It's a........

After months of watching princess/Barbie movies, playing dolls, and dressing up, Jimmy will finally have a little more testosterone around here. We had our ultrasound today, and we're so excited to announce that we are having a baby boy!!! More importantly, he is looking very healthy and growing normally. Corrina is not too sure yet about having a baby boy around, but I know she's going to be a fantastic big sister (although maybe just a little bossy...but as the oldest, isn't she supposed to be? haha)

We would like to thank all those who have been praying for us over these long months. Our cups over-floweth.

Girlie Girl

Jimmy and I have a girlie girl. Not sure where this came from since I am not really a girlie person, but alas, I am surround by a lot of pink, frills, princesses, Barbies, and lots of other cutesy girl things. Before Corrina was born, Jimmy and I adamantly stated that we would not get into the princess scene; we would not call her princess nor would we buy any princess stuff. Ha! Goes to show, you should never say never. Case in point...last Saturday, I took my little "Ariel" to the Disney on Ice Princess show. What!!???

She has watched almost every princess movie; she wears princess shirts, and she plays with princess dolls. She is all about the Disney princesses, especially Ariel. She names all her Barbies and dolls Ariel. Yes, I am definitely eating my words, but they actually don't taste too bad. It's fun to hear her play so imaginatively, and the look on her face as we watched the princesses skate across the ice made my heart melt. I can't even taste those words anymore. All I see is her excited, wide eyes and beautiful smile and how cute she looked in her in her little Ariel costume. (Thanks, KP and AP, for letting Corrina borrow it!) Here are some pics from the show.

Hello Kitty!

A couple of weeks ago we took Corrina to the mall to see Hello Kitty. She was soooo excited, as you can see by the look on her face when she first spotted Hello Kitty. Then she said, "Momma, is Hello Kitty real? Is that Hello Kitty really real, not pretend?" It was just too precious. Oh the heart of a child, so innocent and sweet. I just love my sweet girl! Later, we found her reading to Hello Kitty before bed. Too cute!

Six Flags

We were invited to go to Six Flags this past Thursday by our good friends the Pickers, who kindly gave us their guest passes. We had so much fun! KP was such a great friend to Corrina. She showed her how to be brave on all the rides. Corrina enjoyed the rides immensely, as you can see by her face in these pics. She couldn't stop smiling. Her favorite ride was the airplane. We were surprised that she wasn't scared; i think we have a thrill-seeker on our hands. Oh dear...

Papa's Surprise Graduation Party

This evening we went to a surprise graduation party for Papa. for the last year and a half, he has been taking accounting classes online through Phoenix, and now he has finished. We are so proud of you, Papa! You worked very hard. And way to go, Mimi, for pulling off the surprise!

Everyone Poops

"Everyone Poops" a classic in our house. Wish I had pics to post but I still haven't figured it out how to download them from our camera. Maybe it's time to finally ask J to help. Anyway, I just wanted to share with everyone how exciting our household has been in the last few days. We just decided one night to let Corrina sleep in just her big girl panties and no diaper. Big deal because she usually waits until nap and nighttime when she's wearing a diaper to poo. But we thought we'd give it a go. Well, she did it!!! She stayed dry all night for 3 nights in a row. And she has pooed in the potty 3 days in a row now. Can it be? Are we done with diapers?

Back in the Saddle (kinda)

Ok, I'm back, ready to blog about my amazing family again. J has started his new position as Maryland Heights Church of Christ minister, and he is doing an incredible job. God has blessed him with many gifts that he is able to use in service to the Kingdom, and we are indebted to the MH church family for their compassionate hearts and willingness to allow J to grow as a minister with them. They are so supportive and encouraging as he is learning his new role. Thank you, our MH family.

We now also have use of a computer at home, so I am able to write more often. Now all I need to do is figure out how to download pictures from my camera to the new computer. Hmmm....I haven't figured out how, but I have figured out that pressing the same button a million times doesn't really work. So, no pics with this post...sorry.

You're not going to believe how much Corrina has grown though. She's a little girl now, not a baby. She is sleeping in a big girl bed and doing pretty well with staying in it. Although every now and again I feel a little tug on my sheet and a little whisper saying, "Mommy, it's time to wake up now?" We have also found her lying on the floor in her bedroom door, peeking out around the corner at us watching TV when she's supposed to be in bed. Hard to be mad though when she looks so cute lying on her tummy, her hands framing her face, and smiling up at you.

