...another one!

It's wild how fast time flies... and how bad I am at blogging.  Maybe time will slow down and I'll get better at blogging more frequently- BUT until then I'll just continue documenting the biggest events in my life...

... so we had another kid.


And she is perfect, squishy, and looks a lot like her brother and sister did! Her name is Olivia Dee- but we are calling her Liv. Jeff and I love the name Olivia and really love how "Liv Lindley" sounds! Dee is after my sweet momma, Jana Dee. To say she was excited to have a namesake would be the understatement of the year. Liv is petite and precious.  She sleeps pretty well and is overall a content baby! The only thing she is slow to the game with is accepting a bottle... so momma has to be close by every 3 hours (let's just say we're REAL close).  She was born on October 12th and has lit up our faces ever since.

Luke is 4! He is really coming into his own as of late... he's funny, enjoys playing with others or alone, and is very proud of both of his sisters. He is however convinced that he will have a brother next... Dad and I aren't against the idea but not sure Luke gets that God chooses the gender! Luke goes to school 2 days a week at "Sonshine School" -- it's at a church near our home and he just loves it.  He also goes to speech two days a week at Chisholm (Emma's school) and he thinks he is pretty big time! We are so proud of how hard he as worked on his articulation - he has made great strides! Luke is a lover of all things Mickey mouse, paw patrol and gadgety rope type things! He is a joy and we are so so grateful for his life!

Emma is 6 but will be 7 in exactly 1 week. It's hard to type that! She is one of the most precious humans to walk the earth- very easy going, sensitive and a leader! She has really taken off with reading recently and is soaring through all of the readers we bought for her to practice reading.  Her teacher at Chisholm is precious and we can tell that Emma is soaking up all that she is teaching her.  Emma LOVES playing with her brother and thinks holding her sister is the most incredible thing ever.

We moved ((AGAIN)) (I"m going to work on a post concerning this!)... we love our new home and plan to be here a couple of years.  With me being in realestate and us liking the challenge of a project we will probably continue to move every few years until we settle in to a forever! It's a fun adventure, has proven to be quite profitable which lessens the blow of it being a royal pain in the rear to move! For now, we are settled- happy- and surviving!

SURPRISE!!!

Isn't God awesome?! If by some odd chance you are reading this without having seen our announcement... we are EXPECTING our second MIRACLE!

To say we are excited and feeling blessed is quite the understatement! And, although Emma is quite clueless as to what this "baby" and "BIG SIS" business actually mean... she is thrilled and will make the most helpful and precious BIG sister.

If you haven't read our testimony and fertility journey please read HERE! We have been showered by God's grace and incredible healing power. Through our story we have been humbled and honored to learn that our God is BIGGER and capable... we believe and walk in the truth that He is in full control of all circumstances BIG or SMALL!

To answer the questions that come after "We're expecting":

- I have felt similar to when I was pregnant with Emma.... aka REALLY GOOD! (Don't get mad those of you that deal with awful morning sickness!) I have felt EXTREMELY tired and definitely need to eat when I start running out of calories ;) 

- We are over 13 weeks along! Praise GOD!

- We are due November 3, 2014 

- Emma will be 2.75 years older than this baby

- We don't have names yet but we will be finding out the gender soon!

- Yes, we are still moving forward with our fostering/adoption journey and feel at peace that we are walking in faith and grace! So thankful!

- After my hormone levels came back on the high side (good but could mean more than one baby! HOLD MY BREATH, STAY CALM, .....ah!) We saw ONE (sigh of relief!) precious healthy wiggle worm at 9 wks 2 days!! (see below!)

Please keep praying for our growing family!

As my Meme always said... "TO GOD BE THE GLORY!"

With Love and THANKS,

Jeff, Natalie, Emma and new baby Lindley

Merry Christmas!

I still need to post the rest of our summer and fall... that will have to be on another post! *Stay tuned*

Merry Christmas!

As you might have read on our card there is much to be anticipated and to be learned in the coming year for the Lindley's!!

Although there isn't much to be said yet, as far as our journey, we can show progress on the house that is being built on Whitefields Campus for us to move into (VERY SOON!)

Sweet Caleigh sends us updates every week or so and things are moving quickly!

We have begun our classes to become DHS certified and should be done within the next couple of months.

