Author: Helen

This is a bit delayed…but here’s what 2015 looked like.

This year has been trying, challenging, surprising and amazing!  It’s always hard to run through it in my mind at the end of the year and recollect all of the happenings, but some that clearly stand out make it into these few paragraphs.  First unexpected ordeal was Joshy’s broken arm, it’s still very fresh in my mind, the parking lot of a grocery store and the phone call with Barry on another end telling me that he is on the way to the ER because Joshy broke his arm!  God is an amazing healer and healed this little man in no time.  On April 1^st, we found out we were pregnant!  The desire to have another baby was born a year and a half before then, but God had a plan for this tiny to arrive in Winter month 🙂 We could not have been more grateful that He gifted us our very much desired miracle!  A couple months later, after having a sobering discussion with Barry, we have decided to list our home and rent for a while until we were financially strong enough to buy another house.  We prayed like never before until we made a decision sell.  A great rental was laid out for us, very close to my parents and we were optimistic that our house was just going to fly off the shelf so to speak.  Well, it didn’t quite happen that way, we got a lot of traffic and no offers.  At that point, Barry and I put a timeline on it and decided to wait until the end of the month and if we didn’t get an offer, we would back out of the rental and take the house off the market.  26 days into it, the more we prayed and asked God for provision, the more it was becoming clear that it was not time to sell just quite yet.  We took the house off the market on Saturday night, come Sunday morning a car drove up while I was outside with a gal that came to look at our house a couple of weeks ago.  She was ready to make an offer and not just an offer for the price that we lowered to, but the original asking price.  WHAT?  I stood there for a second in disbelief!  Why was this happening?  We just reached a solid decision to not sell.  Barry and I again prayed about it and both realized that we were at complete peace with staying.  The realtor that represented the lady, called again a few days later asking us to change our mind, but we were happy exactly where we were.  Grateful to this day we stayed 🙂  This year has also been the year that Barry decided to give it a try and apply for a few jobs.  The interview process was a bit crazy as each position required at least 6 interviews and he did fantastic.  However after all of the praise from the interviewers and promising outcome, he was not offered the job that he really wanted.  Again and again we were reminded to lean on our God and to remember what it is that He truly wants of us.  Since then, Barry has been doing well with his job and many new opportunities have been rising almost daily.  I have done a couple of real estate transactions, which we are most grateful for and can’t wait to see what 2016 holds.  The kids have been learning and thriving learning.  I absolutely love to homeschool!  We know that God is faithful and we pray for hope, joy, humbleness and love.  He will not let us down no matter what.  Here’s to another great year!

Our babies turned 6 & 4!  We kept it low key and did all that these little bunnies wanted to do on their birthday.

This year, Bella got to participate in Bayside kids choir and she did fantastic!

This year’s Christmas was very different from the others as we gained our precious new family member and were exhausted beyond ourselves.  More than any other year, I was the most appreciative of my dearest parents as they have made yet another most wonderful Christmas for all of us.  Everything from the table setting, food and gifts…it was simply amazing!

