Thursday, December 30, 2010

Ezra and the Girls


 Ezra and his big sisters, the morning after he was born.
 A picture of the girls.  This picture was taken so my cousin could make a Christmas present for my Grandma.

Ezra, up close and personal.  Yes, his right eye is discolored.  Because his hand was right next to his face when he was born, it created a whole lot of pressure on his eyes.  Both eyes were red around the iris, but the right eyes was definitely the worst of the two.

A family picture.


Two weeks have past since we brought our Little Man home!  We are all SO glad he is part of our family, and I - for one - can hardly believe it has only been two weeks.  Feels like I have known him for a lifetime...and in reality, I guess I have...HIS lifetime.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Ezra Nehemiah Larson 12-15-10

I sit on the love seat in wonder.  God has given me a Little Man!!

We went to the weekly midwife visit...10 days post due date.  The midwife (Robin) gave us our options, and two little bottles.  I was 5 to 6 cm.  She didn't want to just break my water, because that was no guarantee to start contractions.  She instead had given us an enema bottle, and castor oil as two options of getting things started...and then she stripped my membranes REALLY WELL!

We left discussing our options and ran some errands.  Our second stop coincided with some cramping that came and went...every 7 minutes.  By the time we were leaving stop #2, they had gone down to 6 minutes, and 15 minutes into our 30 minute drive home...they were 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds.  All this took place from...2-3:30pm EST.  We got the girls home and settled with our neighbors/landlord, and left the house at 4pm.

The next few hours flew and dragged at the same time.  Contractions puttered around at 5 minutes apart for a good long time...I had to stand to get them to do anything.  By the way, when we arrived, I was at 7cm.   After a while she checked me again, and I was at 8.5cm with a definite cervical lip all the way around.  Robin (mw) suggested standing in the shower...after 1 contraction I opted to fill the bathtub - with jets!  The contractions were good and strong, and I could readily believe/imagine/picture them as a turtleneck being pulled over the Baby's head.

I felt the need to get out of the tub (I know, right...I wouldn't have believed it either).  The second my feet hit the floor...Josh became my pillar as a contraction hit me H-A-R-D!  I made it to the bed, had another big one, and then the midwife checked me.  She had me push...and then after that contraction - it was show time!  Josh did a great job giving me a play-by-play - I didn't really listen though till he said the words "I can see it's head!"  Next came a BIG push...then no pushing in order to ease the head out.  Robin took one look at the size of his head and KNEW he was a big boy!  With the next push Josh mentioned a cheek and a...HAND!  (just like big sister, Anna)  The the shoulders and then..."IT'S A BOY!!!!"  Our little Help and Comfort of Jehovah, Ezra Nehemiah had arrived!

He has a big mouth and small ears (Shalom) and...DARK hair like Mama!  His face was all bruised as he turned in the canal, then after his head came out, and then again after his shoulders were out...our little Corkscrew!
Ezra Nehemiah 9lb 10 oz  20.5 in. long Born at 8:05pm


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

It's mid-November...aka, Happy Birthday, My Love!

Sheesh.  Life flew by...and I don't even remember blinking.

We are in the apartment, 95% settled.  The only things we really need to unpack are the Baby clothes...maybe tomorrow!  : P  It has been emotion city here the last week or so.  Josh is working now, which is a very good thing (I shall explain), and the girls are missing him something awful!  As a good friend tried to tell me, all the upheaval of the last month - even the time-change - and the new Baby coming is messing with us all...big time.

God has provided a van for the Larsons!  A friend from CMTS has a van that needs the transmission rebuilt (which this friend does very well!).  We will be getting the van for...the cost to rebuild the transmission!  And God is TOTALLY providing for that with Josh's job!  Seriously, in one month...we have a van worth $6000 PAID FOR based on the cost to rebuild the transmission.  You can find out what Josh is installing by checking out this site!  Josh - hired as part-time/full-time being his choice - has been working some long hours, being gone 12 hours (give or take half an hour) every day for two weeks.  That is a long time for my girls who love their Papa so!

Speaking of our wonderful Papa...today is his 31st birthday!  So, in honor of the wonderful Man God has given me, I am going to post my favorite pictures of him and his Girls!  Enjoy!

Taken in a Mall's photo booth.  Ruth and Shalom spotted it, and a friend pushed Josh into it, and paid for the pics.

Engaged.  Probably about 8 weeks before we got married.  We were "reunited" after a separation of 3 weeks while on a medical missions trip to Haiti in Jan/Feb of 2005.
Our first "family picture" taken before we took our little 2mo Ruthie~Bear to Israel...by ship!


Family picture from 2008.  We were the "models" for a friend taking pics at a mutual friends wedding.

Early 2009...Spring, maybe?

Josh spending time with our new little Anna~Bear.

June of 2010.  Final family pic...Littlest Baby Larson was still quite hidden at the time.  Picture taken at a friends home in West Virginia.

