Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Our Growing Family

Giving God Glory
Big Brother Noah - We praise the Lord for blessing us with another little one on the way. We have been praying that God would give us more children in His perfect timing, so we are thrilled to be adding another precious life to our family!

Witnessing Opportunity for Wes - We are excited for the Lord blessing Wes with an ongoing opportunity to teach one of his co-workers more about God and the Bible. His co-worker desires to understand the gospel and the Bible more, so Wes and him are reading through John and then getting together at least once a week to talk about what they read and to answer any questions that his co-worker has. It's a joy and a privilege to see the Lord work through Wes to help others grow in their relationship with Christ! Plus, Wes is excited to be using what he's been learning from his classes.

What's on the Harrison's Hearts
Growing our Family - Wes and I are experiencing all kinds of thoughts and emotions as we begin to plan and prepare for our growing family. Presently, the biggest emotion is excitement!!! A few of the thoughts that have been in our conversations include: How's Noah going to do adjusting to the baby? How is it going to work logistically since our only spare bedroom is our office and place where I tutor? Will Noah be ready for his own little bed when it's time for the baby to move into a crib? Is the baby going to be a boy or girl? What challenges are ahead with having a baby and an active toddler? Discussing different names... Fortunately, in the midst of all the questions, we have overwhelming peace that the Lord will take care of all the details and will help us one step and one day at a time. :)

Growing in Our Relationships with Christ - I want to make note of how we're presently growing, but I don't even know quite how to put these things in words since we're in the midst of the "growing pains"... Basically, Wes is growing in understanding how as Christians we are free from guilt and condemnation because we are in Christ (Romans 8:1). I am feeling overloaded with intellectual knowledge of Christ and desiring to grow in applying what I know to the daily ins-and-outs of my relationship with Him. I feel my love and passion for the Lord are somewhat sterile and I long for the Lord to restore the joy of my salvation (Psalm 51:12). The books that have been spurring us on (in addition to God's Word) are: Wes - The Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent; Christina - Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

Praises & Prayers
Tami - God would give the doctors wisdom in discerning the results of all the testing that has been done so that they can give my Dad & Tami some answers and advice in what is going on with Tami's short-term memory loss and what to do as a result.
Kyle & Kristen - Prayer that everything would work out for them to purchase their first home.
Wendy - Praise for completing her CFP exam that she's been studying for the past couple years. Prayer that she would pass (though we are confident she will).
Shannon - Praise for her recovery from the c-section going well.
MBC (our church) - Praise for God's provision for our own (leased) place off of Platte/Wooten. We are all thankful for no more weekly set-up/tear-down, though we have a lot of work ahead of us with cleaning up our new place.
Josh - Praise for his baptism! Prayer for God's provision for their family during this time of waiting and for wisdom with a couple job opportunities.
Our family - Praise for God blessing us with another little one!
Wes - Praise for finishing another semester of classes. Praise for God giving him wisdom in stepping down as a deacon at our church in order to be able to focus on the priorities of this season with our family and his schooling. Prayer for God to work in the heart of the co-worker he is studying the Bible with.
Me - Praise for good health so far in this pregnancy! Sentimental request that I might be able to complete some projects (such as Noah's baby book and some other "scrapbooking" type things) I've been working on before our little one comes. Praise for answered prayer for finding a quality OB before we even found out we were pregnant.
Noah - God would graciously save him. God would give us wisdom and patience in communicating with him and seeking to train him during this season of him not talking yet; also extra TLC with his teething. Praises for him doing well on our KS road trip and also during his 3 day/2 night stay with Grandpa and Grandma Rush.
Baby Harrison - God's loving and protective care for his/her health during this time of development.

Marriage Memories

Our 1st Overnight Get-a-Way - Before Noah was even born, we planned this get-a-way based on a great deal we were offered for a 3 day/2 night stay in Breckenridge. We enjoyed a wonderful time together relaxing, skiing, shopping, eating, and eating some more. :) It was a sweet splurge in many ways! Our hotel was upgraded for free to include a spa bath and shuttle service (so we did not have to mess with parking). We were a little apprehensive of how Noah was going to do with Grandpa & Grandma Rush, but he did fabulous! We heard that he latched on to Grandma as his "mommy," which I know Grandma didn't mind. Noah's apparently still working on warming up to Grandpa. :)

Family Fun

1st Road Trip - Our first road trip was about 6 hours to KS to visit Kyle, Kristen, & Sawyer (brother-in-law, sister, & nephew/Noah's cousin). Overall, Noah did well traveling. He slept a little, ate a lot, and cried some too. The biggest challenge was keeping him entertained with his short attention-span. As an active boy, sitting for a long period of time in a car seat was torture. What held his attention the longest was going through the different ringers on our cell phones. We also took a few stops along the way to let him get out some energy.

