Moving on to new adventures!

Edit: Needed to add something...

I LOVE DAVID!!!!!

A lot's been happening lately; a good reason to post and not to post! Be forewarned, this post is rather long and has lots of pictures! Perhaps one day I'll post more frequently with short posts instead of these periodic lengthy posts!

First off, Lilian Ruth is doing very well! She's healthy and cute as ever and is now 2 1/2 months old! When we weighed her a few weeks ago she was 11 and 2/10 lbs. and 23 inches long... so she's gained over 3 pounds and 3 inches!

We've been in the process of selling our house. This house that my Beloved built with his own two hands for us is being sold, Lord willing! Soon, new construction pictures will be on here to compare with the "old" ones! We sold the house on craigslist, believe it or not, and were blessed with a whole lot of interest in the place, even showing the house the day Lilian was born(that was interesting, standing there having contractions while visiting about the house! It was funny!) As of Saturday, we have signed the contract on our house and have a closing date set for March 12th. On that same day my visionary husband and I hope to close on 160 acres not far from here.(Pray that the seller will get his stuff done quickly! He's taking his time and we really need things to get moving!) We are buying the 160 with our wonderful friends Caleb and Daniel! It'll be so fun to be neighbors with them!!!

This time around David and I get to do it all together, and he won't have all those long days working on the house and land all by himself 'cause he's got a helpmate this time! Woohoo! We've been working on house plans and trying to get everything lined up. The Lord blessed us with the opportunity to rent our current place from the buyers for 2 months. Lord willing, we hope to make it happen and get into the new place by May 12th! It'll be an adventure, and it is our hope that this land will be used for the glory of God in our efforts to be better stewards and take dominion and leave an inheritance for our children!!! We'd appreciate your prayers!

We'll use mainly pictures to tell about the other things that have happened since we last posted!

My family came over with dinner one night when Lilian was just shy of one month. They had bought the overalls on the trip we took with them early in November and they are so cute on Lilian!

The Morris's found the hat and we had fun putting it on Lilian, although she wasn't quite sure what to think!

When Lilian turned 1 month, December 25th, we were totally snowed in! It was the most snow we'd ever seen in Oklahoma! David posted the first pic on facebook with this caption, "We are SNOWED IN on christmas.. What a Blessing With a beautiful and wonderful wife and baby. Christmas at home this year!!!!" We couldn't go anywhere but our dear neighbors the Morris's could in their F350 4x4! So a bunch of them came over and we had a snowball fight and went sledding! Lilian was quite the trooper! My uncle and aunt bought us an Ergo Baby Carrier and it was (and is!) so perfect to have! We bundled Lilian up with her new hat a gloves from the Garlitz Family and I wrapped my coveralls around the side of the carrier and away we went! We had a wonderful time!!!

Anna, Katelyn and Lilian!

One day David went out to check our few chickens that are left. Upon enering the coop he thought he saw a chicken in a nesting box, but a closer look revealed that it was a possum curled up as comfy as you please thoroughly enjoying the Ahlgren Bed & Breakfast. David ran back to the house to get the .22 and take care of that critter!

Believe it or not that possum is alive in the picture! When David was disposing of the possum out in the field it attempted to get away! But needless to say, it did not escape.

Ten days later David went out at night to check the chickens and again he found a possum in one of the nests! After shooting it right between the eyes(at least once, maybe more) he picked it up by the tail and started walking back to the house to show off his kill and report another chicken fatality. Somehow the possum survived and started to crawl up David's arm! David dropped it as fast as gravity would allow and shot it a few more times making absolutely sure that it was dead before picking it up again!

First family picture of 2010! We went to an Eagle Scout ceremony for our friend Austin and David wore his uniform. Ain't he handsome!!!!!

Lilian with her buddy Elijah! She really likes him! ;)

Lilian loooves looking at her handsome Daddy... wonder where she picked that up? :D

Hanging out with Siah and Hosie and cuddling up with Mrs. Morris!

It's so fun how they all love holding her! Sometime it seems we need a time limit on it so that everyone gets a chance! Luckily I'm the only one who can feed her so I always get my chance!!!

Blissfully asleep in Daddy's safe strong arms!

