Player of the Year

Jacksen played basketball with the Salvation Army this past winter and loved it. He never took a shot and never had a foul all season. He was however named player of the year and awarded this sweet Nike basketball because of his willingness to do everything his coaches said, attending almost every game and practice, and playing his best all season. He was a very proud boy and we are very proud of him. His team's name is "Money Makers" and he was asked to be on the same team for the summer league. With his award he has a new confidence and in the first game this summer he took three shots and made two fouls! He didn't make any of the shots but just shooting them is an accomplishment, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings!

2 months old!

A few pictures of Jillian at 2 months old. She weighed in at 8lb 10 oz. last week at the doctor and I think she has gained at least a half a pound since then. She has started smiling and talking. She loves her big brothers and sister and gives them the biggest smiles of all. Jillian still has all of her hair and it just keeps getting longer and longer. She is finally out growing all the newborn clothes and is into 0-3 months!

Jillian Arrives

Jillian arrived 5 weeks and a day early. Her due date was June 26th and she came May 21st. I had been put on bed rest 5 and 1/2 weeks before that for what they called pre-preeclampsia. She weighed 3lb 14oz and was 16 inches long. She didn't have to be on any oxygen or a ventilator which is amazing considering how early she was. I will post later about what all we went through to get her here, but I had to start somewhere. These are the only pictures I was able to look at after she was born until the next day when I was able to go and see her. They whisked her away so fast I only got a glimpse of her before she went to the NICU. I think that was the hardest part of all of it. Even then I didn't get to hold her, it was another 24 hours before I was able to do that. She spent 9 days in the NICU and we would go and visit her everyday. I really struggled with whether or not to stay with her at the hospital, but with three other kids at home and the tough delivery I went through we decided it would be best for me to go home and get rest and spend all day there. This worked out well, but it was so hard to leave her at the end of the day. That is all for now next I think I'll post the bed rest days and what all we went through to get Jillian here. It feels so good to be back to blogging!

Wow!

What a rough couple of months! I'm afraid if I don't blog about it soon I will forget all the details of everything that's happened. This is one of my goals for this week; to get back into blogging. It was one of my goals last week too and it didn't happen. I had high hopes to print off this picture of the kids and have it sent out with all the thank you cards I have yet to write to so many friends and family that have been there for us through it all. It didn't happen so I'll share it on here. That is another goal I had last week that has become this weeks goal. Four kids has really slowed me down. I can't seem to get caught up on anything. I feel like I'm running in circles most of the time.

Miss Louise

This is an old picture from fall, but I can't put a story on here without sharing a picture. Aren't all the colors pretty in the trees behind the kids! I know the kids will love goofy pictures of themselves like this one some day. This is a typical fall Saturday afternoon at our house we rake and rake for hours then spend about ten minutes jumping in the leaves before cleaning it all up.

Here's the story I want to share today...I am now 22 weeks along and the kids are now able to feel the baby kick. They think it is so cool and really enjoy getting to feel their baby sister kicking them. It has become an evening routine for them to feel her kicking right before they all head off to bed. One day this week while they were feeling her kick, I told them that she is now old enough to hear us talk. They all wanted to start talking to my stomach so the baby would recognize their voices when she comes out. Then Jennah said all of a sudden, "mom you need to start calling me Miss Louise". (This is her middle name and when she forces Joel to play school with her this is what she makes him call her.) She went on to tell me that Miss Louise is what she wants her baby sister to call her when she gets here. Typical Jennah story that just cracks me up and I wanted to share. I hope this baby girl is going to be laid back, because she's going to need to be with all the stuff she's going to have to put up with from her big sister Jennah.

I'm Back!

Wow! So a lot has changed since my last post. I found out a week after returning home from my trip to Honduras that we are expecting our #4! We were completely surprised because we had stopped trying four months before and were happy with our family of 5. It was quite a shock for Jonathan as well. I told him I had some weird news and he jokingly said "what you're pregnant" I said "yep!". He sat quietly for a few seconds and said, "you're going to have to give me some time to think about it". All evening long he just kept looking at me and saying "really, really". We wanted to wait as long as we could to tell everyone because of the past trouble we'd had. We were able to wait until I was eight weeks along, which is good for us.

I am now 20 and 1/2 weeks along and we found out last week we are having a baby girl! We're so excited. We thought for sure it was a boy because I've been so sick. After dealing with the morning sickness for so long I finally broke down and asked for some medicine to help with the nausea and wow has it helped. I can't believe I didn't ask for it with Jacksen and Joel. I thought it would be easier having older children and being pregnant, but it doesn't seem to be it to has it's challenges. I can't just lay on the couch and let the kids play around me, I now have to go to ball games, ball practices, get them up and off to school and so on.

