Take a Closer Look!

Everybody scroll down and click on the picture of my sister's family now that I've fixed the link to enlarge it....it's worth an up-close look (: Have a great day!

New Arrivals!!

My twin sister and her family have had an exciting month. Just about a week ago they moved in three precious children they are adopting, and then yesterday morning their new family of eight was blessed once again to welcome a little baby sister!! I am very excited to meet all of our new neices and nephews!! Just take a look at this sweet family!

Congratulations Sarah and Tony and family!!!

Grandma Came to Visit!

We had such a nice time with my mom when she came to visit for a week and meet her new granddaughter for the first time. Here's a picture of Grandma and the kids and a new one of Ruby. As you can see, she is a very wide-eyed little gal. In this picture she's only 2 1/2 weeks and already taking in everything around her!

Arrival of the Jeweled One

Well, the last month has been a long stretch of anticipation and waiting and waiting! But finally, a little later than expected, the little jeweled one has arrived!
Little Ruby Julianna was born Friday afternoon and we are all so thrilled to have her home. She is beautiful and healthy and we are entirely captivated and enchanted by her!
I hope to update again soon, but as you can imagine, I am a little taken with this little angel and may be a bit distracted for some time! At any rate, I'm sure I will not be able to pass up posting more pictures in the near future!

New Things

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been a bit preoccupied by new baby thoughts and trying to get us through the last bit of winter to happy happy Spring days! It is already in the 50's this morning, and even though it's wet and cloudy, I'm feeling a little giddy about the weather! The girls and I walked Samuel to school today and I took so much delight in watching them splashing happily through the puddles on the sidewalk. It is muddy and the trees are still bare, but the birds are singing cheerfully, raising our anticipation of warmer brighter days ahead. Hooray for Spring!

Speaking of all things new, we were so excited to have our 20-week ultra-sound on Friday and thrilled to discover that we will be adding another little girl to our family this summer! And her name is: Ruby Julianna.
It has been fun to see and hear the children's response to the idea of another sister. Samuel, being a bit out numbered, has embraced his role of protective big brother with zeal and pride. He said to me, "God must have known what our family would be and that the girls would need a big brother to protect them." I love hearing Sarah talk about her new baby sister, "Wooby." And Sophie, though at first being adverse to the name we had chosen, embraced it warmly after viewing some pictures of some beautiful ruby gemstones on the internet. She still says that she will call her Julianna, though, and that Sarah may call her Jewel if she wants to.
We feel very blessed and excited, knowing that this little one is the perfect addition to our family.

Hello World!

We recently were able to get a first look at our new little one and were really thrilled to learn that we are two weeks further along than originally thought! This ultrasound picture was taken at 14 weeks 5 days. I was so amazed to see how active this little one is. I have never had an ultrasound so early and was a bit overwelmed to see that tiny baby wriggling around so wildly when I hadn't felt a thing yet. What a beautiful eye-opener to the wonder of God's creation!

We are 4 months along today. Unbelievable how quickly the months go by... and yet, I am so anxious to see this sweet baby and hold him or her in my arms!

Our Growing Family

Sorry, everybody, for the very long pause! We had a nice Thanksgiving with Luke's family here at home. A couple of days after the holiday I started feeling pretty sick...thought maybe I had some bad turkey or something. Turns out, we will be welcoming a new little brother or sister to our family around the beginning of August. We were so surprised, I'm not kidding...I took five pregnancy tests. (is that denile?) Well, as we adjust to the idea and the changes it will bring to our family, I am trying to get through a really tough time of morning sickness (heightened by a wonderful round of the stomach flu running through our house last weekend). The reality of a new little person is still trying to work it's way into my world. I was very content and happy with our beautiful three. Now I am working on embracing (with grace, joy and thankfulness) the change of plans and the little blessing that God has dropped into our lives!

Anyway, the kids wanted me to announce the arrival of another new member of our family, Charlie Thomas. Charlie's a hamster and we adopted him in October. He has quickly wormed his way into all of our hearts as the sweetest, most gentle and best hamster in the whole world. I have never met a more congenial hamster. ( :

And her name is...

Ella Rose....lovely.

Congratulations Seth and Olivia

Joel, Gracie, and Chloe!

She is beautiful!

New Tweet Baby!

My brother, Seth, and his wife, Olivia, are thrilled to welcome a new baby girl into their family, born last night at around 9:30 p.m. She doesn't have a name yet as they are deliberating over whether she looks more like a Ruby, Rosie, Lily, or Ellie. ( : Any of those names are adorable just like her sweet little self. This will number the Tweet grandchildren at a whopping 24! I know that Joel, Gracie and Chloe are excited to have a new little sister too! I will post again as soon as she has a name!