We will be driving to Norfolk tomorrow to pick up my sister at the airport. We are all very anxious and can't wait for her to get here! We have almost nine days to spend with her before we head to Tennessee. Please pray for safety as she travels. We love you, Rea!
Here's the video from last night of our church's Blue Denim and Lace girls signing Proverbs 31:10. Darlene Walters has been teaching them sign language this month, and I was so proud of all of them. This is actually only half the girls. There were just as many on the other side of the stage. I have been teaching a Blue Denim and Lace class for over eight years now. Some of the girls that I taught in the beginning are now in college! These girls are a blessing, and even though they can try my nerves at times, they are well worth the time spent and the effort given. What a privilege to have a part in shaping and molding these girls to be ambassadors for Christ!
**Proverbs 31:10 "Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies."**
It was a little late for Easter, but Monday night we had some fun coloring eggs. The kids really enjoyed it, and miraculously there was little mess! Our eggs turned out very colorful, and thanks to Grandma and Poppy's Easter box the eggs even had some shiny accents. The kids were very proud of their masterpieces, and of course wanted to try them out as soon as we were done. John David about gagged on the yolk, and decided he didn't want anymore. I turned around to see Kylie (who as you recall is allergic to eggs) chowing down on a hard boiled egg! Oh well! Neither I nor Jeremy even thought about the fact that she's allergic. We're still trying to get used to that. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.
I just got a call from my mom. They are in the Atlanta airport! Yeah! They should be in Nashville in a few hours and on their way home to recoup. I'm am grateful that they had a safe trip home, and happy to have them back on this side of the world!
With soccer season now underway, I thought the kids might enjoy this soccer background. If you normally just get new posts via email, take a second to check out the new background on our blog page: http://knutsonupdateonline.blogspot.com.
Okay, I usually almost never post pictures of me, but since my belly has grown quite a bit recently I thought I would post a few for all my family that doesn't get to see me frequently. I am 18 weeks today, and exactly two weeks from today we will have our 20 week ultrasound. We are all very excited, and with my sister, Jeremy, and all the kids, it'll be a family affair! John David is still very much convinced that the baby is a boy, and has even named it! Yesterday, he told my doctor that "my baby, Luke, is in my mommy's belly." I'm praying that if the ultrasound shows that the baby is a girl, which by the way would be perfectly fine with us, that John doesn't get too upset! :) I really have a feeling that the baby is a boy, but I guess we'll see in two weeks. I saw my diabetes doctor yesterday and he put me on insulin. Yes, I am bummed, but it's not so bad. Right now, I am only on one injection at bedtime, so I can't complain. This morning I saw my OB, and everything went fine. My blood pressure is still continuing to hold its own for now. Besides being a little more tired than normal, I am feeling really good. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has blessed us with a new little miracle!
I received an email update from my parents this morning. They have spent the last three days in a remote village in the mountains outside Beirut, conducting a children's camp. They are heading home tonight, but will not arrive in Nashville until late afternoon tomorrow. The pictures they sent are at the top.......
Here's wishing everyone a fabulous Easter weekend! Jeremy is off today and Monday for the Easter holiday, and we are looking forward to some relaxing time as well as a chance to get some spring cleaning done. The girls have a birthday party to attend tomorrow, and we're having Easter lunch here on Sunday with Candy, Mark, and Mark's mom Belle. Last I heard from my mom, it still sounded like they were really enjoying their trip. The next few days they will not have access to email, so I probably won't hear from them. They are moving to another location from what I understand. Please continue to pray for their safety. Enjoy the Easter holiday! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.
Hope everyone is having a good week. Nothing too exciting here. We are just getting ready for the Easter weekend. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.
Just a quick note to let you know that I took John into the doctor again today. He seemed like he had gotten worse again, and I just wanted to be sure he didn't need an antibiotic. Sure enough, he had an ear infection. Good thing I took him in! I also wanted to take a minute and thank God for some big answers to prayer today, and in my opinion some real miracles! My best friend Candy had a not so good checkup and ultrasound two weeks ago. Further blood tests proved even more discouraging, but today she had another ultrasound and the baby is perfect!! Also, our preacher's daughter had suffered a few miscarriages, and had finally gotten a pregnancy to last. Even though she had a rocky start to the pregnancy, she delivered an eight pound perfect baby boy this morning! God is so good! It feels so good to know that God answers prayer!
