Here comes 2014

Well the countdown may begin! Tomorrow is the beginning of 2014 (in case you didn't already know). With the end of 2013 comes a year of change for the DuFrene household. We have welcomed Nathaniel into our family (or Nanyel as Malachi calls him). We have purchased a new home, really close to my (Amy) parents' house. Like we are a little like the Swedish-female addition of "Everybody Loves Raymond." It is pretty humorous when you think about it that way, but it has been delightful thus far. Malachi loves seeing Papa and Memaw do yard work or leave, or wave when they drive by.
Other fun things were: Welcoming Hannah Grace Tucker and Elouise Mae Merkins into the family! Malachi was a sheep in the Christmas program, Malachi went skating for the first time, Nanyel learned how to go up the stairs, visit with Santa, Thiessen loved having a fence and could go outside all day if he wanted in the summer, and so much more!

With 2014 we have high hopes. We are eager to close on our old home. Last week, Mike and myself, accepted an offer on our house pending an inspection. Normally those happen within a few days of acceptance of the offer, but the realtor for the other person is on vacation through this week, so the inspection will be next week. Can you please pray that it goes smoothly and anything that they do find is an easy fix, or is something the purchaser will want to overlook? The buyer also has a Rural Development loan (which just basically is something that can have in the smaller communities); this means they have a special auditor outside of the inspector that comes and looks over the house. If this person finds things they want fixed, then we have to have it fixed before the loan can be processed. So please also keep that in your prayers. We should know how things go within a few weeks, with closing on Valentine's Day.

As you look to 2014, we pray that you find solace in the Grace that God has granted us. That we have the opportunity to be called Children of God.

Happy New Year!
The DuFrenes.

Merry Christmas!

Wow, I have been meaning to come on here for weeks now and it keeps slipping my mind. I am terrible, I will have to set a reminder for myself for 2014! Maybe making that my New Year's Resolution?

Well we have quite an adventure the last month and a half, or 2 months. We celebrated Halloween, where Malachi was Ironman and Nathaniel was Captain America. They were so stinkin' cute. Then the chaos of November! Mike and I went with the youth for a retreat. It was one of our best groups to ever walk on TLC grounds with us. And the crew got 2nd place in the Wiffleball tournament! It was quite spectacular, especially because we only had a handful of kids show up for our game.

Then it was Christmas decorating, Thanksgiving, and lots of shopping! It is nice to enjoy the Advent season without the stress of shopping! It is nice to take a step back from the chaos and simply remember what the season is truly about.

Since Thanksgiving we have had 3 sick boys in the house. Yes, all 3 of the guys in the house have been sick! Malachi started it off on the Saturday (the first Sat. in December), Mike followed in close pursuit the Tuesday after, and Nathaniel is bringing up the rear with a double ear infection! Poor little man has had temps close to 104 all weekend long! Finally we were able to get him in and make sure it wasn't pneumonia and to get him some anti-biotics. Boy are those things swell! He started them yesterday and has already perked up quite a bit; actually smiling and talking!

Other than that we are getting ready for next week. Malachi and I made a countdown this week. It is a Christmas count down for when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. We have written on the rings when he sees his cousins. (we didn't put William or Ellie's names on there because he sees them a few times each week...didn't want to confuse him). We are excited to see our families. On Christmas Eve we'll be with my family during the afternoon, hit up church (where we light the advent candle this year) and join my Anderson family for dinner. Then we head to Maplewood for the DuFrenes!

We are so grateful for so much. We do covet your prayers for safe travels, our house-it has been on the market for close to 5 months, and for health with sick little boys. Hope you and your family have a blessed holiday season. Enjoy celebrating Christmas and have a happy New Year!

Love,
The DuFrenes

Potty Trained!

Whoa! We are nearing the end of the diaper fun-ness! Malachi has been dry for over 11 days straight (minus 1 accident where he didn't want to stop being Ironman). This includes night time where he either can hold it or he comes and wakes me up! What a rock-star! He is doing so well. We also headed upnorth near the camp that both Mike and I had worked at, where my family's cabin is. It is at 2.5 hour drive and the kiddo did great! He had to do one stop on the way up and one on the way down, but still he told us and we were able to find a rest stop and not make him go outside during the rain. I am a pretty proud momma!

