2014 Year in Review

Since I am not consistant with blogging AT ALL!! I am totally copying what a good friend of mine did for their Christmas card and putting together a month by month highlight, just to give you some insight into what is keeping us busy and me not blogging, ha ha! What a year! It has been a really great one, full of joys, challenges, and promises of blessing! God is sooo good! January Trev started training on the Steinbach Fire Dept. While it's been an adjustment for our family, getting used to him being gone more regularily, it's also been rewarding as well. He trained every Tuesday evening and a couple of weekends till his exams in October. While we have had to get a lot more intentional with spending time together, we have really experienced a lot of joy thru it. One of the blessings and joys of him being on the fire dept is being a part of the Fire Fighters for Christ cell which is a wonderful community that we're loving getting to know. And our kids LOVE their babysitter who comes when we have cell :) Not to mention how much joy Trev has thru serving and helping others as a fire fighter. It fills me up with joy just seeing his joy in helping someone else :)

Also in January we began looking into options of buying a different house or even the possibility of building. We prayed a lot about it, and through that God confirmed His plan for us to move. February Troy had an MRI as well as tubes put in his ears. We'd been monitoring his hearing for a while and it was discovered that his ear drums weren't draining properly and that they were full of fluid. Not too long after the procedure I watched as he heard and looked for, and found on his own, an airplane in the sky!! March Trev and I celebrated our 11th anniversary!! I cannot imagine life without this amazing man, and I am so blessed to have the best husband and father to our kids!! April Troy turns 2!! This boy brings so much joy to our family and he is the sweetest boy who loves hugs, being with his sisters doing everything they are doing, and his soother. He loves reading books and singing along with music. He still didn't start sleeping thru the night consistently until December. And motored around by crawling everywhere!

May This month was filled with the regular everyday things and appts, getting together with friends, some birthday parties for friends and our neighbours wedding. June This month we celebrated Shiloh's 4th birthday!! She is a ray of sunshine always looking on the bright side of things! She loves helping others and brightening their day if she notices they are sad. Shiloh loves riding her bike, dressing up as a bat, playing trains and cars and dinosaurs and lego, She loves tutu's or any kind of skirt that twirls. She still sleeps with her very special unicorn 'Sophie' whom she is crazy attached to. Shiloh also shares her birthday with one of her cousins. It's so neat how that worked out!

Also this month, we took a step forwards in moving and put a down payment on a lot Trev had his eye on since January! He noticed this lot in town when we first began talking about building as an option, but we were more looking for a house then, but as we looked and looked, there was nothing that would work for us. At one point we had a builder come to look at a house with us that we were interested and give an expert opinion and he mentioned to us that he could build a house for us comparable to what we were looking at. So we decided to move forwards with it unless God closed that door for us. July Trev turns 34 this month! He is the most amazing husband and best dad in the world to our kids, a hard worker, honest, giving and thoughtful man! He puts 100% into everything he does, whether family, work and being a fire fighter.

Natasha went to Red Rock Bible camp for a whole week and Chloe, Shiloh, Troy and I went and visited with my Grandma at Nutimik for that week! It was a really great week :) It was definitely so wonderful to have that quality time with their Gigi. I hope it works out again for this next summer! It was this month that we also listed our house! Buying the lot and building all hinged on it selling. It was so exciting and faith building, since we both felt God told us He was going to bless us with another house. But knowing the market and time of year we were listing, it didn't seem promising. But God always keeps His promises! We had 5 showings this month, which was amazing! August Our house sold!!! Only God could have made that happen, along with our amazing real estate agent (and sister-in-law)! He proved yet again that He keeps His promises (see January ;) ) We needed to find a house to live in temporarily while we build. But God knew what we'd need and almost immediately Trev's brother and sister-in-law generously offered us their house that they had listed, since they recently moved, and it couldn't be more perfect since most places don't rent temporary time frames and they were willing to be flexible, not to mention postponing the sale of it! We are so blessed!!

Chloe also went to camp this month with her good friend, they have been going to camp together for a few years already and have a blast! Septmeber Back to school! Chloe begins Middle School(!!!) The switch to middle school was a bit nerve wracking since about half her friends went to the other middle school, but she seems to have adjusted fairly well! After some looking into things for Natasha with school, we decided to keep her at Elmdale for one more year before she switches elementary school catchments with our new house. October This month was a momentous one for Trev. He passed his practical fire fighting exam in Brandon!!! He traded his black training fire helmet for an official yellow one. We are soo very proud of him!! The excavation for our new house also began!!

