Learning Contentment, Gratitude and Disney on Ice!!!

If you are at my house for any period of time you are bound to hear this question, "Mom, how come so and so has this and I don't?  Why can't we just go out and buy stuff we want?  Why do we always have to wait for our birthdays or Christmas?"  Every time I hear these questions I silently smile.  We must be doing something right if the kids don't have everything they want.  Contentment is such a hard lesson to learn and teaching it can be pretty difficult.  Kids just have such a hard time delaying gratification (hey I know a lot of adults who do too!) and they don't understand that us giving them everything they want is actually a disservice to them and their future selves.

The reality for my kids is that because they are from a bigger family (I don't even consider our family that big) they will have to learn contentment over and over.  In our society this is such a foreign concept.  We want to give our kids everything they want in order to bring them happiness but this happiness isn't real.  It's fleeting.  Society though will tell you that the bigger your family is, the more your kids will suffer because their needs won't be met sufficiently.  My 15 year old nephew innocently asked me when I was pregnant with Makenna "Are you sure you can afford this?"  After I had a good laugh thinking well...it's a little too late for that, I thought how affordability has become a relative term.  It means so many things to so many different people.  I could sit here and tell you that the financial burden of each new child was something that Wes and I thought long and hard about before we got pregnant but that wouldn't be the case.  We pretty much knew from the beginning that we wanted to have a larger family.  We also had 100% faith that God would provide for our family.  I truly believe in my heart of hearts that God loves children and He loves seeing His children step out in faith and say "I'm not sure how we're going to do it, but we will have faith."  And I believe that He rewards that belief.  I would say that we are living proof of how He provides.  God has provided Wes a good job and the years that he has gotten raises have helped sustain us so that we haven't had to worry too much.  So where does that leave our kids?  It leaves them learning everyday that it's not all about them, it's about the family as a whole.  We are not consumers in our family, we are team members.  It's about doing what's best for all and not what's best for one single person.  This is a lesson that I think we will be teaching them until the day they leave our home.

An unexpected thing that I've learned over the years is that when we maintain this attitude that provision is truly out of our hands, we invite God to show His blessings in our lives.  Put another way, His blessings are very obvious.  He shows Himself in ways that we would not be able to.

Last night was one of those examples for our family.  We were gifted, through Wes' work, tickets to Disney on Ice.  We didn't even know they were coming to town!  We were given 4 tickets, a parking pass and the seats ended up being in a suite!!  This was definitely something that we never would have done for the kids!  We decided that this was so huge we were going to make it a surprise.  We only had 4 tickets so we had to leave the two little ones at home (sorry Cam and Mak if you ever read this...you missed out on a fun time!).  We pretended with Owen and Preston that we were driving them to Awana.  Halfway there, they realized they had forgotten their bags and uniforms and started freaking out.  Finally we told them that we weren't going to Awana, we were going somewhere where we would need glow sticks and I handed them some glow sticks.  Preston said "We're going to Disney World!!"  We all laughed and then we told them we were going to Disney on Ice.  They had no idea what that even was but Owen said "Oh Mom and Dad, thank you so much, you are such nice parents!"

The show itself was so fun!  Preston said there was a few too many princesses but they both loved it.  For me it was one of those moments where you sit and say I don't deserve to be here, I did nothing on my own power to get here but none of that matters because I'm here!  Woohoo!  Sound like anything else that we as Christians get to experience?  I hate to compare Disney on Ice to Heaven  because I know Heaven will be sooo much better and that Mickey Mouse probably won't be there....but that's the feeling that I had.  A huge feeling of gratitude.  Today I heard both of the boys say at different times "Hey Owen, hey Preston, do you remember when we went to Disney on Ice?  That was so fun!"  I had to laugh since we just went last night!  Here's some of the pictures we took.  They aren't great but you get the idea.

I want to be very sensitive when I write that I let you know my intention is never to make anyone feel bad or to brag, for me it's more about chronicling our family and where we are at in our feelings and experiences at a certain time!

