Our 3 year old

On January 25th our little Josiah turned 3! Somehow, my life just seems easier now that I have a three year old. Two year olds are still mostly babies, but a 3 year old is a big boy! Josiah blessed us by potty training himself the day before his birthday. I felt like I had tried everything, but he just wasn't getting it and then, he just decided it was his time, and never looked back! Before I had kids I never could have imagined 'pooing in the potty' could be an event to literally celebrate over. :)
So here are some pics of Josiah's birthday. Enjoy.

Just some cute ones of the kids....

Woody and Buzz

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We survived the holidays! Why do I say it like that? Well, a lot of you know that since we've moved here our kids have been almost constantly ill, but we especially had a LOT of sickness in our house over Christmas and New Years. It all started the week before Christmas with Anna in the hospital because she had a chest cold and had a lot of trouble breathing. She's doing much better now and has been prescribed an inhaler that helps keep things under control. After she got home from the hospital I (Ashlee) got a 24 hour flu, the next day Anna got it, and the day after that Josiah got it. Lots and lots of throw up... which brings us to Christmas day. We had a great time celebrating with the Betel 'family'. It was our first Betel Christmas and we will always remember the joy and generosity of the holidays at Betel. After all the celebrations, Evangeline started refusing to eat and had trouble breathing. After 24 hours of not eating and struggling to even get one decent breath, Evangeline went into the hospital also. Thankfully with a little oxygen and a feeding tube she recovered quickly and all she has now is a bad cough. We came home from the hospital with Eva on Monday, and the very next day Josh got that 24 hour flu bug. Now we are all on another round of head colds.... oh it never ends! I've been told by the doctors that all the viruses here are different than the States so we will be constantly ill our first year here. Well, it's been almost a year, and we are ready to be well again!

Josiah with his secret santa gift, he was impressed!

Can't stop Evangeline from smiling!

On New Year's Eve we had a big party at the church here, complete with costumes! We went as a hick, a person with the chicken pox, a cowboy, and two princesses!



All of the sickness and visits to the hospital does make us thankful that besides colds and flus, we are all healthy and have so much to be thankful for. This was our first Christmas away from friends and family, and we really did miss everyone. We hope you all had a good holiday, and here's to a healthy new year for us all! Check out Ashlee's facebook page for videos of the kids.

Surprise Visit

On December 7th my mom flew in for a few days to surprise me for my birthday, and of course to spoil her grandkids! We had a great time setting up our Christmas tree, doing some shopping, and going to a farm set up for the kids to play. Here are a few pics of our time.






Evangeline is growing, growing, growing! Already 2 months now, she continues to be a joy to us each day. The kids adore her. Keep her in your prayers as she is fighting the flu right now, poor little girl.
We've been so busy adjusting to our new family life and continuing with ministry here at Betel that we feel we can hardly catch our breath! We are definitely ready for some down time to celebrate Christmas and the coming New Year. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

She's here!

... and has been for a month.... where did the time go? We've all been busy visiting with family and adjusting to life with three little ones. Although life with a newborn can at times be exhausting, it's actually been a lot easier for us than having the mommy of the house be massively pregnant. Josiah and Anna adore their new sister. Josiah always wants to hold her and Anna gives her kisses constantly. Anna walks around saying "Hey Baby". We also had family visiting for the month of October. It was great to see Ashlee's mom and brother, and Josh's parents, sister, and their foreign exchange student, Becci. So, here she is:

Evangeline Grace
born at 3:30 am on the 15th of October
weighing 8 lb 6 oz, length 21 1/4 in

For more pictures check out Ashlee's facebook album, Evangeline Grace

Waiting...

Why is it that the last 2 weeks go by slower than the entire first 9 months? You have to be prepared for an early birth, always keeping the house clean, gas tank full, and hospital bags packed. Yet, you have to be willing to wait until that mysterious 'due date' and even beyond! Meanwhile the house is never quite clean enough and those packed bags just taunt you! Hopefully we won't be waiting too much longer.... I don't remember being this miserable at the end in the other pregnancies, although Josh assures me I was. :)

I'm not really smiling in this last picture, but I had to include it because my belly looks massive! Isn't new life a miracle?

We'll keep you all posted. We've got a great birth center picked out, which really is a miracle because the hospital I was supposed to have the baby at looked like it could be the set of a horror movie... seriously. Hope to be updating you shortly, meanwhile I'll be patient in the waiting!

Day at the Farm

A few weeks ago one of Josiah and Anna's friends, Chloe had her 2nd birthday. Chloe's parents are the leaders at Betel's Center in Derby, which is about an hour north of us. It is actually set on a beautiful farm, and despite the rain, we had a great time. We went on a tractor ride through sheep pasture, saw lots of chickens and chicks, and played with all the fun activities they had set up for children. It was really special for the kids because we live in the middle of the city, and they don't get to play in the countryside that often. Anna was all giggles, but Josiah was a little more serious. When we got home though he couldn't stop telling Josh all about the animals he saw.
These pictures were taken on my iphone, so the quality might not be great.



Josiah has a thing for tractors (don't all little boys?), and I could hardly get him off this one.
I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog yet, but Josiah has changed his name to Gosiah. We're not sure why, but he's quite adamant about it. I think it sounds like an anime name, don't you?

Josh's Birthday

Last Monday Josh turned 26 years old. We celebrated by having a grill out on Sunday with steak and homemade fruit pizza. Josh also got a nice card and plenty of teasing from all the guys here at the house. In the last picture he's wearing his birthday present from me and the kids, an England jersey. Isn't he handsome?



One more picture that I forgot to add the first time because it was on my phone: Josiah licking the cake batter. When we were adding the dry ingredients he kept putting his fingers in the cocoa powder. I told him he couldn't touch it so he just put his whole face in the powder! He wasn't very impressed with the taste. :)