She's Here

Annorah Kate Van Dyk has arrived.

Unfortunately I have no pictures because even though I painstakingly repeated "dont forget your camera" in my head all day, I got into the room with Jo and the babe and couldnt find my camera. Turns out it fell out of my purse and onto the car floor. Jo and Aidan should get to post their babies picture first anyways. So, you will have to check into Jo's blog if you wish to see Annorah. I believe there will be picture uploaded soon.

Stats:
born at 10:42 on July 29th
Weighs 6.2- shes small but was an early baby
Both are healthy and happy
She has dark brown hair (not as much as Caelah had though)

I hope to visit again tomorrow and this time I will carry my camera in my hand so as not to have it fall out of my purse again. GRRR!!!

Progress

After my complaining (see a few posts ago) I decided to take some fantastic advice given me and just start small. So, I decided as long as I accomplished something each day, it was a start. Why set your standard so high that no matter what you will be disappointed and discouraged?

So I set to work on accomplishing one thing- my hall way entrance way. It took about an hour just to get it organized and put all the random things away that had piled up on the table and it really should never have become so bad.

Once it was done I felt a million times better. I even had time to set to work in the living room. It is probably the room that has the least of a problem so I usually get it cleaned up pretty quickly.

In one day I had made the front of my house look good. It took about an hour and a half and I was feeling so much better. I had accomplished something... ANYTHING!!!

Firday, my sister in law Katrina, came and gave me a huge hand in getting all the hidden mess taken care of. We organized the kitch cupboards, we fixed up a place for storage that had run out of room due to lack of organization and we got the bedroom tidied and vacuumed (not an easy thing to do when your baby starts screaming every time it is turned on). Katrina kept him distracted in teh front of the house while I got it all clean :)

Not much has been accomplished since but Im taking it realistically for this stage in life. I am trying to keep on top of what is already nice and then pick a project a day to finish. If it goes smoothly and well, I even start on another project.

As for Matty and Dave, They've been working hard on getting Daves car in good shape.

Here they are working together and putting together the new dash Dave has made. (Those of you who didnt know, Dave bought himself a new classic car from '72 and is fixing it up so he can use it)

Not much else is new. Teeny (baby in the womb) continues to grow. Havent had an appointment recently so I havent heard Teeny's heart beat again but I look forward to it on Friday. Then later this month I get to have my ultrasound and might finally find out the sex of the baby. Should I tell you or let you all guess and be surprised???

Tomorrow my sister is having her baby by c-section. Please pray as the last two both swallowed amneotic fluid and were put in the special care nursery for a few days. It would be nice for both the baby and Jo to be together right off the bat this time. Plus it is their last (as far as they are concerned and it would just be a lovely thing for it to go perfectly).

Ill post picture of mommy and baby tomorrow or Thursday... whenever I next have a chance.

The Goal of Your Faith

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with and inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1: 8-9

"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Romans 6:22

I hate to admit it but it has been some time since I have spent time in Gods word. I have been struggling so hard to find time for anything but the things I want to find time for are truly meaningless in the long run. My walk with God should be first and foremost on my mind and I have been pushing it farther and farther back.

Today I stopped my sillyness and sinfulness and got my bible from right beside me (it is always that close yet never open) and I opened it up to 1 Peter.

I love Gods word and really dont get why i dread reading it some days. Always so many other things to do. I learned something beautiful through my reading. The goal of our faith. I'd never seen as so simple. In my mind I always though the GOAL would be something much harder- spreading the gospel, growing in wisdom, drawing closer to God. All of these things are, of course things we desire and strive for but the goal is much simpler. The goal of faith is salvation. If we believe, we are saved. That is that. I always knew that I just didnt realize it was our goal.

Gods word always carries something for our hearts and soul. It will never be empty to us if we are truly reading it. I am thankful I opened my bible and read. Such a simple thing to do but so worthwhile. If you havent done it today, I encourage you to stop blog reading right now and open up that bible of yours and learn and grow.

Please, if you feel like it, I would love to hear what you have been learning about. Hearing from you will also feed my soul.

Where have you gone???

Who am I talking about? More like what am I talking about. Motivation. Where on earth does it disappear to?

It has been weeks, maybe even months since I have felt any motivation whatsoever. Cooking, cleaning, looking nice... I havent really cared about any of it. My house seems to be constantly messy (very uncharacteristic for me, I like to think) and I rarely feel like I look attractive in the only clothes that fit me these days... And my meals... I tell you. They are so boring. Same old whatever every day. Nothing exciting and nothing I enjoyed making.

Today, for the first time in ages I got a slight breeze of motivation. I was so excited. I started tidying the hall table. It had become the place for EVERYTHING to be dumped. Every time I saw it I hated it but I did nothing to change it. I changed it today and I was ready to move on. I was so prepared to take on the whole house. Then Matthew woke up. He was happy enough at first but didnt want me out of his sight. Then even that wasnt good enough. I had to be sitting on the couch right near him in the living room or he would just start crying and crawling after me. He literaly pulls himself up using my pant legs and holds onto them crying until I pick him up. If I move, he falls and cries even harder. He wouldnt nap, he wouldnt play... he simply wanted me, yet didnt. Does that make sense?

So my house remains a disaster. I have a total of three hours in a day where I have time to myself to get anything done. Usually it is getting the necessities done (laundy, dishes, dinner and other meals) and nothing else. How do people do it? How do people stay on top of a home and cook and have happy kids???

Dont get me wrong, Matty is a very happy kid and usually very easy. For some reason, however, these days he just wont let me do anything. I know part of all this is being pregnant and exhausted but I dont know how much of it is that. Sometimes I feel lazy, we all have those days, but it really has been different in some way. Does motivation really disappear for months? It sure has with me.

Has anyone got any ideas for me? How to get anything done or how to find motivation? I'd really love some inspiration. Im praying it comes back on Monday and I get lots done... Oh I do so hope it returns. I have so many things to get done. Two baby blankets, a cross stitch, other crafts Id love to do and no time for any of it. Mysteries!?

Heres my little source of trouble. I love him to bits. Look at him! Isnt he a sweetheart? What will I do when I have TWO?

Dirty!

I got some picture of the FAVOURITE toy when it was at its worst. Would you like to see proof?
It wasn't just the ball that was filthy either... That's what camping is all about.

"Where else can I go to make a bigger mess of my ball and self?"

"Hi! Its not bath time yet, is it?"