Happy CHRISTmas!

Wow can you believe that the Christmas "season" has already come and gone? It seems like a flash, wurlwind weekend! Honestly I wouldn't have changed it for the world though! Mike, Malachi, Thiessen and I started off the weekend chaos, I mean festivities, with the big-DuFrene clan. We headed towards River Falls, WI to meet up with the whole side. It was a wonderful time, we had delicious food, quality conversations, and lots of fun. Malachi had a great time with his dad's cousins and received a wonderful tool bench gift. He also entertained most of us for the night with his antics.
On Sunday we hit up church at OHCC per our usual Sunday ritual, then headed to my parents' home for the Anderson Christmas. Yes-Lutefisk dinner was present! We got there, quickly fed Malachi to get him his nap on time, then settled in for a wonderful Swedish meal. Afterwards was filled with White Elephant gift exchange, watching the kiddos (as they awoke from naps) open gifts, and having fun. The night ended with a little 3-13 cards.
Monday morning we were back at my parents for the Gelschus Christmas. It was filled with chaos as the 4 kiddos under 2 years old opened gifts, played with toys, stole other kids toys, and rolled in the wrapping paper. Then there was wonderful breakfast! Tami (my sister) made delicious carmel rolls, there was bacon, fruit and muffins-Malachi loved it! He just ate and ate and ate until his heart was content. After Breakfast Mike had to go to work (yes he worked from noon to 5p.m. on Christmas Eve)! Malachi and I headed home for church prep and nap time. The Candle light service at OHCC was wonderful. There was great music, a wonderful message, and of course candles lit while singing "Silent Night" (my personal favorite tradition for Christmas). Afterwards we spent a calm evening at home, it was nice to eat dinner, put Malachi to bed on time, and just relax with the fireplace on and watching Christmas movies on tv.
Tuesday morning was wonderful! Malachi slept until almost 8a.m.! That is fantastic for him to let us sleep in that much. We had pancakes and bacon, cleaned up and then went to have a nice calm morning for the 4 (Thiessen too) to share gifts. Malachi was once again a card. He rolled in the wrapping paper, dug in, and helped where he could. After wards we welcomed Oma and Opa out to our house. Once again Malachi was completely spoiled. He then went down for his nap while we relaxed watching "A Christmas Story" and talking. After Malachi woke up we started the tasty work of Mike-he made Chicken Alfredo! It was wonderful to have that with Garlic bread and of course a slue of Christmas cookies!

For pictures of the chaos please check out this link
Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing day!
Remember that although this season is filled with gift giving and time with family the big reason we gather to celebrate is because of who we are to celebrate. Jesus came as a infant. We spend hours upon hours getting the right gift and wrapping it just perfectly, Jesus (the ultimate gift) was wrapped in swaddling cloths. Praise God that He would send Jesus for us!

Much love,
The DuFrenes
(Mike, Amy, Thiessen, Malachi and the much anticipated DuBabe #2)

Per Memaw's request

Amy's mom is known as Memaw around the DuFrene house (Mike started it and it has caught on). Anywho she has been hounding Amy for weeks to take "belly" pictures. We have finally conceded a little bit. Nothing to great, grand or wonderful...but here are 2 "belly" pictures of DuBabe at just over 33 weeks!

Have a wonderful Christmas! Safe travels and remember what this season really means!

Malachi November 2012

Here are some pictures of Malachi from November. 

Malachi loved his first (girls) Hockey game. He didn't like that we were loosing by 4 before 5 minutes had passed. But when each player was announced he clapped. And before we left he was sitting on my (Amy) lap and looked up at me like "WHOA this is the greatest ever!"

Mom got Malachi, Daddy and Mommy each a shirt while visiting the Merkins clan in Baton Rouge. Go LSU Tigers! The hat Malachi is wearing in this picture is mom's!

The picture below and above are of Malachi and his cousin, William. Boys are trying to win Mormor and Morfor over even more by wearing their Osh'Kosh and driving a John Deere tractor. 

