Currently To Train Up A Child By Michael Pearl, Debi Pearl see related

Wow! it's been a very long time since my last post! Life is, actually, just the way I want it though. My husband just bought a new (better) used vehicle than the one he bought two months ago when Caleb was born. A very comfy '98 bonneville. Plum. I would call it closer to black plum. The one he bought two months ago was an '91 Olds 88 with only 44 K miles on it. Somebody's grandma passed away and we found it for a good deal.  Anyway, now we have a family car with a working driver's side window and consistently working cruise.

Eric is an overly busy boy these days. He has enough work to keep four trucks busy and he only can drive one, plus he's taken on a roofing project across the street and has to tear off three layers of shingles including one wood layer. His dad mowed our lawn yesterday. Thanks a bunch to him!

Eric's mom came raspberry picking with Natalie and me yesterday at a berry farm. Between the two of us we picked 14 1/2 lbs. I froze mine. I really enjoy living in NW Iowa. The weather is nice and the community, although smaller, is more independent than east coast. There is much to keep busy with; gardening vegetables and flowers, normal household tasks, the kids 90% of my time, church and small groups Sunday, neighbors. Life is full, but good.

Natalie is learning all kinds of new words and putting them together to form small sentences. I have been teaching her to obey. So sometimes, it takes a spanking. I once heard a friend say that she would tell her kids that God told her to spank them when they were bad based on the verse about not sparing the rod. I tried it once with Natalie and ever since she goes around saying, "God says spank!" oops! Now I'm trying to help her understand God's love more. I think she's catching on. But yikes, I didn't mean for her to get the wrong idea!

Caleb, last week was 12 lbs 14 oz. -- the 70th percentile or so. He's a very good baby, happy to stay on his back all night and has a generally good disposition during the day. ( : He's calling me now. I better go.

p.s. I hear xanga's shutting down soon? I have specifically enjoyed reading Bekah and Rachel's posts. I hope you guys don't quit soon, or at least until xanga is gone...

 Baby Natalie Ann Carlson arrived three weeks early, November 29th, just after 8 pm. Well, the nurses thought she would be between 7 lbs 5 oz and 8 lbs. NOPE. 8 LBS 10 OZS and 21 IN. long!! She looks just like me with the exception of very fat cheeks.

Labor and Delivery was pretty normal. I started labor maybe an hour before they planned to induce. (They thought her heart was a little enlarged from the ultrasounds and decided to play it safe rather than letting it grow too big.) They went ahead and put me on the drip to speed things up. I was in labor from 6 am until 8 pm when she popped out. Hard labor was only about two hours including 45 minutes of pushing. I was exhausted through it all, but would love to do it again--in nine or more months recuperating time. What a joy she is! I was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and she is in NICU for now trying to get rid of some jaundice that came up and have her ready to eat by herself. (She's on a feeding tube as of this morning after the IVquit working and they couldn't find another vein. She and mommy and daddy will be much happier when she is off all the moniters and lines attatched. We will be ready to take her home.

Currently Listening Add to the Beauty By Sara Groves see related

AUGUST 3RD-12TH OKOBOJI BIBLE CONFERENCE

You guys have got to check this out!!

http://www.okobojiconference.org/docs/OLBC_Conf_Brochure.pdf 

We are going to be moved into our new house in Spirit Lake, just north of Okoboji, right before the conference.

Other news; We are going to have a baby! I can't hold it in.... ( : hehe.

Currently Listening Love and Mercy By Kathy Troccoli see related

So I hear that Mrs. Hillary Clinton was at the Pizza Ranch two blocks away from our house campaigning on Saturday morning. Eric and I were still in our pj's at the time. hehe.

We are moving to Spirit Lake most likely in less than 6 weeks. I am going to be looking for a job in interior design stores or start as an interior designer soon. We'll see what works out though. We had a lovely wedding. ( : The best I have ever been to. (I can't put pictures on right now, but as soon as we get our own computer, which is doubtful to be soon.) It was an outdoor wedding in my parents yard and the weather was perfect! We had a very nice time down in Charleston, SC for the honeymoon, short though it was, then whisked up to Atlanta the next weekend for my brother's wedding! Eric and I have lived in Emmetsburg, IA for three and a half weeks and he is supposed to get a call from a new company about a job he has interviewed twice for and is very qualified for. It is machining. He makes all kinds of metal parts. I was really impressed by a tractor crank shaft he made which he and his boss designed. Very neat.