very blessed.

baby day.

Woosh, it's been a baby-filled day. As if my ministry and livelihood wasn't centered around maternity & fetal goodness - when I take a day off, I have to push it full to the brim with bebes. But it's worth it.

Last night my sweet husband allowed me to go have a little spend the night with miss kal (since her husband was out of town), since we haven't done that since before we both got married and we won't get to do it again... um, ever? We talked about her twinsies, church planting, tres*, and the Lord. It was really nice.

This morning we woke up early to go to her special ultrasound and let me tell you mamas of singletons - we're ALL getting gypped. She gets to go once a week to look at every little detail of those boys! Today was her "short" ultrasound and it lasted an hour! It was amazing! Those boys are tooooo cute for their own good.

If that wasn't enough - I got to hang around Bellevue & wait for the newest Cowan boy to be born. Poor Kel & Jason (and the girls) have been fighting a bad flu all weekend, but they all made it through the c-section safe and sound! I'll let them do the official announcing on their blogs, but I can't help but tell you one big detail: he is HANDSOME. So handsome.

Then I made the drive back to the metropolis of Puyallup to play with my little ones and the whole way home, all I could think of was how excited I am to have this tres. Oh - my sidenote from before. Have I told you we've TOTALLY, DEFINITELY named him? We have. And we're totally, definitely not changing it. Just Nick and I were saying tonight how much it is him - his name. I think we'll be keeping it semi-private still, since I get weird and protective when I hear people saying my in-utero-names - but I am practicing calling him his actual name more often with family & close friends. We've even tried to get the kids to say it, since neither of them are necessarily great at pronunciation, and they're close. Definitely close. Elias will even rock Glor's doll and say the name as he pats the baby's back. Gloriana - she just yells, "puppup", bites the baby's nose and throws it down on the ground. Hm, we'll work on it.

idol brackets

So, last year Nick and I joined the Stinsons & the Cowans doing an Idol draft bracket to pick our winner. Of course this year - we had to follow suit. (Nick wants me to mention that HE won last year) As often happens, a hilarious email chain started. I decided that the chain should be made into blog form. 42 emails were exchanged today... about American Idol. Or, just general nuttiness. I may need to skip a few, I mean - 42?

Nick: Jasmine anyone... She is still in it right...Gaylord Focker's kid (jorge is the only one off right?). I will just write her in.
Kalle: so nick is clearly not even watching this year
Nick: Kalle...put this on your wall and frame it. (he attaches his picks)
Kalle: nick, you are crazy if you think that weird dancing megan is going to make it to number two. she was in the bottom last week! but i do agree with you on danny.
Nick: Kalle you are sleeping on Megan.
Kalle: the idol expert has spoken
Jason: not sure she was actually in the bottom... but they did drag her out there and compare her to the girl who was... or was she actually? i don't remember them saying that.
ps. when did shawn get taken off the thread?
Kalle: lol that's hilarious. where DID shawn go. I guess we kicked him off for the insane assumption that jason had time to do a point bracket. what was he thinking??
you're right. i stand corrected. i dont think they ever said it was the official bottom two. I just thought that's what that meant. If she makes it to the last two I'll kill myself.
Jessi: I love her crazy weirdo dancing.
Nick: I hope she dances all night long...all night...all night long..
Jason: i hate it. and won't be happy if she makes it far either.
Nick: They will clean her up do not worry...Can we talk about the real problem and that is ADAM! Make-up aside he screams like an 80's big hair band...I want to throw up in my mouth every time!
Jason: ditto. gross. the makeup is like cake.
Kalle: I really really really dislike him. I actually hate the sound of his voice and do not understand why the judges are so about him. I mean, yea he has a range, but so do I-it's called screaming.
Jessi: I hate adam too. He needs to go to a29 bootcamp. Also, I now strongly dislike kalle because I just realized she was emailing all of you as she pretended to be involved in our phone conversation. Hm.
Kalle: i am dying laughing right now. For the record jessi I am in incredible multi tasker and was listening to everything you said. i was intensely involved in our convo. I prob sent this while you were denying your son another snack:)
and i do not think they would let him in boot camp due to the graphic same sex make out session pictures of him that are circulating the internet
Kalle: are we still friends jessi? i know sometimes these email chains make you nervous that we have now all officially divorced each other...but now i'm the one who is worried.
Jessi: Ill let you sit & wonder like I always do.
Jason: drama.
what if we men did this. nick, are we still friends? you said i was mean. me so sad. you hate me. i hate you now.
are we still friends?
Nick: I am dying laughing.
Jason: wait, you didn't use an exclamation point. does this mean you mean it in a flat toned way meaning that you didn't like what i said? did i hurt your feelings? are we still friends?
Kalle: first I'd like to say though you are really nailing me right now bc I have actually thought some of those very things.(ie you didn't use an exclamation point, are you mad?) you have also basically made us women out to be five year olds. "me so sad" ?? come on. We can still use correct sentence structure even in our highly emotional states.
Jessi: Agreed, kalle!!!!:)
We are very emotionally fueled and socially responsible women who are capable & needed:):)!!!!
Xoxo! Lylas.
Jason: sorry, didn't mean to make you sound like 5 year olds. that was more me just being lazy. and i am only messing around anyway! love you all and love the random silly threads that always develop.
Kalle: And now I feel very certain that we are friends again due to all the exclamation points and smiley faces! Thank you for reuniting us Jajon
Jason: nick, in case there was any confusion from before, let me settle it like this: lylab
Kalle: LOL jason, I dare you to make that your signature on all your emails.
LYLAB
Jason Cowan Starbucks

a sick, thankful Sunday

August 2008: Sweet Kelly Cowan tells me she is pregnant again & I email her a few days later to say, "oooh! Can I please throw you a family tree shower?" knowing she loves family history & this is a fun idea.