David's sister Adina, husband Jeremy, and children Elijah, Merry and Micah came from Kentucky and stayed about a week with us mid January! It was so good to see them again. The last time we saw them was when Micah was born. It was so neat to see him brand new and now a year old! The last night they were here we had a Chamorro feast and my family joined us!

LtoR: David, Lilian, Katelyn, Merry, Adina, Micah, Jeremy, and Elijah.

Merry, Lilian, and Elijah saying hi!

Micah loved Lilian! Every time he saw her he'd crawl over to her as fast as he could! Everything was fine til he tried to love on her! We got to see how she handles a good wallop! Here he is giving Lilian a nice big wet kiss!

Adina and Elijah 4-wheeling by the Kissing Rock. :D

David and me with all of the kids. Jeremy and Adina say this is what they hope we'll look like in 4-5 years!

Happy and blessed couples!

Lilian getting her first piano lesson from Anna! She loved it!!!

She seems to really enjoy hearing music. We were at a wedding recepetion a fews nights ago and Lilian was fussin' a bit but as soon as Caleb and Daniel started playing the piano and violin/viola(can't remember which at that moment) she stopped fussin' and stared right at them the whole time they played! :) I think most people do that when they play! It's always a blessing to hear!

Our home church had a baby shower for us! We'd also been blessed with a shower thrown by the friend whose wedding we met at and another by the church we fellowshipped (still do sometimes!) with down south. We were definately "showered" with gifts and are very thankful, not just for the gifts, but for the friendship and love in our fellowship!

Mrs. Morris made the cake and she found Lilian (aka Mavie) the flip-flops! Perfect!!! Thank you!

We've had a lot of snow this winter! Here's a view of our last big snow (with ice).

Hosanna is so good with children! Hosie really has a servant's heart and is a great blessing to her family and to us! She's very good with Lilian!

We got to spend a lovely Sunday evening with my parents two weeks ago. Grandma got a teether toy out of the freezer for Lilian; she really liked it and was smiling and cooing at Mom!

And Grandpa did what he loves best: just let the little baby fall asleep on his chest while he rocks and pats her! Reminds me of my grandpa! My sister and I can't remember when we were that little, but we do remember oh so many nights stretched out on our grandpa's lap getting our backs scratched by his carpenter's calluses. Lilian looked like she'd practically melted into Dad! She's 10 1/2 weeks here.

David has found Lilian's new favorite sopt! She really enjoys being on his shoulders looking around all bug-eyed!

We had my sister and our friends Christine and Karen over to decorate Valentine cookies! In the 2 years and 9 months since David and I got engaged they'd never been out here! We thought since, Lord willing, we'd be moving in 3months(to the day) we'd better make sure they saw the place before we left! We were very thankful that they made the trip out! We decorated over 13 dozen cookies! Here's the tasty tasty recipe!!!!!

During the clean up we had a little fun playing in the icing!

We ran out of time to take them to our new land, but we did have time for a 4-wheel ride and some shooting! They're great girls and of course my sister is terrific so we had a wonderful time together!

This Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day and we went out to the new land with some of the Morris's to go 4-wheeling! It was Lilian's first time on a 4-wheeler! Caleb was kind enough to hold her while David and I had a little more adventure together! I love riding behind him, he's such an exciting(yet safe) driver and I love hanging on! :D

We had an exciting adventure on the way home but I think I'll just have to make that another blog post all by itself! :)

Here are the beautiful flowers my Lover got for me. He said he'd much rather pick me some, but there aren't any around right now! :)

Flowers are lovely, but for the record, my husband definately doesn't need to get me flowers to show me he loves me. I already know it without a doubt! I am very blessed to have a husband that truly does love me and does not hold back his love and is not afraid to show it and, like he prayed years ago, our love fills each other with joy! Oh what JOY! I am so blessed to be his bride and to have him as my bridegroom!

Lilian has now discovered her hands and that she gets a wonderous pleaseure from sucking them! We made the mistake of not nipping this in the bud and now have a finger addict. Over the past few days we've been working on breaking the habbit. Since we can't sit next to her every minute that she's awake or alseep we had to be innovative. So last night my ingenious husband retrieved two clipies from a drawer and promptly clipped her sleeves shut!

