Renters

Praise the Lord, Matt and I officially sold the house today and became renters...in our own home! :) Kind of a strange way of doing things, but we are just so thankful to see how God has orchestrated every step. The new owners are gracious enough to let us rent until the 15th of August, which means that we don't have to move out early into temporary living, up heaveal the boys, and live without our "stuff" for the next 45 days. So nice.  But still feels kind of weird knowing it's not our house anymore. Please pray for us as the next month and a half is going to be super busy with trips, last time youth group activities, Bible study,  as much time as we can squeeze in with mom and dad, packing, cleaning, Caleb's birthday, dad's birthday, and Jeremy's birthday, VBS, Tai Kwon Do camp, swim lessons....let's see what else am I forgetting..oh yeah, normal life! :) All praise to God who is sufficient for all things and through all things! Hope you all are having a great start to your week. 

Kings and Kung Fu

Yesterday, when the boys and I went out to the base, we got stuck twice inside different buildings due to an exercise on base...basically the cops pretend something bad is happening and they shut everything down to make sure everyone knows what to do in case something ever does happen in Del Rio, Tx...not likely but better safe then sorry. Anyways, we were stuck inside the library for an hour and the BX (like a bad, smaller version of Walmart) for half an hour, so what to do but sit at Burger King and play with the crowns. The boys were still playing with their crowns this morning so I took a couple pictures of them being silly Kings. Kaden always makes sure that I know that he is the big king and Caleb is still the little king. 

  Fun activities today included taking the boys to see Kung Fu Panda. Very cute and funny. And now I have little boys running around doing karate...on everything!  To get the full affect of my awesome Kung Fu warriors you'll have to watch the video! Be prepared to be awed and amazed! 

Last one...

Just wanted to post one more for the baby.  I'm doing a bit better each day...but still just sad. I think I"m just having a hard time mentally adjusting to not being pregnant. Anyways, just wanted to post a picture of some of the beautiful flowers that have been sent (Thank you Forks sisters...I love you all so so much) and the little shoe and sonogram photo that is just a sweet reminder of Lydia. Thank you also to Dad and Shawn for the beautiful basket of flowers, I love all the pink in it. 

Just to say...

Just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate all the prayers. Last weekend was really rough, yesterday I felt pretty good, and today I'm  just so sad and heavy. Grieving is a very interesting process. Praise God, He is faithful at each step of the way. I want so badly to question why and search for answers, but deep in my spirit I know that my faith and peace will have to be found in God alone because only He knows. I was telling the girls at Bible study it's like when you twist a kaleidoscope and the picture changes in a thousand different ways. When God allows a joy or a tragedy into your life, your life and the lives of everyone around you from family to acquaintances changes in a thousand different ways. God can take one act and affect hundreds of people and teach us each something unique and personal. How amazing. And what a comfort to know that no life, no matter how young is a waste for God uses each of us for His glory. 

Psalm 139:16

Psalm 139:16 

  "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

 

   This verse is for our precious baby that God took home to Heaven on Friday. 

  He gives and takes away, blessed be His name. 

  

    Thanks in advance for the prayers,

       Michelle

Getting Old

Going out Monday night!
How Matt occupied 9 children...not all of them are in this picture! :)
Family Photo!



Well it's official...I'm closer to 30 then 25! :) Matt did an amazing job making my birthday so special this year. On Monday night, he planned a girl's night out for me, my mom, and three of my friends...and he even watched the kids! He watched 9 little ones all by himself and did a FABULOUS job...even had 4 of them in bed before we got home! The highlight of the night though was arriving at the restaurant and noticing a beautifully decorated table. He had picked out decorations and sent them ahead of us so that the table would be beautiful. He picked out white and blue roses, blue ribbons, sea shells, and birthday confetti...but not just any confetti he picked out only the silver,  blue, and green pieces so that they would match the ribbon and roses! He's amazing.

  Last night we just had a family fajita dinner which was just perfect. It was so fun just to be with the family and with our sweet friends from New Jersey. Matt even got me an ice cream cake! My favorite! (notice the blue icing on Kaden's nose! ) He surprised me with beautiful hoop earrings and cash to go shopping with! Sweet man. But more then that I'm just blown away by his outpouring of love. Thank you Lord for such a good sweet man!  The night was bitter sweet though as my mom and I looked at each other both realizing that we'll be moving soon. Here's hoping the summer drags by!

Pool Time

Just wanted to put up some picture evidence of all the fun times in the pool. I am so sorry for all of you who have to work through the summer...that should be outlawed! Everyone needs to spend a little time around an inflatable pool! And what I love most about these pictures is that none of them were staged, the kids struck all their own poses! :) 

  Hope you have a great weekend!

Fun times

Just wanted to let everyone know we are still around! :) We have been busy playing, playing, playing, swimming, playing, going to the park, playing, swimming, and playing for the last four days! Our sweet friends are here and all the kiddos are having so much fun...and yes, I do realize that there are no pictures to document all the playing and swimming...I'll work on that over the next couple of days. Other then that not much news to report... Oh, sweet, Matt is trying to plan a surprise dinner for my birthday but I found out about it so now I have something to look forward to on Monday. Sweet man! 

  H0pe your week is going well. Jesus loves you!

Jeremy's Grad Party

So I've been a bit behind on blogging, but in my defense there hasn't been to much to report this week...that and I left the camera at mom and dad house and just got it back last night! So these pictures are from Jeremy's graduation party last Sunday. It was just the Van Hooks and the Woods but still a good time. 

  Last night we went to the Del Rio High School graduation for Jenny. We were so excited for her and how hard she has worked.

  Let's see...and today we have a goodbye party for Matt's Squadron Commander and a surprise party for one of our friends...lots of parties. Sunday not much is planned except getting ready for one of our good friends to come. She is going to stay for two weeks here with her kiddos so that should be a great time! 

  Well, I'm off to get ready for the parties! 

  

Van Hook #3 update

We had our first OB appointment yesterday and God was so gracious. After the initial paper work, lab work, pee test, weight, etc it was finally time to see the doctor (a nurse practitioner but really the same thing). Matt was in a hurry to get back to work so we asked the nurse if we could do the heart beat  first. She was happy to oblige...for 10 min or so but couldn't fine a heartbeat. I felt peacful but just kept praying that God would have mercy and spare us the loss of our baby.  Matt had to leave but before I left they offered a sonogram at 5:15! I took it and then just prayed until it was time to go back. As soon as they started the sonogram we say a beautiful baby inside! PRAISE THE LORD. The baby's heartbeat was around 173 beats (fast and strong...fast sometimes indicates a girl! :) and the baby was even moving his/her head around. So precious. I'm so grateful that the Lord has allowed this baby to keep growing and the hope we have of meeting this little one in about 7 months!

Gecko

Yesterday, Kaden and Caleb and I had our own little "Steve Irwin" (the Crocodile Hunter) moment when mommy caught a gecko and a spider and a frog all by herself! :) Very exciting...ok we didn't actually catch the spider but we did pick him up on a blade of grass. The frog we caught in a bucket but it was HUGE and made mommy scream every time it jumped so we didn't keep him for long. But the lizard was by far the most fun...until his tail fell off (if you look closely in the last picture he doesn't have it)! Still the boys had such a fun time holding and petting him. I just love their smiles in the pictures. What a great way to experience God's creation!