Makenna Noelle's Birth Story

I can't believe I haven't updated this blog since April but lets just say that being pregnant while having 3 other kids sucked up all of my extra time!  I wanted to share the story of Makenna's birth on here not only because I know that I love reading other people's birth stories, but also because I have such a terrible memory so I need a record of what happened so I can share it with her someday!

We became pregnant with Makenna in February and let me just say, it was a wonderful pregnancy.  I didn't have any morning sickness, didn't feel too bloated and in the beginning, I had a lot of energy.  That said though, I enjoyed this pregnancy the least.  I don't know why.  I think its because it spanned the winter, spring, summer and fall so I felt like it was the never-ending pregnancy!  And once we found out it was a girl, I was counting down the days which made them seem even longer!

We were thrilled to find out that we were having a girl!  I told my mom and she didn't really believe me.  I didn't believe it myself for a while.  I know I had prayed and prayed for this, but in the back of my mind I thought God had destined me for a life with boys (which would have been wonderful too!).  As the time drew closer, it felt like we were doing this for the first time.  I was blessed with many people in my life who gifted me clothes and other girly things that I didn't have.  I had a few baby showers which was wonderful!  I have never felt so loved by my friends and family!

Well, fast forward to my 38 week doctors appt on Thursday Oct. 24th.  At this point, I felt like I should be having the baby anytime.  I can't explain why I felt that way but I just knew that the way I felt at 38 weeks was the way that I feel near the very end of my pregnancies.  The doctor checked to see how dialated I was and I was 4 cm!  I was so happy because I knew that there was an end in sight!  She said we would wait and see what would happen but that if I started having contractions I should call her pretty quick.

That night we had our friends Rod and Mary over and while we were talking over dinner I kept having contractions.  I kept thinking they were nothing and they tapered off.  They joked when they were leaving that it would be funny if I had the baby that night.  After they left, I told Wes I was going to bed *just in case* anything were to happen.  At 4:25 am, I was woke up to a very painful contraction.  Since this isn't my first rodeo, I knew what direction we were headed.  I decided to take a shower and then if my contractions didn't stop by the time I was done, I would call the doctor.  They just got worse so I woke up Wes and we called the doctor and started preparing for the hospital.

Now when you are having your first baby, all you have to remember to pack are things for yourself and your spouse.  When you have three other little ones, it's like you're packing them for a giant vacation that they aren't really going on!  Thankfully I had packed us all up the day before which was great because my mind wasn't working very well between contractions.  Waking up the kids was a job all in itself!  They were in DEEP sleep and totally disoriented.  But once Wes said, "Mommy's having the baby," they all shook off the sleep and ran downstairs to get ready to go.  Our plan was to meet my sister at the hospital and then she would take all the kids back to her house.

By this time, it is about 5:15am.  I had been having contractions for almost an hour and we still weren't out of the house!  I kept saying to Wes, "we gotta go, we gotta go!"  We tore out of the driveway and made our way to the hospital which was about 15 minutes away.  The Lord was blazing our trail and we hit all green lights and Preston said, "We should drive every night at 5 because all the lights are green!"  We pulled into the parking lot and lo and behold we couldn't find the emergency entrance to the hospital!!  If I would have listened to Wes who suggested we tour the hospital weeks before, we wouldn't have had this problem!  We drove around and around and I thought "Oh no, I'm going to be one of those people that has her baby in the car!"  We finally found the entrance and jumped out and thrust the kids onto my sister and got inside.

