Let's back up a bit, shall we?

So... back to May... which seems to be where we left off.

Jonathan graduated from seminary.

(Excuse the snapshot)

I can hardly leave that entirely unblogged. We moved to Oregon for seminary. It was a four year full time endeavor. Jonathan translated countless pages of ancient greek, wrote papers, poured over counseling case studies, read approximately 5,6785,093 books and delivered sermons. Yet all of that doesn't really even begin to define the seminary experience for either of us. There were trials, some "Aha!" moments, some heavy duty reliance on God and hopefully some spiritual maturing and deepening on both of our parts. I'm really proud of Jonathan, not just for the work he did, but for the man I've watched him grow into. I won't be able to wrap everything up in a neat and tidy package so maybe I should just leave it to...

Jonathan graduated from seminary.

The inevitable question is... what next? The short answer is still... we don't really know. Our hope is that Jonathan will find a full time ministry position that is a good fit for his skills and gifts and for our family as a whole. We have some preferences (like staying in the Portland area), but really we're resting on God's assurance that he will provide for us. It might not look exactly like we hope it will/think it should and we're OK with that. I'm at a much better place of resting in God's promises than I was four years ago.

Also... we totally found out that we were expecting our third baby the exact weekend that Jonathan graduated from seminary. Good thing I had four years to learn about trusting God, eh?

New life in a poor dead blog

Two months without a single blog post. You know, there are very few good excuses for such a long blogging hiatus. I hope you'll agree that this is one of them...

This tiny babe will be joining us in January. This was our 12 week ultrasound. I'm 14 weeks now. In fact, with an estimated due date of January 20th this babe threatens to steal my very own birthday out from under me (January 23rd.)

As to the blogging hiatus... I've mostly been in survival mode. Fortunately the miracle drug zofran has spared me the horrible level of sickness that I experienced with the girls (especially Juliana... the little scamp.) However, I've been going to bed when the girls do, getting up early to make it work at 7am and working more hours in general that I do during the school year. That said, I may be able to keep most of my food down, but I'm wiped out! With going to bed at the same time as the girls and arriving home from work after nap/quiet time is over, most of my "me" time for things such as blogging has vanished. I'm officially finished with that less than fun first trimester and I'll cautiously admit that I just might be feeling a bit better, but with the girls the full on sickness lasted until 16-18 weeks (respectively) so I'll probably have a few more weeks before I'm fully functional. And then, you know... only a few weeks after that until I'm huge and don't feel like doing anything again.

Other things you may be dying to know (or not.)....

What do the girls think about it?

Gabriella is sooooo beyond excited. She has been asking/praying for a baby sibling ( a brother to be specific) for the longest time. Even though we told her that she just might not be getting any more siblings... I guess she knew better. That has been one of the funnest parts of this pregnancy so far. Gabriella is so excited to see pictures of fetal development and learn about the whole process. She will be one fabulous second time big sister.

While I'm sure that Juliana has no real clue what a new baby will actually mean for her life, the wheels have been turning in her head and she is developing her concepts of the tiny baby in Mommy's tummy. She paid super close attention during the ultrasound and afterwards she was able to point out body parts on the pictures we were given. Her preference... a little sister.

What was the heart rate?

I'll admit, I don't buy the heart rate gender guessing, but I did check out this baby's heart rate vs the girls at this stage. Baby is 160s, Gabriella was 170s and Juliana was 150s... so firmly in between the two girls.

Were you trying for a boy?

Ummmm no. We have always wanted girls (Jonathan even more so than me) and we are beyond thrilled to have two of them. We'd love to have another girl to share in all of the girly fun, but we would certainly welcome a little boy (also Gabriella would be over the roof with excitement.) However, if we do have a little boy we're going to need some name input. We can't ever seem to agree on boys names. Girls names are no problem, but boys names are tough! We might have to go with Gabriella's suggestion... Spiderman.

Are you really showing already?!?

Yeaaaah. I won't even tell you how long I've been in maternity pants AND I've already had a stranger ask when I was due (wearing a loose fitting tee shirt, not a maternity shirt.)

So there you have it. The Whislers are going from 4 to 5. (Anyone have a good minivan recommendation?)

Mothers Day Tea

Gabriella's preschool hosted a super cute Mother's Day tea today.

I was given a lovely necklace to wear...

Attended a fabulous performance...

... and afterwards Gabriella gave me a copy of a book the class had made titled, "I Love My Mom." Gabriella's page read, "I love my mom when she comes home from work." I was also given a lovely drawing of yours truly wearing pink Hello Kitty pajamas. Now that I know what I look like in pink Hello Kitty pajamas I might just have to find a pair.

Then, we all had cake and juice. Juliana even got to try on the ears.

Pretty great stuff.

April

Oops. I missed an entire month of blogging. It is just a bit crazy here right now... Jonathan will finish off his four year Masters of Divinity adventure in just a few short weeks. Except right now those "few short weeks" feel more like a few looooooooooong weeks. There are still Greek passages to translate (just looking at those pages of translation and grammar diagramming makes me a little ill), papers to write, binders to compile and the list goes on.

Not that the girls and I aren't finding ways to keep busy as well....

In over my head

Gabriella and I were discussing vowels. They are one of the tricker parts of learning the written English language. She knows what the vowels are, but still often mixes and omits them.

Me: Every word has at least one vowel and some words have more.

Gabriella: "Brrr doesn't have a vowel"

Me: (not sure I've heard correctly) "How do you spell brrr?"

Gabriella: "B-r-r. (makes a shivering gesture) See? No vowels."

Me: Yes you are right sweetie, almost every word has a vowel.

Mama needs to stick to teaching art.

Riverfront

Just a few more from the riverfront...

Riding the MAX rail across the river is always a fun time.

Making instruments at the Saturday market and dancing to live music isn't too bad either

Cherry blossoms are the icing on the cake.

***

So why the shortage of Gabriella pictures?

Gabriella simply does not want her picture taken very often these day. She flips into a full blown scowl if she even thinks I might be pointing the camera her direction. So, I don't press her very often and I try to make sure that the camera doesn't dominate our family outings. I do, however, have some fabulous pictures that Gabriella took (on our old point & shoot camera) the same day these were taken. Hmmm.... more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it? I have no idea where she would get that from.

Sunshine