She was a little confused at first, then throughly distraught! We decided we'd nickname her "Clippie". This afternoon she figured out how to suck her fingers through her sleeve so we graduated from clippies to socks. So far they are working quite well. We don't want her to suck her fingers because it's just to pacify herself when she's tired, not getting her way, hungry or bored. There are better alternatives to all of these! We would prefer her to suck a pacifer than her fingers becasue one's removable and the other isn't! But we don't want to simply pacify a real need or a selfish desire. We pray for wisdom and trust that the Lord will giude us, we need ii!

This picture was taken Monday night so Lilian is 2 months 21 days old in it. It's amazing to think that she's almost 3 months old! What a blessing she has been!

We hope you enjoyed and were edified in the time that you just spent reading and looking at this!

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,

we have a building of God,

an house not made with hands,

eternal in the heavens."

2 Corinthians 5:1

SHE'S HERE!!!

We had a very special reason to give thanks this Thanksgiving...

~Lilian Ruth Ahlgren~

Born at home in the water, the day before Thanksgiving, at 7:11pm.

She weighed 8lbs and was 20in long.

The Lord blessed us with a WONDERFUL midwife Charlee Lacy! We are very thankful for her!

The Lord let the birth go very well and there were no complications! Praise God!!! Charlee said that the labor was about 8 1/2 hours and Lilian was right on time gestationally. Thank you, to everyone who has prayed for us!

David was SO perfect in everything he did to help; he always rubbed the right spot, held my hand just right and was the best physical, emotional, and spiritual support! I LOVE HIM SOOOOO MUCH! He's an awesome husband and he's now a phenominal dad and it is such a delightful priviledge to be his wife! We're all doing very well, a little sleep deprived, but it comes with a huge blessing that we are having so much fun with! Lilian is growing fast and has gained a lot of head control and leg strength! She has long fingers and toes like Daddy and a dimple in her cheek like Mommy.

Lilian Ruth has had many visitors since her birth! Grandpa and Grandma Barnes and Auntie Kris came out to see her a few hours after she was born. The Morris family came the morning after she was born (forgive us for not letting you come sooner!). Great Grandpa Barnes and Great Grandma Stewart (TuTu) came the day after she was born and her Great Grandpa and Grandma Stewart (Papa Jim and Momma Lue) got to see her a little over a week after her birth. Lilian Ruth is the first great grandchild on my side of the family and the sixth on David's side. Many friends have visited too; the Ledgers, the Wilsons, the Partains, our neighbors the McGuires, the Cochrans, random people looking at our house... and she's had several cards welcoming her! Thank you to everyone who has visited (we love the company!), to those who have welcomed her in other ways, and to those who have brought meals! We've been blessed with a very wonderful family and many many wonderful friends!

On Lilian Ruth's first Lord's Day we still weren't traveling yet and we had the special delight of having fellowship at our home!!! The Morris's and the Cochran's came and it was so wonderful to have so many voices praising the Lord together out here once again!!!

For the record, we did keep our word and added another picture to the post before this one.

Lilian: Lily- Flower(innocence and purity?) Ann-Grace = Flowering Grace. We didn't realize it when we picked it, but "Lillian" (double "L") is my great grandmother's name.

Ruth: Friend or Companion. This is David's mother's middle name, and is my great aunt's name, and it's a name we both really liked!

Incidentally Lilian's initials, for now, are the same as David's mother's, LRA. We didn't plan that, but are very pleased with it! :)

She's got big eyes like her Daddy!!!

We are so thankful to God for blessing us so richly with each other and now with our precious Lilian Ruth!

Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it:

Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:

For so He giveth His beloved sleep.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:

And the fruit of the womb is His reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. :)

Happy (Blessed) is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127

The LORD hath done great things for us;

whereof we are glad!

Psalm 126:3

Alive and well and in love...

11-09

Been a while, but we've been having fun keeping ourselves busy with the farm, going to the fair to our first goat show http://weloveyoujoel.blogspot.com/2009/09/dairy-show-wrapped-up.html, our new emus, new fencing, a semi-secret trip to Arkansas with the Barnes, looking at land with friends, avoiding public crowds to avoid any sickness, midwife visits, cutting and stacking wood for the winter, and getting ready for little "Mavie's" arrival!