We settled into the room about 5:50 and they checked me and said "Oh my! You're 9 cm dialated!"  Oh great.  My worst nightmare was about to come true...a birth without drugs!  I knew about the "window of time" you have to get the epidural and I knew I was in trouble!  I know all my friends who have done it claim it's not that bad....I choose to not believe you.  I like my drugs.  I like being able to smile and laugh while I push a bowling ball out of my hind end.  But no, I had waited too long!  As the news sank in, I started begging..."Is there anything you can do???  I need something!!"  They tracked down the epidural guy and he was able to give me a "walking epidural."  Not sure what the difference is but all I know is when he came in there and started putting it in, he was sooo slow!  All he was doing was chatting.  Chitty chat chat...all about what, I have no clue because I was fantasizing about punching him in the face!  He took forever!!  See, this is why I need drugs.  Stacy no drugs...Stacy no nicey.  Well, finally the drugs took the edge off and then it was time to push.  That's when they tell me that Makenna was face up.  That did not sound good.  "Oh no," they said, "that just means it might be a little harder to push her out."  At this point I was so glad I had something in my system to help me relax while I pushed her out!

I pushed about 15 minutes and at 6:50 am, Makenna Noelle was born.  Wes cried a little bit and I normally cry but this time I was so mad that I had missed my epidural window (I know, I'm so stupid!) that all I could do was smile!  No tears this time!  I was so happy that she was finally here!  She had come on October 25, 2013, two weeks before her due date.  She was 7lbs 6oz and 19.5 inches long.

Now she is 2 months old and has been such a wonderful baby!  She truly rolls with whatever we're doing and has been pretty easy-going!  She does cry and fuss but all in all, she is great. Perfect for our last baby.  We are so happy and feel so blessed when we look at our whole family together.  Sometimes it is insane but we know that they will all be so close since there is only a 7 year gap from Preston to Makenna.  We may not have any hair left by the time Makenna leaves the house and we might be riding bikes instead of cars since we will have to sell them to help pay for college, but we wouldn't want it any other way!

Trip to the funny farm

Spring has sprung at the Creech farm!  We hadn't been out to my sister/parents farm in 3 weeks due to vacation and then a week of the flu that took down everyone but me.  Poor Preston missed 4 days of school and threw up about 30 times!  His classmates wrote him get well cards...it was so sweet!!  Once we were finally healthy we went to visit the new babies...the lambs!

 Cameron was a little bit unsure at first!

 It didn't take long for them to become best buddies!

 It also took about 2 seconds flat for Preston to ask if we could have one at home!  I thought they were so cute that I would love to but I think we're not allowed if we live in the city.  I'm sure our neighbors would LOVE us!!!

 Owen has been talking about these lambs all winter and how he will be their shepherd.  He even told the teachers at preschool who thought he was making it all up.  He says he wants to be like David!

 

 Here's the boys on the farm side of the property where a creek is getting pretty full from all the rain water.  My dad is poking Preston on the head with a stick but Preston had no idea he was up there and didn't feel a thing.  Hard-headed, I say!

 King of the mountain!

This is also about 90 seconds before Owen ends up falling over into the creek and his fun is over.  He ended up sitting on the edge of the creek with me in just his skivies.

 "Now that Owen is out of the way, I will fill his boots with water!! (cue evil laugh!)"

 Back at the house, the babies needed to be fed.  I am a pro bottle feeder by now so I fed this one.  I did end up spraying milk in my face which doesn't normal happen when I feed humans!

Here's the King of the Mountain before he was dethroned and stripped of all but his underwear.

The kids have so much fun over at the farm!  We are so grateful to Sara and my parents for allowing us to take part in this adventure without having to do a lot of the work!

Our trip to Destin

We haven't really been to Florida since Sara moved away so I was excited to get to enjoy the beach and the sun again over Spring Break this year.  I was a little bit apprehensive about driving down which took about 14 hours because I didn't know how the kids would fare.  Well, let me tell you, Pinterest came through for me in a big way.  They gave me this idea about writing each child's name on a clothespin.  While you're on the car ride, you clip their name onto the visor and then you remove it if they are acting up.  During that time, you randomly do checks and whoever has their name still on the visor gets something special.  I decided that the kids would get 50 cents every time their clip was still on the visor so I made a sticker chart to show their progress.  They had the ability to earn up to $6 to use towards souvenirs when they got to Florida.  I was impressed by how much the money motivated them.  If you have a road trip planned anytime soon with older kids, I'm sure this will be a hit!

