HE'S HERE!

It's a BOY!
Keith Allen Ahlgren
7lbs 10oz - 21 1/4 inches
6:00 am

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

(I'll add more pictures later, so check back... later!)

We are so thankful for our newest little blessing and how he has grown our family! The Lord really blessed the labor and birth. All went very well, things got going on the due date after coming home from an exciting party at the Morris's, David is the best help to me during labor, our midwife is marvelous, I only pushed for 5 minutes, Keith Allen came out healthy and calm in the water, Lilian slept through the birth and on til noon so we could get some sleep, we have the best midwife in the whole world, David is MAGNIFICENT at everything and loves me so sacrificially, I felt great after the birth and had energy to enjoy everything afterwards, and GOD IS SO GOOD AND GRACIOUS!

Keith Allen is healthy, eating a bunch, and is getting lots of love from our family and friends, and especially his big sister!

Lilian was so excited when she heard Keith cry for the first time! She looked at David all wide-eyed, "Baby!?! Baby crying!" She couldn't wait another minute to see the baby! Her initial observations: "Baby! Legs. Feet. Hands. Nose. Baby come out!" Every day she's been more and more interactive with "Keef", rubbing his back, holding his hand, petting his head, watching and offering commentary during diaper changes, "Yucky!", bringing toys to share, offering to cook for him in the little kitchen, asking to hold him, singing to him, and laughing at his funny faces. Keith likes to look at her!

Keith loves the sound of Papa's voice and often calms down when he hears Papa! David very quickly figured out how to soothe Keith; wrap/hold him tight and pat his back. So helpful! Lilian hated to be swaddled because she liked a hand by her face. But Keith LOVES to be swaddled tight! This info makes nighttimes more easily managed! Thank you Lord for an attentive Papa!

Our midwife Charlee Lacy is so skilled, and gifted at her work! We are beyond blessed to have her in our life and at our births! We are so thankful for the wisdom that the Lord has given her, regarding pregnancy and birth, and all other areas of life! Thank you, thank you, thank you.....

Thank you to everyone who was praying for us! We have been greatly blessed....

And in case you wondered, Keith Allen is wonderful, simply wonderful!
And I LOVE David more every moment!
And he constantly SHOWS me that he loves me!
And Lilian is the the best and sweetest new big sister around!

The LORD hath done great things for us;
wherefore we are GLAD!
Psalm 126:3

The day draws near...

For the beauty of the earth!

For the glories of the sky! For the love which from our birth, over and around us lies! LORD of ALL, to THEE we raise,
this our hymn of grateful praise!

Somebody just turned 2 and
somebody else is getting close to being born!

I sing that song nearly every time Lilian and I walk up the driveway to get the mail! Maybe that will become a family tradition... haha!
We're so excited about life and so thankful; for both of our babies, for each other, and for our Lord who gives us our every breath!

36-37 weeks (mid 9th month)!

Colossians 3:17-21,23
And whatsoever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Children, obey your parents in all things,
for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.
Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not discouraged.
...whatsoever you do, work heartily, as unto the Lord,
and not unto men;
knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the recompense of the inheritance:
you serve the Lord Christ.

Profound Quote

I read this on someone else's blog and it struck me as quite profound and worthy of some though.

"Custom,
as I said before,
is the thing that sways much with the multitude;
and they who first break a destructive custom
must bear the brunt of their indignation.
Now, somebody must do this.
If we do it not, it will lie upon our successors;
and how can we expect that they shall be more
hardy,
and resolute,
and faithful, than we?
… But if they do prove better than we,
the same odium and opposition must
befall them which we avoid,
and that with some increase,
because of our neglect; for the people will tell them, that we,
their predecessors, did no such things."
Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, Page 271

Firsts!

Lilian had her first adventure with "dress-ups" tonight! I was getting out her next size in clothes and she loved helping! She really wanted to wear the floral dress and kept putting everything else on her head! Thank you oh SO much Adina for the hand-me-downs!!!!!
Once on, she determined that the pantie-Beret was not optimal.
We are so thankful for our precious blessing! She is such a delight! It seems like she laughed a lot today and that is so wonderful! A little while after we finished sorting the clothes she was so tired and totally crashed stretched out across my lap! I love it when she sleeps on me!

She's walking now! WOOHOO! She started almost a month ago now! It's so fun having her walking! I love how when we get down on her level she comes to us and the last couple of steps she practically falls into us with a huge smile on her face! 8D

My Beloved and I were in the garden planting potatoes on Saturday and in the course of the conversation he quoted 1 John 4:7-8 to me. "Love" has been the summation of many of our conversations lately, so I'll share those verse here!

"Beloved, let us love one another:
for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love."
1 John 4:7-8

House pics!

A little sneak peak at some parts of the inside of our house and some other random photos!

I've been wanting to share this picture of David making Mrs. Morris laugh hysterically and this seems like a good spot!

