Baby preparations and such

This week has been one of getting things in place for our expected baby (due in 13 days). As of last night I think we have all the major things in place. Here are a few pictures of our week:

The kids have been helping out a lot (with not too much parental "encouragement"). Lydia is doing most of the laundry, taking it to the basement, loading & starting the washer, then loading the dryer (Sarah Beth helps her fold). Jacob is usually on kitchen floor detail, but this night he had the help of his sisters!

Sharon went for her last once-a-month grocery shopping on Wednesday (I didn't work because of snow). While she was gone for many hours, the kids did many things to stay busy, including dressing up in church clothes for a piano concert. Jacob did a pretty good job for somebody without lessons!

Our latest blessing comes in the form of a van! Finally, after 2 years of squeezing us into the Corolla (yes, I'm a cheapskate when it comes to gas, as much driving as we do), as of last night we finally have a van. Sharon and I were thinking that Sarah Beth was our most expensive baby because we had to buy a house when she came. This baby only requires the purchase of a van! Some dear friends generously gave us some money to put towards the purchase, and after a week of online searching God led us to this Sienna. It was a little older than we were looking for (2002), but only has 38,000 highway miles and was well priced. When we got the Corolla, we prayed for God's leading and we found a real deal, but it was 70 miles away. This time I prayed God would do the same thing but keep it to within 30 miles. This van was less than 15 miles away! We are all glad to have it, but Sharon most especially. It even has a hitch installed, which I was planning to put on whatever van we got. The seller also gave us a bike rack that mounts in the hitch.

I finish this post out with another beautiful picture from this season. We saw the sun setting outside the living room window. A few days before we had some snow and then a thick coating of ice on top. The scenery at night was spectacular--as you drove down the road, the lights from people's houses reflected off the ice and made it look as if everyone had a skating rink in their front yard.