From Playing to Passed Out

We had a memorable time in KS with Noah having his first painful diaper rash, and Wes being sick. However, we still had a great time visiting loved ones, celebrating Papa's & Noah's birthdays, watching the cousins interact (aka. Noah getting jealous when Mommy was holding Sawyer), and kind of helping Kyle and Kristen pack up for their move to Ohio. :) We are grateful we were able to see them and spend time with them, especially precious little Sawyer, before they moved away.

Kristen & Sweet Sawyer

Tache, Tami, & Kristen

Kyle, Papa (sorry I caught you with eyes closed), & Wes

Cousins Sawyer (7 weeks) & Noah (12 months) - Noah staring Sawyer down

Noah's wearing the 1-sie Aunt Kristen made him for his 1st b-day :)

1st Snowman - Noah had fun making his first snowman - well, more like supervising the construction of Mommy making a snowman. I give Noah full credit for my inspiration! He reminded me of Ralphie from the movie, A Christmas Story, when the boy had to wear his snowsuit to school. Noah could barely move... it was quite entertaining! :)

Noah News

Age - 13 Months.

1sts - using a spoon to eat some yogurt.

# of Teeth - 3 - one top & two bottom (five are close to breaking through)

# of Words - ...still waiting, though he's starting to point and kind of sign (ex. please). Noah's definitely understanding more of what we say/sign and seems to at least be showing interest in trying to communicate, though the whining gets old quick...

*Photo - Notice the drool hanging from his chin if you look closely. Do you think he's teething? :)

Latest Loves

The outdoors!!!!

Reading

All kinds of technology

Bathtime

Opening cabinets & pulling things out

Helping Mommy clean & do laundry

Knocking down tupperware towers
Dumping out legos in tupperware tubs
Hitting the balls with his hammer - toy from Grandpa & Grandma Rush
Playing with the neighborhood girls who love to come over to play with him
Pushing his toy trucks/cars around
"Happy Baby" - rolling back & forth on his back while holding on to his feet
Drinking his milk without the sippy lid

Tupperware Towers & Lego Fun

Helping Mommy Clean Windows & Opening Cabinets

Other Intriguing Info

*Gagging - Noah had a season (fortunately that was short-lived) of gagging himself while he was eating for the sake of curiosity. We've heard its a normal part of exploring the cause/effect relationship and would pass if we didn't "encourage" him by reacting, which proved to be true.
*Mr. Observant - Noah notices anything new in a room or any new toy as well as tiny particles on the floor. Once again, he's taking after Daddy because Wes is super observant too!

Baby Harrison Highlights

Here's Our Little One at 5.5 Weeks

Size = Orange Seed

Here's the answers to the top questions we been getting...

How far along? 5.5 weeks

Due? Approximately December 10th - Yea! for another tax exemption. :)

How far apart will Noah and the baby be? About 22 months/just shy of 2 years

Were we planning on having them about 2 years apart? We've been "having fun" and leaving the timing to the Lord. :)

Are we going to find out the gender? Yes, we will find out this summer.

How am I feeling? Great! Thankful that I don't have any morning sickness or major fatigue.

How did we find out I was pregnant? See below...

Memorable Moment of the Month

Finding out the Lord blessed us with another little one - Here's how it happened...keep reading if you want details because I want to remember (and it may be a little TMI so you've been warned)...I had experienced a couple of the same symptoms I did with Noah - increased appetite/impossibility of getting full and increased breaking out with acne, but these also come with my normal monthly cycle so I didn't think too much about it. Then I started wondering a little more when I noticed some constipation and increased irritability. My sister-in-law, Kim, and I had talked about the possibility, but I still wasn't thinking much about it. I had my annual woman exam and in the back of my mind I remember wondering if my doctor would tell me I was pregnant if she knew. When she examined me, she had difficulty finding my cervix, which really got me wondering if I was pregnant because that had never happened before. I later got on the internet and discovered that your cervix is high when you're ovulating or pregnant. I was at 35 days in my cycle and knew that it was very unlikely I was ovulating. I started thinking back to all the minor symptoms I had noticed (listed above) as well as bloating, having an emotional meltdown (though it was late at night and I was tired), some lower back ache, sinus congestion in the mornings, and increased sense of smell. After putting it all together, I was pretty certain I was pregnant. I told Wes all of this and that my "gut Mommy instinct" was that I was pregnant. We got a pregnancy test the next night at 11:30 pm (long story) because Wes really wanted to find out the next day. So, sure enough, my Mommy instinct was right, and the test showed up positive ASAP! :)

More Memories