Two weeks ago Nebraska had some of the coldest weather on record as our family braced for the Polar Vortex. Fifteen years ago, Anthony and I picked out the names of the two baby girls we were going to have; Emily and McKenzie. Ten years ago, we wrote down all the names of our kiddos on the back of a Denny’s napkin. Jan 29, 7 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches. What do these things have in common? On January 29th, during the onset of the polar vortex, we welcomed our precious McKenzie Faith. She completes our family. 💕

We have had wonderful experiences being pregnant and giving birth, but this last one was everything I wanted. Even for my older age (can’t believe they label me “geriatric” just because I’m 38 😄 ). I felt like I was in my 20’s again and only had slight heartburn at the very end. Ourmidwivess, Heather Ramesey and Rachel Rice, were wonderful. Not only for the actual birth itself, but about two weeks before she arrived, when I found myself in tears. She is our last, and I am very content with that (although…if someone ever dropped a baby off on our doorstep or called and said take my baby we wouldn’t hesitate to jump at the chance to raise another one… just being honest!) but for the past 16 years, almost half of my life I’ve been pregnant and nursing my babies.

It’s slightly scary moving into this new phase of life. And I’m sure when she is closer to two and we stop nursing I’ll again have a moment or two of letting this phase go. 💕 Friends have been so important, especially my older and wiser girl friends who have biblical encouragement and great relationships with their children so I can “see” the excitement and look with great expectations at the new adventures awaiting our family. Many of our friends comment about our quiver not yet being full.

We laugh at these comments because in our case, it isn’t our quiver, but rather our napkin. We named our little girls over fifteen years ago and reconfirmed not just them, but our boys one afternoon while having lunch at Denny’s. That afternoon we wrote down all the names of our children. At the time we had already prayed for our oldest three so we wrote down their names and then the other three boys and our two baby girls who we were going to have. We prayed for every single little one we have and God has blessed us with the desires of our heart. He has blessed us with wonderful experiences of natural childbirth (love our Bradley Method instructor from Fort Campbell, TN!). And He has allowed Anthony to be home for every single birth. 💕

She is definitely spoiled, but we firmly believe you can’t be spoiled with too much love. On top of the blessing of our littlest farm hand, our goats gave birth that same week. Talk about a lot of babies! On the upside, all of our farm customers waiting for fresh goats milk won’t have to wait much longer. We have been hunkered down staying warm, keeping critters warm and just enjoying being a family. God really knew what he was doing when he brought Anthony and I together. It has been an amazing adventure from the moment we hugged and the room literally stood still (the boys love hearing about how we met but that is probably a story for another post).