Christmas Card

As Christmas is just a few days away and I am yet to receive our Christmas cards in the mail so that we can begin to address and send them out I thought I would just post our Christmas card on here for all to see and wait in eager expectation until it arrives and is placed on your fridge :)

Speech

Though sometimes I feel as though the days are never ending I still can't believe that our little man is 21 months old. Before we know it he will be turning 2 and then 18. But let's not get ahead of ourselves right?

With some very difficult things going on in our lives right now that seem to be constantly filling my brain I will try and keep my thoughts as organized as I can...

Before Josiah's 18 month check-up I was worrying a lot about his speech or lack-there-of but at his 18 month check up all was well. His speech had picked up a bit and he was saying the allotted amount of words that they wanted him to be saying. He was at the lower end of the spectrum but was still progressing so we felt comfortable and good with where he was at. Over the past few months it seemed that the words he was saying, he wasn't anymore. Brett and I talked and prayed a lot about what we should do and we had decided we would wait and give him a few more months to see what happens. That was our plan until about two weeks ago when his screaming skyrocketed. We went through about 3 days of it and decided that enough was enough. I called our Birth to 3 Area Connections and they came and did an evaluation. Of course just as we knew he was way behind in his speech. She then referred him to the county where they would do an evaluation on him as well. They came this last Thursday and will come again on Tuesday and then from there we will have a speech therapist come to our house.

Parenting has been THE hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life! It seems that one worry follows the next. Josiah's lack of speech has not only been frustrating for him but also really hard on Brett and I. I'm not sure that Brett has the exact same thoughts as I do but I really do struggle with feeling like I haven't been a good mom. That maybe his delay in speech is my fault. Not only are we feeling the strain of this speech issue but it seems to have made us short with each other and mostly a very short amount of patience for our son. This breaks my heart and I pray that the Lord can give me the patience I need each day to get through this.

We look forward to his speech therapy and are praying for quick results.

And just a quick look at what happens in our house if you don't hear any noise from your 21 month old...

I went into the living room to see what he was doing and I saw him playing and thought, "oh good, everything is fine". Then I looked at his face and thought, "what is all over his face?"

I took a few more steps into the kitchen to try and figure out what he had been into and sure enough he had taken the old coffee filter out of the garbage, apparently thought he would try it and I'm sure quickly realized that it doesn't taste good so why not just rip the bag apart and make a huge mess!

"The Well"

A few days ago I went into town to drop something off at the post office. As I was getting Josiah out of the van a man walked by, we said our hello's and both proceeded with what we were doing. I got Josiah out of the van and walked to the door of the post office where I notice the guy was waiting to open the door for me. I thought, "gosh, what a nice man". He was standing inside and opened the door, I said thanks and proceeded to walk in when he stopped me and said...

Man: "you're the well"
Me: thinking what the heck is he talking about? "No, my last name is Huber"
Man: "No, I mean 'The Well'. " as he points to a poster on the wall
Me: feeling pretty dumb at this point "oh yeah, 'The Well'...yep that's me"

We continue to have a conversation about the poster and how he will be coming to Cafe Church (what the poster was advertising). I was excited to hear he was coming but than thought this guy must think I am an idiot if I don't even know that I am part of the group called "The Well".

I laughed about it later and told Brett the story and we both laughed again. Here's the poster...
About a year ago, Brett and I and a few of our close friends started a worship hour called "The Well" on Sunday evenings once a month held in Mobridge, SD which is a far bigger city than where we all live. Inspired by what most of us knew as "Vespers" from our college days we felt the need for an intimate hour of worship with the Lord which is something unheard of out here. After a lot of planning and seeking direction from the Lord we were able to start it up and have had a lot of positive feedback. The idea is to get all the surrounding community churches together for a time of corporate worship where we put aside our denominational backgrounds and just come and worship the Lord. We have incorporated a speaker/devotional into the hour where we have a new speaker each time and then a time for just silent prayer. It's been an amazing experience being able to be a part of this ministry and if any of you reading this live in the area we encourage you to come out and worship with us through song the last Sunday of every month at the Event Center in Mobridge.

Since becoming "The Well" we've had a few opportunities to use our gifts in other churches as we have been invited. The poster was from a nearby church that puts on a "Cafe Church" every few months and invited a band to come do background music during the cafe part of it and then lead the group in a time of worship after. Brett and I think this is just such a neat ministry that this church does and we were honored to be asked to be a part of it.

Time to let the cat out of the bag...

This is Josiah's new shirt...