Please continue to pray with and for us as we follow God's plan for our family- we are so humbled and honored to be walking in His PEACE and can't wait to share our journey with you in hopes that we can encourage others!

Thank you for your support-

more posts to come :)

Jeff & Natalie

BAD blogger, terribly obsessed with photos.

Well it's safe to say that I have officially DROPPED THE BALL as far as documenting Emma's progress and growth via words in a blog form... Luckily, I've kept up in the photo world.

I've never been terribly interested or burdened to document my life in words.  I remember starting about 30 diaries (even as a child) with one or two entries... then I "catch up" the world about 3 months and occasionally YEARS later.  So I'm not sure why I'm surprised now.  Maybe it's because I also failed in the baby book department- but honestly have you looked at yours?! Don't answer that if the answer is yes.

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE EMMA TURNED ONE!

Here's a quick, not so detailed, recap:

March-  We took at lazy weekend and went to the Lake "just the three of us"... it was rainy but FABULOUS. I hope we do it more this cooler season! The other pictures are from Easter. Emma was very fascinated with the eggs... and she looked darling in the outfit her uncles gave her for her birthday.  We also started a new family tradition of making empty tomb rolls on Easter sunday (see pic)! Emma was really getting curious... walking around exploring and climbing into and onto anything she could.  Such a fun season of NEW! She even got her first "new" car! HA! Our neighbor had it out for BIG junk day... because it's terribly old and has a busted wheel. But Emma doesn't know the difference and she thinks it's just AWESOME. 

 

April- April was full of fun and new blossoms! Emma hung with Avery when they came up from Ft. Worth! We took ADORABLE pics at Hafer with the tulips! Jeff, Emma and I took a fun week long trip to San Antonio/River Inn.  It was SO fun and definitely the right time of year to go there.  We went to the river walk, Alamo, little towns around including Luckenbach (for country fans out there) and of course we went to Seaworld. Such a fun and memorable trip.  Emma learned that she LOVES to chalk... and I wish I had an update on what Uncle Caleb was doing during April but Uncle Craig competed in Sooner Idol (got voted Fan Fav!) and Uncle Seth ran and won STUCO Rep!

May-  Was a relaxing month, I guess! Emma got her first rollers.  Which were a success! We also got a playset off Craigslist that now proudly lives in our backyard.  Emma gladly painted crosses for me and her grandmas for mothers day (note arms of victory!) it's precious. And we spent lots of time outside, including the annual Memorial Day Lake weekend with the Lindley Fam.  AND Craig spontaneously agreed to try out for the Xfactor... so we packed up and took a spur of the moment roadtrip to Colorado! It was such a FUN experience and although he didn't make the cut- we are pretty certain a large portion had to do with the fact that he didn't have a juicy enough story (we're working on that one) If that doesn't work, I guess he could just put horns on his head and sing an awful rendition of some opera like the guy that DID make the cut in front of him, making me mad all over again.  If you've ever wondered what the first round of those shows looks like (because what you see on TV is actually like round 5) here it is! And we so paid to see the worlds largest prairie dog, yep it's metal.

 June- I french braided Emma's hair for the first time :) LOVE! She sits in her chair and watches a show while I do it ;) We had to sport them so we went to the park at the Devon tower.  It was a fun evening, with gnomes.  Caleb and I went to some estate sales one day which was fun - we need to do that more! I love that my brothers enjoy shopping but really enjoy the hunt! We love bubbles around our house - in fact, that was one of the first words that Emma said without any coaching or pointing. She saw them on my parents counter and said BUHBOOS! We know she's a genius. AVERY (& Rob and Jordan) moved back to OK!!!!! Praise God! They're now the head pastor of First Baptist Holdenville! We went on playdates with sweet friends to homes with water sets and to the Zoo! Spent Fathers day with my dad and my papa DOUBLE whammy blessed.

Well.... July was a HUGE HUGE month so I will have to have a whole blog dedicated to it.  For now, here's a little glimpse into our world.  Life is fun.  Pictures help me remember those simple and extravagant moments.  I'm so glad that my family is near and that we are able to do this life thing together.

I will update the rest of the year and the really LARGE undertaking ahead.  I will only say that you can keep our family in your prayers... God's really stretching us and I know that this peace can only be from Him.