We have a lot to be thankful for! Thank you for all your prayers. This upcoming weekend Malachi will get to see his auntie Stacy! She is coming to town to celebrate Christmas and have a baby shower for Malachi's future cousin (Hannah).

Talk to you soon!
Amy and the rest of the DuFrene clan!

Happy Turkey weekend

Well the weekend of Turkey heaven is over. That's right-turkey heaven (feel free to use it again if you want to). We here in DuFrene-world spent Thanksgiving weekend in many different spots, doing the traditional thing, and a few non-traditional things.

Thanksgiving day we headed to Maplewood to spend time with Mike's parents. It was so nice to sit and relax and play with the toys (i.e. Malachi). We watched the Macy's day parade on 2 different channels to be sure we caught everything. Walked around with the dogs and allowed Thiessen to eat up whatever he found (we think rabbit poo...gross!). Mike's mom made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner! Oh man it was outstanding-fresh rolls, turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, everything was outstanding! Thiessen thoroughly enjoyed it as well, we found him with half the pumpkin pie licked up off the counter, he downed a stick of butter (paper and all), and then finished off the pumpkin pie that was left on the table. He was very calm the rest of the weekend maybe pumpkin pie is his "version" of a turkey-coma. Malachi was not having turkey dinner though-his 2 eye teeth are making their way down, meaning most food was pushed aside-he enjoyed a lot of pineapple and some bread though! **We knew his teeth were really bothering him when we gave him a cookie and he threw it to Thiessen. We arrived back in Hutchinson about 7p.m. to see the lines formed outside a few stores! Malachi spent his first night in a big-boy bed!

Friday was our time away from each other. Mike had to work at 4:30a.m.! Wow that is really early-3a.m. was a huge wake-up call when that alarm went off. Luckily, since we had come home at an early hour to get Malachi's first night in a big-boy bed, Mike did get a decent night sleep before the 3a.m. wake-up call. I (Amy) got up at about 5:30 to get the Friday chaos started for Malachi and me. I went shopping in St. Cloud with my sister and mom. That was actually pretty relaxing considering it was Black Friday. Most of the crazy people were already in bed by 7:30 when we got there, so the lines were decent (except Khols-Tami waited for an hour and a half to checkout!), we had carts available to us, it wasn't too stressful at all! Malachi spent the morning with our friend Calli. Calli loves kids and is great with them. Then my cousin, Shelby, came and spent the afternoon with him. She treated him to Burger King-what a lucky guy to get chicken nuggets and fries!

Saturday! Wow, I did warn you it was a packed weekend right? Well Saturday is the Gelschus/Anderson Thanksgiving. We dress in Ugly Christmas Sweaters, exchange Christmas cookies, eat more turkey and play games. This year was a little different as it was also Hutchinson Wrestling's 65th anniversary. Our brother-in-law (Andy) was one of the few from Hutch to win State-so he was being honored. This took him, William and Tami away off and on throughout the day, and a few more of us for the "award" ceremony. It was fun to see some of the older guys who also wrestled. A guy from Mike and my church was on the first team-so that was extra special for us to see him! But we had a Wii bowling tournament (I-Amy) won! We played 3-13 a card game, the kids ran around and played until they were completely worn out! And we still had more turkey for dinner or we had tacos-it was a shmorgasboard of delicious food!

Sunday-now the day of rest. I, Amy, am in charge of the Christmas program this year. It is a new challenge I am facing. Please pray for that-I get pulled in a lot of different directions for it and by the end of church each Sunday I am almost super crabby since I am exhausted by doing it (this whole pregnancy wears you out!). Mike helped clean the house for me while I rested then after church. Yes I was that emotional wreck that you see on tv shows. So he is such a brave soul to put up with me during those swings of emotion. We watched the Vikings lose and enjoyed Home Alone 2: Lost in New York while dining over home-made pizza (my 1 contribution to the house that day).

