I don't even know where to begin!

Ok, it has been way too long and way too many things have been going on in our lives to continue letting that slide. Unfortunately because so much has been going on in our lives, the last thing I seem to want to do is blog. But today I will make up for that. I will update life in the Lockhart household and include some pictures to go along with it. It will have to be a summary of sorts as this entry could go on forever!

The biggest news in our family is that we are having a baby! God has been so faithful to us after losing Gabriel in January. It was a difficult few months but He filled me with peace that His plan was perfect whether or not we got pregnant again. We left it in His hands and exactly 5 months after losing Gabriel we found out we were pregnant again! It was actually a surprise to me because with my other three I have been able to figure out I was pregnant long before I could take a test. This time we were on Beach Retreat with our church youth group and I had no idea whatsoever.We came home and took a test and we were thrilled!

I will be honest, the first few months I had to overcome a great deal of fear. Especially through week 10 when I lost Gabriel. Going in for our first appointment to hear the heartbeat was the most nervous I have ever been. I was so afraid that time would repeat itself and it would be silent again. The nurse even said, "Don't worry if you don't hear anything. That is normal at this stage." I wanted to tell her, "No it is not and please don't patronize me!" It was a long 30 seconds but the sound of that heartbeat was like angels singing! God has been so good and our baby is healthy and everyday that I feel the baby moving inside of me is a blessing! We are 25 weeks and will be meeting our new addition in early February. With the holidays around the corner we know it will be here before we know it.

The other big change in the Lockhart household is that I am homeschooling Caleb. It is something we knew we would do eventually, it just came sooner than we thought. Last year with Caleb going to gymnastics 3 nights a week, we felt like he had no life and that it was affecting who he was. I felt God nudging me for awhile but I struggled because I knew Elizabeth wanted to go to Kindergarten, but how would she feel if I homeschooled Caleb? She seemed fine when I approached her with it and she has had no problem since we started. She is in LOVE with Kindergarten so it doesn't faze her a bit that we are at home while she is at school.

Once we made the decision we had to start looking at curriculum and how we wanted to handle homeschooling. We had a great friend from gymnastics, who also homeschools, loan us the curriculum from Sonlight which was my number one choice but was over our budget. It is an amazing curriculum centered around literature and the level that Caleb is on focuses on US History. We have truly been enjoying it and learning so much together. We are also part of a local homeschool group that we do field trips with as well as once a month he takes a science class at the Museum of Science. I have enjoyed having Caleb home with me and it has been great for his schedule especially since they added another day to his gymnastics schedule. He is competing on level 5 again this year but he is training with level 6 so it is 4 nights a week! We are very thankful for a great friend to carpool with!

As I mentioned earlier, Elizabeth is in Kindergarten. I was interested to see how she handled it as she is a mama's girl but she got on that bus like it was no big deal. I, of course, cried like a baby! She has wonderful teachers. They jobshare so one works in the morning and one in the afternoon. Her morning teacher goes to our church and her afternoon teacher had Caleb last year in second grade so we were blessed with two teachers that know our family and have great spirits about them. Elizabeth has made some great friends and she is reading a little bit more everyday! She is growing up before our eyes. In fact she lost her first tooth just this morning!

On the church side of things, Heath was just asked to be the new college director for our campus. Our college ministry has great potential to grow with our youth ministry growing so much as well as the fact that our campus is next to a fast-growing commuter college. We are both excited about this new role although Heath is a little nervous as he feels a big responsibility to grow this ministry. I know God has big plans as we waited on His timing and feel strongly that this is where He wants us. Please pray for this ministry and for Heath to rely on God's strength as he takes on this role.

On the business side of things, God has been so faithful yet again and has been providing more and more business. When I first started this blog, business was struggling and we weren't sure what was going to happen. God grew us in our faith and in our relationship and we made it through those tough months. Heath says business is up 50% from last year and we are truly thankful for that as we have to pay for this baby out of pocket. We are trusting God to continue to provide the finances for this baby and for our end of year taxes. Heath has also been looking into the opportunity of moving into an office with someone and that is something he has wanted for a long time. We are seeking God's will and praying about whether this is the right decision and the right timing for it.

I think that is the majority of the BIG news in our family. As you can see, we have had a lot going on but we are enjoying the ride and trusting in the Lord through everything. He is ALL that we need and He continues to prove that to us everyday.

In June we bought the kids a new pool since the other one had fallen apart. Heath got a canopy for another use but decided to set it up over the pool so the kids could enjoy playing but not in the hot sun.

 In July we went to Lake Somerville with some friends and enjoyed a great day on the lake. Our plan was to do it more often but I think this was the only time we made it!

Elizabeth's big moment in early August was getting her ears pierced! She cried initially but she loves them!

 In August we also took a spontaneous trip to Austin as a family. We had a great time! We went to Barton Springs which is a natural spring downtown where the water is a brisk 68 degrees year round. Needless to say the water was literally breathtaking but we had a great time nonetheless.

We also got to walk around downtown and ended up walking through the capitol building.

 Our big girl on the first day of school! She was so excited she woke us up that morning!

Getting on the bus with no fear! I was crying at this point. We ended up following the bus and watching her get off at school and making sure she made it to class.

 In September we went on a field trip with our homeschool group to see a presentation on snakes. I was surprised I stayed in the room but I ended up with great pictures of Caleb doing what I couldn't dream of doing!

We also did a month long experiment with planting radishes. Here he is measuring the weekly growth.

 In October we went on a field trip to a local ranch that was set up with different periods of Texas History. A local wildlife park was there with baby alligators and this was Caleb petting it. We even saw some wild adult alligators in the river going through the ranch.

Here is Caleb sitting in a log cabin from the 1830s. He liked the bed covered in animal skins. We have been learning a lot about early American History and he enjoyed seeing some things straight out of what we had been learning.

 Last Saturday was the annual Fun Run in our district. This was Caleb's 3rd year and Elizabeth's first. It was hot but thankfully there was a breeze that made it bearable. Caleb ran a half mile and finished around 13th. He did a super job pacing himself and passing everyone at the end. Here we are waiting for Elizabeth's race.

Elizabeth surprised all of us when she stayed solidly up front and finished 7th! She ended up winning a medal and convincing us we may have found her new sport!

Well that is just a sampling of some of the things we have been up to. I would have liked to have posted more pictures but I would be here all day! Hopefully I have motivated myself to blog more and not get so behind!