The other little stinker is still working on his top teeth. The poor kid is pretty miserable. He has, what appears to be, a blister where one of his teeth will be coming in. He is trying to be smiley-you can tell, but he has fought a runny nose, cough, and fever with it all too. He has been sleeping 13+ hours at night to help take the edge off. If you could keep him in prayers that would be greatly appreciated!

Thiessen loved being up north. He absolutely loves the cabin. Though, he did get into the garbage that was left outside and decided to have a nasty incident on the carpet....gross! Otherwise he loves running in the woods, running through the shallow water that is still warm-surprisingly, and finding random sticks to devour.

As for the rest of it, we are praying for the new residents of our old house. Well I guess it can't be old house if we still own it. There have been no offers yet, but we are praying that God will use this house as a way to minister to Him. That we can deal with our realtor in a way that is honoring to Him and points to Him. We pray that as we wait for the buyer that the Lord will bless them and prepare their heart for home ownership. That they do not fear what is going on in our economy, but put their trust in the One who has the plan! And that we can be a good example of who He is based on the transactions and communications that will go on as the process continues. We pray for our "old" neighbors that they will be blessed with a neighbor who they love, one that makes coming home peaceful and not annoying. The boys and I (Amy) have also enjoyed the indoor playground once every other week on Mondays. It has been great for the boys to run around and play with toys they don't have and we have made a few "playground" friends. Below is a picture of Malachi driving around the playground.

If you could also pray for me, Amy, we at church are walking alongside a lot of hurt families. I am working with parents in custody discussions with the ex-spouse, girls being super awful to each other, depression, and many other things. Please join me as I pray to teach the kids how God has called them to something extraordinary!

Much thanks, Please tell us how we can pray for you!

The DuFrenes.

Where did September go?

Wow, it is October! It feels like only yesterday that I wrote the note on a quick "ask for help" moment in August. Well we have officially moved into the new house! It is beautiful, the boys love it, and it has already been broken in by 20+ Middle school and High school students on our bonfire night before school started. In a few weeks when the Vikings prepare for their Monday Night football game, it will be welcomed by the young adult ministry. It has opened a lot of opportunities for us and I'm pretty pumped. We also realized that our backyard neighbor used to work at Menards with Mike! God is so cool to place people in our area that we can hang out with. The boys have really relaxed and seem to love the new house too, and living close to Papa helps :)

Yesterday Nathaniel has managed to climb the stairs for the first time! We have our hands full, he hasn't quite conquered the downstairs concepts. Malachi has started really embracing being a helper too. Yesterday he was finding daddy's cell phone or the remote, or whatever and bringing them to us, "here you go mommy" We have also gotten a chance to use the indoor playground at the rec center. Malachi has loved just running and this week a few of his buddies from church joined us. Eli, Kendra, and Jarret all had a blast and it was nice to chat a little with their moms.

We have a few ministry things on the horizon that I would like extra prayer for. September was a crazy month at church. We had our Sunday kick off, HS kick off, MS kick off, SYATP, Release time kick off, lunches kick off, Harvest America, and National Day back to church. It seemed like every day there was something going on. All while we have been walking beside families struggling with divorce, financial issues, and more. It seems to have drained some of the extra tubs that had been filled this summer. As I look to October we have our normal schedule, but MEA brings activities, Trick or Treat for the food shelf and early November is our annual retreat to Trout Lake Camps. Could you keep the youth program in your prayers? I, Amy, would appreciate it if others were also holding my students up in prayer.

Mike's job is going great. He is back at flooring at the Menards. He has, as I mentioned above, made a few work connections with our neighbors which is really exciting. His biggest concern right now is figuring out what God has in-store for the old house. In a sellers market (at least if you aren't asking for much more than you paid and you bought in the buyers market) our house is still for sale. We know that God had something planned for it, but we are anxious to find out what that is.

Thank you for your prayers.

Love,
The DuFrenes!

Helpers?

Well the big move is almost upon us! I, Amy, am so excited I don't know if I can wait until Mike is off work. We originally scheduled the closing around Mike's schedule, but it got moved up a week. I am now so eager to get stuff in and settled I'm not sure I have the patience! I am looking for people that will be willing to come and move our things, food/beverages will be provided.

Please let me know or please pray that we find people.

