It's a...

Boy!

We had our comprehensive ultrasound today, which measured the baby, determined (his!) gender, looked at the heart, stomach, placenta and umbilical cord, diaphragm, brain, and other things. We learned that we are expecting a healthy baby boy! We are very thankful that he looks healthy and rather stunned that he is a he! Don and I keep saying, "What do we do with a boy?"

Here's another picture of his face and hand. He's a thumb sucker! (Just like Bethie.) We'll see if that continues once he's born, but he was sure going to town during the ultrasound. We could see his mouth opening and closing as he tried to get his thumb in there. It was very cute. We learned that he weighs exactly one pound now and is measuring about a week larger than his gestational age (the girls both did also).

If you're on Facebook, I've posted all the ultrasound pictures there, if you want to see more. (Just go to the Photos tab on my profile page - they should be easy to find.)

The Great Tragedy (subtitle: Kiss my wrist, please)

Miss Elizabeth has a had a tragedy:


I don't even know how she got this gaping wound, but for the past several days, at least ten times a day she says, "Kiss my wrist, please." She says it so sweetly and we just kiss her wrist and move on with life...at least until the next time. :-)

(By the way, when I was uploading this picture, she saw it on the computer and declared, "That's my tummy!)

Even though Elizabeth won't be 2 until April 4, we definitely have a two-year-old in the house! I like to say that we have entered Do-it-myself-land. Our sweet-tempered girl now has a temper of her own. She throws tantrums when she's upset. Sometimes she simply collapses into a pile of mush and just sobs. It's funny to see how she's different from Hannah though. Hannah would (and still does) throw tantrums because she's mad and she's trying to get her own way. Often, Bethie's are because her feelings are hurt and she's so sad she just doesn't know how to deal with it. It's so sweet though because she'll ask for a hug through her snot and tears and as long as she has a hug, her teddy, and her thumb, she's happy. Here's a picture of her and teddy. Of the picture, we say, "It's just so Bethie."

In other news, we had our vicarage interview yesterday. We met with Dr. Nielsen, the vicarage supervisor here at the sem. We had about 5 pages of paperwork to fill out about our (mostly Don's) history and background, strengths, desires, preferences etc. in a vicarage congregation. The normal track is for Don to finish this school year and we would move somewhere in the country this August for a year-long internship. But it's looking more likely that Don will be asked to defer his vicarage and we would go in August 2010 instead. We'll keep praying about all the things involved with that and we'll know for sure if he's going to be asked somewhere around mid-March to mid-April. Keep us in prayer for wisdom and discernment to know God's plans for us.

We're trying (kind of) to get used to this cold weather. We haven't had any snow or ice really to speak of yet this winter, but it's dang cold! Tonight the low is supposed to be 3 (no, I didn't forget a digit), with windchills around -12. They're warning people not to go outside unless they have to. Unfortunately, tomorrow is my day to help take care of kids in my MOPS group, so the girls and I will be leaving the house at 8:00 or so tomorrow morning (when it's a balmy 4 degrees!). Argh.

Finally, we have our comprehensive ultrasound scheduled for Friday, January 23. We should be able to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl. (!)

That's it for now. More later!

The Number of the Day is...

32! Today we celebrate the blessing of Don's 32nd birthday. (It's also Epiphany - the day we celebrate the Magi coming to worship Jesus.) Don's really busy this week - he has three papers still to turn in, so we didn't do a whole lot to celebrate. Hannah and I baked him a cake this afternoon and after we returned from the Seminary's family night dinner he opened his gifts and we did candles and cake. He's pretty tired after finishing one paper today and starting another.

Speaking of being busy, we have been. The last few months have been busy, and add to that me being pregnant and tired and I haven't kept up on the blog much. Just today I finally downloaded 122 photos from my camera that had been sitting there since early November. Then I uploaded them to Picasa.com so whoever wants to look through 100+ pictures may do so. To see our public gallery, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/rayfamilyblog.

