out of sequence again...

Luke has said a few things lately that I wanted to remember, so here they are....

The other night we were driving home from my Mom's house and it was night time.  Luke sudenly said, "Mommy!  What is dat?!"  I said I didn't know and asked him what it was.  Luke wasn't sure and told me there were light in the sky.  I said maybe they were stars and he said that he didn't think so.  Then he said, "Mommy, I think those are God's eyes.  I think those are God's eyes in the sky." 

Just now he was playing with a child's gate we have and he told me he was fixing it.  I said ok and went back to taking care of Aaron.  Then a minute later he came and showed me this screw he had gotten out of Daddy's work things and told me that he was using the screw to fix the gate.  I said ok and he went back to where the gate was.  Then he told me he was going to take the gate appart adn fix it and it was going to take a long time, me "OK Luke, you can fix it."  A minute later he carried the gate over to me and told me he needed a screw driver!   I kinda laughed and told Greg and greg got him one of his small screw drivers and Luke set the gate against the couch close to where Greg was sitting and went back to work.  Then Luke says, "I'm exlent at fixn' tings! I 'm going to take dis appart and den fix it, and it's going to take a long time to take it appart and a long time to fix it, it's goin' be a really long time."  Greg looked down and started laughing and said, "Laura, he's already got the screw half way out!"

Out of sequence, but I just had to...

Luke and I bought groceries today at this dented can store in our area, mostly cereal and a few boxed meals to try.  Anyway, Luke decided to unload one of the boxes of food and use the food boxes to make a "nest" for both him and Aaron, and this was the result! 

Dec 24, Bartel Christmas

Bartel Christmas was December 24th at my grandparent's house.  We ate tons of delicious food including everyone's favorite, verenika!  After a little nap time we all gathered round for Grandpa to read our Christmas story and hear a little piano music from my cousins and then time for presents.

Present time!

We couldn't stay late because I had to work that night and Luke was in his first Christmas Eve program at church.  I got ready for work and the boys got ready for church and I got to see Luke in his new outfit from Mimi and Papa in IN!  

Greg took the boys to church and my mom helped take care of them during the service so that Greg could get a video of Luke's group singing for me.  He did a great job but bounced and danced the entire time!

the toy of the day...

Luke and I had a lot of fun yesterday doing little art projects, playing with cars, cooking together and tossing the ball around.  The highlight though was turning some egg cartons into a bus and a semi truck.  We wrapped paper around them in a way that you could still open and close them so you could put things in them, then I drew the basics on them and Luke colored them in the way he wanted too.  Here are a few pics of Luke playing with the bus.  It was a big hit with him.

Aaron had fun watching us!  He is much more mobile now, though still not crawling on hands and knees he does the army crawl pretty fast and sometimes rolls to get where he wants too.  

Pulling up!

So I am sitting at the computer checking emails and I look over at Aaron who was just sitting on the floor playing beside me, and he had pulled himself up to standing by holding onto his bouncy seat!  I called Greg to show him and he said, "Oh yeah, he started doing that last night."  I hadn't seen him even try to pull up into standing position on anything yet!  Can't believe how fast he is growing up!  Seeing him next to Charlie really brings it home how much he has grown and changed over the past 8 months.

Crawling!!!

Maybe not technically, because Aaron doesn't get up on his hands and knees to do it, but he is definitely moving!  He lays on his belly and pushes with his feet, pulls with his hands and rolls side to side to move forward to get toys.  It isn't terribly fast, but he went at least four feet while I was watching him to get a toy that he wanted!  I made him do it a second time so Greg could see it and I could get it on camera, and then he was so tired out he just fell asleep on his tummy on the floor!  Sweet baby! 

Thankful

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things...  For my new job, because I am happy there, because of the peace of mind and security that it brings to our family, because of the benefits that come with having a good job and an income and the things it will allow us to do.  I am thankful for good friends, both for friends far away and near by, ones that I have spent time with in person and for the surprisingly close friendships I have found online with my March Mommies group.  I am especially thankful for Family, both our own little family and also for our extended family that gets bigger and bigger the further you go.  I know not all of my family members have had good years, some have had a lot of hard things to go through or health problems that are ongoing.  I just hope that they all know that they are loved, wherever they are and whatever they are going through. 


Family has been highlighted for me this year as I have witnessed friends loosing family members.  I always love my family to death and try to never take them for granted though I know I probably do sometimes and I know as a wife and mother I sometimes am grouchy or short with Luke or Greg or don't spend as much energy as I wish I did with Aaron.  But this year I have seen friends loose their mother, spouse, or young child, and those friends are often on my mind.  I have seen them walk through the dying processes with their loved ones so gracefully in a way that left no regrets.  I can't begin to imagine what this has been like for them.  I have given my boys bigger squeezes and I hope loved my friends and family better because of knowing these people.  I know that even on my worst days with my boys they would give anything to be able to have a screaming toddler in a store or a sleepless night with an infant that just won't sleep. 

This year I am also grateful for new life.  I am so grateful for Aaron and how healthy and happy he is.  After loosing our angel almost 2 yrs ago this pregnancy and now sweet baby was such a gift.  I treasured every moment of it and was so grateful to be able to go to the Yoder Birth Center instead of a hospital for delivery.  And now we also have a new nephew, Charlie.  Watching my brother and sister-in-law go through this pregnancy and delivery and now almost two full weeks of parenting for the first time, I am so, so grateful.  I know that Andrea had some added worries early on because of my experiences, but thankfully her pregnancy was a healthy one, her delivery was safe and joyful, and her baby is healthy and beautiful!  I am beyond happy for them.  Knowing how wonderful the parenting experience has been for me I can't help but be excited for them as they get their first chance to know that indescribable love of a parent for their child.  As they are blessed so am I.

I am so richly blessed in so many ways and I know that God has helped me through the hard times as well as the good times.  I am grateful for a God who is everything and more.  For a faith that teaches me and carries me.  For a faith community which is loving and vibrant and which searches carefully for God's will in every situation. 

This has turned out to be a very good year for me.  This time last year I could not have seen what might be ahead, or how God would use hard things in my life to bring goodness.  I had a hard time letting others know how hard things were for me at that time or asking for support even though I really needed it.  I wish I had been able to do things differently, to not have to go through the hard parts, but with out the really hard parts I would not be where I am today, I would not be so richly blessed by the changes those hard things brought to my life.  So that is why I say this was a good year.  It wasn't easy, but the end result is that my family and I have been changed so much for the better.  If we hadn't been forced to make changes I don't know when they ever would have happened, and these changes are soooo good.

In the next month we will find out if we will be accepted for Service Adventure Leadership positions and where we will be placed if accepted.  If we don't get in this year it will be OK, the changes we have made this year mean that either way it will be good.  We hope that we will get a placement, but we know that there are several couples applying this year and limited placements so those in charge need to consider carefully what will be best for both the couples applying and the placements that need leaders next year.  If we are accepted that will mean a lot more good changes in the next year.  If not we will look for other ways to make good changes in our lives. 

So anyway, I just want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and send you all so much love!  Your love and support means so much to me and I am thankful for you!