Big Changes

Wow, do I have a death wish....Mike and I found out at the end of July that a beautiful house was going to hit the market. It is painfully close to my parents' home, seriously-3 doors away! But it is perfect for what we have always wanted, minus a porch for Mike to escape to during baseball season. It has a wonderful fenced in backyard with a playset and shed; 4 bedrooms, a basement with actual storage room and wonderful up-to-date floors. It even has a mudroom for our future mud-trackers (i.e. Malachi and Nathaniel). Well we went and saw this one of a kind home, and we loved it. So the following Monday (we looked on Friday) we placed an offer. By lunch on that Monday the sellers accepted it! WHAT! We haven't even worked towards putting our house on the market. So we finished up our mini-vacation and went to work. We cleaned, and packed, and had a garage sale, and moved things to my folks' home. The Monday after the seller accepted the offer (so if you are counting, 9 days after we looked at the house) we went to sign the paperwork and put our house up!

So seriously 10 days between Mike and I seeing the house to our house having a sign in it's yard! We close on the new house on August 23 and boy are we feeling the pressure. We have our first showing tomorrow (Wednesday) and could really use prayer for that! We are asking God to bring the perfect buyer at the perfect time. Ideally we would want the closing for the old house to the new owners in early September. Knowing that it would be hard to get all the paperwork finalized in a mortgage company we know it is implausible to ask that it happen in August. So please join us in prayer.

We also have 2 little boys who are feeling the change, sensing mom and dad's moods, and came down with colds this past weekend. We are feeling the pressure and feeling the tiredness at our home. Will you pray for healing too, that we may comfort our sons in this process and also that they will not fight these colds for too long-it is awful to have sick little guys.

Thanks, and we'll post pictures of the new house!

Some BIG firsts!

Wow, cannot believe that summer has already started to fly by! Since I last wrote we have celebrated Malachi's second birthday. He made it through the day as a champ without a nap! He loved all the attention. He did share his day a little with his little brother. We had Nathaniel's baptism that day as well. Figured with a lot of out-of-town guests it was best to have them on the same day, that day happened to fall one of the 2 Sundays I preach. It was graduation Sunday so I also preached. It made for a very busy morning. But all went well! 

We also celebrated Father's day with Hutchinson's Water Carnival Parade. Malachi loved meeting a clown. MAIZY was very friendly. Nathaniel wasn't as much a fan. Those darn fire trucks are so loud!

 

Malachi had his first swimming lessons. I think Mike and I need to be worried, the kid had no fear and loved every minute of it! I took Nathaniel for his first trip to the zoo!

With cousins in the backyard the boys enjoyed the pool, popsicles and Nathaniel's first bout in the walker! We, as a family, went to Canterbury Downs. It was mom and boys' first trip there. Malachi liked the horses, but only at a distance-not so much upclose.

Mister Nathaniel has poked through not 1 but 2 TEETH! The first on the day he turned 5 months (July 1) the second a week later.

Nathaniel has figured out how to rock on all 4s. I think it is time to start re-babyproofing.

Malachi had a blast playing with his 2nd cousins Evelyn and David at the lake house. We were there celebrating mom's cousin, Karin, and her upcoming wedding with a Bridal shower.

 Along with a bunch of buddies from daycare, mom and Malachi went to a dairy farm. Malachi loved feeding the calves.

 On June 30th we went with the family (mom's side) to the outdoor service for Faith Lutheran. Baby Elouise was baptized. The big kids loved the lawn chairs that memaw bought for them. Sadly (and much to their daddys' dismay) william and Malachi fought Avery for the pink chair, but Avery was able to outrank them as a girl and the oldest!

Terrific Two's!

Well folks, we have a 2 year old! Cannot believe that this time 2 years ago I was eagerly awaiting the visits from 2 of my best friends. They were coming to meet the first babe our little college group had had. Malachi was born at 4:51p.m. 25 days early! I am reminded of a few crazy things that lead to that fateful day where our little "messenger of God" was born. The day before was my parents' anniversary and I was dead set on getting a lot of things accomplished. It was Memorial day 2 years ago on May 30-so I had they day off. I wanted to get my hair cut, but no place was open; had to get fresh undergarmets because I was set that I would get all sorts of fresh stuff when Malachi was born; cleaned both bathrooms very well-it needed to get done...GROSS. And I started reading the books that were given to me about how to know when you go into labor and what to do before you go to the hospital. We hadn't taken a class yet, so I wanted to be sure I would be somewhat prepared. Little did I know that at 11p.m. that night my water would break....I wouldn't know it was my water until 2 and half hours later. Only to have my mom bring me to the hospital!

