Introducing Noah - the newest Gherkin

So, there was a reason Jared and Larissa missed his birthday celebration though they are in town this year. It has got to be the best reason ever!

Oh, the adventures about to begin! 📷by Larissa

This child we prayed for for so long was about to make his entrance! It was quite an adventure filled with twists and turns which culminated in a trip to the hospital on the 20th and an emergency c-section early on the 21st. 

📷by Larissa

Not every gal gets a sister in the labor and delivery. These two ladies are such a blessing to our hearts and our family. Carrie, Josiah's wife, works as a nurse in the Mom and Baby ward of the hospital. 

📷by Larissa

 

Noah Michael Warren made his ARRIVAL! Here is his first OFFICIAL photo (though I will share a ton below).  Noah - such a beautiful answer to prayer...JaRissa prayed, family prayed, fasted...when the doctors said, "Not likely," God said, "I have a plan." An odd bit which has made it's way into family lore involves one of Larissa's trips to visit family down below a few years ago. In the AIRPORT a man came up to her and prophesied she would have a baby. Here, years later than Jared and Larissa planned and hoped for, is the answer to their prayers. 

📷by Larissa

About those unexpected turns...both Larissa and Noah are fine. They are resting at the hospital where Carrie can keep a good eye on them. ::wink:: 

First family photo 📷by Larissa

📷by Larissa's camera

I was working away on family day prep and didn't catch photos as they came in.  THIS is the first photo I saw of Noah. My response was "WHOSE baby is that with all that hair?" Followed quickly by, "That's OUR BABY, he has the Gherkin scowl!"  After hearing his birth story, I think he is allowed as much scowl as he wants. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with the experience either. 

📷by Larissa

We were all prepared to wait to visit until they were home, but Jared and Larissa invited family to come visit on Sunday....We were not the first to make it to Anchorage...but we did make it to Anchorage. I have decided to share photos in chronological visit order... A huge thanks to Larissa for documenting the day so well. LOL 

Olivia and Noah 📷by Larissa

Livie and Carrie 📷by Larissa

Josiah, Noah and Jared📷by Larissa

Jamin and Noah📷by Larissa

Remember those early moments when it seemed almost inconceivable you could be a parent?  BTW we found Jared watching his first Cowboy game with Noah. 

📷by Larissa

We finished at church and decided to go home rather than eating out.  We pulled out leftovers. GG was making noise that he was awfully tired. We enlisted Alex to keep an eye on him and the girls, Michael and I FINALLY left for Anchorage. Nothing was going to derail this trip. LOL 

We had our own little adventure finding their room. The hospital is a maze...Michael and I ended up in Labor and Delivery. The nurse was a bit confused. "Can I help you?"  No....never again. LOL 

Eventually, we found the girls and the Mom and Baby ward. They are allowed two visitors at a time.  The girls stayed in the hallway while Michael and I went in...until JaRissa told us to tell the girls to come in and we'd simply leave if asked to leave. That worked well. 

📷by Larissa

Sometimes you get to hold the answer to your prayers and fasting. 

Such a beautiful answer to prayer

Papa and Noah 📷by Larissa

3 Generations - Michael, Jared, Noah 

📷by Larissa

📷by Larissa

Happy Mama! 

It was about this time the girls came in.....

Noah and Aunt Stacia 

Jared, Stacia & Noah 📷by Larissa

📷by Larissa

📷by Larissa

Noah & Aunt Allie 

📷by Larissa

Noah, Allie & Jared 📷by Larissa

The girls, Rissa and Noah

Larissa is fantastic at taking selfies! The whole gang. 

We prayed thanking God for Noah's life, asking for Larissa's quick recovery and blessing this new little family. 

We so loved sharing the joy of this day with Jared and Larissa. We kept the visit fairly short, and I was sure to give Larissa plenty of encouragement to rest. Jared will be on paternity leave and able to be at home with them when they go home.   I'm pretty sure Carrie will be her only Monday visitor. 

Welcome to the family, Noah. We are all so excited to get to know you. 

January's Family Celebration

This month's birthday celebrants are Jared, Annie and me. Jared couldn't make our celebration, so I asked Stacia to make a cake sure to thrill Annie. She didn't disappoint. 

Some voiced surprise that I'm turning 59 this week. I told them I understand, but I am married to a 62 yo man so I must have aged a bit along the way too. 

Carrie, Izaak, Jamin, Nolan, Luke and Krista (and kids), and Jared and Larissa were all unable to attend this month. We still required 3 tables to set the 19 of us. 

Aunt Stacia got to hold Trudy for the first time today. 

Little Buddy began to visit our place in late June/July. He joined CoRielle's family in August and attended his first family celebration. He's always been a doll. That first family dinner he kept his hands over his ears much of the night. It was fun tonight to note the hands only went over the ears when we began to sing...and he danced around while he covered his ears. "I'm not sure what's up with these people but they seem to like to sing to the food." 