We went down to Destin, Florida with Wes' brother Chad and his family and his sister Amy and her family.  There was 17 of us in all.  This was the place that we stayed at.  It was a wonderful house that fit our families perfectly!  It was in a neighborhood that looked like it was straight out of Desperate Housewives.  We loved being in a neighborhood because it allowed the kids to be able to play things like kickball and baseball without worrying too much about cars.

It's so funny that we all have a two-year old.  They were like the three musketeers, getting into trouble at every turn.  They would follow each other around and sneak snacks from the pantry or from our rooms.  It's rumored Gisele (Chad's 2 year old daughter) may have eaten half of Amy and Jay's chocolate chip cookies.  I also witnessed her eating 4 packs of our fruit snacks!  Cameron would just cruise the kitchen and put his hands up hoping to snag a bag of chips or cheez-its.  They also loved to escape out the front door and head towards the street when no one was looking.  Thankfully we had a deadbolt that we could use that kept them inside!   They are definitely little rascals!  Here's a picture of them giving us a few moments of peace by watching a movie in Cameron's bed.

These boys were the other set of 3 Musketeers that we had.  They are 7 (Canon, far right), 6 (Preston, middle) and 5 (Quinn, far left) and they play together fabulously!  We are so happy to have all these boys!

Getting ready for family pictures

These pictures always make me laugh because if you were there while they were being taken, you would have seen the sheer chaos of bringing us all together.  I'm pretty surprised in how good it turned out!

The view from the beach.

The last night there.  I love my boys!

Wes apparently forgot to smile but the rest of us turned on the charm on his behalf, especially Owen.  

First things first!

Oh how I have missed blogging!  I know there are only a token few of you left who read but I still love to write so I'm going to keep doing it.  We just got back from our vacation to Florida but as I was downloading my pictures from the trip, I realized I had some pretty cute winter pictures to share first!  This is our first winter in Brownsburg and let me just tell you...it was lovely!  We have a lot of trees in our front yard and back yard and when they were covered in snow, it looked like a winter wonderland.  I don't really love snow that much but after this winter, I'm now a fan!

Before I show you our snow pictures, I just wanted to give you a public service announcement;  This picture is why self-portraits are such a bad idea!  A double-chin is almost inevitable when you take it yourself! :)  Owen is our budding photographer...he loves to steal the camera and take lots of interesting pictures of things like carpet, the chair, the floor....you know, the things most people love to see pictures of!  He always leaves an incriminating picture of himself just in case we don't know who the culprit is!

 Onto the snow!

 This was Owens first time making a real snow angel.

 Here's Cameron showing off his giant chompers.  

Preston is ready for his close up!  This is his 3rd winter coat of the season.  He lost the first one...still not sure how that is possible. So I inadvertently bought Preston a replacement coat from Goodwill that ended up being a girl coat...I mean he only wore it to school like three times before I figured it out!  So, this time I went to Kohls to make sure I was buying a boy coat instead of a girl coat. 

Here's a photo I like to look at when all the kids are fighting.  Deep down I know they like each other.  We try really hard to instill a closeness in the family because I really think that friends will fade but family lasts forever!

When the hard times come....

I'm not sure what first triggered it.  I think it was when I looked at Wes' paycheck and said "Hey, we're missing a hundred bucks this month!"  Come to find out, the government apparently doesn't have enough of our money so they decided to take some more!  This left a really bad taste in my mouth.  I must have missed WHY they were taking more money out of checks so in the end it just felt like we were being stolen from.  Pair that with already having to cut down our budget about $40 a month at the beginning of this year and I bet you can guess what happened; 

I decided we were poor.

