Birth Announcement

The one that made the cut :)

The "Okay, everyone squeeze in" one.

The "The girls are smiling, the rest of you hurry up and smile too!" one.

The "The girls are getting giggly and wiggly, try to hold it together for a few more shots!" one.

The "Livie is past the point of no return, I think we are done." one.  :)  (This one almost made the cut, it is pretty funny, but Livie kind of took the limelight so I thought I better pick a different one since it is Noah's announcement... he sort of gets lost in there doesn't he?)

Noah Perry Congdon

 

(I will come back and fill in the story soon.  :)  Just pictures for now.)

January...

So, I just realized that I haven't blogged Christmas yet... we did have Christmas, and I will get to that soon, hopefully.  I think that we would honestly say this is the busiest time of our lives, this month has brought a whole new slew of things to do and unfortunately blogging has been way down on the list.  But, in an attempt to catch up a little, here are a few pictures of recent things:

The kids have been working hard with Brenna and Livie trying to get them to walk, no success yet, but they can both cruise like champs, stand up by themselves, and love to walk around the house with the big kids like in the picture above, which is a huge help for me.  (Except for the big kid who doesn't "get a baby" and feels left out... not for long though!  Soon, we will even out the baby/big kid ratio.  :)  Did I mention on here that we are having a boy?!  Yes, that is going to even some things out too, which we are very happy about.  :)

These kids love their little sisters!

One day Aubrey randomly fell asleep on the ottoman, he made sure his little makeshift knife was by his side.  :)

Baylee with my glasses, Jaden commented, "Wow Baylee, you look so beautiful!  Just like one of those girls who sings the blues!"

My favorite first grader.  :)  We are having a fun year and learning so much.  It is true what they say about the teacher learning more, even in first grade!  I might be having more fun than he is, but I guess it just depends on the subject.

And lastly, we bought a house!  This has been keeping me occupied, we close in a few weeks and should hopefully move in before the baby is born.  :/  That is assuming the baby is cooperating.  We are so excited, but very busy!  Looking forward to a very quiet and relaxing summer, that's for sure.

Wow!

Am I behind or what? I do have a good excuse though. One that is about an inch long, growing like a weed, making me extremely sick and set to make his/her debut in Mid-March. :) Yes, I know all of you know by now, but #6 is on the way. How incredibly blessed we are!!

Our Big News!!!

Well, it's not like all of you don't already know... but we have been (Lord Willing) blessed with twin girls!!! This is Baby A and her sister is every bit as adorable. :) We have been scrambling like crazy trying to get our paperwork in order (as we switched programs) and our house in order (as we switched from one to two, and from boy to girl!) Also, just because our house is never quite in order. ;) We are thrilled and excited and can't wait to bring them home. They are officially due on Christmas Eve. (I think) Their birthmother has a scheduled section planned for December 10th, but no one thinks she will make it that long and our social worker keeps telling us that it will be any day. Hopefully not, because we are not quite ready and would like them to get a little bigger... but God's plans are perfect and we can't wait to see what He has planned for us! It has been a whirlwind, but such an amazing experience seeing how God has worked this all out. We are so VERY blessed! Keep us in your prayers as we go through this process, it is very difficult and emotional and there is some risk on our side. We do feel like God is calling us to take that risk and want to be joyfully obedient to His will, no matter what that ends up being.

A while back, I posted this quote from Elizabeth Prentiss as I was musing about the idea of having more children. She had just become pregnant again.

From a (well meaning) friend in a letter to Elizabeth:

"You shall now have one more mouth to fill and two more feet to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure or visiting, reading, music, and drawing."

No doubt Elizabeth understood this to be true. But look at her response:

"Well! That is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly servant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ’s name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother’s heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!"

I love it and hope I am able to maintain the same, biblical perspective! (Especially while I'm up at 2:00am with 2 little ones!) Thanks for your prayers, I can't wait to announce that they have come home! :)