It's starting to look alot like Christmas...

This week it is really starting to feel more like Christmas. On Monday, my two sister in laws, Leah and Susan, and I went over to my mother in laws' house for our Christmas cookie baking day. We had lots of fun making, eating and decorating cookies. The kids got into it as well and definitely enjoyed the eating part.

On Tuesday, Paul and I went to pick up our new Toyota sienna mini van. We are so excited. It is slate gray and feels like a luxury car. It is quite the upgrade from our old car since the heat wasn't working very well, you couldn't open the passenger side door from the inside, it shakes when you go over 60, and there was a mysterious rattle sound in the truck that the mechanics could never figure out what it was. Needless to say, we are very grateful especially for the room in the car since we will be having 3 kids soon. Harrison is very glad he won't have to sit in the middle seat between two car seats.

On Wednesday, Noah and I left early in the morning to fly to Florida. It is great to be with Meme and Granddaddy. Momo even came over and spent the night too. Momo introduced Noah to her V8 juice and he liked. Here is a picture of the two of them toasting their V8 juice.

On Thursday, my mom had a special treat planned for my sister and I, she took us to a spa to get a pedicure together and then we got to go out to eat just the three of us. It was such a wonderful time to really talk and be together. Granddaddy stayed home and played with Noah and even put him to bed.

Today, Friday, we are going to the Art museum to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit and walk around and eat by river front in downtown Ft. Lauderdale.

A little of this and a little of that

Life has been busy here at the blake household ever since Thanksgiving. Besides for eatting a yummy turkey dinner, we also found a cool new park by Paul's parents house to go to that has a trail, beautiful lake, playground, open land to play soccer and of course swings for the kids. It is always a blessing to get to spend some extra time with the Texas Blakes.

Harrison broke his arm during gym class. A friend hit him with his hockey stick by mistake. He will have to where his sling for a least four week. He has been a real good sport about it though. He was also in a Christmas play at his school and did a great job. He also looked real sharp in his new outfit too.

We had our first snowfall this year and Noah was so excited to go out and play and make a snowman. We only got the first layer done before noah jumped on top of it. Then we realized there was not enough snow and it was really cold so we went inside. Maybe next snowfall ,we will be more successful.

Chanukah also started tonight. Maeret had a some people from the community over to her house for the lighting of the candles and a Shabbat dinner. It was lots of fun and a good reminder that our God still does miracles. In reading John 10 tonight, when Jesus went to the Feast of Dedicaiton (which is Chanukah) He said "Believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." I wonder if He mentioned the miracles here because the Jews believed God did the miracles of allowing the Maccabbes to conquer and win and then the miralce of allowing the oil supply to last for 8 days instead of one?

Noah got an early Christmas present in the mail from MeMe and Granddaddy. It is a trampoline. He loves it and uses it everyday. It is great for the winter. I highly reccommend it if you have an active kid and live in a place where you experience winter. I posted a video below for some action footage.

Our little blessing

So this week we found out that we are going to have a little girl. We are all so excited. We are going to name her Hadassah Joy. Hadassah is Esther's Hebrew name. We believe she will have a powerful impact on this world and that God is raising her up for such a time as this. We are thanking and praising the Lord for the gift of this little one.

After we found out we all went to Babys R Us and Paul, Harrison, Noah and I picked out some girl clothes. Paul picked out the cute pants, Harrison the red jacket, we had noah get the matching shirt, and I could the Mommy's sweetie outfit.
Some other things that have been going on are:
My sister in law susan had her baby girl Eliana Joy. She is simply beautiful. We are so excited that our little Hadassah will have another girl to play with and grow up together.


Also, Noah got a very cute TeePee in the mail from his Oma. He has been playing in it almost everyday since we got it.




Noah and I had to make a quick trip home because a dear family friend, Marnie of ours went to be with the Lord. She has been one of my mom's best friends for over 20 years. She is a delight to all who know her and now she is rejoicing with her beloved Savior. My mom spoke at the memorial service and I couldn't have been more proud of her. Art's mom also came in for the service since Marnie's husband John has been a dear friend to her as well. It was good to see her even though the circumstances were hard. Overall, it was a bitter sweet time. If you are reading this and have time if you could lift up a short prayer for her husband John I am sure he would appreciate it.

While we were home, Granddaddy kept Noah entertained by teaching him how to play golf for the first time. Noah loved it. After a while, Noah would put the ball on the tee, fix his hands then look at the ball and say "Focus" then swing. It was pretty funny.

Pumpkin Patch Day

we had a good time at the pumpkin patch... noah's favorite part was chasing the chickens.

One Proud Mama

So lately I have had a few proud mama/wife moments. As far as Harrison goes.. he got on the B honor roll and has been adjusting really well to his new school this year. He is also really enjoying reading and read a whole book in one day. In the picture above, he is reading the book he couldn't put down. Noah decided to join him and when I came in the family room to tell them dinner was ready this is how I found them on the couch. He has also been a huge help with the children's ministry. He helps tell the bible stories and this week he helped me put together a craft for the kids to make noah's ark. He is such a blessing to our family.