January 2009: planning for the shower goes into high gear. I insist on making handmade invitations rather than evites, because - come on, this is going to be a classy deal. All of us throwing the shower start an ongoing email putting together the menu, decor, fun games, & such to make the greatest shower we can imagine.

This past week: we all run around making our plans and purchases, getting extremely excited. I make up what I think is the funnest shower game ever (see bottom note) and have happy dreams about playing it at Kelly's & making her feel loved.

Last night, 8pm: Elias wakes up a little grumpy from a sweet slumber complaining that his "baby" hurts, you know - the one in his belly. Precious. He seems fine, so we cuddle in bed and I kiss his sweet face and realize I have a little bit of a sore throat. I also think to myself, "hmm... I hope he's not REALLY sick. Maybe I shouldn't kiss him so much".

9pm: Sweet E pukes all over me & our bed. Dang.
Forty minutes later he seems fine and I resolve to make it through the night, go to the shower the next day and not breathe on ANYONE.

10pm: I'm writing a text message to Kalle saying, "this is the scary part where you just sit scared by the monitor and pray you don't hear them again because that means they're really sick". After I hit send, I hear a moan & before I make it back to our bed carrying him, Elias pukes again. Dang. Dang.

10:40pm: I'm writing a text message to Lauren this time, saying, "now I just pray I don't hear Glory getting sick". As I hit send, I hear Glory puke. Dang. Dang. Dang.

11:00pm: Nick is holding Glory - covered in towels for when she pukes again, Elias is in our bed - covered with towels in case he pukes again. I am in the bathroom, puking.
Dang. Dang. Dang. Dang.

midnight - 11am Sunday
lots of thrashing and tears and moaning and puking, and now - coughing

12pm Sunday:
Lauren takes all my supplies to Kalle for the shower, I shed a little tear.

2pm: I stop throwing up and start the uncontrollably coughing fits. I finally fall asleep for a few minutes and try not to think about the fact that the shower I so want to be at is starting right now.

8pm: I'm back in bed, still coughing and planning on a doctor's visit tomorrow. Just beyond thankful that this didn't happen while Nick was gone, beyond thankful that Nick is totally healthy & the kids seem to be on the mend. Totally thankful this didn't happen tonight when I could have unknowingly infected all the ladies at the shower today. So, thanks Jesus.


**** now for the funnest shower game ever ****
I think I made this up, but maybe someone has done it before.
I used this website and made twenty pictures of projected baby faces using Kelly & Jason, friends coming to the shower, and celebrities. I used all sorts of combinations (think Kelly & Marilyn Manson, Jason & Rihanna, myself & Brad Pitt). And of course - I made just one picture of a projected baby face using Kelly & Jason's picture. Posted them all on a posterboard & shower attendees had to pick Kelly & Jason's baby. I hope it was fun!

we are safe!

It was a normal, normal rainy day in Puyallup.
We had a staff meeting this morning, Elias watched cars, & Nick headed off to a meeting.
On the way to his meeting, he called me a little worried about the rain and the rumored prospects of flooding but locals had assured us it would all be ok.
Around 1:30 pm with Nick halfway through his meeting and almost an hour away, Elias and I were cuddling & Glory was fast asleep. Lauren came upstairs and warned me that downtown Puyallup was definitely being evacuated, but still our neighbors were all staying put.

I casually called Kelly to ask her if maybe we could come spend the night, couldn't get her on the phone, but didn't freak. Thank God Nick had done all of our laundry last night, so I took some fresh clothes for the kids and us and started throwing them in a bag. Lauren had decided to stay and wait it out, I figured we would just go on precaution.

And then - the poop hit the fan. Apparently the levees near our house all broke, (fyi: I have NO idea what that means) and the fire department was saying this would be record flooding - we had no choice but to leave immediately. Literally, the director of our ministry ran in the door screaming "WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!". Lauren and Beulah got ready to head to a hotel, but I was feeling a little panicky with my crazy toddler, sleeping baby, & still gone husband.

I won't get into the details of my near panic attack and narrowly-missed premature labor, but an hour later - all four of us were headed to the Cowans, safe and sound.

So now - we're here. Very thankful to them for taking us in & very thankful to the Lord that we aren't one of the families we're watching on tv right now, being air or boat rescued from their rooftops. Who knows what tomorrow will bring - maybe a surprisingly dry house? Maybe a massive mess to clean up? Maybe us bribing the Cowans to stay one more night?

We'll see.
Prayers excepted.