Growing...and Preparing to Grow!

The last few months have heralded a lot of growth in our family.

We grew in number, as Carrie joined us for a little while to live with us. (And now is embarking on her journey afresh! We are so excited for what God is doing in her life!). And even though circumstances weren't the most ideal, we miss her already and are so glad we got to spend so much quality time with her! :)

Sometimes growth causes downsizes, too. I parted ways with many pieces of baby girl clothing, as we continue to pray about God's plans for our family. Above anything else is the realization that baby brother won't need anything pink, and I can't keep toting around every single piece of clothing that we've used for the past 3 1/2 years! (I did spare just one bin of favorites, you never know!)...

There's all sorts of growing happening with Zoe and Ian as they develop skills to do new things. Even knowing that children must grow, why does it come as such a surprise when they do so?

All of this growing has us looking towards the next few months...when our family will be experiencing the biggest kind of growth there is...the addition of another life! There are only 10 weeks tops (countdown to 42 weeks), until little brother will be here!

There are many preparations still taking shape in the meantime. For example, getting little bitsy cloth diapers! (Month by month I've ordered one or two to build up a stash). I can't wait to see how cute he's going to look in them...and to total up our savings!

Of course, I have monthly goals for January (that are nearing completion), and February (which I am more excited to begin!), but I won't bore you with those details!

Instead, I'll skip ahead to what everyone has been waiting for...one of the BIG preparations for our growing family: the minivan!

I have researched prices for months, tried to absorb all I can about the car-buying process, and literally prayed for someone to appear and volunteer to find a van for us! We have known for some time that we wanted a Honda Odyssey, and you would think that alone would make the search easier. As much as I looked forward to all the good things a bigger vehicle would bring, I literally dreaded going to the car lot.

But, God proved yet again He cares about every detail of our lives. I can't imagine how a buying process could progress any more smoothly than it did. We brought the stock number of a great deal we found on a specific vehicle, and left with a BETTER one for even less.

She's a 2008, with more bells and whistles than I even imagined we'd get for the price...

I can't believe how blessed we are to have the means to get a vehicle with enough space to fit everyone and everything!

We brought the kids with us to purchase (had to, they were fighting off a bug!), and they were amazing. Later that night, we celebrated by watching a quick movie in the van. I really didn't want a built-in entertainment center (just one more thing to break), but it actually didn't end up costing extra. It will be nice for the rare treat we'll use it!

What do the kids think besides how cool the built-in DVD player is? Zoe planted herself in the drivers seat. And after it met her approval, moved on to buckling and unbuckling car seats. Zoe is definitely a details-oriented kind of gal.

Ian engaged in what I would consider typical kid-checking-out-a-van-for-the-first-time behavior. He crawled over every seat, attempted to run from one side to the other, and enjoyed playing hide and seek in what must seem a cavernous expanse of vehicle to his small frame.

Matt has claimed the van as his...which is amusing, since he'll hardly be driving it. But if you know him, you know that even before children he would have driven a minivan. He thinks they are cool, and I daresay has been looking forward to this moment even more than I have.

Which brings me to me. "A van? Really? A van!?" I've been asked. To be honest I don't really have an ultimate dream vehicle. The time that I drove it, the Focus was my dream vehicle. It had everything I needed! It's a standard transmission, that can turn almost literally on a dime. My foot is still seeking the clutch pedal. It was a perfect, zippy little car! It got us from point A to point B. It gave us a few problems in the first month we had it, but has very happily earned nearly 100,000 miles in 6 years.

Now I find myself in my new dream vehicle. It hasn't become that dream vehicle because of all the features that I didn't even envision having. (Or the fact that I don't have to bend over to get them in car seats, or risk smacking a nice dent into the neighboring vehicle as I load up). It certainly isn't a dream for the nightmare I can imagine it will be to clean. Seriously, is it even possible to make one more nook or cranny for something to fall into? They do realize kids are probably going to be in there, right?!

This 2008 Honda Odyssey is my dream vehicle because our family is growing perfectly into it. I'll be that mom, driving my 3 kids around in my Oreo Speedwagon blasting kids songs, trying to drown out their screaming...and enjoying every moment of growth God has given us.

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus... -Philip. 1:6

That's the best promise of growth. He won't stop growing me until He's finished with me. I look forward with eagerness to all of the growth we have yet to experience as a family. :)