,,and now, the photos for which you've all been waiting!

Okay, people have been requesting more photos of our sweet baby Daniel. (In my defense, can I just say that my camera cord was missing for nearly the first two weeks of his life? :) Thanks for letting me deflect blame).
Here are a few! These are all taken within the past week, so they are recent.
I cannot believe he is three weeks old already, WOW! (This time three weeks ago, I was getting ready to start pushing, yikes!!!).

I am ever reminded, DAILY, of God's faithfulness in giving us such a successful, wonderful birth experience. Did I mention that we had a completely unmedicated birth? (NOT bragging, because believe me, I sure gave that epidural some consideration about this time, haha!----but I knew that any interventions that *I* allowed were going to take me one step closer to that Operating Room, and I did NOT want that! The pain was worth it; I'd do it again!). God has been so good! He IS good, all the time, anyway....amen.

So, here are some pictures! :)

Updates on the Shoplifter

Okay, first of all, let me say that I printed the wrong thing in my last post, when I referred you back to Natalie's previous trouble with lying---it wasn't the post I mentioned, it was an incident from last February, and the post was called, "Liar, liar!"---THAT was when she told half the church that her daddy had died and her mommy was pregnant (the month before I was---as one friend said, maybe Natalie is prophetically gifted, HA!).

The trip back to Great Clips was okay. I was a little disappointed that the shop manager didn't make a bigger deal about it, but they were very busy at the time we returned, and she was in the middle of cutting someone's hair, so she probably felt distracted. I did make Natalie pay for the chapstick, and she did not get to keep it, she had to give it to Mommy. There were a bunch of people in the shop, too, and we stepped back from the front (my goal was NOT to humiliate her!), but I'm sure most of them figured out what was happening.

I am not really sure how seriously Natalie took it all. I know that it's "normal" for children to do stuff like this, and test limits, and see how much they can actually get away with....I just want so badly to be sure I am reaching their hearts! :)

Here is a sweet photo of my Natalie and her new baby brother. Aren't they cute? :)

ThE uP aNd DoWn AdVeNtUrE oF pArEnTiNg!!!!

HELP!
As if lying isn't bad enough (see my post from October entitled "What Day is Today?" ), now my precious, challenging daughter has taken up shoplifting! AArrggghhhh!!!!!!!!

Scott took dear, sweet, I-don't-always-know-what-to-do-with-her Natalie to get her haircut on Friday afternoon. Today is Monday. I was gone this morning to my 2-wk checkup after Daniel's birth (Can you believe that baby is already 15 days old??!!!!), and while I was gone, my hard-working mama was catching up our laundry.

Apparently, she discovered a chapstick in the dryer---thankfully, the lid did NOT come off, but the chapstick was obviously melted, so she put it in the fridge to re-harden. When Scott saw it in the fridge, he questioned aloud why it was there, and to whom did it belong? Natalie claimed it, but from my seat nursing the baby across the room, I did not recognize it as 'ours' (most all of our chapsticks are Carmex, with red lids, and this one was not!). I asked her to let me see it, and then I realized the ugly truth: it had a "Great Clips" logo on it, and I immediately deduced the situation. After much giggling and blushing, Natalie admitted to pocketing the chapstick while she was there on Friday. (Giggling?? GIGGLING??? My daughter steals AND finds it amusing?? GULP!).

Help! This precocious and precious daughter of ours grows ever more challenging. I have already put a call in to the manager at Great Clips, who knows us by name from my monthly trips there with my shaggy brood and our 15 passenger van, HA! I requested that she make a Big Deal out of the situation to dear Natalie Ruth, so she will NOT repeat this behaviour......we will be returning to the shop tomorrow so Natalie can admit her sin, pay for the chapstick, and ask for forgiveness from the manager.

....sigh.
I feel like I take two steps forward and three steps backwards in my parenting of this sweet daughter! I want so badly to channel this bold, adventurous spirit that she has, because I know she is destined to be a leader and a "mover and shaker" in the Kingdom of God.....
HELP!
Further updates after our trip to Great Clips tomorrow! :) Prayers appreciated!

To GOD be all the Glory!!!

Great things He has done!
WE DID IT!---Our sweet baby boy, Daniel Charles, was born Sunday evening, November 30th, at 5:16 p.m. He weighed 10 lbs 6 oz, and is 21.5 inches long----and he was born WITHOUT surgery, and without any meds!

I could never have done it without the prayers and support of all of you precious friends and family. We came home from the hospital last night.

I will post more details and a full birth story within the next week or so! Feel free to give us a call or stop by and meet Baby Daniel. :)

You can see Daniel's picture at www.our365.com, and enter the password below:

Click here to go to your baby's Newborn Portrait gallery in WebNursery®

****** Here's your Visitor Password: 14461252194423 ******

Let me know if you have any trouble with the link! More detailed birth story soon, right now, I'm tired! :)
GOD IS GOOD, all the time!