My mom and grandparents came to visit in early October. My grandparents hadn't been to St. Louis before, so we had a great time visiting the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour, going up inside the Gateway Arch and visiting the Museum of Westward Expansion underneath, touring the Kemp Auto Museum, frozen custard at Ted Drewe's, root beer floats at Fitz's, attending our church here, and spending time together as a family. What a blessing and the girls loved having Noni, Nana, and Papa here. Here are some photos:












This one was taken at the top of the arch.




















We've been busy with other trips and activities too, but I'm starting to get pretty tired myself. I'll just wrap up with a request to keep Elizabeth in your prayers. She's had a cough for a month and the doctor put her on antibiotics. Pertussis (whooping cough) is going around here in St. Louis and even though the pediatrician doesn't think Bethie has it, they tested her anyway. She coughs off and on throughout the night which affects pretty much everyone's sleep except Don's (and even his sometimes). We'll find out on Friday if she has pertussis, but please pray that her cough goes away and that we can all sleep through the night again. Thanks, and as always, please let us know what we can be praying for for you. God's blessings, Happy Epiphany, and Happy New Year!

Sesame Street is brought to you today by...

The number 5!

Yes, the Ray family will soon include 5 people. Our third child is due in early June. That means that I am 14 weeks along and feeling pretty good. The first trimester was hard, as it was with both the girls. But my appetite is returning to normal, nausea is abating, and I'm feeling (a little) less tired. Hannah is quite excited, kissing my tummy at random times during the day. Elizabeth of course doesn't get it, but occasionally she'll put a ball or something in her shirt and say, "Baby tummy."

In other news, we had a great Thanksgiving break and week. Don got a two-week break between Fall and Winter quarters. We spent a few days at home together and then traveled to Sedalia, MO to visit Sandy Ashlock again. We enjoyed our time with her and her dog Abby and were able to attend services at Our Savior Lutheran Church again. Their LWML group has been so generous to our family with gifts to the girls and assistance for tuition and books. Hannah and I attended Sedalia's annual Cup of Christmas Tea with Sandy. Hannah loved her first grown-up tea party!

We arrived home Monday of Thanksgiving week and on Tuesday morning Don's mom and his oldest brother arrived to spend the rest of the week with us. We toured the Anheuser-Bush factory, ate dinner at 11-Mile House, ate a delicious turkey dinner, and Don, Dan and Judy went up in the St. Louis arch. The girls loved spending time and reading with their Uncle Dan. We'll probably spend part of our Christmas break in Tennessee with Grammies and Uncle Dan is planning to come up from Texas, so we'll all be together again soon.

My mom arrives from California on Saturday, and we have some events planned then too. She and I will attend Advent by Candlelight at our church here. Don will preach his first sermon on December 13, so Mom will be here for that. We'll attend our church's Christmas production, "Stringing Lights," on December 14. The girls will have fun with their Noni at the Seminary's children's Christmas party too.

Here are some recent pictures:



(Halloween at the Magic House. Hannah was Fancy Nancy and Bethie was Baby Jaguar.)

What has happened to my Country?

And no, I don't mean the United States. I'm from Bakersfield, CA, the West Coast home of country music (the "Bakersfield Sound"). Here's a portion of an article from Wikipedia: In the early 1960s, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, among others, brought the Bakersfield sound to mainstream audiences, and it soon became one of the most popular kinds of country music, also influencing later country stars such as Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, The Mavericks, and The Derailers. (Stacye's note: The Smokin' Armadillos are another country group from Bakersfield.)

So country music is in my blood and it's my favorite kind of music, aside from contemporary Christian. Imagine my surprise when I heard on a country station here, "Coming up next, it's Kid Rock followed by Jessica Simpson." Since when do these two sing country music? What's happening to the world?




Now in the interest of total honesty, I kind of like Kid Rock's current country song, "All Summer Long." If I've heard Jessica Simpson's song, I don't recall so I can't say whether I like it. But I just don't get it. Country music isn't perfect, but it's a lot more uplifting and joyful than most other secular music, in my opinion. I hope it doesn't start a downhill slide into music I wouldn't let my kids listen to. (Wow, do I sound like my mother or what?)

Hannah Update and Prayer Request

Quick update to let everyone know that Hannah got her staples out last Thursday. Her head has healed really well and she's doing great. She continues to get lovely scrapes on other parts of her body though. I told her tonight that she's getting really good at getting scrapes and maybe she could stop practicing for a while? She asked, "Why?"

