Sweet Luke

More to come later after I'm not so sleep deprived, but here is Luke awake today :)

38 weeks 6 days

Only 2 more days till we meet Luke!  We are all so excited!! 

Back to blogging...

It's amazing that the last time I posted was in January.  SO much has happened in the life of our family.  I must say that it was not on purpose that I unplugged from blogging, but I lost access to our blog until now!  I guess timing is perfect since THIS week we will add the sixth Martin to this family!!

33 Weeks at Luke's baby shower at EBC  

We found out we were expecting a precious little one on December 31st., due September 6th.  Of course being high risk meant a scheduled c-section at 39 weeks, August 30th.  This pregnancy has been very amazing/trying/difficult/and so much more.  My doctor was very proactive the entire time with extra ultrasounds and appointments, treatments and so on to do everything he could to make sure we didn't have anything surprise us (like a spontaneous placental abruption which happened with Elizabeth!)  I've had wonderful friends from our church that have helped out along the way when i was sick or tired or both.  My precious husband has helped with so much at home when I feel bad, I am such a blessed woman.

These three.  Madelyn (8), Catharine (6), and Elizabeth (4), what would I do without these darlings?  They have LOVED watching my belly grow over the past 9 months.  They are all lil' mommas waiting to meet their lil' brother.  They are currently "over" Luke being in my belly and ready (have been ready for over a month...) to meet him in person.  Catharine's prayer this week was that he would be born today....we shall see :).

They keep us laughing...

 I simply cannot believe that we are going to become a family of 6, and I cannot believe I'm having a baby boy.  The blue around our house is a constant reminder, and has been such a different experience already!  We are SO excited, Luke, for you to make your grand entrance into this family!  

(37 weeks)

Thank you, Lord.  Your gifts are good.  I can look back over the past couple of years and see that even through our painful experience of losing a precious little one, you were growing us, preparing us even for now.  We are soberly thankful for life, for the gift of being parents, for Luke and for our girls.  All of these precious gifts come from you and we are grateful.

Cannot wait to meet and introduce to the world Luke Edward Martin!  Stay tuned!

Shout out to Lynn Pugh for the wonderful pictures!  Lynn, you are selfless, talented and a blessing to me.  Thank you for capturing such wonderful memories!

10 Year Anniversary

I can't believe it's been 10 years!  Still my best friend, oh how I love this man!  

Goodbye 2012

I'm so thankful for our Pastor, Pat Powell.  He shared this during his sermon Sunday morning and it really just stirred my heart.  This year has been difficult in so many ways, without question the hardest year of my life, but it is true that in my weakness, HE is strong.  In my pain, He works mightily.  I pray that my life will glorify Him no matter the trial...

O Love beyond compare,
Thou art good when Thou givest,
when Thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With Thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that Thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If Thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
Thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see Thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify Thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for Thy use.

~The Valley of Vision

Happy New Year, I am excited about 2013 and all that God has for us...

Photography lesson...

Today was FUN.  My amazing mother-in-law has a good friend who was so gracious to come an hour drive to give us an all day photography lesson!  These pictures were taken by Kristie Bailey and if you need a photographer and live within an hour drive of Birmingham---I highly recommend her!  She is awesome and trying to build a business, I can give you her number.  Proof of her skills below...

We don't have very many pictures together, but oh how I adore this woman!  Such a blessing to me.

Elizabeth took this picture with the help of Mrs. Kristie!

Mrs. Kristie actually helped Elizabeth take this picture!

Showing such self control waiting until the camera was ready to capture her blowing on the "dandelions"...

She loves blowing these "dandelions," even though I'm not sure that is what they are really called...

Every day leaves on a concrete step.  There is so much beauty all around us in the simple things!

My baby.  Oh geez.  She's getting big.

Kristie taught us about blurring, or boca photography.

These were my favorites of over 300 pictures taken today!  Such a fun day :)

Little Girls and other things...