If you are the praying type we would love prayers as we are quickly approaching DuBabe #2's entrance into the world. If he is like his big-brother we are less than 40 days away! And for this Christmas program. The program is on the 16th so a few more weeks of working on it. And of course the Christmas weekend. Mike works on Christmas eve until 5p.m. and so is unable to attend services at Oak Heights. We are hoping to go straight to his parents' house after he is off that night-but there are a lot of people on the road. We are always excited about this time of year on what it truly means both in our lives and the lives of those we encounter. Blessings to you as you celebrate this season! Advent-anticipating Christ's return!

Following HIM,
The DuFrenes!

Three Years!

Wow it is quite amazing how fast time flies. 3 years ago today I was sitting at Faith Lutheran Church. We would have just finished our group pictures. I was in a beautiful white dress, I had friends and close family surrounding me. We had an outstanding photographer capturing each moment. Yes, it was 3 years ago and about 2 hours away (from when I am writing this post) that Mike and I exchanged our vows to be man and wife for the rest of our lives. We were beginning on a journey that at the time I never knew how it would be completed. Or how it would go. Now 3 years later we have owned our home for 3 years, have a really great little guy (Malachi) with another little boy on the way. We are blessed to have wonderful family and friends join us on this journey. We are blessed by our church family (Oak Heights Covenant) where I happen to work. Mike has wonderful co-workers at Menards. We are truly blessed as we look back at these 3 years. Being that it is falling on a Wednesday-we will not be celebrating tonight, but tomorrow. THANKS AUNTIE TAMI FOR BABYSITTING MALACHI!

AWE a Dragon!

Well Baton Rouge was a blast. It was great seeing my sister and brother-in-law....oh and of course baby Liam. It was a great time celebrating his birthday. We also got to witness the wonderful change of the carseat! He was so much happier facing forward. Here he is eating!

Last night was also Halloween! We had a dragon on the loose! We ran for our lives from this cute dragon that roamed the house. He got to go trick-or-treating at MeMaw's house. He was such a trooper and then came to church for our Creation Celebration. There he met up with a buddy who happened to be a dinosaur.

Much Love from the DuFrenes!

Pumpkin Carving

Well we officially welcomed Malachi into the Halloween spirit. We carved our first pumpkin yesterday...or Mike carved Malachi's first pumpkin while Malachi "played slash fed Thiessen" the insides of the pumpkin.

A month of doctors

Well it has finally happened...Malachi has gotten sick for the first official time. It was a few weeks ago when the cold of the decade hit Hutchinson...it was simply a matter of time before our little man (who goes to daycare) was to get it. Well after the week of molars was the week that it descended on our house like a blanket. Malachi started in with the cold, which seemed to be getting worse and worse. One day he woke up with gunk in his eyes. I, Amy, was terrified! Oh no-how could my little baby boy have pink eye-that was the thought that raced through my head as I called the clinic for an appointment.

To our wonderful surprise Malachi's pediatrician actually had an opening that morning! Can you believe the odds that he could go in at 8:50 the morning he woke up with this junk! Luckily for us after seeing the doc he was given some amoxicillin for an ear infection! NOT PINK-EYE! Boom! It didn't take long for the meds to kick-in and our little trooper to start perking up.

The next week I, Amy, went in for my check-up for DuBabe #2. By this point I have received the wonderful gift of sharing from Malachi and had the nasty cold myself. After a long, wonderful Homecoming weekend at Bethel my immune system was hating me by the Monday. I went against most advice given to me about heading for the doctor that Monday, since my DuBabe appointment was on Tuesday. This appointment was unique though, other than having this awful cold, we also had a change in doctors. We really felt quite comfortable with our previous doctor, but she was diagnosed with Breast cancer in September (please keep her in prayers-she found out a week after I had seen her last). So not only was I coughing out a lung, but I was now meeting with a doctor who had no idea of my previous symptoms with pregnancy. We had chosen a doctor that we felt comfortable with this time too (in fact she actually was the one that delivered Malachi since our doctor was on vacation-since he was so early she had scheduled the vaca around our due-date). Anywho I digress back to doctor visit for DuBabe. He is doing perfectly. We are not worried and I have been given the go-ahead for visiting my sister in Baton Rouge! So pumped.