Noah has learned to count to 10 all by himself. He knows all the basic colors. He knows a few shapes and can even draw circles. For some reason the letter Q is the only one that has stuck with him. He is talking up a storm and his vocab increases everyday. He continues to entertain us with his long stories that you can only catch a couple words of but they have lots of sound effects and physical movements with them. He continues to help out around the house too. Yesterday, I asked him to get the laundry basket out of my room. After it had been a while, I went to go check on him; however, he wasn't in there and but the basket was. I went downstairs to see if he went down there and sure enough he was in the utility room. He grabbed a basket down there and had opened the dryer and was putting the clothes in there. Today, I was getting dinner ready and I walked past his room and heard him sing the clean up song and he was putting away his toys without me even telling him too. Enough said.

The baby in the belly is doing well. I am at 15 weeks now and last week we got to hear the heartbeat and it was normal. Way to go..baby. I did fail my first sugar test and go back on Tues for the 3 hour test to see if I am gestational diabetic again. We will find out sometime at the end of Nov. what the sex is.


Paul went away for a week to Arkansas to take 5 condensed classes for his master's degree. He was in class everyday from 8-6 from Monday to Sat. I am so proud of him for pursuing this degree and learning this information so he can share it with me and the community. He also, along with his brother Tom, won the 30 and over soccer championship for their division. It was so much fun watching them play together and score tons of goals. Since they won, their team was moved up to a higher division. The games are way more rough and the competition is much stronger but I still enjoy watching Paul play esp. if he is wearing his game winner shorts. Noah loves watching him play too and his interest in soccer has definitely gone up. He either plays outside, in the basement or in the hallway everyday. You can see some action footage in the videos.

Susan photo shoot

I had a lot of fun taking pictures of my sister in law susan for my first maternity photo shoot. You can click on the link to see my top favorites on my photography blog http://captivatingheartsphotography.blogspot.com/

or if you want to view the whole album you can follow the link to my picasa ablums at

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurenblakephotography/SusanMaternity#

Grandmas with good taste

Noah got super cute outfits from his grandmas this month. Thanks for making my little man look so cute. Noah is so blessed to have grandmas like you and so am I.

Mema (Paul's mom) got this really nice Chaps sweater vest and shirt for Noah. It is so fun to have new fall clothes.

Oma (Art's mom) got Noah this customized sweater with his "N" on it. Noah thought that was super cool. He loved his matching hat too.

Meme (my mom) got Noah this adorable polo sweater and shirt. Does he look happy or what?

Raising up an army

So last friday and saturday, I went to a two day seminar on giving your imagination back to the Lord for the purpose of encountering God. The seminar was really powerful and I encountered God in a profound way. The instructor is a mentor of mine who I have known for five years and was apart of her prayer group for three years. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. During the seminar, we had a time where we gave our imaginations back to the Lord, we asked Him to cleanses them, and to forgive us of using them in ways that He never intended. Then we asked God to encounter us in our imagination. She asked us to close our eyes and pick a place that is peaceful to you and then ask God to come to that place.

When I closed my eyes I saw myself sitting at a bench in the middle of a rose garden alone. The next thing I knew God the Father came over and asked if He could join me. I said, "If you want to?" He sat down and asked me "How I was?" I told Him that "It has been really hard". He said, "I know" and then put His arm around me. I then said "I don't understand" and He said, "I am raising up warriors for my army some need to be trained in heaven and some on earth. There is a bigger battle. Zeke is a special warrior." We sat there for a while. The He hugged me and said "There is so much pain and so deep inside of you. Why do you carry this?" I said "I didn't know what to do." He said "You have to cut it and pull the roots out." The He pulled the roots out. He said, "I am planting seeds of joy and peace and in the same way that you watered the plant of sorrow with tears you will water these with my refreshing rain." I asked Him "What He thought of me". He said, "It is hard for me to watch you like this because I love you so much. You are very delicate and fragile right now, do you trust Me to hold you? I said "yes".

So this is where I am right now in my Father's hands. I went to the House of Prayer this morning and was able to stand raise my hands and sing freely to my Father who is worthy of praise. Thank you so much for all who have been journeying with me and praying for me. May the Lord encounter you in a powerful way. He is so real.

Also, I ended up sharing with the people at the seminar what the Lord had done. At one of the breaks an older lady came up to me and said she had heard a minister share how after he had lost one of his young men who did ministry with him and then in the same month heard of two other young people dying. He asked the Lord "Why was He taking these young ones?" Then he had a vision and heaven opened up and he saw all these warriors on white horses in heaven and the Lord said something like, "I am raising up warriors in heaven for the great battle". She said when you shared what you heard that only confirmed to her what this man had seen.