She's also now into princesses!?? How did this happen?!!! How do I, tomboy extraordinaire, end up with a girly girl? It is pretty cute though when she asks us to call her Ariel and when she pretends she has lost her glass slipper. J is now Sebastian and the Prince, and I am Flounder. (Guess that's better than Ursula the evil sea witch)

My favorite moments are her prayers. She won't let anyone else pray at mealtime or bedtime; she has to say it. It's so adorable. She thanks God for different things that made her day, but she always ends it with, "Thank you for your love. In Jesus Name, Amen." So precious. What sweet words from her innocent child mouth. I love it.

I hope to have figured out the pictures for my next post so y'all can see how much Corrina has grown. She's sooooo tall!

New Adventure

I know I don't write that often anyway, but just wanted everyone to know that I probably won't write much over the next month or so because we no longer have a computer. Reason being...Jimmy has accepted a position as pulpit minister at the Maryland Heights Church of Christ! Hooray!!!! The computer belongs to McKnight, so right now we have very limited internet access.

Anyway, we're sad to be seeing less of our McKnight family but really super excited about getting to know our Maryland Heights brothers and sisters. We feel so welcome already and can't wait to start worshiping and serving with them. With that, I'll say toodles for a short time and get back to writing (hopefully more often) as soon as we get a new computer. love y'all.

Our Little Singer

Music is a big part of our household. Jimmy is constantly making up songs and raps and walks around the house singing them. I just love him for that! Now, Corrina is making up her own songs and just loves to sing. She especially likes to perform for the camera. Hopefully, she'll take after her Daddy and have a voice like him. He can really sing. Here are some videos of Corrina singing some of her favorite songs.

Ode to My Sweetheart

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet love Jimmy. He is such an amazing father and husband; he takes such good care of us and is very gentle with our hearts. I have heard that your love for your special someone grows deeper as go, but I really thought I couldn't love Jimmy more than on the day we were married. Now, almost 5 years later and my love for him has grown to much more depths and heights. He still makes my heart pitter-patter, but he also continuously acts in a way that I just can't help respecting and trusting him. I love you, Jimmy, and my love continues to get stronger with every passing day as we walk hand in hand towards our Father above. Thank you for walking with me.



Here is a video of my amazing man, playing one of my all-time favorite songs. Isn't he incredible!

Science Center and Sad Day

This morning we had a blast taking Corrina to the St. Louis Science Center. As we entered the building, we saw our friends who happened to be there on this cold Saturday morning as well, so we joined them for some fun. Here are some pics from earlier today. It's been a while since I posted anything, so prepare to be amazed at how much Corrina has grown (hehe...)

Here we are sitting under the arch we made. She happens to be obsessed with the Arch. She is constantly asking to see it when we're in the car, and every time she sees it on TV or if she's sees anything that even resembles the Arch, she gets really excited. ???

The following pics show us building the arch with our friends. Really what happened was that the daddies were trying to build the arch and the kids thought it was funny to try and knock it over before they could get it all built. It was pretty funny!

Daddy and Corrina standing in the dinosaur paw print. They had a gigantic dinosaur that moved and made sounds on display there, and Corrina was both fascinated and terrified of it, asking to get closer while she had a death grip on my arm.

Playing with the puppets

There's a link from the Science Center to the Planetarium that crosses over the highway, so you can watch the fast cars, clock their speeds, etc. There are also holes in the floor so you can watch them go under you. Pretty cool!

Time to go get some lunch!

And now the sad part of the day....I'm trying to be less of a pack rat and to finally get rid of some things. I have this favorite pair of shoes; I've had them for seriously about 15 years. I LOVE them. They're comfy and classic and they remind me of my great-grandma May Grahn (whom Corrina is named after). She always, always would be wearing shoes exactly like these. I don't ever remember her without them. She was very special to me; I used to ride my bike to her house all the time in the summers. She taught me how to sew quilt blocks, the importance of family, and other great lessons that I won't get into now, but I love her dearly. She was an amazing lady. Anyway, I digress. The point is that I do really need to get rid of these shoes, but it makes me sad because they are my all-time favs. Today, however, they are going in the trash (much to Jimmy's happiness...hehe...), and this picture shows why I finally have agreed to say goodbye.

Goodbye my old friend. We've been through a lot of mud and miles together, and you've kept my feet warm and cushy. Thank you and au revoir!

ABCs, Seriously!!

Jimmy and I are so blessed to have Corrina in our lives. I talked in my previous post about how God is guiding us through these difficult days, and probably the most helpful thing He's mercifully done is given us Corrina. She has provided us with so much joy and laughter, and she'll never truly know the depth to which she has touched us and raised us (especially me) up from some very sad moments. We love her so much.



