It's a Girl!!!!

June 29th. 8:05pm. 7lbs 5 ozs. 20 1/4 in. long. She was born after a fairly quick 3 hr 45 minute labor. We made it to the birth center and she was born in a huge birth tub full of warm water in just 2 pushes and a relatively painless birth. Birth is just never entirely painless but it was definitely manageable. Welcome to the world little Lillye girl!!! You, my sweet girl, are so so loved and look just like the rest of your brothers and sisters!! Pictures to come! 

It's Baby Day!!!

7 cm. Made it to birth center. Just waiting on a baby now! Water broke in truck. Kinda messy. But baby is definitely on the way! 

40 Weeks 6 Days

40 weeks 6 days. This is officially the longest I have ever been pregnant. Not that anyone's counting or anything. It's an amazing thing seeing and hearing from so many of you and realizing how loved and anticipated this sweet baby already is by so many. Not many large families have so many excited about the impending addition of a new little face around. It's amazing to me that due to the wonder of technology this baby is awaited world wide....from all over the US to those of you in Canada, Australia, France, Portugal, Germany, Columbia, and so many more countries. I don't take this for granted even a little bit and feel so humbled that we are loved like we are. Thank you for the continual emails, Facebook private messages and so much more asking about us and if we have a baby yet. I promise I will update as SOON as we do!! It will most definitely be cause for celebration. 

As for baby....as of now there is no sign of anything. Not even a hint that it might be remotely close. Good news is....nobody's ever stayed pregnant forever! So....still going with a very active, very content to refrain from vacating the premises baby! 

Her little nursery space is all done. Now we just need her to fill it up! I'll try to do a post on it tomorrow. 

Picture Journey of Baby 12: 40 weeks 2 days!

40 weeks 2 days in all of it's gloriousness. ...swelling and all. This would be the day 4 out of 9 pregnancies ended with the birth of a baby....or two!  But it seems this pregnancy will continue on for some time more. And honestly...days are full and active so I am not in any crazy hurry to rush her along. Except for some swelling I'm comfortable and content to let her grow some more. Measuring 38 cm in fundal height so not obnoxiously huge....of course, that term would be entirely relative. I don't entirely feel like mooing or inhaling peanuts through a trunk just yet. So...all is well and we continue to wait on a baby! 

Blurry....but it works!

 This might be what happens when your kids are a little bit excited about baby's impending arrival. I'm quite certain her bag gets packed and unpacked at least once a day to "make sure" everything needed is still within. And the question....."How many more days, mom?" gets answered no less than 20 times each day. Makes me smile. 

40 Week Randomness - Waiting on a Baby!

Heading out for the first swim of the season

Outside my window.....
A castle taking shape up in the trees.


I am thinking...
that it should be an absolute necessity for every engaged couple to take the Financial Peace University course together before marriage.  How much we could've avoided. How imperative these tools are to not only survive in life but flourish and be able to save, plan and give. How much more we have been able to give and do for others, and provide opportunities for our children, just by following this...on a paramedic's salary. I think a great disservice is done to our children when they enter adulthood without any knowledge of how to manage their finances. Math, algebra, geometry, calculus...it's all meaningless when basic life skills and self control have never been taught or learned. It's been a long road to haul for husband and I.....but the difference and headway we have made is astounding. How much I wish our own parents would've equipped us with this before our own marriage. Gaining control of finances has proved to be just as empowering as maintaining control of weight and body. Self discipline and a course of action...it brings all of life into perspective and grows self confidence in ways nothing else can. And as a couple or when married and working together on a goal....it strengthens and unifies in ways that tend to baffle modern society.




