Wonderful news and a few more pics!

I have some wonderful, incredible, awesome...WOW news to tell you! If you don't already know...we had an ultrasound and much to our SHOCK...we are having a GIRL!! We are so elated and extremely thankful. I don't think I have ever wanted something so much in my whole life...well, at least thats the way it's felt the past 2 months.

I had had an ultrasound in Thailand at 3 1/2 months along and the Dr. said that hey were 80% sure I was having a boy...so John and I have been mentally hashing out whether or not we'd be ready and/or willing to have another child after this one - making it 4 in all - in order to try for a girl again. Don't get me wrong...if this had been a boy that would have been awesome too - my boys are so wonderful they have forever changed my heart on whether or not I am a 2 child kind of woman.

John and I had mentally prepared to have 4 children - which is HUGE step for us! LOL! So...now...are we STILL mentally prepared to have 4 children knowing that we are going to have our girl??? Uh....I'll answer that in about 2 years. 3 is enough for now!

We are so excited!!! Our due date is at the end of April and it seems sooo far away. You know...I still go and watch the VHS tape of the ultrasound just to confirm that we are having a girl. I thought for so long we were having another boy it's almost hard to believe. In other news, we had a wonderful Christmas. Liberty Lighthouse held a baked goods auction and raised money to buy gifts for our family for Christmas. It was sooo incredibly moving! They even had the Children's group that raised the money...hand paint a nativity set that they gave us.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed Christmas and Josiah has been a real stickler about figuring out all of this Santa Claus stuff. Santa came to school one day and Josiah told all the kids that he wasn't real and that their mommy and daddy were lying to them!!! AHHH!!! I LOVE that Josiah is a lover of the truth and wants to always speak the truth but man I wish we could have prepped him just a little bit...I can only imagine some of the shocked parents faces when their child came home and asked if they were lying about Santa.

Josiah has really become a little evangelist at his school. He came home and told us that his friend, who hardly ever smiled and was pretty mean, now believes in Jesus and she smiles now. I haven't met this friend but you should have seen Josiah's face as he told us how he had been telling her about Jesus and what God did for us and that she needs to know the truth. I would also like to say that I have not taught my child to evangelize. I would love to take credit for this but all we have ever focused on was making sure that he knows the truth and what we are seeing now is a result of his belief and faith.

He's such a smart boy with WAY TOO much energy at times but he is our Josiah. Jude is changing and growing every day and is definitly showing off his "2" colors. MAN! I'm being TESTED! LOL! My patience is fully tested everyday! Jude can test you to your limits one second and the next melt your heart..it's amazing.

Welp, I'm going to close up and wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We're heading to Dorchester this Sunday to talk to a Sunday School group there and I can't wait! I'll leave you with some pictures. Thanks for reading!

Josiah toping the tree

Jude giving a hand
John and Josiah having fun with Josiah's litebrite

Jude with his favorite toy
Josiah working hard making Christmas Eve cookies

Jude doing his part
The best part about cookie making...Josiah and Mommy...I just got my hair done!! After a year of grown out mess...FINALLY!

My new hair do...Yes my hair is still incredibly curly but it was so nice to have it straight for a little while. :)