Gracie's Baptism

This past Sunday, April 28, 2013, Russ and I were blessed and priviledged to be able to bring our precious daughter before God and our family and friends, to be baptized. We are, yet again, humbled to be able to do this, and also humbled by what the sacrament of baptism signifies for us and our children. The washing away of our sins through Christ, and that God makes an eternal covenant of grace with us, His children, and adopts us to be His children and heirs unto everlasting life.

I was approached by one of the guests of one of the other couples who had their baby baptized and she pointed out to me in our conversation that even though we may be nervous going up in front of the whole church, being the center of attention and such, if we look at the big picture and what the true meaning of the whole day is, it should bring us such peace to think of what is actually happening during baptism. I admit I hadn't put a lot of thought into the day in that way, so I am thankful for her kind words.

Gracie did very well, and slept through the entire service. We had the 3 boys sit with my parents, so it was nice for Russ and I to be able to sit through a service without interruption from Calvin who lately has had to be taken out 2-3 times a service. Rev. Eriks preached a very fitting sermon from Proverbs 4 on how we need to warn our children of the path of the wicked.

After the service we had a cake from Costco (thanks Lindy!) and some various goodies from the homes of all our relatives who were able to join us for the special occasion.


The yummy cake


My mom holding Simon (of Matthew & Chelsea) named after my great grandpa Buquet and my dad holding Gracie, named after my great grandma Buquet


Our family


My sister Chelsea and me with our babies. They are about 6 months apart.


Simon and Gracie visiting with each other


Gracie in her dress






A close up of her shoes and leggings :)

I happened to stumble across this blog post from another blog that I follow. It was something that I really needed to be reminded of today and will continue to need be reminded of, EVERY day of my life. I know I'm not the only person that struggles with feeling like they need to please people and with the worries about what they think of how I do things or how I look. Therefore I'm posting this because I KNOW there are others who would be encouraged by this as well.

I tend to be more of a horizontal thinker than a vertical thinker. HUH??? This means I tend to worry more about what PEOPLE who are horizontally arranged around me think, than what GOD who is vertically arranged from me thinks. I NEED to remember that the audience that is MOST important to please is my audience of ONE.....God. I can't be so worried about what others think about how I parent or discipline my children, such as when we decide to start having them sit in church, or how long we keep our newborn isolated instead of letting her get sick to build up her immune system. I can't worry about what people think of how I look, or about how long it's taking me to lose the extra baby weight I gained. (Believe me, there are people I know that are not afraid to let me know how they feel about all of these subjects). I need to remember that as long as I'm doing what is right in GOD's eyes, that is all that matters. This is something I tell my kids all . the . time. Especially when they come home from school, hurting because of what someone has done to them or said to them. Looks like I need to take my own advice and put my focus fully on my faithful, heavenly Father. He's the only one that I should be focused on pleasing.

Audience of One by Big Daddy Weave
If you'd like to watch this video, you may have to scroll down to the bottom of the blog and turn the sound off on my songs. :)

Gracie is one month old!

Gracie, you are one month old already! It's really hard for us to believe that you've been here for that long!

We had your 1 month well child visit yesterday and your pediatrician is very pleased with your progress.

You weighed in at 10 lbs 9 oz and were 22 inches long.

Here is a little bit of what you are up to these days.
~ you take two good naps a day
~ you are a champ at nursing and you eat every 3 hours or so
~ you are in size 1 diapers
~ you wear size 0-3 month clothes
~ you love to be swaddled at night
~ within the last few days you've started really watching us and even giving us a sweet smile once in a while.
~ you are especially fond of your dad (who wouldn't be) and smile at him the most

Bradyn is NINE!!