Another HUGE thing this month is TROY BEGAN WALKING!! One of his favourite people, Andy, came over for the evening. When Troy, who was wearing a bat costume, saw him he said to Andy "fly fly!" to show him how a boy in a bat costume flies and just walked right over to Andy and ever since, he hasn't stopped!! November Natasha's birthday happened this month. She is officially 8 now!! What a sweet girl she is. She is so sensitive, caring, generous, giving, funny and so goofy! She is such a bright spot in our family! Some of her favourite things are being with friends, sushi, crafting, being with friends, playing lego, making her own books. Oh and did I mention she loves hanging out with friends? She is so very social and almost always up for something fun!! :)

We also celebrated my nieces 4th birthday with Natasha, since they share the same one, along with my dad's on the 19th and my own on the 10th. It's a full month of birthdays :) Decemeber This is a momentous birthday for Chloe! She is in the double digits now! It feels like yesterday she wasn't even 2 yet and now we're into a whole new world of double digits! Chloe is loyal, caring, sensitive, kind, helpful, she has such a servant heart and often looks for ways to help out. She is turning into a wonderful, gentle, beautiful young lady and we are so blessed to have her in our lives! Some of her favourites are Chicken fingers and fries, reading, lego, going on dates with Trev or I, spending quality time with friends and family, sleepovers, reading together, shopping and ketchup!

We also got the roof shingled on our house! We prayed for a nice day, and after some discouraging delays God blessed us and the group of amazing people who helped shingle our roof, with +5 degree temps! And Dec 13 has the potential to be really cold!!

And of course there's also Christmas! We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas gift of time with going to a hotel in Grand Forks for a couple nights.

Both our extended families also did gifts of time and I have to say, it is a Christmas that none of us will forget any time soon. It may be a new tradition to keep up with since it was just so amazing to have that kind of time together :) That is our year in review, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our world and wish you all the best for 2015! God is good!!

Death and New Life

"I don't want you to die Mommy. And I don't want to die." Those are the words my 3 year old said to me over lunch one day this week. My brain began rapidly trying to think of what I could say to her. My Grandpa passed away this month and it is the first time our kids have experienced a death. My Grandpa loves the Lord and when we visited with 'Oma and Opa' (what our kids call them) they had so much peace about his final journey and it was very positive experience for them. They heard how much Opa wanted to be with Jesus and that it was a good thing! We had many conversations about it in the last few months. But on this day, I saw fear of eternity in her eyes and voice and my mother-heart broke. So I repeated everything we'd talked about with our kids recently, about death and what happens when we die and how we get to choose where we go. So I asked Shiloh if she wanted to ask Jesus in her heart and she seemed unsure. So we talked a little more about it. I tried to answer some of her deep questions and we came full circle to where I asked her again if she wanted to ask Jesus in her heart. She responded Yes. Talk about JOY!!! So we prayed together and she asked Jesus to live in her heart! Almost immediately I had thoughts of doubt. "What three year old understands what she's saying? She's too young to make this kind of decision. . . . ." and others that flooded in as soon as she finished praying. Then just as quickly, it is as though Someone swept them out. And He said "She will know what following Jesus is by how YOU live." Wow. That realization gave me hope and peace and an overwhelming sense of purpose. I can show her how to spend time with God every day by doing it myself. I can show her that we all make mistakes, but Jesus forgives. I can show her how to love in a world that loves to hate. And I can pray. . . . .Oh I can pray; that she will know what her decision means, what it is to walk with God, to love Him and others, and I can pray she keeps on that path. And I will. So yes, our 3 year old has asked Jesus into her heart. And no, she doesn't understand it all quite yet. But I am going to do my best to make sure that she does. And I will keep on praying! Praise Jesus!

