A fun weekend away

This weekend we were blessed to be able to go to a lake house with our youth leadership team. It was a great time to get away and reconnect with our team, relax, watch movies, play games and for those who didn't just have a baby... water ski, wake board or tube on the boat. Here are some pictures from our weekend. 

We have 3 new babies in UTurn! Eden, Ethan and Jeremiah 

A brand new car!

Since being at home I have seen Price is Right for the first time in ages, so I hear the announcer voice when I think of our "Brand new car!!!". The Lord laid the possibility of a new car on our hearts last week. Now doesn't seem like the time to buy a new car. We are now a one income family and we've worked to eliminate debt in order for that to be possible. Thankfully though, God is our provider and not ourselves. The government program, CARS, or Cash for Clunkers ended this weekend and Al's T100 qualified since it only gets 16 miles to the gallon. Through Averitt Express, Al gets an employee discount through Nissan. Averitt is Nissan's carrier so the discount is the same as what Nissan employees get. Al went to the dealer and found a Nissan Versa at a great price. After much prayer, counsel and a long day of waiting, we bought the Versa. After our Averitt discount, Nissan rebate and the CARS promotion we were able to get a great price as well as a great interest rate. Our payments won't be much over what we will be saving in gas each month. We are thankful and so excited! We've never had a new car, we've always bought used. It will be a fun car for us to run around in. And we still have the 4Runner for bigger loads. We are so thankful for this gift from the Lord. 

Our big boy is almost 3 weeks old and such a good baby! He sleeps great, is rarely fussy and he eats great. He loves to sit and talk to us and we love to sit and talk to him. He smiles and coos when you talk to him. He is adorable if you ask me. He loves to hang out in the sling close to momma and prefers a nap on your chest over anywhere, but he does sleep great in the crib at night. 

Al checking things out

2 weeks old!

Jeremiah in his "Bobby" onesie. Gideon gave it to him and Gideon calls Spider Man, Bobby

Headed to church for the first time!

Grandpa was telling him stories.

Jeremiah thought Grandpa's stories were funny!

Jeremiah William is 2 weeks old ! Yesterday I took him for his 2 week weigh in and he had gained 1/2 a pound so he is now up to 8lbs 8ozs. No eating problems here! We are adjusting to our new way of life. Dad flew in on Saturday to drive Mom back to Tulsa. We had such a great visit with Mom and I was so thankful to have her here for 3 weeks. I know everyone at home missed her, but we were so glad to have her. They drove out yesterday morning and made it safely to Tulsa yesterday evening. Jeremiah had his first fussy day in honor of Grandma and Grandpa's departure. We survived, but this momma was thankful he is a good baby. Made me sympathetic to all the moms out there with fussy babies. We have loved all our visitors and the delicious meals. I have tried to take a picture with each visitor, but I think I have done a bad job at it. So... if you come visit, insist that I take a picture!

Wow, 2 weeks have flown by and each day we love this little guy more. God is faithful! Jeremiah loves to be swaddled tightly and takes the best naps on mommy or daddy's chests. He loves to sing, "He's got the whole world in His hands" and each night we make up a new line according to what we are praying for right then. We sing about Daddy at Averitt, Martha in Africa (our sponsored Compassion Intl' Child), all his cousins, grandmas and grandpas and a special baby Jeremiah is praying joins his list of friends soon. Tonight maybe you will be in our song! He's got the whole world in His hands! 

Geez, Martha. Where have you been!?

Getting ready to head to the hospital in their custom shirts

 Finally a family of 3This is the "promise" outfit  

Jeremiah has the best aunts in the whole wide world! He can't wait to meet the rest of them!

He's here, he's here! Jeremiah is 8 days old today and we are in love. In the words of Elf, "I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!" We went in last Tuesday at midnight to induce labor, but Dr. Presley was still pretty confident that we would have to have a c-section. God had another plan and we had a peaceful, relaxed and dare I say... fun delivery. It wasn't something I would like to repeat next week or anything (especially, not the recovery!), but it was better than I could have ever expected. After being on a drip of Petocin (sp?) all night Dr. Presley broke my water about 6:30am and the real contractions began. I progressed slowly at first, but then quickly started dilating and before I knew it they were telling me I could push when I was ready. After about 30 minutes of pushing, Jeremiah was born! Al, mom and Becky were there. Becky and Al held my legs and counted through the contractions for me while mom got to experience the birth of her grandson. It was a miraculous day for sure. My heart melted as soon as I saw his beautiful face. He has the sweetest dimpled chin just like his daddy. I prayed for that chin. :) 

Becky had to leave on Thursday to get back to work, we were sad she had to leave, but look forward to a visit from her, mom and my brother over Fall break. She didn't get to have much time with Jeremiah, but she got to take us home from the hospital. 

Al's family came in on Friday night and were able to stay until Monday morning. Jeremiah got lots of cuddle time in with his cousin Weslee, Aunt Angela, Memaw and PaPa. Mom is here until Tuesday, Dad is flying in to drive back with her. I am looking forward to introduce our boy to more family. 

We have had a great first week. Yesterday Mom and I got out and ran some errands. It about did me in. :) My pain has been getting better each day. Today we went to a movie, Julie & Julia (great by the way) and I expertly nursed in the theatre and changed a diaper in the public restroom. I was pretty proud of myself. 

Jeremiah is sleeping well at night and eating great. Thank you for your prayers for our labor, delivery and our boy. We have felt them. We love our boy so so much and I had no idea how much more I would love my husband after meeting our son. Life is good.