I know this may seem silly, but I was so excited when I checked my email and saw another email from my mom. I knew they would have access to their email, but was told that it would be limited, so I wasn't expecting much. It sounds like they are having a great time so far, and their biggest worry (besides the traffic) is remembering not to drink the water. Mom also discovered that every time someone uses a hairdryer, it blows a fuse. So, no hairdryers! She emailed me her post to put on her blog, which I just did. Cruise on over to their blog page (via the Original McKays link on our blog page) and read it when you get a chance. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty for answered prayers.
My parents have arrived in Beruit safely! I just received an email from them, and wanted to share part of it with you..........
I know it's not till tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure and wish my nephew a Happy 1st Birthday! I think his party is planned for today, so I hope they have a great time. The kids had their first soccer game this morning, and they did great. I will post pics and video on Monday. Jeremy and I are headed to Hampton to watch PBR bull riding tonight. Can't wait!! I will post pics on Monday or Tuesday. Don't forget my parents are flying out tomorrow morning to Beirut. Please pray for safety. I won't be able to call my mom for a week and a half! Anyway, more craziness to come on Monday!
I just wanted to post a quick update on the pregnancy. I am 16 1/2 weeks pregnant, and we are T-minus 3 1/2 weeks till our ultrasound! Yeah! I am on three blood pressure pills a day, and my blood pressure has stabilized. It is being controlled well by the medicine, and there is still room to increase my dosage if needed. The bouts of high blood pressure that I have had have not affected my kidneys, and they are still functioning normally. The farther along I get the higher my chance is of developing preeclampsia. For now though, I am doing VERY well, and we don't forsee any problems in the next couple months at least. I had an appointment with my diabetes doctor last Friday, and he said that I will probably need a little insulin soon. Good news is that I shouldn't need near as much as I was on with both the girls. I just dread the needles! I'm already testing my blood sugar four time a day. But, nothing is written in stone yet, and I'm still praying that God will allow me to get through this pregnancy with no insulin. So far, I have been able to control my sugar levels with my diet. Right now I don't have any more doctor appointments till Tuesday the 25th. That is a long break for me, and I intend to enjoy it! I have now felt the baby move several times, and have even felt a few kicks. This always makes it more real. The other day, I mentioned to Jeremy that we are almost halfway through the pregnancy. The look of panic on his face was priceless! I feel the same way though. This pregnancy has seemed to fly by, and we still have lots of things to get ready. We're experts at all this now, so I'm not stressing too much. We'll get it all done. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty for a new life!
If you get a chance, I would love for you to read my Mom's newest post on her blog. It's about her and my dad getting ready for their trip to Beirut. Go to http://mckaysoftenn.blogspot.com/ , or you can just click on the link on our blog page to the Original McKay's.
Last night was Kylie and John David's first practice of the Spring Season. Jeremy is coaching again this season, so we were able to get the kids both on his team. Since the U5 age group (under 5 yrs old) only has 5 to 6 kids on a team, we end up being almost half the team! Jeremy has two 4 yr olds and two 5 year olds on his team. John David is of course the youngest, since he's only three. This was the first time John has been able to play, and he barely made the age cutoff. Since we knew he would be placed on Jeremy's team, we decided to give it a try. Kylie did excellent at practice, and proved to be probably the most athletically talented kid on our team. John on the other hand got tired pretty quickly, and once he started to get cold he was done. He didn't last the whole practice, but I'm hoping that he will get better with time. Once the weather starts to warm up, he should be happier too. Anyway, the kids are excited about their first game on Saturday, and I'll be sure and post pictures. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has for now blessed us with these.
Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com
Not much time left till my parents leave on their long awaited missions trip to Beirut! They are busy getting everything ready for the trip, and are excited to be given the opportunity to go. Please pray for safe travels, and good health for everyone on their missions team.
Congratulations to Jesse and Hilda! What a great wedding, and our Preacher made these two Walmart employees feel right at home in his very own Walmart vest and name tag! Don't worry, Jesse didn't try to run anywhere. In fact, they were both very relaxed, and it was obvious to everyone that they are very much in love. Jesse and Hilda have been a great addition to our Sunday School class, and we will miss them greatly. But we're so happy that they have found each other! Thank you for letting us be a part of your day.
It's official! My little sister is coming to Virginia for a visit! She will be here from April 1st to April 10th. She is flying in and then driving back to Tennessee with us. We are planning on leaving for Tennessee on the 10th and coming back on the 14th. I am even more excited because she will here for our twenty week ultrasound. Andrea has never been able to attend any of my ultrasounds, and I'm really looking forward to sharing this with her. A huge thank you to my brother, who took care of getting her plane ticket, and made this all possible! Thank you!!