I moped around for a few days wavering between anger, pity and fear.  I just felt helpless for the first time in a long time.  When Wes and I overspend, it doesn't hit me so hard because I know there's always another month to do better.  But when you already feel like you're living on a tight budget and then have someone come and "pull the rug"out from under you, that's a different story.  Now, I do want to say I know we are not poor.  Not even close to it.  I know we live in the most blessed country in the world and that we are richer than about 95% of the world's population.  I know this in my head, but my heart was saying "That's all well and good but what happens when you have unexpected expenses that you can't pay for?  What are you going to do then?"  Fear began to grip my heart.  I started thinking about it constantly and worrying about things that we had already committed to.  Should we really go on that vacation?  Should we really be buying the kids more clothes?  Should we really buy the kids presents for their birthdays or just put a little money into their college funds? (My kids would burn me at the stake if they knew I was thinking about that one!)

Then I went to my Father's house.  I can't tell you exactly what the pastor said but I left with this thought going through my head, "Do I really believe what I say I believe?"  Do I believe that God loves me? Yes.  Do I believe that He has guided my path these past 31 years?  Definitely.  Do I believe His Word when He says "See how I take care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field?  How much more will I take care of you, my beloved child?"  I had to say YES! I do believe that. 

And with that, I was reminded that NOTHING happens that God doesn't know about and control.  He works our lives together for HIS good.  Will there be painful times?  Times where God doesn't make sense or seem to fit into the picture of what we had of Him? Most assuredly.  But think of how much comfort we can take in knowing that the Being who knit us together in our mother's womb is still the One who is watching over and providing for us today.  I was so encouraged that God brought me to this place and I hope it's a place that I can stay and camp out in for the rest of my life; resting in Him instead of my own understanding.  I hope that if you are struggling with fear or trying to understand God's will in difficult circumstances, instead of pulling away from God, you will draw nearer to Him.  He will be our Refuge and Strength if we just allow Him to.

Has anyone else struggled with hard times lately?  You are not alone! 

Ps.  While writing this post, I have thought about a half dozen close friends or family members who are going through things 100 times worse than me and I started doubting that I should even write this blog because I feel like my struggles are pea-sized in comparison.  But in the end, I think that we can find encouragement in sharing our struggles, no matter how big or small!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cameron!

Cameron James Cook began making his arrival onto the earth on February 7, 2011.  Now that I know him and his personality, I'm not surprised that he didn't need any help coming out.  He knew when he wanted to be born and he made it happen.  He is exactly like this today.  He sees what he wants and go head first in to get it.

 Cameron was a wonderful baby.  He slept a lot which was very kind to his mother and he didn't have any trouble plumping up.  We thought Owen was a big baby but Cameron surpassed him as he grew.  He brought a lot of excitement to our house as Wes and I learned to juggle 3 boys!  It gets a lot more complicated when you have 3 children instead of 2 because someone is always doing double the work.  Wes and I had no problem keeping score of what each of us had done so we could say "I changed the last dirty diaper, your turn!"  That's modern marriage for you folks!

 This was a typical look for Cameron; sleeping in the car seat.  Life doesn't stop when you're born 3rd child in a family, you are just always taken along for the ride.  I always wonder how his personality will be different from Preston or Owen's because he is forced to just do what everyone else is doing.

I always had this dream that my kids would love playing together and would just share and love each other so much.  This dream was right along side the dream that I would always stay a size 4.  As we all know, not all dreams become reality.  Yes I am still a size 4, but no my kids don't play very well together.  Okay, fine, I'm a 5.  Okay fine, my size is the answer of this equation (5+4-1/75x the square root of butterscotch pie).  Anywhooo....This picture is probably right before one of those blocks went flying into the forehead of one or both of the boys.  Whenever Owen and Cameron play together you can guarantee fireworks.  They are so close in age and Cameron does not back down and that makes for some interesting fights!

One thing Cameron loves to do is when he's not causing mischief is to have fun!  He has such a cute sense of humor and makes us laugh with his antics. 

He also lives by the mantra "the dirtier you are, the more fun you must be having!"

 As Cameron enters his second year of life, we are excited for what is ahead.  He talks more than any of the other boys did at this age.  He is a pistol and let's us know when he is pleased and not pleased but even after he throws a giant fit and ends up getting what he wants, he politely says thank you.  Hey...I guess it's the little things! 

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet Cameron!  You bring so much love to our lives and we can't imagine living it without you!