Rock Matthew

Rock Matthew Eveland.
This boy is the sweetest thing ever.
He was born two months ago, April 29th, and has already become an irriplacable part of our family.
Duke has grown to love him and talks daily about when Rocky gets big and can play with him.
He has recently starting smiling a lot and sleeping a little longer at night, both of which make this mama happy. We are so blessed to have Rock in our family and are enjoying watching him grow and learn.

Lord, please bless and protect little Rock. 

Continue to grow him up to be a strong and good man. 

Fill him with Your Spirit and cause him to be a man after Your own heart. 

My due date was April 20th....yep, that was yesterday. Still no baby. Anticipation is mounting as he can only stay in there so long, and most likely within two weeks will be in my arms instead of on my bladder. We are so excited to welcome another boy into our family! I am not too anxious though, because of the good sleep I have been getting at night...which will be a distant memory very, very soon. We have been enjoying the beach a lot lately because the waves have gotten smaller, making it easier for Duke and I to jump in and swim without getting thrown around as much by the shore break. We are so thankful for a healthy baby so far and continue to pray for his safe and timely arrival!

 With the start of this new year, I have a fresh passion to be a woman of prayer. The Power of a Praying Wife has such great prayer examples and I keep it and a small pamphlet with things to pray for your kids next to my Bible and have been working hard to make it a faithful habit in my life. Cooking and cleaning are great ways to bless my family, but I believe my prayers are the biggest way I can bless and impact my husband and kids!

With baby #2 coming soon, I thought I would try the whole potty training thing and see if we can get it over with before then so we wouldn't have two in diapers. So there is a lot of nudity around our house these days.  It's a blessing to live in a warm climate and let him run around naked and figure out what it means to potty. We haven't succeeded yet, but he is slowly getting the hang of it. I have to pray for patience as I find myself getting easily irritated at the mess it creates, but the Lord is helping me grow in that area as I learn to treat Duke as I would want to be treated if I was learning a new skill....with patience and acceptance, even when it takes a while to get the hang of it.

We love having family outings on the stand-up paddle boards and have gone quite a few times this winter when the waves get smaller!

We recently took a family vacation to Kauai and enjoyed EVERY minute of it! 

It was fun to hike, swim, explore and enjoy being together!

(6 months pregnant in Kauai, HI.)

Another boy on the way!!

 Wow. 6 months since I last blogged....oh well.

We found out the end of November that baby #2 is another boy! We are so so so excited and even though Duke is clueless, I know he has a future best friend in the making. 

He will be excited when the day comes that they can play together. :) 

Baby is due April 20th, 2013 and so far remains nameless. We are hoping something brilliant comes to us before the baby gets here! 

We stopped on our way home from the Dr. apt to get a blue shave ice to represent having a BOY! 

Visitors from Alaska and Oregon!

Friendship is such a gift. 

Since moving to Hawaii in December, I have made quite a few new friends. But something about a friend who has known for a long time just refreshes my soul. My sister, Shelly, was able to come visit in April, and my friend, Katie, came the first week of June. What a blessing to have these two spend time, energy, and money to come see my life here, and spend time with me and my family in the sun. :)

I was encouraged, challenged, and loved on by both women and tremendously enjoyed both of their babies that accompanied them! 

 Shelly and I enjoying the West side of Oahu...my first time as well as Shelly's!!

Evan and Duke eating sand-covered crackers and working on their tan at Waimea Bay.

Katie, Aniyah, Duke, and I at my favorite coffee shop, Coffee Gallery, sharing hazelnut latte's and blueberry scones. 

Duke and Aniyah sharing a kiss.  

I think we'll save this picture for their wedding slideshow. :)

I'm looking forward to more visitors....who's next?!

Personality.

 

If pictures could describe someone's personality, then these few pictures describe Duke perfectly. 

He is very expressive these days and loves to furrow his eyebrows in a scowl when he bumps his head, squeal in delight when he sees his new favorite toy lawn mower or a popsicle, scrunch up his whole face when asked to smile, or practically yell whatever sound he can force out in an attempt to copy a word. 

He loves to climb on things, carry sticks around making noises with them, throw things, run fast, eat, ride the golf cart really fast, and be thrown in the air by his daddy. 

He is definitely not perfect, and displays his imperfections daily, but he is learning to listen and respond to instructions, and (for the most part) is such a joy to have around. 

I am definitely not perfect, and display my imperfections daily as well, but I pray that by God's grace, I can model Christ's unconditional love and mercy to Duke as I attempt to love, train, discipline, and enjoy his growing personality. 

Hand-me-downs!

Thank you Lord for hand-me-down superman outfits and an abundance of 'new' clothes for this crazy boy who is growing like a weed!