I am thankful.....
for where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. A whole lot of life wrapped up in a tiny little sentence. I'm thankful for the lessons in forgiveness we have been taught over the course of the last 4 years. I'm thankful I can look back at the absolute darkest, bleakest time in our life as we lived through one of the most horrific events that can ever occur as a parent and know that we have only grown and not shriveled away in bitterness. Tears still fall but they're no longer tears of shame, failure, regret, anger, and misery, but tears of how overwhelming the grace has been that's covered us as we have walked through it all. So much love by hundreds and hundreds of people for our family, for our children, for husband and me. How amazing it is to see how many people await sweet baby's arrival, continue to check in, and eagerly anticipate news that she is on her way. Those that have judged and fired shots at us have paled in comparison to the numbers that have loved us so unconditionally, embraced our family, and begun to follow along on our journey. I no longer cry everytime I think of new people living in our Texas home and our sweet tiny baby that lies quiet under the maple tree. I think of all we've traversed here in the last 2 years, all that we've encountered and all we've overcome, and know we have only grown, become stronger, that it's all been used to build confidence, abiding faith, and a stronger unity between us as a family and within our marriage. How many people would've survived this...I don't know. But I know the grace poured out within our lives is overwhelming. There may still be a lot of uphill that remains but to be at a place of rest and peace right now, to be so overwhelmingly surrounded by love, to have children that bring total joy to our hearts and to the lives of others, to watch them grow, see them play, laugh with them...it's an amazing place to be for awhile. And the freedom that comes from what we have learned and where we have walked...it's an absolutely unprecedented thing to experience. Sweet freedom to walk away from so much, to let go, to let it grow us, and to move on to so much more.



I am wearing.....
husband's non maternity fire shirt that seems to be more than a little maxed out with beach ball baby. Maybe a 40 week picture tomorrow to celebrate due date day. Maybe.





I am going.....
to more than likely not have a baby for at least another 3 days...thinking more like no less than 5 at the rate we're going right now.



I am smelling.....
shop vac that now diffuses nutmeg like air freshener. Who knew that the greatest form of freshening home would be sucking up entire bottles of spices 2 two year olds saw fit to dump out unceremoniously  all over house. 3 weeks later....it still smells amazing!



I am remembering......
last night.



I am noticing......
that I'm really ready to be unpregnant...but in order to get unpregnant you have to have a baby. And no matter how many times you do it....it's still just a very daunting thing to face. But how overwhelmingly grateful I am that despite the possibility of a hospital birth everything is well, we no longer face the possibility of a hospital, and we will have a baby in peace and the privacy necessary to get a baby here expeditiously.


I am reading.....
the Modge Podge directions. This should prove to be very interesting....and the ultimate test of my patience...or the lack thereof.



I am pondering....
the fact that people feel sooooo free to voice pretty much any thought that comes to mind when you are so massively pregnant. Comments within the past week have proved.....interesting. Apparently people do not think it is possible for women to get out in public on their due date and find it totally necessary to gasp in total shock at size and the fact one is still walking while being due. On another interesting note....I have yet to have anyone guess this baby as a girl. Apparently, it is commonly thought that if a woman is carrying in a very beach ball like way.....it is undoubtedly a boy. Guess we'll find out in not long!








Life in pics.....

Huge growing boy. My heart overflows with love for this ever happy, talking boy on the run.

She's come so far! And still going! Sweet inspirational girl filled with life, love, joy and determination... and so thrilled with her own accomplishments. She's grown so much in so many ways. She amazes me. It's not always easy and there's still tough days of having to push for every square inch gained but she has earned every little piece of progress she has made. She has learned to fight for it and overcome in so many ways....and her maturity level has grown exponentially. How much I love this girl.

She may be born on the east coast but she's still got Texas blood running through her veins.

Everybody loves having couches. 

 Thankful for neighbors that grow crazily excited when they see our brood coming...that prepare cookies, watermelon, bottles of water and all kinds of fun stuff when they see 11 swimsuit clad kids headed their way. 

 Sunset drives. 

 Little bitty girl waiting her turn. 4 year olds are some kinda rough on glasses. These people know us by name. 

 I LOVE having boys. They take on every unwanted disgusting task that arises.And they do it with such pride and joy!

 The many creations of creative minds.....

Treehouse material shopping with daddy....