We are requesting prayers for friends of ours, the Hintz family, a seminary family who began vicarage/internship in Oklahoma this past summer. They have four beautiful children and were expecting number five this past Tuesday. The day after the baby's due date they learned that the baby had passed away in the womb. Nothing will ever fill the hole he leaves in their family and our hearts are heavy for them. We mourn with them for the loss of baby Samuel and take comfort in knowing that he is healthy and perfect with our Lord and Savior forever. So please keep their family in your prayers for strength and comfort during this sad time, especially as they hold a memorial service tomorrow evening to say goodbye.

Parenting

We recently returned home from an all afternoon/all evening visit to the ER. Miss Hannah was playing on our of our office chairs when it tipped over backward, slamming her head into the edge of a door. The result? Four staples.

After a few touch-and-go moments at first, she was a champ. In the waiting room we had to keep reminding her to calm down and just sit. She couldn't understand why we didn't want her horsing around with a 1-inch gash in her noggin! She had no signs of a concussion and is doing fine now. We'll see how sleep goes tonight though...

In other family news, Bethie is a full-fledged walker now, loving her new-found freedom. Don is busy with classes as always and I'm doing the usual. This weekend is the Seminary's annual women's retreat and I'm really looking forward to that. I enjoyed last year's retreat, even though Elizabeth was with me since she was still nursing. This year I'll truly be on my own for 24 hours - wow! Corollary: Don will be alone with the girls for 24 hours - keep them in your prayers. I know they'll do great and enjoy the time with Daddy.

Real life (i.e. dishes) calls. Keep Hannah in your prayers for a full and speedy recovery - no infection or complications. God bless!

What happens then?

Don's forward-looking question in response to the recent $700B economic bailout, and now the additional $250B unprecedented government investment in banks: "And what happens when the United States government fails?"

Haggai 2:7 says, "'And I will cause all the nations to shake and the wealth of all the nations will come and I will fill this house with glory,' says Yahweh of Hosts." In other words, the collapse of the nations of this world will precipitate and usher in the second coming of Christ. And both will happen, though we know not when.

And while followers of Christ can be certain of their eternal security and salvation, it remains true that a collapse of the world's economic powers will be absolutely horrendous--especially for those who have placed their trust in the riches of this world and not in Christ.

Christ is our Rock, our Redeemer, our inheritance--our eternal security is found only in Him. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

Let us store up our hearts in Christ, who will never drop in value, never fail, and never need a bailout. His love endures forever.

Did You Know?

DR: I watched this video as part of a parenting class at church today. As a parent of young children and as someone who thinks often about the future and appreciates the value of education and diversity, I found the video stunning. Pass it on.

God's love and blessings,
Don, Stacye, and the girls

Yay Bethie!

Hot off the press! Elizabeth really began walking last night! She just took off around the house, often saying, "Chase you" when she wanted me to follow her. She'd stop on a dime, whirl around 180 degrees and take off the other direction. I was amazed. I told her that she was pretty sneaky, that she was a lot better at this than she let on! She still crawls a lot and doesn't seem real eager for anyone outside the family to see her walk, but I bet this next week or so she'll really be taking off. I also have a feeling that she won't want to walk outside. She seems to want to be really confident before she'll actually do something physical.

In other news, we just rebuilt our computer to rid it of a nasty Spybot32 virus/worm thing. Don, bless his heart, spent two days rebuilding it and stayed up until 4:30 a.m. the other night/morning. He did it for me, knowing that when he's in class this is the only computer available to me.

Hannah loves school. She and I are going on a field trip tomorrow. We'll ride the school bus to Eckert's Farm tomorrow to pick apples. She's so excited about it that she can't even talk about it in a normal voice. She growls like a dinosaur! Here's a picture of her on her first day of school.


Hannah wants me to play with her and we're headed to the library soon, so I'll be a "good mom" and wrap up my computer time! Here's one last picture of Elizabeth trying to become our dinner.

Full of hot air

DR: The third weekend in September, nearby Forest Park (larger than Central Park in New York--believe it) plays host to a "balloon glow" and hot air balloon race. Last year, we went to the race; you can check out our old post about that here.

