Gobble Gobble

Here is Lily saying, "Gobble, Gobble" to her turkey! And yes, she is dressed in a poodle skirt costume!:)
Can you believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving?!!

Last week Lily and I did a little Thanksgiving project making handprint turkeys! We had a great time coloring and tracing each other's hands (to make the feathers).

Lily decided to name her turkey "Mouse" so I named mine "Cat."

It was a fun little project and we will keep our turkeys to use with Lily's puppet theatre.

We have lots more to post, but in the meantime I thought I would share about this little project!

Elijah Daniel Cousins

Shortly after being born

Lily & Eli meet for the first time

Eli Daniel Cousins

Born Monday November 23rd at 1:20p.m.

9lbs 1oz

21 inches long

The newest love of our lives

40 Weeks!!!

Well, today is my due date (40 weeks)! And I am still pregnant. I was so sure that this baby would be early. Apparently I am never right about these things! On Friday night I was having lots of contractions (some pretty strong) and I thought it might be the beginning of labor. But they were still really irregular and after 4 or 5 hours they slowed down and everything is back to "normal." So here we are on Sunday just getting all of the last minute things ready (for example, I finally packed my hospital bag last night). Joe's parents come tonight to take care of Lily and we will go to the hospital tomorrow morning at 6a.m. to be induced! I guess I could still go into labor on my own today, but at this point I am planning for tomorrow! It feels like we have been waiting forever for this baby to be born and yet at the same time I just can't believe that we will actually meet him tomorrow!!!

The other day Lily came up to me randomly and kissed my belly-so cute! This picture was taken yesterday of her giving her baby brother a little love (and yes she is wearing a party dress,a sweatshirt, a tutu, fairy wings, and assorted jewelry- she's very excited about dressing up these days)! Very exciting times around our house! Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery for me and the baby and for a smooth transition for Lily and the whole family. We look forward to sharing our exciting news soon!

Birthday Cookie!

On Wedn. we celebrated Joe's birthday with a giant homemade chocolate and coconut cookie! It's Joe's favorite kind of cookie so I decided to try to make it as big as possible- and it turned out great! Unfortunately I'm not quite so experienced in writing with icing so that part is kind of sad- but it sure tasted great! Joe had class all day (his EMT class) so we had to settle for a small little celebration with some tasty takeout Chinese food. I was happy that I didn't have the baby that day- I just feel like everyone in the family needs to have their own special day!

BloodBall

In the Lifelines ministry we are always trying to think of new and creative ways to reach out to students on campus- to get them involved in healthy, engaging activities where we can meet them, build relationships with them, and eventually get to share with them the hope that we have found in Christ. This isn't always an easy task- especially with men on campus. These days it can be pretty hard to get students away from their video games long enough to engage them in anything. So this semester Joe started a weekly outreach on Friday afternoons called "BloodBall." Joe bought this HUGE red ball (it's really big- I'm not quite sure the pictures do it justice)- and every week a group of guys from campus gather on the campus mall to play...I mean attack each other. From my limited understanding they play a game that is similar to rugby- basically there are two teams and each one is trying to get the huge red ball into their scoring zone (like soccer)- 0nly I don't think there are very many rules. It's just kind of a free-for-all with a lot of tackling, running, grabbing, etc... And the guys on campus are loving it. Pretty much every week they have guys who are just passing by come to join them. Most of the guys that play aren't otherwise involved in the Lifelines ministry. In fact many of them are from one of the fraternities on campus- and just recently a bunch of guys from the Rugby team have been coming out to play! It's been a great way for Joe (and our intern John) to get to know guys on campus and to introduce them to what we do with Lifelines. And like all the other guys Joe loves it- he comes home a little sore and beaten up- but it seems like a great way for these guys to get outside.

Lily and I ventured onto campus last Friday to try to get some pictures of them playing. As you can see it got dark pretty quick so I wasn't able to get a lot of great pictures- but I got a few to give you an idea. I also didn't want to get too close to the action (since there really aren't any boundaries or rules)! For some reason Lily was really intimidated by the guys- and at one point she said, "Mommy, I don't like boys." I'm pretty sure that this is music to Joe's ears!:)

Incredible!

A few days ago Lily and I ventured onto campus to take some pictures of Joe's weekly "Bloodball" outreach (post, pictures, and explanation to follow in a few days). Once it got dark and cold (at about 4:45p.m.- so sad) Lily and I turned around to head home. As we turned this is what we saw- the most amazing sunset. God's creation is absolutly incredible!

Introducing Bitty Baby!

I would like to introduce you to Bitty Baby- the newest member of our family! Now don't get too excited- this isn't THE baby (I'm still pregnant)- but this is Lily's new little baby doll. Maybe you've heard of the American Girl doll collection. Well, this is the American Girl baby. My grandma (Lily's great grandma) bought this doll for her and it arrived at our house a couple of weeks ago! Lily has been loving on her ever since. She loves to change her diapers, rock her, and even entertain her (you can see Lily in the last picture shaking a rattle for her). My grandma and Aunt Pam also bought her a few outfits for her baby (including a diaper bag/changing pad that Lily LOVES)! Lily often calls her Bitty Baby- but has also named her "Libby" after her friend that we spent all summer with in Colorado. I'm thinking (and hoping) that Baby Libby will distract Lily and help her adjust when the real newest addition enters our family! Thanks Grandma and Aunt Pam!!!