This leads to merely 1 day later, yes 1 day after I met with my new doctor. I woke up with gunk in my eye and this horrible pain! How is this happening-I cannot have pink eye I saw the doctor yesterday! Right away I called the clinic only to find out my new, wonderful doctor isn't there on Wednesdays. Of all days with church-life....she's not there! What to do. I make it through the day without touching my eye at all, and over the counter drops. On Thursday I wake up to my eye being nearly closed shut from all the gunk. GROSSY-NESS! So I call in and head in for urgent care. Yep I have pink-eye. This Urgent care doc tells me it is going around not only the elementary schools, but also the middle school AND the high school. Of course-I give kids high-fives every Thursday around lunch time. I'm sure I rubbed my eye at some point after giving the wrong kid a high-five. Oh my how on earth am I going to keep Mr. Touchy-face (aka Malachi) from getting this......Oh and then from him passing it on to the entire daycare! I have got to be the worst Mom on the planet! **I can say the minute I took those drops my eye felt instantly better! No longer was their this awful pain, still gunky but I could do everything as long as my eye was not touched-nope not once. And I can say that a week after this horrendous-terrifying event-Malachi has yet to get it! Boom goes the dynamite!

Malachi had his follow up doctor appointment this week for his ear. He received a clean bill of health and strict instructions from his ped. NOT to get sick until his 18 month appointment. She said she likes seeing him, but not like this :)

Prayer requests- Please pray that Malachi and I (Amy) will continue to be on the mend, Mike will continue avoiding this yuckiness. Also please pray for our doctor, Pamela, as she fights the fight of a lifetime. She has always made me feel comfortable to ask stupid questions about pregnancy and other things-please give her doctors wisdom as they choose the proper ways to fight this cancer.

Thanks for always being here to listen to us!

Mike is doing well, he was in 1 wedding last weekend (Jeff-from Menards) and is in another one this weekend (Allen-from High school). He is one pretty slick guy in a tux, if I do say so myself.

~ The DuFrenes!

2 MOLARS! Holy Cow!

Well we officially know why Malachi has been at odds with the world lately. On Tuesday night we felt 2 molars poking through on his bottom gums. Now some kids have a real easy time with teething, Malachi hasn't been one of these kids. He has had all the gross diapers, the drool, the chapped chin, the runny nose, everything except a fever until the molars. The molars have seemed to be his gateway to fever-hood. This explains how he wants to be with us 24/7, would like it if we held him, explains why if he sits down wrong it hurts.

Now we would just like prayers for these molars to come in quickly so that the pain and frustration he is feeling can subside. And if you think about it-when the top molars decide to make their appearance that they are not as intense as these bottom ones.

So far DuBabe #2 is doing great, we are switching doctors. Our other doctor is not able to practice due to a medical leave for awhile so we are switching to the doctor that actually delivered Malachi. We will meet with her for the first time in October.

Work-wise; yesterday was See You At The Pole for Amy. If you don't know what it is, it is a day where students across the US gather around their flag pole in the morning before school and pray for school, their town, country and world. They gather and lift up God's name before the school day. Here in Hutch we also have a Post-Pole rally where the youth of most of the youth groups come and celebrate all that happened that morning. We have 2 student speakers and open it up for others to share about their experiences. It is an exciting day but quite exhausting (especially when you are growing lungs, eyeballs, etc.). For Mike he is doing well, he is still working as the Electrical Manager with a possibility of switching departments again. Please pray if this does happen that it is God's plan for him and that he feels that it is a good move.

