Road Trip!

Daddy had no work for a week so we took advantage of the opportunity and hit the road!

We made our first road trip to visit family in Seattle. It was a lot of fun to travel in our big 15 passenger van! We spent a lot of time at parks and taking walks.

Here we are at Snoqualmie Falls getting wet from rain & mist.

Visiting with the Great Grandparents, 90 & 92!

Celebrating Jason's birthday with my parents.

Gotta love this picture!

May Review

Where did May go? Maybe it's because I had a newborn or maybe because it feels like it rained all month like it did in April? Either way I'm shocked it's already June. Charlotte is doing really well. She's eating a lot and still sleeping lots too. The only difference I've noticed between her and my other babies is that despite how much she eats, she is not getting chubby. This is due to her heart defect and the calories it requires to keep it pumping. The doctors are happy with her weight gain and development, so I'm satisfied.

Here's a favorite photo of the littles watching a "moo-gick" (as Mary Beth calls it). They are totally engrossed! They watch so few videos that I can put on the most boring educational video and they're glued.

We're doing a little "program" we're doing to help Charlotte's brain development. We do things that stimulate her five senses including music, scents, black & white pictures and textures.

Brie Ella had her piano recital and Jaime Lyn accompanied her on a worship song.

New picnic tables for Jason's birthday! 

Mother's Day

My brood!

Sleeping Beauty

"milking" "Baby Bear"

Mother's Day was fantastic!

I was thoroughly spoiled by my creative children! I woke up to Jaime Lyn making everyone strawberry waffles, followed by homemade cards and 2 Daphne bushes (I love their scent!). We went to church and for lunch Brie Ella & Hogen made a "Brother & Sister Cafe" complete with menus and Hogen as my waiter (too cute!). After naps we went out to Grandpa's farm for fresh BBQ salmon Uncle Preston had just caught (yummy!) and to celebrate all the May birthdays in the family. All the children got to ride Trisha's horse. Mary Beth & Isabel had their first pony ride together. It was a great day! Thank you children!!

Mary Beth & Isabel on the horsey.

First Week Review

We are all enjoying our newest gift as you can see from these photos..it's a family project! Everyone gets to take turns feeding the baby with the milk I've pumped. She is eating every 3 hours and doing really great. She's already past her birth weight and we can tell she's starting to chub up!

On Thursday I took her to the cardiologist just to make sure her heart was as good and healthy as it sounds. They did an echocardiogram as well as an EKG and they found that she actually is missing an important flap between the left and right ventricles of her heart. She will need open heart surgery to fix this problem! We are broken hearted for her little body to have to undergo such a procedure. They hope she can withstand the stress on her heart until she is at least 6 months old. This is a common heart defect with Downs, but it's not common for us!!

Please pray that Charlotte's heart will stay strong for a long time so she can grow as big as possible before the surgery. We trust that God is in control of all things and that all her days are known by Him. He tells us that "all our days were ordained before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139) and Jesus tells us "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt. 6:27 & 34)

So we will live each day at a time, taking whatever comes with trust in our good God.  

Giving Charlotte a pedicure (she's got really dry hands and feet).

Coming Home

Time to leave the hospital. We had a great stay and a wonderful night's sleep (amazingly)!

Mary Beth meets her little sister.

The whole gang is together!

Born with the cherry blossoms.

Another Blessing Has Arrived!

Introducing...Charlotte Rosa

Charlotte "full of grace"

Rosa, named after her late cousin Kherington

Born April 23, 2010 at 4:03am

6lbs 12 oz, 19 1/4 inches

The hospital was so busy we had to wait until midnight to be admitted. Labor went great!

We were blessed with a great delivery and a healthy baby.

We discovered after her birth that she has Downs Syndrome, but she has a very healthy heartbeat and we are all excited to love her and care for her special needs.

 Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Her sisters were there for the birth, pulling an all nighter!

April Anticipation

We're all trying to stay busy as we await a baby sister on Thursday. Now we have to wait a little bit longer because the hospital is so busy they won't let us come in until 7pm! Your prayers are appreciated!

Here are some favorite shots from the past week around here.

FYI

Baby girl is scheduled to be induced next Thursday, April 22 at Providence Hospital. 9 days to go!

"BIG RED"

When you see a BIG RED van driving down the road... it's the Knifong family! We purchased a 2002 Dodge 1 ton, 15 passenger van last night. We've been looking for 3 months and found this on Craigslist last week. We had been praying for just the right thing at just the right time. The family we bought it from happened to know Jason from highschool and we use the same mechanic..small world! We've got room for everyone and all their stuff, including bikes for vacations or another family to join us! Now we're really fitting into the homeschool family stereotype...oh well, what can you do?!

Ben's 4!

Good-bye Friend

Our dear friend Rory went home to be with her Heavenly Father today. She found out on Christmas Eve that she had a very aggressive cancer in her bones. No one knew how much longer she would be with us. My girls had just spent the afternoon doing crafts with her on Wednesday, and now she's gone. She will leave a huge hole in all the lives of those who knew her. Once you met Rory you would never forget her. She came into our church almost 3 years ago as a bitter, disabled, confused and lonely woman. She left us with a strong faith, a joyful heart and a persevering spirit. God totally transformed her and healed all her broken relationships. It was amazing to see the transformation take place...glory to God! We helped throw a birthday party for her just over a month ago. I knew she wouldn't be with us long and thought it best to celebrate her life while she was here to enjoy it with us. It was a wonderful memory all of us share. My whole family grieves the loss of Rory, but we rejoice with the angels that she is totally healed and looking forward to greeting us there.

A Beautiful Quote on Motherhood

"O, that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see it's possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of it's life, and for its destiny--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others' hand the sacred and holy trust given to her."

~JR Miller

Time to Start Planting!

If you haven't gotten your onion sets, peas, carrots and lettuce in the ground..now's the time! I'm so thankful for real spring weather after 2 years of long winters! Join hands with God and get in the garden!

BIBLICAL Child Training

Tonight I gave a talk on "Biblical Child Training" to the precious women (young & old) in our church body. I spent over 10 hours studying the Bible to create my 12 page outline (plus all the time to organize and type it). Everything I wrote had to be supported by Scripture. I learned SO much putting it all together! My parenting has changed dramatically by doing this Bible study. I'd love to share my outline with anyone who is interested. The more people it could bless, the better! Pass it on.

Link to the document: Click here.

Happy 12th Birthday Jaime Lyn!

This morning we had a wonderful family celebration with our traditional strawberry waffles, fresh pineapple, a dozen roses for a dozen years and lots of presents including a serger sewing machine. In honor of Jaime Lyn turning 12 my parents bought her a real ruby & diamond ring. I made her a card that read "A girl of noble character who can find?...we know one! Happy 12th Birthday to our beautiful, intelligent, hard-working, responsible & dependable daughter. You are worth far more than rubies to us. May you grow in wisdom, stature & favor with God and man. Love, Mommy & Daddy".

Horseback riding with Tabitha to finish the day.