Teeth for Caby!

McCabe has 4 of his top teeth coming it. One has poked through the skin and the other 3 should be right behind.

Phil Wickham Concert

As Mission to the City week is coming to an end, we pray that the fruits of it are just begining! Hopefully the service endeavors, invitations, love and the gospel planted seeds in peoples lives in Des Moines. Hopefully many new faces will come to church tomorrow night and sunday morning as a result!

Tonight was a free concert at the Simon Estes Ampatheater on the river downtown. It was a great concert! Phil Wickham sang great worship music, shared an honest and real testimony, and entertain all of us. He shared his testimony about being a pastors kid but how he had to come to the point where he himself entered into a relationship with Christ and accepted his payment for his sins. His testimony was very different than the one that Steele Croswhite shared, which is the amazing picture of how God transforms the lives of many and offers his saving grace to all! Steele Croswhite, a good friend to the Downtown Church, and pastor/worship leader at our sister church in Salt Lake City, Utah, opened for Phil. It is always great to hear his music and passion for Christ. I am always blown away by his testimony and how God captured his heart. In the worlds eyes, he had it all, sold thousands of records, was on tour with his band, made money, had status and experienced all the women and beer he wanted ... and wasn't satisfied, wasn't fulfilled. The love of Christ changed his life when he believed that Christ died on the cross of HIS sins. His life has been about sharing that with others ever since as he shares the gospel with his words but also in action through his love for others and his changed life. Hopefully many people heard the gospel. Super Sweet!
Here is a picture of some of the 1700 attendants!

Carla, Meg, myself, and Yvonne enjoyed pretty good seats at the top with our 7 kids and one more on the way!Leighton and McCabe were being so adorable in their matching shirts!

My 3 Main Men!

1. Luke, the best husband and father!

He has had a long, hard week at Mission to the City and getting the new building ready. I am so thankful for his example to us as a family of being a hard worker, being united with and serving people at church, going the second mile, sharing the gospel, and doing all of it without complaining!

2. Leighton, the most enjoable and sweet 2 year old.
This video is awesome. When Leighton wasn't playing in the dirt, he was sure good at dancing to the songs!

3. McCabe, the wonderful and facially expressive little boy!

McCabe loves his daddy! McCabe has really become quite affectionate towards Luke lately and always reaches and climbs and crawls towards him when he enters a room. In this sweet video he is begging for Daddy to hold him and climbing right out of my hands.

Though I personally didn't get to participate in as much of Mission to the City as I would have liked to, I can say that I am greatly encouraged by the stories I heard and am excited to see the lasting fruit from the week of faith.

Man it is sweet to see God working in this city. I am so humbled that he placed me and my family right in the middle of it and among men and women at church wholove us everyday and spur us on toward love and good deeds.

Zoo

We went to the Zoo today! Leighton loved it. Let me start off by saying that last year at the zoo, I don't even think Leighton new that we were at the Zoo. He spent the whole time picking rocks of the ground and throwing them! The few times we saw animals close up, he was terrified and when the animals were far away, he didn't understand what he was supposed to be looking at.

This year was much more fun for him. McCabe on the other hand just thought we were on a walk, a long, hot walk!

I think this was the Sea Otter stop!

Then we saw the Sea Lions. This was for sure Leighton's favorite animal. At first he thought they were dolphins; At first I thought they were seals! By the 3rd time we passed them, he really new they were his favorite. He loves any animal that jumps into the water and swims. Too bad there isn't a Sea World in Des Moines ...or an ocean.

The Tortoise was amazing too. They were HUGE. Seriously, Meg and I were amazed at how big they were. We just couldn't get over their massive size. To make things easier, we just called them Big Turtles!

Feeding the Goats! Quinn and Leighton are great friends but are very different. Quinn loves touching animals, holding snakes, feeding goats, etc. Leighton is very skeptical of animals. He cried when he saw the caged tiger walking towards him, and this is the only time he let the goat lick him. For the first 10 minutes he wouldn't go near the goats, then he would try to get close and chicken out at the last minute, then he resorted to throwing the food into the hole when no goats were around. Finally, after watching Quinn do it like a hundred times, he got close enough to let the goat try to get the food. However Leighton kept such a tight grip on the food, and backed up as soon as the goat made contact, that the goat didn't even get the food. We got a season pass to the Zoo, so he will have more practice at feeding the animals. As for snakes, I hope he never likes touching them!

I always feel so bad that McCabe doesn't get to do as much of the fun stuff. I also feel bad that all of the pictures I have of him are always in his stroller! Soon he will be running around just like his brother! I think McCabe is super cute. He was wearing a cool giraffe t-shirt for his zoo trip!

