Snow

First snowfall of the season, so we went outside to enjoy it a bit. Justin had to learn to move well in his big snowsuit, but once he got the hang of that, he enjoyed himself thoroughly. Until his hands got too cold because he didn't keep his mittens on :(

Being home

Last night I worked a night shift. As much as I enjoy being back to work for a shift here and there, I think the best part is being home the next night. I so love being home with my family.
To top it all off, the wood stove is on, and I think I might just go curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. Sounds positively delightful :)

Overwhelmed

Again. In fact, that might actually be an understatement.
Because Martin and I were wonderfully surprised to find out that we are expecting our second child! And this time we know the due date! We are praising God for this miracle - and also still trying to wrap our minds around it :)
To be honest, I struggled with how to word a post like this. Simply because I did not want the specialness (is that a word?) of this announcement to come across as more or less special than this one. Because they are equally special. Just different. I can't put into words how thankful and humbled we are to be able to experience both adoption and pregnancy.
Though we are excited to move forward in this journey, there are some things that I had grown to treasure about the experiences we have had (though I can not deny that there were some painful days along the way). Of course, I treasure our precious son Justin, who we can not imagine life without anymore. I also treasure the fact that God used that time to grow us and stretch us in ways I know we would not have been had we not gone through those years of infertility and the adoption of our son. And I treasure the people we met along the way, some of whom we developed wonderful friendships with - friendships that I hope and pray will continue. We are so thankful for those people, and will continue to pray that God's grace would surround them, as it did and does us.
If all goes well, we are very much looking forward to welcoming this baby the middle of May! We are fully aware that God is in control of this little life too - and we commit this child, as we have committed Justin, and our whole lives, into His care.

Precious Memories

We just received these pictures the other day. The very first day we met and held our boy. I just had to share. Definitely precious memories.

Just pictures

I've been meaning to get these up for a little while - but for some reason, blogspot wouldn't let me. Anyways, here's a few pictures from the last month:

A family picture to remember Justin's baptism September 26

Discovering the fun of slides

Story-time with Daddy

So intrigued by horses in the field behind our house

First sit-down movie - Franklin couldn't keep his attention for long, though :)

The most efficient way to eat snacks when Mommy puts them on the floor instead of in a cup

It was a good attempt...

Martin has wanted to hike to the top of this peak - Yak - for a long, long time.
(Not to worry, there is a hiking way up, it's not only for rock climbers :)

So on the holiday weekend, we decided to head up there. Before leaving, we already had a small problem, and that was that our printer did not work. Yes, that is related to hiking. You see, we get our directions from the internet, and so we usually print them out so we know where we're going. But, since it didn't work, Martin just jotted some of the "main points" down. And away we went.

We spent quite a bit of time - about 45 minutes - just trying to find the trail head. Finally, I spotted some flagging tape. And what else could flagging tape mean, but a trail? And a trail it was - or maybe not. I don't think either of us have been on such a rough trail for a hike before.

But there was lots of flagging tape and it was going in the right direction - up the mountain. So we hiked. For about an hour and then we came the the base of the rock face.

We stopped for lunch, and then carried on. Unfortunately we ran stuck. That nice trail with so much flagging tape ran us to a dead end. So, after about an hour of trying to find our way up (and a little melt-down from me when we were climbing a part that I thought was too steep - a story in itself), we actually gave up on the hike. For this time. At this point, we were more determined than ever to go home, read the directions well and get to the top of the mountain some time soon.

Anyways, despite not getting to the top, we had a fantastic day. Justin took one short nap in the backpack, and was happy the whole day.

Turns out we should have taken a trail further up the road - sounds like a pretty uncomplicated way up. Now we know.

Oh yes, we did get a beautiful view of Needle Peak from this side. It's fun to think that we've been at the top of that!

Amazed

At the gift of new life! I had the incredible honor and privilege of being there for the birth of our newest niece, Zoey Hendrika. I can not find words adequate to describe how special it was for me to be there.

Thank you Soph and Jeff - I will never forget that day.
And congratulations! We pray God will bless you with joy and wisdom as you raise your precious little girl!

Isn't she beautiful?

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. ~Psalm 139:14