I still "make-fun" of Mike about that morning-if you can call it morning. It was 1:45 when I went to the bathroom again, and once again-thought I nearly peed my pants...(which turned out later to be my water). I called my mom, not knowing what to do. Then I called OB...then I woke up Mike and asked if he wanted to take me in for what I was sure was a false alarm. Since I woke him in the middle of a dream, he asked if my mom could bring me. I called her up and she came on over. After saying hello to a lady that goes to my church (she works at the check-in) and going through testing it was certain Malachi would be there sometime on the 31st! So Mike got called, he showered and came over, and then proceeded to get called into work-after he called in saying he wasn't coming! But alas, by dinner time our wonderful first born was here!

Since that moment our lives haven't been the same. There were some crazy times where I feel exhausted and not excited to get out of bed in the morning. BUT those are far outweighed by the days where I am so thankful that God has entrusted me with this wonderful, crazy, loving to laugh, little man.



On another note, for the past week Nathaniel has mastered how to roll from his back to his tummy (only on the right side).

Thanks for all your prayers!
The DuFrenes

They see me Rollin' they hatin'

Well we have  a second roller! For about a week (I waited to be sure it wasn't a fluke) Nathaniel has been rolling from his tummy to his back. This morning he did it 3 times in a row-twice to the left and once to the right. I'm pretty proud of that little guy! He has survived having a big brother that is very "loving" to the point of smothering him. I would rather have a super loving big bro than a super jealous all the time big bro, though!

We have also cut the illusive mohawk. Nathaniel's hair was almost as long as my finger, so we trimmed it up.

Before and After.

the left-over hair! Quite a bit there.

We love Cat in the Hat. And who needs pockets when you can wear overalls!Almost a month after we celebrated with her but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEMAW! My (amy) mom with the big-kids.

Thank you for all your prayers. We are on a wonderful rollercoaster

The DuFrenes

May!

It has been a very long time since I last wrote to you all! I am truly sorry, this whole mom of 2 things really takes it out of you. I am learning how to handle the extra amount of work required as well as the extra amount of energy...though we aren't quite there. Malachi and Nathaniel have been sharing a bedroom for awhile now. It is going well at bedtime, not as great for weekend naps. So we are trying to navigate that a little bit.

Since our last writing, Mike and I lead a group of youth to an event called MOVE. At this event we head to Minneapolis, worship with other Covenant youth from the area, hear from a fantastic speaker/worship team, serve an organization in the Twin Cities, and learn about something that we might not know about. This year's theme was Invisible: Who are you not seeing? We learned how families who struggle to feed themselves deal with their finances and what type of resources are available, we served at ARC Thrift store where they work with those with disabilities (helping them and their families find resources to make their lives as "normal" as possible). This was a wonderful event, and one I look forward to each year.

Nathaniel has been doing wonderfully at daycare. Malachi is extra protective. We noticed this more when our daycare gal was on vacation and she had someone come in to help. Malachi wanted to be sure that this "new" gal knew how to best treat Nathaniel. We are getting really close to potty training Malachi. My guess is that we'll really start the weekend before his second birthday! YES I SAID SECOND BIRTHDAY! Can you believe that 2 years ago I was huge with our little man! Unreal how fast the time flies. Malachi is signed up to participate in our church's VBS this summer. He is a year too young, but as I have to be there each night (I am able to find Nathaniel's childcare, but it is harder with Malachi). I'm excited for him to be there and have fun with the other kids.

I think that covers our crazy life in the past month in a nutshell. As we look for prayer, please think about my sister. She is due with baby #2 in June, but her first came 6 weeks early. We are, as of today, 4 weeks early. She is allowed to go "anytime" but she and her husband just bought a house and closed on Thursday. We are all working hard to get it ready for the babe, but we are a bit nervous. If you could please pray we get things done for her, that the doctors know how to "deal" with her, and safety for both her and the babe.