A New Resolution

When I began this blog, my intent was to keep it up. . . . . .and anyone can see how well that went. Granted life has been a wild and crazy ride this past year. It's been full of ups and downs and all arounds :) But now that I have given up facebook due to a slight addiction that occupied far too much of my time, I still want to be able to connect and share our lives with anyone who's interested. So my resolution is to blog at once or twice a month. Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy! Adeline Loewen of Studios on Main in Steinbach took our family photos at a beautiful yard with old and vintage buildings and vehicles that made a perfect setting. In fact the family that owns the property have been faithful Red Rockers for years, so we even knew them! Our kids are growing so ridiculously fast! Chloe is turning 9 this December, Natasha will be 7 in November, Shiloh turned 3 in June, and Troy was 1 in April :) Trev and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this past March!!

6 Months Later And A New Normal

The past 6 months have passed in the blink of an eye. We have been so crazy busy! A week and a half after Troy was born we got possession of our Steinbach home.....and the beginning of an intense 3 weeks of taking an unfinished basement to move in ready. That doesn't sound so bad, except we had a newborn and we only had 3 days each week to work on the basement, while Trev finished up working at camp all the other days. Which meant there was not a single day off for Trev or any respite for me with all the kids in that first month. But we persevered, Trev and an AMAZING group of friends who volunteered their time worked so very hard, and in 17 days it was done! We did hire out a few things, like electrical, taping and mudding of the drywall, flooring and plumbing. We feel so blessed for everyone who helped us out! We couldn't have done it without you all! Despite how challenging it was for that month it was also a blessing to move in and not be in a construction zone for months afterwards. Going from this....

To this..... (it did take a while to finally unpack everything, I just haven't gotten around to taking more pics of it entirely done)

After we were moved in and somewhat settled, we began our new normal. Trev began working for his brother and that was a big new normal for us. Our camp normal meant if I needed some help, Trev could take a couple of the kids to work with him (depending on the job) or could come home and help me out for a few minutes. He was always accessible and suddenly, with a new baby and 4 kids in a new neighborhood and feeling lonely and kind of trapped at home, Trev wasn't available to help anymore. That was a tough adjustment. I had tried to prepare mentally as best I could but physically my body just couldn't handle all the kids energy all the time. And we didn't have a finished yard for the kids to play in either. Summer seemed to take forever then suddenly we were buying school supplies and finally sending our girls off to school for the very first time. In June we took a tour of the school Chloe and Natasha would be attending in fall. It seemed so odd that they would be in a public school after homeschooling up till now. The night before school, Chloe was so nervous she didn't go to sleep for hours and I was so afraid she'd make herself sick. So we prayed with her and for her HARD that night. The next morning she was ready to go without much hesitation. Natasha was pretty much just excited! She is also growing up. Just before school started she informed us that she no longer wants to be called 'Goober', but instead wants us to call her 'Tasha'. I knew this day would come, at least in my heart she can still be my sweet little 'Goober'. :)

This is them just before heading out to the bus stop and them heading onto the bus.

When they got home from school Natasha's first comments were "This is way better than homeschooling mom!" :D I was so relieved that they were enjoying school so much! They have adjusted very well to public school, but I do miss having them around all the time. Shiloh has had the most trouble adjusting to all the changes that have happened in the last little while. She did very well in the first few months but then this summer she had a rough start with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in July, then catching the Chicken Pox in August and topping that off with another strain of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease while dealing with the chicken pox. Then when Chloe and Natasha were gone to school all day, she suddenly had no one to play with all day, and my body just kind of crashed from the exhaustion of the past 4 months that I had little to no energy to keep up with her. So that's when she lost it. It was just too much and she became whiny, threw huge tantrums regularily and became so defiant. She didn't know how to handle everything that was changing in her world anymore. It was tough go for a little while but she's slowly adjusted. We recently shuffled the girls rooms around because in her own room, Shiloh was waking up so early because she'd hear us walk past her door EARLY in the morning. So now Chloe is in her own room that was Shiloh's old room, and Natasha (who's always wanted to sleep on a top bunk) is on the top bunk with Shiloh underneath. It's working out great so far because Natasha is the heaviest and longest sleeper, so Shiloh doesn't disturb her and being in the back corner of the upstairs, it's quieter and she sleeps in a little longer. YAY! Shiloh's vocabulary exploded this summer and she went from a girl of few words to a girl who won't stop talking!!! Ha ha! She also grew enough to be able to reach the pedals on her trike and did she ever take off with it! She absolutely loves to bike!! When we'd bike to the bus stop to drop off or pick up her sisters, she'd have a fit if we were in a bit of a rush and I told her that she couldn't bike :) We are very glad that she loves to ride her bike!

