Alivia Faith Bartel

Our good friends John and Angie welcomed Alivia Faith Bartel to their family this past Wednesday the 27th. Livy was 10 lbs 4.8 oz 21 and 1/4 inches long.
This morning at church Mrs Calhoun shared her testimony about God's faithfulness and it has been on my mind all day. God is always faithful and knows just what we need. I say this because for those of you who don't know about my friend Ang, I wanted to share just a little bit. John has been gone for almost 6 months. He is in the National Guard and is in training. We weren't sure if he was going to make it back in time for Livy's birth but God's timing is always perfect. Ang had planned to have a home birth and things had gone well all day. However after almost 3 hours of pushing, Angie was exhausted and was not progressing.
All the while, John was flying home and trying to get there in time. Of course, when his plane landed at 4:30, him and our friend Joseph got stuck in 5:00 trafic. Meanwhile, the decision was made to take Ang to the hospital. When they pulled up, John was there waiting. He had gotten there just minutes before. John's mom was with Ang, and she had never seen her son in his uniform so she began to cry. Ang said when she saw him it was like an Angel of strength waiting to hold her. It wasn't long before Alivia was born and her daddy got to be there. John had to fly back this morning to finish training and yet again, God was taking care of them. While he was gone he was supposed to be preparing to go out into the field this week and finish up some paperwork for graduation. If he didn't have everything together and ready (what everyone else had the entire weekend to complete) in a few hours, he would have to stay an extra week and couldn't come home as planned. However, he arrived to find that all of his buddies had prepared everything for John for him so that he would be caught up and could get home to his family! So, John will graduate June 9th and hopefully will be home on the 10th!
-I got to meet sweet Livy tonight, and mom and baby are both doing well. I will have more pictures soon from our long trip. We have had a wedding and graduations and lots of family and fun. But for now I am going to bed. Thank you Lord for your constant provision and your perfect timing...

Busy Busy

I have been SO busy lately. (as if to say i'm not always busy) I didn't even have time to upload some recent photos and blog about them. Right now I am taking a break from what has turned into an entire day of packing and cleaning my house. Last week started the first of many weekend trips for Ryne and I. I do not know that I will ever get to actually blog about them. I have already missed Mothers Day post, A surprise B-day party for our pastors wife, (our pastor's last Sunday is this Sunday), so I have missed a post about him and his family. I have missed the post from last weekend when Ryne went to Kansas with his family and Sam to a cousins graduation and my weekend at home with Riley at a Senior Tea and a Cookout for my sister Hannah. I say all that to say, maybe at the end of these trips, I will post pictures from the past few weeks.
However, I don't like posting without pictures and I was looking through and found this one. It is the most recent picture that I have on the computer of me and my sisters. It is from MLK day last year.
This weekend my sister Sarah is getting married. The closer we get, the more emotional I find myself about it. Sarah is my only big sister! She is the only one that I will ever have and that puts her in a very special place in my heart. Since I have been the only one married so far, it is exciting to have one of my sisters get married. I have always dreamed about how our weddings would be. However, so far, life hasn't panned out exactly how I had planned as a little girl but regardless of how our family grows and how we all grow individually, I feel very special because at the root of it all lies my mom and dad and my sisters. So, all that to say, with a wedding this weekend and graduations and more weddings to follow, it may be a while before I finally get back.

Apples, Sunshine, and Kisses

Yesterday Riley had lots of fun in the sun! She loves to be outside and doesn't seem to notice how horrible the humidity is. She also loves to give her brother kisses! Sam enjoyed the sun too. Except he had to sit in his bumbo inside with the front door open. It was just a little too hot for him. Also yesterday Riley tried to eat an apple with the skin on it and not cut up for the first time! We ended up having to cut it up and take off the skin. She can't quite chew that up yet but we will try again later!

Daddy Hair Care

I thought it was so sweet because yesterday morning Ryne fixed Riley's hair. I just had to get a picture so that I would remember the very first time that he fixed pig tails! And he did a pretty good job!

Dirt

Riley has discovered the dirt this week and she LOVES it! She loves to pick it up and crumble it in her hands. She loves to pick it up and put it on her little picnic table too. Now if I could only teach her to pull up the weeds too!

Kids Kids Everywhere!!!

We are so fortunate to live in the community that we do. Just around our little parking lot we have 12 kids (including our own) that all play together. Then there are another 4 on the other side of Married Housing (soon to be more). I was trying to catch a picture of all of the kids at once and just couldn't do it. I thought it was so funny though that my front yard looked like a small playground. I am so glad that my Riley and Sam have friends to play with.

Birthday Cake

This past Monday was my good friend Angie's Birthday. Riley "helped" me make her a chocolate cake with peanut putter chips on the inside. Ang is going to be having a baby girl in the next few weeks. We had a shower for her a few weekends ago but I may never get those pictures up :) Please remember Ang in your prayers. She is having a home birth and her husband is at Boot Camp. We are all hoping that he will be able to get home in time to see Alivia Faith being born.

Daddy's Girl

For those of you who know Riley, you know that she isn't always very snuggly. However, this week she has really been teething and not feeling well at all. She has been extra whiny and also very snuggly. If she could, Riley would have loved to have spent every morning curled up in her daddy's lap just like this. It was so sweet to see them together on the couch. It brought back many memories of me curling up in my daddy's lap. I still do from time to time...

