VOTE on YOUTUBE!

Ken and Jim are entering this contest...PLEASE take a moment to watch it on YOUTUBE and then LIKE to vote for them! Thanks

VOTE on YOUTUBE!

Ken and Jim are entering this contest...PLEASE take a moment to watch it on YOUTUBE and then LIKE to vote for them! Thanks

1st week...

DATE NIGHT!!  

Sushi from Cabai's - Amazing Trix Roll!

I would have to say that the food that night was the best date food I have ever had!  That is saying something!

My First dust storm!

They bring about BEAUTIFUL sunsets!

MORE cousin fun!

Sam's First's...

So our little man is almost 6 months old and Ken and I have decided it was time to try rice cereal.  He likes it but doesn't quite have the concept down yet.  

Also, last night he had an exciting first for us...he rolled from his back to his tummy.  This is a big deal since he doesn't really like his tummy time to much.  Now he will go back and forth and seems to enjoy it! 

The New Genesis

We are here…in Oregon.  It has been rough emotionally and physically.   We arrived Tuesday and have been “getting settled” and trying to find a place for us to live.  Currently we are living in a 20’ trailer on Ken’s parents place AND if you didn’t know it the majority of Ken’s siblings live on their parents land.  Beth, Ken’s oldest sibling, lives above the garage.  Richard, Ken’s oldest brother,  lives in a house on their land.  Now WE also live, temporarily, in the trailer on their land.  SO it makes for fun and family time. 

Since being here I have found it very difficult.  I usually have Ken to myself in ways when we were in MN but it seems he is always wanted here.  Even though it has only been 2 full days of being here last night I asked Ken if we could just spend time together!  Proved to be harder than expected, as others always want us to join in on their fun. 

I also worry about Sam as he is bombarded with new faces over and over.  We have found that if he can’t see or hear us he gets very worried and starts to cry.  Of course this makes me feel loved but I also worry, as he has not had a constant location his whole life.  In the hospital for 3 weeks, back and forth to Grandpa and Nana’s, Vacation/Flying to the OR coast, back “home” to the apartment which was in the process of getting packed up, back and forth to Grandpa and Nana’s again, and then out to OR.  

We are happy to be where the LORD want's us BUT I am finding the transition to be difficult to say the least.  I will try to post more pictures soon!  Below is out our trailer door. :) 

Start of Something New

Sam is now 3 1/2 months old and we could not be more thankful or surprised that the LORD has blessed us with this amazing little man!

BUT to give the background I am going to start this story, which is OUR story, back in November of last year.  The weekend before Thanksgiving to be exact.  

Ken had gotten a job at Pregnancy Resource Center as the Abstinence Education Director and I, Natalie, had been looking for something that pertained to daycare so that once I had our little one I would be able to take him to work with me.  While looking I applied for a apartment management position working 20 hrs a week cleaning the complex along with some maintenance.  They called us in and actually offered us something better.  A job that paid for our rent and even a little more; working 40 hrs a week and cleaning the complex.  At the time I was sure that I could do all that AND watch Sam (my unborn little one).

So we moved and realized how much the LORD was blessing us with both of our jobs.  We were here a little over a month; and on December 30th (7 weeks before my due date) I started getting contractions at about 9:30ish, we called my mom and asked her what she thought we should do.  She basically laughed in my face when I told her that I had only been having contractions for 15 minutes.

See when people tell a young lady, "Come in if you have 4 contractions in an hour."  When you have 4 in less than 10 minutes you think it is serious and you need to get in.  That is not true turns out.  If you have contractions for over an hour THEN you come in. 

SO at the advice of one of her co-workers a nurse we waited.  After an hour we called again and they advised us to call in to our hospital, who then told us to call the clinic since they didn't know my whole pregnancy.  I was thinking to myself "well the clinic really doesn't know much either since I had my 1st check up with them a week prior and everything seemed 'normal'".  The clinic after about 15 minutes of questions said it would be smartest if I would go in and they would let them know I was coming in.

Once I got there they took us back to a room to get a wrist band and to ask what seemed like all the same questions.  Following that they took me up to a triage room to monitor my contractions.  In this process more questions and what I felt was doubt.  "She is a first time mom...what does she know about contractions."  At about 11 o'clock I was in a robe getting monitored with only 10 minutes of that they realized I was actually contracting like I had said about 2 - 4 minutes apart.  She then checked me and said, "Oh WOW, you are 5 cm!  I am going to go notify Dr. Pinkerton and see what she wants us to do."

First off, Dr. Pinkerton?  hehe...if any of you know the Simerly's you would know that they have an adorable but quite old dog named Pinkerton.  Ken and Pinkerton have never gotten along and it is quite humorous their interactions to this day.  Growling...barking; neither of them really like each other.  So I got a good kick out of the fact that God would have a Dr. Pinkerton deliver our baby. 

Secondly, prior to the realization that I was 5 cm it was very relaxed in the room.  I thought I was just going to get drugs and be sent home the next day with strict instructions to REST.  I think that is what the nurse was thinking too until she realized how far along I was.  

The Doctor came in about 5 minutes later asked me a few questions and then checked me again.  She then said to the nurse, "We need to get her into a room she is now at 8 cm." Then looking back to me, "You're going to have a baby tonight!" Smile.

Haha...really?  A smile? I was FREAKING out! Of course you would have never known...I guess I was still convinced that it really wasn't happening.  The LORD wouldn't have our little one come so soon!  Oh our idea's and plans...they are not His own.

So at this point I am now in my new delivery room and they check me and see I am at 9 cm.  This was going to be FAST!  My Dr. exited and I asked my nurse how quick she thought this would go.  She didn't want to give me a time but I prodded and got her to say probably within the hour.  WHAT?!  My little one was going to be out of my protected womb in less than an hour?!  Turns out Spike had different plans and at about 4:30 AM the Dr. decided to break my water since we were just hanging out at 9 cm.

In less than an hour later after about 30 minutes of pushing my little 5lbs 3oz perfect little BOY was on my belly.  It was amazing!  Ken and I couldn't believe it again the LORD was showing us that our life was in HIS control.  He was then taken away to the small bed next to my own where the NICU Dr and Nurses worked on him.  Ken was by his side the whole time, when he turned back to me we said almost in unison "Samuel Edward Simerly"!

NOW nearly four months later we our son is almost 14 lbs and has been climbing the charts!  He is OFF the premie charts which the doctors are amazed by!  Yep, our LORD knows what He is doing and He has a plan for our family!  The picture below was taken on my birthday April 18, so Sam is 3 1/2 months in the picture.  :) LOVE it!