How many kids can you cram around an ipad at 7:30 in the morning????

Sneak peek of our little closet baby nursery space. I'm in love. It'll put a smile on anybody's face. There is nothing quite like waking up to see it sitting there waiting for her. I'm pretty sure baby Lillye will never in her life remember her tiny space.....but it sure does thrill 11 other children! Once it's all completed I'll dedicate an entire post to it...complete with pics, projects, what we did, and price breakdown. Entire area has been done for under 100.00! Still not finished with last few projects but pretty close. Little sneak peeks of how it's taking shape and what's to come! 

Our little summer nature girl. 3.50! 

.99 grapevine garland bound up like a 6 in. wreath

2.00 flowers - 2 sprigs at .99 each

.99 little bird on sale for .49!

5 minutes worth of work with hot glue we already had!

Taking some much needed time off and spending our days just celebrating baby.

This was entirely unintentional.....but the shadow made me laugh....

When you can't find any fabric like what you see in your head and the only ones you liked are 10.00 a yard.....you make your own!! What would've been 40.00+ shipping for 4 yards instead became 4.88! 2 yards of plain white stiff cotton at 2.44 a yard, cut into strips, and leftover paint will accomplish the same goal! Total savings of 40.00!! 

2.00 birdhouses! 

.99 unfinished birdhouse

.99 unfinished candlestick for stand

paint and ribbon we already had on hand

Sibling love for little Lillye girl. Evye's birdhouse that now hangs above baby girl's bed.

Picture Journey of Baby 12: 38 Weeks!

Just pics for now. It's a rather boring, somewhat wordless post....

but at least it's up before baby gets here!

Nice and round....and huge. 

Same day, different clothes. Ready to hit the town. 

...and before the jeans got changed. Nothing like your baggy, flood ready, house cleaning jeans to document baby's growth! Sexy.

Originally it was only supposed to be the 3 puff balls in the corner but we had so much fun making them and the girls were so in love that we kinda just kept going. Still have to hang the stuff on the walls and get the basket liners made for the laundry baskets on the shelf above, but it should be done by the time a baby gets here! And the floor.....yeah. Someday. I think new windows have taken priority over the floor...so it may be awhile. But....here's hoping it really is a girl. If it's not...I hope he likes pink!

Sunset walks in 70 degree weather after the storm. You might be a little bit pregnant when you hike 3 miles to fetch a truck to make a grocery store run just for ice to put in your tea. 

The amazing places we walk.

Reaching our destination.....with wet feet and water laden shoes! It was worth it. 

All the green.

They That Wait

"Be too complete to feel anxious, too noble to feel anger, too strong to feel fear, and too happy to feel frustrated."
Carlos Gracie

