Easter Eggs

Here are examples of the creativity level of our family. 

Claire's egg

Another side of Claire

Amelia's egg

Ross's egg (designed by Dad)

Dad's egg

Zady's egg

Mom's egg (the most colorful)

IT'S A . . .

Yes, we finally found a doctor that would take me as a VBAC patient.  He was the only one in northern Indiana, by the way.
Today we checked Amelia and Zady out of school and took them all to the appointment for our first ultrasound.  Can you guess what we are having?
After the ultrasound, Jeff took the kids back out to the waiting room while I had my first official visit--pap smear, exams, etc.
Everything looks good with the baby.  I am approximately 20 weeks, 3 days.  The baby is measuring 20 weeks, 5 days.  I am very relieved that things seem to be going well.

Yes, it is a boy.  At first the tech couldn't get a very good view.  Really, what baby ever cooperates when you want them to, huh?  So, she said she was seeing pink.  Then a few moments later, she said "wait".  I thought I might have glimpsed something too, but I didn't really know.  Then she became pretty confident that it was indeed a boy.  I'm still not sure what we will do with another little monkey running around!  But we are excited and just happy to see him growing well.

BTW Happy Birthday Gina!

Baby on the way!

For those who don't know, we are expecting our fifth little bundle of joy this fall!  We are very excited and are looking forward to adding to our family.  The only damper is that prenatal care is very different out here.  I am about 15 1/2 weeks along now, but I still don't have a doctor.  Part of the problem is that many of the hospitals out here don't allow VBAC's (vaginal birth after cesarean).  I was very disappointed when I found this out.  There is a hospital up in South Bend that is supposed to still do them--so we are trying to find a doctor there.  It is a larger hospital than here in Plymouth and so I would rather go there, anyway.
The kids are excited.  They go back and forth with wanting a boy or a girl, so we are lucky no one will be disappointed!
The weather is starting to warmup here--which we are grateful for.  Thursday we are supposed to get up to the mid 60's.  Yeah!  Last week we went to the art gallary in town because they were doing a display of some of the elementary school student's work.  Zady had a picture displayed.  It was a coloring of our apartment.  Complete with a spaceship, alien, and cat outside!
The girls have been very aware of the situation in Japan.  We have some friends that are living over there.  Luckily they are in Tokyo and so missed the tsunami--we still worry about them with the radiation concern, though.  The girls remember them in all of their prayers.  Also, they never forget about their cousin, Zach.  We all continue to pray that the Lord will grant the blessing of him regaining control of his body.  It is encouraging to see the pictures and video that can show us some of his improvement.  We continue to have faith that He is blessing them and that He has a plan for Zach.
We are all doing well and are looking forward to seeing all of you this summer!

Grab Bag Winter Weather and Miracles

Yesterday we got some snow/sleet/rain mix.  Today it is chilly and the girls and I "skated" to the bus stop.  There was a film of ice on most of the surface, and a dualie (spelling?) truck was fish-tailing a little as he went by the stop.  There is a stretch of road coming into our apartment that everyone (Jeff and I included) use to test the road conditions.
Jeff and I are grateful that we have a place to live, but sometimes to feel relieved to know your not going to be in the same place forever.  Last wednesday, a Sheriff came to our apartment.  He was looking for a different couple, but they had our address.  I had never heard of their name before--and we still get a lot of junk mail for other tenants.  Then, when I got back from the store on saturday night, three police cars drove up behind me.  They even had their spotlights on me.  I looked at them and then figured I would just get my groceries until one of the would yell for me to "get my hands up".  Luckily, it didn't happen!  They actually just asked where another apartment was.  We didn't hear anything, but cops are not an uncommon sight around here.  We will enjoy finding another place to live!
Our little family is well.  We keep praying for little Zach.  Even though I get sad at moments, I still feel so much optimism inside.  I just feel that he is young enough for his body to regenerate the dead tissue or for his brain to make new connections that can overcome what has happened.  I believe a miracle is in the making and it will take time!  The Lord has blessed us with so much in these last days!  I think nearly everyone in my family has had faith promoting experiences like this.  We have quite a list of miracles and I think about them often.  I'm grateful to have Scott, Emma, Ross, Ayden, Emily & Anthony, Jessica, Holly and the list just keeps going.  I love all of you who happen to read this, and I am so grateful for families.  They truely are central to Heavenly Father's plan.

"The Great Blizzard of 2011!"