Yes, it's another crazy picture of one of the kids. The other night I was hanging clothes up in the girls' closet. I turned around and there was Kylie balancing on her head! She has always been our little climber, and gymnast. I though it was worth getting a picture of. Yesterday, I forgot to mention something else funny that John David has been doing. He is really becoming obsessed with the differences between boys and girls. Nothing too intimate (thank the Lord), just things like hair, jewelry, clothing, toys, etc. Anyway, twice this week Jeremy has taken John to Home Depot to pick up items for the house. The first time they were in line behind a young man who had multiple piercings on his face and ears. John unapologetically and loudly proclaims, "That boy is wearing girl stuff!" Luckily the young man was forgiving, and actually said, "I get that all the time." Yesterday, off to Home Depot they went again. John David had to go to the bathroom, and Jeremy approached an employee to ask where the bathroom was. The man had a long ponytail. When John started saying excitedly, "Daddy, Daddy," Jeremy knew what was coming and tried to shush him. It worked for a minute, but as they were walking away from the man, John yells, "That boy has girl hair!" To John David, he's just stating the facts, so explaining that this is rude has been difficult for him to understand. He's only three so I have hope that it will eventually sink in! If you haven't already signed our guestbook, make sure you check it out at the bottom of the blog page, and add your name. The web address is http://knutsonupdateonline.blogspot.com. I know there are more of you out there! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty for a week of nice weather!
Lately, John has had a little trouble getting to sleep at night. He has been coming out of his room several times each night with some crazy excuse. The last few nights have been much better, but Monday night this was his excuse. He wanted us to fix his Slinky! We had to inform him that the Slinky was dead! This Slinky was way past getting help. Jeremy was laughing so hard. He took this picture of our bewildered John, who still thinks there is hope for a full recovery. :) Since Corey left, I have spent a lot of time with John, playing, talking, and laughing. I have really enjoyed this time with him. He is so funny! Yesterday, he broke out into song in the Walmart parking lot. It was a hilarious version of the "Hokey Pokey", that he called the "Pokey Pokey". He also proudly told a random little girl at the play place at the mall that he went to "Knockbuster". He was trying to say Blockbuster, and plus that was like two weeks ago! He also attempted to eat dirt, and decided it wasn't that good. He said he thought he was going to throw up. Last but not least, he turned on the hose in the backyard all by himself and sprayed his sisters while they were playing. This was all yesterday! John David has been a joy to hang out with these days. He is in the stage where you never know what you are going to find in his pockets! Oh, the mind of a three year old! Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty who has blessed me with a little boy who makes it so easy to forget my worries.
Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. We have been running crazy since this morning! First stop was the ENT doctor to take a look at Kylie. Her hearing has been a little off, and she's been snoring worse. Nothing to worry about, but she just needs a nose spray. We ran a few errands and then headed to Portrait Innovations to get Caitlyn's picture taken with her violin. They turned out great, and her and I had a extremely hard time choosing our favorites. She was so excited and really deserved to do something special. She's been such a great help lately! My friend Pam scanned them in for me (thank you!). The top one is my favorite. How regal! She looks so grown up! After everything was said and done, looking at the pictures made me realize just how much she has changed this year. I've talked about how much I've learned through our experiences over this past year, but she has learned just as much if not more. She's had to learn that sometimes God doesn't always give us what we pray for, a hard lesson for a child. She's had to face grief and loss, and she's done it with a strength that has surprised us. She's learned so much about the real world, and how the other half lives. The bubble that we sometimes sheltered her with burst wide open this year. Sure, she has shed some tears, but they've been brave tears. On the other side of all that's happened, she has thrived and developed a self confidence that amazes me and an unshakable faith that I admire. As painful as watching her grow can be, I can't wait to see how God uses her knowing that she is willing and open to His will. Love you all, and thank you to God Almighty for teaching us the most important lessons through the eyes of our children.
Congratulations to our good friends, Candy and Mark!! They just recently found out that they are expecting their first baby! Candy and I have been friends for about nine years. She's has been a great blessing to me, and she has been there for me through the births of all three of the kids. I am so excited to be able to be a part of her life during this life changing experience. Seeing as how chances are that I will never be pregnant at the same time as my sister, this is probably as close as I'll get. :) Can you tell I'm excited?!
