Caribou... I miss you.

It's 10pm. My husband is at home with the kids, and I need to get out. I need to breathe a little bit, go out, DO something.

And this is when I miss my Caribou...

I miss the aroma, the atmosphere, and of course the warm cup of fine coffee in my hand. I miss spending time with friends, and hanging out. I miss reading a book there, where people are moseying in and out, chatting, and studying.

I miss having a place to go at 10 o'clock at night!

Everything around here is closed, or intensely boring. I drive around, running little errands, and walking really slow through the aisles of Walmart. There is nothing I want. Nothing I need--other than to be out.

So, I make my way back home, with more from Walmart than I would have spent at Caribou. Oh Caribou... I miss you...

Truen (behind the name)

"So, do you have a name picked out?"

"Yes, finally, we have it narrowed down!"

"Oh really?! What's the baby's name?"

"We aren't going to say."

We did keep people in suspense at trying to figure out Baby #3's name. For most of the pregnancy we didn't have any trouble keeping it a secret, because we had no idea! No name seemed to fit, and what names we had we couldn't both agree on. (And no, we are not sharing "the list" either.)

We usually don't share the name of our child, because we either don't know; and if we do know, we don't want to hear all the comments... "Oh, the kids will call him....." "I had a really mean 3rd grade teacher with that name..." "My dog's named that!" "That name reminds me of..."

I don't really care what other people think of the name, because it's not up to them. But, for my own sanity, I didn't want any doubts. The name is a choice between Brian, God and me.

Grace Emmanuelle

Justice Daniel

Truen William

We wanted names that reflect the God that we know. The God who loves us. God in all of his glory... and the best way we can give him glory is to show it through our lives, and the lives of our children. We like names in the Bible, especially people that have characteristics that amaze us or gave God glory in amazing ways. But, when you look at those names, broken down in Hebrew, they usually meant things.

Elijah-- "the Lord is my God"

Isaiah--"the Lord helps me; God is my salvation."

Jacob--"By the heel."

Esau--"hairy"

Many people then would name their children based on their life or characteristic of the now.

For example, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers to Egypt. He was falsely accused of rape which caused him to be thrown into prison. While he was in this foreign country, in prison, he chose to serve God still, and he was able to prosper, be second in command in Egypt, and save the country from famine.

He also had two sons. The first he names "Manasseh" which sounds like Hebrew forget because "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." He moved ahead and didn't dwell on the pain of the past. The second son he names "Ephraim" which sounds like twice fruitful because "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering."

Brian and I wanted to do the same... only we didn't realize it when we began. We had a whole list of names picked out for our first child. We thought, prayed, and searched for names. Finally, after our daughter was born we chose Grace Emmanuelle.

Grace-- For the grace that God gives us without us deserving it. He sent his one, only, and perfect son to die on the cross for us. That is nothing less than "grace." We don't deserve it and he was able to do it for us anyway. This is the biggest gift. Also, there was a song that meant so much to me at that time, "Grace" by U2 and sung by Nichole Nordeman.

Emmanuelle-- A beautiful name of Jesus. He is "God with us," the Hebrew meaning of the name. At that time in our life, we especially saw that God was with us, taking care of us and guiding us.

Then, our second child came along. A boy, Justice Daniel.

Justice-- God gives justice. He isn't passive and distant, but is intimate and hurts when we hurt. He gives Justice to the poor, the needy, and the broken hearted. He often uses us to be His hands and feet to give justice to the poor and down trodden.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act JUSTLY and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

Also at this time in our lives, we were calling out to God for justice in so many areas of our lives. That he would mobilize us to help with social justice and we asked for justice in our lives as well. And God reigns. He loves justice.

Daniel--It is Brian's middle name, so Justice is also named after his father. And Daniel means "God is my judge," pretty well in line with Justice. Also, Daniel, an amazing prophet and boy that becomes a man that follows God even in a foreign country and culture. He is a leader, cultured, and devout while practical. He also prophesied about Jesus saying:

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Daniel 7:13&14

Not only does this describe Jesus, but Jesus says this of himself while he's on trial before his crucifixion. He claims to be the Judge, the one with all power (Matthew 26:64). He is then led away to be killed, only to rise from the dead and fulfill the prophesy.

Now, we have another son. And we struggled on the name. Many names are good, but aren't masculine enough, or they "sound" good but they don't have the meaning that we desired. Or... it just didn't roll off the tongue. Or... it was just plain weird. I have to admit... "Wrath" is a great name, but I had a feeling too many people would turn heads in a not so positive way! So, we finally chose, Truen William.