Three weeks ago I took the test...and...we're prego! Yep, that's right Josiah is going to be a big brother. At this point I am only a little over 7 weeks along so it's still early but as of the last week I am already beginning to remember some of the many reasons I did not like being pregnant. As nausea and extreme tiredness are setting in I'm beginning to think this is going to be a long haul to June.

After a night at the ER last night and an overnight stay at the hospital we were able to see our newest addition to our family. And because I know I probably can't just leave it at that I will share the story of my ER visit for those of you who want to know. If not than just end your reading here. :)

ER story...

...It all started about a half hour after I put Josiah down to bed last night. Brett was still out harvesting and so besides Josiah asleep up in his crib I was home alone. Because we were having Brett's uncle over for the night I thought I should tidy the house up a bit. As I was walking around the house cleaning up toys and crumbs all over the floor I began to feel some stomach pains. They grew in their intensity pretty quickly. It got to the point where I could hardly walk because I was in so much pain. My first thought was to go into the bathroom and try and go hoping it would help some of the pain. As I was sitting there my hearing started to fade and I broke into a sweat. Because I have had this happen many other times I knew that it meant I was maybe going to faint. I leaned back against the back of the toilet and that was the last I remember until I woke up on the floor with extreme pain on face and head and some blood on the floor next to me. I wasn't quite sure where I was so I just stayed their until I started to realize that I knew I was going to need some help. I had the phone in the bathroom with me because I was going to bring it up stairs since it was the phone that goes in our bedroom but because it wasn't the main phone none of our preset number were in it. Being so out of it the only number I could remember was my husbands so I called...and called...and called. No answer. I then clicked the last call that was made to our house and called it. Long story short it was our good friends house just a few miles from us. As my friend stayed on the phone with me while her husband drove them over to our house they came and helped clean me up a bit while getting a hold of my husband. Brett was at our house shortly after and since we knew I was pregnant and had a bloody lip and a cut on my nose from the fall Brett decided to take me in to the ER. On the 50 mile trip to the ER I began having stomach pains again and once again passed out only to awake to Brett saying my name and me having no idea where I was.

Ok so long story short they ran a bunch of tests, had a MRI and CT scan, some blood work, hooked up to an IV, and had a ultra sound to make sure the baby was ok. Since I had passed out a couple of times they decided I should stay over night. I was given the ok to leave in the morning and thanks to some other good friends who took Josiah for the morning and afternoon I was able to get the nasty hospital smell off of me with a shower and then a long 3.5 hour nap that was much needed. Now I'm home! Feeling a bit tired and left with a big lip, cut on the nose, and a few bruises but so thankful for great friends who take care of us and for a God who keeps protection over us.

I'll leave it at that.

Little Man

I can't help but wonder where my baby boy has gone. When I look at him I think he looks like such a "little man" now. Still so cute and those cheeks are still to die for but I just can't believe how quickly he has "grown" up. Here is a recent picture from the other day where I think he looks rather big boyish.

Just because...

Not a whole lot has happened lately that seems worthy of a blog post but I did get some pictures of Josiah when we were playing outside on this beautiful fall morning. I will leave it at that. Enjoy.

Just because this was too funny not to post. Josiah wearing a bra...he loves to carry this around.

These last photos are from a few weeks ago when Josiah and I were waiting for Brett so we could ride with him in the combine (Josiah's favorite thing) during soybean harvest.

CustomInk.com

When we decided to do the Gumbo Gopher 5K we knew we had to have t-shirts. Getting another t-shirt is what makes me want to do more 5K's. I came across a company called CustomInk.com, where their logo is, "You think it. We ink it." Having never ordered or made t-shirts through a company before I really had no idea what I was doing but they were wonderful to work with. Also, knowing that we were ordering over $1,000 in t-shirts I wanted to make sure they were going to be good ones. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of them. They are soft and worn-in, which I love.


Anyway, the week after the race I received an e-mail from customink.com saying they heard that our t-shirts were ordered for a charity event and wanted to know which charity we were making a donation to. I responded and told them that all the proceeds ($3,971.33) were going to OCRF which is Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. They then responded back to me and said that they would like to make a $50 donation in our name. This makes our total $4,021.33! I was shocked. They told me that they like to make a small donation to each charity event that they hear of. So not only was this company wonderful to work with but this went above and beyond my expectations of a t-shirt company.

Then, today I received another e-mail from customink which told me that our photo (I had submitted a photo from the race with our customink t-shirts on) won the "Ink of the Week" contest which means we were given $100 in store credit for our next purchase through the company. Really, do it get any better than that? I think not. Looks like we already have $100 for our 5K for next year then!

Just thought I would fill everyone in on an amazing company to go through if you ever need t-shirts. CustomInk.com is the place to go.