Thanks!
Amy

I'll try to stay on top of this a little better :)

D-day #2

Today marks a big day in the DuFrene house hold. Nathaniel has started daycare! With Malachi we waited until about 8 weeks, but our daycare gal will be gone on a vacation at 8 weeks. We want him to get acclimated with the daycare environment before she is gone (she has someone coming in to cover her time away). This will also help get him on the routine that will have been established by the time of said vacation. It has been an okay day for mom. With Malachi it was a little harder-the first kiddo is always a bit tougher, but I still did okay with him so knew today was going to go smoothly. The issue with today wasn't that it was the first day that stressed me out with him going, it was the general chaos of the day. We, in Hutch, have a ministry that is called Release time. The middle school students have an opportunity to come to our church 1 day a month to hear God's Word. It is state law that if a religious organization has a program 1 time per week that students are allowed to attend during school hours without being counted absent and the teachers cannot teach anything new. To be respectful of the chaos of teaching the same subject 6-7 times a day and being required to not teach anything new during the time students are away, we only have it 1 time a month for Middle School (we do have it weekly for Elementary students). Today happened to be the day that this release time fell this month. The boys had to come with to it, because of what time of the day it is held for MS students. It is earlier than they normally would go to daycare. But here is why it is extra chaotic, the youth directors have a monthly meeting (after this program) each month. It is hosted at my church on months that have release time....meaning I run across town with the boys, gave the schpeal on how Nathaniel is, and run back for the meeting.

But overall I know he will have done fine, we told Malachi this morning to make sure none of the "big" kids pick on Nathaniel. Knowing full well that Malachi might be the one that wants to lay on him, carry him, take care of him, etc.

Above is a photo taken on Saturday of the boys "talking".

7 and a half hours!

Nathaniel and Malachi have been sharing a room for just over a week! They are doing pretty well. Malachi has been putting a fight up for a few nights. Last night was one of them, and one time last week. But that is not the main issue. We put the boys down right around 7p.m. I start Nathaniel with his bottle about 6:30 to keep with Malachi's routine of bedtime. Nathaniel gets a slightly bigger bottle at that time than he does the rest of the day. I know this is super enthralling to all those who read this :).

Last night, even with Malachi putting up a bit of a fight, Nathaniel went down without much of a hitch! He then proceeded to sleep 7 and a half hours! By my calculations that is classified as through the night! Of course it wasn't mom and dad's "sleep through the night" but it is significant progress! He woke up for his first feeding at 2:30a.m.! Malachi, who was as I mentioned fighting sleep last night, also woke up. He helped mom and watched Duck Dynasty with her while Nathaniel ate. Dad took the second feeding (which always comes much quicker in the night) and then slept with the boys. Unknown to mom, both boys fought going back to sleep after this second feeding. Dad snuck down and got a blanket from their bedroom and went to sleep with the boys-letting mom sleep. He is a rockstar! If you are friends with Mike on facebook or in real life :) you should send him a text, message telling him he is a rockstar!

Soup master!

Enjoying Duck Tales!

We have started potty training!

So here we are, almost 6 weeks into our new life as a family of 4 plus Thiessen and we are working our way towards a "mom and dad" sleep through the night! I would say we are making significant progress! We covet your prayers as Nathaniel will start daycare a week from today! Our daycare gal is going on vacation the beginning of April, when we intended on him starting, so we want him to get acclamated to daycare prior to her leaving. We want him to feel comfortable with the place and the routine before we change that, and Amy needs to get back to work before our daycare gal returns. Nathaniel is a great co-worker but makes it hard to get a lot of things done at work, both because of his needs but mostly because of his cuteness factor that everyone who stops in chats and wants to see him (causing work to stop). So, digressing from that tangent, we covet your prayers for next week that the transition will go smoothly. Also that Malachi will continue to transition nicely into a big brother-he has been doing great thus far! And finally that as we get closer to that sleep through the night on mom/dad's standards that we can be refreshed and better parents for it!

Raising the head

Well we have tried some more things! Last night we raised the mattress head a little bit and put my (Amy) old baby blanket tightly on the bed, since I have slept with it for a few days to get my sent on it. Yesterday we ventured for the longest drive in Nathaniel's life thus far! We went to the edge of the earth-Maplewood. We got to see Oma and Opa DuFrene. It was great to see them and see cousin Pati. Nathaniel was awake for most of the day and Malachi didn't nap! Near dinner time we could tell that our little toddler still needs his nap.
This part probably has a huge part to do with our night last night. Nathaniel fell asleep on the way home and so we kept him in his carseat until he woke up for his 10:30 feeding, taking his hat off-so not to overheat him. Then he went down a lot better. He actually slept in his cradle until 2:30 when he got up to eat, then he was again awake at 4:30 for eating, but then slept until 7:30! It was so nice to have some sleep (key word is some as we are still waking up :) ). Please pray that next week, which should be transition week, will go smoothly as both boys share a room for the first time!