Why Worship?

Right now I am craving worship but my heart feels a disconnect from God so it is difficult to truly worship. But still I choose to worship and I can tell that slowly it is helping. However, I am looking forward to this Sunday because we will have our worship leader back, Sam. There is something about corporate worship with people you love that is so powerful. I know Noah will be excited too since he plays his guitar and thinks he sings like Sammy almost everyday. Below is a video of Noah playing like Sammy. At the end of the video Noah thought I said pray instead of play so that is what he is doing. Also the word he is singing/screaming is Jesus.

I have been listening a lot to this song by Jason Upton called "Face of Time". If you want hear a preview you can click on the link: http://www.jasonupton.net/store/index.php/trusting-the-angels-cd.html scroll down and double click on Face of Time. Anyways, there is a line in the song called, "In the midst suffering there is a God worth worshipping". This phrase continues to be in my head. Although this has been one of the hardest months for me in my life with court mediation's with Paul's x-wife about Harrison, Harrison having strep, Noah getting his molars in, I got a cold that turned into bronchitis along with occasionally throwing up and being extremely overtired in my first trimester and we have been busy with my parents coming into town, then Paul being out of town at a conference, celebrating the Jewish high holy days, and new people coming to the community but primarily it has been hardest because of baby Zeke going to be with the Lord: the questions, confusion, wrestling, grieving for Zeke myself and with Tom & Leah. For those of you who don't know Leah lives across the street from me, she is one of my best friends, not just my sister-in-law. Her two other kids are like Noah's brother and sister since they see each other so much. Zeke would have been like his little brother. In some ways, I feel like I have lost a child myself. My emotions have been up and down in part to grief in part to also being in my first trimester where the reality hits at an even deeper level. Flashbacks of coarse flood to losing Art, but this time I feel the pain more for his mom than me. The question of why continues to press on me. Why Lord did you take these two precious lives when they had so much still to live for and become?

I have realized that this why question is what is keeping me disconnected from the Lord in my time of worship. So since I might not ever know why while I am on earth, I am going to dare to ask myself a different question: "Why is God worthy worshipping in the midst of suffering?" Rev. 5: 12 says, "In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" When I read this it hit me, why is He worthy because He suffered so that those who believe could be in eternity with Him forever. He conquered death. Not only did He suffer but His Father suffered by watching His only son be crucified and went to hell for our sins. Praise God that this is not the end of the story but through his resurrection He has allowed their to be a resurrection for all. I can't tell you what hope there in it that since I know I will see Zeke and Art again. In worshipping God, it doesn't take the pain away although sometimes it helps, but for me it makes me not feel so alone. Only He knows how I am truly feeling and only He can heal my heart. Mentally this makes sense to me emotionally it is still hard since it seems like such a long time before we will see them again. In all of our lives there has been suffering that has made us wrestle with this question of why worship God, as Jason Upton says in his song "Suffering wears the face of time". I would love to hear why some of you choose to worship God esp. in really hard times.

On a lighter note, the boys continue to be boys. Noah and Harrison have enjoyed Harrison's old boxing gloves that we got back from Landon. They have also loved playing in the dirt with the tractor and dump truck.

Noah's two favorite toys right now are a rubber frog which he calls "froggie" and a rubber thomas the train. He will hold froggie and give Thomas to either Harrison, myself or Papa. Then he says, "Hi Thomas" we say, "Hi Froggie" He says "Want to play" We say, "Ok" He says, "Let's jump" Then he takes them both and froggie falls on thomas. Froggie then gets disciplined and then Froggie says "I am sorry to Thomas" and Thomas says "It is okay I forgive you" and then they kiss. Noah made up this whole story and says it almost every time you play with froggie and thomas. I guess from the story you can tell what we have been working on. Here is a picture of Thomas and Froggie kissing since they have forgiven each other.

A time to rejoice

Romans 12:15, says: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."
These past weeks have been ones of mourning with tom and leah and for little baby zeke. The journey of this grief will continue but this past weekend we also had a chance to celebrate with our community. Our beloved worship leader, Sam and fun loving Cassie got married this Sunday. Paul performed his first wedding and did a great job. It was a beautiful wedding outside and then the reception was in the barn. They had a great blue grass band to dance and listen too. We had a blast. The best part of course was seeing Sam and Cassie with the perma grim on all night. We will miss them while they are gone for their two week honeymoon. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the evening. To view more you can click on the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/kingdomlivingchurch/SamAndCassieWedding#

paul just announced them as man and wife!!!

wonderful people in our community!

check out that jewish star sunset for them. sweet!

our beautiful friend Allison who has become a part of our family since she lives with us.

noah breakin it down and cassie enjoying every minute of dancing with sammy

The three cousins dancing and holding hands with their boots all on the same step. so cute!

Jessica's delicious cake and paul and I dancing... good times!

noah clapping when they announced sam and cassie at the reception: