The Queen Mary

The anchor of the Queen Mary.

Anti-aircraft artillery from World War 2.

Today Ken and I had the rare opportunity to go on a date without the kids. Our friends, the Denhams, are going to do some babysitting swapping with us and we got to go out first. For the month of January, California residents got to tour the Queen Mary for free. So, today was our last chance to take advantage of that offer. We went on a self guided tour for a few hours and then ate at one of the restaurants on board. It was all very interesting. The Queen Mary was built in the 1930's and was a luxury ship for a while (much like the Titanic) until World War 2 when it became a carrier for soldiers. It was only supposed to carry around 8,000 people at a time but during the war it carried up to 16,000 at a time with the soldiers sharing beds and sleeping in shifts. After the war, it returned to a luxury ship until it came to rest in the Long Beach Harbor in the 1960s. Now it is a hotel with fancy restaurants and a wedding chapel and also a museum of sorts with lots of little specialty shops. There is also a special tour with supposed ghost sightings on the Queen Mary. It was a fun day and we learned a lot about history. The Queen Mary is really quite a ship!

It's A Girl!

So, here she is. We had our sonogram today. It took the technician a LONG time to figure out the gender. The way the baby was positioned, with legs crossed and everything, we were worried that we wouldn't get to find out. But, after much poking and prodding, the technician finally got a good view of things. Sky is excited about having a baby sister (although the reality of sharing a room has not set in) and we are excited about our little girl. We don't have girl's names chosen yet and we may keep that a surprise anyway. If you're having trouble seeing what's what in the picture, the face is on the right. Looks creepy, I know.

Sky's First Tea Party

Today Sky attended her first tea party (with friend Sami) at our friend Susan's house. Both girls wore their pearl necklaces and pretty floral dresses. There was real china and fancy treats. They also both wore aprons that Susan had made for them for Christmas. Susan's husband, Dennis, works at Talbot and that's how we met them. They live in our neighborhood and are an awesome resource as we explore our new surroundings in southern California. They had lots of fun doing girly stuff all afternoon: fairy sticker books, baby dolls, stories from Sky's girl book, and lots of dancing and singing. Very sweet!

More Fun at Disney

Sky with Minnie Mouse at California Adventure!

Mimi, Grandpa Gene, Ken and Sky on the Autotopia ride.

The family with Mickey Mouse!

Sky loves to play on the Tarzan bridge!

Tinkerbell

Disneyland has a new area called Pixie Hollow where kids can meet Tinkerbell and one of her friends. The whole area is really cute and well done! There were little fairy statues all along the walk way. After waiting in line for an hour, we met Tinkerbell and her friend, Fawn, the animal fairy. As you can see, Sky wore her Cinderella dress to Disneyland that day. Sky got their autographs and enjoyed talking with them. She recently saw the new Tinkerbell movie so she really enjoyed meeting Tink in person.

Sky Gets Her Face Painted

Sky has wanted to get her face painted since we first went to Disneyland. There is a whole section near the princesses where girls can get their faces painted and their hair done (for a fee of course). We promised her that she could get her face painted when her grandma ("Mimi") and Grandpa Gene came to visit us. Well, they have been here with us this past week and we spent two fun days with them in Disney. Sky finally got her face painted. She chose a purple caterpillar with glitter (thankfully one of the cheaper choices). She ended up crying about something later that night and all the paint ran. Then there was more crying. Oh well.

Christmas Toys

Brad and Sky received some wonderful Christmas gifts and they've really been having fun playing with them. Here are some pictures of some of their new toys.

Back to Preschool

Today Sky went back to preschool after being off for 2 weeks for vacation. She was very excited to go back and it was a nice break for me as well. After dropping her off I brought Brad to the doctor because he is still struggling with vomitting and diarrhea. It has been a week and a half and Ken and I are really tired of getting up in the middle of the night to clean him, his crib, bedding, etc. I'm sure he's tired of it too! The doctor said to wait it out for another week. Brad hasn't lost any weight and he's not dehydrated so there's no serious concern.
If Brad vomits on his blankie, that's always bad. He can't sleep without that blankie so we have to run it through the washer/dryer and sit up and wait for it to be clean. Uncle Gary bought the blankie for Brad over a year ago and we haven't been able to locate another one like it. UNTIL... I finally looked it up online and ordered another one. I should have done that 2 weeks ago! Anyway, hopefully that will resolve future blankie problems.

Prayers for 2009

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2009 is a great year for you! I am looking forward to what God has in store for us this year! This will be another year of great change for us and I would like to share with you my top prayer requests for 2009:
1. Please pray for the health and safe delivery of our 3rd baby. He/she is due in early July and I know that having 3 kids will bring great change to our family, not the least of which will be that the children will outnumber us (a scary thought). We hope to find out the gender this month.
2. Please pray for Sky as she will be turning 5 and entering kindergarten in the fall. There are lots of good elementary schools in the area and I look forward to visiting a few of them to decide on which one is the best fit for her. We would love to send her to the Christian school right down the street from our house (www.lamiradaheights.org) but that would truly take a miracle since the tuition is $500 a month!
3. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and patience as we prepare Sky for kindergarten. She has a lot of trouble with fine motor skills like writing and cutting. She still can't write her name even though we work on it with her daily. It's a really painful process but we know that she will be expected to know how to do these things in kindergarten and we want her to be prepared.
4. With 3 kids, we will need a minivan or something comparable in order to fit all of the kids and their car seats. Right now we have 2 paid for compact cars so we will need to make a change in that area. We're hoping to avoid a car payment so we really need a sweet deal to come along.
5. We are searching for a church to call home and we hope that 2009 will be the year when we will finally get involved in a church and make connections with people.
6. Please pray that Ken (and I) can continue to positively impact, encourage, and support Talbot students and their families while they journey through the seminary process. We are so thankful that Ken has a job in this economic climate and we never want to take for granted the amazing ministry that God has provided for us.
7. Brad is a "momma's boy" right now. He gets upset even when I go to the bathroom. He doesn't like being cut off from me at all. Please pray that he will handle the new transition with the baby well and that he can be a "big boy" when I have to take care of the baby.
8. Ken has submitted his dissertation for publication with Eisenbraun's publishing. They are known for being slow to get things done so please pray that the book would come out quickly. Ken also has a book contract to write a commentary on Judges so please pray that he will be able to find the time to work on that while also balancing family life and his teaching load.
9. I have had very low energy and have felt very sick with this pregnancy. I have also had some back pain due to a strained nerve in my lower back. Please pray that I can get my energy back and be able to do the things that I love doing.
10. With the housing market at an all-time low, we would LOVE to be able to buy a home. We have some money set aside for a down payment but it isn't enough and we are on a waiting list for assisstance from BIOLA. So, if it's meant to be, we need really clear direction. Please pray that we will listen and be patient.
With all of that said, I also want to say how very thankful we are for a wonderful 2008! We were able to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Oklahoma as well as spend a month in CT last Christmas. We also had many visitors here and enjoyed catching up with everyone. We had a wonderful birthday party for Sky and Brad in June which helped us to realize how many friends we have made already here in California. And we are so thankful for Ken's wonderful job and my chance to stay at home with the kids. We are all healthy (besides the recent flu epidemic) and we get to enjoy wonderful sunny weather almost everyday. There truly is so much to be thankful for!