As many of you already know, we are expecting a new addition to our family. Coming in August! We are beyond thrilled, and cannot WAIT to hold this new baby in our arms. Aubrey Ann is tickled pink to be a big sister, and insists that she is going to have a baby brother. She spends her days asking me lots of random questions about the baby and how the baby is going to act. “Will the baby eat his lunch?” “Do babies throw their toys?” etc etc. She is already telling me that she is going to help feed and change the baby. And she says she would be happy to share her toys. So she says…

This pregnancy is truly a miracle. It took us a long time to conceive, but we are confident that God granted us this incredible blessing in His timing. How could we want anything more than that?

If you have time today, please say a prayer for us and our family. Pray that God gives us the wisdom to raise another child in His way, that we would go through the change of adding a new family member with ease, that we would be given a double portion of patience, and love to shower upon this new beautiful child.

Brandon and Aubrey Ann are both convinced this is a boy. I am still on the fence, but Brandon guessed right with Aubrey Ann, so if he is right, he must have some sort of extra baby-sense. We would be thrilled with a boy or a girl, so really we are just excited to find out whether it’s going to be team pink or blue!

Thank you to all of our family and friends who prayed non-stop for this baby to be conceived. Now I just ask that you don’t stop praying, keep it going!

Baby squirt (as AA likes to call you), I cannot even express how excited we are to have you. Thank you God that I get to experience the wonderful miracle of pregnancy and child birth another time.

Dearest daughter,

There are some days, some moments in time, that I wish I could live forever. Today when I got you up from your nap, I had to wake you, and you were still sleepy. You asked for me to rock you. I sat down in our rocking chair like I have countless times before and rocked you as lay completely safe in my arms. In that moment, I held you close, tickling your back and smelling your hair. You laid quietly, only every once in awhile asking me to keep rocking (when I started to slow down) or asking if the rocking chair needed oil (only because it squeaks and thumps, from all the many hours we have spent together sitting in it). It was right then and there that I thought, “Is there anything better in the whole wide world? Could anything possibly be as wonderful, as perfect as this moment?” The answer is no.

I want to you to know, that I truly love every second with you, and the only wish or longing I have is that time would pass me by more slowly, so I could savor every moment I have with you.

I want you to know that the girl you are becoming, makes me so so proud. I am so blessed to see how your heart is is turning towards God. You are so sensitive to His calling.

I want you to know that no matter what, I will always, always love you. Even on the worst of days, Mommy is so blessed to have you.

I want you to know that you are my favorite little girl in the world. There is nobody in this world that I would rather spend my life with than you and your Daddy.

I want you to know, that Mommy will make mistakes, but I vow to always admit when I am wrong, and to apologize. Mommy isn’t perfect, but I love you enough to let you see the truth of my imperfections, and watch as God teaches me to grow through them.

I want you to know that the world isn’t perfect, and you don’t have to be either. It is ok to make a mistake, it is how you handle yourself afterwards that speaks as to how God is working in your life.

I want you to know that I hope you never lose your ability to smile and laugh through everything. I love that you bring so much joy into our hearts, our family, and our world.

I want you to know that Mommy and Daddy love each other very much. We love you so much, that we vow to make our marriage a priority above all else. I know you may not understand it now, but someday you will love and appreciate that Mommy and Daddy put each other first.

Dearest Daughter, you are loved beyond measure. I am so grateful that God saw fit to bring you into our lives. Thank you for being God’s incredible blessing to us.

I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I am living, my baby you’ll be.

Mommy

Yet another funny moment thanks to our little comedian.

AA: Mommy, what shape am I?

Mommy: What do you mean, ‘what shape’ are you?

AA: I’m a square!

I will definitely be reminding her that she is a self-proclaimed ’square’ when she hits those oh so cool pre-teen years!

In September the three of us made a weekend trip down to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  Aubrey Ann was VERY excited and kept talking about how she was going to play in the sand.  So we headed down early Saturday morning, and got to our hotel room.  We ended up getting to the beach right as the sun decided to come out, and the weather was PERFECT.

Immediately Aubrey Ann ran straight to the water.  This child has NO FEAR and apparently doesn’t feel cold either, because she just kept running out to it and getting deeper and deeper.  Waves were knocking her around, and she couldn’t care less.  This girl is a water baby for sure.

Here is Aubrey Ann and her 'Monster' named Sally!

Then we started building sand castles.  Brandon dug a big deep hole which Aubrey Ann loved climbing in and out of,  and Aubrey Ann and I focused on building a “Monster”.  Aubrey Ann collected all kinds of seaweed and pieces of seashells to make the Monster more authentic.  When I asked Aubrey Ann what her Monsters name was, she told me, “Sally, NOT Alice in Wonderland!”  Where does she come up with this stuff? 