This year, however, we went to evening-before-the-race balloon glow, where all of the balloonists(?) fire up their...well...their fire. And balloons glow all around. You can walk all around, and under, and sometimes touch the balloons are they are being fired up.

It's an impressive waste of propane, I must say. A conservative estimate suggests it's enough to roast a few hundred million slabs of meat on the grill. I like meat.

And speaking of meat, did you know that the hamburger (and the ice cream cone!) made its world debut at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis? And we've been joyfully clogging our arteries ever since.

Here are some photos from our hot air adventure. Enjoy.

God's love and blessings,
Don and the girls

Out for a walk...finally!

At 17 months, Miss Bethie is finally, finally, finally taking a few steps on her own! Her first official steps were last Friday evening. We were visiting with friends after a BBQ dinner, enjoying the fabulous weather we've been having. The four adults were talking together and the three kids were downstairs playing. Bethie came crawling up the stairs (she loves "teps") and our friend Autumn was helping her up. Suddenly Autumn wasn't holding on any more and Bethie took three steps to her Daddy! She did it again twice more (to much cheers and applause) and promptly burst into tears and refused to try again.

So we've been taking her outside as much as possible to practice. It finally dawned on us that our apartment is so small that she really hasn't had a lot of practice walking. If she's inside, she crawls and if she's outside, she is carried or is in the stroller. Over the last few days, she has been (mostly) eager and cooperative walking while holding onto our hands. But as soon as we try letting go, she bends her knees and sits on her tush. But yesterday while waiting for Hannah to finish school I was placing enticing objects (my keys! a pencil! my phone!) on a bench and letting her walk about 3 steps to get them. She kept this up for a while and then was done - totally refused to do it again. Can you say "stubborn?" (And yes, she can.)

So we'll just keep trying it and one of these days her brain will figure out that her body's been capable all along and she'll just take off. We'll try to get a photo and post it!

In other news, Don is dropping one class (Pauline Epistles) and replacing it with another. Yesterday was a really hard day for him and he was having a rough time getting all his work done. I think this change will be a good one - we'll let you know.

Hannah is loving her new preschool. Yesterday she got to bring home the "Buddy Bag," containing a Curious George animal and two Curious George books. She gets to take George with her wherever she wants and will tell her classmates about George's adventures tomorrow. Wish I could be there to listen!


Here's reason #105 why you should childproof your house and not let small children play in the bathroom unsupervised! (This was back in June.)


And going even farther back, in case you wanted to know how to dress when going out to get the mail, Hannah and Don will demonstrate (Be sure to note Don's oh-so-cute hat and Hannah's blankie tied around her neck like a cape):

Stay tuned for more fashion tips and walking updates!

One day at a time

DR: Well, by God's grace, we survived Day One of the Fall quarter. I purposely loaded my schedule heavily on Mondays and Thursdays so that I could have a lighter Tuesday, part of Wednesday, and Friday available to do the significant amounts of reading and writing that I know these 5 1/2 classes will demand of me.

Monday (by choice) is a very heavy day for our family--heavy for me in terms of classes and heavy for Stacye in terms of not having me around to help with our family. My first class begins at 8:00am and my last class ends at 9:30pm. I am in class for nine of those 13 1/2 hours. We we both tired last night.

But it's only nine Mondays, and it does afford me longer stretches of time during the week to get my voluminous reading and writing done, which is a real blessing.

The classes I am taking this quarter include: Pauline Epistles & Acts, Worship, God & Creation, Homiletics I (Preaching), and Theology of Mission. I also have what is called a Lectionary, which is a one-hour once-a-week, one credit class (hence the 5 and 1/2 classes).

There promises to be many moving parts this Fall--lots of diverse reading and papers due throughout the quarter. One day at a time. By God's grace alone.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Love and blessings,
Don, Stacye, and the girls

D.M., this one's for you!

DR: A friend of ours, D.M. (who has a very active blog of her own), bumped into us at the seminary's Fall kick-off picnic the other night and plainly reminded us, "You need to update your blog!" And then she promptly lamented the lack of iced tea in the beverage coffers, which we jointly affirmed as her empathetic brother and sister in Christ.