It was a hot day but we had a great time at the Zoo! The 15 minute car ride home without Air Conditioning was a struggle however!

Mission to the City

This week was the Downtown Church's first ever Mission to the City (M2TC). It is a week long mission trip to Des Moines, IA! Why go overseas when there are many who need to hear the gospel right here in Des Moines? Several people signed up and split into several groups. After morning worship, prayer, and encouraging story time, each group has a full day of service projects and sharing opportunities in the city. From Gray's lake activities/free water, car washes downtown, and handing out free breakfast to cleaning east village windows, cleaning trash at the I-Cubs games, and cleaning cars at a free car wash downtown, our laborers have really been serving the city well, hoping to be a blessing to many. In addition, the Good News about Christ has been shared.



As if that wasn't a busy enough schedule, this week has also been a week of working at the new DTC location. The wearhouse needs a lot of work and we really want to finish Mission to the City with a first service at the new building. There has been a lot of cleaning, painting, insulating, moving, and a lot of other stuff involved! Here is Leighton doing some sweeping! We didn't stay long because they had just started to paint the floor. I can only image how that woul dhave ended up if Leighton would have continued to have a run of the place!

New Shades

Leighton got his first pair of sunglasses! He really likes them! He isn't great at keeping them on for long periods of time, but when he does wear them, he sure looks good. We sent the following pictures to Luke's phone and proud daddy responded that they were, "total studs!"

Family Vacation to Marco Island, Florida

We just got back from a relaxing trip to Marco Island, Florida. My parents took us on vacation with my sister and her family. We had 5 amazing days of playing on the beach, spashing in the pool, playing cards, eating out, and relaxing.

We spent a lot of time on the huge deck overlooking the ocean.

We got a family picture of all of us together ... and all looking at the camera!

Leighton and McCabe got to ride around the airport, while the rest of us carryed much luggage! The airport and airplane ride went pretty well. The boys did a great job considering their circumstances.

Eating at the Airport after the plane ride and waiting for Amber, Brendan and baby Hayden to arrive!
On the airplane! Daddy, 26 month old Leighton, 11 month old McCabe, and Mommy!

THE POOL

We spent most mornings at the beach for an hour and the pool for an hour. Here my mom is playing with McCabe who liked the water very much once he was in it and used to the temperature.

The picture and video is of brave Leighton going down the big water slide with Daddy. Luke was a tropper and did it several times. Leighton would cry everytime he hit the water but then 10 seconds later he wanted to do it again.

One time Leighton lost his shoe on the wild ride and was pretty sad about it.

At the pool, we would all get in the water and Leighton would stand outside of the water to throw balls into us. He did the same thing at the ocean. Thowing things into the water is apparently much more fun than the playing in the water.
Leighton loved the big beach ball.

And here is one last pool shot of Daddy sitting on one of the fountains and spraying Leighton.

Grandpa and Grandpa Ludemann got to play in the water with the boys.

THE BEACH

Luke and Leighton loved the beach. I think it was for different reasons, but they both enjoyed our mornings there nonetheless. We would spend a good hour of family time down there.

The beach was Leighton's favorite place to be. He would pick up shells and throw them into the water, throw huge handfulls of sand up in the air, make and destroy sand castles, and giggle a lot.

Sweet little McCabe made a new habit of rising early in the morning and then taking an hour long nap on the beach. I guess I wouldn't have minded that schedule myself!

When we got there the first night, we watched the sunset on the beach so that Leighton could play and burn off energy since he had been sitting all day in rides to and from the airport and sitting in the plane. These videos catch him in action.

RELAXING TIME

Luke is a professional relaxer when it comes to vacation. He wanted Leighton to relax with him a lot; That never really happened. As Leighton prepared for nap, we tricked him into a picture with his pacifier and blacket.

McCabe was a wild man. He was so happy on vacation (during the daytime hours at least!). He made his way around the condo and tried to keep up with Leighton.


When it came time to nap in the afternoon, both boys were totally out the minute they layed down.

Those pictures don't do justice to how much fun we had. Time spent together as a family was so precious. Luke loved getting to spend every moment with the boys for several days in a row.

Our Quiet times and naps were enjoyed with waves rolling in the background and a nice breeze. Sometimes we even had a smoothie in hand!

Our condo was fantastic with a huge balcony, a nice kitchen and big fluffy beds. Leighton got his very own Queen bed all to himself!

And the food ... well, I think we all gained a little bit of weight eating out everynight.

We are so thankful to have gotten to go on this vacation and for the time we got to enjoy with grandma and grandpa and my sisters family.