Thanks for your prayers, we feel them and appreciate them greatly! Look soon for pictures from our "pre-Halloween" dress up for Malachi and him learning how to do lawn chores :)

~The DuFrenes

Our sick lil-guy

Well we have finally gotten to be "official" parents. Yep we have been up with Malachi with a fever (so far we haven't had the flu, technically). Both Mike and I are going on about 3-4 hours of sleep. Mike was able to get up still at 5:30, helping me some in the night, to go to work! What a guy that I have. I was able to sleep with Malachi (sleep being the operative word) until about 8. Then we moved to the couch for some dry cereal and juice....he was pretty lazy but went down for a morning nap where I could get the laundry switched over, a shower in, and dinner in the crock-pot. Thank goodness, because the minute I was done with that it was back to napping while Mommy was holding him. Please keep this little guy in prayers as he doesn't really know what to do with it all.

Oh and Mom and Dad too. Dad has the day off tomorrow, but Mom has 2 early morning work days in a row. Luckily he started to perk up after a "toasty" lunch of peanutbutter toast and more juice!

Thanks for your prayers,
DuFrenes

Bath? and a name!

Well tonight was bath night, or so I thought. Little did I know that Malachi had other plans to make this bath night one that I won't ever forget. Don't worry he is fine, I am fine, everyone is fine-no one in fact was in danger. Rather Malachi decided to join the filling of the tub in a way that has not happened before! Normally Malachi will sit and watch the water fill the tub as he loves bath night. This night is different! While the Pajamas were being sought out as it is a bit chilly so didn't want him sitting all naked while we get the right jammies organized, he decided to climb into the tub! That's right, fully clothed he climbed into the tub! He apparently thought those clothes needed extra soaking after he wore them, but once he was in he panicked knowing that he should not be in there with clothes on. The photo below is after his panic-attack and I was laughing hysterically! He just was confused when I told him to go ahead and sit down-that's how I had found him anyways....he had already "soaked" the clothes.

We are also starting the transition into the big-boy bed. Right now we are letting him fall asleep in the crib and moving him to his new bed. We are working towards getting him to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep there, but we have a few months before the crib will be needed :).

Speaking of when the crib will be needed.... We are pleased to introduce Nathaniel Jon (that is the current plan as of now).

We are eager for this next part of our journey but also very much understand why God allows the gestational period to be 40 weeks (give or take) as I know that it will be a huge learning curve having 2 little ones to take care of! But we are excited and couldn't be happier!

Thank you so much for your prayers-we covet them!

Amy

Oh Boy...oh BOY!

Yesterday at our check-up for DuBabe #2. And it was the ultrasound day! Malachi held up pretty well considering it was over morning nap time. We found out that we are having another boy! Malachi will love having a playmate due to arrive January 31!

We don't have a name picked out yet. Unlike Malachi we didn't have a name set in stone prior to us finding out. So the wheels are still turning...stay tuned for more ideas!

The DuFrenes!

Tent Revival

Well we are quickly approaching the start of the school year. All my teacher friends have officially started their year! Malachi has extra buddies at daycare with him as the "school-year" kids have started to come back and the summer kids are still there. It is the crazy week or 2 at daycare (please pray for our provider-Jodi as it is seriously crazy).

This weekend at church we had an Old Fashion Tent Revival! That's right, think back to those stories you have read about the "old times" we had a wonderful group come out and sing. Mike Kingery (former MLB player for the Royals) and his family performed and Matt Brown (evangelist) came out to present the message. I (Amy) hung out with Malachi and some of our other kiddos of the church as they played with rocks, chased each other around. It was fun to see the turn out, it reminded me of the "Oregon Trail days" when the big entertainment was what the church was doing.

This week for youth group we are having our end of the summer bonfire! I cannot believe it has been 4 summers that we have been in Hutchinson! It will be 4 bonfires, 4 summers with Thiessen, 4 times that I have helped the kids kick-off the school year! Unreal it has flown by and both Mike and I feel blessed here.

