Much to be thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving

We are very thankful for our family and friends. God has given us four beautiful children and has given our marriage new life this past year. Joshua and I have much to be thankful for. We enjoyed a day at home today, thankful that no one else was getting sick and we were able to eat a big meal together this afternoon. I cooked a 20 pound turkey for us which allows for lots of leftover turkey to freeze. It was great to be home with a fire and relax with the timing of the meal. We sang hymns and read the entire book of 1Thessalonians, and prayed for our nation and loved ones.

I'm reminded of how precious our health is, and how merciful that God can be to heal us. The midwife noticed some abnormalities in Samuel's head shape right after birth. It didn't concern me and I couldn't tell what she was talking about. He was calm and seemed happy. Other than some difficulties nursing, everything seemed great. Then after the first week, he started to get really fussy.

It was a difficult second week and I learned more about colic. It seemed that we were in for a challenging next few months until the colic symptoms would be gone. White noise was the only thing calming him down. The vacuum cleaner, bathroom exhaust fan or even someone humming very loudly would stop his crying instantly and he would go to sleep. Of course this isn't entirely practical. I can't spend the whole church service in the bathroom, although his bassinett fits nicely in there for naptime at home. They don't sell baby headphones for the vacuum cleaner cd that the colic website offers and nobody else wants to listen to that in Walmart even if I could find a way to play it while I shopped. So we tried swaddling, gas drops, and white noise. I tried some abdominal massage and even whole body massage with apricot oil.

In the meantime though nursing was not easier and I could clearly see the defined spaces between his cranial bones and wide spaces between sutures (forgive me if I'm not getting all the vocabulary right..for those of you who know something about anatomy). So we contacted the chiropractor that specializes in infant adjustments that the midwife recommended. She agreed that there were several areas of abnormalities which ocurred from the birth itself, but these can be realigned with adjusting. He is already calmer and responding well after just a few adjustments. We will continue until things are in alignment, and hopefully nursing will improve along with the diminishing colic behaviors.

So, all of this to say, "Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and seeing fit to guide us to this specialist and begin healing Samuel."

I'm not taking for granted today how precious it is to be well and have all our family together loving each other and praising the Lord.

grace to receive His will...

Sometimes moms have stressful situations. Somehow though, a crying baby can heighten the situation to a level you think you aren't going to be able to handle. It is amazing to me in observing that one factor changes the situation exponentially.

Last night we had an appointment out of town. I planned the day to be nearby early and have a light dinner right before, to be eaten in the van. I went to a park and let the kids play on the playground while I fed the baby. Before I finished, the sun was setting and I got the kids in the van to eat their dinner. As I was enjoying sitting in the dark and calm van and reflecting upon the "perfect" timing and smart planning, Emma was just exclaiming "This has been one great day Mom!" At that moment...duh, duh, duh...you guessed it, drama unfolds. Gabriel throws up all over Emma and himself and the carseat and the van seat. I'm sitting there feeding the baby and become paralyzed with indecision. I quckly ascertain that I have exactly four baby wipes in the package and 15 minutes to be at our appointment. I put the baby in his carseat and get to work cleaning up the mess. Gabriel is crying and asking for new clothes. Emma is begging me to clean her off. Samuel begins to wail. Jonah is standing in the parking lot staring confused at all the commotion. We came up with enough supplies to get the bulk of the mess up and hurried off to meet Joshua at the appointment. Joshua took the baby into the appointment and I took the kids home to clean us all up.

I share this story, not only so you could laugh at me...because laughter is good medicine...but to share my frustration and confess sin. Oh when will I respond with righteousness? I called out to God during this trial, "How do I praise your name in the middle of this?" I also muttered a lot of "stupid, stupid, stupid" and at the same time apologized to the children for my bad attitude and poor example. I realized my need for ruling my spirit, and did so...but I long for an IMMEDIATE response of gracefully receiving His will.

So tonight I'm meditating on these verses and praising him for showing me my weaknesses.

2Corinthians 12:9 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Psalm 34:1 "... I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

I have thoughts at times such as, "Well, most people would respond similarly. That would be stressful for anyone. The kids understand. etc." I realize the lies for what they are. God isn't interested in the response "most people" would have. He wants me to obey and follow his guide, The Holy Bible. The next lie that comes is, "Yeah, and that is easier said than done." The truth is that it is a choice, and it is that simple.

So this eve of Thanksgiving, I will bless His name, and praise the God of my salvation. I will thank the Lord for my rebuking and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

All things have a beginning and an end. This sickness passing through our house will have an end. I'm working on HOW I get through my trials not just seeing it through and being thankful for the end.

Do you think Samuel looks like Gabriel?

I think he does!