A Mixed Bag

This past Sunday Ryne and I went to Sulpher Springs to see one of my Aunt B's concerts! We had a great time. It was called "A Mixed Bag" It had all sorts of different music and all of the members had bag that they had decorated and they each had their own props that they pulled out during the songs. It was fun to see all the creativity. I think one of my favorites was the tribut to Queen! That and the last song was the most amazing version of Amazing Grace! All in all we had a great time and I was glad that we got to have a little "grown up time" with Aunt B, Uncle Bruce, and Grandma Anne. We love you all!!!

Samuel Lee

Today Samuel is 3 months old!!

At 3 months Sam...

• Loves to be held! He wants to be awake and look around, but he also wants to be in your arms. Unlike Riley, Sam LOVES to fall asleep in someones arms. He would be content there all day long.
• Is pretty tough. He doesn't seem to mind (too much) how his big sister is constantly shoving stuff in his fave and trying to sit on him. He just smiles.
• Likes taking a bath, but only if he can lay down and soak. He doesn't want to be washed really, just let him relax.
• Is quite talkative. Usually Sam is quite serious and observant, but once you get to tickling him and making him smile, he just can't stop.
• Does not really like to sleep in his carseat. This was quite opposite of Riley. He will sleep in the car or stroller some but he would much rather sleep on someones chest and if he has to, his bed.
• Has a very quick temper. He will be perfectly content one minute and the next he will be red all over and drenched in sweat. When he wants something, he wants it then!
• Loves his mommy! Maybe I will get my momma's boy...
• He is already drinking 6-8 oz in his bottle. He is a big boy. We haven't weighed him in a while, but about a month ago he was already at 15lbs. I have a feeling he will always be a good eater!

Riley Anne

At 17 months old Riley Loves...

• To be a big sister! She is constantly trying to put Sam's paci in his mouth or help me "burp" him. She tries to pick him up when he is crying and everymorning when we get up she will look at him and say "ssssssssss" and blow him a kiss.
• To play outside. The girl would stay out there all day if I would let her. It is usually a small battle to get her to come inside.
• To help me "cook". She has very quickly learned that her role is to play with the utensils and then lick the spoon.
• To take a bath.
• To sing around the house. I love it when we sing together.
• To play with her magnetic numbers on the fridge. We can even count to three!
• To read! We read books almost everynight, but daily I find her in front of her book case pulling all the books out and looking at the pictures. Right now her favorite books are: "Look at me", "The Cookie Monster", and "Polly Pig" (that one makes sounds)
• Her daddy!! She loves to wrestle and roll around with Ryne. She will jump on top of him and bounce around. Her eyes light up everytime he comes home.
• To ride her bouncy horse. She loves how when she rides really fast, she can scoot the horse across the room!
• People. She is constantly saying hello to everyone. She is so friendly.
• To put on mommy and daddy's shoes.
• To talk on the phone. Of course!
• To close things. She can not stand for something that should be closed (a drawer, a door, etc) to be opened. She has a new tent in her room and at first she would scream and cry because she couldn't stand for the tent to be opened so she would zip it closed, but then she could not get in therefore would cry. It was so cute.

End of the Semester Cookout!

This semester has been quite exciting. This semester Ryne started to fly, our wonderful son was born, and we have even made some new friends! So, our friends Joseph and Kayla had us over for a end of semester celebration, and what better way to do that than some food on the grill. We all had a great time. We finished the night of with lots of conversation and even some rock band and dutch blitz! (my new favorite card game) I can't wait to do it again.

Saying Goodbye

Tonight we had a dinner get together with our friends Josh and Maryanne and their boys and Tommy and Desi. Tommy and Desi are moving and even though we have known for a while, somehow things still seem to sneak up on you. So tonight we grilled, talked, and laughed one last time. It is a little bit weird having them leave because these were the first people we met and became friends with here at LeTourneau. It doesn't seem as if we have been here that long, but then again, this summer we will have been here two years! I am sure we will say many more goodbye's and have even more hello's before we leave Longview, but for now I just want to say. We will miss you guys, and we miss you the very best!

What a Week!

Riley discovered that the fridge magnets stick to her door too!

Sam loves to smile and coo!

I let Riley play outside in the muddy water after some rain early last week. She loved it! She liked to hear the echo in the tunnel and splashing in the water.

This is Sam's sad face.

Mohawk!

My little man looked so handsome at church last week. I just had to share!

We have started attempting to "fix" Riley's hair. (pigtails) She loves to play with all the clips and hair ties!

Riley also loves to put on everyones shoes and try to walk in them.

You know that if my child decided to sleep instead of eating her dinner, she had to be tired!

This past week was overall a good week. With the exception of course that yesterday morning I woke up about 4:30 with my very first kidney stone! (and hopefully my last) My momma wasn't lying when she said they hurt worse than labor pains! However, today I am doing much better. Our good friends Joseph and Kayla came over yesterday. Kayla watched the kids while Ryne and I were at the ER and when we got home Joseph and Ryne studied and worked on homework all day. Thank you SO much for watching my kids yesterday Kayla! You're the best!

Samuel and Riley