On Friday, March 22, Bradyn celebrated his ninth (WOW) birthday!! Russ and I decided it would be fun to take him to a Griffins game for his birthday, and it just so happened that there was a home game on his birthday. He wanted to have a friend along, so he asked his best friend from school, Caden Engelsma to come with him. Russ picked up some Pizza Hut on the way home, and it was a quick and easy, yet different supper for the birthday boy. My mom graciously offered to make a cake for him and dropped it off by our house on her way home from work. We had our pizza supper and cake and ice cream and then Russ was off with the two boys to the hockey game. He dropped off Bradyn's friend after the hockey game was finished. Bradyn was super excited, even though the Griffins didn't pull off the win. It turned out to be a really close game with quite a fight, which the boys thought was cool. All in all Bradyn said he had a great birthday. We are once again amazed at how quickly the past year has gone by, and are thankful that God has given us the blessing of our oldest son.

Blessed Beyond Measure

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14

On Wednesday, March 13, God blessed our family with the birth of a beautiful, healthy baby GIRL!! Yes you read that right, this family with all boys now has a precious little girl to love and protect!! Gracie Ann Lotterman was born at 9:13 am weighing in at 8 lbs and 6 oz. and measuring 21 inches long.

We were scheduled for a C-section on Wednesday and had to be at Spectrum Butterworth by 6:30 am for our 8:30 surgery. We walked back at about 8:25, and after some struggle and 3 tries with the spinal, things were finally underway. I was able to request a mirror, which I did, as long as they waited to turn it until they were ready to pull the baby out....so this time I actually watched our baby be born and was amazed and flabbergasted when they pulled it out and lo and behold it was a GIRL!!! The entire OR was quite excited, as they knew we already had three boys at home. Russ and I just looked at each other and cried. We are still trying to process that we have a daughter, and are amazed at how many pink things she has already acquired. :) Her two older brothers were beyond excited when they found out that she was a girl. They both had told us numerous times over the past few months that they really wanted a baby sister, and in Austin's words "Mom, I'm sick of having boys..." Calvin doesn't really understand what is going on, so it remains to be seen, in the next few weeks how he feels about the whole situation.

We are doing well, and at this point, the Lord willing, we hope to return home on Saturday the 16th. Russ and I are again humbled that the Lord has given us this new life to train in His ways. We ask for your prayers as we embark on this awesome task. I'll leave you with some pictures of our precious little girl. Enjoy!!


Meeting our baby girl for the first time.


Bradyn and Gracie


Austin and Gracie


The boys admiring their new baby sister


Daddy and his little girl

A snowman and a lost tooth

Last week Wednesday, the boys had a half day at school due to parent/teacher conferences. It turned out to be a beautiful day with slightly warmer temperatures (at least warm enough to turn the snow into packing snow)so I kicked ahem, I mean, sent the boys outside to get some fresh air. They decided to build a snowman complete with a carrot for its nose. When they were finished they wanted their picture taken by him.





For the past week or two, Austin has been monkeying with one of his bottom middle teeth. It has been loose, and he's been busy wiggling it to make it come out. Yesterday, during church of all places, he informed me that it was really loose and was probably going to come out later that day. Sure enough, during lunch time, it became really loose, so I convinced him to let me pull it out. He of course was a little afraid it was going to hurt, but after much reassurance from Bradyn (who has had a few teeth pulled by mom) that it doesn't hurt at all, he let me pull it out. Just like that it was done with, and he had a nice show and tell for his Kindergarten class today.

Calvin Graduates.....to a toddler bed!!

During the last week and a half, Russ and I have had the chance to deep clean the house in preparation for the baby, whose due date is fast approaching. Russ has been going to the office at noon each day which has given us the mornings to concentrate on cleaning. Last week we were able to clean our room. We had to move the book case into the living room to make room for the baby cradle. We haven't hauled it out from storage yet, but hopefully in the next few days the cradle and totes of baby clothes will make an appearance around here. Today we were able to clean the boys room. This included taking apart the crib (sob) and putting in its place the toddler bed (double sob). It appears our little guy isn't so little anymore....I guess he IS almost 2 and a half after all. He thinks it is just the best, and even took a nap in it this afternoon without getting out. Hopefully he does just as well tonight.

Daddy putting the finishing touches on the frame

Calvin lending a hand

Calvin taking a look

Trying it out

Showing us how he can get out....

I think he likes it!!