I am finally getting use to the idea of having another little one. When we decided we weren't having anymore we were set on it so it's really taken me a while to get use to the fact. Also, I can't believe how far apart the kids will be Jack will be 10 and 1/2, Jennah will be 8 and 1/2, and Joel will be two months from being 5!

We definitely feel blessed and are so excited to welcome a new little Hendricks into the world around June 26th!

Honduras Trip Part 1

The first thing we did when we landed in Honduras was go to the mall to get the 63 pairs of shoes for the boys at Jovenes. Thanks to the Bristow Church of Christ for their donation of the shoes. The sizing of the shoes was a little difficult as the house parents just traced around each kids footprint and then cut it out for us to find the correct size. I think it took about three hours for all the sizes to be found. One of my goals before Christmas is to find one of the metal shoe sizers to send to them so next time they will have it. I think that will make things so much easier.

One of the pictures is Rachel with all the shoes at Jovenes. The other one is one of my favorites. I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but this is one of the boys trying on the new shoes with his old pair sitting right beside him with the front completely tore off of it.

Here's a little story of our trip to Jovenes I'd like to share. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. First of all, the kids hadn't been told we were going to be bringing shoes to them. The directors of Jovenes wanted it to be a surprise for them, and so as we arrived we wanted to walk around and see where everything was, as we were walking some kids met us and Will and Rachel started talking to them a little bit asking how they were and everything. As they walked off Rachel told us they said "you all have such nice shoes" it left me speechless. These little kids probably six or seven years old noticed how nice our shoes were. To us our shoes were ones that were pretty old and worn, but to these boys they were really nice. Precious kids!

One of the other things we got to do was take seven laptops for the boys. This last picture is the old computer lab at Jovenes. They now have seven laptops that we were able to deliver to them from Dudley. I think they will get great use out of them and I'm so glad we were able to be a part of getting them down there.

Where to Start

I've got a lot of updating to do so I'm going to go in the order I remember everything. The middle of September Jack broke his little finger in Bible class. They had finished up the lesson and were playing a game and a kid went to block Jack's throw and broke his finger. Jack was a little excited at first about having a cool cast, but that soon wore off. It was a water proof cast so that really helped with bathing. He was able to continue playing flag football. The orthopedic center we went to fitted him for a foam hand to wear around his cast so he could play without hurting anyone. He wore the cast for three weeks and the doctor said it didn't look so good when the cast was removed so we went back two weeks later to see if he needed to have surgery and he said it had straightened up like it should so no surgery! Yeah! When I was in Honduras was when he was suppose to have the cast removed so Jonathan took him. Jack was so ready to get it off and had been pretty cranky with it on. Since Jon changed jobs we had new insurance and he forgot the new insurance card and they wouldn't take it off without paying cash for it $300, so they had to reschedule for the next day. Poor Jack, from what I hear he was pretty upset with Dad. I flew in that night and was able to take him the next day to get it removed, so he didn't have to wait too much longer.

Joel First Day of PreK

Joel started PreK at our church a week ago and he is loving it. It has been really hard on me. I'm feeling much better about it now though. I can't believe my baby is old enough for school. I didn't think this time would come yet. After I dropped him off I went to Target for some retail therapy and found myself crying in the aisles. I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy. There was a mom with little kids in her basket that weren't acting right and I could tell the mom was getting frustrated. I wanted so badly to tell her to relax and enjoy this time with your kiddos because it won't be long at all until you're alone like me. I know it's just three days a week, but this is all I've done for the past almost ten years now. It's just going to take me sometime to get use to. The last picture of Joel and me was taken before I really broke down. I did okay for me until I was walking out of the building and someone asked me if I was okay and I said yes. She said you don't look okay. That's when I broke down! She felt so bad for me. Her husband kept telling me you'll be able to pick him up in a few hours. I felt so bad for them. They didn't know what to do with me. I doubt if they ever ask me how I'm feeling again.

Joel's 4!

I can't believe my baby is four. We had a great party for him on his birthday at a new park in town. He was so happy and had such a great time. Thank you to all the family that came to help us celebrate.

Flag Football

Jack has had two football games so far this year. The first game they lost pretty badly, but the second game they won! In the second game Jack made the game winning play! At the end of the game the other team was going for a touchdown that would put them ahead and win and Jack dove for the flag and got it! He scraped up his arm, but said it was definitely worth it. They have Bible verses they have to remember and say each week as well as a devo. I love this picture of both teams saying a prayer before the game. It's just precious.