She seriously entertains me all day with her shenannigans! I love it!

Troy has been growing up so fast! Even though he is on the small side for his age :) He has added so much more joy to our lives that I didn't think was possible. We are so blessed by him! I love now that he's smiling at us and laughing when we do goofy things to make him laugh! He has the cutest dimple under his left eye that shows up when he scrunches his face to either laugh or cry. We are beginning to give him solid foods now. I just truly can't believe how fast the time has gone by! In this picture of him he had spit up all over himself and all I had for him to wear was one of Shiloh's shirts!

I think our adjustment period has been going ok. We still miss camp and the couple times we've been back there, my heart still feels at home while we're there. I don't think I can put into words how much we love it there and the lifestyle and community. It wasn't without it's challenges, but it's a beautiful thing that we are forever grateful to have been a part of for so long. Once, while we were there this fall, a friend who'd spent the previous winter in the Pursuit program and is currently staying on for this winter, took a family picture of us. It was a pose I'd seen on pinterest (I have a slight addiction to that site!). Anyway, I think it turned out pretty great!

And lastly a few 'happenings' in our house lately. Natasha came home from school last week saying she was super hungry. So I asked if she'd eaten her lunch and she told me no because her teeth hurt too much. I was pretty surprised, thinking maybe cavaties, and with halloween the next day, that's not a pleasant thought. But instead it was two SUPER wiggly teeth in front. She wanted them out because she couldn't bite anything. Trev tried to grab them but her teeth were just too tiny, so out came the pliers. That little trooper didn't budge and that evening the first tooth was pulled. The next morning she'd had enough of the other wiggly tooth, so again out came the plier and there went the next tooth! What a brave little trooper! Here is her absolutely perfectly gappy smile and a matching one with her best friend Winter as well!

Next there's a few birthday's to be celebrated and some serious parties will be happening! But that will be another post once I've recovered from the parties and maybe Christmas and the New Year, lol!

Introducing. . . . .Troy Lander Wilson!

