I have mentioned a couple of times that my cousin and his wife are expecting a baby with anencephaly (the baby's brain did not develop). Tonight Heather will be induced and I ask that you would please pray for her and her husband. I am so proud of her! I know that there are women who would have chosen not to continue to carry a baby with this diagnosis but Heather gave all she had to this precious baby that God created within her. She talked about not robbing him of the time he needed to grow.
Heather's emotions have gone places mine have never been. She has gone to doctor appointments watching the other expectant mothers knowing her outcome will not be as happy. When shopping people will stop and ask "when are you due?" How do you answer without breaking down? Heather now begins her last moments of carrying her precious Owen and I cannot imagine the pain she is going through. I talked to her earlier and she said that God is sustaining them and today has been a good day. I know she is obviously quite nervous also. Their desire is that Owen would be born alive and that they would have time to spend with him before he goes to be with Jesus. Please pray in that way.
Here is a 3D ultrasound picture taken of Owen a few weeks ago. He is perfect in every way except one...
The off-road race season begins at the end of this month and my husband has been preparing for the past couple of months. He gets up early most every morning to work on his car so that he is able to still spend time with us as a family in the evenings. Everything is finally coming together and today he had the opportunity to test the car on a racetrack. Typically he will test run the car up and down our country road and so he was thankful that a few guys decided to rent the track a few hours north of here and he was able to chip in.
Yesterday we drove the motorhome hauling the race-trailer to church and can I just say that is a great way to head to church. I was able to feed the baby on the way and then ate breakfast. My husband joked that I could have just taken a shower and gotten ready on the way also. After lunch with my parents we headed up North and were able to spend the evening with my in-laws. The children were up bright and early at 6 a.m. and were excited to get going despite the fact that my husband and I were really looking forward to sleeping in.
It was a beautiful day, although a little chilly from the wind. My husband was able to test out his car to see how ran. The children were able to spend time with their grandparents and get a little taste of racing. They can't wait until the first race and Tank kept asking to go to Missouri today as he did not want to go home. You do know it is boring at home don't you? 
We are home again after a quick trip but it was well worth the time for my husband to get the confidence he needed to know that everything is working as it should be.
Here are our little race fans watching their daddy.
Spring has seemed so long in coming this year. How exciting to watch for new signs of it everyday from the daffodils in the field and buds on the trees to the Goldfinches flitting around our bushes. The temperature has finally reached into the 70's this week and I love that! As soon as it hit 60° the boys wanted to get out our inflatable swimming pool as they were all "BOILING!" Unfortunately around here we will drop back to the 40's again before a true warm-up remains. 
The daffodils in our field. You can see our house in the background.
Today I had my third dental appointment in the past month. I don't know how many of you enjoy going to the dentist but I dread it as I have ever since I can remember. One memory I have is as a child, hiding from my Mom behind boards and boxes in the garage because I did not want to go. Ultimately I was found but she had to call and say we would be late. I am fairly certain I was in big trouble for that one! Thank goodness my kids love to go to the dentist and I cannot believe that I pulled that kind of stuff in those days. Because of my dread/fear, unfortunately, I have not gone in years. Combine that with being pregnant and nursing almost constantly, thereby depleting calcium and causing hormonal changes and what not and you have a mouth of problems. So I had four cavities on the outside of my molars to be taken care of.
My first appointment four weeks ago was great! I was so numb that it didn't wear off for six hours! That was okay with me though as I felt absolutely nothing even as they worked on two teeth that could have possibly needed root canals (thankfully they didn't!) An added bonus for me was that they have special glasses you can wear and watch a movie through. That was a perfect distraction! Unfortunately, my mouth was so sore for over a week after that visit
I went again last week for the other side and after being numb found that I was still able to feel the drill. The dentist tried to numb it further but I still felt pain. He explained that once the brain knows where to look for pain he would not be able to do anything more to prevent it. I had never heard of this but he asked me to come back again where he would numb it differently. (My brother-in-law told me it was all psychological and I wondered if that could be true as I know how my mind works.)
So my third appointment was today. Thankfully I did not find out how they go about numbing it until after. That alone took 1/2 an hour before they could begin. I found out later that they put a small hole in my gum and put the anesthesia directly into my bone (something called an x-tip). So that worked great except for the fact that it wears off quickly and toward the end I began to feel pain again. I endured and literally sweat through that while gripping tightly to my volume control (from my movie that I couldn't get loud enough to cover the sound of the drill!) but I am sure it wasn't as bad as it could have been. My Mom likes to tell me how as a child she would go to the dentist and hold on tight to the chair as they did not have anything to take away the pain. Oh, thank you Lord for anesthesia! I am also thankful for my new dentist who was very caring and did his best to keep me comfortable at each visit. (At one visit they covered me with a heated blanket as it was so cold there, in addition to my nerves, that I couldn't keep warm).
Lesson learned -- I will now be scheduling regular check-ups to the dentist for myself and keep on top of my teeth. I have yet to figure out why it is that I almost have an easier time having a c-section than going to the dentist. That doesn't quite seem right.
Today is our 11th Wedding Anniversary! Wow, how the time flies. We celebrated last night by going out for a nice dinner, a walk along the lake, a little shopping, and topped it off with a trip to Cold Stone Creamery. It was so nice to be just the two of us having adult conversation without little voices all around. We don't have a date night often enough! I posted our anniversary video today but you will need to pause the music on the sidebar first. Thankfully we look better with age. 
I was trying to think about what I could do for Show & Tell Friday as I have skipped a few weeks now. Then last night after we finished supper Missy Blue saw the crumbs she had dropped and got out of her chair bringing back our Swivel Sweeper and proceeded to clean up her mess. I started to laugh as this is something the boys would never do but then I knew what to show. Have you ever seem them?
Last summer I was pregnant and having a hard time sweeping the floor (which is never-ending with all the food and whatnot that gets dropped at each meal) and bending down with the dustpan. The children could do an adequate job sweeping but the broom was difficult to maneuver when trying to get everything picked up. My husband began looking for a broom to help out. We began with some Dirt Devil thing which did not work at all. He then found the Swivel Sweeper and it works wonderfully! Each of the children can operate this lightweight broom and it just sucks up the junk as you pass over it. It works on carpets as well as hard floors. It is battery operated and is rechargeable. Empty out the pan when you are finished and that is all there is to it. Children will fight over who gets to sweep when they use the Swivel Sweeper. Okay, that sounds like a commercial - but it really works well, as long as I remember to assign someone the job.
Stop by CanadaGirl's blog for more interesting Show & Tells.
Missy Blue using our Swivel Sweeper
I love when the hummingbirds return. We had not gotten our feeder out yet and as George and I were standing by a sliding glass door a hummingbird came flitting to the door seemingly looking at us as if to say, "I'm here, where is the feeder?" We got it ready with sugar water and have had a steady stream of guests often a couple at a time.
The boys have a new book called "Dangerous Book for Boys" that is not dangerous at all but has all kinds of things that boys need to know. One thing was making a tree fort and they got Daddy to begin working on one with them.
Missy Blue is quite the fun one to photograph as she poses so nicely for me. Here she is in the tree fort after it was a little farther along. 
Missy & Baby Boy's room. At some point I plan on painting "grass" on the bottom portion of the walls with a few flowers.
Missy Blue in her new bed. I love the "shabby chic" bedding I found.
They did a great job but when they finished it seemed as if they had pulled all of my hair through which would color everything but it was too late to think of that, especially since we needed to be at church for bible study fairly soon. 
George using the "crochet hook" to pull strands of hair through the cap. 
Me as a blonde. It looks a little lighter in real life.