Thanks for praying!
Amy and Mike

pray for sleep!

Well I am sitting here writing, being quite exhausted. Nathaniel has decided that he doesn't like the cradle at night. Yes that's right-he nearly throws a fit each time we try to lay him down. Last night it took Mike holding him for awhile before being able to lay him down, it then took me quite sometime to do the same. He spent half the night on the couch with me, and the other half in bed with us. We are praying for some sleep, not that he has to sleep through the night (we know that isn't realistic yet-he isn't quite a month), but that he would sleep between feedings in a way that doesn't keep us up too. I  haven't had more than 2 hours in a row for weeks now. And he isn't eating every 2 hours, it is close to 3-4 hours....so this laying down process is quite challenging!

We also are majorly praying that when we do transfer him to the crib that the transition will go smoothly for all parties included! Malachi-that he can sleep well, Nathaniel-that he can sleep well, and Mike/myself-that we can hear him through the night and rest peacefully.

Thanks for praying!
Amy

Nathaniel Jon

Well he is finally here! He has actually been here for 10 days, but it has been quite an eventful 10 days. On Jan. 31st I was joking at Thursday lunch (the lunch that local churches serve for HS students at no cost to the students) that I would have the baby that night. Little did I know that a mere 2-3 hours later my water would break. Just as I was getting ready to spend a calm evening by myself (Mike and Malachi had gone to the cities for the day) my water broke. I kept pretty calm, continued with my first project of the night only to get ready to head to the hospital. Once I was at the hospital they told me according to the test they do, that my water didn't seem to have broken (but the way I described it-it had) so they had me wait another hour or so to do the test again. This time it came back saying my water had in fact broken. Talk about anxiety-I hate being sent home! Well about 8p.m. Mike was able to get to the hospital, where he switched Malachi over to my mom-who took him home to watch him that night.
After what seemed like forever for me, I got an epidural. Easily a gift to all women who feel okay with it! It is so relaxing with that. But alas, it completely wore off! Can you believe it, going through with sticking something in your spine and it wears off! I am not normally a person who yells at someone but those poor nurses were told how unhappy I was in a louder tone than I normally use. I apologized later to which they said to not worry about it at all! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for me, Nathaniel was born at 3:36a.m. on February 1st! He was a whole 2 lbs bigger than Malachi and towards the end was having a little of distress so they double checked him over really well when he was born.

Since coming home Malachi has started to adjust well. He calls him "Nanyel" or maybe better spelt Naniel. Malachi is really cute bringing the nuk whenever he cries and tries to lay next to him during tummy time. I have not adjusted quite as well as our little toddler. This past week I came down with a postpartum infection which caused me to have flu-like symptoms and want to be in the fetal position. After visiting the doctor, getting antibiotics and a strict rule of laying low-I am finally starting to feel better. Just a bit extra run-down as my body was healing and then fighting this new development. Mike is doing great with both boys! He is a natural! I am truly blessed to have him as my partner in crime when it comes to parenting. Please pray for us as we continue in this transition and learn how best to parent two boys who are already showing differences in their personalities.

The DuFrenes! Mike, Amy, Malachi, and Nathaniel!

Superbowl babe?

Well we are still holding out hope that this little one will arrive soon! We have gone in a few times, because this one just doesn't want to be like Big-Brother-Malachi. This one wants to prove that he will march to his own drum, that we will not have 2 boys that are exactly the same, they will be 2 individuals with 2 very different personalities and will need 2 different ways of parenting. Please pray with us as we prepare our minds for this as it is always a new challenge to get to know another human! Pray for the doctors and nurses that we'll be dealing with when the time comes-that we ask the right questions, they are wise in their answers and how they handle each situation that is presented to them. And please, please pray that we'll know when to go in for this next "visit" that we hope will be the one where we stay and get to bring home a new DuFrene.

Much thanks!
Mike, Amy, Malachi, Thiessen, and a soon-to-arrive DuFrene

Pumpkin falling from the vine??

