For our far away friends and Family...

This is for you Brooke... :) Me at 34 weeks... Just a few weeks to go and we'll be the Clark family of FIVE!!!!! Thank you Lord :)

Welcome Baby Baron!!!!!!

How beautiful are you Delaney!!!!!!!

We are so glad that you are finally here!!!! Welcome,
Welcome, Welcome!!!! I just love ya so much already!!!

You did it friend!!! congratulations on your perfect little girl!!!
I love ya to pieces!!!!!

Today is a very special day... we got to welcome Delaney Marlene into the world!!! She was born this morning to our friends Anna and Bobby Baron... She weighed 6lbs 13 ounces... joey and i got to see her at the hospital tonight... It was such a treat!!! Thanks guys for letting us be a part of this AMAZING day in your lives!!!!! Delaney is such a sweet treasure... and so are you guys and your friendship!!! We love the Barons... YES WE DO!!!

Choo Choo

Today was a most glorious day!!! It was beautiful and sunny... The kids slept in after a late night at our friends Jim and Monique's house... We had a celebration feast there with all the families in our community group and as the sun was setting we roasted marsh-mellows and Siah and Hal had their very first taste of s'mores... As Siah said, "Deeelicious!!!!"

Today, I met with some friends at the train station in Carlsbad and we took all the kids for a ride on the train to Fletcher Cove for a picnic lunch and an afternoon playing on the playground that's right on the beach... It was absolutely gorgeous!!!! Hal was a little scared at first cuz she doesn't like the loud noise the train makes when it first pulls into the station... But once we got on and went to the top (It's a double-decker train), she was smiling and and telling me all the things that she saw out the window. Her and Siah and their little friend Wyatt kept shouting, "Choo Choo! Choo Choo!" Thank you Lord for sweet memories made today :)

But then...

When we got home Hal and Siah were running up and down the driveway and Hal totally took a tumble and fell flat on her face!!!! Now she has a yucky swollen lip...

here are some pictures of her sad little face... My friend took pictures of our train adventure so i will have to post those another time...

we hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend with your families and friends :)

Super Singing

Josiah is learning his ABC's and this afternoon he let me video him so that you could all hear his new found skill... Singing his ABC's... As you will hear, he still has some work to do, but it's a cute start...



He also sang "Jesus Loves Me" for the camera... What a special treat to my ears to hear my little guy sing about our sweet Savior :)





Finally, Halee wanted to join in the fun... She did a very special melody of "Jesus loves Me", mixed in with a little bit of "Twinkle Little Star"... and maybe a little bit of another song that I didn't quite catch on to :)

Final Glimpse Before The Big Day

We got to see our mystery baby again today... Our doctor made a short DVD for us... i'm 32 weeks now and everything looks great... we picked a tentative induction date, July 2, 2008... We had picked an induction date with both Josiah and Halee and I went into labor on my own on the days that we picked both times... But who knows with this baby... We'll keep you posted... That means maybe only 6 weeks until we meet this little guy... We hope you enjoy this final glimpse of mystery baby # 3 before we get to meet him/her in person...

All "3" of my kiddos

When I was pregnant with Halee Joey took this picture... Me with my first "2" kiddos

Then tonight Siah and Hal and I were watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Joey took this picture... Me with all "3" of my kiddos :)

Overcoming Fears

Josiah and Halee's school bus bed....
Yes, it's 80 degrees outside and Josiah has a beanie on his head... he just loves wearing them :)


There are some things in raising kids that I'm not extremely intimidated about... I don't worry excessively about them getting hurt (I know that inevitably they will and we'll just have to deal with each injury as it occurs :)... I don't worry to much about the extremes like my kids getting stolen or dying suddenly... (the Lord showed me when He took our twins home that my kids belong to Him and that i could totally trust that He has known since before time began all my kids days)

But I have these funny little fears... Like potty training (I wrote about that in a previous email)... We made it through that fear a few months ago with Josiah... Then my next fear to overcome was putting Josiah and Halee in the same room at night. To be honest we have had it quite easy when it comes to the kids going to bed at night and falling asleep easily and stuff like that so i have been really hesitant to disturb the good thing that we had going... So about a month ago we bit the bullet and just went for it... We got the kids a "school bus" bunk bed off craig's list and they both love it!!!! WHY WAS I SO AFRAID???... It has been no big deal... they both made the transition just fine... PRAISE BE TO GOD!! They both stay in their beds until we come get them in the morning and they both love sleeping in the school bus :)

The funny part is that Josiah will be the first to tell you that he is afraid to sleep in the top bunk... So when I asked them who wanted to sleep where, they both quickly said that Halee should sleep on top.. So she does... and she can get up and down the ladder all by herself without any hesitaiton... (She's more or less fearless about most things :)

Josiah on the other hand is the more cautious child... So he can't down by himself...

Until this morning...

