Halloween

Well, we haven't decided what we'll do on Halloween in the future. There's a good chance that Evalana won't be going trick-or-treating. And I don't feel so good about strange bloody creatures coming up to the door when Evalana's little, either. But this year we're doing the same as we have for the past few years--handing out candy with Bible verses taped to them. And there are some very cute little kids coming to our door.

Today I went and voted, and it was pretty funny to see strange creatures in the voting booths.

I remember when I was younger, my dad would dress up in a fur coat he got in Iceland and an old man mask he got from I think Universal Studios, and we'd play spooky music and hand out candy. Now most of the kids seem to go to malls to trick-or-treat, although our dogs are finding plenty to bark at (which is really annoying).

Tomorrow morning Pete goes back to the prison. I still feel really bad for the dogs since they enjoy playing together so much, but we won't really miss Pete, and hopefully he'll find another family soon.

Here's a good resource on Halloween that Dan Chaverin sent: http://www.equip.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=muI1LaMNJrE&b=2616123&ct=3615371. Some of Hank Hanegraaff's suggestions are to focus on Christian heros and to read 1 Corinthians 15. And here are a few links to some Christian hero stories: http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org/Voice-Of-The-Martyrs.htm, http://www.persecution.com/, and http://www.christianheroes.com/index/christian_heroes_people.asp.

weekend with the cousins

Evalana has on some new cuddly winter pajamas, and they’re 9-month size. Silly growing girl. I think she’s about 15 pounds now.
On Friday Joshua had his last day of work at Perceptive. He was sad to leave the people there, but he’s also excited to start his new job tomorrow. Friday night Joshua went to the Westside men's retreat, so Evalana and I had a girls' night at home. Saturday morning Joshua’s mom, Cheryl; sister, Chevelle; brother-in-law, John; nephew, Bailey; and niece, Chloe all came over. It was great to see them. We dropped Evalana off at Jon and Heather's, and we went to see The Lion King. Then they went to dinner at T-Rex, and Evalana and I went over to my mom’s for Evalana’s dinner and to visit Evalana’s first cousin twice removed, Aunt Chris. Then back home for more time to hang out with her cousins, Bailey and Chloe. Chloe read books to her and taught her lots of good stuff. And this morning was a great church service at Westside on forgiveness and then a day at home together. Joshua got a new X Box this week, so he played that while Evalana napped. I love days that we all get to be home.
This weekend we decided to give Pete back. I feel really bad for him, but he keeps getting more destructive while we’re gone, so he’ll return to the prison on Saturday and hopefully find a new family who can take better care of him very soon.
Right now Evalana’s nursing, and then she was staring straight at Joshua and just smiling at him. She wasn’t eating, so he moved so that she might finish up her meal, but she right away got so upset. Then he came back beside me, and she went straight back to smiling. Joshua then had to go upstairs, and the same thing happened again. Funny girl. So she talked with Daddy for a few minutes and is now back to eating. I love this baby.

Chloe read this book twice so that Evalana could remember it:

Everyone at church:

Evalana helping Joshua:

holidays

Our lifegroup is going to study holidays so that we can make some decisions about how to celebrate in our family. It’s so fun to have a new little baby and be able to make all sorts of decisions about traditions we’d like to have with her.
We’d love to hear your suggestions about traditions you enjoy or challenges you’ve had with holidays.

The topics we’re studying are:

• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Advent (time leading up to Christmas)
• Christmas
• Lent (time before Easter)
• Easter
• Jewish holidays
• Birthdays

diet

I miss normal food! I love Evalana a whole lot and would do anything for her, but I miss eating normal meals with people. i miss cooking good meals for my husband and treats for people. I’m still working on figuring out what I can eat without making Evalana upset, but currently on my no-no list is soy, eggs, corn, wheat, white beans, citrus fruits, broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, cabbage, onions, chocolate, nuts, peanuts, shellfish, beef, and caffeine. The thing about this is that I know that most people in the world never get to experience the huge variety of food that I have in my life. Many people don’t have any choice about what they will eat for each meal, and so many people don’t get enough to eat. I am so thankful that I’m able to eat all I need and that I’m able to feed this beautiful baby.
Here are some sad facts:
http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html

• 923 million people across the world are hungry.
• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.

