Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Kenny, Melody, and Eva sent Megan and Shea a care package that included these cool St. Patty's hats and glasses, so we had to get a couple of pictures to share. Shea insisted on having one with his hat covering his whole head - whatta clown. :-)

Click on the pictures to see them larger.

I love my kids

Megan

I talked to Charlie yesterday on the phone, and I asked him if he’d seen Megan at school. He said that yes he had. He saw her walking down the hall with her first grade class. Mrs. Hulit was leading a nice, orderly line of first graders, and Megan was on the end with her arms in the air, spinning in a circle as she moved along the hallway.

Maybe the mom in me should be upset that she wasn’t “towing the line,” but I just love that she was enjoying the moment. I don’t think I’ve ever been that free-spirited, even at that age. Charlie said her teacher Barbara was just smiling about it.

Shea and Baby

We put the crib up and the basinet together this weekend. Just 8 weeks ‘til baby! Shea is soooo excited about having the crib in his room. He asks me multiple times a day when his baby brother is going to sleep in his room with him. I keep telling him that it’ll be when the snow melts. I don’t have the heart to tell him that even after Baby arrives, he won’t be sleeping in the crib right away. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I’m kind of worried that Megan is a little bit jealous, so I’ve been talking up how Megan has her own room and how she’s the big sister as a counter balance. She seems happy with that.

Shea wants to call the baby – Baby Boy. He thinks that’s the best name. Megan doesn’t know what we should call him; she just knows she doesn’t like most of the names her dad comes up with. :-p

 

 

It's a boy!

I know that I am so very late on this, but I still wanted to share our pictures from our 20-week ultrasound on December 20, 2006.

I was so excited because I had been dying to know, and it was so awesome to see that he is growing fine with all the necessary parts and pieces. I had been feeling him move a lot the week or so before the u/s. Charlie even got to feel him the Monday before!

Megan was hoping for a little sister, but she's still excited. I told someone she was disappointed, and she said, "Mom, I'm not disappointed." So, she's not disappointed. ;-) Shea didn't seem to care either way until right before, he started asking me if I had a baby boy in my tummy. I guess he was right! It'll be fun to have the two little boys close in age, and I know Megan will just love having a baby in the house.

We're 29 weeks pregnant

I just wanted to post some pictures of our baby bellies now that we're in our third trimester with just 11 weeks until Baby Boy Scobba arrives. I'll post a note I wrote to Baby in my journal today too.

I can't believe we're in the 3rd trimester, Baby! The time is going so quickly. we can't wait to meet you. :-) But Momma needs to get busy preparing things for you. You are going to share a room with your big brother Shea. He has a very cute room that's painted blue with fun Cars bedding and a Cars rug. He has lots of balls and cars to play with too. You'll love it! :-)

Sept 11 Memorial Weekend

That's what we had last weekend. We didn't plan it; it just sort of happened. We had been talking about renting United 93 on DVD, but we wondered when it would feel like a good time to sit down and watch it. Charlie decided to get it last Friday.

We watched it, and I cried and cried. Then Sunday night we decided to go see World Trade Center. I cried again, but not quite as bad. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 5 years since that dreadful day. But watching the events unfold brought it all back. It was hard, but it was good for me.

United 93 was just sort of surreal overall. It was amazing to think about how I and many people looked at the world before 9/11. People were allowed to drop off people at the gate, and no one ever expected another person to use the plane as a weapon in itself. Charlie wondered why the people on the flight didn't try fighting back earlier, but if you think about it, the trend was to take hostages and make demands not to crash the plane into a building. Those earlier flights must have had no idea what their fate would be. United 93 had the advantage of the realization of their potential fate.

Still, it was amazing to watch them come to terms with what they had to do and to see them saying good-bye to their loved ones. Wow. The most powerful part of the movie for me was when Todd Beamer asked the GTE operator to say The Lord's Prayer with him as they prepared to take over the plane - asking God for His will to be done, for forgiveness and the ability to forgive, and for Him to provide for them. Very powerful!

My one complaint about the movie is that it ends so darkly. They're just gone, and they don't go back and show where their families are today or how they have continued on.

World Trade Center was excellent! It was so powerful. It's all about these men who are trapped under the rubble and their fight to get out. I remember hearing about people being pulled from the rubble, but it was surreal at the time. This movie made it personal.

WTC also includes a scene where one of the men recites The Lord's Prayer when he's on the verge of losing hope.

There is more to talk about, but I don't want to give too much away. It's a wonderful movie that is beautiful in it's portrayal of the human spirit and our power to help others when we truly put ourselves last.

In the same way you had to force yourself to see the Passion, I think you should see these movies. They have been a blessing to me.

Supernatural protection

Do you believe in supernatural protection? Do you pray for it? For yourself, your children, your family and friends?

I was first introduced to the power of prayer in asking for God's supernatural protection when I read The Power a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. She stresses the importance of praying for God's protection over your children on a regular basis. God wants to protect our precious babies, and He knows we inherently want them protected, but He wants to hear it from us and to then show us how faithful and amazing He is by protecting them.

I witnessed in a very obvious way His protection over my son Shea a little over a year ago. I was getting ready one morning with my curling iron on the side of the sink. My little guy wandered in and picked it up by the barrel. I gasped, and he dropped it. He then walked off as if nothing had happened. I thought, wow, it must not have been hot. I touched it; it was very hot! I examined Shea's hand, and he had no burns. He hadn't even reacted to the heat of the iron. Praise the Lord for His supernatural protection! Thank you, Jesus, for protecting my son when I was careless about leaving my curling in his reach.

I vowed to share this story often after it happened and have had a renewed vigor in praying for God's supernatural protection.

I was on vacation in Iowa with my extended family when I experienced a situation that had me asking for God's protection for myself, my dad, and my two sisters. We had been fishing on my dad's boat when a thunderstorm came up quickly. We headed for shore, but there were half a dozen boats waiting to use the public dock. We were stuck in the water with visible lightning overhead. My sister Erin and I offered suggestions to Dad to use one of the private docks just to get us out of the water, but he was patient waiting for our turn. At that point, I just prayed that God would protect us and that he would give me the patience and trust to rely on Him and my earthly father to get us out of the situation. After that we were pelted with large drops of rain, and by the time we made it to the truck (a good 15-20 minutes later), we were soaked. But we were safe.

It was such a surreal experience. I was reminded of God's supernatural protection and especially His plans for my life. We could have been struck by lightning that day, and it would have been okay because His ways are perfect. How awesome that we can rest in that knowledge.

So, back to the prayers of protection for our children. Do it! :-p I heard something on the radio from a woman who had lost her mother, and she was thanking her mother for all of her prayers over her life. She mentioned how those prayers carry on after her mother's passing. I had to pause; I'd never considered that before, but it's true. We can provide for our children's protection even after we're gone by the prayers we pray now.

Bright-eyed and Bushy-tailed

What a sight at my house this morning! My sleepy girl Megan was wide awake at 6 AM. This girl could sleep 'til 11:00 every morning if we let her, but she couldn't contain her excitement this morning. She's starting swimming lessons today, and she can't wait. I haven't seen this kind of anticipation for anything before - not dance, not t-ball, not the first day of school, not even Christmas morning.

She's probably there right now and maybe even in the water. I can't wait to hear how it went!

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Update! Megan loved her first day of swimming lessons and already got bumped to the next level. Shea had fun splashing in the wading pool too, so it was a good morning overall. :-)