Life

Life changes quickly.

I don't know what I should be sharing and what I shouldn't be.

I don't know much of anything right now.

Dedication-ed

**Okay, so I wrote some of this yesterday...and I'm not editing now  :)

And today is my parent's 41st anniversary!!  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!**

Today we had lots to celebrate-

Caleb and Isabelle were dedicated to the Lord at church this morning!

What a humbling, awesome responsibility and privilege this parenting adventure is, and I truly felt the love and support of our entire church family as we stood in front of the congregation and were prayed over.

Thank you Jesus, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me parents who know and love you,

For giving Bill parents who know and love you,

so that we have the honor of raising our children to know and love you- what a legacy for our family.

Thank you for being the life force of our marriage and family,

for giving us the wisdom we (often) lack,

granting us mercy and tenderness when we fail (also often!),

and for loving us with a love unlike any other!

You amaze me, God, and it is my heart's greatest desire to lead our children to You,

Father, Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.

I just LOVE the way Caleb has his little hands folded up on his heart when we were praying!

A picture with Pastor Butler- our church has been blessed this past year since he and his wife joined us almost a year ago...and of course, someone had just had enough picture-taking for one morning, ha!

How this boy melts my heart!

For reals!

My little girl looked so beautiful in her *Easter* dress and new posa (butterfly) sandals

I think this will be her beach portrait dress too- I altered the pattern a bit and added a full lining, which was more of a headache than I'd anticipated, but I think it turned out pretty cute!

I was very proud of my children as they stood up in front of our congregation- Caleb was nervous, which I'm still not used to, as he is such an exuberant, life-of-the-party kind of boy, and this morning at home all he could talk about was not wanting to be dedicationed...it was his nerves, poor little guy.  I am so incredibly awed by all three of our boys' hearts for God, so giving and generous, and I strive to do everything in my feeble ability to preserve and encourage that wonderful spirit.

Isabelle Kate, as I suspected but didn't have total confirmation until this morning, can work a crowd something fierce!  She smiled and waved, waved and smiled, sang out "Hi, Hauntie" to Aunt Kristen, capturing the chuckles of the audience, which of course egged her on even more!  I know God has such incredible things in store for her bold and loving little spirit!  And Jonah was squeezing my arm so hard I'm practically wincing in some of the pictures, ha!  He was not letting go of me for nothin'!  Ethan was his usual crowd-friendly, easy-going self, smiling and at ease.  (He doesn't get that from his father, hee hee.)

I'd better log off- my family is taking me out to dinner so I don't have to cook...or clean up!  :)

**So...yesterday morning I was still up way earlier than I'd hoped to be, and no amount of gentle nudging would make the mister budge.  (Hey, it was my day!)  At all.  So I sicked a kid or two on him.  Still nothing.  Then I mentioned that some kiddos were heading downstairs to make me a full pancake breakfast.  All by themselves.  What do you know?  He moved!

Cutest partners in crime ever!

We don't usually do bath time in the AM...but vanity mandated it- her curls look so cute right after a bath, ha!

Oh there he is!  But he doesn't look terribly thrilled....hmmm....

I was given such wonderful homemade gifts and cards, my absolute favorite kind, and beautiful flowers to plant around the yard.  And as I mentioned above, a night off from cooking and cleaning- blissful!

Thank you Bill, Ethan, Jonah, Caleb and Isabelle for a wonderful, special day!

How did you celebrate Mother's Day?

Baby Names

If you're hopping over from Kelly's this week, welcome!  And if you're not, you're more than welcome too!  :)

When I was younger I dreamed of all the wonderful names I would bestow upon my future children.  Of course, most of those names were of the female persuasion- having all boys never entered my mind back then.  Anyhow, somewhere along the way, I stumbled across the name "Ethan," which is actually my name, without the "b" or the "y."  I thought (and still do think) that was pretty awesome!  Bill wasn't nearly as smitten with the name as I was, but in the end, it seemed perfect, and our precious 9+ lb, could've-been-born-at-30-weeks-but-didn't-arrive-until-42 weeks perfect baby boy was named Ethan Jacob Greenleaf Paige. (Greenleaf is my legal middle name, my maiden name- there are not a whole lot of reasonable naming options in our families, so we decided to honor both family sides this way.)

Flash forward 10 months and we are now expecting Baby #2.  We wanted to be surprised with this baby, and of course I could not decide on a girl's name to save my life, and it didn't matter!  We welcomed our perfect Jonah Gabriel Greenleaf Paige into the world and our family, just a few days late, and a few ounces bigger!  I remember so clearly sitting in Bible study with one of my dearest friends and mentors in the world, Andrea, a few weeks before the delivery, and I was doodling baby names on the margin of my book- Jonah had been chosen for a boy, but we still hadn't found the right middle name.  Suddenly it was like God just whispered right into my ear the name Gabriel, and it made my heart absolutely swoon.  Still does!

Now of course, it still hadn't dawned on me that both boys have 5-letter names straight from the Bible (Ethan was a music director from the Old Testament), so when we were (really) surprised with our third little boy later that year, and even more surprised at his emergency C-section delivery, we had nothing.  No names!  No ideas!  I just assumed we had another week or so with my history.  The names Aaron and Andrew kept popping into my head, but they didn't fit.  I don't know how we settled on the name Caleb, but once we thought of it, there was no turning back....so at nearly two days old, after holding our new son only once by that point, we knew he was meant to be our Caleb Andrew Greenleaf Paige.  My heart just skipped a beat at the sound of his beautiful name- just like it did in the hospital back then- and he is such a beautiful child!

Shortly after Caleb's birth, I realized the whole 5-letter name "thing," and I got a bit nervous for our future daughter's name- there aren't many to choose from!  Lydia was a contender for a long while, but I could never settle on it.  When we finally got our referral and pictures of our wonderful new baby girl, she didn't look like a Lydia to us.  It turned out that I wouldn't have to think of a name anyway...because her big brothers hung onto the name Isabelle from day one!  I fought against it, but in the end, she was meant to be Isabelle; her birth name is Katherine (very unusual for a Guatemalan child, and even more evidence that she was set apart for us- Katherine is the only name that has remained on my list from childhood!), so she is now Isabelle Katherine Greenleaf Paige.  Elizabeth is also a cherished family name, and Isabelle is the Spanish equivalent- so neat!  And I just love how it was her big brothers that chose her name!  Sigh.  God is so good!

When we were praying about whether to expand our family, recently, and not so recently now, here are the two names we chose: Silas Nathaniel and Annabeth Chloe- they just make my heart so happy!  (I LOVE how Isabelle and Annabeth sound together!!  And it's close to my name again- oh dear, do I have some vanity/ego tendencies here????)

There you have it!  I'm smiling so big right now after having thought through the process of naming each of our children, so thank you Kelly!  :)  Be sure to check out other great stories here!

Have a great weekend!