Winter Happenings...

I thought I would add a few pictures of our winter so far...I have not done well with keeping up with pictures. Our New Year started off with a church-wide Pirates Party from "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" Veggie Tales movie. It has a great message about what true heroes really are! Here Drew and his best bud, Spencer, are making treasure maps.Jayce plays a game with our senior pastor, Pastor Darrell Wiseman. Later in Jan. we headed up the mountain with dear friends, the Mullins, to stay in a lovely cabin and play in the snow. The kids had a blast being together, and sledding and snowmobiling. Notice our unique "sleds"- the entire town of McCall, Idaho was sold out of sleds. But these turned out to be the best!!!! They were very fast!


In January, the three oldest kids wanted to participate in our school's Spelling Bee. There were about 80 students who participated. We were so proud of all of them for trying! Jayce ended up as the Kindergarten champ...his winning word was "THAT". It has certainly piqued interest in spelling in our house!

All of the kids are enjoying their sibling. Preston is so fun and always seems to have someone playing with him. What did I do when I just had one? Happy winter days to you all! May spring be not too far away!

Baby Update

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words (and the many emails). God has used you to help give us strength to go on!

We are all doing well and adjusting to the news ourselves! The sickness is minimal. We had an ultrasound today to see how far along I am and saw a very clear picture of the baby. She/He was moving a lot and we got some great pictures. The amazing thing is that it is already completely formed (it is 12 weeks); the Dr. said that it just has to get bigger, a lot bigger (it is 4.4 centimeters right now)! Can you believe we really saw a little leg and arm waving and captured it on film? We have an amazing Creator!



Our little sweetheart should arrive around August 22, 2008. We are praying that it doesn't come too early, like Preston, who had to spend a few days in the NICU. I've never had an August baby...right through the hot summer. What fun!!!

Thanks again for your support, everyone!

Cheaper by the Half Dozen? Probably not, but lots more fun for sure!

Dear friends and family,

Whew! We wanted to share our news with you, but first I need to say that I never expected to be writing a blog like this! Despite our best efforts, God has chosen to bless us with yet another French baby! We are shocked and amazed, yet choosing to find joy and excitement in this crazy journey! We know lots of hard work, sleepless nights, and draining days await us, yet God gives very good gifts (and we love what He has given us thus far!). Excitement is growing around here (when we first told the kids, they simply stared at us) and it is unanimous that we think someone dressed in pink would be cute around here, after all of this blue. But, we will gratefully accept any gift God has for us. The funniest response they had was saying that "now" we would have a large family!

We don't pretend to understand why God has chosen to bless us this way when there are others longing to have children. I do know that it is not because we are worthy, or capable. I know God's gifts come in different packages and for this reason, I welcome each child with open arms.

I was recently reading an article by Barbara Rainey on large families, and the question was asked of her,"How has having a large family affected your life?" She replied, "Well, I am tired a lot."

I suppose we will be tired a lot too....and blessed.

With love,
The French gang

The little bundle should arrive sometime in August...the Dr. will confirm the date on Tuesday.

Theology from a 5 year old

This week, our Jayce came bounding into the kitchen after his nap and our conversation went like this:

Jayce: God answered "yes" today!

Mom: That's wonderful! What did you pray for?

Jayce: I prayed that my nap would go really fast. That I would just close my eyes and then it would be over. (this was after a 2 1/2 hour nap)

Mom: Jesus loves to hear you pray and ask Him for things.

Jayce: And His answers are "yes", "no" and "wait", it's just that it's reeeeaaaaallly hard to tell the difference between "no" and "wait".

This reminds me of a little song Sue and Sheryl taught us in Children's Church many years ago:

"Sometimes God answers "yes"when we pray.

Sometimes God answers "wait" when we pray.

Sometimes God answers "no" just because He loves us so,

But I know God always answers when we pray."

I think we are in the "waiting" phase on a few things and this was a great reminder to my heart.

13 years and counting.....

We just celebrated 13 years together, years of growing and learning, lots of fun and tears too. I never really knew that I would love being married to my Robb so much, nor did I know the struggles and adjustments that would follow our "I dos". He is a delight to be around and I am thankful for his love and dedication to our little family. He constantly surpasses my expectations as a father, and with all he does to enrich the kids' lives, he still finds time to do things for me that mean a lot. The thought goes through my head almost daily, "I sure hope Lauren can find a husband like Robb." That is my prayer, along with "Please, God...may our 4 boys grow to be Godly men like their father." Christmas was wonderful...we were privileged to spend Christmas Eve with Gramps and Nana before they flew out to PA on Christmas morning. We had snow, which just added to the magic!
Lauren and Nana made pies together...
In the front of the house...winter wonderland!
Robb pulled the kids around the yard on sleds...I don't know who had more fun!
Just before Christmas Eve dinner...Nana and Lauren's hard work paid off!

Christmas Day was delightful. We had friends, Tony and Amy, come for dinner and then the afternoon and evening was spent playing games with them.
We have been enjoying time in the snow, with each other, and with friends. Today we are "on our own" as Tucker is sick. So far, just Tucker! One can always hope that it doesn't move through the family!

Happy New Year to all -"He makes all things new!"

A "Happy Birthday, Jesus" Party

In an attempt to have the children remember the real "Reason for the season", we invited a few friends (from our school's co-op....most everyone else is still in school) and we PARTIED! It was a fun morning of playing guns (anytime there's boys around, you know...) decorating graham cracker houses, eating pizza and then singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. One of the moms then reminded the kids that Jesus instructed us to show our love to Him by loving others, and that is why we give gifts to others at this time of year. It was a meaningful time with several religions (including LDS and Catholic) represented, and I hope the kids will remember it for a long time.

Now off to mop the floor and clean things up a bit... :)

A Beautiful Reminder

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqW795-G8do

I wanted to share something that touched my heart.

I hope you take a moment with your older kids to stop and watch this beautiful video of
"Mary, Did you Know?" sung by Kathy Mattea. (Just click on the above link.) It brings tears to my eyes...such wonderful theology in the simple words ..."this child that you delivered will soon deliver you."

As a mother of a little baby boy this Christmas, I have thought on all the care-taking things she did for Him, all the while knowing that He was the Son of God. She must have been so protective as He began to crawl and move around, that He would stay safe and healthy. She must have worried that He was getting enough to eat and sleeping enough and that He was developing normally. She must have fretted over diaper rashes, teeth coming in and ear infections. She must have wondered why she was chosen for the job of giving so much time and attention to this little one and it must have been bittersweet, knowing that He had a very special mission to accomplish.

I hope you enjoy this reminder of why He came as a little baby in the manger...to be one of us.


God is with us...God is for us...Emmanuel.