Please pray for us as we start this next chapter of our lives, I say next as baby #2 is coming and we are considering all the options of adding onto our home, searching for a new one, and all that goes into a growing family. Whatever we decide we would really like to stay in the house that we "choose" for as long as we are called to live and serve in Hutchinson. Would you please pray that we will have wisdom as we look towards this next step in our lives? Please also pray as we approach September I have been called for jury duty, worst time of year in terms of youth ministry, so please pray that I'm not needed! And we are potentially going to find out what we are having with Baby #2-midSept.

Your prayers are coveted!

The D-trains....hehehe DuFrenes!

Almost fall! YAY!!!

I know what most of you are thinking, seriously Amy you are excited to see summer in the rearview mirror? Well I have to say that this is the first official time that I am sick of the warm weather! I am so ready to move onto the school year, fall weather, where I can wear jeans and longsleeves. You see here in Minnesota this year we got our warm weather in March. Yes, March. I know for a fact that the thermometer hit over 80F in March as Malachi was down to just shorts during those days. I think my body is saying, okay you have hit your heat limit. This also allows me to not worry about how hot Malachi is when he is sleeping and we can finally have our windows open! I hate when it gets so hot that you have to have the AC on because it is the only relief that you can handle.

With the fall also comes all the excitement of life here at the church. We have our Sunday school classes being planned, the teachers are organizing, I am stressing out that I will find all my needed volunteers. But God has a great plan for those that will step forward! I am really excited to see what is in store for this school year. But with the chaos and stress of finding volunteers I get to get into a normal routine once again. It means that there are specific days I need to be places, I don't have to make lunch for myself on Thursdays (since the churches serve for the high schoolers on that day and I go). And so much more.

Also as I approach fall I am excited. In September, Mike and I are able to find out what DuBabe #2 is expected to be (boy/girl). We are starting the process of selling our house and looking for a new one. We are still feeling called to Hutchinson, so we are looking mostly in Hutch-if God uses this process to call us somewhere else we are open to that idea. I love my job so it is always hard to consider being called somewhere else. Mike, on the other hand, sometimes struggles with his-I think he struggles from time to time. So if you could pray with us as we allow God to use him during his time at his current job and if it is time for him to move on-please pray that those doors would be opened for us.

Finally I love little boys dressed to the nine in cute clothes that are traditionally for fall/winter/early spring. Little Malachi looks super cute in his fall clothing (okay I'm a bit biased). Below are a few pictures of him this past Sunday (the top is his church outfit; the bottom is with his cousins)

(Liam, Malachi, B-lynn, and Avery)

Thank you so much for keeping us in prayers as we go on this path called life and living for HIM,

Amy

Where did June and July go?

Wow time certainly flies when you are having fun....or are really busy. Both are true :)

Here in the land of DuFrene we have had a pretty chaotic June and July. In June VBS hit Oak Heights, leading Amy into a tailspin. It was a blast to be at SKY 2012. But it was certainly a crazy time. During VBS week Mike started the process of renewing the carpeting in 2 of the DuFrene house rooms (this job will not be completed until July 15th :) ). In July we spent a weekend up north at the cabin with the Karels and the Reeds. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. When the weekend was over it was once again crazy.

On July 14 Amy boarded a bus for Tennessee with 6 youth from Oak Heights. Malachi was at Grandma and Grandpa Gelschus' and changed from crawler to walker during that time! Oma and Opa DuFrene also came out to spend time with the Duey Boys. On July 21 Amy returned. Only now the whole family turned around and headed to Maplewood for the week while she attended a theology class and Mike has the time off.

There will be pictures soon to post of Tennessee, of Malachi cruising, and the new carpeting!

Love all!
DuFrenes.

Big Brother??

Well the picture says it all-for the most part. :)

Malachi will become a big brother in January sometime. We don't have an official due date yet, other than January. I (Amy) will go in again at the beginning of July and there we'll nail down a more definite due date. Because we jumped around so much with Malachi they didn't want to do that again. Right now we are going off the notion that I am about 5 and a half weeks or so (due the end of January/beginning of February at the latest). I, however, could be much farther along-closer to 9 or 10 weeks. That is why they are waiting to confirm everything.