Here are all the Unger first born photos.





Just for fun, here is a baby picture of Uncle Kaleb whom we all think Samuel may look like as he grows up. I couldn't get the picture to be bigger.

Bringin' Home The Venison

Joshua called within a few hours of heading out to hunt. This is what he called to tell me! "Wow" I said when I saw the picture. I'm thankful for all that meat! And so thankful for that man that went out to get the meat!

New Normal

I'm defining shopping at Walmart for groceries with all four kids on day six after delivering number four...with no meltdowns or even whining...an absolute success! Emma was so impressed that we needed two carts to complete our shopping, as that never happened before, that she talked about it all day. She was an incredible help. I got to the store and realized that Samuel's carseat didn't go onto the front buggy bar like all the others did. Um...now what? He had to go into the cart, which meant creativity in placing all those groceries! Eventually I ran out of room without putting the frozen veggies INTO his carseat (that probably would have woke him up don't ya think) so Emma had to go get a cart to push herself. We were home in an hour-and-a-half, and I put everything away even before the baby woke up to eat. I felt like I might have deserved some kind of reward for my brilliant planning and executing, but the truth is we prayed before we left the van and I know the mercy we received was a gift from the Lord not my merit.

So we're defining a new normal here at The Unger Estates. Samuel is a very good baby, and I am trying to get my bearings about his schedule. I am keeping record of his days/nights to try to order things in the coming weeks the best I can. This is good for all of the rest of us, and will hopefully bring more peace than the previous adjustments to new little ones in our house. Putting him down asleep in the bassinet during the day will hopefully begin nighttime routines. Of course that only works when I don't get blessed with family and friends who of course get to hold him while he sleeps. So it is a goal to be aspiring towards, not a rigid timetable. I'm thankful for a friend loaning me her book on the parent directed feeding plan. It is in stores called "Baby Wise". Since I had three kiddos who didn't really sleep well for YEARS we'll see how well things work this time. She has six kids who ALL slept through the night by eight weeks! I've heard other testimonials that this worked for friends, and thought it was worth checking out. Last night I slept for three hours between a feeding, so not bad for a one-week-old I'm thinking.

Anyway, I can't believe any of you read this and even care about the daily goings on at our humble abode. But since you do...hopefully these updates and pictures are entertaining. I write because it is a fun outlet for me. Thanks to those of you who encourage me and pray for our family. I'm going back to sit in front of the fire and enjoy this rainy afternoon.

Sweet Baby

Enjoy the pictures!









Samuel James Unger is named after his Grandpa - Stephen James Unger. Here they are meeting for the first time. Samuel also looks like his Uncle Kaleb (Bubba) and here is a picture of his red hair to show Uncle Bubba!



Grandma and Grandpa



Grandma and Popo


Nana

A New Brother

Gabriel, "It is fun to have a new brother because he is cute. I am going to show him how to do tricks and help him learn how to do handstands. He has to get big like me by drinking his milk. I'm going to teach him to sing, 'Jesus Loves Me.' I will read to him about trees and show him how to climb them. I love Samuel."

Jonah, "A baby brother is cute and fun to hold. I want to help teach him how to crawl and walk. I want to teach him how to pretend and play games like Chess, Checkers, Clue, and Monopoly Junior. I want to teach him how to hammer like me and swing. I want to teach him how to climb high trees. It is fun to climb trees. I love my baby brother Samuel."

Emma, "It's way cool having a new brother in the house. It's great just to sit and hold him. Samuel cried the most he has since he was born [I didn't hear it but Mom said he had a big tantrum last night]. Samuel is REALLY cute. I REALLY love Samuel. I really look forward to helping Samuel learning new things."


After seeing Joshua off to work, the baby and I went back to sleep. The kids woke before us and were sweet to let us keep snoozing. I could hear them playing quietly in the living room and checking on us to see if we were still sleeping. Then someone would remind the others to be quiet for us. They were patient for breakfast and enjoyed their turns loving their brother. We relaxed and enjoyed getting back to our "new" typical routine. I had to remind the kids yesterday at a meeting on the living room rug, "MOM IS BACK!" It was great to see their sober look and big eyes!

We are doing great, and I will try to get some new pictures posted soon. Thank you for your prayers and all of the encouraging words of rejoicing with our family. We are blessed with such a huge community of support and sometimes it overwhelms us. God is so good, and worthy to be praised! Let us enter His courts with thanksgiving and His gates with praise!

We are grateful for the Veterans today and THANK YOU for your service which allows us the freedoms we abundantly experience in this country. God Bless You!

Samuel James Unger has left the womb.

Only a bit more than 3 hours of hard labor brought our fourth blessing from the warmth of his mother's womb to the warmth of our loving arms.