Next blogpost explosion should be in another two or three weeks!  Next up on our agenda...the Announcement of Baby Larson #4!!!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Fairview Hotel (aka It's been a while...)


It has been a long time since I last wrote.  A whole lot has happened since I wrote the post sharing the lesson Ruth (well, mostly Mama) learned.

The Larsons are moving.  As of Sept. 23, we are no longer working with CMTS.  We have spent the last month packing up our home, and working on the apartment we will be moving into.  The above picture is an O-L-D picture of where we will be living.  It is the Fairview Hotel built in the 1850s.  Some friends from church own this house, and are graciously allowing us to live on the 2nd floor.  We will be using outside access to get in and out of the apartment.

The  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G  carrot we got out of our garden.

 Mamas and their Babies.  (Non-negotiable Baby name options on the Fridge next to Mama)

My Big Girls

 The cuteness called Anna!


Friday, September 17, 2010

A Gentle Reminder from My 4 Year Old

Wednesday night, Josh was dishing out sorbet for the girls to eat whilst I read to them. Ruth - as I braided her hair - was telling her Papa how much ice cream to give her, and to make sure it was... a lot. I quietly reminded her that Papa was a kind Papa and would not be stingy with this treat.

Suddenly - like a lightening bolt - it hit me that God is the same with us. How many times have I specified how much of a "gift" or good thing I want from Him - the Giver of good things - and fail to remind myself that God is NEVER stingy ...with His good gifts?

Doesn't the Bible say that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father in heaven?



Papa lovingly protecting AND teaching his girl.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Girls New Beds

Upon our return home from out monthlong vacation, we found a huge wooden set of bunk beds sitting outside, waiting for either the burn pile, or rain to demolish them.  Thankfully, there had not been rain here in most of the time we were gone, so the bunk beds were safe.  Ruth had been needing a new bed for a LONG time, and we wanted to move Anna back into the girls room...so we snatched them up.

We took the girls to WalMart, and bought them their very own set of sheets...they both wanted the same color - which makes life easier for me.  Here is the finished product:






First Outdoor Festival of their Lives...

The second half of June we spent in Pennsylvania, at the Agape Farm setting up and participating in the Creation Festival.  We learned a whole lot about ourselves and our girls those two weeks.
  • Our girls camp VERY well.  Two weeks in a tent was almost enjoyable...except that...
  • Being sick (puking and diarrhea) whilst camping is no fun, especially due to the lack of toilet.
The girls only got to see two adult concerts, and had one morning in the kids tent (sorry, no pictures of that one).  Anna ended up with some kind of virus similar to 5th disease.  Mama threw in the towel when Josh woke up in the middle of the night to help clean up Anna puke, and then decided to...well...he ended up with diarrhea too.  We left a day early, and I am okay with that, as Papa spent the next week sleeping most of the days away!

Below are pictures from the Casting Crowns concert.  Yes, I am wearing one of Josh's heavy flannels, and I was STILL cold by the time we got back to the room!  It got COLD at night...which was an absolute Godsend with a feverish, uncomfortable Anna.












Monday, August 2, 2010

Bagel Making at the Larson Home


Okay, since we did this several months ago, I forgot the recipe.  You will just have to use your imaginations!


Josh is kneading the dough.


More kneading.


Josh is rolling out the dough so it can be rolled into small balls.


Josh is showing the girls how to roll the dough into a ball.


After making 8 dough balls, we let the rest and raise.


Rolling the dough balls into "snakes."



To make the bagel a circle, Josh wrapped it around his hand.


This is the finished circle.


They get boiled for a couple minutes, then flipped.


These have just been flipped, I believe.


These bagels are ready to be baked.  I don't believe you bake them for more than 10 minutes total, flipping them after five minutes.


The finished product!

We used spelt flour.  I found that they taste better hot with cream cheese rather than reheated the next day.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Virginia Vacation

The month of June was vacation time for the Larson's.  We went to visit some old friends from our Friend Ships days in Virginia.  One of our many adventures took us to West Virginia to see our dear friends Mark and Jean Pfau.  This is a picture of Josh showing Shalom fish in the water below the bridge we were standing on.

My beautiful Ruth having an "adult" conversation with one of our friends.
Ruth and Shalom with their new favorite person, Lori Miller.  You will see why she is their new favorite down below.
Back in the Blacksburg area, we went to see some old FS crew, the Danners.  They live on a lake, and took the girls out on their boat.  Both Ruth and Shalom got to ride behind the boat with Josh and Jennifer Ward holding them onto the float.  They loved it!

While in Virginia, Ruth turned 4 years old!  She had stuffed crust pizza and M&M cookies with ice cream as a "cake."  Our wonderful hosts, the Steinakers put up with our galavanting, and times of just staying still.  They were great!

THIS is why Ruth and Shalom love Lori!  She let them ride on her big horse Romeo!  Both girls agree that they liked riding in front of Lori, rather than with Lori "pulling" the horse!