Truen-- Truth or True. We love that part of God. Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. His word is Truth. He keeps nothing in the dark, but brings the dark into the light. He is absolute, the plumb line. He is Truth.

At this time in our lives, we are praying for Truth. We desire it and seek it. We know that God does not keep things hidden.

"With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!

I will keep your statutes.

I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.

I rise before dawn and cry for help;

I hope in your words.

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,

that I may meditate on your promise.

Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;

Oh LORD, according to your JUSTICE give me life.

They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;

they are far from your law.

But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are TRUE.

Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever."

Psalm 119:145-152

William--There are two reasons for this name. One--after William, Brian's grandfather. His faith is one that we both have admired. He has a carefree approach to life, but grounded by a faith that is True and practical. He lives in this world without being of it. Two--William can be shortened to Will--another favorite of ours. God's Will in our lives. That He knows what is best for us and will help us and guide us. His Will is powerful and in control, even if we don't understand it.

There....the Truth behind the name Truen.

He's a beautiful addition to our family. We pray that he, and our other children, will be emboldened by their name. That they will take this name and know that it is part of who they are and who they can be. Because it's based on God's Grace, Justice, and Truth, we know that they can go far in glorifying him.

Treasuring Child #3

I am so excited for this Friday! I am excited and I am nervous...

The last 9 months have been a blur. So much has happened, and so much has kept my mind busy that I haven't really noticed how quickly it has all passed. Now it's here! Grace and Justice have watched me grow. They have watch also a friend of mine grow and have a baby... So they understand that one day this "baby will come out!"

With everything going on, and it being baby #3, it is easy to pass off this miracle of birth. It is easy to think that it's just a life change, rather minor, and move on. "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't schedule anything that week, I'm having my third child."

Brian and I didn't want this pregnancy to be less special than the other two. We didn't want this birth to go unnoticed and be washed away in the waves of life. We wanted to celebrate!

Brian started celebrating by sending me flowers for every month of my pregnancy. I was able to see a representation of our love and the love of our newest child. I looked forward to it and I was able to slow down and appreciate this little one.

Then, we decided to get some maternity pictures done by Lit Photography. We scheduled a time when I would be at my largest, 38 weeks! We took an evening and took a ton of photos to celebrate.

Keep checking the blog, because we also have the photographer coming for the day of his birth!

Going to the Orchard

On Sunday we went to the Orchard. We've wanted to for a while, but it was either closed or raining. Finally, we went after church with our friends Kyle & Corrine and their baby to go and pick our apples and to give the kids that experience.

They really enjoyed it!

Nesting

It's true. Nesting happens; and it has hold of me pretty badly.

I have less than a week before baby #3 will be born. Friday October 9 our third child and precious boy will be born. And I'm running around like a mad woman trying to get our apartment ready and everything "homey."

Nesting this time is so different than for Grace or Justice. I was making sure we had all the baby items we needed, all the boy or girl items we needed. Grandparents helped make sure the house was clean by scrubbing floors or just plain clean up.

This time...we live in an apartment and I feel good enough to move around (even though this basketball does knock stuff off of tables and such), and I can do my own cleaning and organizing.

The cooler weather had really helped bring it on. I LOVE AUTUMN. It's my favorite time of year. I love the smell, the sweater weather, the baking, and the crunch of the leaves. I adore the colors of the trees with the oranges, browns, reds, and yellows. I love apples, squash, pumpkins, and corn. Autumn. Perfect.

So, I have been switching out the kids clothes. Getting all of Grace and Justice's small summer stuff out of their drawers, cleaning the new warmer and larger clothing to arrange in their drawers. I am trying to clean and find all the newborn baby boy stuff and get it ready for #3.

With that, comes all the fall decorating. Finally putting up pictures that have sat for 3 months in storage in the "baby's room."

And the baking.

It's funny how you just crave things that you haven't had in a long time. Any recipe that calls for pumpkin or squash sounds soooo good to me. Slow cooker meals, mashed potatoes and gravy.

The last couple of days it's been those special home-made "mom" desserts. I usually hated rice pudding with raisins. I would always pass it up as a kid. Now, smell it... crave it.... I had to have it.

Tapioca pudding. I don't think I have EVER made it. Well, the other day I was whipping up a batch.

And then, last night, I was up until midnight making up my mother's recipe of Gift Giving Carrot Cake. Oh... I remember that recipe from autumns when I was little. I again hated the raisins... But this time, I was excited to see that a full cup of raisins go into this recipe! I made up the two loaves.

Please check out my recipe blog to try this Gift Giving Carrot Cake recipe. It is definitely worth a try. And remember to share it with friends!

Until then! You'll probably see pictures of our third child!

Happy Autumn