Picnic in the Park - Part 2

Here are the rest of our pictures from the park. I thought some of them turned out pretty well. As you all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here you go!

Picnic in the Park - Part 1

This last weekend we took the kids to a splash park in South Bend. They had such a great time. Because of the way the prices on everything keep rising, we were looking for something fun and free to do. We packed a picnic and had a great time! The girls loved playing in the water. It was hot out and the water was so cold. But that didn't seem to bother them. They played and ran around for about 2 hours and then decided they were too cold to keep doing it. So, we dried them off and got them into some warmer clothes. Right next to the splash park is a Japanese rock garden. We took a few pictures of the girls there, went to East Race to eat our picnic supper and took some more pictures of the girls there. I'll put all of those in a later post. We had so much fun and are looking forward to doing it again soon. We also found out that there are two more splash parks not too far away from us. We may try one of those next.

In a Year...

... you can learn a lot of things. It was a year ago this month that Marc and I started trying for baby number 4. We have had a lot of obstacles. After Maggie was born, we decided that Marc should have a vasectomy. Actually, Marc really wanted it to be done because we had had three children in less than three years, and I was trying to be the obedient wife, even though I didn't feel like I was finished having children. He had the vasectomy and everything went well. Well, a year after the vasectomy, I still wanted more children. And it wasn't just a fleeting thought, but on my mind every day. So Marc decided to have the vasectomy reversed. I was thrilled with that thought and six months later, he went in for the surgery. The dr. then said that everything looked great and we shouldn't have any problems getting pregnant again. Little did we know the ride that God was going to take us on.

Month after month we would try and month after month I was so devastated that I wasn't getting pregnant. We decided to go in and have some tests done and found out that both Marc and I were having some medical issues. I was diagnosed with something called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it very difficult for a woman to get pregnant. Marc had some issues, too. So I prayed and prayed that God would take away my desire to have more children. That didn't happen at all. In fact, my desire to have more children increased. So I prayed that God would show me areas that I needed to work on and also prayed that he would help me to be content with the children that I have. There were some areas in my life that needed immediate attention. And I've been trying to work on those one day at a time. But God has shown me how to love my children even more. Now, a year ago, I didn't think that I could love them any more than I did. But I started looking at the little things that made me happy. The biggest thing was involving Maggie. I loved her from day one, but the love seemed a little different than it did with Emma and Lily. Maggie had always been a daddy's girl and really never wanted to be with me. I started spending more time with her and purposely started taking her grocery shopping with me, had her go and run errands with me, etc. And I learned a lot about this little girl. I learned that she is so much like me (a very scary thought, especially when it comes down to the stubbornness). But she is also very compassionate, loving, and a little mommy in training. She is very careful with her baby dolls. If she accidentally drops one, she picks it up and lovingly gives it a hug and a kiss and tells the baby, "It's o.k. You're going to be o.k. I'm here to take care of you." And then there's a time every day that we can't go in her room because her baby is taking a nap. It's so cute and it makes me smile.

If I had gotten pregnant right away, there would have been some very valuable lessons that I would have never learned. And I would have never gotten to know Maggie the way I do now. I'm so thankful for this last year. Do I still want children? Oh yes. But it's so much easier handling not being pregnant when I know that God is with me every step of the way. I'm still praying for another child, but I now have a little more faith and know that it will happen. But it will happen in God's timing. And that's exactly when I want it to happen.

Summer-Reading Program

Emma was recently in the local paper. She has been involved in the summer reading program at the public library. I was so proud of her because she was only required to read 20 books because of her age. But she went over and above and ended up reading 70 books in a 3 1/2 week period. I never guessed that her reading would get so much better, but it has. She doesn't stumble over words anymore. She's very proud of herself. And, because she did so well, they have a big party at the end of the reading program that she was invited to. She's very excited to go to that. I'm sorry the picture is so blurry. It's the best we could do right now.

New York Vacation

This week we went to visit my parents in northern New York. We haven't been here in two years, so it was great to come "home" and stay for a little over a week. Marc and I both needed the vacation and the girls needed to spend some time with Mimi and Papa. Mom and dad have a great home right on the Racquette River. We love it here. It's so peaceful and quiet, and when you sleep at night with the windows open, you can hear the river rushing by. I recently read on my sister-in-law's blog about her loving to see her children loving the same things she did when she was a child. And I thought that was so great. But it's even more awesome to experience it. My girls love the river. We've been in it almost every day. They loved throwing rocks, going for rides in the kayak, and just learning basic "river rules". I loved seeing my girls love the river as much as I do. We're looking forward to the next vacation we have here. We'll spend more time in the river and teach the girls new things. I hope you enjoy the next few pictures.

This is the view from my parents back deck.







Mom and dad bought a kayak while we were here. We had so much fun in it. If Marc and I lived closer to a river or lake, we would really consider buying one! I told my mom to look like she was having a good time. Check out that huge grin!!!











A while ago, Marc and I purchased a Wii. We brought it home for mom and dad to play, too. We had a really good time. My cousin, Andrew, came over one evening and played with Marc for quite a while. They really enjoyed it. Here are a few of the pictures from that.







Even the dogs loved the river. The red mini-dachshund is my parents dog, Dixie. She is so cute and very sweet. We also brought our dog, Gracie, home with us. We did have to take Gracie to the vet this week. She ended up getting a huge sore on her back. We don't know exactly what caused it, but she's on some antibiotics and also a topical cream. They both have really seemed to help.





Just to end this post, here are pictures of Emma and Lily. Check out those smiles!!! We will miss Mimi and Papa, but we're already looking forward to our next vacation here.