Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas this year.  Because we had just had a trip to Texas, we decided to have Christmas here with just the four of us.  We rented a cabin in the mountains of West Jefferson, NC and went up on Christmas Eve.  We took Santa presents and make Christmas cookies and had a wonderfully relaxing time.  We played games, watched movies and played in the snow! The kids and Brian got to sled behind the cabin – pretty funny seeing them!  It started snowing on Christmas morning and really snowed hard for two and half days straight – easily a foot or so of snow.  We opened presents with each set of grandparents via Skype before leaving for the cabin so they could see the kids open presents.  I felt like we could focus on Jesus’ birth and loved making these special memories with my family.

Before Christmas Hudson had his Christmas program at school – he only made it halfway down the isle, saw me and started crying, and his teacher held him the whole time.  Oh well, he was just not into playing the bells this year!   

Lilly had hers after Christmas due to a snow day before Christmas.  She did great and sang all the songs with gusto and knew all the motions!

     

I still cannot believe how cold it is here – a complete shock to this Texan’s body.  It has been cold every day – not just a couple of days out of the year!  I actually ordered the kids snow suits on eBay so they can be warmer when we play outside in the snow. 

I am 16 weeks this week and doing good.  I am not so nauseas, but still very sleepy in the evenings.  Need to post belly pics soon – you can definitely tell now!

Birthdays, Snow

Hudson celebrated his 2nd birthday on turkey day this year!  We were in Texas for this, so we had a little party at our house for a few friends and neighbors before we left.  He loves tractors, so we did a John Deere party, played pin the wheel on the tractor, had some cake and snacks.  He pretty much stayed glued to his alphabet train and scooted around the house on that the whole party, but her knew the party was for him and the presents and his cake were “Hudson’s”. 

Lilly turned 4 and we had a jumping party.  She had lots of friends from school and church there to celebrate – I think they all had a good time jumping and being silly.  She also had snow on her real birthday – two years in a row – I think now she may come to expect it.    

It was fun to have our first real snow in NC, we have had one more little one since then.  I can’t believe how cold it is here compared to Texas – a real winter for sure!  We’ve already built our first snowman!

We took 2 weeks and traveled to Texas (driving) over Thanksgiving.  We saw both sides of the family, all the sibs, and great grandmothers.  We had a good time visiting, just a lot of driving in the car.  The kids did well, though, and enjoyed staying in some hotels.  In Tyler we went to the zoo and in Houston we rode horses and fished – Lilly caught her first fish! 

I am so behind, so here it goes!!!!

  Well, since it is December 17th, I thought it about time to get out a Halloween post, I mean, really, what have I been up to?  So for Halloween, the kids were Spiderman and Strawberry shortcake (complete with the red wig).  They had fun at a church fall festival and also trick or treating in our neighborhood – it is so nice to be in a neighborhood that actually does this now! 

Our Family Miracle

So I don’t know who all knew we had started the process of adopting for the second time.  Hudson is adopted, and we had such a great experience with that, we kept feeling God was calling us to a third child.  We had filled out the application and started some online training at night. …… Then one day things changed.  I was looking through the application and a question kept standing out – Are you pregnant?  I was like “no.”  After 3 failed IUI’s after Lilly, a blocked fallopian tube, and lots of scarring from a c-section, they had said it was pretty much not going to happen.  But, on a whim, we decided I should take a pregnancy test just to make sure before we were too far along in the adoption process.  This time we were having a hard time getting the process started – one agency put us on a waiting list, the other we liked alot, but things were taking a long time.  We now know, God was saying, “WAIT”,  I have other plans. 

So, the next day, I took the test and it was positive.  I was like, this just does not happen.  But three tests later, they still said positive.  So, yes, we are expecting Burk #3.  I still can’t believe we are having another baby!  I have heard the heart beat three times and seen the baby twice.  Right now we are almost 13 weeks and due sometime in June – depending on when the c-section will be planned. 

“My plans are not your plans and My ways are not your ways”.  This rings true to us because we thought we had it all  planned out, how to have this third child, but God has other things in store.  Some say we are having this child because we moved to North Carolina and were more “relaxed”, others say because we have adopted a child, but I don’t believe it works that way.  God had such a specific plan for us, there is nothing Brian or I could have done to have this child on our own.  There was no trying or planning on our part, because  this was all God’s ultimate plan for our life and our family.  I feel truly blessed and know how precious this life is that is growing inside me.  I don’t want to take any of this for granted or forget this experience. 

We pray for a healthy pregnancy and for our growing family.  We love you all!  Merry Christmas!  

Visitors

We had quite a week of visitors recently.  My parents came for 5 days and then Brian’s grandmother and her cousin Ruby came for 3 days. 

We took my parents to Blue Jay Point Park – ate a picnic, hiked to the lake, and played on the playground and field.

We also went to Hillridge Farm for some hayrides, getting pumpkins, going down a big slide.  The kids had a good time!  We enjoyed our visit!

 

Here’s BB:

It’s Fall!

Hi there – Just thought I would post an update from NC!  I am so glad it is fall now and there is promise of cooler weather.  I absolutely love fall – it is my favorite season.  I love the smells of pumpkin and spice, vanilla, and nutmeg.  I love the trees changing colors.  I love that there are finally good shows on TV again to watch.  I love that my birthday is in the fall.  I love the yummy foods.  I love the colors and the decorations.  I love that we will go to Texas for two weeks over Thanksgiving.  So…what have we been doing.

We have gotten really involved in our church.  Brian is doing a men’s bible study there and his really pumped about the book of Revelation.  I am a discussion group leader for our MOPs group there this year and Lilly is in AWANAS.  We have made some really great friends there already, genuine friendships. 

Hudson and Lilly love their school.  They have great teachers and some great kids in their classes.  Lilly is enjoying dance as well. 

finger-painting with whip cream

hanging out with dakota

Weekend Trip to Texas

We went on a whirlwind of a trip to Texas to visit both sides of our families.  The plane ride there was good, everyone was excited and Hudson actually was quiet and sat there most of the time.  My dad picked us up and we had What A Burger for lunch – we don’t have those here in NC, so that was our choice.  We then drove from Dallas to Tyler where my sis and her fam met up with us.  We so enjoyed getting to see them, and all Allie, Kaylee and Drew. 

On Saturday, Brian’s mom and dad and his sister, her husband, and their daughter (our niece) Ruthie came to Tyler as well to visit with us.  That day we just hung out with all the family.  We just thought is was hot here in NC, boy Texas was so hot!!! 

Sunday we had brunch, went to my sisters house for the kids to play, and went to Discovery Science as a little outing.  We also ate dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house and my cousin Sara was there.  She set me up on Facebook while I was there, so now I have no excuse.  We had a great time visiting. 

Stephanie drove us back to Dallas on Monday to catch our plane back to NC.  The kids were tired by then, so the plan ride back was a little long, but we made it. 

Lilly had her first day of preschool on Thursday – she loved it.  The teacher told me Lilly told them she had a “wonderful time and I want to come back”.  She definitely loves school and learning.

Hudson had his first day on Friday – the parents came to to help them get comfortable in their new class.  He enjoyed playing with all the cars. 

This weekend we went to the State Farmers Market in Raleigh.  It is huge!  This is what we got this week – purple bell pepper, fresh cheese, homemade apple jam, blueberries (pesticide free), and a vintage dinosaur sign for Hudson’s dinosaur room.  I definitely plan to go back.

 

We also had delicious barbeque for lunch – Red Hot and Blue is so yummy, made us think of Texas barbeque for sure.  I was in heaven!