Oh, how He loves us so!

This Christmas season I have been overwhelmed at the thought of what Christmas is really about. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords left His heavenly thrown and the angels worshiping Him day and night to become a helpless infant: totally dependant, sitting in his own excrement, crying because cutting teeth hurts, living a perfect, sinless life, loving on scoundrels for 33 years, to eventually die a very painful, humiliating death. And all for us. I understand why that sounds too crazy to believe for some. The idea of a Servant King is completely ridiculous in this world, and it isn't until we know who our Saviour is that we can believe this amazing story. But how can those of us who know the truth make Christmas about anything else? The magic of Santa to a three-year-old is so precious and I don't want to take that away from my children, but I need to do a better job of teaching them what Jesus did for us. I need the Lord to help me grasp the magnitude of His sacrifice before I can help others to do it. Oh, that this Christmas would be different, and that we won't get lost in the gift-giving and Santa, and that we would take this season to honor and glorify the Lord for how He loves us so.

Quarterly Post

Apparently I feel I only need to update my blog a few times a year, and a trip to the pumpkin patch pushed me to do it today. Aside from an emergency room visit for James, the Bankes brood is doing great. James is almost 100% now and Elizabeth's love for her brother continues to beat out her love for us by about 100% as well. He is her favorite thing, and she truly is the sweetest big sister ever. She is always looking out for him and there is nothing she wouldn't do for him. James lights up when he sees her and adores her as well. Jeremy and I constantly are in awe of God's generosity and faithfulness to us. We are humbled and amazed that He would bless us so richly with each other and our incredible children.

We decided to go on our annual McKillip/Bankes pumpkin patch trip last night, and when I told Elizabeth we were going she said, "Oh, I used to love going there when I was a little girl!" I asked if she thought she was to old for it now that she was 3 and she assured me she wasn't. Our pumpkin patch venture was bitter-sweet however. We were having a great time until we were about to get on the hay ride and feed the animals (which happens to be mine and Elizabeth's favorite part) and it started raining. We waited under a shanty, wooden roof until we accepted defeat and ran to the car. But I was able to get some sweet pics of the cutest little pumpkins ever.

I have to brag on my two babies!

First of all, Elizabeth just completed her 10th swimming lesson and can swim all by herself! She just learned to come up for air while swimming and jump into the water and swim to the side herself! She went from not wanting to go under at the first of the summer to jumping off the diving board and loving it! Sorry for all the exclamations, but I am just so proud.
I am equally proud of my baby boy, who for a week has consistently only woken up to eat once a night and has gone right back to sleep every time. Sleep and I have finally caught up and are closer than ever. If anyone elses baby is doing better than this, I don't want to hear about it.

Dear Sleep,

Hey how's it going? It has been way too long. I wanted to let you know that lately I have been thinking a lot about you and remembering all the great times we used to have together. We used to spend hours on end with one another, uninterupted - just you and me. Do you remember? I miss you so much, and really hope that someday soon we can get together and catch up.

Love,
Kelli
P.s. I love you - that will never change.

Update on life with 2

Well, I've been a mother of 2 for three weeks now, and I am finally getting adjusted to it. At first it was so wheels off, but now I am really enjoying it. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that at any time the wheels could come flying off all over the place, but as for now, we are doing good. The good news is that Elizabeth loves her brother more than she loves Jeremy and I put together. The bad news is that sometimes that love is shown in a very hostil way. For instance, laying on James, constantly yelling in James' ear how much she loves him, and picking him up by the neck when no one is looking are just some of the ways she shows her love for him. Oh, I almost forgot, waking him up by smothering him just when he finally falls asleep is another thing that he absolutely loves. But seriously, we are taking it day by day, and I am very hopeful for the future.
By the way James is glorious. I am seriously shocked at how much I actually love him. God is great.

Best mother's day ever!

I am thrilled to say that James is here and he is glorious. The Lord poured blessings on our home birth, and we had an awesome labor and delivery (I spared you some of the more graphic pics - your welcome). It was such an awesome night that I will never forget, and I would do it again the same way in a heart beat. Our midwives were amazing and Jeremy was my hero - our relationship will never be the same. I can't say enough about our experience. James is awesome and such a sweet angel. He was born at 12:24 a.m. on mothers day and was 8 lbs. 4 oz. of perfection. Praise God for his goodness.

Waiting

Many of you know that I have been very anxious to have this baby before my midwife goes on a 2 week mission trip. Well, I'm 9 days over due and she leaves tomorrow. She has stripped my membranes 3 times (twice today in fact) in hopes that I would have gone into labor by now, but to no avail. Today we both cried together for awhile at the thought that she would not be the one to deliver baby James. She said that she was shocked that I was not going into labor (I'm at a 5) and that the only explanation was that God knew he wasn't ready yet. I am still praying that I will go into labor tonight, but I have so much peace about it if I don't. My sweet, patient Lord has recently pointed out to me that the universe does not revolve around me and my schedule, and that this birth is about Him - because everything is. So, until He says our son is ready, we are waiting, and hopefully my next post will be soon and filled with pictures of James.

Sweet Sister

We recently had a sweet photo shoot of Elizabeth and I. It hit me that I didn't have any pictures of my pregnancy this time around. And, although Jeremy begged and begged me to go with him to a studio to get professional pregnancy pictures taken of the 3 of us, I convinced him to take them of Elizabeth and I at our house. He took a lot, so I posted a few. I want to remember how sweet this time was and how much Elizabeth loved her brother when he didn't demand any of my attention.

Home Birth

This time around we are doing the home birth thing, so we'll see how that works out. I have to admit, I'm extremely excited about the whole thing and don't think I'm as nearvous as I should be. The process with a midwife so far as been nothing short of glorious, and with the exception of being scared for life after seeing a video in our birthing class, it has been such a blessing to my pregnancy.

Well, it's official - I'm pretty awesome

I feel like my life is now interesting enough to have a blog. All I needed was an excuse to start one, and this baby I'm about to have gave me that. Hopefully, sooner than later, this page will be filled with pictures of him, but for now it's just us: precious Elizabeth, stud Jeremy, and large and in-charge Kelli.