This journey of living debt free and giving is not always an easy one. The American mentality of immediate gratification does not even begin to exist with this way of life. For the impatient soul it is a daily walk of discipline to maintain perspective and attitude while learning to lay down own desires in total sacrificial love. But the rewards of seeing God work when one is even somewhat remotely willing to lay it all down is proving to be worth it all. And while so much of the time it may not be in my timing we never go without and our children are seeing the hand of a living God at work in our life and within their own lives. Not the hand of a little Baptist God all wrapped up in a pretty little defined box but a God that is bigger than all of life itself, one that doesn't make life easy at all....but makes it worth living and dying for. A God that is living proof the harder the road the greater the reward at the end. A God that has shown them in every sense that man is not our provider.....He and He alone is. A God that reveals that man does not dictate our success because success is entirely relative. There exists an American mentality that success is determined by material possessions, dollar signs, size of bank account, size of house, activities of children, how many trips one can make a year, make and model of vehicle, whether your vehicle even runs, whether your a/c and heat work and the list runs infinitely on. And there is what we are coming to learn so intimately...the true measure of success. Is there food on the table, is there a roof over our heads, are the children able to learn by the example we have set, are we making a difference in the lives of those outside of ourselves, are we teaching children to love the unlovable?....for, so often than not, the ones that are harder to love are the ones in need of it most. Are children happy, honest, compassionate, kind, considerate people with a passion to make a difference and the conviction to be kind people...the heart that is heavy with compassion to all others? Do they know that iPods, phones, personal flat screens and computers will never in a lifetime bring fulfillment..for the only fulfillment in life lies in giving yourself wholly and totally away to better the lives of others. Do they know...have they learned....that this life they live has nothing to do with them at all....but they are here for a far greater purpose to make a difference in the lives of the embittered, hardened, mean, cruel people of the world....and that even their greatest efforts may never crack those souls but they themselves will be happier, joy filled, contented people because of their efforts...because they will possess a confidence few other people in this society possess? Have they learned money management? Are their marriages flourishing and intact because they have learned what it is to lay down the "me" factor for their spouse, to hold the harsh words because they destroy rather than build? Have they learned they can leave relationships in ruin or construct cathedrals from them...or what they have learned from them? Have they learned how to forgive....truly forgive....lay it down, and just walk away so they themselves do not become the entrapped and embittered? Have they learned how to truly love those that have done wrong to them....the seemingly unthinkable, unforgivable, the unpardonable? Will they forgive when their material possessions lie in ruin, they're hot, miserable and uncomfortable, they have to work their butts off for wrongs done to them? Do they truly grasp that love covers a multitude of wrongs? Because freely it was given to them and freely they can give.


Success.....a definition that's taken 37 years to learn and really grasp. Something the dictionary will never define. Something that can never be taught to them until it is learned by us. Success: flourishing life. Not flourishing money or flourishing possessions...not even approval or the accolades from others. It is a state of the heart and mind. A state of character that cannot be attained with anything earthly. I look at our life and I know beyond anything else....we are successful. We are because of a God that has gone to the painstaking efforts to teach us, shape us, mold us.....even as painful and intense as the learning curve can be. We are because of a God that uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things to confound that which are strong. Supernatural peace and absolute confidence of who we are in Him can, at times, be shaken but not destroyed. Successful.


So as we live debt free and learn to live a life that relies and waits on Him we are given the opportunity to see Him work in ways most people never give themselves a chance to see. How often my own impatience has been the reason we never were able to experience sweet love gifts from Him.  But in walking this road we have seen many over the past few years. New couches now being among them. Things I can honestly say I took for granted the entirety of my life. But after 2 years without them they have the ability to make a house a home. They bring the family together in ways the hard floor just doesn't. In the mere 4 days we've had them we have spent late nights up laughing with older children and playing games with younger ones. A place to sit in front of the fire when cold rainy nights return. This huge couch set sat on the side of the road for 2 entire days and nights. Free couches on the side of road scream cigarette smoke and cat pee to me...but they sat and they sat and the rain was coming.  With shift husband working, children and I made decision that if they still sat curbside on our way home from church we'd stop. And so they were and so we did only to find a jeweled treasure seemingly preserved and saved for our family. Hope and encouragement after almost two entire long years of struggling to make this place work. Professionally cleaned before being put curbside they smelled of shampoo and were in excellent condition. No rips, stains, tears or funky smells. They were the perfect color, did not require hours of craigslisting, did not require gas, time, energy and effort to go pick them up, and had been scotch guarded so everything wipes down easily. The set consisted of a large couch, loveseat, huge chair and ottoman....with a sign that read "FREE. Couch set." So with a happy heart and tons of seriously excited kids we loaded and brought home our sweet love gift from a God that still encourages the wavering heart. The very same God that in all of His mercy moved on the hearts of others yet again just 2 days before and our a/c was fixed for a fraction of what we had budgeted and finally set aside. Couches set in a living area that is now cooled and a homey place to be. Both a/c and couch events followed on the heels of a day spent in absolute tears as I scraped cemented mold from basement floor and once again attempted to organize the ruins of dungeon below until we can once again resume the task of sorting through it all...as landlord looked on from comfy perch on deck smoking his cigarette, drinking his Cheerwine....watching, observing. Children and I worked for hours....while he sat....smoking his cigarette...drinking his coke....in his porch chair. Tears flowed freely as I fiercely waged war and fought all the anger and resentment all over again. And then...like sweet drops of rain....amazing grace.....He gives hope and encouragement to press onward. Because He knows what we do is not for the faint of heart and He knows when the breaking point has been neared. And He pushes and stretches and requires ever more....just as with running....but then He comes giving grace and encouragement to continue forth. So it is that we have couches that sit in a temperature controlled living area for the first time in this house. And I know that what we face is so much bigger than this. This training ground is not about couches and air conditioning...but so so so much more. It's about learning what we think our limits are and learning we can push past them even when mind and body scream otherwise. It's knowing intimately that it won't be easy but it will be worth it. All the waiting, all the work, all the perspective and attitude checks, all the discomfort. It will be worth it all...for those that just persevere and push through. Our love gift....encouragement that can be seen and touched and felt....sitting now in our living room.  Completely and totally free.