Happy Birthday Luke/Daddy

Luke is 26!



I am proud to be Luke's wife. The boys are proud to be Daddy's boys.



He is an amazing man and we are very thankful for him.

Sleeping on the Stairs

Last night I heard McCabe crying, so I planned to go downstairs and give him a pacifier. I started to go downstairs and almost stept on Leighton. He was literally sleeping on our top step. In the middle of the night, he had come almost all the way up the stairs and stopped at the last step and went to bed. If he would have rolled over, he would have fallen all the way down. If I would have stepped on him, I would have gone all the way down. Crazy kid. I have no idea what he was doing but I put him back in bed and he slept until 9 this morning.

I wish I would have taken a picture.

Weird.

Baby 3 is a BOY

Luke and I got to have an ultrasound today to check on the progess of our third baby. Despite my stomach measuring small, the baby was measuring right on time. In fact, the little 9 ounces blessing was flexing his arms for much of the ultrasound and we got a good look at his strong biceps.

It is incredible to watch an ultrasound and see how amazing God is. Only 9 ounces, but our boy is quiet developed. Here is a precious video of our three amazing blessings. More details of the ultrasound are below.

Ultrasound Details:

I was measuring a week and a half small but our little boy was measuring right on schedule. He was 9 ounces and his head and stomach were all perfect. We learned that the little guy was breech. There is plently of time for the babies potition to change so it isn't concerning that he is breech ... yet. Hopefully he flips the right way soon though. We also learned that my placenta was anterior. Traditionally the placenta is towards the top of the uterus. My placenta, being anterior, explains why I haven't felt much movement with this baby. She said that it is like trying to feel a kick though a pillow because there is so much placenta to cushion the area that is usually just uterus to skin. This isn't a problem ... it is just different. I can't think of any other specifics except that the baby is a BOY!

I am so overjoyed to know that we get to welcome another little one into our family. We are excited he is a boy because the more boys we have before having a girl, the more protected she will be, and the more examples of Godly men she will have to learn from. And if we end up with a baseball team of boys, we will still be extactic. Plus, I will make sure they know how to treat a lady! We already practice with lots of talking and lots of kisses! Leighton even tells me that I look pretty when I get dressed up!

Praise God for little babies!

Darrin and McKenna's Wedding

Friday night our great friends Darrin and McKenna got married! It was a fantastic and God honoring wedding. It was seriosuly one of the best wedding I have attended.

Dan did the ceremony and the way he spoke about his friendship with Darrin and all that he has seen God do in his life, was very special. It was the closest I have come to crying in a wedding and it wasn't because the love of the bride and groom, but it was because of the reminder to me about how there is a real band of brothers among some of the men at our church. I am so thankful that my husband is close with these men as well and I am so grateful for their comaraderie and friendships. Obviously, I am excited about Darring and McKenna too. It will be great to see all of us grow closer and closer as we continue to serve together at church and raise families!

The wedding party sporting the fantastic tase of McKenna and the sewing abilities of Kelli!
This pictures HAD to make it onto the blog because Luke doesn't like to dance (he also isn't super great at it!) I dragged him onto the dance floor for the married people dance and thankfully someone got it documented on camera! I love dancing with my wonderful hubby!

Yvonne is such a great friend to me. I wanted to say that she was such a great example to me at this wedding of being a servant. She helped others with hair and make-up and advice before she ever worried about getting herself ready. She was a servant to others and still ended up looking super awesome herself! She is a pretty lady inside and out and someone I am thankful to have as a friend.

Praise the Lord for great frienships!

Proverbs 17:17

"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need."

Darrin and McKenna we pray that you would have a God honoring and fruitful marriage and we are thankful for your impact on our lives! Have fun in Mexico!

More JOYFUL Days with the Boys

The last couple weeks have been just as enjoyable as always. I keep forgetting to take pictures and bring my camera with us, but these boys sure do make life enjoyable.

On family day, we went to Smokey Row. Leighton and I split a huge monster cookie! We couldn't even finish it because we both got too full. It wasn't only larger than Leighton's face but this cookie was very very thick too. I think we should make sharing this cookie together a tradition! A few mornings a week, Leighton helps me get ready. Lately he has really grown interested in doing what mommy does. He puts lotion on and loves to pretend to put makeup on! I try to say NO to him, but he gets really sad. Shhhhhh .... don't tell Luke!

The weather has been wonderful. We have gotten to spend much time outdoors. McCabe loves to be outside and watch his brother run around. We have to bring toys for him to put in his mouth or else he eats mud and grass!

I am so thankful for these boys. I love making them smile and giggle. I wish I had a video camera that was always on so I could share more of our lives.