I'm not much of a reader.  But really, that is a total cop out.  I need to read more.  I love wasting (instead of reading great books) my time on FB and Pinterest (confession is good for the heart and bad for the reputation).  Because I have a smart phone, I tend to check my FB ALL day long multiple times an hour and I find myself consumed with it!  I'm at a place in my life where I need to unplug more from social media.  My dear friend, Genny, highly recommended this book to me two days ago and it sounded like something I was in need of reading.  I have three daughters who are 7, 5, and 3.  At these ages ALL of them are asking for their own phones, iPads, make-up, and high heels, and wanting to watch Disney channel tween shows as much as I want to be on FB.  I need a reality check and some tools in my box to combat this world that is vying for me and my girls' attention.  I'm on chapter 3 and I can already HIGHLY recommend this book to you if you have daughters.  It is so eye opening.  I mean, shocking-convicting-heart breaking-and empowering.  So read it and tell me your thoughts.  And, after a little less than 24 hours into my FB break, I'm telling you that I've realized a few things:  

1) It is an addiction in my life.  And I justify it every single hour of the day.

2) I'm much freer without it and notice a lot more when my eyes aren't glued to my phone screen.  Like every word my 3 year old says to me in her sweet little girl voice.  

3) I love people, but people can really post some stuff that you can do without hearing or seeing.  It's nice to unplug from other people's business...

4) I can be way more intentional with my Bible when I focus on reading what is life changing and not life draining.  His Word is FAR more filling than the junk food of social media.  Word?!  (I know, we like to share links and blog posts and other great things, but as a whole you know exactly what I mean!

5) I care way too much about what other people think about me and my life and my parenting and so on.  (At this moment I'm thinking, "ugh...I'm being too transparent.  The folks reading my blog are so gonna judge me...and I think my blog still posts to FB, they are going to think I went on FB to post it...can I somehow fix that?? Wait, it doesn't matter.  God is my Righteous judge....sigh."

6) Unhealthy obsessions don't start off that way.  My kids can easily have unhealthy obsessions (like "Hey Jesse" and "Good Luck Charlie", or lip gloss) and justify them because they see me justifying mine.  Bad mommy.  Oh I so want to lead my kids by example.  "Do as I do, and say" instead of "do as I say not as I do".  Get me?  I do NOT want the world to win my kids over...

All that to say...I'm spending my extra time reading this book this week and I think it is really great.  So, you should look into it if you are so prompted :)

Disclaimer:  I KNOW that there are great things about social media.  I love staying connected with missionaries on the field, family across the US, and  and frankly for this reason I will never delete my FB account.  I'm just stepping back and giving more time to what matters until I can be more responsible with my time!  Don't peg me a hater :)

Love.

Please pray...

Y'all may remember this little darling making her grand dramatic entrance into this world causing us to hold our breath until she took her first.  From the 21st week of my pregnancy with this girl, we prayed for some divine healing and intervention from the Lord, because the odds were not in her favor.  God answered time and time again.  Over her 5 and 1/2 years we've learned more and more about her, and as she's now started kindergarten, this momma is...hmm...how to word it correctly.  I guess I would call myself alert.  We've gotten doctor notes, we've talked with teachers (shout out to the BEST teacher EVER, Mrs. Jenne', not quite sure what I would do without you...), and we've talked with the school nurse.  BUT, things happen.  This Tuesday, we got a call that Catharine didn't feel well and had a low-grade fever.  After some investigating, her teacher and I came to the conclusion that she got too hot in PE.  She overdid it and had to get picked up from school.  She doesn't sweat and just a simple indoor activity can mean that she will overheat and her entire day will be ruined.  Can you imagine?  

I'm just not sure how to pray?!  Ever been there?  How great would it be for the Lord to heal her of this disorder?!  But, we know that sometimes He allows hardships for reasons that we cannot always see.  I would love to take her out of PE and put her in the library, but I don't want her to be that kid.  I want her to live her life, like everyone else.  We're coping.  She's coping.

Many of you love her and have walked through a lot of her life with us. Would you pray for her and us and her teachers?  

Thanks, friends.  God is good.  We praise Him for her precious life.  To Him be the glory!

First Day of School!

I woke the girls up at 7 this morning.  Madelyn was super excited, Catharine was....sleepy :).  First they got dressed, then we ate breakfast, then a family devotion and prayer, then brushed teeth, packed backpacks, pictures, and off to school!  

 Today we learned that God has power to heal!  God is so good to us!

 This totally shows their personalities...Madelyn super excited and uninhibited, Catharine reserved and sweetly smiling.

 Me-"Madelyn, smile normal!  :)"

 Doll.

 2nd grade already?!

 Madelyn helping Catharine find her cubby and hanging up her backpack.

 Un-coached hug, made this momma about melt down in the cubby room of Mrs. Jenne's class...moving on....