This morning he wanted to sit on Halee's bed with her... so I told him that he could go up there only if he was willing to get down by himself... He climbed up to the top... 3 minutes later... "mom, I need help getting down"... i walked into their room and I reminded him of what I had said if he chose to get up there and he said, "me's knows... but me's need your help." I knew inside that he could do it and that he just needed to see that he could do it... so I told him that I would tell him how to get down with my words but that I wouldn't help him with my hands... he started to cry... I encouraged him and told him that he could do all things through Christ who strengthens him and that he needed to turn arround backwards and slide down until he felt his foot hit the top step... He turned around and started to cry harder... I cheered him on and told him that he was doing agreat job and to slide his other foot down to the next step all while holding onto the top... His body started to shake and he was sobbing (but he was totally doing it!!!)... "One more step buddy, then you'll be on the floor"... He slide his foot down again and he found himself at the bottom of the ladder with both feet on the floor... I started clapping and cheering and showing him that he had just climbed down that big ladder all by himself... "You did it buddy, you did it, I'm so proud of you!!!" And within seconds he stopped crying and this huge smiled found it's way across his face, and he started clapping for himself.... then he jumped in my arms and hugged me and said, "Me's so proud of you mommy!!!" He had overcome his fear and he was so proud of himself!!!

Thank you Lord for times of success and accomplishment in our lives.... And thank you for helping Josiah and I overcome some of our little (or not so little :) fears...

Thankfulness

I know Josiah and Hal are thankful for juice... It's a special treat around here so when you mention the word JUCIE the kids start jumping up and down and they get this really funny excited face... I will try to get it on video soon.. Hal especially, has funny faces and expressions when she's excited about something :)



I know I'm her mom but i just think she is so beautiful!!!! :)


I think about posting often but then before I know it it's 15 days later and everytime i look at our site it's still that surf competition...

We've spent most of the past two weeks at home in our backyard... we have a mini swimming pool and the kids love to play with the chalk and write all over the ground... they have bikes and balls and oh my goodness... I remember there was a day before I had kids that there wasn't a single ball or book or toy truck to be found in our home... and now I look around my house and it looks like we have opened a Toys R Us in our back yard... and the craziest part about it is that 99% of it we have been given by people who love to love on our kids... it's amazing how God gives to us above and beyond anything that we ever could have thought up on our own... I am thankful...

I have been thinking a lot about thankfulness lately... I want my kiddos to be thankful people... not because I tell them to say "thank you" all the time but in their heart of hearts I would love to witness thankfulness in them... I recently listented to a podcast online of a mother speaking on the very topic of thankfulness and she said something along the lines of, " your children will learn thankfulness when they see it radiate out your life"... so this past week I tried it... I started to speak outloud, around josiah and Hal, things that I am thankful for... when we were in the grocery store I told how thankful I was that we were able to buy the food that we needed to grow big and strong... Every night when Papa got home I told them how thankful I was that papa was home and that we were able to spend time with him and that he worked so hard so that we could have the things that we need, and that he loves on all of us soo much... when we were driving i talked about being thankful for the friends we were going to see and for the gas in our car that allowed us to drive to those friends houses (and at $4 a gallon I TRULY am GRATEFUL)...
All this to say, yesterday josiah started picking up on it... after lunch he got down from the table took his plate to the sink and came up to me and hugged me and said, "thank you mommy, thank you for me's lunch." Then that afternoon while he and hal were playing I heard him thank her several times for letting him play with her and with certain toys...

I know that doesn't sound like that big of a deal but it amazed me how quickly his heart began to change in just a few short days... And for that change, I AM THANKFUL :)

Surf Competition

Siah with "butter" on his belly :)
Halee happy in the giant hole
attempted family photo; 3 out 4 looking at the camera; not to bad :)
Surf competition...

Today we went to the beach to watch our friend Bobby in a surf competition... He's a fire fighter and they do this competition once a year to raise money for the local schools and burn centers in our community. We were just planning on going for a little while but ended up spending most of the morning there... Josiah is getting more and more brave around the water so he ended up soaking his clothes and playing in his underwear (He doesn't care much to be wet or dirty so he wanted his clothes off :)... I borrowed my friends sunscreen and it was that thick white kind (For whatever reason I usually put the "spray" kind of sunscreen on my kids... probably cuz it's what's easiest for me :). As i was putting the sunscreen on, Josiah asked me another one of his profound "why" questions... He said, "Mama, Why you rub butter all over me? I no like butter on my belly. Why Mama? Why you do that?" :) I love this kid!!!!

Sweet Halee doesn't mind getting dirty at all and so she got right into the sand hole that Papa dug in her clothes not even noticing that that you could barely even see her clothes cuz the sand was caked on so thick...

It turned out to be an extra lovely morning making memories with our little fam... :)

A Month of Family Birthdays...

Josiah and Halee SUPER happy that it's your birthday!!

The month of May is filled with reasons to celebrate in our family!!! We have 8 birthdays in May and it's Mothers Day... So much to be thankful for...

Happy birthday to Aunts Amy & Kristin, Uncles Todd & Jason, Cousins Hannah & Asher, and Granny DeeDee and Papaw!!!!! WOW!!! What a blessing each and every one of you are in our lives!!! We are so grateful you were born and we love celebrating your special day with you even though we are so far away... Love to you all :)