Getting ready for a baby!

 Taped off and ready for some paint!

 More sweet kisses. Happy Lowe's employees that know our family well. An entire 34.99 gallon of baby girl, cotton candy pink was accidentally mixed instead of the 14.99 quart needed. Most employees there are now familiar with our story and love kids dearly. So it was that this 34.99 gallon was given to us for 5.00. It took all of .02 seconds for little fingers to cheerily smear through paint dot on lid. Yet more encouragement.....surrounded by love.....everywhere we turn after pushing through a rough week.

Cotton candy pink...for a sweet baby girl. Now here's hoping baby is still indeed a girl. Consistent lower heart rate.....entirely indicative of boys for our family....leaves much room for doubt. We shall see in a few short weeks...only about 2 or 3 more to go! 

And some cotton candy blue!

Door frame and baseboards will eventually be white once we begin on bedroom portion. Basket liners still need to be made and eventually off shift husband will build a divider between two sides of closet and paint will go all the way around.....but majority of paint is up and decorating can begin!

Jiu Jitsu lessons with daddy.

Learning early. 

Errand running and Dollar Store fun. We amuse ourselves by taking pics. It never fails to induce tons and tons of laughter. 

When you're #11 and people forget to put you down for a nap.....

He melts my heart in every way. Sweet, happy, contented boy could not possibly be more loved by more people than he already is.

Dinnertime help

Little girly, late night, shift fun. The first puff ball. Didn't turn out too bad at all. 

This is so entirely not what I had in mind when I cut down the bushes. On another note..pallets make amazing bike stands/organizers.

Waiting for mail....

When it begins to feel like home...
At some point the hallway and bottom half of bookshelf really will be completed. 

 Stopping by to see Daddy.

There's just nothing like a man in uniform....especially when he's loving on your children. 

Skyping daddy before bedtime.

Sonic night! 1/2 price milkshakes after 8! Summer nights and lots of laughter. 

More jiu jitsu instruction...

12 Vital Commandments of Life: 

Written by Carlos Gracie and taught in all Gracie jiu jitsu schools, but desperately needs to be learned and practiced by all as a way of life.

1. Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2. Speak to everyone of happiness, health, and prosperity.

3. Give all your friends the feeling that they are valuable. 

4. Always look at events from a positive point of view and turn positivity into a reality of life. 

5. Think always in the best, work solely for the best, and expect always the best. 

6. Always be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are of your own. 

7. Forget about past mistakes and concentrate your energies on the victories ahead. 

8. Always keep your fellow man joyful and have a pleasant attitude to all who address you. 

9. Spend all the time you need in perfecting yourself but leave no time to criticize others. 

10. Be too complete to feel anxious, too noble to feel anger, too strong to feel fear, and too happy to feel frustrated.

11. Always have a positive opinion of yourself. Not through words of vanity, but through benevolence and acts of kindness. 

12. Have the strong belief that the world is beside you if you keep true to what is best inside you.