Aubrey Ann started to get a little tired, so we decided to build her a little couch to lounge on.  She definitely appreciated it!

After several hours playing in the sun, sand, and surf, we headed back to the hotel and took a shower, then headed back out to the boardwalk to ride some rides.  It never ceases to amaze me at how much this little girl loves rides.  Aubrey Ann kept saying, “I’m gonna ride the rides at the fair!  Maybe have a corn dog too!”  Well, she is her mothers daughter!

She rode the rides until we couldn’t take it anymore!  That night she slept like a log, which was awesome because she had to stay in the same room as us, and most of our family knows that our little girl needs her own “space” to fall asleep.

The next day, we headed straight back out to the boardwalk and rode a bunch more rides.  Aubrey Ann even rode her first real roller coaster with her Daddy!  She was pretty tough, although I saw a hint of fear in her eyes at one point.  But she told her Daddy she had fun and even patted the head of the dragon on her way out and named him “Iggy”.

After a few more rides, we headed back to the beach.  When we had had enough, we decided to head home.  We made a stop at Casa de fruta, where Brandon found a crawdad, we chased peacocks, pretended to drive a train, and looked at lots of yummy fruits and veggies!

It was a fantastic time, and I can’t wait till our next trip to the beach with our little beach bum!

Aubrey Ann has recently become interested in finding out how babies come to be.  She knows that God puts a baby in the Mommies tummy, and then the tummy gets bigger, and then God says it is time for the baby to come, so it does.  She is especially fascinated with the tummy getting bigger part, and will often point out pregnant women in stores.  This is probably going to make for an uncomfortable moment one of these days, but luckily she has only recognized people who are REALLY pregnant thus far!
Imagine my surprise at this conversation we had a couple of weeks ago.

AA:  I am really full.

Me:  I see that, you have got a lot of food in your belly!

AA:  Its not food.

Me: It’s not?  Then what could it be?

AA:  My baby.

Thump. (The sound of my jaw hitting the floor.)

AA:  My baby is in my tummy.

Me:  I don’t think there is a baby in there, I think it is just food.

AA:  Nope.  My baby.  My baby named Aubrey Ann.

Silly girl!  What in the world would I do with TWO Aubrey Ann’s running around?  Maybe they would entertain each other a bit…hmmmmm….

Aubrey Ann and I have been discussing perseverance quite a lot recently. As it so happens, 2 year olds tend to be easily frustrated and can give up easily, go figure! This is why we have been discussing perseverance quite a lot lately. Well, once again, I never know how much of what we talk about is sinking in until Aubrey Ann decides to surprise me.

Yesterday Aubrey Ann was trying her hardest to climb onto a chair. She was struggling, so I asked her if she wanted my help. She responded with, “I can do it, I am persevering!”

And wouldn’t you know it, she did!

At the time of this video, we had been working on learning Galatians 5:22-23 for a little over a week.  Here is a video taken on Sept. 1st of Aubrey Ann reciting the whole verse.

Aubrey Ann has such a great time learning about the Lord.  We are so blessed, and God is truly answering our prayers to make Aubrey Ann’s heart sensitive to the things of the Lord.

Aubrey Ann: I am getting married!

Me: Oh really, to who?

AA: Mommy!

Me: You can’t marry me, you have to marry a boy.

Several minutes later…

AA: I’m going to marry boys!

Hmmm…maybe I should have approached this another way…

Here is a video of our sweet little girl and I talking about the Fruit of the Spirit.

Oh how I love this little girl.  Just the sound of her voice makes me smile!  I am so proud of her for learning God’s word!

I have another video of her saying Galatians 5:22-23 that I will post as soon as we upload it.  Whenever I hear Aubrey Ann reciting a verse my heart fills with joy.

I have recently started teaching Aubrey Ann about the “Fruit of the Spirit” found in Galatians 5:22-23. We started a rewards system that will teach her when she is showing the different fruits of the spirit and reward her accordingly. We made a little poster that has the verse and a big tree on it with each of the different “fruits” hanging on the tree. Whenever I catch Aubrey Ann using one of the fruits, she gets to put a few marbles into a glass jar. When the glass jar is full, she and Daddy are going to go on a special date night. Aubrey Ann loves it, and I am hoping (hoping hoping) that it well help keep some of the ‘terrible two’s’ at bay. Either way, it is a great way for her to learn God’s word, and for me to focus on positive aspects of Aubrey Ann’s character and help to build her up.

I got my very first indication that Aubrey Ann was starting to understand what this ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ stuff is all about. She was petting Sherlock very gently, as she always does, and then she looks up at me and says, “Mommy, I’s gentle to Sherlock, that is the food of asparagus!” I couldn’t help but smile, and give her a handful of marbles for her jar.

Why oh why must they grow up? Lord, help me to remember this moment the next time my sweet baby is taken captive by the terrible two’s.