I say "little" but (s)he doesn't feel so small anymore! :) We have so much fun (99.9% of the time) feeling the kicks and watching the little feet roll around and seeing what sticks up when we lie down. For a while, I had quite a hard time concentrating on someone teaching because it was so awesome and distracting to feel and watch our baby move! Staying in one spot for a long time listening didn't help me focus either, but I prayed about it and the Lord's helped me be able to concentrate much much better now! The baby starts moving around particularly when it's been quiet for a while and David starts talking or if David has been outside and then comes back in and starts talking! :) Maybe some of it's just in my head because I like to hear him talk so I think oue baby does too! <3

Someone asked if we had our baby registry on our blog, and we didn't, but now here it is: http://www.myregistry.com/Visitors/Welcome.aspx?sid=dada5acf-a394-44b6-a0a7-af9d1d8b0cb0. If that link doesn't take you straight to it than go to: http://www.myregistry.com/ and type one of our names in the boxes on the left side of the screen.

My David is such a wonderful husband!!! I AM IMMEASURABLY BLESSED!!!!! He is so patient when I am slow, understanding when I am tired or frustrated, thoughtful to remember everything I forget, selfless to work hard, mindful of the baby's and my wellbeing, thorough and tireless when rubbing my back, loving to stop and hold me for a while in the middle of our rush to get out the door, good to encourage me in righteousness and love, amazing to always be here, wonderful to be my bridegroom, perfect to be my man! I love being with him every single second that I can! We are so thankful to God Almighty for bringing us together 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days ago (when we met), for binding us together 2 years, 6 months, and 6 days ago (betrothed), and for blessing our lives with the bliss of each other's daily presence for the past 1 year, 1 month, and 6 days! "Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"

We'll put a recent belly picture on this post soon, but not right now! ;) I guess we're around 36 weeks, and "around 36 weeks" means we're in the 9th month and in the 3rd trimester. Full term is considered 40 weeks, but the midwife said that when guessing a date you can easily be up to two weeks off. So, the baby will come in it's Creator's perfect timing!

If you think of it you might pray for us to have wisdom and creativity in narrowing down a few names! We're not following any pattern or category in our naming so that's left the options a wee bit broad! We want to choose well, cause the kid's stuck with it for life, and we want to choose a name that has a good meaning and purpose to it, something to be an encouragement or inspiration.

Here's a pic from September.

At a later time we'll post a few picture of the emus, our jaunt up to Arkansas, the wood pile, etc. so be sure to check back if you're interested!

Psalm 139:11-18

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.

For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise Thee; foe I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members (days) were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake I am

still

with Thee.

This was taken almost exactly one year ago!

To Brighten Your Day...

Ginger Snaps!

We love ginger snaps! The spices are good for you and molasses has iron in it!!! :) But everything in moderation! Well, not in everything, but probably everything food related!

I've never made ginger snaps because I typically try to sweeten with honey and it's pretty hard to get a cookie to "snap" when it's made with honey. :( But we recently bought some succanat, so I thought I'd use some and see what happened!

After searching for and comparing recipes, collecting two eggs from the chickens, and restraining myself from eating all of the dough, I took the final result to my hard working husband out on the tractor. Oh, to savor the look on his face! (I love it when I can bring him pleasure and delight and he is so good to communicate to me what he likes and to affirm and encourage me!) He definitely liked the cookie! We both thoroughly enjoy molasses and spice edibles! 

Thankfully, the Lord let them taste good to people other than us Ahlgrens, so here is the recipe for you Savannah! 

I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour, but the wheat I used was very fine, sort of like wheat pastry flour. Make sure you get everything very well mixed! In our oven, 12 minutes left them a little too moist, so using the whole 15 minutes was just right! I put a few extra cookies in a bag with some buns and they collected a lot of moisture, so those tasted like a molasses chewy cookie, which is good too! Hope you enjoy 'em if you make 'em!!!

P.S. Another belly picture has been added to the last post and there's now a poll on the sidebar so you can vote on whether Baby Ahlgren will be a son or daughter, nephew or niece,  cousin or... cousin!