 Having this UH-mazing teacher again was the difference between be being totally at ease leaving Catharine at school and being a wreck...So thankful for such a precious teacher!

 Madelyn's 1st grade teacher and Catharine's Kindergarten teacher!  Nothing but love!  :)

 2nd grade in Mrs. Allen's class!!  

 Hanging up her backpack!  The last to arrive...

 No shyness in her bones...hopped right into the desk with her name on it, didn't even look back!

 Settling in, me slowly exiting, sort of wishing she would blow me a kiss or something!

 The lone girl thinking she could take over Madelyn's seat...um, no ma'am... :)

This morning Elizabeth has been calling me "Teacher" and keeping me very, very busy.  I was super wishful that she would love being the only kid at home and be able to play quietly while I cleaned and worked on Mary Kay things some...instead it's been finger painting, play-doh, playing school, constant begging for snacks, and pretty much feeling like a fish out of water without her sisters!  It'll take time, but she'll end up loving this I think :)  Cheers to a brand new school year and being more than thankful for an exceptional school full of amazing people to take excellent care of my littles!  Praising God for where he has placed us :)

"School Send-off Celebration!"

To try to keep myself from getting all sappy as I can easily do, I decided to plan an impromptu "School Send-off Celebration!"  We made snow (thanks to Suzanne for passing a snow cone maker!) and the girls chose milk and chocolate syrup to add flavor (insert gagging...), next we ate decorated cookies with respective grades, the grand finale was SLIME, which happens to be my girls' favorite thing to do ever.  It is a big hot mess for a momma, but 2-3 times a year is manageable :)

The rest of the night included packing lunches, chicken pot pies for dinner, baths, picking out school clothes, and B.E.D.  Sweet times for sure.  Bring on Kindergarten and 2nd grade!  We're super excited!!

He is faithful

I was looking at archived posts from the past 5 years of our blog.  One thing that kept ringing true in my mind is that we have no clue what is going to happen in our lives.  We plan and pray, and HE alone establishes our steps.  We trust in His timing, His plan, His way.  There were times in the past 9 and half years of our marriage when we thought we knew what was going to happen or where we were headed, and by His grace, He guided us to a different place.

No matter what, He is faithful.  We were thrilled to announce our new pregnancy, and are sad to announce (on the blog, though we've announced weeks ago publicly) that we lost our sweet little one June 29th.  God is faithful, in our pain and loss, He ministers to our broken hearts.  For that I'm thankful.

Thank you for your prayers.  

A lil' Announcement

Elizabeth has a lil' announcement!  She's excited that she is going to be a BIG SISTER!!

We found out on Memorial Day that we are expecting a baby come January!!!  It is super early to tell the world, but with our history, we want as many prayers as we can get!  Would you lift up this pregnancy, pray for it to be uneventful and "normal" unlike the previous two!

We are BEYOND excited!  The girls are too, most days they want a sister, though Madelyn has mentioned that having a baby brother would be really good.  We will be thrilled with either, knowing that God is knitting this little one together already...

So excited to share our news with you!  To God be the glory!

Mary Kay!

Dear friends, I have an announcement!

I now sell Mary Kay, officially...and I need your help!  Would you hurry on over to:

My Website

And place yourself a lil' order??  If you are within the 35406-ish zip code (or not?!), I would love to be your very own personal go to beauty consultant!  Sent me an email and I will for sure set up a time to meet with you! I need practice, people!

Let me tell you why I'm on this new adventure...

We needed something that I could do from home that would help us to pay off my student loans from college.  I know everyone has that one thing they wish they could pay off?!  Well, now that we are able, we're working hard at it!  I have loved and used Mary Kay products for years...it was a no-brainer to sell something I already love and believe in!

To start my business, I need to stock my inventory, and if you have some beauty care needs, would you be so kind as to let me assist you?  For convenience, you can place your order online, or you can call me (205-431-6691) and we can talk about your skincare needs.  I would love to help you!  And, if you are looking for a way to make some extra income to pay off that one thing or save up for something big...for whatever reasons you may have, I would love to talk to you about how becoming a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant can help you!

Thanks for your help in advance!

Chandra
Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant (Yeah!!!)

Happy Love Day

"We love because he first loved us."

1 John 4:19

"Love is patient and kind; 

love does not envy or boast; 

it is not arrogant or rude. 

It does not insist on its own way; 

it is not irritable or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, 

but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7