While grocery shopping with Grace and Ethan, I put Ethan in the front of the cart and Gracie in the back. After we had gone down several aisles, Grace started blessing everything in the cart. She started by saying, "Dear Jesus, I love you so much. Thank you for being in my heart. Amen." Then she would hold each item individually and say, "Dear Jesus, I love you so much. And I love jello. Thank you." "Dear Jesus, I love you so much. And I love ranch. Thank you." "Dear Jesus, I love you so much. And I love cheese. Thank you." Everything got blessed.

Ethan is now starting to cruise around the furniture and falling pretty regularly. We have to gate off the stairs and block the electric cords from him. If we see him going for the stairs or electric cords and we block them off, he just balls like we broke his heart. At his 9 month doctor appt (Jan 4), he weighed 19 1/2 lbs and was 27 inches long. So he has slowed down considerably in growing, only gaining 3 oz and 1/2 inch in 3 months.

Emily LOVES playing with her friends from preschool and church and her cousins! I love that at her age, she enjoys anything she can do to help mommy. Yesterday she cut pictures out of a magazine of ways she can help me and glued them on construction paper. Think it will last long? Last night at Walmart, the girls were getting fidgety in the shoe aisle, so they starting racing down the aisle. We heard a loud clang like a big bell and then eardrum blowing screaming. Emily had run full throttle into a fire extinguisher on a pole. She got a big, purple goose egg instantly, along with many stares as people went by.

I went to a homeschooling orientation on Tuesday night. There is so much information to go through that it makes my head swim! I will need to sort through everything and see my options with living overseas. I'm planning to take the materials and books on the airplane in February. Kent and I will be flying to Albania for 7-10 days around Feb. 13-22. In order for the ABI board to officially invite Kent as a faculty member, he needs to teach a 2-4 hour trial class at ABI. This will also be a good time for me to see our possible future home and see how things work there. The hardest part for me will be leaving the kids for so long and so far away!

So long for now,

Angie

After 16 attempts ...

Angie and I have been trying to get a recent picture so that we can have something up to date. After trying and trying, we got one, but had to go through this to get it.

Long time, no blog...

Ok, so it's been a really long time since I have added anything to this blog. So here are some snippets.

Angie did a wedding cake recently for my cousin. It turned out great.

Ethan is also chunking up quite a bit, he has been cooing and talking a lot. He smiles very easily, so I am hoing that he will be a happy kid.

I did a workshop at TUFW last night. I got back late, but it was really cool. The students did an online assessment to discover their top 5 strengths. They got a book and a workbook to take home with them. They did some activities and we talked about the 34 different strengths that the test is about. All in an effort to further help students discover how their 'calling takes shape'. It was a grand time had by all.

Gloves & Cookies

We got several comments on these from the nurses...

Grace has been absolutely whiny over the past few days. She doesn't want to get dressed, and when she is dressed she doesn't want to get undressed. That was tons of fun when we were at the Doctor's today for her 2 year checkup.

Emily seems to be adjusting well to Ethan. We got out an easy bake oven for something special for her to do. She really enjoyed making her four eensy weensy cookies. They tasted good, but it was only a bite. Of course, Grace managed to somehow stretch hers into 7 bites.

Here is a pic of Chef Emily...

A couple of pics

Daddy is proud

The girls enjoyed getting to know their new pet, eer, I mean brother.

We will be adding more over the next couple of weeks, so check back.

Boy meets world…

We’ve been waiting for a long time to meet this little guy. Angie and I are proud to announce the debut of Ethan Benjamin Morton to the world. He arrived at 7:58 am on April 4th. Weighing in at 7lbs. 11oz. and 19 ¾ inches, he is the biggest of the three and looks like a bruiser when wearing his tiny boxing gloves.

In the 5 short hours that he’s been on this side of Angie’s tummy, he has already lifted his head to look around. He doesn’t seem to have the “floppy head syndrome” that Emily and Grace had when they were born. It looks like he has pretty strong neck muscles. Perhaps we should have named him Gunther?

I just got done changing his diaper … again! It’s only been 13 ½ hours since his birth and I think I have changed his diaper like 7 or 8 times. This is not counting the time that he has spent in the nursery, which was a fair chunk of the afternoon. I am convinced that the black tarry “first stool” is not just the first time he messes his diaper. It is also the second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. A more accurate name would be the “The Tarry Ten”.

Angie is doing well. The nurses had trouble getting her IV in so she got stuck a couple of more times then what she was hoping for. At one point they did something called a “J Hook”. It meant a little bit of digging to get the vein, so they gave her a local anesthetic on her arm. Apart from the birth of Ethan, it was one of the coolest parts of the day. The nurse took this miniature Co2 bottle on a stick, set it on her skin and pressed a button. With a pop and a hiss, it had shot whatever was in it into her arm. After seeing that, I believe we are closer then we think to the Star Trek era!

While Angie was sipping her grape juice and sprite from the liquid diet menu, I was savoring each bite of my New York Strip Steak. Hey, I got up at 4:00 am, I was hungry…besides, Angie said it wouldn’t bother her if I ordered it. The breadstick, however, reminded me of the croutons on my salad and my mashed potatoes that I ordered were, well… missing.

The girls were so cute when they saw their baby brother for the first time. Emily went right to Angie and I, Grace wanted to be held and starred continually at the newest addition of our family as if to say, “We’re not taking him home are we?” We gave the girls gifts and told them that they were from Ethan in hopes to sow some seeds of acceptance. Who says you can’t buy love?

Overall, a good first 24 hours. Feelings include: tired, happy, tired, relieved, tired and excited. Did I mention tired?

We are blessed.
Jeremiah 29:11