Working on the Bender Mansion ;)Working hard on Caleb's Castle :D

My breathtakingly handsome husband pondering life! 8D I love pics where you can see his ring... oh yeh, he's taken!
Hanging sheet rock in the Ahlgren Jungle Hut of Adventure (aka Casual Cottage) master bathroom and laundry room.My handsome Man! We love texturing the walls! :D Really, we do! Can anyone guess why I like this picture!? 8D Lilian helping! Lilian being a little too helpful! Laying the tile! When we picked out tile there was some in the colors we needed at a major discount! Praise the Lord!
My Beloved looked and looked for another big bathtub for this new house so that (among other things) if the Lord blessed us with another baby I could have the option of another water birth! The Lord led him to this one for $150!
My Master Tile Cutter. :) Billy let us play with a tile cutter gadget he picked up at the state fair. It worked... sometimes!
I think around 1:00AM my "Make it Happen" Man started on the walls!
Lilian helping again!
With her little top curl we think she'd make a good mascot for David's business, Wave Media Technologies!
And here is the 99% done project! Eventually there will be wood covering the tub plumbing. The washer, dryer, laundry sink, water filter, and dehumidifier are behind some brown curtains to the left in the first picture. Laundry part is to the right and our bedroom is through the door on the right. This was one evening when Caleb and Daniel and Billy were going to spend the night out on their land.
Looks like Caleb almost decided to spend the night on our couch, which he's welcome to anytime!
A summertime party at our house.
This picture is for the Morris's and the Wilsons! The Morris's give nicknames and David they call "The Maverick" or "Mav", I'm "Mavette" and when the Lord blessed us with our pregnancy they named the unborn child "Mavie"! Lots of people still call Lilian "Mavie" including our dear friends the Wilsons! As a baby gift before she was born (and we didn't find out the gender) they had these adorable little pajamas made for her! We've been planning to put them on her one night over at the Morris's to show/surprise them but she's growing out of them quickly (in length) so you'll probably just get to see it here! And thank you Wilsons for such a cute and perfect gift... you guys always give "perfect" gifts! :)

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love one for another."
John 13:35

Happy and Dirty Little Farm Girl

*Anniversary pictures have now been added to that post.

I was going through pictures tonight and found this from the end of August. She got this dirty because she did a face plant out of her bouncer into some sandy soil. She wasn't happy then but she was later and I think she's so cute with dirt all over her face! This is from the beginning of October. Dad's lil' helper!We got five goats at the end of September! They escaped and were lost for about a week and then a neighbor two miles away called and had them! Praise the Lord that we didn't loose that investment! This goat is a LaMancha (no ears) that we named Coconut and she had a Boer cross kid a little over a week ago! Praise God our farm is being fruitful! :D
This doeling is a Kiko, the hardy and resilient breed we hope to pursue. Her name is "Liko" for "Lilian's Kiko". Guess who she belongs to!?!?!
All of our pictures were on my Beloved's computer (that I do not touch), but through a string of events I now have the pictures! Woohoo! Hopefully I'll soon be sharing newer pictures of our house and land!

Since I now have all of the pictures... I'm overwhelmed with thousands of adorable pictures of our precious little Blessing! The first twelve months of life go by WAY TOO FAST and WAY TOO MUCH changes at once! Oh how I treasure every little detail of her! Anyways... here's some pics of her first encounter with sand at the end of June!
This stuff is sure different...
But I think I kind of like it...
Hmm, what to do with a whole fist full...
I know! I'll taste it!

Whoa! I'm not sure about this.


Guess I'll have to try it again!Ya know, it's really not that bad...

And it was with that mindset that she set the stage for the photo at the top! :) We love being parents! Thank you Lord!




And even if she can't be out helping she always like to watch her handsome Dad (wonder where she gets that?)! July1st.

Trusting God, Together

I just read a book review on one of my old time favorite sites, LAF, and it reminded me of the overwhelming peace and blessing that comes from trusting God, together.

While my Love and I were still just brother and sister in Christ (ie, before we were engaged) we discussed all kinds of things and soon knew that we were in agreement regarding who should control of the womb. But once betrothed, some topics are destined to be discussed again when you see the bright possibility of becoming a parent glowing in the seemingly near future.

So one evening we discussed it together.

The thought of controlling, planning, tracking, and stressing about having children was… stressing me out! We exchanged a few phrases trying to... I don't know... just discuss it. Then, he said it, the words that set me free!

“Why don’t we just trust God with it.”

Pure. Simple. No words can fully describe the immense swell of peace that I was lifted upon after he said that! Exactly what was busting to get out of my heart came lovingly sweet out of his mouth. I smiled at him and quietly gave my wholehearted agreement! No matter what other's thought, we stood together under God. And the peace of standing under the shadow of His wings is entirely immeasurable!

We bring so much misery (fear, stress, selfishness, anxiety, guilt, frustration…) upon ourselves when we try to take the control of something away from God. It’s an understatement to say that God knows what He’s doing! We open ourselves up to so many blessings (peace, oneness, rest, increased faith, freedom, unity…) when we quit fighting God and acknowledge that He is Sovereign and will work it all (many children, few children, or no children) for our good and His glory!

Just voicing my thanks for the leading of our Lord

in the leading of my Beloved

in the oneness of our hearts and life as we

trust God, together.