I know most people say "wait until the first trimester is over....etc." But if you have ever met me I struggle at keeping any secret (Mike can really attest to this). So that is strike 1 against me waiting until we are farther along. The second (and more important strike) is that if something were to happen we would need as much support as possible in dealing with it. This leads us to tell those who we know are praying for us to be told. 

Both Mike and myself feel painfully blessed to have you all praying for us as we embark on each and every adventure together. From a year ago when we welcomed a joy in Malachi and now as we look forward to welcoming another little DuFrene. We are eager to use these steps to grow deeper in Christ and also to show how much He loves us. We thank you as you join us in this in prayer, support, and so much more!

Happy Monday-

The DuFrenes

Birthday Party and Memorial Day

Well it has happened, Malachi has found the love for cake! Yes that's right we had his first birthday party this past weekend. Below is the video of some delicious cake eating.

He had a wonderful time with family and some friends. We spent the rest of the weekend at the Gelschus Lake house on Lake Minnetonka. On Sunday we took Malachi out in the boat and stopped at "Boyscout Island" Below are a few pictures of the sand eating :).

 Nap on the boat (below) playing in the sand with Papa Jon (above)

Okay Grandma so let me get this straight-you want me to put sand in the bucket?

Enjoying some snacks at Lord Fletchers'

It was a wonderful weekend. We ALL felt very blessed. Thanks to those who came to celebrate Malachi's upcoming exciting day. Only a few days away (May 31) and we'll have a 1 year old!!!

Love the DuFrenes.

1 year can change a lot

1 year ago today I was sitting in a Caribou in the cities. It was a special day as it was a day that I got to celebrate with some friends the impending change to the DuFrene family. It was a shower for Malachi. Little did I or those celebrating with me knew was that Malachi would make his way into the world a mere 17 days later! As we approach his first birthday and the day after we celebrated my first Mother's Day I would like to take a glance at the past year. And thank God for the changes we have had and the challenges that have caused us to cling to Him and to each other. (don't worry nothing crazy :) )

Thank you all who have prayed for us! Malachi is such a joy. He and Thiessen have become buddies. Through out the year we have had the joy to welcome to the family also William James (Tami/Andy's) and Brooklynn Elizabeth (Brad/Sammy's). Malachi was also a stud in a wedding-Aunt Stacy and Uncle Eddie's. We are blessed beyond belief. 

The DuFrenes

**More pictures after his Birthday for sure!

A lot of catching up to do

WHOA! Where has the time gone. We have missed the entire month of March! Since we last wrote, Malachi still does not have those darn teeth! He is still working on getting his 3rd and beyond teeth. We think we are getting closer each day though! He has started eating table food regularly. Which is good and a bad thing. Good-I don't have to plan 2 meals, bad-we have to be on our toes or we hear about how hungry he is.

This past weekend Malachi had the exciting honor (along with Mike and myself) to be in his Auntie Stacy's wedding. He was a dapper young man and a great ring bearer. He was pulled down the aisle in the wagon and was a stud muffin! He stole the show a little. It was a beautiful wedding and ceremony. We are very excited for Eddie and Stacy TUCKER! Here is one picture of the DuFrene men at the reception taken by our friend Rachel Karel. (P.S. Malachi's shirt said "Ring Security" on it)

Also since we last wrote Mike turned 27 and we are planning on fully celebrating June 14th when we go see the Twins take on the Philles! Matt and Rachel Karel will also be joining us for this exciting time. 

We also welcomed  a new niece to the family. Brooklyn Elizabeth was born April 18th! She is gorgeous! She joins big sister, Avery!

More catching up in our next post (hopefully it won't take us over a month). Happy St. Patty's Day, April Fools Day, and Easter!

Much love from the DuFrenes!