So, thank you, D., for giving us the gentle nudge we needed to update our slice of the web. We hope you enjoyed the baked beans, by the way. And indeed, you humble us with your sometimes three-a-day blog postings...we will never measure up to your Royal Blogness. But please know, this one's for you!

And while I'm thinking of it, feel free to mention to your esteemed husband that if it weren't for our professors assigning so much high-fallutin reading, maybe this full-plated sem student might actually get off my theologically-bound duff to do a blog posting once in a while. As if theology was important or something. Geez.

As an aside, I do feel secure in using such a phrase (duff, that is) in this here family-style blog, because "duff" is a theological term, insomuch as God gave us one to sit upon as we read Walther. Who was not a duff. But who likely sat upon his own to write about others he deemed as such. In a theological sort of way, of course. Or it could refer to beer, if you're a Simpsons fan. And I know there are some of those on the seminary campus--Simpsons fans. And duffs.

Well, back to the point of this blog post. Which was...? Oh yes, the need to update our blog with a new post.

Prepare the way

DR: Stacye has lovingly reminded me that it has been some time since yours truly has done a post on our blog. And so it's about time.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to share with you that I am writing a book. My prayerful goal is to have upwards of a 300-page manuscript completed and submitted by Summer 2014.

I believe Christ will return soon, yet also believe that millions of souls in America are not ready for Him to do so. Indeed, I would offer that even many American Christians are not ready for Christ to do so.

I observe this particularly in the way we steward our material possessions--or shall I say, cling to them--which has a tendency, I believe, to crowd God out of our hearts and minds.

In this context, I believe God is giving me the opportunity to prepare the way into people's hearts and minds for His return, and specifically calling me to disciple Americans in the area of our financial stewardship and abundant material prosperity.

I believe He is calling me to instruct those in our nation to bring Him our goods and material possessions and not to be arrogant, deceitful, prideful, and self-centered.

I believe this heralding call to Americans must be done with boldness, confidence, and trust in Christ and reliance upon God's Word...but also with magnanimity and gentleness. I believe it is my role to be a salient, actionable force for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom as He uses me to prepare people for His imminent return. I believe God will, at least in part, use the book I am writing to further this purpose.

I believe that many people will come to hear my words, be they in this book, a speech, a sermon, or otherwise. And yet, this is not about me. Not at all.

This is all about Jesus Christ and all about preparing people's hearts and minds for His imminent return. Are you ready?

God's love and richest blessings to you as we serve Him,
Don, Stacye, and the girls

Home Sweet Home

We are home from our trips to Sedalia, MO and New Braunfels, TX. We had a wonderful time both places and are also happy to be home. It's very very late right now, so I'll just post a couple photos now and post more about our trips later.

Our family with Sandy Ashlock (former member at St. John's Bakersfield) and Pastor Chris Kellog at Our Savior Lutheran in Sedalia, MO.

The family at Schlitterbahn waterpark in New Braunfels, TX.

Wordle

I found something new the other day, thanks to one of our Facebook friends. It's a website called Wordle that creates a word "cloud" based on text you paste in. The more frequently a word is used, the larger it appears. Then you can play around with the colors, fonts, etc. Here's a Wordle from one of our earliest blog posts, as we were getting ready to leave Bakersfield and move to St. Louis to begin seminary.

And this one was from a stewardship post Don did a while ago.

Here are Hannah's and Elizabeth's birth stories that I wrote soon after they each were born:

We've had fun playing around. Don also plugged in the gospels, the book of Philippians, and some other things. Maybe we have a little too much time on our hands... :-) Enjoy!

Booster Club (edited)

Hello! We have been enjoying our summer and keeping busy. The girls and I went to the local community pool today and had a blast. They have a huge zero-depth entry wading pool with a slide and fountains. The last time we went the girls shivered through it, but really enjoyed themselves today. Bethie had great fun crawling around and playing with all the toys she could get her hands on. She still isn't walking, but loved the relative freedom the pool gave her. Hannah splashed and waded, going deeper than she had last time. We'll probably go back this week again and take Noni when she's here next week.