Uncle Josiah with armfulls of 2 yo

Crazy people - sweet smile on this face

We've all had a blast getting to interact and know Josiah (Jojo) in the past few months. He's a cuddle bug.  While the other kids run from GG, he ran and jumped up into GG's lap. 

Yes, there could be a tad bit of rivalry between Little Buddy and Danny, but there is also a whole lot of playing and working together as well. Here they have cooperated together to steal GG's walker. 

Cy and Liv brought a meat and cheese tray....Danny perfected his skills and nonchalantly snatched food at will. Maybe he's observed GG's technique at buffets.  

Little Buddy was fascinated with the gingerbread houses the kids made on NYE. 

Papa and Little Buddy are building a fun relationship. Here Papa is teaching him to smell with his nose and not his hands. LOL 

It was a surprise to find Little Buddy leading the living room race! 

During a lull in the racing, I suggested Twister. We have gone through several Twister sets in our family life. Krista finally made us this cloth set. We had a spinner but couldn't find it today. That left the kids at the mercy of Aunt Arielle. 

Hello Trudy! 2 months old now

Aunt Allie wrapped Liv into a burrito, while Aunt Stacia corralled the rest at the table with playdough. 

Quite a group

Danny had to taste the playdough. 

"I made a bomb!"

We ended the night with a rousing game of Hungry, Hungry Dinos...

Jamin missed the evening to attend a Keller Williams Dinner.  At the dinner he was honored as one of their Top Producers for the year! His sales went up against whole groups of realtors! We're pretty proud of him. He sold just over 13 million this year. A side note - yes commission is at about 3% of sales, but out of that comes all business expenses, brokerage fees, paying his employees etc. It was not his take home pay. LOL  Way to go, Jamin! 

That's our boy! 

TGIF

 Stacia and I went out for our breakfast study. Like Allie, Stacia found a couple of new stories in this week's readings...the Hebrew midwives and Lois and Eunice. I guess those were just skipped over in her Sunday school classes. LOL 

The day was full of school for Stacia and Allie. Stacia took her first college test today. She wasn't overly impressed. It was a pretest to document how little you know from the course work of your declared major. 

Stacia finished a cake for Annie and me. 

Ballet slippers

I created a spreadsheet to track all the info I may need for the IRS for this egg thing of mine. 

Nolan is working. Alex is playing video games. Allie and Stacia both have events and have driven themselves. It's a quiet night for GG, Michael and me. We're watching Monsters Vs. Aliens. 

To Market, To Market

The girls and I haven't been meeting for Breakfast study since before Christmas. This morning Allie and I went out and finished our Beautifully Surrendered study. We covered a one or two stories she'd not heard before - always fun. I read in the car while Allie went for a haircut.

I sold eggs to all who had asked for them this week (5 1/2 dozen). I had 6 dozen counter eggs from the past 4 days. It was time to put them in the fridge or call a local market I had talked with previously. They needed the eggs and were happy to buy all 6 dozen from me. They pay me $5 a dz (which is the same I ask from my personal customers) and mark them up $3 a dz. As we finished the paperwork a gal came in and bought 4 of the 6 dozen. The manager/owner asked if they could call me when they need eggs. I told her I ALWAYS have at least 1 or 2 dz I can part with, and I am only 4 minutes away.... I'm now researching the point where the IRS is going to want records. I've been doing the math and it appears to me that our chickens are more than paying for themselves. They keep us in eggs, and I sell extra eggs to pay for their upkeep. 

Transferred them to plain cartons

ACK - it's Thursday. We're having our January Family Dinner Celebration this Saturday. Stacia started making a birthday cake. Our birthdays this month are Jared, Annie and Me. We're excusing Jared this month, but Annie and I will celebrate. Stacia is making a cute ballet slipper cake which we hope Annie will love.  I am trying to come up with an EASY, no-fuss, menu. 

I took care of a few admin tasks for women's ministry and resisted taking a nap. LOL  Michael had a medical appointment. 

My Yays

We play the boo yay game....we share two yays for every boo...I'm not sharing my boo - but here are a few yays! LOL 

Today I played with these darling kiddos! We also had an impromptu tea party while Bre was at the dentist. 

I got home and discovered Stacia digging out her car. She is ready to get the winter tires put on so she can learn to drive the Vibe.  I think I got the better end of this deal. 

In a past life, we had homemade pizza every Friday night.  We moved to having Papa Murphy's most Fridays. Our schedule has been so wild the family has given me grace to get pizza on Wednesday for the nights where I simply can't pull a dinner together in time to make it to church.  Tonight, was one of those nights. LOL We'll do something else on Friday.