All in all, it is a real blessing.
We have enjoyed being in Indiana.  We are definitely going to miss this house.  It's very nice, and Danielle has been especially happy with it.  We have also enjoyed the people at Fort Wayne Church, especially getting to spend more time with Bro. Joe and Sis. Elin than we've had a chance to in recent years.  Britt and Emma have become known as Bonnie and Clyde.  And yet, we are excited to see what's in store for our family next.

"I make a snowman wiff Mister.  He gone now.  Our snowman melted.  He all gone too."