Well we are still waiting! Yes, I know this is completely normal to go to at least your due-date. But when your first came so early it is hard to not think that this one will come at least at the same timeframe as the first. I guess this is a "warning" of what this one's temperament will be. Each Sunday at church I hear, "I hope to not see you next week...or if I do that you are carrying an extra bundle." They are all so hopeful, and so am I. Then i get the occasional, "The pumpkin will fall from the vine when it is ready...hang in there you are doing great-you look great, etc."

As we approach the due date I keep reminding myself that God chooses the due date, the birthday, not me. I am impatient, especially this past week. I have been more impatient this past week than I thought I was going to be. Last Monday (1/14) Mike and I went in at about 10:30p.m. since I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart. After talking to OB department a few times that night they recommended me coming in and getting checked out considering my history with Malachi. Then at about 2a.m. they sent me home, since I wasn't progressing the way that they wanted and my water hadn't broken. They won't do anything to progress you if you are before your due-date unless your water breaks. So the past week we have been on-edge thinking that it would happen any time and have been extra uncomfortable-still continuing with contractions (not every 3-4 minutes, but some are pretty intense).

I would ask for prayer as we continue counting down the days to the official date! Can't wait to meet the little tyke and to see how Malachi reacts. He has been putting up a few challenges I think he knows there is a change coming and is worried we'll push him to the side. Please pray for Mike too that it works out with his work schedule to be able to bring me home from the hospital and that he can be there for all the important parts of the day/delivery (they would let him off of course for the delivery, but I know he has a hard time taking off work).

Much love!
The DuFrenes...eagerly awaiting #4

Late on Malachi's clock

Well the time has come and gone if we were pregnant with Malachi. Little Nathaniel is taking his time-or approaching his own time table! Good thing God knows what is going on. I am praying for patience as I'm not used to these "normal" weeks and thus getting a little impatient. Below are pictures, taken today, of me a little over 37 weeks!

Thanks for your prayers! Can't wait to show you all the pictures upon his arrival!

Let the Countdown begin....

10, 9, 8, 7....well you get the idea! Happy New Year all! I hope and pray that you had a wonderful and safe New Years this year. Mike, Malachi and myself had a very lowkey one. Which for someone who loves NYE as much as I do is a strange but welcome development. Poor Mike didn't realize when he met me how much I love NYE. Granted when we met I was working at a decor company and had to work on NYE each year and the year we were dating I was in I think 4 different towns working, and did a countdown at 11p.m. at Nickelodeon Universe instead of Midnight (since it is for young kids) and completely missed the real count down because we were tearing down the event. So since getting married we have attended a few different NYE get togethers and last year we spent the evening with other youth directors in a Asian Murder Mystery event. It was bizarre and fun, but Mike had to work the next day so I promised this year we'd do what he wanted to do.
So we had a normal dinner, had a normal night with Malachi, put Malachi down on time, watched music videos on our TV, and went to bed at 11p.m. WEIRD I know-but I was nearly out cold on the couch already so I didn't feel too guilty about missing the official countdown-maybe next year I'll make it.

With the turning of the clocks and the calendars we mark the final month before DuBabe #2 arrives! This is the month that he is due! I can't believe that by this time next year I will have a 2 year old and a nearly 1 year old. How my life has changed in the past few years-it has been quite a ride! As we approach the arrival of this one it seems strange since we don't have much "to-do" since most of the items we would be collecting or setting up have merely been set aside for a few months (major bonus of having them close together). So we are preparing differently-enjoying our special time with our "only" child right now, I am working out the fine details of church-life for the next month in case this one decides to arrive, and I'm sure Mike is thinking things over too (he processes more non-verbally than I do).

So as the update, we are still hanging in there. This kiddo hasn't arrive crazy early...yet! Please pray for this transition that we can be supportive to Malachi as he learns how to be a big brother and that the Lord will guide us on how to show love to a new child-a child we haven't officially met yet. Each kid requires love differently and the learning experience is different with each one on how they experience love. I want these 2 to be the best of friends and so want to respect their unique qualities, their God-given talents, and let them both know that I love them both! I thank you as you walk alongside us-we truly feel blessed by all the prayer support you have given us!

Much Love,
Amy (on behalf of the DuFrene clan!)