Owen is TWO!

I can't believe my sweet Owen is turning two.  He is so special to me.  He's been giving me gray hair since before he was even born.  Since we had two miscarriages before Owen, I was so nervous the whole first half of my pregnancy.  Then we found out about his kidney issues at 20 weeks and I spent the next half of the pregnancy so concerned about him and his health.  Well, he has continued the trend of keeping his Mama on her toes!  He is so busy and fearless!  It isn't rare for me to find him standing on the counter or climbing a piece of furniture.  He busted out two teeth this Summer at camp when he fell and ate concrete and although we haven't had any ER trips for stitches...we've come close a few times.  He's a wild man.  But he has handled all of his testing and procedures so bravely.  And bounced right back from two major surgeries with a big grin on his face.  He can push until you're ready to pull your hair out and then melt you to pieces the very next second.  He is the sweetest, most loving little boy.  We are so thankful to have him in our family.  He is our little super hero so it was only fitting to photograph him in the Superman shirt.  He is the toughest little guy I know.  I'm so lucky to be his Mama.

Showing off his new scars from his surgery last month.

We decided to take Owen out to Chuck E Cheese for his Birthday.  He *loves* that place.  Every germ covered inch of it.  So it was the perfect place for him to have some fun and celebrate his special day.

Happy Birthday, precious boy.  We love you more than words.

Random Happenings..

It's a rainy and yucky day today, but the weather has been amazing the last few days so I guess I can't complain!!  It's been so nice to have some warm temps.  I'm trying to resist the urge to start getting a garden ready.  Still too soon to risk freezing :(  but it's getting so close and I'm so ready for Spring and Summer!  We have had a busy week.  Poor Owen hasn't been feeling so great.  Not sure what is going on with him, but he has been randomly getting sick the last 5 days.  Yesterday he made it the whole day without throwing up and so far he is okay today.  So I'm hoping that it is done now.  But he has been fine sometimes all day and then he will randomly throw up everywhere.  It's awful.  He will be going in very soon to have his stint removed and hopefully after that he will start getting back to feeling well all around.  Randy has been attending the Seeds Conference so he has been in and out of Tulsa the last few days.  He's exhausted, but so thankful for all he's learning.  My mom kept the older three kiddos so that I could join him on Wednesday night which was super fun for me.  Yesterday the kids and I stayed busy with Homeschool Co op and now today I am trying to catch up on all of the cleaning that was neglected while we were in and out this week.  Not very exciting stuff to report around here!!  We are just keeping busy with our normal day to day routine with school and church.  It's busy busy, but it's a good kind of busy.  I am starting a new Bible study in a couple weeks and looking forward to that.  Randy and I have been doing Insanity Max:30 trying to whip ourselves into shape.  That's been an adventure.  Haha!  Let's just say we are wayyy out of shape. But we are working hard and so many mornings we have wanted to sleep in and skip, but we are dragging ourselves out of bed and working hard until the end.  Even when we are physically spent.  We had to miss a couple days this week because of the conference and I'm surprised that I've actually missed it!  We are planning to work through the weekend to still try and get our days in.  It's been nice having the accountability and having it as something we are doing together.  We always seem to neglect ourselves and this year I am trying to remember that I have to first care for myself so that I can care for everyone else.  I'm getting better at managing my time and prioritizing so that I can fit things that are important to me into my day.  I'm a work in progress.  I still go through many days without having time to get a shower let alone do something fun for myself lol.  But I am getting there.  

Okay.  I think that's enough rambling.  On to the fun part.  Jack.  I swear he was just born yesterday, but time is marching on whether I like it or not.  He's getting so big.  He will be four month old on the 18th and I just can't stand it.  I know they can't stay little forever.  But it feels like it's going particularly fast this time!!  He loves scooting on his back and trying to roll around on the floor.  And he's so happy and smiley. He reminds me so much of how happy go lucky Noah was and still is.  So sweet and sensitive.  This morning he was in a really good mood while getting changed out of his jammies so we had a mini photo shoot.  I just love his little pudgy arms when he is laying around in his diaper.  It's insanely cute.

And just because...one of Owen and my little helpers who worked hard helping me get Jack to look up ;)

It is well..

Our church has been singing a worship song a lot lately called It is Well.  It's a spin on the old hymn and I just love it.  I know I have shared it on my Facebook page recently, but every time I hear it, it just sticks with me for hours.  It makes me think back over all of the ups and downs of my life where things may not have been ideal, but I was still certain that God was there with me.  I'm so thankful that my faith in Jesus allows me to have joy at all times.  But that is only possible, when I keep my eyes on Him.  As soon as I start to loose focus on what really matters, my faith begins to waver as well.

Things have still been busy as usual.  Although I'm guessing that is now our new normal.  But things are going so great.  Adjusting to being a family of 6 was harder then I expected it to be, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I'm glad we survived these last (almost) four months and came out still smiling.  It's been nice to finally settle back into routine.  And return to the glorious land of sleeping through the night.  I would like to think that I'm super spontaneous and that I just fly by the seat of my pants, but I'm definitely not.  I like things to be predictable and organized so I have felt my stress level lower tremendously these last couple weeks.  

Life in Oklahoma has been so fun.  I think we are finally starting to feel like this is home.  Our house is starting to become more settled and comfortable and the kids and I are finding our fit at church and around town.  Multiple nights a week, Randy and I just become completely overwhelmed with how blessed we are!  When we look around at our church, our home, our  children, and our life..we are just overcome with gratefulness.  We are truly SO blessed.  I think that's why this song is so powerful to me.  Because I have experienced that sort of spiritual wellbeing in both difficult times and good times.  I'm so very thankful to experience it now in a season of blessings! 

If you haven't heard it before, you will have to take some time to sit and listen.  You will not regret it.

"Through it all my eyes are on you and it is well with me."