12 weeks

Well the cold only seemed to last a day, so yesterday she already seemed to be feeling all better. This little 12-week-old girl is growing up quickly. This week she started reaching for and grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth, she likes to hold her hands together, and she’s started laughing. It’s so fun to watch this baby develop. She also keeps getting more and more observant and alert, which now includes being distracted during eating time, too. We just continue to have great times with this sweet baby.
Here’s a video of Evalana’s doggies (who know they’re not really supposed to play inside).

sickie

I think this sad little girl has a cold. Poor baby. She has watery red eyes, a stuffy nose, and sneezes. Hopefully she’ll get over it quickly.

bedtime stories

Ever since we first were married, Joshua and I have been reading the bible together each night. Last night Joshua was reading our chapter while Evalana was having her bedtime meal. Evalana completely stopped eating and just stared right at Joshua, like she was listening to every word. Then he moved behind her, where she couldn’t see him. Evalana started crying, and as soon as he came back where she could see him, she smiled.

100 babies

Today was Joshua and my two-year anniversary. Because the weather was icky out, and I can’t eat most foods, we decided to make a meal together at home, and Evalana went over to Grandma’s for the evening. It was nice to be able to take my time eating. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband. He’s an amazing daddy, and it’s a huge blessing to be married to him.
Did you wonder why this blog has the name 100 babies? I’ve always told Joshua that I want to have 42 children. We’ll see how many the Lord blesses us with, but I think it might be a lot (mostly by adoption). I had always had a bigger desire to adopt kids than to give birth to them, but, as soon as Evalana was born, I could totally understand how people would want to have such large families. My mom sometimes brings tapes over to me of some of my favorite TV shows (The Duggars and John and Kate Plus Ei8ht) since we don’t have fancy TV here. I love watching how these big families do things. At our wedding reception, we played a song by Jeffrey Foucault called One for Sorrow, and one line of the song is, “And we’ll have a hundred babies.”

road trips and relatives

Last Sunday we went to Nebraska City to see some of my family. We got together with my dad’s family for lunch and a walk, and then part of my mom’s family also came to Nebraska City to meet Evalana. Evalana especially enjoyed looking at the trees and meeting Great Grandpa Moser.

Yesterday we took another day trip. This time we went to Rocky Comfort and Joplin, Missouri. We left early, and Evalana slept the whole way there. She woke up when we got to church. She likes both mornings and outside, so she was especially happy when she woke up under the trees (video below).

saturday morning

We’ve had a busy week. Here are a few videos from Saturday morning, when we were actually home together for a little bit.

sleep

I'm having difficulty getting into blogger today, so I’m trying a post by email.

Evalana’s been going to bed a little earlier each night. I’ve realized some things that affect her bedtime, though. When I’m not home in the evening, or if I eat something she doesn’t like, she ends up having a late night. Last night she had the perfect sleep. She went to sleep at 9:30, I put her in her crib at 10:00, and she woke up around 7:00am. Yea! I can’t ask for a more perfect schedule than that. It makes me nervous to keep trying new foods since it affects her so much, but I really do want to find out what I can eat. We’ll see how this next food goes.

Pete (name for right now)

Pete's first morning at home is going well. Last night Joshua stayed up with Evalana, which was a great treat for me. I fed her and then went to sleep about 11:00, and Joshua said Evalana fell asleep in the wrap on him around 12:15, and then he layed her down and went to bed around 1:00. Evalana seems to be feeling much better (after the cow's milk I drank this week gave her reflux and gas), so hopefully she'll be able to start falling asleep a little earlier again (at least until I try something else she doesn't like). This afternoon we're getting together with our Bradley (birthing class) classmates, so it'll be fun to see all those little babies and hear how the births went.

I'm trying to put some pictures from our morning on here, but the layout isn't working.

family of five

We are once again a two-dog family. I love having two dogs, so I started looking on petfinder in July, after Riley died. This week I saw a dog named Pete who seemed like he'd be great for us. He lived in a prison in Hutchinson, but a lady was coming to Lawrence this weekend anyway, so she brought Pete to meet us tonight, and we decided to adopt him. Samson is very excited to have a brother. Please let us know your name suggestions for him. Thanks.

work

Evalana and I started back to work this week. It’s been great. I enjoy working and doing the adoption ministry at Westside, and I really love the people I work with. Evalana goes to childcare there in the building from 9:00-11:30 and 12:30-3:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So far we’re not quite on the most convenient eating and sleeping schedule for our work schedule, but things are getting better, at least they were until I tried drinking cow’s milk this week. She’s had reflux and gas since I had the milk; I feel bad for her. Right now she’s sleeping on my mom’s shoulder and looks pretty comfy.

Evalana about 1am in her vibrating chair:


In the chair, playing with Grandma and ducky:


She says to tell cousin Noah thanks for the chair!

Happy October!

This is my daddy's favorite month. Happy fall everyone!