Yes, the Indiana Michaelis Family survived the "Great Blizzard of 2011"!  The way the news reporters acted, we thought we would be digging ourselves out for the next two weeks.  It was a very windy night last tuesday when the storm hit, but we were grateful to be safe in our apartment.  I do have a thought on that, if I may digress for a moment.  Near our Walmart there is one particular homeless man that I have often seen.  He has a dog with him, too.  I never know what to do when I see people in need like that.  I want to help them, and yet I feel that I am barely making ends meet with my own family.  I wouldn't know what to do to help.  I do remember him occasionally in my prayers because I do know that the Lord can help him.
So, the kids got out of school early on tuesday in preparation for the storm.  Then they didn't have school on wednesday so people could dig out.  Then they cancelled school on thursday because it was too frigid (wind chills were in the -10 to -20 range), and then they had a 2-hour late start on friday, also because of the wind chill.
As we went out to the bus stop we saw the bus approaching.  Quickly, I yelled at the girls to run.  Then we hit the snow.  Now, up until this day, our management has been great at clearing the sidewalks.  Not on friday.  I was in the middle, literally dragging both Amelia and Zady as they kept falling in the snow.  The whole time frantically telling them to keep moving!  We had to make the bus!  As I neared the end of the sidewalk, and the bus, I could see the bus driver smiling.  I even think she was chuckling a little.  We eventually made it and I told the bus lady thank you.  I'm not sure she could understand me through my wheezing, though.  I have to admit that winter is not my time to exercise and to suddenly make a sprint in the snow, dragging two girls, nearly did me in.  I went home and laid on the couch for a minute. . .or two. . .hours.
I told the girls that I would meet them at school afterward and we would go to the book fair.  I arrived at the school and found the parking lot nearly empty.  I was baffled until a lightbulb clicked that fridays are early out day for us, too.  Soooo, the girls had been waiting for nearly 45 minutes before I got there.  Oh, well.  They were ok.

We had fun as a family during our time of incarceration in our apartment.  On thursday we ventured out to the snow pile in our parking lot.  Then we moved over to the snow drifts and dug some tunnels.  Ross especially loved crawling through them.  I've decided that our apartment is in a wind swept area because some of our friends definitely have a lot more snow in their yards.

Today we had more snow this morning (unexpected) and are told by the weather people--that we are convinced do not know anything about weather here--that we will have more snow next week.  This is supposed to be one of the snowiest winters in history.  I think we are at about 100 inches so far.

Sorry to be so long winded.  Thanks for all the phone calls and emails.  We love you all!

P.S.  I also wanted to mention that Ross turned 3 last month.  It is always a special milestone for me to think about having him in our family.  He definitely adds a new color to our palate!

Ross explores the first cave

Zady, Claire and Daddy digging

Amelia's Eye

Zady saying Hi

Back From Utah

Well, I returned from Utah on tuesday evening.  It was great to see family and especially to attend the Temple.  This was the first time everyone in my family has been in the Temple together.  I only wish that we had the time to do a session together.  Being there really strengthened my testimony about the importance of families and how we are blessed to have the opportunity to be together forever.
The kids seemed to do ok without me for the four days I was gone.  I'm very grateful for friends that could watch them while Jeff was at work.  Jeff handled them very well, too.  He even made lasagna for sunday dinner, which impressed my mom and sisters.  I think he's great!
I loved seeing Timp covered in snow and I was excited to get out and go for a walk to my friends home.  It has been too cold here to get outside much.  I have to admit that Utah still feels like home to me.  Someday I hope that changes.  We are enjoying living in Indiana and look forward to getting a house and becoming more permenant.
Amelia and Zady finished another round of tests at school and I'm happy that they are excelling in their reading.  We still have to work a little with math, though.  Claire is loving learning to read here at home, and Ross keeps busy playing with her.
Life is Good.

Happy 2011!

Jeff and I were able to attend the temple on New Year's Eve Day.  Our friends watched our kids while we were gone for 9 hours.  It takes us a little over two hours to get to the Chicago Temple.  It is always neat to be in a different temple.  We were very grateful for the opportunity to attend!
After we spent some time at the Bertasso's, we came home and got the kids in bed.  Jeff and I finally had the opportunity to watch "the ball" drop in real time, but we ended up just going to bed at 10:30.  We figured that the New Year would come anyway.
We are grateful for all that has happened this past year.  All of our family has been so helpful and supportive of us.  That is what I think about the most when I think about everything in the past year.  Thank you to everyone.  We miss you so very much!  We hope and pray that all of you receive the blessings the Lord has for you during this coming year.