I'm Back - Somewhat.

Well hello!  I'm back from wherever I've been.  Which is nowhere.  Well, actually I was gone to NH, but we have been back for three weeks.  Since then I have done not much more than lie on the couch, and run to the restroom to puke my guts out.  (Sounds lovely, doesn't it?)  And why, may you ask, am I doing this?  One simple reason - a baby.  Yup.  Me, Emily, mother of three children, is now expecting our fourth child.  And this child is very much letting me know that he/she is present inside of me.  I have never had "morning" sickness this bad.  It seems to get worse with each pregnancy, so I need to stop at this one.  I can't be like Mrs. Duggar and have 19.  I just wouldn't make it!

So now I will answer the questions that we keep getting from people when we tell them.

    How are you feeling?  I think I have made that clear.  Sick. Very, very sick.  And tired.

    Were planning on this?  (again, don't know why people feel the need to ask this question!) Honestly, no.  Since my pregnancy with Libby was a bit difficult, and with all the health things we have been going through with me this past year, we had decided that we were done.  This wasn't a decision that had come easy to me.  I struggled with it very much at first, but began to pray for the Lord to give me peace about it.  And sometime in the beginning of March I had come to that peace.  I was very content with our family, and happy to stay with our three beautiful three.  Then, a few days after coming back from our trip to NH, I started to have that sick all the time feeling.  At first I just thought I was tired from the trip and maybe had caught some bug.  But after about four days of not being able to eat anything without getting sick, and noticing that my sense of smell was heightened quite a bit (I couldn't even open the refrigerator without running away gagging!), and realizing that certain "something" had never come, I told Matt that maybe we should check, just to be sure. 

When the test read positive, we both were speechless and shocked.  We didn't know what to say.  All kinds of thoughts immediately went through my mind - how will we afford another baby? I just sold all that baby stuff in the yard sale (car seat, swing, clothes, blankets...)!! LABOR! AHHHHH!  Aww... Libby isn't our baby anymore!  Will this affect my health majorly? What in the world! 
But since then it has sunk in and we are very happy about this baby and know that he/she is God's perfect plan for our lives.  Now if I can just feel better, I would be even more happy! Ha!

    How far along are you?  Well, I think 9 or 10 weeks.  Actually, we aren't really sure.  Since I wasn't planning on this I was paying attention to "dates" and have no real time frame to give the dr.  So, we are scheduled for an ultrasound on the 28th to measure the baby and then we will have a better idea!

  Have you told the kids?  Yes, and they are very excited.  Well, Libby, of course has no i-clue what this means.  Leila has some idea, and acts excited.  Liam is very excited, saying he wants two babies - a boy and a girl (um, I don't think so...haha!).  But he really wants a brother, and to name him Blueberry.  Hmm... interesting!  He also says that he wants to go get the baby now.  So I am having to explain to him that its not that easy and we have to wait until January.  The other day he said, "Mommy, I think it is almost January so we can go get the baby." to which I replied, "I wish!" :-)

   Are you going to go with another "L" name.  As far as we know, for now, yes.  Why change with the last one?  But, we will see. Its "my turn" to choose the name this time.  I'm open to suggestions.  We like un-common names that have very strong meanings.

So, there's the update on me.  Other family news is that Matt and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary last Saturday!  Woohoo! 6 years, 2 countries, 3 homes, 3 4 kids, 4 vehicles - its been a busy time for us!  Also, Libby decided that it was time to walk, so she has given up walking around on her knees (which she did for MONTHS!) and is now walking all around following her brother and sister.  And she loves it!  You can tell by the huge smile on her face that she enjoys walking now!  Liam walked at 10 months, Leila at 14 months, Libby at 16 months.  So I guess this next baby will wait till 2 years?  Haha.  We shall see!

Liam is officially done with K4 now and I am getting ready to order his K5 material.  Wow.  I just can't believe my little boy is in kindergarten!  Time really does fly by!  Leila turns 3 a week from tomorrow.  She keeps telling me she wants a Curious George cake.  Guess we will have to see what we can do!

We leave on Monday to go up to northern Quebec to a Cree village named Mistassini.  If you recall, Matt and I went up there last August for Matt to speak at these special meetings.  This year they asked no only Matt but also his dad to come speak at their revival services.  So we will be gone for one week.  It is about a 13 hour drive, so we are getting to put our new van to the test!  If I have internet access, I may try to post an update while we are up there.  It always an interesting time.  Like last year I had the wonderful "privilege" of seeing a freshly killed bear being skinned, gutted, and butchered.  Hmm.  Don't know if my sense of smell will be able to handle that this year!

Anyways, that's whats happening around here!  Hope all is well with you!
Until next time....