And now I just have to brag about her...I just can't help it. I am amazed at this child's memory. She is so smart, just like her daddy. She's not yet 2, almost....but she already knows her ABCs. I know that kids are amazing and their potential to learn and absorb things is massive, but seriously....ABCs and she's not quite 2. People, that's pretty smart, isn't it? And, I promise you, we have not been going over the ABCs every day for long periods of time. She just kinda picked it up. We have a very fast learner on our hands. Here's the video to prove that she knows the ABCs... Oh, and just so her head doesn't get too big, she does still struggle with her colors sometimes....hmmmm, so she might not get any artistic skills...oh well...

Where is my God?

I have been avoiding posting on my blog for a while now because I just didn't want to write about the everyday happenings in our house without first addressing our recent tragedy. I really, really have not wanted to put this out for all to see, but the more I've talked with God about it, the more I hear Him say that by brushing it under the rug, I would be missing a huge opportunity to give Him glory, praise, and honor and to let Him show His compassion, faithfulness, and love to others.

Many of you may already be aware of our loss, but to share with those who don't, Jimmy and I recently lost our second child. I still feel stinging, sharp pain in my heart to say this. I was 10 weeks pregnant when I had a miscarriage. One of the worst, most helpless and heartbreaking experiences is to see an ultrasound with no signs of life from your child. The silence in that room when you don't hear the heartbeat of your baby is like no silence I've ever experienced--you know when you watch a movie and realize that there's no background music or noise or anything and how noticeably absent and strange it is. Hearing silence from the ultrasound was so much more strange and quiet with some horribly sad, sinking emotions attached.

Even in our helplessness and heartache, God was ever present. In the exam room that day, Jimmy and I saw His love in my doctor and her nurse, who were so kind during and after the ultrasound. Dr. S. delivered the news with so much compassion and shared a few tears with us. She and her nurse allowed us some time in the room to grieve, and again, I felt God's love surround us as we held onto each other. Since then, our family and church family have poured us with His love and strength through prayers, food, hugs, kind words, and support. Unfortunately, I can't deny that I've been angry with God and doubted Him and questioned Him and cried to Him and asked where He is. I continue to fluctuate through a wide range of emotions, but in it all and as an answer to my blog title, I know--beyond my knowledge and with a wisdom only from Him and His Holy Spirit--He has not left me; He gives me hope, and He loves me so much.

I want to say a sincere thanks to all our family and friends for their prayers, hugs, words of encouragement, cards, food, laughs, etc. And I'll just end this post with one of the many verses God has given me to help carry me through this storm.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

First Taste of Nutella

I LOVE Nutella. I practically survived on Nutella and bread when I was living in Austria. So I just had to share this delicious spread with Corrina, and true to her genes, she also LOVED it. Here are the pics of her first Nutella experience. As you can see, she was licking the Nutella off the bread.

Palestine

For those of ya'll who don't know, the Grahn side of the family has a fun family tradition every year. We go to a rodeo in a small town near the Illinois-Indiana border every Labor Day Weekend. We camp for the weekend, and on Friday night the little cousins ride some rides at a small carnival on the campground. Saturday morning we eat pancakes downtown, then spend the rest of the morning going to rummage sales. Jimmy has added a great addition to the rummage sales; we now have a contest for the sales---this year the contest was who could find the funniest thing that you could attach some marital advice to. The object was to be given, along with the advice, to my cousin MG and his new bride JG. We had some pretty good laughs when everyone showed their items and gave their advice. Saturday night, we go to the rodeo, and the rest of the weekend is filled with all the little cousins running around playing together, while the adults get pretty competitive in cards, washers, wacky ball, and oh yeah, of course there's lots of great food. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Corrina on the train. She thinks it's Thomas the Train (she's really into Thomas for some reason, although we're not sure why b/c she's never seen the show....anyhoo, she thinks all trains are Thomas.)


Picking frogs to win a prize, and the prize is....



a dolphin!




Riding the race cars with cousin PH.





Riding "Thomas" again, this time with cousin AS.



"Driving" the firetruck with cousins AS and PH.

Daddy and Corrina on another Thomas.

Corrina and Auntie Em in their matching jackets.

Eating pancakes with Pawpaw, Deedaw, and Auntie Anne.

Cousin ZH with his crazy hair!
Side view...very nice!!

Playing ball at the campsite





Cousin PH in her lawn chair.





Cousin ZH after his mommy fixed his hair...hehe...




playing tickle monster with cousin CS.