Our sweet princess have arrived!  December 3^rd is still very fresh in my mind.  As I drove to my Dr’s appoitnemtn that day, I wondered if I was at all dilated or if it was going to be a while before our little gift came.  Bella and Joshy were also very excited to hear the news and waited patiently while Dr. checked and listened to the heartbeat.  The news were in, I was 5cm dilated and 80% effaced. and the Dr. was ready to send me to the hospital for delivery that same day.  I quickly called Barry and updated him, after which we have decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to wait and avoid petocin which entailed tremendous pain and perhaps negative side effects on Amelia.  I have communicated our decision to the Dr. where I could see he was not comfortable with me driving around for another day with my kids, so he scheduled me to be induced the following morning at 5:30A.M.  I left the clinic excited and yet nervous at the same time not knowing what my delivery will look like and when it would actually come.  That evening, after Bella’s Christmas choir rehearsal at church, we have decided to take the kids to Nana’s and Papa’s just in case we happen to deliver that night.  Contractions were somewhat regular during the choir practice but began to slow down as the evening went on.  We have dropped off the kiddos and went for a walk around my parent’s neighborhood while enjoying the lights and breathing through the contractions.  They picked back up and were about every 8-10 minutes apart, but once again as I would slow down or sit down, they would go away.  We set our good byes and came home.  On the way home, we debated whether to call and cancel the induction and decided to cancel.  We called the Dr. and shared our thoughts at which point he said he felt comfortable with our decision, where we would wait on God’s timing and not rush anything ourselves.   Around 11pm we finally made it to bed, Barry and I made sure we had our clothes ready just in case we had to go into labor that night.  All was calm until about 3A.M.  I woke up in huge pain and felt weird sensation, almost like something was clicking inside my stomach.  I haven’t experienced this type of sensation before and woke Barry up.  All of a sudden contraction came on and lasted over 2 minutes.  I sat in bed wondering whether this was the time while Barry jumped in the shower to be ready to go.  As I sat in bed for a few minutes, it became clear that indeed it was time as contractions picked up and now were every 1-2 minutes apart.  I dreaded going this late in the night but it was a blessing as all of the lights were green and we made it to the birthing center in under 12 minutes.  We arrived at 4A.M. and I could barely walk to the door.  Each contraction felt more and more intense and after signing all of the paperwork, I couldn’t make another step, so the nurse had to wheel me in to the delivery room.  I was eager for them to get the heart rate monitor on the baby as I was nervous whether all was all right.  They hooked up the IV, and the monitor and there was that tiny precious heartbeat…I was relieved!  They checked me and I was at 8cm.  The contractions began to get almost unbearable, all I wanted to do was to just crawl out of my skin.  I started asking for some sort of pain relief but it was almost a joke as I was so close.  Then there was one excruciating contraction after which they decided to check again and realized that my water had broke and I was at 10cm.  The Dr. came in sleepy eyed as it was close to 5A.M.  I was ready to push, unlike with my other two babies, I felt like I absolutely had to push.  The next contraction, I pushed and there she was, the most beautiful little princess, Amelia Joy.  It was 5:02A.M. and I was holding my little doll.  I couldn’t stop praising God that all went so smooth.  I knew my kids were cared for , Amelia was perfectly healthy and we were a family of FIVE J  She weighed 7lbs. 4oz and was 19.5” long.  We can’t be happier with how God planned it out.  Thank you Lord for your amazing Love and for our precious miracle!

Candy, games, fun  and cute costumes, neighbors gathering to greet each other and just simply a nice time.  Among the darkness of this holiday, our family always finds light and opportunity to spread the good news 🙂  This year we held our “First Annual Halloween Block Party”  and had a pretty good feed back so hopefully we will see more fun street events to come.  One of the highlights this year was Barry’s eagerness to make Joshy a costume and not just a costume, but a Dusty costume 🙂  Joshy’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard that daddy was thinking of doing that and boy did he do it!  He delivered an outstanding airplane!  The pictures speak for themselves 🙂

Elegant, pink, warm and beautiful are the words that come to mind when reminiscing on the beautiful time spent with women I care about.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship, laughter and talk about Amelia.  My biggest desire was to gather women I care about and simply enjoy each other’s company while celebrating a new life to come Amelia Joy.  This little girl is blessed beyond measure with all the love and gifts.  This day became possible because of my dearest mamusya and auntie Lilya.  These two women put their heart and soul into this time and it was just beautiful!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this lovely and precious time to me and Amelia.

A long awaited day for our kiddos, the Pumpkin Patch day!  They woke up excited and we were trying not to be late in order to walk in with the rest of Bella’s class.  We made it just in time, with a minute to spare.  The sun was blazing, even though we are almost into the mid October, the kids were sweaty but still very excited.  This mama, just wanted to find shade and sit it out haha!  It’s a great thing that daddy came and was with our little loves during every activity, which entailed a hay ride, train ride, the pig show and picking out pumpkins.  Somehow we lost track of time and pushed it to the last minute to come home just in time for Barry to make it for his important phone call.  Whew!  God spared us 🙂  Overall, we had a fantastic time and seeing my babies smile and laugh is the ultimate goal which was accomplished! Hopefully next time, we will do better planning and be able to spend half the day to go to the petting zoo and enjoy the carousel ride 🙂

 

Yes, it’s a girl and yes, her name is Amelia Joy 🙂  We are beyond excited for this final addition to our family and can not wait to meet her!!!  She has been an active little treasure inside my stomach and loves to move non stop.  She especially loves to wake me up int he middle of the night and just kick with all of her might haha 🙂  Although I am not laughing when I wake up at 2AM, I still can’t help but smile that there is a precious living being inside 🙂  I have 10 more weeks to go and it seems so close yet so far away.  Below is the progress of this miracle growing!  Oh how we love her and can’t wait for her!!!