This post is LONG overdue, but I finally have a moment, between the girls and Troy, packing and being back and forth between camp and our new home in Steinbach. But I am just as excited about it anyway :) We are so pleased to present our newest (and last) little one! Troy Lander Wilson Born on April 24th at 9:46pm. He weighed 7lbs 1oz and was measured as 20.5 inches long (although the public health nurse who came and saw him a week later measured him at 19.5 inches, so someone's measuring tape is off) This day he was born was the day I had picked and hoped for because our two oldest girls had gone to Brandon on Sunday with Grama and Papa Wilson to stay until the baby was born and I wanted so much for them to have a couple of days with Grama and Papa at the farm, but we wanted the baby to arrive soon enough that we would be able to be home by Friday to be a part of the board staff retreat, where members of the Red Rock board come for meetings and we really wanted to be there for our last one. So I prayed and hoped for Tuesday the 24th in the evening. God was so good to us because that is exactly what happened :) Here is a little summary of my labour story. We had headed into Steinbach on the saturday before my due date and were staying with Trevor's sister, April and her husband Terry's place until the baby arrived. We were very thankful to have been able to stay with them :) On Sunday we took our kids to the zoo and met Grama and Papa Wilson there and after supper at Mongo's (definately a favorite restaurant) Chloe and Natasha took off to the farm with Grama and Papa and Trev, Shiloh and I headed back to Steinbach to wait for our little munchkin. The morning of his birth day was an ordinary day, except that April and I planned a lot of EXTRA walking to see if that would help kick start my labour. We went into town, ran some errands (literally, lol). Then in the afternoon, Trev and I had planned to go to our friends house for supper, so Shiloh and I walked over there. Trev met us there, then went out to run some errands. I began having braxton hicks. They'd been painful for about a month already, so I just assumed that that's all this was, except they weren't stopping and started getting even more painful. So I called Trev and when he got back we headed to the hospital. At the hospital I laboured for almost 5 hours then in one big push our little man entered the world! All through my pregnancy, I suspected that he was a boy, but fully expected to have a girl, given our track record with girls :) So when I asked and the nurse told me 'It's a boy!' I was still surprised and really excited too!! The best was some reactions of family and friends to the fact that we had a boy! Ha ha!! We were so blessed to have so many visitors come to meet our little man and share in our joy. Because he was born so late in the evening, our girls did not drive in from Brandon that night. We called them, but my mother-in-law was unable to wake them up to hear the news! So, we were so excited for them to come the next day and meet their new little brother! They had made cards for him and Grama took them shopping for him. They were so excited and loved meeting him! I loved watching them meet him :) He is one lucky guy to have THREE doting older sisters! Shortly after he was born we noticed that he was pretty jittery, more so than the typical startle reflexes, so they checked his glucose levels and found them to be very low. So immediately they put us on a nursing every two hours schedule to get his levels up to normal. The problem was, he was not interested in latching or nursing. So we resorted to syringe feeding him formula. His levels yo-yo'd for two days afterwards, all the while slowly creeping upwards, which was a good thing, but still taking a LONG time to get there. His little feet were black and blue from all the poking to check his levels. Finally, his levels were up and stable long enough that we could go home on Friday, but still feeding him every two to three hours. By this time I had pumped and was able to give him my milk instead of formula, which, once that happened his levels got better much quicker and I was so thankful for that! But still had to feed him via syringe and fingers. (Where he sucks and a little hose attached to a syringe on my finger). It was a lot of work, and I continued to attempt to get him to nurse as well. Two days of being home and feeding him this way was tiring, especially when my three girls needed me as well and his feedings took so long. On the Sunday, after arriving home, a longtime friend of ours and camps was here organizing the infirmary for spring and summer. She is a nurse at the NICU at Childrens and has been for over 22 years. So I asked her if she could help Troy and I figure out this nursing thing. And she did! And he did!! And since then he's become such a pro, that I haven't had to pump or anything for him!! Now he is three weeks old and growing like crazy! He doesn't seem so small anymore and he is doing much better with focusing his eyes and listening for his sisters. He is such a laid back guy, loud noises hardly faze him. He goes to sleep best when there is a lot of noise from his sisters, lol! We have been travelling a lot, back and forth to Steinbach readying our new house for our big move on the 26th and he has done amazingly well with all the travelling as well. So that's our story, and now for the best part. . . . .pictures!!! Please forgive the blurriness of some pictures, these are ones taken with my iPhone. I left my camera in Steinbach This is me just after arriving at the hospital

Here is our little man shortly after being born and with Daddy!

Shiloh meeting him for the first time

I don't have pics of Chloe or Natasha with him on my iPhone, so when I get those I will post them too. Here is our little man just before going home. My sister bought this outfit and I love that the onsies actually fit and aren't too wide or anything! Yay for Carter's!!

Here is one of Goober holding Troy once we had gotten home

And then just today I got a picture of him at three weeks and two days old <3

Now, I can't wait to get a full family picture done of all 6 of us!!

Maternity Pics!!

You have no idea how excited I am about this post!! I love photo shoots and when a baby belly is involved. . . . . there just are no words :) My friend Nancy is a photographer (and a REALLY great one too!) and we planned this shoot almost right away when I found out I was pregnant again.
It was a lot of fun and she took a bunch of just the girls too. So here are the pics. I hope you enjoy :) And just so you know, we don't know what we are having!
Our first born, Chloe. She is our sweet, caring, responsible, sensitive, athletic and adventurous one. And she loves her bear!


And Goober (aka Natasha) She is our little monkey, funny, mischievious, can make anyone laugh, the artist and imaginator and our tidiest one despite managing to lose her special puppy numerous times (this is puppy number 2)!


And now Shiloh, she is our silly little one, she is an outdoorsie girl to the core, goofy, a BIG Daddy's Girl, loves anything that goes VROOM!, has a huge attachment to her big sisters, is very sweet and sensitive and VERY busy! She has her "Sofie" the unicorn which she is extremely attached to. (and which we are very careful to keep an eye on so she doesn't get lost, lol)


Also, here's one of the three of them together

Now for the rest, we did some family pics, some with just the girls and I and some just the two of us. Hope you like them :)











This is one of my faves!!

Now with just three weeks to go, I think my next post will probably include our newest addition!