Our Gracious Father used a multitude of resources and people to prepare our minds with the knowledge and tools to help Samuel and his mother through the travail of labor. He also was merciful to allow it be relatively easy and painless.

It was oh so encouraging to think back today on the entire birthing process and bask in the glory of our Sovereign Lord. He is clearly in the every detail of each of our lives. That was made more clear to our family with our gift from God, Samuel James Unger.

After his head was born, we noticed his cord wrapped around his neck, twice. It was very unceremoniously unwound before Natalie completed her work. The Giver of all good gifts provided a peace and calm to all of us that can only come from Him.

Later we noticed a true knot (although loose)in his cord. He must have done pre-birth acrobatics.

Today's rest and reflection in scripture has given us new and renewed perspective into the unfolding of divine time.

We welcome you to join us in celebrating this young soul arriving into our Father's World!

Joshua for the Ungers

Homeopathics

12 hours later and I'm resting at the same rate of contractions as the previous month. Slow starts and long stops. Joshua and I have walked the neighborhood and I've done the laundry. We've begun some homeopathic herbs to try to encourage the little guy. The eviction notice is posted, and hopefully he'll comply soon. Thanks for the prayers!

Baby is coming!

My signs of labor are increasing! My water broke last night...so this is a point of no return although he is still not in a hurry (as I am obviously feeling well enough to be blogging). We are looking forward to meeting him today, and the kids are soooo excited. I am so grateful for my mother-in-law coming this week and being here today to help. She is cooking breakfast right now for everybody. What a blessing! Please continue praying for my labor progress to be consistently stronger and more profitable. We'll update soon.

Contentment and Homemade Bread

1 Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

I was wide awake at 2:30 am and never could go back to sleep. I am meditating on this verse. I know that I must learn to be content in all circumstances. For if I am not content still being pregnanct, I will not be content NOT being pregnant! Contentment is not the same as happiness. Happiness is dependent upon my circumstances, and I would rather know the real joy of the Lord in being content. So I read, and pray, and find myself planning industrious activities this morning.

While reading someone's blog I enjoy, I ran across this ladies bread-making tutorial. Her name is "Nancy Today" and she has many videos on you-tube. I'm not linking her, because I really don't want to take the time to figure it out right now...you can find her if you want. I think she is quirky, and was interested in her claim that I can make wheat bread using only water, wheat flour, and yeast. So far nobody has made it this easy for me. So this morning I took a crack at it. WELL......make sure you start small. I used my biggest bowl and put LOTS of water in it. She is right that you don't NEED to measure the water. Whatever amount you use you will use appropriate yeast/flour to compensate. HOWEVER, I again suggest you start small. I threw hot water in and started adding flour. I kept adding flour, and kept adding flour, and kept adding flour. I ended up with four bowls of kneaded dough. It made:

3 loaves of bread
12 Hamburger buns
1 tray of crescent rolls
18 dinner rolls
2 Pampered Chef fancy shaped loaves (heart and square)
18 Cinnamon Rolls
2 Pizza Dough Loaves which I refrigerated

OH MY! So, my bread making is done this week!!!!! I'll freeze the bread and appreciate that my zealousness will save me some steps in the upcoming weeks. Next time though...I'll probably use a littler bowl and less water. Emma always says, "Well, you live and you learn!" Pretty wise advice from an eight-year-old I think.

I'm off to take another tray of bread out of the oven and make sandwiches for lunch.

He Said, She Said

When Emma's foot was swollen, she was asked to pick out a comforting snack...and chose ice cream. Two days later, in response to his Daddy's question, "The ice cream is gone already?", Gabe quickly turns on his mama and says, "Yeah Mommy had the mostest in her bowl!"

Gabriel's mealtime prayers always include this line, "And thank you for us to have a good time, and for our baby to be good..." but the other night he added "and help us to not have a messy house, and for me to eat faster."

Jonah asked me last night at dinner why we always have brown eggs when Nanny and Papa visit. I told him the eggs come from the farm in whatever color they come, that isn't up to me. He clarified his question and I got it - he wanted to know why my scrambled eggs look brown. I told him that would be the eggs that were stuck to the bottom of the pan! (It isn't a non-stick pan). Yeah, big sigh of defeat from this cook. Sorry Nanny and Papa.

Emma has been pretending to be the library owner this week. She has set up an office for the librarians in the living room and it has become quite elaborate with details. Aunt Lois you would be amused to see her. And Nana you would be impressed with her "phone voice"!

Sometimes I wish I had a tape recorder with me throughout the day, because I can't remember all the hilarious things that they say. Who needs t.v. with the simple and free entertainment of your own family?