Jack and Jennah's First Day of School

Jack and Jennah's first day of school was a few weeks ago. Jack is in the 4th grade and Jennah is in the 2nd grade! I can't believe it! They were both so excited. Jack gets up about every morning by himself and is getting so big. Jennah still has to be woke up every morning which I don't see changing any time soon. That girl loves to sleep in! That is one thing she got from me. I'm so proud of my big 4th and 2nd graders.

Now this is the shot I was hoping for! Not perfect but much better than the first one.

Family Beach Picture

I can't stop laughing about this picture I had to post it. This is the one attempt to get a family beach photo. Right after this my camera fell in the sand and the lense got stuck open, and I gave up. Anyway I thought it was funny enough to blog.

Best Vacation Ever

We made it to Destin! It's beautiful here. The resort is the best one we've ever stayed in and we got it for about the same price as a cheap hotel. Can't beat that!

I can't believe how clear the water is here. I told Jon I think it's a little too clear! I don't think I like to see all the fish swimming around me. We found a jellyfish washed up on the beach. It was about the size of a guys fist! Scary! While the kids were playing in the sand Jon went across the street and got a Domino's pizza for us to eat on the beach. Picnics at the beach are the best.

We've eaten out two nights now and one place was okay. I actually tried tuna tartare for the first time by accident. I thought it would be at least seared but nope it was raw! It was actually pretty good, but I couldn't get over the fact that it was raw. The second meal out was to The Back Porch. It was on the beach and our table had a beautiful view of the ocean. The food at The Back Porch was delicious! I don't know if we will be able to top it, but we'll sure try.

Will and Rachel's Visit

Will and Rachel had to come back to the U.S. for a few weeks because of all the political problems in Honduras. They were able to stay with us a few nights. We loved having a chance to visit with them and hear of all the work they are doing there. They are heading back Saturday. Things seem to be calm there now. Please pray it stays that way so they can continue their work there.

First Bubbles

Joel is getting so big. He started blowing bubbles a few nights ago and is quite good at it. I can't believe he will be four in a couple of weeks! He's getting so big.

Latest Diaper Cakes

Something about going on vacation and diaper cakes seem to go hand in hand for me. This is the second year I've had to make a rushed diaper cakes before leaving for vacation. This year I had two to make. I think the pink one is one of my favorites. The turtle cake isn't quite finished I still need to give the turtle a little blanket to hold to complete it, but I won't have a chance to take another picture of it. I sure enjoy making these. I know at some point they will be out of style, or are they already? Oh well, I think they're cute!

Jennah's Musical and Football Update

Last week Jennah had Music Camp at church. She had already auditioned for a solo several weeks before so she knew she had one but didn't find out until Wednesday which one she had. She was also a ribbon dancer. I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch her sing without crying. She just has the sweetest little voice. Her little friend Zoe came with us. She is one of our neighbors that comes down to play with Jennah. Her family had asked a week or so ago about our church and said they would like to visit with us sometime. We invited Zoe to come with us to see the musical and she got to meet our children's minister and told him she wanted to come next year with Jennah. You never know what an influence you have on people. We have never talked to them about church, but they knew we went because they see us leaving for church all the time. This last picture is Jennah signing autographs after the performance. On the back of the programs they have a page for all the kids to sign autographs for everyone. The kids love this and I think it is a really fun idea. Also, thanks to everyone that came to see Jennah. I know she loved having you all there.

Football update: Jack is no longer playing tackle football. We were able to find a used helmet and shoulder pads on craigslist (thanks for the suggestion Annie). So we ended up paying about $100 instead of $225 on equipment. That is on top of the other $350 we've already paid (that we thought included everything) silly us! We thought we were well on our way until the coach called at 10:00 Sunday night and informed us this was NOT a recreational league it was a competitive league. This team had been together for the past five years and Jack was already an outsider. They had practices four days a week and Jack would be missing the first four because of our vacation, and we would miss the parents meeting. The coach was not happy about this and let me know that by reinforcing that this was a competitive league. This has been the biggest nightmare! Jack wants to play so bad, but we were really afraid all it would do is discourage him and be a huge let down. After several hours of panic and stress over what would be the best thing for Jack, I decided at 12:30 a.m. to see if there were any flag football leagues in Tulsa. I came across Upward. It is a faith based league I had heard about their basketball league before, but I didn't know they had football! I think this is the answer we've been looking for. So we went yesterday and signed him up!

Also, my baby Joel will start Park Plaza Pre-K in September. It makes my heart hurt to think about! I'll post on that later.