In other news, Hannah is now sitting in a booster seat in the car. She's quite proud of her new "grown-up" status and Mommy's glad because it'll be a lot easier to move the carseat and carpool with friends to outings. Hannah's been playing with friends as much as she possibly can this summer. Our new downstairs neighbors have three boys, 5, 3, and 1. Yesterday Hannah played in their wading pool with them and had a blast. It's so great to have neighbors and playmates right here on campus.


If you have any contact whatsoever with my mom (Noni), you already know that Elizabeth is beginning to speak in sentences. Most are just two (maybe three) words, but her longest one of note was, "Milky milky please thank you Daddy." She does a great job telling us what she wants and most of what she says is easily understandable. Execptions to the rule are "kee-nahn" (carrot) and "goy-yo" (yogurt). The word "Bible" is very clear; the problem is that "diaper" also sounds like "Bible." Go figure! Any animal vaguely horse-like is a "ho-see" (one of my favorite words by far). She copies everything she hears us say ("Yi yuv you"). Her funniest non-sequitur is "feet!" She'll be playing, babbling, or talking about something else when suddenly she'll exclaim, "Feet!" It cracks us up every time. When Don asks her for kisses she shakes her head back and forth, which usually means that she wants a nose rub (Eskimo kiss).


To wrap up, here's a photo of the girls having a tea party at the Magic House. And we pray you're enjoying your summer as much are we are!

Happy 4th of July!

We have had a great day today. We headed over to nearby Webster Groves with friends to watch a parade. We sat right at the end of the route and had great seats in the shade. It's been a gorgeous day - breezy, low humidity, and in the mid 70s. We came home and packed up lunch stuff and headed two buildings over to our friends' house for a BBQ. Bethie slept, the grown-ups ate and visited, and the other kids screamed and ran up and down the hill jumping into one or the other of the two kiddie pools. The weather was still beautiful and we had a wonderful time. We're home now, Hannah's watching Monsters, Inc. having some quiet time on the couch. Soon Don will have to try to get some homework done. We still haven't decided if we're going to go out tonight to try to see some fireworks. It depends on how the evening goes. Here's a photo of us at the parade:
God's blessings on your 4th of July celebrations - thanks for checking in!

One year ago today...

...we left California. Don just figured it out. We left Bakersfield on June 21 to spend two days at Disney/California Adventure. And on the 23rd we left California, passing into Arizona. Wow. I can hardly believe it's been a year.

I count July 1 as our first day in St. Louis - it was the day we actually got our keys and had our apartment walk-through - plus it's easy to remember. I think we'll bake a cake or something and have a family celebration on July 1. It's crazy to look back on how far we've come, how much we've settled in, how much the girls (especially Elizabeth) have grown and changed. Here's a glimpse:

July 4, 2007 (Bethie was 3 months old)**** April 20, 2008 (Bethie @ 1 year old)


Don doesn't think Elizabeth has changed much...what do you think? She has a little more hair I suppose... :-)

Couple updates: Hannah went to VBS last week and met a new friend, Mya, who will be in her preschool class next year. They were just bestest buddies for the week, so it's great to know she'll have a friend as soon as school starts. Elizabeth is crusing all around the furniture now and really growing in her thinking and problem-solving skills (no, really). She still has no interest in walking/standing/pushing her scooter by herself though. Maybe she'll walk by the end of the summer. Don is in the 4th week (of 9) of summer classes. His first 4-week class ends this week and he'll start a new one on July 7. (His 9-week class continues the whole time. Confused?) I've been carting the girls all over - VBS last week, Tower Grove Park today, the Clayton community pool tomorrow, the library every Thursday, and more to come. I'm still working on the Today's Light Bible readings, trying to read through the whole Bible in two years (before we go on vicarage). When I started we were in the Gospels and have worked our way around to the Old Testament again. I'm in 1 Samuel now.

That's about it for us. I'm reading John Lescroart's Betrayal and it's due back at the library on Thursday with no renewals, so I better get crackin'! Love to all - thank you so much to all of you who keep us up to date on your lives and bless us with your prayer requests. Many of you are on our family prayer board. Keep in touch - we miss you!